《Borne of Caution》


 Act 1: Chapter 1

    "She really likes you, you know."

    Lee groans, setting the bloody bucket in his gloved hand down and wiping at his sweaty forehead. Behind him, the staff door to the lion exhibit closes with a pair of clicks. "I know Makiri is pissed. Don''t rub it in."

    The first voice laughs, deep and hearty. "Well, can''t dem to love you all da time, can you? Lovely Lady Makiri likes her routine, and you broke her big rule of not changin''. Mommy Mara''s scent all over ya ain''t helping either. Lady Makiri be thinkin'' you''re cheaten on her."

    Lee looks up to the tall speaker.

    Before him is a large african man with a shaved head, a beaming smile, and eyes sparkling with mirth. He''s clad in the same khaki bush trekking outfit that most animal handlers in the Columbus Zoo use as a uniform, Lee included. On his belt is a radio (currently turned off as to not spook the lions) and on his right breast pocket is a nametag reading "Aasir".

    Lee runs a glove-clad hand through his sweaty hair with a sigh. "I know. With how David called out so suddenly someone had to check up on the tigers, and I drew the short straw. Mara''s in heat again and is real cuddly with anything even vaguely smelling male. She walked up to me without an ounce of aggression."

    Aasir nods and hums, scratching his stubble-covered chin. "Yah, no wonder Lady Makiri was givin'' you da stinkeye den. Smellin'' anodda female, one jonesin'' for cubs no less, on any of her handlers gunna make her mad."

    The shorter man grimaces. He had to carefully maneuver in the enclosure as to not let Makiri, the eldest lioness, be downwind of himself. The other lions gladly approached for their admittedly late lunch with Makiri trailing behind, already knowing none of the foolish younglings would eat her share. By the time Lee realized the wind had shifted, the old lioness had already gone silent and was maneuvering into his blindspot. Lee bid a steady retreat, as running would make her chase, and it gave him enough time to see the fury in her eyes.

    If she caught him, Lee would have been dead.

    Harsh is the realization that any animal could turn on you.

    "Think you can cover the lions alone for a few days so Makiri can cool off?"

    Aasir nods with a chuckle. "Dats fine. Deh boys at deh reptile house gunna need some extra hands anyway. Dey be setting up a spider exhibit while new rattlers be shipped in. Lions, old Aasir can do. Now spiders?" He drops his grin and shudders. "Can''t do spiders. No. Dem beady eyes and crawly legs and hooked fangs be hauntin'' my dreams," he says, rubbing his arms as if to ward off a chill.

    "Heh, suit yourself," Lee says with a shrug. "Any idea when that''s going down?"

    Aasir pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the time. "Threeish? Dey getting the buggers in and set up in da back while de enclosures be converted for dem."

    "Enough time to catch some lunch and a nap in the supply closet. Nice." Lee thinks with a grin, turning towards the exit to the visitor area.

    "And don''t be sleepin'' in da admin closet. Miss Jonesy knows."

    Lee stops. "I said that aloud, didn''t I?"

    "It''s a bad habit you got." Lee didn''t even need to turn to know Aasir was smiling. The man just laughs when Lee keeps walking.

    Lee steps out into the visitor area, barely avoiding a kid that runs by with an exhausted mom trailing behind. He looks around and takes in the throngs of people in the Zoo today.

    Everyone is crowded by the fence of the lion exhibit, watching with gasps and exclamations broken up by the beeping of cellphone cams as the lions eat. Young, old, man, and woman alike watch raptly, and thankfully no one has the gall to try and throw things into the enclosure this time.

    Just yesterday a pizza crust thrown by some brat managed to bean poor cub Sefu in the eye, and both himself and Aasir rushed out to the culprit. Lee isn''t terribly intimidating, only being of average height and build, but even an indignant mom quickly caves to a large african man so angry that he accidentally slips back into his native Swahili. The family and bawling child left without needing an escort out.

    Respecting the animals isn''t that hard, is it?

    Either way, today seems to be going just fine, making Lee smile as everyone points and gushes over cubs Sefu and Zuberi fighting over a rib bone.

    The man continues on, gliding through the Saturday crowd with practiced ease back toward the main admin office and towards his much-needed lunch. One or twice he''s stopped by a zoo guest for directions, and he gives them out almost without noticing, knowing where everything is by heart. As he walks, Lee runs a hand across his forehead and speeds up, hoping to get out of the beating late-summer sun soon.

    Lee slips into the gift shop near the front of the Zoo and walks along the wall to a door marked "Employees only." With a swipe of his keycard, the door opens with a ''click!'' and lets him back into the admin office.

    Inside the small lounge area, a few staff, animal keepers, security, and even an on-site cop mill about, talking in small groups or seated at one of the small tables eating lunch. In the corner of the room, an old TV with the news perpetually playing fills the background. Lee promptly ignores all of that and makes a beeline for the shared fridge, snatching a tupperware container of pasta from it before finding a table for himself.

    Lee pulls his phone out as he brings a forkful of food to his mouth, clicking on his GBA emulator to continue his modded Pokemon Emerald run. Not too much was added. Simply a randomized starter and all first three gens available in the wild.

    Beating the first gym leader Roxanne, a Rock-type specialist, with a Vulpix as a starter was a gigantic pain though. Will-o-Wisp and Confuse Ray really earned their place in Vulpix''s moveset after that. The Vulpix has stellar IVs and even has the hidden ability Drought, so it''s too bad her lax nature means a special defense reduction. She would have made a good wall. ''That''s alright though,'' Lee thinks. ''I can still build a good team around her.'' He marks the little fox with a heart in the box system.

    With the first gym beaten, Lee took one last look around Rustboro and talked with every NPC before heading to the next route.

    A chair across the table squeaks as someone sits down. "Still a big Pokemon fan, eh?"

    Lee looks up as he finishes his last bite of lunch, seeing fellow keeper and member of the reptile house, Marcy, sit down with him.

    Lee nods, pausing his game to address her. "Now and forever. The only thing I like more than Pokemon is actual animals. Broke my heart as a kid when my dick brother said they were real only for Ma to tell me they aren''t."

    Marcy snorts and grins. "He wouldn''t be a proper brother if he didn''t mess with you."

    "True, and I busted his favorite GI Joe as revenge," Lee quips, making Marcy laugh. "So what brings you over to my lonely little table?"

    The woman collects herself. "Aasir told me over the radio one of your lions thinks you''re cheating on her, so you need a break from there for a few days. Want to help set up an arachnid exhibit in the meantime?"

    "It''s not my fault Mara felt like rubbing up on me..." Lee grumbles. "But yes, I was actually about to call you once I was done here to ask just that. Thanks for saving me the trouble."

    "Of course."

    Both zookeepers stand, Lee pocketing his phone, then stop as tornado sirens begin to sound out in the distance, their wails echoing across the whole zoo hauntingly. Under the wailing of the sirens is the audible panic of several of the louder, more skittish animals. Everyone else in the lounge likewise looks bewildered. One glance out the window shows that the sky is clear and blue, as a summer day should be. Even the fickle weather of Ohio can''t shift that fast.

    "The hell is going on?" Another keeper asks no one particular.

    "Dunno. Some kind of malfunction?" A gift shop cashier finishing her lunch suggests.

    "Someone must have broken something big then." Someone near the back of the room chimes.

    More sirens echo in from the not-so-distant city of Columbus, the capital of Ohio and one of the largest cities in the United States. The extra sirens mix with the closer ones, forming an unnerving din. Then from the north even more sirens cry out from the city of Delaware.

    The confusion gripping the room slowly turns to worry.

    "Alright, it''s one thing for our sirens to fuck up, but both Columbus and Delaware going at once?" Lee says, pulling out his phone. "What is going on?"

    Then he gets an answer he didn''t want.

    All at once, every cellphone in the room screams out alarm tones at maximum volume. Several people flinch and a few bite back screams from the unexpected scare. The message flashing on each one is infinitely more damning than any frightening alarm tone.

    PRESIDENTIAL ALERT ISSUED.

    TAKE SHELTER NOW AND TUNE INTO OFFICIAL NEWS STATIONS FOR MORE DETAIL.

    All eyes fly to the TV in the corner.

    "-rising tension may mean disaster for negotiations. Back to you, Tom.", the anchorwoman says as the news shifts to a smiling man with a weather map behind him. Before he can get a single word in, the screen suddenly goes black.

    Everyone watching waits, coiled with tension.

    After several seconds, the TV screams out with the chilling screech of the E.B.S. After several screeches, a synthesized voice begins to speak with an eerie calm. "This message is transmitted by the order of the president and Department of Homeland Security. At approximately 12:37PM EST, The North American Aerospace Defense Command detected incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. These missiles are believed to be carrying nuclear warheads of unknown yield. Known targeted cities include Washington DC, New York NY, Dallas TX, San Francisco CA, Seattle WA, Pittsburgh PA, Chicago IL-"

    The TV rattles off more cities in it''s monotone. The longer it goes on, the more hope begins rising in the room.

    "Jesus fuck this is unreal, but if there is anything good about Ohio it''s how irrelevant we are. Why waste a nuke here?" Lee thinks to himself, trying vainly to steady his heart rate. "There is nothing worth nuking. Oh my fucking god I can''t believe the crazies online were right."

    "-Phoenix AZ, and Columbus OH."

    "...What!?"

    A deathly stillness grips the entire room. Just outside, screams overtake the sirens.

    "If you are located within 100 to 200 miles of any of the listed locations," the TV drones on, "take shelter immediately. Warhead impact is estimated to be in the next 30 to 45 minutes. Keep a radio and tune into local emergency channels. If you do not know your local emergency channels, look them up now. Internet service cannot be guaranteed after impact. Shelter in place and do not move until an all-clear is given. A location underground is optimal. Failure to follow these instructions may lead to injury or death. This message will repeat."

    Lee looks around at his thunderstruck co-workers, but can''t hear a word of their frantic yelling over his heart pounding in his own ears and the growing screaming outside. He falls backward, his back hitting the wall and letting him slump to the floor. "Absolutely nowhere in the zoo can stand a nuclear blast," he whispers to himself. "We''re going to die. We''re actually going to die."

    The man frantically takes out his phone and hits the first contact inside, his mother. He holds the phone up to his ear, but only hears "All circuits are busy. Please try again later" before it can ring out even once. With a growl, he calls again, again, and again...

    "All circuits are busy. Please try again later."

    "Fuck! Did EVERYONE have the same idea?!"

    Lee raises his arm and almost dashes the smartphone across the ground, but controls his temper at the last moment with a deep, heaving breath. He drops the now useless device into his pocket and grips his head in his hands, tears of both fear and frustration stinging his eyes. "Fuck fuck fuck..."

    He raises his head, seeing everyone else isn''t coping much better. Most fill the room with screams and muttered prayers asking God to save them. One poor intern has the cashier girl in a death grip of a hug, crying large, ugly tears as the shell-shocked girl rubs his back absently. Several of the keepers slip out the door, probably to go see their animals one last time.

    BANG!

    Everyone jumps and screams.

    Lee stares at the slumped form of the on-site police officer. He''s wide-eyed and bleeding from a hole in the side of his cranium, his Glock pistol held in limp fingers. The wall to his side is painted a morbid red. The man''s mouth opens and closes several times before his eyes unfocus and he goes limp.

    Lee quashes the temptation to take the gun and follow the man into the afterlife.

    Someone else, an older man in overalls with a tool belt picks up the gun and drops the magazine, looking at it with shaky hands. "There are sixteen more bullets if anyone wants to go on their own terms..." he says quietly, placing the gun on a table after putting the magazine back in.

    ''Impending death does things to people. Really reveals who they are.'' Swear rolls down Lee''s forehead and into his eye, stinging him.

    The crying intern wipes away his tears and steps towards the gun, a sudden calmness to him.

    Lee screws his eyes shut and plugs his ears.

    BANG!

    Red splatters across the ceiling and another one moves on.

    The crying and panic calms in favor of numb shock, everyone now too overloaded to process everything at once. All the remaining people in the lounge slowly settle into a small group along the floor and the chatter dies down to silence. Everyone is content to wait, and no words are needed to communicate that. Outside, only the wails of the sirens remain. The cries of the guests are gone, and in their place is the distant beeping of car horns.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Lee looks down at his phone, now noticing it has no signal at all. With a sigh, he opens Pokemon Emerald again in a vain attempt to distract himself.

    "The front gate is probably clogged to all hell..." Lee murmurs, hugging his knees to his chest with his free arm. "Glad I''m not on parking lot duty today."

    A few people chuckle and the maintenance man who set the gun aside even says; "Hear hear, brother."

    Quiet falls over the group again and goes unbroken for a few only sound comes from Lee''s phone as he takes his character back to Littleroot Town.

    "So how long until..." Someone trails off.

    "That was a good 20 minutes of freakout," someone else says. "It''s can''t be long now, people. If you''ve got any regrets, out with it now."

    No one speaks up and the second speaker scoffs. "Of course..."

    Lee sighs and leans his head back, praying to whatever power that is listening to make sure the coming doom is quick, both for him and all the animals. The thought of Makiri, the cubs, Mara and her mate Jupiter, or ANY of the animals he''d come to love like people suffering fills him with a nameless dread. Why should they be killed for the mistakes of people?

    "They shouldn''t. They''re the biggest victims here, being condemned to die because forces they can''t comprehend or control don''t even consider them in the collateral damage."

    "My one regret," Lee begins, making all eyes turn to him. "Was that I could never properly tell all my charges how much I love them. I went to school and came here to learn all about animals of all sorts, and I can gauge how much they like me thanks to those lessons, but I never had a good way to tell them. The curse of a language barrier that can''t be breached I guess."

    "Jesus Lee, make the rest of us feel bad why don''t you."

    Lee turns to the speaker to retort, but stops and screams when a 2nd sun blooms in the distance. The flood of white light through the south window blinds, instantly burning lines into the left side of his face so fast he can''t even scream.

    The screaming begins again as everyone scrambles to cover their eyes. Hardly a second later, the shockwave hits. All the windows shatter into slivers of razor-sharp glass and shoot northward. Several lodge themselves into Lee''s side or fly by and open gashes, making him cry out at the sharp agony. His own scream and the rest of the world goes silent as his ears pop from the pressure. The whole room shakes and cracks like an earthquake struck the entire zoo.

    And then, FIRE

    THE FIRE THE FIRE THE FIRE THE FIRE

    EVERYTHING HURTS

    EVERYTHING BURNS

    MAKE IT STOP

    MOMMY GOD JESUS ANYONE PLEASE MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT GO AWAY

    MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP

    An instant later, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is no more.

    <hr size="1">

    Lee opens his eyes.

    A second later, he shoots up into a sitting position and coughs wet, painful coughs into his hand for almost a minute, taking wheezing breaths whenever his abused lungs would allow. He looks at his hand, grimacing at the flecks of red dotting his hand and at the copper taste coating his tongue.

    The man cranes his head around, confusion welling up inside him as he stands on unsteady legs. This is neither heaven, hell, or a hospital.

    All around is lush greenery that one would see in a fairly tropical region. A humid wind filled with the scent of recent rain blows through the leaves of the tall trees, sending a calm rustle rolling through the forest all around.

    "What the fuck..?" Lee murmurs, turning only to hiss as the movement pulls at the glass stuck into his side. He gingerly touches a large shard that shredded through his khaki shirt and stuck itself in his left side with a wince. While looking at his side, he notices the dark lines burned into the side of his shirt, probably from where the bright light shined in through the blinds. So he probably...

    Lee touches a finger to the left side of his face and pulls it away, biting back a scream. A trio of lines are burned into his face, one just barely missing his eye. The flesh is cooked and bubbled in some places.

    "Don''t touch my face, good to know..." he says to himself, returning his attention to the glass in his side. He grits his teeth "This is gonna suck," he says, gripping the largest bit of glass. With a wet schlick! the shard slips out and Lee bites his lip to hold back a scream. He quickly yanks what shards he can out and lets the bloody glass fall to the grassy ground. Thankfully none are in so deep that he risks bleeding out.

    With that out of the way, Lee reaches in his back pocket and takes out a small folding knife. With a few quick cuts, his still whole right sleeve is made into several sloppy bandages. "Thank God for small mercies," the man mutters, thankful his shirt is a button-up and not a pullover that he''d have to drag over his burns.

    A moment later, his cuts are covered and his tattered shirt is buttoned back on.

    "Now, where the fuck am I?" He murmurs, weary.

    Lee turns around carefully, trying to make heads or tails of his location. Could he have been picked up by the blast and flung here? He shakes his head. "What kind of cartoony shit is that? And I distinctly remember being on fire."

    Just the phantom sensation of being engulfed in flame paralyzes the zookeeper and makes his heart hammer. Sweat dots his brow and he struggles to breathe, his mind convinced that opening his mouth will let the nuclear flames in.

    "Ta. Taillow!" A voice with a trill to it calls.

    "Zag?" Another voice asks with a questioning whine.

    The strange, almost child-like voices snap Lee from his vision. With a gasp and a blink, he whirls around and comes face to face with something, or a pair of somethings he instantly recognizes.

    Less than ten feet away stands a living, breathing, Zigzagoon and a Taillow, both watching him carefully. A pair of fucking Pokemon.

    Lee gulps and stares back. "I''ve lost it. This is my brain flooding with hormones for a nice vision before I''m burned to ash. There is no other explanation."

    The Zigzagoon is just as he remembers them. Short and stubby with a cute face and the distinct zig-zag pattern to its fur, but there is a realness that any game or show lacks. Zigzagoon has individual strands of fur that gently flow in the breeze and its eyes gleam. It blinks and twitches its nose in little sniffs.

    The Taillow is just as real, with actual feathers composing its form rather than just solid color. On its beak, Lee sees several scratches and minor discoloration telling him it''s not been eating a balanced diet. Its talons knead the dirt under it anxiously.

    "This can''t be real."

    Zigzagoon tilts its head and Taillow narrows its eyes.

    ''Shit, I said that aloud.''

    Lee slowly dips into a crouch to make himself seem smaller and less threatening.

    Taillow''s form eases and Zigzagoon steps a little closer, its tail slowly wagging.

    Zigzagoon''s eyes scan over Lee, and he swears he sees the Pokemon''s gaze become sympathetic as it looked over the wounds upon him. The little Pokemon steps even closer, coming almost to arms length. Zigzagoon finally looks over its shoulder to Taillow, letting out a; "Zagoon. Zig zigzagoon!" that sounds imploring.

    Taillow looks over Lee with an appraising eye, its eyes lingering on the burns on his cheek, before it spread its wings and took off into the forest, vanishing like a specter into the branches.

    The little raccoon look-alike seems elated if its body language offers any tells and fearlessly steps closer, now within arms reach.

    Lee slowly, carefully reaches a hand out, pushing down the twinge of childish excitement that suddenly wants to rise out "You''re a friendly one, eh? My favorite," he says, gently laying a hand on the Pokemon''s head.

    Zigzagoon happily preens under the compliment and accepts the gentle scratch behind its ear with a croon. Lee takes the time to marvel at the feeling of the stiff, backwards-facing fur.

    Suddenly, Taillow returns and lands beside Zigzagoon. Only years of ''Don''t make sudden movements'' being beaten into Lee''s head keep him from flinching.

    Taillow carries a pair of small, blue fruits held by the stems in its beak. The small bird looks at Lee critically before dropping both fruit at his feet and hopping backward two steps. Zigzagoon likewise backs up several steps and looks up at him patiently.

    "They''re giving these to me?"

    A second look at the fruit tells him exactly why.

    At his feet is both an Oran berry and a Rawst berry. A berry that restores lost health points and a berry that cures burns.

    One side of Lee knows that Pokemon are intelligent of course, but the other side is utterly blown away that a pair of animals could diagnose injuries and acquire treatment, for a stranger no less.

    The man gives both Pokemon a smile, careful not to bare his teeth. "Thank you both so much."

    Taillow just nods, seemingly not thinking this is a big deal, but Zigzagoon trundles up and rubs its face against Lee''s knee with an affectionate bark.

    With a smile, the man picks up the Rawst berry first. "Chase the bitter one with the sweet one." Then he stops. "Am I really about to accept a pair of fruits I''ve never seen before from a pair of anomalous creatures?"

    He pops the Rawst berry into his mouth and chews quickly, trying not to cringe at the impressive bitterness that such a small fruit could pack. Both Pokemon before him watch with no small amount of amusement as he grabs the Oran immediately after swallowing the Rawst, again eating the thing quickly.

    Lee almost gags when the sweet Oran doesn''t wash down the Rawst flavor, but instead mingles with it into a disgusting new flavor. "Ech. Did you two know this would happen?"

    Taillow actually smirks, a facial expression an avian should not be able to make while Zigzagoon replies with a "Goon!"

    Once both berries are down, the pain from all of Lee''s injuries fades to a dull ache and the throbbing, molten pain of his burned face eases to a much more bearable sting. He tentatively touches his face to find that action isn''t pure agony any longer. He takes a deep breath, noting the wet wheeze he had was gone.

    Incredible. Just incredible. His inner academic yearns to know the hows and whys of berries.

    Again, Lee finds himself smiling. "Thank you both again. I won''t forget you."

    Both Pokemon actually smile. Taillow spreads its wings and Zigzagoon turns to leave.

    "Wait!"

    The Pokemon halt and look at Lee, Zigzagoon with curiosity and Taillow with suspicion.

    "Can you..." he stops, almost feeling foolish. "Can you tell me where the nearest human settlement is? I''m.. not really from around here."

    Taillow rolls its eyes. "Tailllllow," it says, sounding condescending. Nonetheless, the small bird flits up to a branch and points its beak to the east. It then takes flight and vanishes into the forest.

    Zigzagoon is quick to follow, but not before throwing a quick "Goon!" over its shoulder.

    Once again, Lee is alone.

    The zookeeper pushes away the mental breakdown that desperately wants out and starts walking east at a slow pace. No matter what happened, he needs to find other people to help him and hope he doesn''t stumble into a nuclear crater. As he walks, Lee takes stock of himself.

    "I''m hurt, tired, lost, have zero supplies, and I''m probably hallucinating" He closes his eyes and sighs. "At least those berries worked."

    Lee pats down his pockets, finding everything where it should be. His radio is still on his belt, but it only takes one look to see that it''s chassis is cracked down the middle and the innards look like they''ve been microwaved, he observes with a groan. His folding knife and wallet are in his back pocket. His phone somehow survived, albeit with a cracked screen, but then...

    As Lee was putting his phone back, his finger runs over something cool, metal, and spherical at the bottom of his pocket. Curious, he wraps his fingers around it and pulls the tiny sphere out.

    In his hand is a pokeball, shrunken into it traveling form.

    "No fucking way..."

    He presses the button several times, watching mystified as the ball grows and shrinks over and over before his eyes. "Did Taillow or Zigzagoon sneak this onto me?" he asks no one, tossing the ball up and down, only for it to slip from his fingers and fall to the ground.

    The ball bounces once and then snaps open with a flash of energy, making Lee jump back with a yelp. The energy collects to a single point and forms a small, quadrupedal figure before fading, leaving a creature behind.

    Brown eyes blink and look up at the gobsmacked human. An ear with a little heart mark flicks.

    Before him stands a Vulpix. His Vulpix.

    "Oh. Shit."

    <hr size="1">

    The first thing Vulpix does once her ball opens is take a deep breath of air.

    The scents of the forest, the dirt, the trees, the water, the grass and mingle in her nose, telling her countless things about her surroundings before she can even blink the stars from her vision. She remembers an incredible victory over the Rock-type gym leader, where her own trainer commanded her like a professional. He and her working in tandem led the entire other team to ruin.

    A young Fire type demolishing a team of experienced Rock types. Alone. Power never mattered overly much to her, but such explosive growth appealed to a much more primal part of her Pokemon psyche. A part she could not and would not deny.

    Her human was never the affectionate sort, and would keep her in her ball most of the time. With a flare of her budding psychic powers, Vulpix scans for her opponent as her vision clears, but finds naught but her trainer.

    Curious.

    After a few seconds that seem like an eternity, Vulpix''s vision adjusts from the sudden flash of her own materialization, and before her stands... a human who isn''t her trainer. He''s taller different in the face, clad in unusual, tattered clothes,... and coated in injuries.

    But this human''s psychic signature feels just like her trainer. Exactly like him. She knows there is no such thing as a perfect psychic spoof. It can''t be done. Vulpix wars with herself, fighting the desire to try and comfort her trainer(?) over his injuries and the logical side of her that says to wait and be wary of tricks.

    And things... look different. Sharper. Dare she say more detailed? Strange happenings are abound.

    Vulpix blinks and looks around, not recognizing anything. With a flick of her ear, she sits and waits, content with having her trainer(?) lead the conversation.

    <hr size="1">

    Lee blanks out.

    Before him is the crux of his latest team, looking at him coolly with at least some level of recognition. Actual recognition, as in she knows who he is. Somehow. He takes out his phone and boots up his emulator for Pokemon Emerald. On starting up, he opens his pokemon menu.

    And it''s empty. His Vulpix, his only Pokemon, is missing.

    The game promptly freezes and crashes.

    He puts the phone away, thinking over the implications.

    Again, he falls back into his training and crouches down slowly, Vulpix''s eyes watching carefully. Lee hesitates for a minute with Vulpix just watching, before he finally takes a deep breath and begins "Vulpix? I know this is going to sound really stupid, but what is the last thing you remember?"

    Vulpix tilts her head, carefully regarding him with her chocolate eyes. The little vulpine then looks around and spies a small rock sticking up from the ground. She trots to the rock, then breathes a short tongue of flame onto it before giving it a little kick, knocking it over.

    This sudden appearance of the flame makes Lee go still, but he snaps himself back to reality a second later. "So our victory over Roxanne?"

    Vulpix simply nods.

    Again Lee stops to think. "Alrighty, girl. Lets walk-n-talk. We want to get to a town before nightfall and I''ve got a lot of things to cover. I urge you to listen to me until the end."

    The little fox responds with a demure sigh and stands to follow.

    Lee stands himself and stretches his limbs with a held-back yawn. The energy given to him by that Oran is beginning to fade. He starts his leisurely pace east again with Vulpix easily falling in step to his left. As they walk, he mulls over his explanation.

    "How does one explain... well, all this shit to a superpowered animal without getting killed?" The zookeeper wonders with a sigh. "Or, do I even need to explain it?" He wonders, thinking back to some of the older Dex entries for Vulpix and Ninetails. "Ninetails is explicitly said to have mind control powers in one of the gen III Dexs. That means some way to connect minds together. Could Vulpix have a lesser form of that ability?" The man then starts second-guessing himself. "Do I really want to let her into my head? Sure, I can say I know how psychic powers work from the show, but this isn''t the show. At least I don''t think. If I don''t though, then everything I say is going to sound crazy. ''Hey, I dunno how either of us got here, but I was in a fiery holocaust and I''m sure you were in a video game before that.'' Even in a world as wack as Pokemon, that''s weird."

    "Vulpix?" Lee asks, looking down at her. "I''ll be honest, I don''t quite know how to explain what exactly happened. It''s... kind of unbelievable. So much so that I almost don''t believe it. I know your line has some level of psychic power. Can I possibly show you the memories?"

    "Excluding some parts, of course. I can''t scar my only Pokemon."

    Vulpix looks up and regards Lee with some surprise in her eyes. She stops and jumps to Lee''s shoulders with a deft hop, taking care to drape herself over his right shoulder and to keep her tails away from his burns. Lee and Vulpix lock eyes less than an inch away, and her large chocolate eyes begin to glow a dark red.

    Lee gulps and brings his daily life in the zoo to the forefront, showing Vulpix what he did for a living, then shifted to his phone.

    He can FEEL Vulpix looking over his mental shoulder into the memory of the phone screen, where a perfect digital copy of herself was. He could feel the countless questions bubbling in her, but she remained silent. He shifted his mind to his trainer avatar, then back to himself, correcting her image of him.

    Finally, he shifts the memory to the very tail end of... his death?

    The alarm that shoots through Vulpix nearly makes him stumble.

    A flash, then pain. Unearthly pain.

    Fire.

    Fire.

    FIRE.

    SKIN BOILING

    FLESH MELTING

    BONES SPLINTERING.

    TURN.

    TO.

    ASH.

    "...!"

    Lee snaps out of the short flashback, his chest heaving and the sensation of burning. He looks to his right shoulder, seeing the horrified face of Vulpix.

    "No. She saw everything." The man feels himself go cold, like a lump of ice was dumped into his stomach. "Why the fuck did I think this was a good idea?! Jesus fuck man try to think things through!"

    The fox takes shaky breaths and fights back tears in an unnervingly human display as a pitiful whine builds in her throat. She pins her ears back and looks away.

    Lee keeps her pokeball pocketed. If she runs, then he has no right to pursue. He''ll break the ball and free her.

    For a long moment, man and fox stand there. Then Lee jumps when a cold nose nuzzles into his neck. "V-Vulpix?"

    Vulpix meets his eyes with hers, but stays nuzzled to his neck.

    "You''re," the man stops and thinks over his words. "You''re not going to run and leave? I won''t stop you."

    The fox bares her teeth and growls as pure offense flashes across her whole face. Merely suggesting she leave seems to make her almost enraged. Her body heats up before she suddenly stops and lets it cool down again.

    Lee gulps and turns away, holding up a hand in surrender. "L-Look. I was just saying. If you don''t want to, then that''s fine too. I''m more than happy to have you."

    With those words, Vulpix visibly calms and huffs, holding her head high as she steadily meets her trainer''s gaze. A firm growl rolls in her throat, and it''s easily interpreted as ''I am not leaving. Don''t ask again.''

    Despite all the day''s great misfortunes, Lee feels a little of that childish excitement from earlier return. Here he is, with a Pokemon of his own!

    The time to cry and mourn is later. For now wonder can have the front seat.

 Act 1: Chapter 2

    "Little Root Town?"

    "?"

    After about thirty minutes of walking, the treeline had thinned until vanishing altogether, showing the ragged man and little fox on his shoulder a quaint hamlet with an ocean port to the south. The muggy forest air faded away in favor of a rolling breeze smelling of salt.

    "Must be Little Root," Lee muses aloud. "That Taillow and Zigzagoon were pretty concrete evidence that this is Hoenn, and this place is much too small to be Slateport or Lilycove. We won''t have to run all over hell''s half-acre to find Birch then. I guess something had to go right for us, eh?"

    Vulpix says nothing, but the short purr in her throat tells Lee she acknowledges his words.

    "Here''s hoping Birch finds us to be enough of a scientific curiosity to be worth helping," Lee says as he walks, "because if not, things could get rough for a while..." he finishes with a grimace.

    Vulpix noses Lee''s cheek with a demure murr, making the man smile and reach up to pet her. Vulpix accepts the affection with a small smile of her own, even leaning into the hand.

    Lee grins. Again, a childish giddiness pushes away the day''s negativity and all the buzzing questions all thanks to the fact that he has a real pokemon! He is a Pokemon Trainer!

    ''Or I''m one in spirit at least. I know it''s not as simple as having a pokemon = trainer. Paperwork, here I come.'' Lee thinks. A moment later, another thought hits him. ''Oh shit, I have no legal ID here. I seriously doubt my driver''s license and zoo ID will work. It will certainly add some credibility to my story, but Jesus, having no paperwork for either myself or Vulpix is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare. I bet all the money in my wallet is useless too, and I know my credit card is trash now.''

    Yet another problem on the pile fails to bring down Lee''s spirits though. ''Because If I don''t think positive at this point I''m going to have a fucking stroke.''

    Lee and Vulpix clear the flat, grassy clearing to the east of Little Root and into the town proper, where a handful of townsfolk walk here and there around the apparent shopping district they stumbled into. Several Pokemon are out with their humans too. A Machop down the street lifts up one end of a car with little strain as a man changes a flat tire. A Poochyna holds its own leash, looking bored as its teen girl owner slips inside a small shop to gawk at handbags. Down a sidestreet closer to the pier, an Alolan Marowak and a tanned, shirtless man put on a street show for a small crowd of cheering people and pokemon.

    It''s... Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

    "Vul?"

    Lee snaps back to awareness when his own pokemon questions him. He tilts his head to meet her big brown eyes. "Ah, sorry about that, love. I guess I got caught up looking around."

    Vulpix accepts the apology with a short, inquiring purr in her throat. ''What now?'' he interprets it as.

    "First, we find Birch," Lee begins, holding up a finger. "Then, we give him the abridged and edited version of our story," another finger goes up. "Finally, make a case that we''re interesting enough to help. If I can nab a job, we can grease the wheels of quite a few of our problems."

    "Just from the look of you, you must have some story."

    Lee tenses and Vulpix jumps, almost slipping off her human''s shoulders. Lee turns around slowly and blinks at who he sees.

    Grinning with his hands held behind his head is a young Brendan Birch, the son of the man Lee is looking for.

    Brendan''s eyes widen when Lee turns. "Oh jeez, man. You didn''t look that bad from behind," the preteen winces, trying not to touch his own face when he looks at Lee''s burns. "Uh, do you need a hospital visit?"

    Lee waves the kid''s concern away. "Don''t worry about it. It can wait until later. My name is Lee, and this is Vulpix. And you?"

    The boy smiles. "Brendan Birch. Nice to meet ya!" he says, thrusting a hand out for a handshake. Lee takes his hand and gives it a single firm shake. "I''m gonna guess when you say you were looking for Birch, you mean my dad, right?"

    "Depends, is your dad Professor Birch?" Lee asks, playing dumb.

    Brendan nods. "MmmHmm! Hoenn''s own Premier Pokemon Professor!" he exclaims with obvious pride. "What do you need to meet him for? Some kinda research project?"

    "Of a sort," Lee says with a nebulous wave of his hand, sidestepping the topic. "I have a proposal for him, one regarding... the raising of pokemon in a unique training environment. I''m certain the results will produce pokemon that deviate significantly from the norm and might even shift the paradigm of modern pokemon training."

    ''I hope he doesn''t realize I''m full of shit.''

    Brendan raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms. "That''s awfully vague and scammy sounding. And you don''t look like the professor type."

    Lee shrugs. "If I just blurt out the details, what''s stopping anyone from taking my idea and taking credit for it?"

    And indeed, a few people have stopped to watch the professor''s son and the torn-up stranger talk.

    "That makes sense..." Brendan grumbles. "I don''t think dad has anything scheduled for today anyway, so I don''t see the harm in taking you to the lab. You looked kinda lost."

    "We blew into town just today," Lee replies, following once Brendan turns and starts to walk. "Vulpix and I appreciate the help, by the way."

    "Vul!" Vulpix chimes in.

    Brendan grins and looks back. "Hey no prob! So how long have you been a trainer anyway? You must be really traveled if you''ve got a Vulpix! Can I see the rest of your team?"

    Lee and Vulpix share a look. The little vulpine doesn''t need to say anything, as her eyes alone tell him ''consider your words.''

    "Not that long, actually, and Vulpix is my only pokemon." ''At the moment.'' Lee reaches up to pet Vulpix along her neck. "It all actually ties into the proposal I have for the professor. How about yourself? You must have an impressive team with a professor as a dad."

    Brendan either doesn''t notice the focus shift upon him or ignores it. The boy slumps and groans. "I don''t have a pokemon yet. Dad won''t bend the rules for me. Once the newest starter batch shows up from the breeders, then I can finally start being a trainer!" He says, perking back up and dramatically pumping a fist.

    ''Sunny kid,'' Lee muses, still gently stroking Vulpix''s plush fur and making the little fox slowly relax across his shoulders. "Any idea who you want?"

    "Mudkip, no contest. Ever since I saw Wallace''s Swampert one-shot the finalist Chesnaught with a single Hydro Pump in the Ace of Aces tourney last year, I''ve been set on Mudkip and one day Swampert," Brendan gushes with a grin, his eyes alight. "Did you see that tourney?! Chesnaught was thrown off his feet by that Hydro Pump and almost went through the arena wall!"

    "I must have missed it."

    The boy scoffs as the lab begins to take shape in the distance. "I''ve got it saved. When you''re done with dad I can show you. It was insane!"

    The rest of the short walk is spent with much less interesting small-talk.

    Birch''s lab is a modest place. It''s an arched, 2-story building atop a gentle, grassy hill with a rather homey look to it. It would have been easily missed if not for the sign out front declaring "Pokemon Research Center. Head Prof: Birch." Further behind the lab, a fenced-off corral housing a breathtaking number of pokemon expands hundreds of meters back all the way into the forest. In front of the lab is a plain, parked jeep, probably Birch''s

    Brendan walks up to the front door and throws it open without a care, almost bowling over some poor lab aide in glasses. "Sorry, Dave! Hey dad! There''s someone here to meet you! He''s not in a pimp suit and actually has a Pokemon so he''s probably not a scammer!" He calls, running into a side room and out of sight.

    Lee coughs into his fist to hide the laugh that bubbled out of him and looks around.

    The lab looks much like it is in the game. A wide space with several computers, sci-fi level machines, and bookshelves along the wall. One aide is manning one of the PCs while another is near the corner writing on a notepad as a Lotad before him picks at a bowl of food. The one named Dave grumbles at almost being run over and walks up to Lee. "Ah, sorry about Brendan. He didn''t hassle you too much, did he?"

    "Him? Nah. Lee, by the way. And this is Vulpix," he introduces, gesturing to both himself and his pokemon.

    ''My pokemon. That''s not ever going to get old.''

    "A pleasure. My name is Dave if Brendan didn''t make it obvious," Dave says with a smile and nod. The smile morphs into a frown as he takes in Lee''s form. "Ah, do you need some first aid? You''re looking a little... rough?" He trails off, eyes lingering on the burns across Lee''s face and shirt.

    "I''m no stranger to a bit of pain," Lee waves his concern away. "I have some cuts that could use a wash if you have a restroom I could borrow for a moment, but other than that I''m fine and don''t want to impose too much."

    The aide frowns a little more. "If you''re certain. Still, there is a first aid kit under the sink if you need it. The restroom is the first door on the left," he says, adjusting his glasses before pointing down the hallways Brendan vanished through. "I''ll let the professor know where you are if you''re not back by the time he arrives."

    Lee offers a short thanks and turns to the bathroom.

    <hr>

    Lee finishes buttoning up his shirt, careful not to catch it on the gauze now wrapped around his middle. The makeshift bandages made from his sleeve didn''t hold up well and were messily crusted with blood when he pulled them off, so he reluctantly made use of the first aid kit in the sink cupboard. A dab of stinging disinfectant and a little help in the form of Vulpix holding the gauze taut later, and his cuts were treated.

    Then he looks at his face for the first time since the blast.

    Three near-perfect lines the thickness of his pinky are burned into the left side of his face at an angle. The flesh is a raised, painful, angry red, practically still fresh.

    ''Because it is.''

    The topmost burn narrowly missed his eye, carving through part of his scalp and eyebrow instead down to the base of his nose. The next one is just under his eye, the line going from his temple to his lip. The last one burned away some of his sideburns and went down to his chin. It looks like someone took red-hot claws and raked them down his face.

    Not wanting to lament his ruined face all day, the burns get some ointment to ease their stinging and are promptly ignored.

    Finally, he gives his hair and face a rinse to take the most noticeable bits of grime off. Vulpix watches the entire process from the lidded toilet with her placid expression.

    "Alrighty, girl," Lee says, glancing in the mirror one last time. "Let''s head back."

    Vulpix hops down and follows without a word.

    "...bably the real deal. I mean he''s got the whole hermit look and everything," Brendan tells the frowning, elder Birch as Lee rounds the corner into the lab''s main room. Brendan looks over and smiles. "Hey, Mr. Lee! Tell my dad about the training thing you were proposing!"

    Professor Birch, a stout, shaggy man who looks to be in his 30s, turns away from his son to face Lee.

    Despite the man''s carefree, almost goofy demeanor in the anime, Birch regards Lee with a critical eye. Birch''s gaze doesn''t linger in any one place for too long, taking in and dissecting all of Lee with intensity, and maybe even a level of hostility.

    Lee jumps a little when Vulpix slips between his legs and seats herself between himself and Birch. The little vulpine sports a cool expression, but he can see the coiled muscles in her legs and withers.

    The professor eases and even smiles when he notices Vulpix. "Oh, sorry about that, little miss," he says with a sheepish laugh. "I didn''t mean to come off as hostile. We just get more than a few uh, interesting proposals from all sorts of people. If you''re so willing to jump to your trainer''s defense, then he can''t be a bad guy."

    Vulpix lets the tension in her small body fade and instead looks up at Lee. Again, she jumps to his shoulders and settles herself around his neck like a warm, furry scarf. Lee can''t help but smile and pet the fox, earning him a positive purr.

    Professor Birch clears his throat. "Ah, sorry about the ugly look, Mr. Lee. As I said, we get some real characters showing up at the lab time from time for any number of reasons, and as the League Professor for Hoenn, I''m obligated to hear everyone out regarding anything pokemon related no matter what it is... Even if it''s something as dumb as trying to pass off gold spray-painted Feebas as some new subspecies," he grumbles the last, but composes himself and holds out a hand. "Professor Nigel Birch, at your service."

    Lee grasps the offered hand in a firm shake and offers the professor a smile. "Lee Henson, a pleasure to meet you, professor. And just Lee is fine."

    Birch smiles back. "So, Brendan tells me you have some sort of unique training style to present? I have to admit that I''m curious. You have the look and standing of a seasoned trainer so I can only imagine that you''ve developed something quite special."

    ''Make or break time. Birch is a goodhearted man, but don''t fuck this up.''

    Lee slowly nods. "Unique is a good word for it. I don''t mean to be rude, professor, but can we discuss the details in private?" He asks, giving the curious Brendan a sidelong look. "Some of the details are... sensitive I guess. It''s nothing against you, Brendan."

    The boy hums and folds his arms behind his head. "Don''t worry, I getcha. You don''t want your secret techniques getting out. It''s a smart move, because if I got my hands on them, then it''ll be too easy for me to overtake old guys like you," he says with a grin. "I want some challenge."

    "I''m twenty-four you brat."

    Brendan turns on his heel and walks off, arms still folded behind his head. "Okay, whatever old man. That''s a whole twelve years between you and me. Don''t bust a hip."

    "Yeah yeah, get outta here."

    "I will, cuz my hip isn''t busted."

    "You woulda had a busted ass in my day for that lip."

    Brendan snorts and laughs, grabbing a backpack by the front door and taking off back out into Little Root.

    Lee turns back to Birch, who has his face held in his hands. "Sorry about him," Birch mutters, dragging his hands down his face. "He''s got the same rude mouth I did at his age."

    The younger man waves away the older''s concern. "He''s a kid. It''s what they do. He was pretty mild and not really offensive compared to what I''m used to dealing with."

    Birch straightens up and a smile returns to his visage. "Alright, I''ve got a small meeting room in the back. We can talk privately there."

    The professor turns to lead Lee to the back of the lab, but Lee stops for a moment. "Professor?"

    Birch stops as well, turning to Lee with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

    "Do you have a Psychic-type on hand? Some of the things I have to say are kind of... hard to swallow I guess?" Lee looks away briefly from a sudden spike in nervousness. "Having a second listener that can''t be lied to might make this easier for you to believe."

    Birch''s earlier caution is back as his face hardens, but he nods. "I do. My Medicham isn''t a true mind reader, but he can read brainwaves and separate lies from truths. Do you really think that what you have to say is so outrageous?"

    "One hundred percent."

    Birch dips a hand into his lab coat and pulls out a weathered pokeball covered in nicks and scuffs. It bursts open in his hands, and in a flash of white light, a Medicham materializes by his side.

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The short humanoid glances at Birch, then at Lee and Vulpix, utterly dismissing them as a threat.

    ''Probably for good reason,'' Lee muses, looking at the whipcord muscles rippling under Medicham''s scar-pockmarked skin. In the corner of his eye, he can see Vulpix frown at being overlooked so easily, but she doesn''t make a fuss.

    "Medicham," Birch begins, making the pokemon instantly turn his attention to his trainer. "My friend here says he has some outlandish things to explain and suggested your help in verifying them. Can you passively scan and be a lie detector for us please?"

    Medicham nods without a word.

    The pair of men and pokemon continue on to the back, passing several aides who look at Medicham pensively. Birch stops before a door on the right and opens it, flipping on the lights to reveal a small room with several chairs and a table between them. Both men step inside and seat themselves with Vulpix still on Lee''s shoulders and Medicham opting to stand by Birch with crossed arms.

    "Alrighty," Birch says, folding his hands and leaning on the table. "Whenever you''re ready, Lee. Medicham?"

    The Fighting/Psychic''s eyes glow the slightest amount.

    ''Don''t. Fuck. Up.''

    "Okay... jeez I almost don''t know how to open this..." Lee says, running gentle fingers over his burn. "I don''t even have all the details myself here. I''ll be frank, professor. This isn''t exactly regarding some super-secret training method. It could if everything goes well, but..."

    Birch and Medicham exchange glances.

    Lee runs his hand through his hair and sighs. Vulpix cuddles a little closer and noses his cheek, looking at him with her soulful chocolate eyes. The man tries to pull as much strength as he can from his little fox and continues. "Professor, this is going to be a leap, but what do you know about the Multiverse theory?"

    Birch''s hard face melts into confusion. "I''ve not studied it in-depth, but I''m aware of the basics. Everything that could happen is either happening, already happened, or is going to happen in another universe, right? Why bring that up?"

    Lee steels himself. No going back now. "I''m not from this universe, professor. Through a method I''m still trying to puzzle out, I''ve been ripped away from my home dimension and brought here with nothing but what I have on me. The trip is why I look so roughed up. I came to you because I need help from someone trustworthy."

    The pokemon professor goes totally still, then turns to Medicham slowly. The pokemon lets out a breath through his nose and gives one quick nod.

    The whole room is silent for almost a solid, agonizing minute as Lee waits for Birch''s retort. Birch just stares at the younger man with an expression that he can''t place, making him squirm.

    ''I knew it. I knew this wasn''t going to end well. I''m going to get called crazy then that''s the end, game over. Life in a padded cell. I really need to learn how to think things through.''

    Vulpix''s cheek suddenly being nuzzled to his takes the edge off his panic, but Lee can still feel his heart hammering.

    Finally, Birch lets out a sigh and breaks his intense stare. "Well, uh. That''s quite... something? Medicham knows you''re not lying, but please understand this still sounds crazy, and Medicham''s scanning isn''t perfect. If it''s a delusion that is strongly believed, his scan can be fooled. Do you have anything to back this up?"

    Hope begins to build in Lee''s heart. Birch might believe him. He takes his wallet and phone from his pocket and hands both over. "Here. See if these seem familiar in the least bit."

    Birch opens the wallet and takes a look at Lee''s driver''s license, inspecting it carefully. "State of Ohio?" He asks, moving the card around to see the different holographic layers embedded in it.

    "My home," Lee supplies. "One of fifty individual states that makes up the collective nation of the United States of America."

    Birch nods absently and looks at the money and credit card inside the wallet. "Fifty states huh? Must be a governing nightmare," he quips. "I''m assuming Chase is the bank?" he asks, holding up Lee''s credit card.

    "A bank, yes."

    "Don''t you mean the bank?" Birch asks with a raised brow.

    Lee frowns. "A bank. Chase was the one to screw me over the least so I went with them. Though with how they''ve been wanting to nickel and dime me recently, I''m almost happy to be here just out of spite."

    Birch mouths ''nickel and dime?'' and replaces the license and credit card before pulling out the small handful of dollar bills in the wallet. "Physical banknotes?" he asks, sounding incredulous. "Not every day you see these. These went out of style years ago. Inf fact, the bank doesn''t even print new bills anymore. And what''s a dollar?"

    "Well, physical currency protects against the dangers of having an account hacked or a catastrophic failure and/or attack destroying someone''s account." Lee shrugs.

    Birch shakes his head. "With the number of Porygon that the bank employ, any attack on the bank, physical or electronic, is doomed to fail. Physical bills are just a liability now. Does ''Chase'' not use Porygon or something?" He asks with some mirth as if the notion was ridiculous.

    "There were no pokemon in my dimension, so they really can''t."

    Birch completely freezes, his eyes widening to an almost impossible degree. Medicham mirrors his trainer, staring at Lee with shocked eyes. Birch recovers and looks over to Medicham, who can only gulp and nod.

    Lee tries not to squirm as both stare him down, saying nothing. ''I guess that is kind of a big bomb to drop outta nowhere.''

    Vulpix growls and slides down from Lee''s shoulder, landing on the table and standing defensively in front of him, her tails flared and a growl in her throat.

    "Vulpix, please, there''s no need for that," Lee says gently, carefully picking up the vixen and settling her in his lap. Vulpix doesn''t fight, but the growl in her throat remains.

    Birch finally speaks up again. "I believe you."

    Vulpix stops growling and Lee''s head shoots up, elation filling him.

    ''No way.''

    The professor sighs and slumps in his seat, his face lost. He takes a moment to formulate any words. "No pokemon? I can''t even... comprehend a world like that. I don''t think anyone can. I have so many whys and hows I want to ask, but I don''t think I''d understand. Not even the most deranged person could say "there was no pokemon in my alternate dimension" and honestly believe it, and no one sane would come up with such an unthinkable lie," Birch says, leaning back in his chair and holding a palm to his forehead. "Medicham backing you up and all the hard-to-fake bits and bobs you have make for a compelling argument too, so... Wait..."

    He sits back up and stares at Lee and Vulpix. "If you are from a dimension with no pokemon, where did you get Vulpix? Or even know about pokemon? And how did you know about me for that matter?"

    Lee mulls over his answer. "Can you pass me my phone?"

    Birch slides the cracked phone over to Lee. "A phone huh? I guess that makes sense, though I thought it was some old pokegear or a pokedex."

    "That''s not inaccurate," Lee says, unlocking the phone and scrolling through his apps to his emulator. "As for how I know about pokemon, they don''t truly exist back home, but were a popular media franchise that had everything from toys, games, movies, TV shows, you name it. Pokemon was a cultural phenomenon that started twenty years back and bridged the generation gap with ease. I guess I never quite outgrew pokemon..." He says quietly. "As for how I got Vulpix, I have a theory, but the exact how and why is still a mystery. Here, look at this."

    Lee shows the phone screen to Birch, who leans in with open interest. "This is one of the games I mentioned. I frequent it when on break at work and whatnot. I know you since you''re briefly featured at the beginning to give the player the first pokemon and the mission to complete the pokedex. I just started a new game in the Hoenn region, and with some code finagling, got a random starter in the form of Vulpix here."

    "Me in a video game, huh? I hope they were flattering at least," Birch quips as Lee clicks open the menu and opens the ''Pokemon'' option, showing a solitary Vulpix in the lead slot.

    "This is from an older save state of the game. In the newest..."

    Lee opens the save state menu and clicks on the newest one. Again, he opens the pokemon menu, showing Birch an empty menu. The game music gets stuck as the game freezes and then crashes.

    The professor connects the dots instantly. "No. You think that..?"

    "Something took Vulpix from the game and deposited her with me?" Lee finishes, closing his phone and storing it away. "I don''t have any other explanation," he says, running a hand through Vulpix''s soft tuft of breast fur, the vixen rewarding him with a coo of appreciation. "A pokeball with a Vulpix that somehow knows me appearing in my pocket the exact same time that this game with a Vulpix spontaneously corrupts itself seems suspect even after all the crazy shit that''s happened to me today."

    Birch nods along absently before leaning back. "Medicham? Can you get me some aspirin please?"

    The pokemon, who has been silent the entire time, powers down his psychic power and slips out the door without a single sound.

    "Sorry for the headache, professor."

    The older man waves away the sheepish apology. "It''s fine, Lee. If I was in your shoes, I would do the same thing if I could stop freaking out long enough," he says, leaning back up. "How did you end up in our world anyway?" he asks, leaning forward in interest.

    "Again, I have only theories, but the most likely..." Lee trails off, hesitating. "Do you know what n-nuclear fission is, professor?" He asks, resisting the urge to touch his burns.

    "Like with power plants and whatnot, yes? It''s not my field of study, but I''ve read some things and watched a few documentaries."

    "Yeah, and..." Lee gulps and suppresses his shaking. "Yeah, power plants."

    He can feel Vulpix''s eyes and hot breath on his chin. Birch notices something out of place as well and frowns. "Lee, you''re pale. If you don''t want to say, that''s okay."

    "I was caught in a nuclear explosion, one with city-leveling yield," Lee forces out as fast as he can without the words turning to mush. "I-I can speculate all day about how physics might have broken down under that kind of strain and punched a hole in space, but I''m not an expert so..." He takes a deep breath and focuses on the soft fox in his lap, forcing the image of...of...

    Skin peeling

    Flesh bubbling

    Forcing the imagery from his mind before the bile rolling in his stomach could rise into his mouth. Lee swallows dryly and takes great heaving breaths of blessedly cool and not superheated air. Sweat dots his brow and his burns pinch and sting. He loosely hugs Vulpix, who cuddles into his arms without any protest and watches his face with troubled eyes.

    Birch gulps and looks away, his expression disturbed and his hands wringing themselves. "W-well. Maybe we should move on to more pleasant topics? Was all the information on that license correct and up to date?"

    Lee blinks at the strange question. "Yeah, it was. My DL was updated just a few months back. Why?"

    "We''re going to need that info for me to sign as your sponsor."

    ''What?''

    "What?"

    Birch looks nonplussed but repeats himself. "We''re going to need that info for me to sign as your sponsor."

    "As my sponsor?" Lee questions, looking to Vulpix who just shakes her head. "I don''t follow."

    The professor groans and lightly slaps his own forehead. "Duh, Birch. Different worlds. I guess your games never went into detail about trainer sponsorships?"

    "No mention at all."

    Birch hums. "Okay, so being a sponsored trainer is a pretty simple thing. I give you a pokedex and the League fronts you a bi-weekly stipend to use as you see fit. In return, you''re considered an active trainer who operates on my behalf and represents me in official tournaments while you conduct your own studies. Basically? You get paid to battle and bring prestige to the lab, and the better you do, the better grants I get from the League and the bigger your stipend becomes. I only have two sponsor slots since I''m the newest regional professor. One is going to Brendan, but my friend Norman decided he''d pay for his daughter''s journey himself, so I have a free spot for you. Great, isn''t it?!"

    Lee sticks a pinky in his ear and rubs it around. When the digit comes back clean, he levels the grinning Birch with a flat look. "I''m sorry. I must have something crazy stuck in my ear. It sounds like you''re just handing a coveted position to me. An interdimensional stranger."

    The professor''s grin falls some. "Is this... not what you wanted?"

    "I expected a couch to crash on for a day or two as I got up to speed without anyone asking questions, and maybe being pointed to a job that a guy with no ID can do," Lee says with a shake of his head. "I just need something to keep Vulpix and myself fed and warm as I figure out my next steps. I dunno if you-"

    "I''m certain."

    Lee stops at Birch''s curt reply. "You said you came here with a revolutionary training method, and I know you were fibbing to have an excuse to talk to me, but," Birch smirks, "I think you do have a revolutionary training method, even if you don''t know it."

    The younger man blinks. "I don''t follow."

    "Answer me this, Lee. How good are you are those pokemon games? How much do you know about pokemon?" He asks. After a second of inspecting Lee''s clothing, he also adds; "And what did you do for a living back home? Something outdoorsy I take?"

    Lee thinks to himself for a moment, rubbing a circle in Vulpix''s chest tuft with a thumb. "I played competitively as a teen against other people and did fairly well with a few local tourney wins to my name. That''s more being aware of the current meta and prep than actual skill. At that age, I had pretty much the entire pokedex of every available game memorized, but that''s limited to types, movesets, stats, and whatnot with no actual biology or behavior factored in. And as for what I was, I was a zookeeper, one specialized to work with large carnivores, though I frequently lent a hand to other exhibits."

    Now Birch seems confused. "But you said there were no pokemon?"

    "There aren''t," Lee replies, stopping when Medicham returns with a glass of water and several pills for the professor.

    Birch accepts both the water and aspirin with a smile. "Thanks, friend."

    Medicham returns the smile with a small one of his own.

    The professor tosses the pills into his mouth and downs the entire glass before turning back to Lee. "Sorry about the interruption, Lee. Please keep going."

    Lee does. "Like I was saying, there aren''t pokemon back home, so animals filled their place. Think pokemon, only much less intelligent and lacking any special powers."

    "I''m aware of what animals are," Birch says, now looking at Lee with a manic, almost unsettling gleam in his eye. "They don''t exist outside special reserves and farms anymore since fighting with pokemon for territory is near impossible, but anything outside of domesticated livestock is dangerous and unpredictable. You handled carnivores of all things?"

    "A handful of scars and the Zoology degree gathering dust in my closet say so," Lee quips, leaning back into his chair. "Hell, my elder lioness, Makiri, tried to kill me this morning."

    Vulpix looks at him with ill-concealed alarm and Birch grimaces briefly before his face-hurting smile returns full force.

    "So, let me get this straight," he begins. "You have knowledge of advanced battling strategies that had to be used with the constraints of a video game, wide-spanning knowledge of both pokemon and the world, experience handling creatures much more violent and unpredictable than pokemon, and obviously the ability to comprehend advanced biological and psychological principles based on the fact that you handled animals of all things. What part of this sounds like you''d make anything other than a stellar trainer? It even shows with miss Vulpix here. You''ve had her for less than a day and already she''s gladly jumped to your defense several times."

    Lee bites his lip and looks down at Vulpix.

    The vixen in his lap looks up back at him, her eyes narrowed just the slightest amount.

    "If I didn''t think you were worth the investment, then I wouldn''t offer," Birch keeps going, leaning forward. "This opens countless doors for you, Lee. I... don''t really know where to begin on getting you back home, but this is a good stopgap for you at least?"

    "Short of tracking down and beseeching Palkia to help me somehow, I don''t think I''m getting back," Lee mutters, crossing his arms as he feels a headache start to form. "I need to care for Vulpix now, after all. Not that I have anything to return to anyway."

    Oh.

    Oh no.

    It''s all gone.

    It wasn''t just him destroyed. The Zoo, his friends, his family, his animals.

    All of them are gone. Gone without the peace ignorance of their fate could have brought.

    Even if he went back there is nothing to return to.

    The realization makes Lee''s blood run cold as his eyes sting with prickling, unshed tears. The man focuses hard on the fox on his lap and pushes the mounting breakdown away, desperate to not bawl like a child in front of his pokemon and the professor.

    Vulpix shifts and noses his chin, again drawing his attention to her. She turns in his lap to face him and rears up on her hind legs, placing her front paws on his shoulders. The vixen''s eyes draw his in as she leans forward and presses her forehead to his, then the captivating eyes glow.

    Trust.

    Support.

    Empathy.

    Loyalty.

    Companionship. Always. No matter the choice.

    The raw emotions Vulpix feeds to Lee almost makes the man choke up and let out the tears he''s holding back. Each one reverbs inside his mind with incredible strength, a conviction borne of being absolute. Vulpix feels all of this for him.

    ''What in the world have I done to have someone like you at my side?''

    Vulpix''s answer is swift. Visions fly through his mind with incredible speed.

    He opens her ball, then takes the hard but right choice to explain things to her, even after the stress of living through the unthinkable and losing it all. How after that, he still regards her concerns on the same level as his, how he consults her rather than just choosing for her, and how he saw being with her as a real, valid reason for not returning home. Goodness deserves goodness.

    Again, she hammers her feelings home.

    Trust.

    Support.

    Empathy.

    Loyalty.

    Companionship. Always. No matter the choice.

    Goodness deserves goodness.

    Lee sucks in a shaking breath, glad that Vulpix''s gentle face blocks Birch from seeing the tear tracks running down his face. "Professor? Where do I sign?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "And that will do it!"

    Professor Birch takes the final paper from Lee eagerly, turning in his office chair to a scanner on a cluttered side desk. "I think this is the first step in something beautiful, Lee! Steven Stone''s rise has done a lot for Hoenn, but we''re still considered one of the weaker regions. I know you can change that when you take the world by storm! And think of all the incredible discoveries only someone with your unique talents could find!"

    Lee rolls his sore wrist and looks around the professor''s messy office. "I still think you''re overestimating me, professor. I can certainly try, but I don''t know how much I can do," he says, leaning back into his chair.

    Birch curses and smacks the scanner then turns to his newest trainer when the machine finally starts accepting the forms Birch fed into it. "Well of course you can''t do it all. Not alone, at least. If Vulpix is any indication, then you''ll have no problem building a team."

    At hearing her name, Vulpix stops pawing the oblivious Lotad that had wandered into the office and looks up. After a second, she goes back to Lotad, who finally seems to realize he''s being touched with a quiet "Tad?"

    "Vulpix is a sweetheart who took pity on my lost ass. She''s an exception, not the norm," Lee retorts. He yelps when he feels a nip on his pinky and looks down to see Vulpix glaring up at him.

    "You''re not doing a great job convincing me," Birch says with mirth. "Since you''re a special case, I''ll need to submit your paperwork to the League to get your license set up. I marked your birthplace as a ''remote region/unnamed island'' so make sure your story stays the same for anyone who asks. It''ll take a week or two to be approved, but that''s not a big deal. It''ll give you some time for self-study and recovery, and the League year recently ended too. It''ll start back up here in about a month if you want to try the gym circuit."

    ''Time to relax. Now that I could use. Today seems to have dragged on for fucking weeks and my smokes didn''t even get ported with me. What a goddamn rip.''

    "I imagine. The corner store sells cigarettes, but good luck without any ID."

    Lee''s face flushes. "I said that out loud, didn''t I?"

    Birch laughs and reaches into a drawer on his desk. "You did. I can''t make the ID show up faster, but maybe this will take your mind off it," he says, placing a device on the desk that makes Lee''s eyes widen.

    A Pokedex. An actual Pokedex. It suddenly lights up and a synthesized voice begins to play. "I am the Pokedex of Lee Henson. I was issued by Professor Birch of Hoenn. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced."

    "Yeah," Lee breathes, his chest tight. "I''ve been looking for an excuse to quit anyway. I don''t know how to thank you, professor."

    Birch slides the Pokedex closer with a smile. "I took the liberty of pre-installing a voice recorder in there for you. I want to pick your brain, Lee Henson, so I want you to log your training, studies, and discoveries and periodically turn them in to me. Even if it seems like something silly to record, please do so, and that''ll be all the thanks I need. What seems simple to you could be unique or even revolutionary in reality. Now!" Birch claps his hands together. "I think you''ve earned some rest. There is a guest room in the back for you to use. It''s a little cramped but it should fit one man and his pokemon just fine."

    Lee stands and picks up the-his Pokedex before bowing his head. "Thank you for everything, Professor. It means the world to me."

    "Vulpix!" Vulpix chimes in from his side.

    The man smiles down at his fox. "Means the world to us, I mean."

    Professor Birch waves both off with a smile. "Go rest. I''ll order some takeout or something for dinner and get you both later. Lee, close your mouth. You''re not imposing if I charge it as a lab expense."

    Lee lets his protest die in his mouth with a sigh. "Fine. I''m too tired to argue anyway." He looks down to Vulpix. "Let''s scoot, love. I need a nap."

    The man and fox leave Birch to his work and head to the back of the lab as he instructed. With every step, Lee feels himself slump a little more as an all-encompassing exhaustion finally grips him. He slips his Pokedex into his pocket so as to not drop it and opens the door marked "Guest" at the end of the hallway.

    The door swings open with a squeak, revealing a spartan bedroom with naught but a plain bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a door to a tiny bathroom.

    Everything but the bed is ignored as Lee flops into it with zero grace. He groans in relief and lets his tired body sag into the mattress. Sleep rapidly overtakes him and he shuts his eyes, but just before he can fully pass out, something shakes the bed.

    He cracks open an eye to see Vulpix settling into the crook of his arm, her head on his bicep. She smiles at him and cuddles a little closer.

    With a herculean effort, Lee hugs her close, almost losing himself in the delicious warmth her small body provides.

    "You know, Vulpix?" he whispers, eye closing again. "I think everything is going to be okay."

    Sleep takes him.

 Act 1: Chapter 3

    The thick book closes with a "whap!" and falls from limp fingers into the table just under it.

    Lee groans and reclines back into the now not-very-comfortable library reading chair he''s been sitting in for almost four hours. He looks back down at the 600-some page book he had just finished. The title reads Advanced Biology of Mammalian Fire Types. It was an utterly fascinating read, adding a rich depth to his understanding of the inner workings of Pokemon, but it was just as dry a read as every awful McGraw Hill textbook he had to memorize in college.

    With a grumble, Lee picks the book back up and gently sets it in his meager "Complete" pile, where Nutrition and Health of Canid Pokemon, World History Abridged, Modern Move Training Guide: Special Edition, Forest Tales: To Live With Wilderness, Berry Tips for Those in a Hurry, and So You Think You Can Battle. Next to the complete pile is a much more intimidating "Unread" pile. The next one on the list is a mammoth text with the title Official Pokemon League Regulations - Complete.

    "Wowie, what a fuckin'' joy," Lee mutters to himself. "I''m so happy I could burst. Maybe I could use a break?"

    In his pocket, Vulpix''s pokeball shakes in agreement.

    "That''s all the encouragement I need," he grins, peeling himself from the chair and standing with a groan. The man stretches his arms over his head, relishing the feeling of his sore muscles loosening. He then shoulders the green backpack by his table and heads towards the front door of Little Root''s small library, passing the absent librarian''s Solrock on the way. "We''ll be back in a bit, chief. Keep my pile there please?"

    "Sol." the great hunk of sun-shaped rock grumbles out in a voice like cinder blocks across concrete.

    Lee steps out into the balmy mid-afternoon sun of Little Root, the harsh sun rays instantly making his burn scars sting. He frowns and digs in his pocket, then pulls Vulpix''s ball out. "Alrighty girl, do your thing." He throws the ball and it snaps open mid-air, a burst of white energy materializing into Vulpix by his feet.

    Vulpix blinks the stars from her eyes and stretches with a little yawn.

    "It''s kinda bullshit I have to keep you in your ball when I know that Solrock has a Fire move stashed away somewhere," Lee grumbles, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Who would be dumb enough to take an uncontrollable Fire type into a library anyway?"

    The vixen levels her trainer with a flat look.

    He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "Yeah, I know what you''re thinking. Common sense not being all that common and all. But still."

    "Vul, vulpix vul, vulpix." Vulpix replies dully. "Not that I would enjoy a library more than my ball anyway," Lee interprets. Vulpix then closes her eyes and lets out a breath, focus overtaking her visage.

    Slowly, the sunlight beaming down on Lee began to dim, forming a curious, circular space around him that isn''t as brightly lit as his surroundings. The man grins with the stinging of his burns ease. His thoughts turn towards the last three weeks and Vulpix''s incredible progress.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Day 2

    "Just a few more girl, then we''re good."

    Vulpix makes a noise that sounds almost exactly like a sigh but dutifully remains still.

    Lee glances down at the borrowed notebook in his hand and his pokedex with it''s entry on Vulpix open beside his crossed legs. Before him on the guest bed they share, Vulpix stands still and submits herself to her trainer''s poking and prodding.

    The first thing on Lee''s list once employment and shelter were secured was giving Vulpix a full physical. Or at least as full a physical as he could with just his hands and his pokedex to gauge baselines.

    ''All pretty in line with what I''d expect from a vulpine on the smaller side if I''m being honest.'' Lee inwardly muses. ''Muscle density and high temperature notwithstanding. If her paws could get enough traction, I wouldn''t be surprised if Vulpix could pull a car behind her!"

    Lee finishes looking in her ears with a nod. "Ears clean and clear, though I doubt any bacteria could take hold with your temperature. Turn and face the side wall please," he says, putting a little check mark by ''ears'' in his notebook.

    Vulpix turns and faces the wall, presenting her side to her trainer with her bored expression still in place.

    Reaching a hand under her, Lee carefully runs a hand over her sternum and feels her ribs. He pushes a little harder than normal to feel the bones under the thin layer of dense muscle on the vixen''s chest. For a moment, he holds his hand still to gauge her resting breathing and heart rate, counting the breaths and heartbeats in his head. ''Again, all very normal. Ribs can be felt but not seen. Resting heart rate seems a little low for her size, but that can be chalked up to athleticism or genetics. IVs maybe? Breathing is clear and steady."

    He pats lower on her belly. ''No sagging or hanging skin. Fur is even. One, two, three, four... eight nipples, evenly spaced and uniform in feel. Skin and muscle leading to her hindlegs is pliant, yet taut at rest.''

    "So far so good. Not that I expected any problems from you, love," Lee murmurs, jotting down his notes. "Almost done. Turn a little more so you face away."

    Vulpix gives him a long look.

    Lee rolls his eyes. "Does it help if I say you''re pretty and I have trouble not touching you?"

    The flattery seems to work, as Vulpix complies, turning away and facing the far wall. Her flat expression remains, however.

    "Alrighty, just relax for this one."

    The man sets down his notebook and gently lifts her left hind paw with his right hand. His other hand gently presses against her rump as he carefully moves her leg, gauging all the muscles in her leg working in sync. ''Again, the muscle density is incredible. She should be able to leap a whole building with these legs. It violates so much of what I know about biology. And to think she can only get more powerful. Heh. I have no idea if that''s frightening or wonderful.'' He repeats the action with her other leg, satisfied when both are uniform and healthy. "Alrighty girl. I think I''ve got a working baseline for you now. I''ll quit molesting you."

    Vulpix flops down and rolls over onto her back with a happy snuffle, glad to finally be off her paws.

    Meanwhile, Lee picks up his notes and scans them over. He looks down to his pokedex and scrolls through it to the voice recorder. Setting the notebook down, the man holds his pokedex up and hits the record button. "Day two of being a trainer. Or is it day one?" He wonders. "We''ll call it two. I''ve finished giving Vulpix as good a physical as I can without tools or monitoring equipment. She is within the acceptable standards of a canid her size without much significant deviation, her internal temperature and muscle density being the only significant outliers. More on that later. I didn''t bother with much cognitive or any intelligence testing. Vulpix was alert and aware during the physical even if she was bored to death. Any intelligence test I could have given would have been outright demeaning to her and easily solved. Suffice to say she is smarter than most of the people I know and probably smarter than myself as well."

    The vixen smirks a little at hearing that, but the smirk quickly turns into a tongue-lolling smile when Lee reaches over to rub her belly.

    "Let it be known that the crafty fox is still susceptible to a well-placed belly rub and her heart of gold taking pity on hopeless humans," Lee says, smirking himself as Vulpix tries not to let her leg kick in pleasure. "Vulpix''s muscle density is incredible. She''s like a wall when her muscles are tensed and I know for a fact she is much physically stronger than I pound for pound, and probably just outright stronger than myself or anyone of similar size despite the weight difference. I''ll need actual equipment and not just hand-n-eyeball estimates to be sure. Her skin temperature seems to be around one-hundred ten Fahrenheit. Utterly feverish for a person, but very comfortable for her. I don''t have an accurate gauge for internal temperature, but just from feeling her breath I can estimate somewhere close to..." Lee bites his lip and thinks. "At least one-hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Again, doing this without tools so actual numbers may vary. I''ll probably do another physical if Vulpix is feeling up to it in a weeks time to confirm these estimates. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Day 3

    "I really need some new duds, love," Lee says with a grimace, looking down at his tattered Zoo uniform. "I can wash these all I like, they''re still falling apart."

    Vulpix inspects her trainer''s clothing, not really seeing the big deal. Pokemon wear nothing and no one bats an eye. Why should humans hide themselves in clothes?

    "We''re still two weeks out from our first check though, and I can''t ask Birch since we''re already living off his generosity," Lee frowns.

    Knock knock knock!

    Both Lee and Vulpix turn to the bedroom door. The knob turns and the door opens just enough for a smiling Brendan to poke his head. "Heya Lee? Guess what came in super early!" He exclaims, holding up a pair of envelopes. "They''re from the League and there''s one for each of us. I bet they were having a slow day or dad submitted our papers right as the offices opened again for the new league year to get these here so fast. One guess on what they are!"

    Lee feels his jaw drop a little. "Are those Trainer IDs?"

    Brendan''s grin lights up the room. "Heck yeah! Here!" He throws one envelope like a frisbee to Lee, who snatches it out of the air and looks at the envelope with naked curiosity.

    "I''m going to go open mine and talk to dad. The new batch of starters should be here soon as well!" Brendan practically dances in place. "Mudkip, here I come!" Then as fast as he came, Brendan is gone, his rapid footsteps racing down the hall.

    Lee shakes his head. "That boy ain''t right. Anyway..." He seats himself back on the bed and opens the envelope with Vulpix watching. The first thing to come out is a short letter.

    To: Lee Henson

    The Pokemon League is proud to induct you into our ranks as an official Pokemon Trainer. You now have the privilege of entering all Pokemon League sanctioned events (upon meeting prerequisites) in all Pokemon League recognized regions.

    ''No Alola then,'' Lee thinks.

    The enclosed identification card will be your primary ID for Pokemon League sanctioned events and functions as a valid form of government ID. If lost, damaged, or stolen, please see your nearest Pokemon Center for a replacement. The replacement fee will depend on the Pokemon Center in question.

    As a Trainer sponsored by Prof Birch - Hoenn you are entitled to several special benefits. You will receive:

    One (1) Biweekly stipend totaling 2,170.57 credits (post tax) per payment

    One (1) Stipend advance of 1,981.23 credits (post tax)

    Discounted use of non-medical Pokemon Center services

    Upon deposit of the enclosed stipend advance voucher, the Pokemon League will issue biweekly payments to the account that received the voucher for the above listed amount. Please contact the Pokemon League billing department if this information needs to be updated and/or changed.

    Lee blinks and looks a little closer at the paper to make sure his eyes weren''t playing tricks on him. "What the fuck? I make more just existing here than I did busting my ass in the zoo?" He slumps. "And they give kids this kind of money? Holy hell."

    We at the Pokemon League wish you the best in this new and wonderful chapter in yours and your Pokemon''s lives Mr Henson. Adventure and new friendships await you.

    Signed,

    Steven Stone, Hoenn Champion.

    Lee shakes his head as he looks at the smudges the stamp used to make "Steven''s" signature left. "Adventure and friendships huh? Corny, but I kinda like it in an ironic kind of way. What say you, love?"

    Vulpix just snorts and cocks an eyebrow.

    "Yeah, me too," the now official trainer agrees. "If this isn''t some good timing then I don''t know what is. Maybe this is why Birch was so frantic to get the paperwork submitted so quickly?" He shakes his head. "Either way, I think we have some shopping to do. Care to come with?"

    Vulpix rolls back to her belly and visibly mulls the thought, her little brows furrowing. She then hops from the bed to Lee''s shoulders, her choice made.

    The trip to the bank is a short and uneventful one. One flash of Lee''s trainer ID and the teller behind the counter whisked him off to make an account. Fifteen minutes later, he was the owner of an account with a new debit card in his wallet.

    "They didn''t even bat an eye when I said my place of residence was the lab," Lee muses, walking down to Little Root''s modest shopping district with a relaxed gait. "Much less strict than Chase, who wanted my... everything really, sans the soul of my firstborn."

    The vixen resting across his shoulders gives him a queer look, as if she''s debating the validity of his absurd statement.

    Lee glances over to her and snorts. "Not actually, love. But if they did, I really would not be surprised," he says, twisting a little to let a boy and his Lombre walk past. "Trusting a bank is a good way to end up dead and penniless back home. Like the hero Andrew Jackson once said, fuck banks... Or at least I think he said that."

    The pair continue on. Even with Lee''s sedate pace, the Little Root shopping district comes into view quickly. It''s little more than a series of modest strip malls along the a side road to the west of town, but all the essentials are there.

    Lee glances to his left toward the first store they pass, which happens to be the same clothing shop he noticed upon entering town the first time, where a girl left her Poochyena to hold his own leash as she went inside. It''s easy to recall because the same Poochyena is there again, holding his own leash with an expression of pure boredom.

    "Vulpix. Pix vulpix?" Vulpix ask down to Poochyena, who perks up and turns to face Lee and Vulpix.

    Poochyena yaps and growls something past the leash in his mouth, to which Vulpix simply shakes her head.

    "Little Root Outfitters, eh?" Lee reads the sign on the door. Right below the sign is a No non-trainer pokemon please sign. "As good as any I guess. Good luck, little guy," he tells Poochyena.

    He and Vulpix step inside, finding a run-of-the-mill small town store. The woman at the check-out counter looks at Vulpix, then to Lee, not commenting on the pokemon not being in a ball.

    Like with the bank, the pair are in and out in only a few minutes. The khaki safari uniform was replaced by a set of generic brand jeans, a belt with several pokeball clips, a plain black undershirt, and a dark green camo-patterned zip-up jacket made from some special breathable material called flo-fabric. "It''s a staple for outerwear in hot places like Hoenn," the woman at the checkout counter commented. Lee''s ankle-high hiking boots and his worn but durable black gloves didn''t need replaced. He left with the new outfit on and with a bag containing several other outfits of slight variation.

    "Alrighty, now the part I''m definitely more eager for," Lee grins, looking towards the Pokemart. Vulpix just rolls her eyes.

    The Pokemart is one of the larger stores in the town, standing separate from the strip with its distinct white outer walls and blue roof. It doesn''t look terribly special, but...

    ''All the things inside are,'' Lee thinks to himself with a barely hidden grin. ''Just think of it! I''ll actually get to look at all the crazy, impossible stuff that makes modern life with pokemon possible.''

    As he and Vulpix walk up, he sees a trio of kids pointing into one of the windows of the mart, where several glittering gold things on display stands sit. "When I become a trainer these are all I wanna use!"

    Curious, he and the vixen on his shoulders looks over the kid''s heads.

    In the window is a trio of balls on a velvet pillow. A normal Pokeball, a Great Ball, and an Ultra Ball. Simple sprites on a screen can''t do them justice, as the little devices sparkle in the sunlight and almost beg to be picked up. Each one has beautiful engravings of various Pokemon on the lids done in silver, but the little label at the foot of the pillow makes him blanch.

    Vanity Balls

    Starting at 749.99c

    See inside for details.

    ''Jesus fuck thats a lot of money for a pokeball,'' He thinks, almost reeling. Then another thought strikes him. ''Hold on. How expensive are pokeballs anyway? A normal ball is two hundred or so poke funbucks, but I always thought that the game money has an exchange rate similar to Yen. I''m about to get fucked, aren''t I?''

    Vulpix seems to sense his mood and noses his cheek, even if she doesn''t fully understand why her trainer suddenly slumped.

    Lee grumbles but strokes Vulpix along her neck, making her purr. ''A curious sound for a fox to make,'' Lee idly thinks, mentally filing it away as another oddity of Pokemon as he walks into the mart.

    The inside of the Pokemart is like a petstore on steroids. Shelves and aisles filled to bursting with everything pokemon related, some of which Lee has no name for. He wanders in with naked wonder on his face, almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of new and alien things around him. It''s only a last minute thought that makes him grab a cart. There are standard things like toys, treats, grooming kits, and different blends of food. Then there are things you''d only find in a pokemart like fire retardant, hydrophobic, or slash/puncture resistant pet beds. A bookshelf on the far wall is filled with books about pokemon rearing and breeding. At the front behind the check out is a wide glass case with the really familiar things, like pokeballs, potions, and disks that can only be TMs. The various aisles are divided by Pokemon type, with Fire being one of the first, so Lee heads down that one.

    "Man, look at all this stuff," he murmurs, taking in all the different things around. Vulpix likewise cranes her head around to peer at all the strange sights with a critical eye. "Well, we''ve got plenty to spend, so why not?"

    Lee grabs a number of things that catch both his and Vulpix''s eyes. A deluxe grooming kit is the first, much to Vulpix''s delight. Then a pair of fire retardant gloves, a small fire extinguisher, a large stick of ''edible'' charcoal, a thermometer rated for 1000��F, and a few other things that seem like they would aid in the raising of Vulpix''s more supernatural side. Lee glances over the ''League recommended'' Fire-type omnivore pokemon food blend with a measure of distaste, however.

    "This ingredient list is a little vague," he mutters, looking at the back of a smaller bag. "The fuck is an optimum blend of meats, veggies, and berries suppose to mean to me? Is there not an actual ingredient list?" He shakes his head and looks back to his placid Vulpix. "Nah. I''ll just make your food myself, love. I''ll trust the stuff Birch provided, but after that, I''m taking over." And with that, a food pellet baller goes in the cart.

    Vulpix''s six tails wag slowly, making Lee stifle a giggle when they tickle his neck.

    The last stop is the bookshelf on the far wall, where a copy of Nutrition and Health of Canid Pokemon gets picked up before the checkout becomes the final stop.

    The teen girl in a blue pokeball-marked apron manning the counter glances up and quickly puts her phone away when Lee and Vulpix approach. She plasters a wide smile to her face. "Find everything okay?"

    "Just fine, thanks," Lee smiles back. He glances back at the glass case where all the Pokeballs are held and suddenly understands why they''re kept separate. The things are a whopping $179.99 a pop, just for a standard Pokeball. The Ultras are an unearthly $1,199.99 for a single ball. Nearly the game price.

    ''Suddenly the high stipend payments make sense,'' Lee thinks as he unloads his cart for the cashier to scan. ''I can only imagine what sort of hell it must be to be low-income and wanting to be a trainer. I should thank Birch again.''

    Luckily Potions and whatnot are more reasonable, with Potions only being 50.00c for a large spray bottle''s worth. Super Potions are pricer at 149.99c, and Hyper Potions can go fuck themselves at 700.00c. Lee doesn''t even bother looking at the Max Potion or the TMs.

    "Can I get a basic Potion as well?"

    The cashier nods and fishes some keys out of her apron pocket, then turns, opens the glass case, and takes out a Potion in one practiced movement. "Anything else today? You got quite a bit, so maybe a Sliph Co bag?"

    Lee blinks. "A Sliph Co bag?"

    The cashier hums as she scans and bags another item. "MmmHmm."

    "I''m afraid I don''t follow. I take it a Sliph bag is special or something?"

    The girl raises an eyebrow at Lee.

    "I already know what you''re thinking, and yes, I''m from way out in the boonies," Lee sighs.

    "A Silph bag uses the same stuff as pokeballs. You know? With the whole matter to energy and space expanding... thing?" She tries to explain, give her hand a vague wave. "I don''t really understand it, but it''s bigger on the inside than outside. Somehow."

    ''I can hear physics weep hideously in the distance,'' Lee silently muses. ''It does neatly explain how the main character in the games carries all his junk and how everyone in the anime can carry full camping gear in a backpack though. Sounds useful too'' "Sure. How much?"

    She turns back to the glass case and reaches into the back, pulling out a rather standard-looking backpack seemingly made from green canvas with leather straps. "These base models are all 1,360 credits before tax. Green okay?"

    Lee tries hard to not let the pain on his face show. "Ech. Yeah. Better I get this sooner rather than later."

    The cashier nods and scans the Sliph backpack. "Your total is 1,598.67 credits."

    Lee reluctantly hands his debit card over.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Day 7

    A burst of Embers crash into an already burnt and battered log and detonate one by one with loud, jarring pops. Bits of smoldering wood are thrown across the dusty ground as new knotholes are blown into the hapless log. Nearby pokemon in the Little Root corral watch the proceedings with interest.

    "That''s good!"

    Vulpix cuts her Ember attack and lets the last few Embers hit their mark before turning to Lee.

    Lee looks down at the notebook in his hands, where a rough sketch of Vulpix faces an upright cylinder marked "log". A label line between the two is marked "35 feet". The man steps closer to the log, noting that at this range Vulpix''s Ember has spread to almost the edge. "Log is about a foot and a quarter wide, and the Ember marks are hitting the edge from thirty-five feet, so..." Lee bites the end of his pen and jots some numbers down, trying to remember the formula he wants. "That means from Vulpix''s mouth, Ember is spreading at about a twenty-degree angle give or take some..." He looks at the log again. "The speed looked to be a good hundred or so feet per second, and her accuracy was dead on for a static target. If we can tighten that spread, then Ember could be a force to be reckoned with."

    "Vul?" Vulpix asks with a tilt of her head.

    Lee blinks and glances back with a sheepish smile. "Uh, sorry girl. Just crunching numbers. Let''s give that another go, but this time..." He spins the log to its unblemished back and pulls a little piece of bark in the middle away, exposing bare wood. "Try to focus on this little point as hard as you can. The more Embers hit the very middle, the better. I''ll watch and give the signal."

    The man retreats back to Vulpix''s side and crouches to watch her, notebook and pen ready. "Alrighty girl, Ember on the log."

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Vulpix takes a deep breath, her chest swelling as orange flames glow in her mouth and lick at her lips. "Vul..." She draws her head back then thrusts it forward with a cry of "Pix!"

    Small orange fireballs shoot from her mouth with a sound not unlike a submachine gun rattling through it''s whole magazine. The Embers scream towards the log and explode against it''s bark with a staccato of Pop pop pop!, stripping a circle of charred bark around the original.

    Lee watches the entire process from start to finish, ignoring the flare of unease the open flames invoke inside him. ''It''s Vulpix. She would never hurt you.'' He watches it all, from Vulpix''s deep breath and flourish, to the first Ember loosed, to the first impact against the bark.

    ''Does she even need the breath and flourish? Once the attack began, she didn''t empty her lungs to maintain it, and I have no idea what part thrusting her head out did.'' He wonders. "Alright love, that''s good."

    Vulpix closes her mouth and cuts off the attack. Once the last Ember impacts and the resulting smoke clears, it reveals a smaller area of effect on the smoldering log. Not by much, as only a few inches of intact bark remain at the edge of the log, but the improvement is still noticeable.

    Lee grins and strokes Vulpix gently down her back, making the vulpine smile slightly and purr under his hand. "Great work, love. Memorize the feeling of narrowing down your attacks like that. I can already imagine the faces of some flyer when they think they''re safely out of range only for a rail of Embers and shoot them down. And yes I meant ''rail'' and not ''hail''."

    Vulpix preens under the praise and turns her nose up, a small smile on her face. Her trainer shakes his head, but he wears a smile as well.

    "Heeeey Leeeee!"

    Both Lee and Vulpix look up to see Brendan racing towards them from the lab with a blinding grin on his face, but he''s not alone. Scampering at his heels is a large Mudkip that follows him closely.

    ''The starters must have come in, and Brendan got the pick of the litter. That Mudkip must be a good six inches taller than normal,'' Lee thinks to himself. "Morning Brendan. I take it the starters are in?"

    Brendan and Mudkip stop just short of Lee, both youngsters needing to skid to bleed off momentum. Brendan''s megawatt grin is almost dazzling in its intensity. "You know it! Just look at this guy! Isn''t he fantastic?" He asks, bending down to pick up and cradle the mudfish pokemon, who accepts the attention with a happy "Mudkip!"

    Lee can''t help but smile fondly at the scene. The sheer joy and wonder on Brendan''s face reminds him of himself when he began his career in animals. "He''s certainly a biggun. You two will go far together, I can already tell."

    Both boy and pokemon flush under the praise, but Brendan bounces back quickly. "So dad said you and Vulpix were out here training? Pokemon grow fastest in battle, soooo how about we battle, huh?"

    The question makes Lee freeze. ''I''ve spent the last few nights gazing up at the ceiling, dreaming up battle strats now that the game rules aren''t a concern, but the prospect of actually battling... Can I actually order a pokemon to be harmed?''

    ''Can I stand to see Vulpix get hurt?''

    The very thought makes his gut twist into a chilled knot. All he can imagine is cries of agony, cries of accusation. Why didn''t you do anything Lee? Who said I wanted to fight?

    "Vulpix!"

    Vulpix steps up with narrowed eyes and a flick of her heart-marked ear, sliding against Lee''s left as she steps forward and plants herself in front of her trainer, facing Brendan.

    "She''s eager," Brendan grins, looking back up to Lee. "So how about it?"

    Lee gulps and does his best to keep his voice from trembling. "Y-Yeah, if Vulpix wants to, then I''m game."

    The boy pumps a fist and retreats back about seventy feet before putting his Mudkip down, who steps forward with confidence.

    Vulpix assumes a ready stance, her head low and tails fanned out. She glances back to Lee, her normally placid eyes filled with burning energy and such eagerness that the man is almost taken aback.

    ''They''re much hardier than people and made for combat,'' a little voice in the back of Lee''s head says, condescension dripping from every word. ''A battle with a fresh starter won''t hurt her. Man up and live your dream.''

    Lee gulps again, his tension slowly draining in favor of a nervous energy that threatens to make his limbs shake. He quickly pulls out his Pokedex and points it at Vulpix after hitting the mute button. The Dex lights up with a picture of Vulpix, then quickly lists Vulpix''s attributes. Lee skips all that and goes directly down to the movelist.

    Ember, Tail Whip, Roar, Baby-Doll Eyes, Quick Attack, Confuse Ray, Fire Spin, Payback, Will-O-Wisp.

    The list is still the same as it was the first time he scanned Vulpix, and he quickly dedicates it to memory before stashing away his Dex.

    "So how are we doing this?" Brendan calls from across the way. "Forfeit or knockout good?"

    Lee steels himself and nods. "That''s fine. If either side calls a timeout or gives up then it stops immediately, okay? And are you sure Brendan? Even with a type advantage on your side, Vulpix isn''t a pushover."

    A small part of Lee hopes Brendan reconsiders, but he just grins and dashes those hopes. "No way. That''s the whole reason we want to battle."

    The older trainer sighs. "Vulpix, ready?" He asks despite knowing the answer.

    The fox growls, her hackles raised and tails lashing as she and Mudkip locked eyes.

    Brendan looks at his feet and picks up a rock. "When this rock hits the ground, the battle begins," and without waiting for a reply, he tosses the rock into the middle of the impromptu arena.

    Time seems to slow as Lee both watches the stone and takes in the entire field from his peripherals.

    ''The wind is traveling southward and the arena has a slight tilt to the south,'' Lee thinks silently as the stone inches closer to the ground and his nervousness transforms back into high-strung tension. ''The area is sparse grass, mostly dirt. Little danger of a wildfire. The other Pokemon in the corral have backed up, so little danger of collateral. Mudkip is about fifty feet out.'' The stone is almost to the ground. ''Start strong. Debuff, stack DOT, then use Vulpix''s speed to play keep away. The Mudkip line has unreal physical attack, so we''ll start out with...''

    Thud! The stone bounces off the ground.

    "Vulpix, Baby-Doll Eyes!" Lee orders before Brendan or Mudkip can even move.

    The vixen lets her hackles fall and looks intently at Mudkip with wide, sparkling eyes filled with false innocence. Her chocolate orbs faintly glow with Fairy energy.

    Mudkip falters, as if suddenly having second thoughts about fighting. At the same time, the sunlight suddenly becomes sweltering as Vulpix''s Drought activates, and Mudkip flinches and sways on his feet.

    "W-What gives?" Brendan calls, shielding his eyes from the harsh sun with a grimace. "How did Vulpix use Sunny Day and Baby-Doll Eyes at once?"

    "That wasn''t Sunny Day," Lee calls back, fighting back his own grimace as the oven-like heat makes his burns throb. "Vulpix has the ability Drought," Lee debates ordering an attack immediately, but holds off, not wanting to come off as a bully in a friendly match.

    "I''ve never heard of Drought before..." Brendan mutters, wiping at his sweaty brow. "Doesn''t matter. We''ve got a match to win. Mudkip, Watergun!"

    Lee watches carefully as Mudkip steadies himself and takes a deep breath in the same windup as Vulpix, his eyes locked onto the fox. Just as Mudkip stops the brief charging and starts moving to launch the attack, Lee reacts.

    "Vulpix, dodge left now!"

    The vixen darts to the left in a deft hop just as Mudkip''s Watergun leaves his mouth. The water gouges into the ground with a muddy splash.

    "Now, Confuse Ray!" Lee follows up.

    Vulpix''s eyes glow a sinister red with a growl from her.

    Mudkip suddenly reels back with a cry as if struck and screws his eyes shut. The poor mudfish stumbles and opens his eyes, revealing them to be unfocused as he staggers around almost drunkenly. Mudkip then trips over his own feet and falls to his side, squirming helplessly.

    "No, Mudkip!" Brendan cries, reaching out with a hand. "C''mon Mudkip! Get up! I know you can do it!" He pleads with such hurt and desperation that forfeiting instantly comes to the forefront of Lee''s mind.

    Mudkip grimaces and wobbles to his feet, struggling to maintain balance. It''s a perfect time to attack, but Lee can''t bring himself to issue an order. Vulpix looks back at him, her tails whipping impatiently as she waits for the call to strike.

    "I told you, Brendan. Vulpix and I aren''t good first opponents. Maybe call this off and find another trainer to challenge?" Lee asks, crossing his fingers behind his back.

    "No way! No rough start can scare us!" Brendan roars. "Mudkip! Watergun the ground and cool off with some mud!"

    ''What?''

    "Mud!" Mudkip calls in his high-pitched voice. In a lucid moment, he takes a breath and Waterguns the ground below himself, kicking up a plume of muddy water and obscuring himself.

    "Now Tackle!" Brendan calls over the roar of the water.

    Mudkip charges out of the mud plume in a full sprint, eyes clear and form refreshed. He locks onto Vulpix, who freezes up.

    ''Shit shit shit!''

    "Vulpix, Quick Attack to dodge right!" Lee frantically calls.

    "Dodging with an attack..?" Brendan questions with a blink.

    The vixen snaps out of her shock just in time. A white energy envelopes her form as she jukes to the right as little more than a blur of red. Mudkip just barely misses her and skids to a stop, looking around.

    ''If I don''t do something, Vulpix is going to get hurt, but if we fight back, Mudkip is going to get trashed...'' Lee takes a shaky breath. The choice is neither hard or long. ''Sorry Mudkip.''

    "Now, Quick Attack into Mudkip!"

    Vulpix''s eyes gleam at finally being on the offensive. She lands from her dodge with Quick Attack still active, then in a flicker of red, crashes into Mudkip at full speed.

    The mudfish''s eyes go wide and he can''t even cough the air from his lungs before he''s thrown a solid fifty feet across the field. He bounces once, twice, then skids to a painful stop on his side, a shallow trench in his wake.

    Lee can feel his heart stop as Vulpix tips her head back and howls in victory. The sunlight fades back to normal as the battle ends.

    "Mudkip!" Brendan cries, rushing towards his motionless Pokemon.

    ''Jesus Christ. What have I done?''

    Brendan skids to a stop by Mudkip''s still body with slumped shoulders. Lee numbly follows, trying to not let his rolling stomach vomit. The younger trainer picks up the limp Mudkip with a sigh. "You did great, pal," he murmurs, holding Mudkip to his chest.

    Then Mudkip suddenly twitches in Brendan''s arms and lets out a groggy "M-Mudkip?". The water pokemon shifts in his trainer''s arms in a clear sign of life and looks around, blinking stars from his eyes.

    Lee''s stomach uncoils as quickly as it came and he lets out a breath he had no idea he was holding. "He''s okay?"

    ''They aren''t common animals. You know that,'' the niggling voice in the back of his head says. ''You can''t permanently take down a pokemon without making a deliberate effort.''

    Brendan nods as he looks down at his pokemon. "Yeah," he replies in a more subdued voice. "I guess you were right. Vulpix is way too strong and you''re too skilled," he says with a sigh. Brendan fishes out Mudkip''s pokeball and enlarges it. He smiles down to his starter and says; "You did great Mudkip. You hung on where others would have crashed and burned. Enjoy your rest, okay?"

    "Mudkip..." Mudkip murmurs, looking away with melancholy in his eyes before he''s returned to his ball in a flash of red light.

    Brendan clips the ball to his belt before standing and turning to Lee, then in a surprising show of maturity, holds out a hand with a smile. "Good match. Don''t expect it to be that easy next time."

    Lee takes the offered hand and shakes it weakly. "Yeah, sure. Anytime."

    Vulpix takes time to slide up beside him, pressing herself into her trainer''s leg as she looks up at him with worry.

    Lee bends down and pulls her into a light hug, murmuring a congratulations for her victory.

    ''Am I overthinking it? Am I treating them like animals? Are pokemon just that durable?''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Day 9

    ''Pokemon are stupid durable.''

    Mudkip catches Vulpix''s Quick Attack to his side, and despite digging his feet in, is still rocketed off his feet. He twists mid-air and roughly lands on all fours almost sixty feet away from his lift-off point.

    "Baby-Doll Eyes."

    Mudkip tries to look away on impulse, but Vulpix''s eyes light up with Fairy energy too quickly, and he lets out a frustrated cry when he feels his muscles slacken.

    "Mudkip don''t give up!" Brendan calls from his side. "Use Watergun! Quick!"

    Mudkip takes a breath to build up Watergun, but before he can fire, Lee''s voice calls out across the field with; "Confuse Ray!"

    Vulpix''s eyes light up again, this time an evil red, perfectly fitting the smirk on her muzzle.

    The building Watergun in Mudkip''s throat suddenly loses cohesion and just explodes out of his mouth as the confusion ensnares Mudkip''s mind. The mudfish chokes and panics, forgetting his ilk can breathe water in his confusion.

    Brendan growls and grabs at his hat in frustration. "Confuse Ray is such a bullshit move!" He yells to the heavens.

    Across from him, Lee can only shrug. "Embrace the bullshit. It works."

    Ever since their first match several days ago, Brendan and Mudkip would come out to challenge Lee and Vulpix whenever the younger duo would see a lull in the training of their seniors. Each day, Mudkip would be soundly defeated, and each following day, he would be right as rain. Brendan was unbothered by the losses and Mudkip, being a little glutton for punishment, gladly threw himself at Vulpix no matter how much he was brutalized the day prior. All of Lee''s fears about either pokemon being hurt beyond help evaporated like a puddle on a hot day thanks to Mudkip.

    The spread on Vulpix''s ranged attacks closed by a fraction of a degree each day, and now her Ember could reliably hit objects her size at about fifty feet. The little fireballs race a little faster and explode a little harder with repeated practice as well. Firespin, being the signature move of Vulpix, is already powerful, more powerful than the games give it credit for. For how aloof the little vixen usually is, she''s taken to Lee''s training with aplomb, and the results are already beginning to show.

    Back to the battle, Mudkip barely has enough time to hack the water out of his lungs before Vulpix leaps into the air, coats herself in the shimmering aura of Quick Attack, then shoots down upon him like a meteor

    CRASH!

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Day 12

    Lee huffs and wipes the sweat from his brow as he focuses on his running pace around the corral. Vulpix has lapped him at least seven times, even with the convoluted, zig-zagging course of he''s set up for her. He stops for a moment to watch his pokemon weave between spots he''s marked into the ground with agility and grace that would make a mundane fox green with envy. She skids at a particularly harsh turn, but quickly corrects herself and is back in a full sprint in hardly a moment. As Vulpix runs, she pants short tongues of flame in an effort to cool off some. Then something strikes Lee as strange.

    The flames aren''t in sync with her breathing. The fire licking at her lips ebbs and surges independent of the movement of her chest. It''s almost like it doesn''t even correspond at all.

    ''Wait, no. No way in hell. It''s such a leap, but if it''s true and this works...''

    "Hey love!" Lee calls, making Vulpix skid to a halt and look towards him. "Let''s head inside for a short break. I''ve got a few things to look up, then we can keep training."

    The vixen doesn''t verbally reply, but walks to Lee''s side as she tries to steady her breathing. Now up close, Lee can see for certain that the flames she''s panting aren''t matching up with her breaths at all.

    Both man and vixen walk towards the lab at a sedate pace, letting Lee think. There for sure must be a high-level trainer out there somewhere that has already discovered this, but after recalling the Emerald dex entry on Vulpix, he has to try it.

    ...But how much can gamedex entries be trusted?

    Lee lets out a relieved groan as he and Vulpix step into the air-conditioned lab. Vulpix fans her tails and does a full-body shake, airing out her orange pelt with the cool air.

    "You look tired."

    Professor Birch walks in to the lab''s main room with a clipboard under one arm and a plastic bottle of water held in the other. The stocky man tosses the bottle to Lee, who snatches it out of the air.

    "Running around during the heat of the day does that," Lee quips, unscrewing the bottle cap and kneeling so Vulpix could latch onto the bottle and greedily drink. "Mind if we use one of the PCs for a bit? We''ve got a bit of research to do."

    "All yours," Birch smiles with a wave of his hand. "What about, may I ask?"

    Vulpix chooses that time to let the bottle go, now looking very refreshed with a few water trails down her chin and into her breast tuft. "Vulpix!" she says with a smile, nuzzling Lee''s hand.

    Lee smiles and gently strokes his fox before tipping the bottle of water back into his own mouth, drinking the remaining half in just three mammoth gulps. "Phew. To answer you, Prof. There are some..." Lee hesitates, trying to think of a good descriptor other than ''gamedex'' "...legends about pokemon from my ''home'' that I wanted to fact check. If some regarding Vulpix and Ninetales are true, then Vulpix here is in for a treat, and any future battlers are in for a nasty surprise."

    Birch instantly understands and smiles. "You can''t just give me the bare minimum like that and not expect me to ask more," he replies, his smile widening into a grin. "What''s the ''legend'' say about the Vulpix line?"

    "That they can freely control fire, and how that''s how they control Will-o-Wisp," Lee begins. Vulpix jumps to his shoulders as he stands and turns to Birch. "I noticed when Vulpix and I were out exercising that she was panting flames."

    Birch crosses his arms and nods. "Yes, that''s pretty standard with a lot of Fire types."

    "Here''s the ''but'' to that," Lee says with a smirk. "The ebb of her fire was not synced up to her breathing. It was close, but there were distinct points where she was inhaling and the flames would grow, or exhaling and the flames would shrink, usually right at the end of her breaths. That''s why I think the legend holds water."

    Birch''s eyes widen a fraction. "Truly? Could the breathing be just a placebo for Vulpix then? If she is able to actually manifest fire regardless of body movements to control it..."

    "She could cast attacks with zero warning," Lee finishes with an excited grin. "But if she really can freely control fire like described, then she can control any fire and manifest it from anywhere."

    ''Fire attacks against her would be worse than useless. She could shoot attacks from any direction, or even manifest it right on her target with no travel time. Hell, with skills like that, no Fire move would be outside her reach. She might even be able to make new moves.''

    The professor''s jaw slowly drops, the implications are not lost on him. Vulpix likewise looks at Lee with wide eyes before looking away and furrowing her brows in thought.

    "So I need to look up the mechanics behind some Fire moves and see if Vulpix can remotely manifest them. Something on the simple side to start..." Lee mutters out loud.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Day 16

    "Don''t force it, love. Rome wasn''t built in a day."

    Vulpix growls and closes her eyes as yet another tiny fireball fizzles out before it can leave her mouth. She leans her head back and opens her mouth as a tiny, flickering candlelight of fire is born between her lips. The little flame wavers as it shakily tries to hover away, but it flickers and dies in a flash hardly an inch into its travel. Vulpix opens her eyes again and looks at the grassy ground with a smoldering glare that Lee didn''t expect to see on her usually aloof self.

    Lee sits off to her side with his notebook in hand, jotting everything he watches down. When he sees her staring a hole into the ground, he sets his notebook aside and scoots closer, tenderly placing a hand on either side of her head and lifting so their eyes meet. "Hey, no need to look so frustrated. This is a whole new thing we''re trying here. Your moves seem so easy because they''re instinct. This? This is totally unexplored territory that we''re working with," the man quietly murmurs, petting his vixen''s cheeks gently. Vulpix slowly melts into his touch as she listens. "You''ve already made incredible progress. Just making flames at will with no move being used first is great. Now we just have to practice. Let''s take a breather to clear our heads for a moment, yeah?"

    Vulpix sighs. "Vullll. Vulpix, vul." "Four days of no progress is good?" He can practically hear, but she closes her eyes in contentment and nods into his hands.

    ''She''s so much more reasonable than a lion,'' Lee thinks fondly as Vulpix crawls into his lap and nuzzles her head to his stomach with a smile. She opens her eyes to reveal them glowing. He then feels her fledgling psychic powers touch his mind for a moment, just long enough for a burst of raw gratitude. ''She lets me get away with so much.''

    Lee picks his notebook back up and looks over the corral with a smile. The gentle sea breeze from the south drives away the sun''s oppressive heat and makes the short grass of the corral roll in mesmerizing waves. Pokemon of all sorts lounge and play in the field, and an uncountable number more watch and rest in the shade of the forest where the corral fence vanishes into the treeline. The breeze, the rustling of the distant leaves, and the happy calls of all the pokemon mingle into a tranquil background noise There''s not an ounce of conflict to be found.

    ''How strange it is to think any one of these adorable things could rip me in half,'' Lee muses, idly stroking Vulpix''s back all the way down to her tails. He notices a black spot on the edge of his vision and looks over.

    In the grass just in front of the depression where Vulpix was seated previously, there''s a small burnt spot. The grass is limp and blackened, but not ash, like it was only exposed to a flame for a moment.

    ''But Vulpix didn''t let any of her flames touch the ground. Hell, she hasn''t even faced the ground in the last two hours besides...'' Lee furrows a brow. ''Besides when she got frustrated and glared at the ground.'' He stops petting the vixen as he thinks, making her whine and paw at him.

    "Are we going about this the wrong way?" the man thinks aloud, making Vulpix open her eyes and look up at him. "Vulpix, let''s try something else. We might be doing this wrong."

    The vixen reluctantly extracts herself from his lap with a full-body stretch and a jaw-cracking yawn. "Pix..." she murmurs, standing ready.

    "Alright, let''s try this," Lee begins, opening his notebook and ripping a page out. Vulpix looks on with a raised brow as he holds the paper up. "Now, no more meditation or all that jazz that Medicham suggested on this. I want you to focus on this paper as hard as you can. Focus on seeing it go up in flames. All you want in the world is for this paper to burn because it''s wronged you, so you give it more focus than anything in the world has ever gotten."

    Vulpix gives Lee a dubious look, but focuses on the paper intently. She narrows her chocolate eyes and flicks her tails in concentration.

    Several long minutes pass with nothing happening. The only movement is from the rolling grass and the swap of the paper in the wind. Lee''s arm begins to grow tired, and his cross-leg seated position makes his legs fall asleep, but he dares not move least he spoils Vulpix''s concentration. Vulpix begins to grit her teeth, her frustration beginning to surface again.

    Slowly, the middle of the white paper begins to darken and smoke, and the sun''s rays grow a little hotter.

    Lee looks between his almost-snarling pokemon and the sheet of paper in his hand. "You want the paper on fire more than anything, Vulpix," he whispers just loud enough to make her twitch an ear. "It wrongs you, mocks you by existing. Take your feelings and show it who you are. You are Vulpix, the one who will one day be the strongest Fire type-no, the one who will one day be the strongest pokemon. Take all that passion to grow and succeed, and show everyone you have what it takes to master fire!"

    Vulpix growls and her eyes glow faintly. The sunlight becomes so hot that Lee''s burns tingle in pain.

    The paper bursts into flame, making Lee yelp and drop it.

    For a moment, both trainer and Pokemon stare at the paper in open surprise. When it burns down to naught but ash and blows away in the wind, Lee can''t help but grin and snatch up Vulpix in a hug.

    "You did it! You actually did it!" Lee says with a joyful laugh and a beaming grin. "I know you could do it. You have no idea how proud I am of you! We''ve been here for like, what, two weeks and we''re already pushing limits and breaking rules? You''re the best, love."

    Vulpix can''t help but smile herself and wag her six tails as she sinks into her trainer''s arms. She gives him a lick on the chin and nuzzles into the crook of his neck.

    Again, Lee feels Vulpix poke his mind with hers, and this time comes a pulse of raw adoration.

    He hugs her just a little tighter.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Day 18

    Lee peers at the new scars on his side and drops the unwrapped gauze to the bathroom floor. The glass cuts had healed nicely and evenly courtesy of the Oran extract-infused gauze, but the largest ones still scarred over, giving him a new set of tender pink lines in his side. He touches one with a grumble, noting the lack of pain. He looks further up in the bathroom mirror to his face.

    The trio of linear burns are mostly healed, again thanks to Oran-infused ointment, but they are definitely leaving scars. The skin on the left side of his face feels pinched and taut, and just smiling pulls at the lines. A childish part of him thinks the scars look fearsome, but that part is quickly beaten into submission by the more practical part of his mind. While not too painful, they''re definitely uncomfortable.

    Definitely not as painful as losing the Zoo and everyone there.

    Vulpix suddenly appears in the mirror as she hops to her favorite perch and settles cross Lee''s bare shoulders. She looks over herself only briefly in the mirror before turning her attention to Lee''s visage. Her eyes wander over his front, her eyes stopping at the few scars and marks adorning his front. She then looks back up at his face.

    "Ugly, aren''t they?" Lee sardonically asks.

    Vulpix twists her head and quickly nips Lee''s ear, making the man suppress a yelp. Then she presses her cheek to his and purrs.

    Lee sighs and reaches up to rub behind her ear, a half-smile that doesn''t pull at the scars forming on his face. "Can''t you let me have just a little self-pity?"

    The vixen snaps her teeth, then goes back to purring.

    Lee sighs dramatically. "Fiiiiine. Let me get breakfast for us whipped up then we can head out and get some supplies for your pyrokinesis practice."

    "Vulpix!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Now - Day 22

    Lee''s thoughts return to the present as he and Vulpix approach the lab... which is clear on the other side of town from the library, making Lee blink. "Oh jeez, have I been spacing out that whole time?"

    "Vul," Vulpix affirms, nosing his cheek from her usual spot on his shoulder. "Vulpix vul."

    He sighs. "Yeah, I know. Sorry about that, love. The last few weeks have been something else. I guess I''m still a little out of sorts."

    Vulpix says nothing, but curls around his neck like a furry scarf.

    "Lee!"

    Lee turns with Vulpix in tow to find both Brendan walking their way with a wave. "Heading to the lab?" Brendan asks, no breaking his strike as he walks up.

    "MmmHmm," Lee replies, falling into step with the boy.

    "So what have you guys been up to all day? Myself and Mudkip were out in the woods doing that strength training you told us about," Brendan grins. "I never knew Mudkips could actually smash boulders! When he gets to Swampert, he''s gonna be unstoppable!"

    The ball on Brendan''s belt shakes.

    "You''ll need to beat Vulpix first if you actually want to be unstoppable," Lee quips, taking the wind right out of Brendan''s sails and making Mudkip''s ball go still.

    "Easier said than done..." the young Birch grumbles. "Vulpix is freaky strong, and how does anyone fight you without getting Confuse Ray spammed to death?"

    ''Vulpix just learned Feint Attack last week, so she can only be mid-20s in level. I guess that would be tough to a definitely-below level 16 pokemon. Though, Mudkip has to be on the cusp of evolution. He''s grown so much since his first ass-kicking and just begs for more. Little masochist.'' Lee muses. "Look on the bright side," Lee starts with a smirk. "Mudkip can snap himself out of confusion in seconds now."

    "That doesn''t really matter when you and Vulpix spam Confuse Ray so much."

    "It''ll matter against other trainers," Lee says as the pair enter the cool, air-conditioned lab and spy Professor Birch on the video phone in the corner. "Imagine the shock on some random trainer''s face when Mudkip barely stumbles after being confused and knocks his pokemon into the stratosphere."

    That makes Brendan grin and makes Mudkip''s ball shake again.

    "-tually, both just walked in now, Samuel," Birch says as Brendan and Lee approach. Birch turns and waves both over with a wide smile. "Brendan, Lee, I''d like you both to meet Professor Samuel Oak, The Pokemon Professor!"

    Birch moves to the side to show both of his trainers the screen of the vid-phone, and on it is none other than the legendary Professor Oak, who peers at both of them with aged, wisdom-filled eyes.

    Lee has to struggle not to smile at the man he''s always wanted to meet, but Brendan has no reservations and openly grins. "Nice to meet ya, Professor! I''m Brendan Birch, and this is Lee Henson! Don''t be too upset if we thrash any of your trainers in the Ever Grande Conference!"

    Birch chokes and blanches. "Brendan! I-" he stops when he hears laughing from the phone.

    Oak chuckles a few more times and calms, but his smile remains, showing the lines on his aged face from how often he must smile. "My oh my. It''s not often I see such bold enthusiasm," he says. "Well, I''d certainly not hold a grudge over a proper victory. Tell me, young man. Who did you choose as your starter?"

    "Mudkip of course!"

    Oak nods with a hum. "A sturdy, powerful pokemon. As your Mudkip grows, you''ll likely find him to be a pillar of strength for your whole team. An anchor that would never let you be swept away, and a frightful tsunami in battle. Swampert are revered and feared for their sheer might. An excellent choice, young Brendan," Oak says, his words carrying impeccable strength and certainty even over the phone.

    Brendan flushes and mutters a quick, "Thank you, sir."

    Oak then turns his attention to Lee with a raised brow. "Well well, Mr. Henson. You look quite seasoned already. Why take a sponsorship?"

    "Would you believe me if I said I was born on a small island nation with no pokemon?" Lee lies through his teeth, spooling up his story. "We had legends, but I didn''t know pokemon were real until about a month ago."

    Oak''s eyes widen a fraction and his smile dims somewhat. "Truly? What was this place called?"

    "The United States, a series of small states under one controlling body. I ended up on Hoenn after... Unfortunate circumstances," Lee grimaces, his burn scars flaring with phantom pain. He tenderly rubs the raised skin and continues. "Vulpix, being a sweetheart, found me and stuck with me. We came here to Little Root and met Professor Birch, who was kind enough to stick his neck out for us. The rest is history I guess," he finishes, reaching up to stroke Vulpix''s neck.

    Oak peers at both Lee and Vulpix with great scrutiny, making both man and vixen tense up from the intense, almost judging stare, then Oak returns to his grandfatherly smile just as quickly. "That''s quite a tale. I have to say, would your home be open to communication?"

    "They''re pretty militaristic and isolationist..." Lee trails off. "Now that I''m out, I can''t return. Not that I know where the US is from here anyway."

    The smile on Oak''s face falls some. "That''s a shame. I would have loved to have a trainer like yourself. A trainer with a fresh new look at pokemon? Oh yes, now that would make for a fascinating study. I assume Professor Birch added such a study as a stipulation to your sponsorship?"

    Birch freezes up.

    "Oh Nigel, don''t look like that," Oak gently chides with a shake of his head, making Birch slump. "Any pokemon researcher worth their salt would want to secure such an opportunity. I certainly can''t blame you." Oak turns back to Lee, now looking at Vulpix. "Vulpix, hmm? A rare pokemon, even in their native Kanto. Revered as tricksters and mystics, Vulpix and the venerated Ninetales are difficult to raise pokemon who thrive under skilled trainers. Her excellent health and demeanor speak volumes about your ability to raise pokemon, young man."

    "That''s just good genes on her part," Lee asserts with a shake of his head. Vulpix harshly jabs his cheek with her nose, but he ignores it. "I don''t do much. Just what needs to be done." Vulpix jabs him again.

    Oak raises a brow, his smile deepening some. "Vulpix are finicky as they are rare, so that loyalty of her does you no favors here. Just your willingness to hold a dangerous pokemon so close says a lot."

    "..." Lee says nothing in reply, so Vulpix growls and paws him right in the eye. "Ow! Dammit love, don''t do that!"

    Oak laughs and turns back to Birch. "Anyway Nigel, one of my trainers, Ash Ketchum, just finished up his final preparations for his journey to Hoenn after the Silver Conference. Could you update his Pokedex once he arrives? He should be in Little Root in the next week."

    ''So it''s some sort of mix between the games and anime here,'' Lee thinks to himself, rubbing the smarting eye Vulpix bapped. ''Why the League website didn''t have the Silver Conference results I have no idea, but at least I know now.''

    "Of course Samuel," Birch says, visibly relieved his senior didn''t hold tying Lee down against him.

    Oak smiles at everyone. "Nigel, it was nice to speak to you again. You''re doing wonderful despite your short tenure so far," he says, making his junior smile. "Brendan, Lee, I''ll be looking forward to seeing you both in the Ever Grande Conference and how well you stack up against my trainer, Ash. Have a wonderful day everyone!"

    And with that, Oak hangs up.

    Lee hums as Vulpix settles again.

    ''This is where it all starts I guess.''

 Act 1: Chapter 4

    Day 30

    Lee hums a nameless tune as he gently drags a soft brush through Vulpix''s pelt, and the little fox is little more than a blissful puddle under his gentle ministrations. The man stops for just a moment to pull some loose fur from the brush and place it in the small pile to his side before he gets back to brushing. Lee yawns and glances at the sun from their shady spot in the lab''s shadow.

    "Must be about ten AM now..." He murmurs, getting no reply from his dozing pokemon. "Were we doing something today? I forget."

    Vulpix purrs a short note but otherwise doesn''t answer.

    As Lee holds a tail in a gentle grip to brush, his mind starts to wander.

    ''How are things going to play out?'' He wonders with a frown. ''Will things run as they did in the anime? The games? Maybe some mishmash of both? Have I already caused irreversible harm to the timeline just by being here? Should I even rely on meta-knowledge?'' He moves to another tail and starts brushing idly. ''Maybe not. That''s a convenient, but dangerous route to take. The instant something plays out in a way I don''t expect, or we stumble on something I forgot, things could get hairy. Plus, all of that relies on us traveling with Ash and his friends, and considering all the insane shit that follows him around, our lifespans would probably be much longer on our own.'' He thinks with a grimace. ''Oak said Ash would be here in about a week. It''s been eight days so far and nothing. Should we just start off on our own?''

    "What do you think, love?" Lee softly asks.

    The narrow psychic channel between him and Vulpix widens just enough for her to convey a sense of patience and contentment. No actual words, not yet, but her meaning is clear.

    Lee hums and scratches just at the base of her middle-most tail, making Vulpix wiggle in pleasure. ''The pointers from Medicham worked well, didn''t they?''

    The vixen replies with a sleepy, verbal, "Vulpiiiix." She then turns over in Lee''s lap, presenting her belly for brushing.

    Lee just smiles and readies the soft-bristled brush in his hand. ''To think I hesitated over this and would have outright said no a month ago. I don''t know why more trainers don''t use psychic communication... Or maybe they do? Hrm. More things to research and consider.'' He starts brushing the soft belly before him when Vulpix''s impatience begins to leak over the psychic channel. ''You make things too easy for me, love. I''m going to lose my edge if you keep spoiling me.''

    Vulpix just chuffs and leans her head back, eyes closed.

    The man and pokemon sit together in the shade, basking in each other''s company and enjoying the cool breeze carrying the smell of grass and the tang of salty sea air. The pair ignore the sound of squealing tires out front, already knowing Birch''s reckless driving habits. A door slams, then it''s quiet again.

    Then an explosion rocks the lab with the ring of shattering glass.

    Sirens are screaming.

    Ground rumbling.

    Stench of ash.

    Flash of light.

    Storm of glass.

    Burning.

    Burning!

    BURNING!

    LUNGS BLISTER.

    FLESH COOKS.

    PAIN!

    MAKE IT STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP!

    I WANT TO DIE

    Stabbing pain in his hand shocks Lee back into the real world. He barely has enough to register the pain before he falls to his hands and knees, his breakfast vomiting from his rolling stomach and onto the grass with a chunk-filled splatter. The man tries to blink the tears from his eyes and stand but falls to his side and coughs weakly. The lingering acid in his throat burns, forcing him to breathe in painful sputters. Bright stars dance in his watery eyes, and his ears ring with a terrible din, but when something warm, furry, and comforting presses itself to his chest, he hugs it tightly. The feeling of someone there with him, letting him feel, confirming that he''s alive, fills Lee''s eyes with a fresh wave of tears.

    He''s not sure how long he sits there, on his side, stewing in his relief and shuttering when the scars on his face pulse with phantom pain, but he blinks when something touches his mind.

    ''Wait. Vulpix?''

    Lee wipes his eyes and filth-smeared mouth on his sleeve with a grimace and sits up, opening his mind to the psychic poke.

    All his thoughts are drowned out by a frantic wave of terror and relief, not his own so intense that Lee almost jumps. He looks down to his lap to see his shaking vixen hugged to his middle. She looks up at him and Lee''s heart drops.

    Her chocolate eyes are wide and filled with tears, some of them escaping and running down her cheeks to be caught and absorbed by her fur. Her teeth are gritted in a canine parody of a grimace, and a wounded whine that stabs at his heart comes from her throat. She presses her head to his stomach and her whines grow in volume.

    ''I had to let her back in, so I shut her out before she felt or even saw too much, right?'' Lee hopes to himself as he hugs Vulpix a little tighter and curls around her. He gulps and turns his thoughts outward to her. ''Vulpix? Love? Are you okay?''

    Vulpix''s looks hit him, her clenched jaw slackening as her disbelief bleeds over the psychic channel. She then lets out a shaky sigh and nods her head.

    "You certain?" Lee continues verbally, stroking her gently across her back. "I didn''t mean for you to see any of that. I''m sorry for putting you through that," he murmurs, bowing his head enough to rest on hers.

    Exasperation leaks across the link, and Vulpix nods into his chest again.

    "If you''re certain..." he sighs, looking at the mark on his hand where Vulpix bit him. The skin is red but not broken, despite how her teeth could have easily sheared through flesh and bone. "Now, let''s go see what the fuck just happened."

    Man and fox untangle themselves and stand, with Lee needing to fight off a sudden bout of exhaustion. He stands for a moment, vertigo threatening to take hold, before he takes a deep breath and forces it down. The pair circle around the front of the lab just in time to see a young brunette girl in red pedal away down the lab trail on a bike.

    ''May Maple?''

    "Hey, wait!" one of the lab aides, a green-haired man (Joshua, Lee dully remembers), calls after the girl.

    "Sorry!" she calls over her shoulder. "I''ve never been good at waiting!"

    Joshua slumps with a sigh as the girl disappears in the distance. Then he looks up and spies Lee and Vulpix. "Oh. Lee!"

    "Joshua," Lee nods back. "What happened? And what was that explosion?"

    The young aide sighs again and adjusts his glasses. "Professor Birch brought this young trainer, Ash, to the lab to treat his Pikachu, who was suffering from electric overcharge-"

    ''Wait. This is it. This is the start of Pokemon Advanced.'' Lee''s sluggish brain finally connects the dots. ''The explosion was Pikachu overloading that... that... whatever that very specific electric-draining machine was.''

    "-achu then ran away in his confusion," Joshua finishes. "The girl you ran off after them was May Maple, Gym Leader Norman''s daughter. We need to go after her!"

    "By ''we,'' you mean Vulpix and me, right?" Lee asks dryly, fingering one of the shoulder straps of his bag.

    Joshua has the decency to blush and look away. "My pokemon aren''t the battling type... But either way, if something happens to May on our watch, the whole lab could be in hot water. Since you''re one of the lab''s trainers, can you..?"

    Lee looks down at Vulpix, who just rolls her eyes and nods.

    "Alrighty, looks like we have to play hero," Lee grumbles. "Stay put, Josh. And tell Brendan not to come running after us, okay?"

    "Got it," Joshua says with a nod. "Good luck."

    Both Lee and Vulpix turn and take off down the forest trail May rode down.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee''s feet pound heavily on the ground in sharp contrast to the feather line steps of the vixen beside him. The man huffs and tries to keep his breathing steady as he runs, but he can already feel an ache forming in his legs that will only be worse tomorrow. The feeling of lead in his limbs from his earlier... vivid memory only worsens the experience.

    ''At least the forest trail keeps us out of the sun,'' He relays to Vulpix, pulling at the collar of his shirt with a finger. ''I can still feel sweat starting to soak my shirt, though. Eck. Why couldn''t we have been dropped in Sinnoh and their more agreeable temperature?''

    Vulpix looks up at him and gives him the mental equivalent of a shrug, her easy stride not faltering at all. A human''s pace isn''t much to her.

    The trees begin to thin as the pair run, and the yowls and yips of angry canines and the fearful yelling of Birch becomes audible. Lee and Vulpix lock eyes for a moment before speeding up.

    "Get a pokeball from my bag and chase off the Poochyena!" Birch''s faint voice yells.

    "In here?!" Returns the voice of a young girl.

    The man and fox burst from the trail and skid to a stop right at a short, grassy cliff. Fifteen feet below, a trio of Poochyena bark and yap up a tree where Birch fearfully clutches a high branch. Just to their right, a panicking May digs in the brown field bag that Birch dropped before presumably falling down the cliff. May looks exactly as Lee expected. Her red attire, bandanna, distinctive hairstyle, and all.

    ''Let''s hold back and see how this plays out. We''ll step in if needed.'' Lee thinks to Vulpix as he catches his breath.

    "Vul..." Vulpix verbalizes her affirmative.

    "Which one do I pick!?" May asks, looking between the three pokeballs in her hand with growing uncertainty.

    "Anyone! All of them are fine! Just throw the ball and call an attack!" Birch yells back.

    "U-uh, okay," May palms one of the balls with a frown, letting the other two drop back into the bag. "Go pokeball!"

    The pokeball is thrown up before splitting open with the pop! only a pokeball can make, and in a flash of light, a Mudkip materializes in a flash of white light at May''s side.

    "Alright, a Mudkip!" Birch says with a cheer. "Now, call out one of his attacks!"

    "Uhhh..." May draws a blank and looks around unsurely.

    Birch sighs and shakes his head. "Just say Use Watergun."

    "Okay. Use Watergun?" May orders, her tone still uncertain.

    The young Mudkip either senses her nervousness or totally misinterprets the order because he opens his mouth, takes a breath, and douses May with a blast of water. The girl can only scream under the torrent of cold water.

    Birch groans before finally taking notice of Lee and Vulpix with a relieved smile. "Lee! You''re just in time! Some help, please?!"

    Lee steps forward as Mudkip stops blasting a now shivering May. He glances over to May, who takes one look at his face and freezes. "Hey, stand back. Get into the sun, and you''ll dry out faster." He then turns inward as he glances down at the trio of angry Poochyena still circling the tree. ''Ready, love?''

    Vulpix looks up at him, her eyes glinting as she settles into a low ready stance.

    Lee looks down, focusing intently on several spots just at the feet of the three angry Dark types, eagerness overpowering his tired mind. ''Ember!''

    Vulpix leaps into the air, her mouth open, and with hardly any charge time, shoots a barrage of tiny fireballs down at the three Poochyena.

    The pups perk their ears and turn just in time for the Embers to impact the ground at their feet, the exploding fireballs throwing all three onto their backs with frightened yelps.

    Lee has to fight back a giddy grin.

    A number of the Embers flew wide, but quite a few landed in the places he had Vulpix focus on, right at the feet of the Poochyena. He can strategize with Vulpix at the speed of thought.

    Vulpix''s mind pokes at his with an inquiry as she falls back down to the ground lightly.

    ''You bet your cute ass we''re going to abuse the fuck out of this.''

    The vixen chuffs, and Lee doesn''t even need to feel her mind to know she''s amused.

    By now, the trio of frightened Poochyena have scrambled back to their paws and look up to Vulpix with equal parts fear and anger flashing in their red eyes. The middle Poochyena growls and looks at the pulverized ground where the Embers had detonated, his hackles slowly falling as he steps backward. Vulpix growls, and all three Poochyena turn tail and run, yelping and howling like hell was on their heels. The three trundle into the bushes and take off out of sight, leaving the forest silent sans the wind through the leaves.

    Birch sighs of relief, but freezes when the branch he''s on creaks before snapping, sending him to the ground with a painful "Oof!"

    Lee winces and looks down the short drop-off. "You alright, Professor?"

    "I''m fine, just some bruised pride..." The man mutters. "What a day to leave Medicham at the lab. Thank you for the save, Lee!"

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "Thank Vulpix, she did all the legwork for me," Lee says lightly before turning to May. "And you must be May Maple, right?"

    The girl shrinks on herself as Lee addresses her, poking her pointer fingers together and looking at the ground. "Y-Yeah. That''s me."

    "Lee is the name, and my lovely friend here is Vulpix," the scarred man introduces himself, then he dryly adds, "Try not to run towards danger next time, please? If something happened to you, then Norman would come down like a ton of bricks on the lab."

    May flushes red and nods.

    ''It''s hard to believe she becomes an expert coordinator and a pretty good battler. Eh. Humble origins and all that.''

    Lee turns to Birch after letting Vulpix hop to his shoulder. "So, what are we doing-!" He''s cut off when a massive bolt of lightning cleaves through the sky in the distance with the sky-rocking crackle, rousing countless bird pokemon from the trees with a medley of trills and cries.

    Birch and May flinch at the sound. Vulpix folds her ears, but Lee blinks and feels cold sweat slowly break out on his brow.

    ''The hell was that? Did a Zapdos or something wander into Hoenn?''

    Another surge of unearthly electricity shoots up into the sky and lights up the forest, this time with a rumble of ominous thunder that reverberates in Lee''s tightening chest. ''That''s not Ash''s Pikachu, is it? The electricity was red, so...'' Lee''s eyes widen when he remembers the details of Pokemon Advance''s start. ''The red lightning. That is Ash''s Pikachu! And we''re going towards that?!''

    He looks back towards May and Birch, and the professor clears his throat to explain. "Anyway, Lee. I was out here trying to help Ash Ketchum find his Pikachu. The Pikachu in question is suffering from electrical overload and is feverish, so he ran off. One guess where Pikachu is..." Birch trails off, looking at yet another titanic bolt of red lighting that shakes the forest with its thunder.

    Lee groans. "Great, let''s wander right towards an angry and confused Pikachu. This can''t end badly."

    Birch falls in step beside Lee as he begins running with May trailing a little behind on her bike. "No need to be so pessimistic. I''m sure we can handle Pikachu."

    Another bolt cracks the sky with a tooth rattling crackboom!

    "You mean Vulpix will have to handle Pikachu," Lee huffs, flinching as the lightning only gets louder the closer they get. "If Medicham is at the lab and all you have are the three starters, then Vulpix will have to fight that little monster. I''m not keen on throwing my best friend into the grinder like that."

    He can see Vulpix frown from the corner of his eye as she pokes his mind with a trickle of annoyance.

    "Is this Pikachu really that strong?" May asks, worry coloring her tone.

    "Didn''t this Ash kid do pretty well in both Indigo and Silver, professor?" Lee asks like he doesn''t already know.

    Birch nods. "Ash did remarkably well in both despite his young age, and his Pikachu was a key player in both."

    "So pretty strong, yeah," Lee says back to May. The girl gulps and falters slightly in her pedaling.

    The men, girl, and pokemon get closer to the electrical blasts cutting through the quiet of the forest, each blast more unnerving and ear-battering than the last. In the previous hundred or so feet away, the electric charge in the air makes the whole group''s skin tingle and makes Vulpix''s carefully groomed fur stand on end, much to her chagrin. The most enormous lightning bolt yet makes Birch and Lee shield their eyes, Vulpix turn away, and May stifle a scream.

    The four cut through a final copse of trees into a small cliff-side clearing just in time to see a young boy, Ash, struggle to his feet with gritted teeth, electricity still arcing between his shaking limbs before it finally disperses. "P-Pikachu..."

    Pikachu stirs from his place on the ground with a delirious "P-Pika..." and stands on all fours, his red cheeks sparking. The electric rodent then sprints full tilt away, moving like the wind despite his impairment.

    And because of said impairment, Pikachu takes no notice of the cliff he''s hurtling towards.

    Ash''s eyes widen in abject terror. "Pikachu!" He cries, sprinting towards his pokemon.

    ''Shit! Vulpix!''

    "Vul!"

    The vixen leaps high into the air from Lee''s shoulder, flames licking the edges of her mouth. She takes a deep breath and fires a stream of screaming Embers right in Pikachu''s path, cutting him off.

    Pikachu''s ears twitch, and he stops almost a dozen feet short of the Ember''s impact point, cheeks sparking ominously with red electricity. "Piiiikaaaa..." He opens one blurry eye and locks into Vulpix.

    ''Quick Attack down now!'' Lee frantically orders.

    "Chuuuuu!"

    Vulpix glows white and shoots down toward the ground as little more than a blur. Even with the mental order being infinitely faster for Lee to issue and for Vupix to process than a verbal one, Vulpix dodges the Thunderbolt with only inches to spare.

    ''Jesus fuck, there was almost no charge time to that! And while much slower than actual lightning, Pikachu''s electric attacks are still stupid fast.'' Lee thinks, feeling a cold bead of sweat run down his face.

    Vulpix lands on the ground roughly but on her paws, taking a defensive stance before Lee, Birch, and May as Pikachu keeps sparking with a bleary-eyed glare.

    "Pikachu!"

    Ash rushes between them and Pikachu before snagging up the yellow mouse and hugging him tightly. "Pikachu, it''s okay! It''s me! No one''s gonna hurt you!"

    Pikachu struggles and sparks the entire time before finally biting down on Ash''s forearm.

    "Ahhhh!" Ash cries out, gritting his teeth as Pikachu''s teeth sink into his arm, drawing several thin lines of blood.

    Lee looks to Birch, who looks terse, but is content to watch for now. May, meanwhile, just watches with her hand covering her mouth and her eyes open wide.

    Slowly, Pikachu blinks, and clarity seems to return to him. He releases Ash''s arm and then runs his tongue over his bloody teeth with growing alarm. When he looks down at Ash''s bleeding arm, Pikachu squeaks out a sorrowful. "Pika pi!"

    Ash just smiles like the pain isn''t bothering him. "It''s alright, Pikachu. I know you didn''t mean it. I''m just glad you''re feeling better."

    Pikachu''s face is still picture-perfect remorse. "Pika..." He says, licking Ash''s wound to stem the slow trickle of blood.

    As do Birch and May, Lee can''t help but smile at the scene. ''Say, why do I feel like I''m forgetting something?''

    Thud!

    Vulpix hops back up to his shoulder and paws his cheek.

    ''Ah, them...''

    "Prepare for... Prepare for... Oh, what''s the point?"

    Everyone turns and steps back in shock when a twenty-five-foot tall, red-painted robot that looks like a battery on its legs stomps into the small clearing. Standing on top of it are none other than Jesse, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket, all three already in a flamboyant pose.

    ''And I already hate all of them,'' Lee scowls, feeling his brow twitch. The instant that James opens his mouth, Lee tunes them out and turns his attention to Vulpix. ''Love, be ready to jump into action. This should play out as I expect it, but if it doesn''t...''

    Vulpix purrs an affirmative.

    Lee turns his attention back outwards just in time to see the trio of criminals hop down the hatch to the robot''s interior. A speaker on the outside crackles, then Meowth''s voice comes from it to explain the ridiculous robot. "Old Meowth has whipped up a good one this time! No matter how much Pika power yous output, our battery will take it all and juice our big bad bot up!"

    "Who... are these guys?" Birch asks, looking totally lost.

    "Team Rocket!" Ash growls, holding his glaring Pikachu close. "They''re a bunch of thieves who keep trying to steal Pikachu."

    "I think the things an organization like Rocket do is more terrorism than just common theft." Lee sneers.

    "Hey, scarface!" Meowth calls from the grainy speaker, prompting Lee to scowl and Vulpix growl. "We ain''t that bad! We just want Pikachu! Here we go!"

    A porthole opens on the front of the bot, then a thin mechanical arm tipped with a grabbing claw shoots out and snatches the shocked Pikachu right from an equally shocked Ash. The main arms of the robot pivot around to point at the struggling Pikachu, and what looks like suction cups on thin metal rods extend from the arms to latch onto Pikachu''s sparking cheeks.

    The three laugh over the speaker. "Draining away!" James calls with the sound of a lever being pulled.

    Pikachu lets out a strangled cry when the massive robot begins draining the red-tinged electricity from him, sending crackling arcs all over the clearing and making everyone shield their eyes from the light. Team Rocket can only laugh as a charge meter on the front of the robot rises near the top. "Once you''re out of Pika power, catching you will be a cinch!" Jesse laughs haughtily.

    The meter on the robot hits full just as the red electricity peters out, leaving Pikachu looking much more alert and less stressed than before. The yellow rodent blinks, then smiles evilly at the Rocketbot. "Piiiiikaaa..." He clenches his tiny fists and sparks with his usual yellow lightning. "Chuuuu!"

    The robot lights up like a Christmas tree hooked to a powerplant, electricity arcing everywhere as smoke starts to pour out the cracks.

    "The robot must have drained Pikachu of his overcharge!" Birch says over the crackling as he shields his head with his arms. "He''s back to normal!"

    "Cool shit! Now let''s hope he doesn''t fry us!" Lee yells, grabbing his squirming vixen and turning to shield her.

    One stray bolt lances right towards the tree where May''s bike is leaned up, crashing into the bike with a frightful ZAP! Despite how the rubber tires should have grounded the bike against electricity, the bike is reduced to a partially slagged heap of metal.

    May lets out a wounded scream and holds her head as she looks at her wrecked bike. "My bike! My dad is going to kill me!"

    Ash groans and facepalms. "Not this again..." he mutters, tipping his hat down and looking away.

    Pikachu lets a last powerful cry rip from his throat and totally overloads the robot, electricity dancing off every inch and finally reaching the screaming trio of criminals inside.

    Even if he''s expecting it, Lee still grimaces and hugs the now unmoving Vulpix tight when the robot spasms with the hollow sound of capacitors bursting inside its chassis. The impending sound and battering pressure wave makes Lee''s stomach roll, but Vulpix is quick to gently grasp his mind with her own as a pleasant distraction.

    Just before the robot goes critical, Jesse, James, and Meowth scramble out of a hatch in the back, each shaking and grimacing from the electricity arcing off them. Each Rocket drop to the ground in a heap, sighing in relief as they escape their stupid machine.

    Then with a tooth-ratting explosion, the ridiculous mech detonates with the nauseating smell of burning chemicals and batteries, covering the swath of forest and everyone inside in acrid smoke. Beside Lee, everyone else breaks out into coughing fits.

    Lee clenches his eyes shut to keep the stinging smoke out. Even with his ears ringing from the explosion, he can hear the three criminals rise to their feet and make a break for it. The wind blows the smoke away, and when the smell no longer stings his nose, Lee cracks an eye open.

    Team Rocket is gone.

    Pikachu stands in a defiant stance until the sound of Team Rocket sprinting through the underbrush vanishes, then the little rodent sways on his feet with an ill "Piiikaaaa..." before falling to his stomach, eyes closed.

    "Pikachu!" Ash cries, running forward and gently lifting his pokemon.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Back in the lab, after a long walk and a short talk with the local Officer Jenny about Rocket, Lee leans heavily against the exam room wall Birch dragged Ash and Pikachu into as he gives the little electric mouse a short physical. Vulpix sits at Lee''s feet with her eyes closed, seemingly dozing, but her twitching ears tell a different story.

    "I''m no Nurse Joy, but I''d say that''s a clean bill of health!"

    Birch gives the sleeping Pikachu on the table a final look over with a smile of his own. "All the overcharge is good and gone. Pikachu should be right as rain tomorrow. I guess those crooks were good for something after all."

    "For once," Ash adds on glibly. "Thanks for everything, professor!"

    Birch waves away the thanks. "It''s not a problem at all, Ash. I''m glad to help. It''s what a pokemon professor is for."

    Ash smiles at the man as Pikachu slowly blinks his eyes open before going back to sleep. The young trainer then turns to Lee. "Lee, right?" He asks, holding out his hand for a shake. "I''m Ash Ketchum from Pallet. Thanks for having your Vulpix head off, Pikachu. If he fell off that cliff, I have no idea what I would have done," the boy says with a shiver at the memory.

    Lee steps off the wall to take Ash''s hand and give it a shake. "Lee Henson, and it''s not a problem," Lee says absently. ''If someone told me a month ago I''d take a nuke to the face then be shaking hands with Ash Ketchum, I would have called the nuthouse.''

    "Yaahh!"

    Everyone in the room turns sharply to the door, just in time to see May enter and fumble with a vase by the doorway that she almost knocks over. She catches the vase in the nick of time and puts it back. "Uhhh..." she starts with a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that. I don''t think I ever introduced myself. My name is May Maple."

    Ash smiles at her. "I''m Ash Ketchum."

    May glances up at Lee for a scant moment before looking away and nervously swaying in place. It takes him a second to realize she wants his name as well. "Lee Henson. It''s a pleasure, May."

    The girl brightens up before turning to Pikachu, her smiling falling some. "Will Pikachu be okay?"

    "Should be fine in the morning, according to the Professor," Ash says with a nod. "Nothing can keep Pikachu down for long."

    "Pikachu certainly seems like the resilient sort," Birch quips with a smile. He then turns to May. "Sorry for all the delays, May. Are you ready to pick your first pokemon?"

    Ash turns to the professor and May, a sudden gleam in his eye. "First pokemon?"

    Upon returning, Birch walks over to the coat rack where he hung up his bag and pulls out three shiny, new pokeballs. He palms one while the other two stay shrunken in his other hand. "Okay, first up..."

    With a pop and flash of light, a Treecko takes form in the center of the room. The little lizard opens his yellow eyes and crosses his arms, taking in everyone coolly. "Treecko?"

    "Oh wow!" Ash says with a grin. He bends down to Treecko''s level, and the pokemon looks him over with a raised brow. "What type is he?"

    "Grass," Lee chimes in, finally fighting his exhaustion and stepping up to the group with Vulpix on his heels. He stands next to Ash and observes Treecko, who does the same to Lee in return. The Grass lizard''s small scales are all uniform and shiny, like he just underwent a molt. His yellow eyes are clear and alert. Lee tries to recall other indicators of reptile health but gives up. "The Treecko line is mono Grass all through its evolutionary chain," Lee says, rubbing his burns when he sees Treecko''s eyes linger on them.

    Treecko finally turns his attention to May with an aloof upturn of his lips. The girl shivers and steps back. "He''s kinda creepy..."

    Treecko''s shoulders slump just the slightest amount.

    "He''s not creepy. I think he''s really cool!" Ash chimes in, restoring Treecko''s bruised pride.

    Birch rubs his chin. "If not Treecko, then how about Mudkip?"

    In another burst of light, the young mudfish from earlier appears at May''s feet with a blink of his beady eyes. He looks up to May and grumbles deep in his throat.

    "This is the same one who wouldn''t listen from earlier..." May grumbles right back.

    Mudkip looks up at the girl with narrow, irritated eyes, seemingly debating with himself. Then without warning, he unleashes a short Water Gun right at May again, making the girl squeal as the cold water batters her. Both Birch and Ash cringe and step back so as to not be hit with stray drops.

    Lee shakes his head. ''The little guy obviously doesn''t like the disrespect. I know May becomes a great trainer later, but is this really how she starts?'' He pauses. ''Ash got electrocuted by Pikachu more times than I can recall when he started, and he becomes world-class. Maybe I''m being too harsh.''

    May shakes the water from her clothing as best she can with a sigh. "Not that one either..."

    Picking up the final pokeball, Birch eyes May with no small amount of concern. "Okay, this is the last one. If there are no takers here, then you have to wait until the next batch, May."

    May just screws her eyes shut and crosses her fingers.

    The pokeball in Birch''s hand snaps open and white energy surges out, coalescing into a tiny, orange chick next to Mudkip.

    "This is Torchic, a fire type," Birch explains as the now named Torchic looks up at May and steps closer with the quiet tip-tap of talons on the linoleum floor. Torchic and May only hold their shared look for a moment before Torchic fluffs himself up and rubs against May''s legs with a content "Torchic!"

    For the first time, May''s face slowly lights up. "Oh wow..." She reaches down to pet the little chick on his soft, downy head, and Torchic gladly leans into her touch. "I think I know which one I want," she says, a growing smile on her face.

    Treecko turns his nose up slightly, and Mudkip sighs in relief before both are returned to their balls.

    Birch replaces both pokeballs into his lab bag and wipes the sweat from his forehead. He then turns to May with a smile and hands her Torchic''s ball. The girl takes the ball and looks up to the professor. "Alrighty, May. Come with me to my office. We have a few final things to fill out then I can give you your Pokedex. Lee, Ash," The man turns to the pair of trainers. "Feel free to rest up. Today has been eventful."

    "Will do, Professor. Thank you!" Ash says with a grin. Lee just sighs and nods, trying hard to fight off the weariness of the day.

    ''And to think it''s hardly even the afternoon yet,'' Lee mentally grumbles to Vulpix, who presses herself to his legs.

    Birch leaves the room with the still starstruck May and Torchic in tow.

    Lee stumbles over to a chair by the corner of the exam room and sits heavily on it, his limbs feeling like lead. He leans his head back, just barely noticing Vulpix hopping into his lap.

    ''Yeah, a nap sounds nice.''

    He lays a hand across Vulpix''s back, and a moment later, sleep takes him.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Hey, Lee. Lee!"

    Lee cracks a bleary eye open with a growl. In his lap, Vulpix stirs. He deftly catches the hand, reaching for his face. "What do you want, Brendan?"

    Brendan snatches his hand back and crosses his arms. "You''ve been conked out for like four hours. Dad ordered some takeout for everyone, so you better come get some before that Ash kid eats it all," he grumbles.

    Lee debates just going back to sleep, not feeling particularly hungry, but a mental poke from Vulpix tells him she''s not of the same opinion.

    He sighs and begins to stand as the now awake vixen in his lap hops down to the floor. "Sure, thanks, Brendan." He says, taking stock of the room. Pikachu is gone from the exam table where he was rested, so he must be with Ash. Everything else is unchanged.

    The boy brightens up instantly. "No problem. Also, why didn''t you call me when that whole thing with the terrorists earlier went down? I could have helped!"

    Lee shakes his head and follows after Brendan. "You''re twelve, kiddo. You shouldn''t even know what terrorism is, so there was no way in hell I was letting you get involved." Then as an afterthought, he adds, "I shouldn''t have gotten involved either. Nor should have Ash, May, or the professor. That was stupid of all of us. We should have called the police and let them deal with it, as is their job."

    Brendan stops mid-step and looks back to Lee, his face screwed up in disbelief like Lee had just sprouted a 2nd head. "What are you talking about?"

    "I''m talking about how trying to do the work of law enforcement is asking for trouble," Lee says with a raised eyebrow, stopping with Brendan. "Are you of another opinion?"

    "Yeah..?" Brendan says slowly, an unspoken ''duh'' punctuating his answer. "Lab-sponsored trainers are League first responders when the cops aren''t around. Same with gym leaders, elite trainers, other League officials, the Champ, and all that. You know?"

    ''What?''

    Brendan nods, and Lee curses inwardly when he realizes he spoke aloud again. "Yeah. Did you not go through the League guidelines and all that?"

    "I''m... still slogging through it..." Lee admits with a frown. ''Love, remind me to finish that stupid book ASAP,'' he sends to Vulpix, getting an affirmative feeling and nod from the little fox. "So we''re obligated to run toward emergencies?"

    Brendan starts walking to the lab''s main room again, with Lee and Vulpix following closely. The closer they get, the more they can hear the muted chatter of people. "We''re not obligated, but... You know? You have to, but no one is going to force you?"

    Lee rubs his forehead with an open hand, feeling yet another headache coming on. "Fun..."

    ''I really need to finish that fucking book. I''m not in over my head, am I?''

 Act 1: Chapter 5

    Lee leans against the cold, sterile white wall and numbly watches a team of the zoo''s finest veterinarians operate frantically on a small, bloodied form. Under the deep trains of red, one could make out bits of fur the same color as sun-bleached savannah dust.

    Despite all the efforts and desperate measures the veterinarians try, the rise and fall of the tiny lion''s chest slows just a little more with each passing second.

    Lee looks down at his hands, his stomach churning at the sight of the red smudges still dotting his palms. The longer he looks, the more his nose stings with the sharp scent of copper. He barely even notices someone taking his shoulder and leading him out of the operating room.

    "I hate to say it, but it looks like Miss Zanta is going to reject Zuberi and Sefu... and poor Sefu is going to need more help than her mama can provide anyway."

    Lee blinks and looks around, taking in the empty breakroom of the zoo from his spot seated in a corner. At his side, waiting patiently and quietly for a reply is Aasir.

    The Kenyan-born man takes the initiative again. "Lee, my friend. Talk to me. It''s okay to be shaken," he says, laying a large hand on Lee''s shoulder. "You are confused and scared. Your face says it all. It''s not everyday dat somethin'' like dis happens."

    Lee looks up to his mentor briefly, then back down to his stained hand still folded in his lap.

    It happened so fast. Zanta, the eldest daughter of Makiri''s second litter, had just given birth a few days prior. Her litter was small, just three female cubs named Sefu, Zuberi, and Mumtaz. Of the three, none were sickly or otherwise had any redflags that might trigger Zanta. Zanta had shown no warning signs at all. She nursed, groomed, and watched over all three cubs.

    Then she went berserk and attacked Mumtaz, her intent to kill practically tangible.

    Lee was so stunned at first, then the agonized screeches and terrified screams of the zoo-goers snapped him out of it in an instant. He ran to the staff room behind the exhibit and almost ripped the tranq gun''s case off the wall in his adrenaline-fueled haste. He ran back to the exhibit and with shaking hands, took aim at Zanta and fired.

    The lioness yowled when the dart stuck her flank and she jumped, but by then, she had already moved to little Sefu. Mumtaz...

    "Lee!"

    Lee sucks in a violent breath and looks up at Aasir, his bloody hands forgotten for a moment.

    Aasir tightens the hand on Lee''s shoulder just a bit. "My friend, do not dwell on dis," Aasir says gently. "You did everythin'' right. Sometimes... Sometimes things just don''t work out."

    "But-!"

    "But nothin''!" The Kenyan man interrupts. He sighs and runs a hand over his bald head. "Lee," he starts, voice quiet, "one of the hardest lessons anyone who works with animals has gotta learn is that we can''t always predict things like dis. They don''t think like you and I. What dey might see as common sense is alien to us. We can only try to bridge the gap and understand."

    "To understand, huh?" Lee murmurs.

    "Indeed," Aasir says with a small smile. "This is a dark day for de Zoo, but we''re gonna look past dat. Those cubs, dey gonna need all the help dey can get. It''s the perfect opportunity to learn and understand. We''re gonna look at the silver lining. You still want to be with de lion exhibit?"

    Lee closes one hand, feeling the phantom sensation of blood-slicked fur under his fingers. He needs to be strong. Sefu and Zuberi need him. The visage of the innocent cubs flash before his eyes. "Yes. Yes, of course, I''ll stay."

    Just as he rises to go... somewhere. Just anywhere else, a sudden horrid light shines in from the window.

    Sirens howl a terrible song.

    Animals yowl in terrible agony.

    Everything BURNS

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    With a sudden gasp, Lee jolts awake, just barely restraining himself from shooting up and throwing Vulpix off his chest. He bites his lip and slowly brings a hand up to cover his painfully throbbing scars. He stares at the plain ceiling in the dark bedroom until the stinging and burning scars calm to a dull ache. Miraculously, Vulpix remains asleep on his covered chest.

    ''2nd time this month...''

    The man lets out a quiet sigh and turns his head to the nightstand, where the alarm clock reads back ''5:13 AM'' in its baleful red numbers.

    It''s no use sitting and thinking about them, the cubs he raised by hand.

    They''re gone.

    Lee sighs once more and shifts to try and return to sleep, only to find his pillow unpleasantly damp and sweaty. ''Fuck it. I''m not getting back to sleep after that dream anyway.''

    "Psst. Vulpix," Lee whispers, making the vixen''s ear twitch. "Hey, honey, rise and shine. Time to get up. Hoenn isn''t going to conquer itself."

    Vulpix grumbles lowly and raises her head, cracking open an unamused eye to glare at her trainer. The other eye opens shortly after as Vulpix rises to her paws, still on Lee''s chest. She does a full-body stretch complete with a jaw-cracking yawn before hopping to the floor.

    Lee sits up and peels the damp blanket off of himself with a grimace, noting that his sleeping attire is sweat-soaked as well. "Gross..." He murmurs, standing and walking to the small bathroom off his room. Several minutes later after a short shower in the cramped bathroom, Lee steps back out in fresh underclothes and dons his attire for the day. Vulpix watches demurely from the bedroom door.

    The day he leaves the lab and actually begins a childhood dream once thought impossible. The man suppresses a shiver of nervous energy and takes a shuddering breath. He looks down to the Sliph bag at the foot of the bed, going over a mental checklist of things inside.

    ''Tent, sleeping bag, clothes, food for myself and ''Pix, water, cookware, meds, Potion, pokeballs, books, ax, lighter, power bank. I know I''m missing something, but for the life of me, I can''t remember...'' Lee scratches his head and hums under his breath before looking to Vulpix. ''Anything I''m forgetting, love?''

    Vulpix says nothing either psychic or verbal but blinks and looks at the nightstand.

    ''Ah, right.''

    Lee steps over and grabs the folding beater cellphone on the stand. He takes a long look at the little hunk of plastic and glass, then to his Sliph bag with a shake of his head. "We live in a world where casual spatial distortion tech and flip-phones exist in the same era. What the fuck, man."

    He flips the phone open and begins dialing...

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Hey, Lee!"

    The scarred man and the fox at his heels stop midway back to the lab guest room. With an exhausted sigh, the man turns to face the voice.

    Behind him, a resolute Brendan stands with crossed arms.

    "Something I can do for you, Brendan?" Lee mutters, leaning against the hallway wall. "I kinda want to get to sleep."

    The boy nods. "You turned down Ash''s offer to travel with him and May. Why''s that?" He asks.

    Lee scoffs, recalling Ash''s offer over dinner just fifteen minutes prior. "Trust me on this, that kid is a trouble magnet. He''s got a target painted on his back that actual terrorists are gunning for. He''s a nice guy, but I''m not sticking my neck, and by extension Vulpix''s neck out for a stranger. Plus, doesn''t a grown-ass man traveling with a pair of kids, one a little girl, seem kinda creepy?"

    Brendan mulls it over for a second. "Well, when you put it that way I get it. If you don''t wanna go with them, then how about me?" He asks with a grin growing on his face.

    The man across from him blinks. "Excuse me?"

    "Yeah, come on! It''ll be fun!" Brendan insists. "Traveling alone sucks!"

    Lee and Vulpix both slowly turn their heads to meet eyes.

    "Traveling without someone else to talk to about human stuff I mean!" Brendan quickly amends with a wave of his arm. "And no, you''re a friend of the Birch family and a Hoenn sponsored trainer like me, so it''s not weird if we hang out. Yes, I''ve already asked dad and he''s cool with it."

    Lee lets his argument die and escape his mouth as a tired hiss.

    "Plus..."

    Brendan folds his arms behind his head in a forced show of aloofness, but his averted eyes give him away. "Plus I feel like I learn a lot from you, you know? Kinda like a cool teacher. Mudkip''s growth is nothing short of explosive, and it''s all with your help. I wanna learn to train as you do..."

    The elder of the two turns away with pursed lips, trying not to let out an irritated snip. He looks back briefly to the boy, taking in his slowly falling face with a grimace. Finally, Lee sighs and caves. "Tell you what. Let me sleep on it and I''ll call you in the morning. I plan on leaving then."

    Brendan''s grin lights up the whole hallway.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "It''s like five in the morning, what do you want..?" Brendan''s sleepy voice comes through the tinny cell phone speaker.

    "Get up and gather your shit," Lee says, not bothering to hide the smirk in his voice. "We''re leaving ASAP. I wanna put feet to dirt and get to a decent place to train before the heat of the day sets in and makes everyone miserable."

    The other line is silent for a moment as Lee''s words sink in, then the sound of someone frantically jumping out of bed comes over the phone. "W-We''ll be at the lab soon!"

    Click!

    Lee closes the phone with a quiet snap and pockets it. "Easy enough, eh love?" He asks Vulpix, who just chuffs and hops up to her favorite shoulder perch as Lee dons his Sliph bag and walks past.

    The pair slowly walk to the front of the lab, going over the building that had been their home for over a month. The once alien building is now as familiar as the back of a hand (or paw) for both trainer and pokemon. Leaving almost felt strange. Lee stops by Birch''s office and leaves his key on the Professor''s desk, confident he will need it no longer.

    Man and Mon step outside the lab and close the door, already hearing the squealing of jeep tires in the distance.

    "This is it, love," Lee murmurs to Vulpix, who perks her ears. "This is the first real step. The journey of a very literal thousand miles begins here. Are we ready?"

    The little fox says nothing but presses her cheek to her trainer''s.

    Lee smiles gently.

    Down the road, Birch''s jeep takes form in the early morning gloom with a dust cloud behind it. The jeep''s brakes squeal in protest when Birch suddenly lays into them with a lead foot, making the jeep skid to a halt before Lee and Vulpix.

    A woosy Brendan steps out of the passenger side, looking decidedly green. "U-Ugh... Dad, speed limits are a thing you know."

    The elder Birch steps out of the vehicle looking none the worse for wear. "I know." the professor begins cheerily. "But it''s only illegal if we get caught. Don''t look at me like that, this is an exciting day! It''s not every day a dad can see his son off on his journey."

    Brendan sighs and pulls his backpack from the jeep before shouldering it in one motion. "Yeah, I guess..."

    Lee looks at the jeep, noticing no other occupants. "Just you two?"

    The younger of the two nods. "Yeah, Ash and May didn''t want to get up so I guess they''re starting later today."

    Birch looks at his son with an almost misty smile. "So I guess this is goodbye for a while, kiddo. I know you''ll do me proud, so don''t be afraid to stop and have fun. You''ll grow more over this journey than you did your entire twelve years here in Littleroot, so call me and your mom often so we don''t have heart attacks when you suddenly come back as a man."

    The younger Birch looks away, blushing a little in embarrassment, but he can''t stop his lips from twitching upward. "Jeez, Dad..."

    The professor wraps his son in a hug, and the boy hugs his father tightly.

    Lee smiles at the scene, even if it pokes his heart with a tiny spike of sharp envy. ''I hope mom and dad are doing okay...''

    The father and son release each other, both grinning wide. Birch then turns to Lee. "Lee, I doubt I need to say much to you, other than remember the little guys like me when you''re at the top of the world, alright?"

    The scarred man barks out a short laugh. "I hope you don''t really mean that, Professor. Without you, Vulpix and I would have been sunk. You''ve done so much for us that I''m not sure how to even begin repaying you."

    "The grant increases from your tourney wins are a good start," Birch replies with a chuckle. "But what I really want are those recording logs of yours. No matter how mundane your point of view may seem to you, it could be game-changing for us. Your discovery of Vulpix''s pyrokinesis just from a g- er, a legend is nothing short of incredible."

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    The vixen on Lee''s shoulder preens under the indirect praise.

    Lee rubs the back of his head. "I guess..."

    "And," Birch continues, his smile falling some as his voice lowers. "It''s not my place to tell you how to manage your secrets, but I''d be careful about who you reveal your past to. Not everyone is so... open-minded."

    "That one I knew."

    "I know, just making sure for my peace of mind," Birch says, reaching out a hand that Lee firmly grasps. "Good luck on your journey friend. Try not to do anything reality-breaking without warning me first."

    Birch lets his hand go, and Lee glances down at the little card that Birch discreetly left in his palm.

    1800-2134-9991

    Post Traumatic Stress Specialists of Hoenn.

    100% Confidential. All insurance types accepted.

    Just under that is Birch''s chicken-scratch scrawl.

    Vulpix has been tight-lipped with Medicham but I heard you during an all-nighter a week ago. Don''t purposely hurt yourself or go without. -Nigel.

    Lee sucks in a sharp breath and snaps his eyes to Birch, but the professor either ignores the look or doesn''t notice as he turns to address Brendan as well. "Alrighty, boys! The road awaits. Try not to get in trouble and have fun!"

    "Awesome!" Brendan yells, practically vibrating with excitement. "C''mon Lee! We''re burning daylight!"

    Lee stares are the card in his hand even as his feet move to follow.

    ''How the fuck does he expect me to use this? I can''t just tell a stranger that I got nuked and boohoo it makes me sad. One way ticket to the nuthouse. This is something I have to face on my own.''

    Despite how he intended the thought to be private, having Vulpix''s head inches away from his own makes Lee''s thoughts as clear as spoken words over the thin telepathic band between them. Vulpix presses her cold nose to his cheek and huffs before he even finishes.

    He absently reaches up to pet her. ''Maybe not on my own, but still.''

    "What''s that?"

    Lee stiffens and stuffs the card in his pocket with speed borne of embarrassment. He turns to glare lightly at Brendan, who only blinks in return.

    "Nothing important..." Lee says, looking away.

    Brendan hums under his breath."You were staring at that card so hard I thought it was going to go up in flame. We''ve been walking for like ten minutes."

    "In-joke, don''t worry."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Here should be good."

    "Ughhhhh..." the sweat-soaked Brendan groans. "Sweet, sweet shade. I promise to never take you for granted again."

    Lee blows out a breath and pulls at his own damp shirt collar. "Yeah, no joke."

    The pair had been walking for almost six hours. The early morning chill was merciful, making the first several hours leading to and slightly after the sunrise little more than a pleasant stroll to the north. After the sun rose, however, Hoenn began to show it''s tropical climate as the heat rose without a sea-side breeze to cool anyone unfortunate enough to venture out into the sun. Lee even had to put Vulpix in her ball because having her on his shoulders made for a nausea-inducing amount of heat, even with her using Drought to try and redirect the sun rays.

    And in a horrid bout of luck for Lee and Brendan, the road north of Littleroot to Oldale is nothing but flat grasslands, and today is nothing short of scorching. Not even pokemon were out and about.

    That''s why a copse of large trees off the side of the road made both trainers beeline for the soothing shade they offered.

    Brendan drops his backpack and collapses on his back in the cool grass below one of the trees. "Ahhhhh yeah, that''s the stuff," he groans in delight.

    Lee is a little more graceful, but still more or less flops down as he digs in his bag and pulls a plastic water bottle from it, still as blessedly cold as when he pulled it from the lab fridge this morning.

    "Sliph tech my ass," Lee huffs as he unscrews the bottle and downs the entire thing in three huge, refreshing gulps. "Huh. More like Sliph magic," he says, wiping his mouth.

    "I know, right?" Brendan laughs and opens his own bag, digging for his own water. His other hand travels to his belt and snags Mudkip''s pokeball. "I think it''s time for lunch. C''mon out!"

    Mudkip''s ball flies into the air and snaps open, dumping a pokemon-shaped mass of energy on the ground that slowly turns into Mudkip. "Mud?"

    Lee follows suit, tossing his sole pokeball up and letting open with a snap-hiss. Vulpix lands gracefully before she''s even fully materialized. "Vul."

    The older trainer opens his bag and fishes out the bag of self-made pokemon food he had prepared the night prior, making Vulpix''s tails wag. "Alrighty girl, lunch first, then some light training?"

    Mudkip turns to Lee and Vulpix, his little eyes shining with an almost malicious light, only for Brendan''s hand on his head to snap him out of it.

    "Light training pal," Brendan says with a sheepish laugh. "If you and Vulpix burn down or knock over the trees, then we''re outta luck."

    Poor Mudkip slumps and Vulpix rolls her eyes.

    Both trainers set out food and water for their pokemon, who dig into their meals with gusto. Brendan produces a simple sandwich from his bag and wolfs it down, totally ignoring Lee''s warning to slow down before he gets sick.

    Lee stares into the darkened maw of his Sliph bag, debating with himself internally. ''It''s too hot to cook an actual lunch. Something light will do fine.''

    So a few mouthfuls of granola became lunch, and Lee steadfastly ignores his younger companion moaning as a stomach ache hits him.

    As he rests, Lee watches both Vulpix and Mudkip finish up their meals, mulling over what he''s watching. ''The games never had any systems for personal care like food, hygiene, and one-on-one time in place for the pokemon, and it certainly would not have been cost-prohibitive even such systems were in place. One isn''t much to care for, but six or more could add up to more time and money than I have,'' Lee thinks with a sigh. ''I guess my plans for a Snorlax are shot. Damn.''

    Vulpix''s face scrunches up as she chews her last bite of lunch. Her distaste plain for such an... Unsightly? Unattractive? Slobbish pokemon? The feeling of what she wishes to convey is in the telepathic message she sends, but she can''t tie the feeling to a human word.

    ''I know what you mean, love,'' Lee sends back and he reclines back into the grass. ''But give credit where credit is due. Snorlax is a powerful pokemon and would be on everyone''s team if they didn''t have such unearthly upkeep.''

    Vulpix''s side of the telepathic link is silent before she concedes the point with a flicker of agreement and only a slight undertone of lingering disdain.

    ''Anyway, future team composition aside, let''s start when you''re ready, yeah?'' Lee sends to her, making Vulpix perk up. Lee reaches into his bag and withdraws a stack of post-it notes. Vulpix draws closer and seats herself on her haunches as Lee pulls one note free and holds it up.

    ''Now, corner.''

    The top right corner, the same one Lee is focusing on, smolders and spontaneously combusts with a crackle after only several seconds of Vulpix''s intense stare.

    Lee lets the note drop and burn to ash before pulling another one. ''Now, center.''

    Like the note before it, the one in Lee''s fingers bursts into flame from the center

    Man and fox train in silence for some time, only vaguely paying attention to Brendan''s shouts and the sound of Mudkip firing off attacks.

    "Uwah! Look!"

    Both Lee and Vulpix look up at Brendan''s shout.

    Standing before Brendan and Mudkip is a large Shroomish. The little mushroom pokemon has it''s beady eyes locked with the savagely smiling Mudkip, who shifts his weight back and forth in anticipation.

    "What''s a Shroomish doing so far from the Petalburg woods?" Brendan wonders aloud, voicing the question on Lee''s tongue. "The little guy should have dried out in this heat."

    Lee stands and pulls his Pokedex from his jacket pocket, pointing it at the Shroomish.

    "Shroomish: The Mushroom Pokemon," the Pokedex begins in its dull, computerized voice. "This mild-mannered pokemon inhabits thick forests and consumes dead plant matter. It grows well in dark, moist environments."

    "It''s neither dark nor moist out here," Lee says with a frown, watching the Shroomish begin a slow walk towards Mudkip. "What''s up with this little guy?"

    Vulpix noses her trainer''s leg and flares her telepathic connection to him, sending an image to Lee''s. An image Shroomish''s little eyes darting to Brendan''s bag and the empty food bowls before returning to Mudkip flies through his mind.

    "He''s hungry?" Lee wonders, getting a nod from Vulpix.

    Shroomish grimaces and turns his walk into a run, flying at Mudkip in a textbook Tackle.

    Mudkip tenses just in time for Brendan to yell; "Mudkip! Dodge!"

    The mudfish braces his muscular legs against the ground and leaps out of Shroomish''s way, leaving the little mushroom to stumble to a stop. Then without even needing a command, Mudkip flies back at Shroomish with his own, much faster Tackle.

    Shroomish''s eyes widen and he tries to move his stubby legs in time, but Mudkip crashes into him like a blue missile with a painful sounding thwack, throwing Shroomish back so hard that he bounces several times before rolling to a stop.

    "Nice work Mudkip!" Brendan says with a fist pump, then stops when Shroomish slowly rolls back to his feet with great difficulty. Just one attack left a giant bruise on the little mushroom''s front and makes him pant in pain.

    "Half-starved and still has the energy to get up after a direct hit huh?" Lee mutters to Vulpix who winces in sympathy. She knows full well how hard Mudkip hits. "Tough, isn''t he?"

    Shroomish grimaces and runs forward again, albeit much slower, then he stops short and shakes a cloud of yellow pollen from his body with a grunt.

    ''No, not pollen. Stun Spore!'' Lee realizes. "Brendan!"

    "On it!" Brendan yells back. "Mudkip! Mist down the Stun Spore!"

    Mudkip takes a breath and shoots a Watergun from his maw at the rapidly approaching cloud of yellow, then he partially closes his mouth so the stream deflects off his lips, making a thick wall of mist like a pinched hose.

    The Stun Spore runs into the cloud of water droplets and is stopped cold, the spores instantly soaked before falling to the ground.

    Mudkip never saw Shroomish charge through the mist in a desperate Tackle.

    Mudkip lets out a surprised cry when Shroomish slams his skull directly into his own, sending the mudfish back into his ass and seeing stars. Shroomish almost immediately shakes another cloud of yellow Stun Spore from his little body, practically on top of Mudkip.

    "Oh, man! Mudkip! Get out of there quick!" Brendan yells out in panic.

    Thankfully, Mudkip isn''t so concussed that he can''t hear his trainer and rolls out of the way in a hurry, coming to a stop several feet away just as the cloud of Stun Spore settles where he was.

    Shroomish growls in frustration, but it''s immediately drowned out when Mudkip fires a retaliatory Water Gun out of pure instinct. Shroomish is so close that he has no time to dodge, so the torrent of water crashes into him in a violent surge. The water technique doesn''t do much damage against the grass type Shroomish, but it''s enough to throw the already battered pok��mon end over end with a short cry. He comes to a stop on the ground, unmoving sans his shallow breathing.

    Both Brendan and Mudkip blink. "Did... Did we win?" Brendan questions quietly, then an enormous smile breaks out on his face. "We won!" He cheers, Mudkip leaping for joy right beside his trainer.

    Lee looks down to Vulpix with a small smile. "They did pretty well, eh?" Then he turns back to Brendan as the young boy rummages his through his pockets for something. Then Lee blinks as a thought strikes him. "That hungry Shroomish never intended to win, did he?"

    Vulpix just shakes her head.

    "All right! Here we go!" Brendan yells in excitement, pulling a pokeball from his pocket. "First catch! Go pokeball!"

    The little red and white ball flies from his hand straight and true, bouncing off the unconscious Shroomosh before popping open and sucking him inside as a wave of red light. The ball falls to the ground and begins to shake, it''s central button flashing red.

    Both Brendon and Lee watch it with bated breath.

    A nerve-racking ten seconds later, and the ball falls still with a quiet ''ping!''

    Brendan can''t contain his excitement. He throws his head back and laughs up to the sky, raising his shaking, adrenaline-filled arms. All the while, Mudkip beams with pride, up until Brendan snags him up in a hug. "We did it! We caught Shroomish!"

    Lee can''t help but find Brendon''s smile infectious and looks down at Vulpix, who smiles faintly back.

    ''It''s one thing to see it on a TV or a computer screen, but an actual catching is pretty incredible.'' Lee thinks to himself. Then he clears his throat. "Hey, Brendan! I hate to rain on your parade, but your newest team member was looking pretty hungry and is no doubt tired now," the man starts, stopping Brendan and Mudkip''s little victory dance. "I''m sure it''ll make a good impression if you fed him and offered a spritz of Potion."

    Brendan is quick to grab the now still pokeball and rush back under the shade with Mudkip at his heels. "Good thinking! He did seem a little scrawny..." He says, rolling the pokeball between his fingers as he settles next to Lee. "Say, how much further until we get to Oldale Town?"

    "Hrm", Lee rubs his chin and looks up at the sun through the cool cover of leaves, estimating the time to be around 1 PM. "If we really make tracks, we could probably be there by the end of tomorrow. That means marching through the heat without any rest, however, and I don''t know about you, but fuck that."

    The young Birch tries to stifle a laugh at his companion''s profanity. "Two days, then?"

    "Two days," Lee confirms with a nod. "Fuck Hoenn and this tropical heat. After the Ever Grande conference, I''m going to Sinnoh and staying there," he says, falling back into the soft grass.

    Brendan just rolls his eyes as he digs through his bag, producing a spray bottle of Potion. "Wahhh, it''s hot. I''m going to Sinnoh," Brendan mocks with a smirk, lowering his voice a few octaves to try and mimic Lee. "Then I''ll complain about the cold and say I''m going to Hoenn next year."

    Vulpix left out a few vulpine yips that sounds similar to someone trying to cough and laugh at once while Mudkip openly chortles.

    "Har har, you''re a regular comedian," Lee snorts. "Sounds like someone has rested up enough to keep going. Patch up your new friend and let''s get going."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee watches the simmering pan of meat and veggies carefully, occasionally moving it to keep it over the hotspot over the campfire and to keep the heat away from his sensitive scars. Inwardly, He curses and remembers what he forgot when the team set out from the lab. ''A flashlight. Campfire or not, it''s so dark that I can''t see shit.''

    After traveling for several more hours and again finding few pok��mon due to the sheer heat of the day, the duo came to a clearing off the road that made for a perfect campground for the night. The sun had just begun to set when they stopped, and now the entire surrounding area is covered by the gloomy dark With the silence broken by the minute noise of bug pokemon in the distance.

    About twenty feet away, Brendan and Mudkip busy themselves with setting up the tent, both overcoming the exhaustion of a full day''s walk with the childish enthusiasm that they throw into their work. Brendan had the foresight to bring a lamp, so their work is much more fruitful than Lee''s.

    Right next to Lee, Vulpix and Shroomish watch the elder human cook. The first watches with the same cool disinterest that she regards most things, and the second watches the pan and the food inside more than he does the human.

    ''The little guy must be absolutely starved,'' Lee sends to Vulpix. ''He utterly scarfed that bland pre-mix food without a single complaint. Why was he so far from the woods, in flat grasslands of all places?''

    Vulpix just looks up at him and gives him the mental equivalent of a shrug. A pair of images fly through Lee''s mind. One of an oblivious Shroomish wandering until the forest around him vanished, and another of a broken pokeball.

    ''Got lost or abandoned, eh?'' Lee sends back, glancing down at the still focused Shroomish. The little mushroom''s skin is dry and taut across his form, and he seems several inches shorter than the 1''4" average that the Pokedex lists. Then he looks back to Brendan, who admires the now complete tent before a light breeze knocks it over. "Oh come on!" Brendan exclaims, pulling at his hat.

    ''Well, Brendan will fix both those problems.''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Ugh...Finally," Brendan says with a slump of his shoulders

    Both Lee and Brendan spy a rustic wooden sign along the road that reads the blessed words "Oldale Town 0.25 mi -"

    Lee stretches his arms above his head and exhales, trying to hide his own fatigue. "Just about three days exactly. Not bad," he says with a tired huff. Lee glances up to the slowly darkening sky and stops abruptly. ''What the fuck?''

    Brendan groans and stops as well. "What are we stopping for?"

    Lee points towards the distant sky over Oldale, and Brendan does a double-take.

    Coming from the direction of the town is an enormous pillar of acrid, black smoke, thick enough to blot out the colors of the sunset illuminated sky. The wind shifts for just a few seconds, letting both Lee and Brendan catch the scent of something burning in the air.

    Brendan suddenly sprints forward with renewed energy, his hand already grasping at Mudkip''s ball. "C''mon Lee!"

    Lee groans and runs after his young companion, just barely keeping pace. "You know, common sense normally dictates that you don''t run towards something like that!"

    The younger of the two doesn''t bother with a reply, he just keeps running.

    They cover the last Quarter-mile in record time, cresting the hill into Oldale. The pillar of smoke grows ever larger and more imposing the closer they become, billowing and covering much of the sky. Groups of people and the occasional pok��mon stand fearfully and point at the smoke as the pair of trainers cross into a small residential area, many of them with exclamations of panic.

    "Okay, hold the fuck up!" Lee snarls, reaching out and grabbing Brendan by the collar of his shirt, making the young Birch gag and stop in his tracks. "Running in gung ho will just get us killed. We don''t even know what''s going on!"

    A middle-aged man who was watching the smoke from his porch with a stricken expression overhears and turns to Lee and Brendon. "Are you two Pok��mon trainers?!"

    "We are!" Brendan yells back.

    "The Pokemon Center is on fire!" The man exclaims. "I heard on the police scanner that some pok��mon went berserk and tried to attack some younglings! It happened so fast! After that, the fire started!"

    Lee freezes, his nightmare from several nights ago returning to him with cruel clarity.

    Went berserk...

    Happened so fast...

    ...Attacked cubs.

    Lee licks his suddenly dry lips. "W-Well the police and firefighters should be there taking care of this, right?"

    The man shakes his head and looks back at the smoke with poorly concealed fear. "Officer Jenny''s Azumarill is our only firefighter since old man Ogden and his Swampert retired. Please! You have to help them!"

    ''You going to make a difference this time? Or are you going to just stand around with a dumb look on your face?'' A voice in the back of Lee mind taunts.

    The scarred man freezes then grabs Vulpix''s pokeball with a white-knuckle grip.

    "Damn it all."

 Act 1: Chapter 6

    ''Why am I such a fucking sap?''

    With arms pumping, hearts pounding, and pokeballs held in iron-like grips, both Lee and Brendan round the final corner to the Pokemon Center.

    Hell greets them.

    The large center, several stories high and taking up the entire left side of the street, is engulfed in a raging inferno on the entirety of the left side of the first story where it slowly spreads. Rolling flames pour from the long since shattered windows, producing a thick, black smoke so dense it looks as if it could be cut with a knife. Embers burn away from the building and rise up into the air like literal fireflies, flying away to burn out high in the evening sky.

    A small team of human firefighters armed with a loaded fire truck and a police officer with an Azumarill stand before the building, trying valiantly to battle the fire. They blast water into the flaming entrance of the center with the Azumarill doing the bulk of the work, but the fire refuses to die down. Just behind them stands a small crowd of people and pokemon being looked over by an entirely too small team of medics and a frantic Nurse Joy.

    The sight of the uncontrolled flames makes Lee''s stomach drop and fill with ice. His scars flare in phantom pain and he breathes slowly through his nose as if using his mouth would invite the fire to rush inside him. Brendan releases Mudkip in a flash of light and turns to say something to him, but the boy''s words are lost through the dull roar of the fire.

    In his hand, Vulpix''s ball shakes violently before bursting open. The sudden noise and jerk of his handshakes Lee from his spiraling thoughts as Vulpix presses herself to his legs. Nary a second later, the vixen reaches out with her telepathy and gently wraps her mind around her trainer''s, coaxing him back to reality.

    Lee lets out a short gasp as his surroundings come back into sharp focus and clenches his hand around the now empty ball in his hand. He looks down at Vulpix, who returns his gaze with a cool expression, an expression betrayed only by the soothing warmth that flows from her mind to his.

    The man takes a deep, shuddering breath. ''Love, I know I''d be lost without you.''

    Vulpix just presses herself a little more to him.

    "Lee!"

    Lee turns to Brendan, who glares up at the man with a surprising amount of venom. "Are we going to help or what?"

    Lee quashes his sudden irritation and nods with a sigh. "Yes. Let''s go."

    The pair of trainers rush to the front of the group, passing a few firefighters and coming to a stop behind the female police officer. "Hey! Officer!"

    The woman looks over her shoulder, revealing herself to be none other than Officer Jenny. She regards the trainers with her eyebrows furrowed. "What are you two doing here?! Get back! It''s dangerous!" she yells, voice barely audible over the din of the fire.

    "We''re professor Birch''s trainers!" Brendan yells back, flashing his ID just long enough for Jenny''s eyes to scan over it. "We''re here to help!"

    The woman''s shoulders lose the slightest bit of tension. "Thank goodness! Do either of you have a water pokemon? We have a rescue team inside trying to get the stragglers and Azumarill and I need to go in and help, but a fire this size will spread without someone outside to help with containment. I hate to lay this burden and you two, but can you help?"

    "Of course!" Brendan says, his serious face cracking for a small grin. At his side, Mudkip lets out a cry of agreement.

    Lee and Vulpix both simply nod. ''Ready, love?'' Lee asks her, only to stumble a little when Vulpix widens the channel between them. The scarred man takes a breath and looks back to the burning building. The flames seem so much sharper now, and the heat pushes against a phantom sense he never had.

    Jenny turns and says something to Azumarill, but it''s lost in the roar of the flame. The pair rush away and boldly dart into the burning building, leaving Brendan and Mudkip to take their place.

    "Hey, Brendan!" Lee yells, making Brendan glance back at him. "Vulpix and I are going to contain the flames as best we can. Take your time, Mudkip''s stamina has to last this entire crisis!"

    "Hear that pal?!" the boy asks his Mudkip, who nods seriously back. Brendan points and Mudkip unleashes a torrent of water into a burning window.

    ''Alrighty, lets do this.''

    Lee looks up to the burning pokemon center, accurately able to feel where Vulpix is looking. His eyes shoot to a burning part of the center''s siding, and instantly Vulpix''s focus shifts to where he''s looking. The fire is slowly creeping across the building.

    ''Now...'' Lee hesitates, suddenly unsure how to move forward. ''Starve the flames. Deprive them of oxygen.''

    Vulpix''s focus sharpens, and Lee tries to aid her by visualizing the flames shrinking or pulling away, but nothing happens. The pyrokinesis keeps slipping, like a hand trying to grip a fist-sized ball of marble slick with oil. Vulpix growls in frustration and Lee can feel it over the widened psychic channel. A splash of water from Mudkip puts put the on-fire section they were working on and knocks Lee and Vulpix out of sync.

    ''Easy love. Just take a calming breath and focus,'' Lee sends to her, including a clumsy feeling of reassurance.

    The vixen huffs and pulls on his mind with hers again. The pair move their focus to a blown-out window throwing flames and embers all over.

    ''We can''t starve the flames by trying to pull away oxygen. That must be out of the realm of your pyrokinesis. At least for now, it tried to respond earlier,'' Lee thinks, biting his lip. ''What if you just... I dunno, pulled the flames away from the building and let them go? Without something to burn, would it just go out?''

    Vulpix closes her eyes and reaches out to the flames again, this time firmly finding purchase with her pyrokinesis. The fire roaring from the window grows magnificently as onlookers scream, almost throwing the combined focus of Lee and Vulpix out of whack. The fire wavers then grows again as the pair pull the section of fire outside of the building. A great ball of flame floats away from the now unburning window before Vulpix lets go.

    The great conflagration dies without even a whimper, and the onlookers gasp. Even Brendan whips his head around to stare at them.

    ''Yes! Just like that!'' Lee can''t help but grin at the sheer elation he feels from the normally cool vixen. ''I can''t believe that worked! C''mon girl, next one! We''ve got a Pokemon Center to save!''

    "Vul!" Vulpix verbally cries in agreement.

    "Brendan!" Lee calls to the still stunned boy. "Have Mudkip soak the spots Vulpix pulls the flames from so they can''t reignite!"

    He nods absently, still looking at Vulpix "Yeah, sure."

    Lee takes a breath and syncs back up with Vulpix, focusing on a section of the wall with fire slowly creeping across it.

    Over the course of about fifteen minutes, Vulpix and Mudkip do what would have taken the firefighters hours to do alone. As they work, several groups of people and pokemon escape the burning building and are quickly herded away by the EMTs, Nurse Joy, and a pair of Chanseys. With Vulpix methodically pulling away swathes of fire and Mudkip making reignition impossible, nearly the entire outside of the Pokemon Center had been put out. Smoke still pours from the inside and flickers inside could still be seen, however.

    Brendan pulls a bottle of water out from his bag and offers it to his panting, dehydrated Mudkip, who snatches the bottle from his hand and sucks down the water in an impressive half-second. The boy then pulls out his PokeNav and glances at the time. "Officer Jenny has been in there for twenty minutes..."

    Lee sighs and rubs his forehead with his thumb and index finger. "And you want to go in and help?"

    At Brendan resolute nod, Lee groans. ''What do you think, love?''

    Vulpix mulls the question over then looks up at him and nods.

    ''Shit. Outvoted. Of course.''

    Lee crosses his arms and closes his eyes, debating his next words. "Alright, we''ll help, but this is how it''s going down. Vulpix and I will go in, but you and Mudkip are staying out here."

    "What!?" Brendan yells in outrage, his face twisting into a scowl. "No way! We''re-!"

    "Going to run in and get killed?"

    Brendan stops at the question, his expression frozen.

    Lee opens his eyes, and although feeling bad about it, glares down at Brendan, making the boy wilt. "Look at Mudkip," Lee orders.

    Brendan slowly turns to look down at his panting pokemon, who doesn''t seem to be listening. Watery strands of drool hang from the edges of his mouth and there is the slightest tremor in his legs.

    "Mudkip is exhausted and Shroomish will be no use in a fire," Lee states, uncrossing his arms and easing his glare. "A spent amphibian water type will dehydrate near instantly in such conditions, and that''s a death sentence for both of you. Vulpix, meanwhile, is fire-retardant and has her pyrokinesis, but she can''t stress herself protecting both of us and potentially helping the people trapped inside. The less she needs to spread herself out, the better."

    The younger trainer''s shoulders slump. "But... I..." He looks around, seemingly lost for words. "I don''t want to be useless is the thing," he softly replies. "I''m a lab trainer just like you and we''re supposed to be leaders and help people and all that, right?"

    ''Oh jeez...''

    Lee''s own shoulders slump. "Look," he begins, wrapping an arm around Brendan''s shoulders. "You won''t be useless. See all these people out here?" Lee asks, using his free arm to gesture at all the onlookers, some watching them. "This rattled them something fierce," he says a bit softer, making Brendan blink. "They would use an overbearingly cheerful brat of a hero who helped put out the Pokemon Center fire. Go reassure them, let them know we got this, because the wellbeing of the people affected by a tragic event is the most important thing here, and that includes peace of mind."

    He could feel Vulpix frown without even looking at her, but his words seem to have the desired effect of perking Brendan up. He regains his usual grin. "Alright, if you say so, but if you come out covered in soot with a smoker''s cough then I''m laughing. Just warning you now."

    Lee snorts and lets him go. "You get to hear the cough anyway because after this shit I could really use a cig. Let''s go, love."

    Vulpix takes point and leads Lee right towards the entrance of the Center. He glances back to see Brendan and Mudkip take off towards the crowd of onlookers. Lee turns back just in time to see Vulpix dislodge several small, candle-like fires by the entrance and let them wink out.

    The pair advance inside, carefully looking over the wet, burned lobby and ignoring the still screaming fire alarm. Other than a few smoldering spots, the fire is totally out here. The sprinkler units above are still intact for some reason, so Officer Jenny and Azumarill had to have been the ones to contain the fire.

    "Remember what that guy said when we got in town?" Lee asks the vixen at his feet as they turn down a hallway to follow a thin stream of smoke, making her look back and nod. "Supposedly a berserk pokemon started the fire, but nearly half the damn building was in flames when we got here. If we have to face down something like a Charizard this early in our adventure then I quit."

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Vulpix chuffs in amusement and her lips pull back into a thin vulpine smile.

    Lee and Vulpix venture further on, glancing into the various exam rooms they pass to find each one already evacuated. Most are intact, with just the water-soaked doors sporting burns like the hallway, but a few of them are burned and melted beyond recognition. As they walk, the smoke becomes heavier, forcing Lee to put his arm over this mouth and nose to use his sleeve as a crude filter. Vulpix, being so low to the ground, avoids the smoke entirely.

    At the end of the hallway they walk, the path splits right and left, to the left is an undamaged hallway, to the right...

    Lee grimaces as his scars flare.

    To the right is a flaming hellscape. The entire hallway sans a thin, damp path on the ground is coated in fire. Again, the sprinklers haven''t deployed despite being partially melted slag by now. Something curious to see is the electrical outlets in the hallway are all blown out, some of them sparking. The rolling smoke, roar and crackle of the flames, and the shrill tone of the fire alarm make for a dizzying amount of sensory overload.

    The scarred man closes his eyes, takes deep breaths, and reaches his mind out to Vulpix, who grasps his with her own near instantly.

    With their combined focus, the little fox puts out the fire section by section, pulling the flames away from their fuel and letting them wink out of existence with a short woosh that can''t be heard over the other noise. Man and fox slowly advance bit by bit, and with the fires dying, the smoke clears a little more each second, finally revealing a set of ajar double doors at the end of the short hallway. Above the doors is a sign that reads Nursery.

    There is a sudden, violent crackle like a taser hooked directly to a power plant, followed by a shrill shriek of pain and the sound of a body hitting the ground right beyond the doors.

    "Azumarill!" cries the hoarse voice of Jenny.

    Lee and Vulpix freeze, then as one rush past the doors.

    The first thing they see is the seething, almost glowing red eyes of an enormous Manectric. The pokemon''s fur crackles with arcs of electricity and steel-like muscle ripples under its skin. Pearly, fanged teeth clench as the electric type glares at them with crazed anger. Its claws effortlessly dig into the tiled floor under its feet and it seems only seconds away from sprinting at them full-tilt.

    Just a few feet away, Jenny''s Azumarill barely stands. The poor mouse pokemon is covered in electrical burns that expose cracked, red flesh under her fur, her tail has a painful looking bend in it, and her body is stiff, her fur snapping and crackling with electricity. Just breathing seems like a horrid labor that she fights for.

    ''Must be paralysis,'' Lee thinks with a gulp.

    Behind Azumarill, Jenny stands with gritted teeth, holding her left arm which sports an already blistered burn. She looks between her Azumarill and the monster of a Manectric with the faintest flicker of fear in her eyes. Her eyes move to Lee and Vulpix, silently begging for help.

    And just behind Jenny and huddled in the corner, a terrified brunette woman in a white labcoat clutches a green pokemon egg to her chest, her expression twisted in terror.

    The rest of the room is bare. The destroyed egg incubators along the wall are all empty and all the small nursery beds that would hold infant pokemon are thankfully empty and corpse-free.

    "Mister Henson!" Jenny cries. "This Manectric is the culprit behind the fire! It blew out the electrical systems in the Center and the overloaded outlets all over this side of the building started fires. It''s trying to get the intern behind me! We need your help, Azumarill isn''t going to last!"

    The Manectric''s glare is absolutely murderous now, and Lee doesn''t need to read any of its body language to understand the unspoken "Don''t interfere."

    Lee gulps. ''Love, I came in here fully expecting a fight with a totally unreasonable fire type, not... this,'' he sends to Vulpix, who doesn''t reply, too focused with carefully watching Manectric. ''What reason would Manectric have to go apeshit? Is it wild? Owned? Too many unknowns and not enough time to puzzle them out. We don''t have a good counter for an electric type. I hate to say it, but I don''t think we can fight our way out of this one.''

    The vixen looks back at him, not pleased with the unintentional slight on her power, but she can''t hide how the constant pyrokinesis has drained her, and that Manectric does look kind of big... She sends Lee a telepathic image of the terrified intern. Or more specificity, of the egg she''s holding.

    The green egg with yellow stripes, the same coloring as an Electrike. Manectric''s fury suddenly makes more sense.

    ''You have got to be joking. Could this shitty situation get any more volatile?''

    Lee pushes away his fear and steadies his breathing. ''Vulpix, do you know Manectric''s gender?''

    Vulpix takes a few subtle sniffs of the air, then sends him a wordless feeling that he interprets as ''female''

    ''Angry, territorial mother. I know this song and dance. Just I get flayed alive rather than mauled with a fuck-up. No pressure.''

    Lee looks over to Jenny and the petrified intern. "Both of you, stay quiet and follow my lead," he says just quiet enough to be heard over Manectric''s crackling fur. Lee steps forward towards Manectric slowly, not bothering to look and see what Jenny''s reaction was. The instant Manectric pulls her lips back and growls, he takes a half-step back, stops, and slowly lowers himself to his knees with his head bowed, not ever looking huge electric type in the eyes the entire time. He silently curses the adrenaline coursing through his limbs and making his movements jerky and almost too fast. When his knees finally come to rest on the ground. Lee speaks slowly and softly.

    "Manectric, I understand what''s going on. You''re angry and want what belongs to you back, right?" He asks, taking great care to make sure his teeth don''t show and hoping Manectric has a grasp on English.

    Whatever deity out their answers his prayers, as the crackling in Manectric''s fur drops in intensity. She tilts her head and regards him with slightly less violence in her gaze.

    "You''re the superior here and we don''t want to fight," Lee continues, resisting the urge to wipe away the sweat on his forehead. "Everyone here has been through enough, you especially. I promise we''ll return the egg to you. It''s rightfully yours and whoever took it was wrong."

    Manectric''s crackling dies down to infrequent pops, and her snarl eases to a resting expression, but her eyes are still locked onto Lee.

    Lee slowly turns to the bewildered woman behind the equally bewildered Jenny and shuffles on his knees to her, hand held out. "Give me the egg," he says, glancing at Manectric to gauge her reaction or lack thereof.

    The woman suddenly snaps out of her daze. "B-but this egg was slated for donation to Professor Sycamore''s lab!" she exclaims, holding the egg tighter. "The boy who donated said he went to a lot of trouble to get it. Look at the size of the mother! It could be the Giant''s Gene. Can''t you just beat this poke-"

    Manectric''s growl rattles the whole room.

    Fighting down the urge to scream, Lee forces the next words out. "Unless you want to leave here in a body bag or want to give it up yourself," he slowly, as if explaining to a child. "You are going to give me that egg, and then I am going to return it to Manectric. I''m sure Sycamore will understand once he hears about Manectric being so livid as to nearly kill us all and burn down a Pokemon Center. I''m not about to throw my Vulpix into the meatgrinder of a fight Manectric will put up. Give me the egg. Now."

    Hands shaking, the brunette woman drops the egg into Lee''s waiting hands. The egg is warm and the smoothest thing he''s ever held, and he even forgets his fear for a moment to marvel at it. He shuffles back to his original spot and gently places the egg on the cracked tile floor before moving back several feet. "All yours, as it should be."

    The massive Manectric steps forward, each clack of her claws on the floor like thunder in the silent room. She leans down and sniffs the egg several times, her eyes scanning every inch for any imperfection. Then she turns her eyes to Lee.

    She steps forward again, and Lee feels his heart begin to hammer so hard that it echos in his ears. He keeps his head faced downward submissively and eyes averted, avoiding anything that Manectric may take as a challenge. Vulpix''s alarm flares over the telepathic tether between herself and Lee, and it''s only his repeated message of ''Don''t move! Stand down!'' that keeps her from leaping and attacking.

    The electric type lowers her head to Lee''s level. She''s so close that he can feel her hot breath on his cheek and his hair tries to stand up from the electric charge around her.

    Lick

    The man can''t help but sputter when, rather than mauling him, Manectric licks him several times right over his scars, making them tingle like low voltage was run through them.

    The huge pokemon pulls away and regards the tense Vulpix for a moment, then the barely conscious Azumarill and shocked Jenny, but does not deign to look at the young intern. Then in one smooth motion, she turns and leans down, taking her egg with all the care one would thin glass in her maw, before leaping through the glass window against the back of the room. In just a few lightning-fast bounds, she''s gone and out of sight, vanishing to the night.

    ''Huh... The sun set while we were in here.''

    "W-What just happened?" Officer Jenny asks, looking between Lee and the broken window, her expression lost.

    The intern just slumps back into the wall, staring at nothing.

    Lee falls backward, laying spread on the floor, uncaring of the broken tiles jabbing his back and waving away Vulpix''s concern when she steps into his vision. "Hey, Jenny? What''s the legality of sending a pokemon to pick up smokes with some money? I really just want to pass out here."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "It''s no problem at all!"

    The mayor of Oldale could easily be mistaken for a professional Santa. The older, rotund man, mayor of Oldale for 24 years now, has roughly the same looks as Santa, but with a bombastic personality that almost makes his quaint office in the town hall feel too small. Both his belly and white beard shake with his exclamation. "It would shame all of us in Oldale if we let our heroes go without reward. We are a small town you know, but we are not without luxuries! In fact, I called our finest hotel and the owner insisted you boys stay a few nights free of charge in their best room!"

    Brendan doesn''t even try to hide his grin, and Lee smiles at the jolly man on the outside, but inwardly...

    ''Jesus man, I understand you''re grateful and all, but c''mon. Where is the recognition of the firefighters, EMTs and all that?'' Then a more cynical thought hits him. ''Is all this because we''re lab trainers? Or because Brendan is Nigel''s son? Would they catch a bad rap if they didn''t treat us well?'' Lee thinks to himself, not wanting to wake the snoozing Vupix across his shoulders. ''Too much to think about and not enough energy.'' He suppresses a yawn.

    Then without warning, Lee''s phone begins to buzz and ring in his pocket, stopping the mayor from starting up another long-winded thanks and waking up an instantly cranky Vulpix. Pulling the phone out, the front screen reads "Prf Birch."

    "Sorry, sir," Lee apologizes to the mayor. "It''s from Professor Birch. I think I have to take this," he says, giving the phone a little wave.

    "No harm done my boy!" The mayor says with a laugh. "Go on, your taxi to your hotel is outside whenever you''re ready. Have a wonderful night you two!"

    "Thanks again!" Brendan says, following after Lee who is already out the door.

    Lee flips the phone open-''Thats still novel''-as he and Brendan walk to the lobby and answers. "Evening, Professor," he says, seating himself with Brendan following suit. "I think I already know why you''re calling."

    "Not even out for a week and you two made the news," Birch replies, his tone almost a laugh. "Is Brendan there? Can you put me on speaker?"

    Vulpix lets out a low whine and resigns herself to be awake through more human chatter.

    The scarred man pulls the phone away from his head and hits the speaker button. "You''re on, Professor," he says, reaching up with his free hand to pat the grumpy vixen.

    "Hey, dad!" Brendan leans over the cellphone with a wide smile.

    "Hey, sport." Birch greets back. "You about gave me and your mom a heart attack, you know that? Being firefighter relief on only day three? I had to wait a full three months before I got to see any action, and that was just a ranger asking for help finding a lost Furret."

    The boy laughs nervously. "Hehe. Oops?"

    Lee snorts. "Where do I put in my two weeks professor? I think I''ve had enough excitement already," he ribs.

    "You act like I''d accept your resignation," Birch shoots back with a chuckle. "So what happened in there? Reports say a pokemon started the fire, but it''s wild how the fire got so out of control so quickly."

    Lee hums and thinks the long day over. "It wasn''t a fire pokemon like everything initially thought, but a gargantuan, wild Manectric, maybe one with the Giants''s Gene. She got into the Pokemon Center looking for her stolen egg and overloaded the wiring in the building so much that outlets all over exploded, starting fires. The sprinklers were electronically controlled if I recall, so that''s why the fire got out of hand. Luckily no one was killed and the injured will all make recoveries, but a decent part of the center is toast."

    Birch is silent for a moment. "And you battled this Manectric? Did you catch her?"

    Lee shakes his head, then feels a little foolish when he realizes Birch can''t see him. ''I need some sleep.'' "Confronted her, yes, battled her, no. She had Officer Jenny and a center intern with the egg cornered. This really seemed like one of those ''pick your battle'' moments, so I de-escalated and returned the egg to her. She left without incident after that."

    "Deescalated?" Birch asks, his confusion easily apparent. Brenden turns to look at Lee curiously as well. "Lee, you were between an angry mother and her egg, a mother with the Giant''s Gene if you saw correctly. Most wild pokemon refuse to listen to reason for much less than egg theft and are willing to fight much tougher odds. How...How did you escape?"

    "I..." Lee falters, suddenly unsure. He glances at the still curious Brendan. "I used skills from my old occupation is all."

    "Ahh..." Birch replies. "Of course. Make a log of all of that and send it to me when you can, will you please? Written or audio is good," all traces of his disbelief are gone from his voice. "And Brendan? I already know what you''re going to ask. Don''t pester Lee about his past. He''ll tell you if he wants."

    The younger trainer''s jaw shuts with a click of his teeth, his question replaced with a long-suffering sigh.

    "I won''t keep you guys all night, but Brendan, your mom does want to yell-erm, talk to you. Lee, can you hand the phone to Brendan for a bit?"

    Lee smirks and hits the speaker button again before handing the flip-phone to a now pale Brendan. "Walk and talk, champ. I need a shower and some sleep," the older trainer says, standing and making for the exit of Oldale''s city hall.

    Vulpix lets out a sigh and snuggles closer to her human''s neck before she rests her head back down on his shoulder... Only to scrunch her muzzle when the yelling over the cellphone and Brendan''s mumbled defense is still audible even with the boy dragging his feet several yards back. She lets out a sigh of relief when a thumb and middle finger close around her head and tenderly rub her aching temples.

    Lee smiles when he feels contentment flow through his and Vulpix''s tether. Tether. He quite likes the descriptor of their connection. ''Don''t get too comfy, love. We''ll have a big, soft bed we can cuddle in here in just a bit.'' Lee sends as they walk up to the taxi idling under a lit streetlamp. ''Maybe call room service for a snack and we''ll definitely sleep in.''

    Vulpix musters the will to raise her head just long enough to lick his cheek.

 Act 1: Chapter 7

    "Finish it up! Tackle!"

    "No! Aipom! Out of the way!"

    The small crowd of spectators cheer as Brendan''s Shroomish rushes the twitching, paralyzed Aipom across the makeshift arena. The Aipom can only grit his teeth and shut his eyes, his body not heeding his trainer''s cry to dodge. The little mushroom pokemon collides head-first into Aipom with a painful Thwack!, throwing the little monkey to the ground where he lands heavily and ceases to move.

    The referee by the sidelines, an older trainer in her teens, waits for several seconds then points to Shroomish. "Aipom is unable to battle! The winners are Shroomish and Brendan Birch!"

    Further back behind Brendan, Lee watches his young friend cheer and rush out to the field from the shade of the Pokemon Center. Brendan scoops his pokemon up into a hug and says something that is lost over the cheering of the onlookers. Shroomish gives his trainer a dull look but does not resist the hug.

    ''Makes sense that the town''s battling area would be right behind the Pokemon Center,'' Lee looks back to the large, hospital-like building, already reopened just two days after the fire sans the damaged parts that are already being repaired. ''I''ve got to give credit to the Pokemon League. They really don''t fuck around,'' he thinks, watching a team of large bird pokemon wearing League vests fly overhead, each one carrying an entire pallet of building materials in their talons without a hint of strain. They touch down beside the Center one by one, giving their loads to human construction workers aided by a medley of bulky fighting and rock types, mostly Machop, Geodude, and the rare Machoke, but Lee swears he saw a Lucario bounding about with a tool belt on.

    He turns back to the arena in time to see Brendan and his dejected opponent, a young, probably 11-year-old kid named Jason or something, shake hands.

    Vulpix huffs at Lee''s feet and flicks her fan of tails, her irritation beginning to bleed through the tether to him.

    ''Give it some time, love. One will want to battle eventually,'' Lee sends to her. His own uncertainty is much harder to hide in a telepathic conversation, however, and so the vixen just huffs again.

    Nearly all of the battle-hungry trainers in Oldale are young beginners that started only this year, all of whom looked at himself and Vulpix with no small amount of apprehension. The rumor mill in the small town was in full swing, and the only things that most people knew are that a trainer with scars on his face and a Vulpix went into the burning Center, a gigantic Manectric ''fled'', then they came out after rescuing Jenny and the hapless Center intern.

    People connected the dots and assumed Lee and Vulpix are grizzled veterans.

    Ha!

    Since the egos of young trainers are delicate, none wanted a bout with a ''veteran''. Instead, they all decided to challenge the other town hero, a kid like them.

    Brendan is sitting at 8 wins and 0 defeats so far. Mudkip gladly demolishing any pokemon before him, including an Elekid that an older boy bragged heartily about, assured of his win from the type advantage alone. The bragging stopped when Mudkip''s Mud Slap lifted Elekid right off his feet and straight into dreamland.

    Shroomish, the battler for the last two rounds, struggled more than his masochistic blue teammate but pulled wins under Brendan''s coaching.

    Vulpix looks up to her trainer, sending him a feeling of both stiffness and illness along with an image of the downed Aipom being returned to its ball.

    ''Yeah, poison powder and stun spore. Brendan is shaping up to be a good battler with how he plays to the strengths of his team,'' Lee mentally replies, watching as yet another young trainer, so eager to prove himself, matches up to Brendan with a pokeball in hand. ''Mudkip is a full-throttle berserker, and Shroomish is a more reserved distance fighter. Definitely more in-depth than a simple turn-based game.''

    "Hey, you''re the guy who rushed into the Pokemon Center during the fire, right?"

    Lee blinks away his thoughts and turns to address whoever spoke to him.

    Just to his right is a pretty young woman several inches shorter than he, with dark, short-cropped hair that comes down to her chin in rough locks. She''s clad in a form-hugging black top and equally form-fitting olive drab shorts secured with a red rope belt. Around her shoulders is a well-worn brown traveling cloak. Her eyes, a dark crimson, look down to Vulpix.

    ''Wait. I know who this is...''

    The instant that Vulpix returns her gaze, the woman lets out a god-honest "Squeeee!"

    "You are just the cutest!" cries the woman with a beaming smile and stars in her eyes. She crouches down to Vulpix''s level and scratches behind her ear. From Vulpix''s unique-sounding purr, the mysterious woman guessed Vulpix''s sweet spot in one try. "And you''re so soft that it''s sinful! What''s your secret, sister?"

    The vixen stops pushing her head against the woman''s hand and looks back up to Lee. The woman follows Vulpix''s eyes up to Lee before she freezes and blushes.

    She stands hastily with a nervous laugh. "Haha... Sorry about blowing you off like that," she says sheepishly. "It''s not every day you get to see such a rare pokemon. Anyway, my name is Zinnia, nice to meet you!"

    Lee racks his brain to try and remember where he heard that name before. A moment later, it clicks

    ''The woman from the Alpha and Omega remakes?'' He wonders, having only played the beginning of the Delta Episode of Omega Ruby. ''What''s she doing in Oldale?''

    Lee chuckles and takes her outstretched hand for a shake. "Lee is the name, and you''ve already met Vulpix." As he says that, the little fox jumps to her favorite perch on his shoulders to watch the proceedings. "She''s the more interesting of the two of us, so no harm done."

    Zinnia smiles as the tension leaves her shoulders. "Glad to hear it. Anyway, I wanted to know if you wanted to battle? You and this cutie here would be a great challenge!"

    Everyone not watching Brendan and his latest battle turns and looks after hearing the question. Several whisper in excitement. "Yeah! Battle!" Someone cries.

    "I wanna see the Vulpix fight!" a young trainer that Brendan thrashed earlier yells

    "Yeah! She sent that titanic Manectric packing! She''s gotta be crazy strong!" A girl in her teens joins in.

    "Hey, yeah!" Someone confirms. "This''ll be an awesome match!"

    Lee blanches. "I dunno about that. Brendan and I were going to get on the road after lunch and... and uh...we don''t want to exhaust ourselves?" A second later dread begins to pool in his stomach. ''Of fucking course, a Dragon trainer would single us out,'' He sends to Vulpix as everyone groans at his words.

    "C''mon, Lee. It''ll be fun!" Zinnia says, taking a shrunken pokeball from her belt. All the onlookers roar in agreement.

    Lee screws his eyes shut with a sigh. ''I know pokemon battles are big deals here, and rightfully so, but god damn, why does this freak me out so much?!''

    The man thinks back to all his other battles, all featuring Vulpix considering she is his sole pokemon. In their repeated battles against Brendan and the occasional wild pokemon around Littleroot, one thing stood out.

    Vulpix had never lost. She won every single battle handily.

    ''Damn it all! Why is this getting to me? We''re going to have to show our hand with pyrokinesis and telepathy if we want to level the playing field. I thought I came to terms with this a month ago,'' Lee thinks to himself with gritted teeth. He looks between the smiling Zinnia, the chanting crowd including Brendan, and his now laser-focused Vulpix. ''Fuck me...''

    "Alright, sure," Lee grounds out, ignoring Zinnia''s smile becoming absolutely feral. "1v1? Vulpix is my only pokemon."

    "Hell yeah!" She says.

    The surrounding people spread out as Lee and Zinnia take their places opposite each other on one of the hard-packed dirt battlegrounds. Lee takes the time to inspect the area.

    ''Ground is good and even. Grass surrounding is still a bit wet with dew, so there is a minimal chance of a fire. Negligible breeze. Everyone is a fair distance away...'' Lee lets out a breath. ''About as even as battlegrounds come. Alright, here we go. David versus Goliath.''

    "You''re up, love," Lee says a little redundantly as Vulpix leisurely strolls into position. "Get ready."

    Above, the sun''s rays rapidly grow to sweltering as Vulpix''s Drought activates. Several of the spectators murmur about the sudden heatwave and a number of them close to the Pok��mon center stepped back into the shade. Lee rubs his stinging scars with a frown and tries to ignore it.

    Zinnia grins and holds up a pokeball before rearing her arm back. "C''mon out Bagon!" She cries, throwing the ball skyward.

    In a flash of light, a large Bagon materializes on Zinnia''s side. The tiny, iron-headed dragon slowly scans over the field before his eyes land on Vulpix. The eyes narrow and a growl builds in his throat.

    Vulpix lets out a condescending yawn in return, making Bagon growl just a bit louder.

    ''Thank you God or Arceus or whoever the hell is out there. If Zinnia sent out a Salamence I would''ve had a fucking stroke.''

    The same older teen that was reffing Brendan''s matches comes over to the edge of the ring, glancing between the two fire pokemon with equal parts caution and excitement. "One on one match between Lee''s Vulpix and Zinnia''s Bagon?"

    Lee glances around, fighting the urge to bite his lip. All the other battles concluded and everyone is watching them. Even a few members of the construction team stopped to watch the spectacle.

    "Are both trainers ready!?"

    "Ready!" Zinnia replies with a grin.

    ''Time to bite the bullet.''

    "Ready..." Lee reluctantly confirms.

    The ref chops his hand down. "Begin!"

    "Bagon, Smokescreen!" Zinnia orders without wasting a second.

    The tiny dragon takes a deep breath and shoots a blinding cloud of rolling, oily smoke from his mouth, instantly covering the ring with a wall of black.

    Lee grimaces and withholds the Babydoll Eyes order he was about to call out. He brings a sleeved arm up to cover his mouth and nose while widening the mental tether between himself and Vulpix. ''Keep some focus on my location, love. It''ll help you stay oriented in the smoke. Be ready to counter at a moment''s notice.'' He sends, getting a quick confirmation.

    "Now! Headbutt!" Zinnia orders. Hardly a second later, there is a throaty roar and the sound of tiny feet thundering across the ground.

    "Vulpix, dodge!" ''To the left.'' Lee calls into the smoke. ''Not going for a projectile? Trying to play to Bagon''s high Attack then''

    With a loud crash, Bagon lands right where Vulpix was a second prior with the resulting shockwave blowing much of the smoke away. Just a few meters to the left, the small vixen stands awaiting an order, eyes locked onto the swiftly standing Bagon.

    "Bagon, Dragon Breath!" Zinnia orders.

    "Vulpix! Dodge and use Confuse Ray!"

    Vulpix is in motion before Bagon can take a breath to charge Dragon Breath, swiftly leaping to the left nearly to the edge of the ring as her eyes glow with a sinister light.

    "Nice try!" Zinnia calls. "You''re not the first to try and play keep-away with Bagon! Hold Dragon Breath and use Protect! Then slow her down!"

    A barrier of green blooms around Bagon just in time. The surface ripples slightly as the invisible Confuse Ray impacts it.

    Then just as Vulpix lands from her leap, Protect drops, and Bagon stomps on the ground with a single leg.

    Lee''s chest suddenly clenches when the ground under Vulpix vibrates like a jackhammer was taken to it, making her yowl in pain as her bones rattle in her body. Vulpix even trips and falls to the ground, taking a shot to the skull that leaves her dazed just as the tremors end. Lee flinches when the vague phantom pains she feels reverberate through his own body.

    The crowd roars at the direct hit. Faintly, Lee can hear Brendan''s Mudkip let out a bellow and Brendan himself shouting; "C''mon Vulpix! You can take em!"

    ''What the fuck was that?! Earthquake?! No, it didn''t rock the whole field, it was just under Vulpix. Shit shit shit! C''mon, girl, you can do it. Get up!''

    Vulpix rises to her paws in a flash, shaking her head to clear it. She focuses on the smugly smirking Bagon with a withering gaze. The slight shake in her limbs is noticed by all who look.

    ''What to do, what to do? Was that Bulldoze? Whatever it was, it really hurt her'' Lee grimaces. ''Love, circle to the side then hit her.'' He sends, then says aloud; "Vulpix, close the distance with Quick Attack and then Payback!"

    Vulpix''s legs hesitate for a second before she rockets forward, wreathed in a corona of white flecked with bits of purple.

    "Got ya!" Zinnia cries with a grin. "Bagon, let loose that Dragon Breath!"

    Bagon blasts a writhing beam of green energy out of his mouth right at the charging vixen, who looks as if she is going to run right into it.

    ''Now!''

    Zinnia''s grin falters.

    Vulpix skids to a stop and circles to Bagon''s broadside a fraction of a second before the Dragon Breath can envelop her, trading her white aura for purple.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Crash!

    Bagon coughs out a pained wheeze when Vulpix slams into him at full speed, Payback on full blast to repay the hit from earlier. The dragon is thrown to his side where he impacts the ground harshly, digging a short trench in his wake

    "Now! Confuse Ray point blank!"

    "Oh no, you don''t!" Zinnia shouts. "Bagon, Protect then Bulldoze!"

    Bagon grunts. A barrier of green comes down over Bagon again just as Vulpix''s eyes light up, trapping Vulpix inside with Bagon.

    Lee''s eyes bug out of his head. ''What the fuck?! Protect can do that?! Vulpix...'' Lee struggles to think of a plan. ''Damn it! How do we dodge an attack that comes from under with such limited room?'' Then he blinks when a wild idea sprouts into his head. ''Bound between the walls of the Protect! Don''t touch the ground!''

    Vulpix drops Confuse Ray and processes the command in an instant, leaping above Bagon''s head just as the reptilian pokemon raises a foot to slam on the ground. She jumps against the green barrier of Protect, her little paws making almost no sound, and jumps back and forth above Bagon.

    Zinnia gasps. "Bagon wait!"

    The foot slams into the ground, and Bagon tries to hit Vulpix with Bulldoze, only for the tremors to erupt from right under him instead.

    Bagon cries out as the Bulldoze erupts under him rather than his opponent, The cry of surprise turns to one of pain when the harsh vibrations travel up through his body and rattle him from toe to skull. Vulpix lands from her leaps just as Bulldoze ends and leaps away when Protect drops.

    Hope blooms in Lee''s chest and Vulpix''s own excitement feeds it over the telepathic tether. ''She''s on the ropes! We can win this!''

    "Oh jeez..." Zinnia''s earlier confidence falters somewhat in the face of the unexpected turn. She balls her hands. "Bagon! Use Dragon Rush!"

    ''Use what?!''

    Bagon growls and steadies himself, his hateful eyes locked on to Vulpix. A swirling corona of violent, crackly energy engulfs his form as he lowers his steel covered skull to deliver a blow that would knock over a building. His legs tense for an absolutely explosive charge

    "Absolutely not!" Lee barks. "Vulpix, Confuse Ray!"

    With a vulpine smirk, Vulpix''s eyes shine for the third time this match.

    "No no no! Bagon, stop Dragon Rush and use Protect!" Zinnia yells out.

    Zinnia''s order comes a second too late, as Bagon''s squinting eyes shine the same violet color as Vulpix''s from within his shell of draconic energy. The small dragon groans, his face screwed up in intense focus. Around him, the curtain of swirling energy flickers and begins to destabilize. Bagon tries to charge forward despite his trainer''s order, but trips and crashes into the ground with a tooth rattling explosion as his Dragon Rush destabilizes totally.

    When the resulting smoke clears, Bagon is collapsed and limp upon the ground. Vulpix steps closer to her fallen opponent with curiosity, reaching out a paw to prod him.

    ''Oh my god, we actually won...''

    Then Bagon''s eyes snap open.

    "Nice trick, but we''re not going down that easily! Bagon! Give her the Bite-n-Bash!" Zinna yells, her grin back in place.

    Bagon surges to his feet in a flash and lunges towards the shocked still Vulpix, his jaws snapping shut around her extended foreleg like a steel trap.

    Vulpix screams and claws of ice dig into her trainer''s stomach.

    Then like a toy being abused by an uncaring child, Vulpix is slammed into the ground over and over by Bagon, who throws his head around as if the vixen''s weight is non-existent. Every slam makes Vulpix''s struggles grow weaker.

    Lee bites back a cry and chomps down on his lip so hard he tastes blood when his arm is hit with stabbing phantom pain, quickly followed by a headache and the sensation of being wailed on in the ribs.

    Just like what was happening to Vulpix.

    "V-Vul..." His breath catches in his mouth and he can''t force more out. ''Vulpix! Ember! Fire Spin! Anything! You have to break his hold on you!''

    The vixen blearily processes Lee''s command, but before she can do anything, Bagon throws his head up and opens his jaws, letting the flailing fox in his teeth fly up into the air. She flys up and hangs for just a moment, though to Lee every inch she travels through the air feels like a year.

    Then she starts to fall.

    With a savage cry, Bagon slams his iron-like skull into Vulpix when she falls back into his reach, making a dull crunch on impact.

    Lee''s suddenly two-fold headache is totally forgotten when he watches Vulpix bounce limply across the ground, coming to a stop almost at his feet a bloody and battered mess.

    Bagon rears his head back and roars his victory to the heavens before he begins to glow a blinding white. The roar deepens as his body grows, morphing into a sphere upon four legs. When the light fades, a Shelgon stands in Bagon''s place.

    The crowd is silent for a second, then two, then three...

    "Vulpix is unable to battle!" The teen acting as the ref yells. "The winners are Shelgon and Zinnia!"

    The crowd cheers and a giddy Zinnia runs to hug her new Shelgon, but it''s all lost to Lee as he stares at his Vulpix, his lifeline in this world, broken and limp. ''It''s exactly like Mu-.'' He shuts his eyes and forces the bile in the back of his throat down. ''Pokemon are tough. Supernaturally tough. She''s okay. She''s okay...'' He thinks to himself, only half believing his own words.

    Lee reaches for Vulpix''s pokeball in a stiff, mechanical way. At his muttered; "Vulpix, return," his vixen is pulled into the ball as a beam of red light.

    "Man oh, man! That little cutie is really tough!"

    Lee turns to his left, Seeing a beaming Zinnia and the battered Shelgon at her side. "I knew Bagon was on his way to evolving, but I thought it would take weeks to get there. Vulpix was a great opponent to be able to get him there in one go."

    Shelgon grumbles something behind his namesake shell that sounds like a vague agreement.

    The praise given to Vulpix eases the scarred trainer''s stinging pride some but does nothing for his still rolling stomach. "Thanks," Lee grounds out, crossing his arms and looking to the side. "If she were conscious I''m sure she would appreciate it." An instant later he internally kicks himself for the rude tone.

    Zinnia''s grin falls some. "Yeah, uh..."

    Lee sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. "Look, sorry for being kind of short. I just want to get Vulpix checked into the Pokemon Center after that last move on her. She''s never been... hurt that badly before."

    The dragon trainer crosses her own arms and tilts her head. "Don''t tell me you''ve never lost before?" she asks with an amused scoff. "She''ll be fine after a bit with the Pokemon Center. Don''t be a baby."

    Lee''s hand clinches around Vulpix''s ball so hard his knuckles turn white.

    "Oh, man Vulpix actually lost?! I never thought I''d see the day!" Brendan skids to a stop by Brendan and Zinnia. "That match was great!" He exclaims before turning to Zinnia with a raised brow. "Kind of dirty of Bagon to pretend to be down only to launch an attack, though. If he got up and was fair, Vulpix would have had that."

    Zinnia scowls. "What?!"

    "You heard me!"

    The tanned woman scowls a little harder and butts into Brendan''s personal space. Brendan simply holds his ground with his head held high. "There was no call yet so why did Vulpix step closer?"

    Lee screws his eyes shut and sighs, begrudgingly admitting to himself that Zinnia has a point no matter how much he dislikes it.

    "It''s not sportsman-like!" Brendan shoots back, now frowning himself. "It was a cheap shot!"

    Zinnia laughs and ruffles Brendan''s hair through his hat, making him pull away with a; "Hey!" She smirks. "Kid, how do you think pokemon battle in the wild? They fight until someone is down and out. There are no ''cheap shots'' in a no-holds-barred battle. I don''t think using Confuse Ray over and over is very sportsman-like either."

    Brendan takes a breath to retort but stops when Lee places a hand on his shoulder.

    "Brendan, it''s fine." Lee starts, making both Zinnia and Brendan look at him in surprise. Jesus, it''s only midday and he''s already exhausted. "She''s got a point, no matter how much I don''t want to agree. Vulpix and I made a mistake and paid for it. We''ll not do it again." The words sting his lips like acid.

    "But-!" Brendan stops short and huffs when Lee shakes his head.

    "Good battle, Zinnia," Lee says with a shallow nod to the bewildered Zinnia before turning to Shelgon, who had been watching the proceedings silently. "Congrats on your evolution, Shelgon. We''re out."

    Lee turns, not taking his hand off Brendan''s shoulder so the boy turns with him, then both start towards the rear entrance of the Pokemon Center. As they leave, Lee can feel Zinnia''s ruby-colored eyes on his back.

    ''Fucking hell,'' Lee breathes out tiredly as he and Brendan walk. By now, most of the spectators had dispersed, giving them a straight shot inside. ''Don''t but such a pussy, Lee. You''ve seen it first hand and crunched the numbers when you didn''t trust your eyes. Vulpix, no, pokemon in general are out of this world when it comes to durability. She''s fine. She won''t be like-'' He violently cuts off the train of thought and snakes a hand down into his jacket pocket, where Vulpix''s warm ball reassures him of the life inside. ''She''s fine.''

    "Shelgon, return! Wait up!"

    They get several steps in before Zinnia calls for them and catches up with a few quick steps. The tanned woman stops in front of them with an unsure look upon her face and her fists clenched. For a few seconds, the three stand in silence.

    "Yes?" Lee ventures, trying to break the oncoming awkwardness.

    Zinnia tries to say something, but seconds guesses herself and closes her mouth. Then she takes a breath. "Okay, maybe that last move was a little overkill," she mutters, looking away and unclenching a hand to rub her arm. "I thought you were some stuck-up hotshot from the scars and all, and I''ve got this mission my tribe that I have to do no matter the cost," she says with a sigh. "I sometimes forget that most trainers train pokemon for sport and not all-out battles. I''m...sorry," she grumbles, looking down at the ground.

    ''Mission from her tribe?'' Lee wonders with a frown, not recalling much about Zinnia other than her Dragon-based team. ''Dragon-something right? Draconids? What was their thing again?''

    "Y-Yes. I''m from the Draconid Tribe. How did you know?" Zinnia asks, seemingly caught flat-footed. Her surprise swiftly turns to suspicion as her eyes narrow into ruby slits. "Our tribe isn''t well known, and you don''t look like you''re from Hoenn..."

    Brendan looks up at him with surprise as well.

    Lee blinks and Brendan laughs. "You got that ''did I say that out loud'' face on. You gotta work on that."

    The scarred man curses inwardly, this time taking great care to not let his mouth move as he tries to come up with an explanation. "Well, uh. Dragons are pretty rare and..." he hesitates, trying to string his thoughts into something coherent. "When you said you''re part of a tribe, the only Dragon trainers from a tribe I can recall are the Draconids. I found a footnote about them during some research I was doing. Um... Brendan and I work with Professor Birch, you see."

    "A footnote in what book?" Zinnia presses.

    "It was in...''Of Scales and Fire: Dragons and Dragon Tamers''," Lee rattles off, hoping the fake name sounds authentic.

    Zinnia hums to herself and backs off. "Sounds interesting. I might have to look it up sometime. I wasn''t aware anyone bothered to write about us," she says with a knowing smile, making Lee''s spine stiffen.

    ''Not even one Gym into the circuit and my secret is almost certainly blown. I''m so fucked.''

    GROWL!

    Brendan yelps and leaps behind Lee, who just freezes at hearing the monstrous sound. Zinnia...

    Zinnia blushes and puts a hand over her stomach. "A-Ahaha... I dunno about you two, but some lunch sounds great. Let''s get Vulpix checked in and go."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "No way! That was actually your first loss ever?!" Zinnia''s eyes are wide in disbelief, her meal going ignored for a moment.

    After handing over Vulpix''s, Mudkip''s, Shroomish''s, and Shelgon''s pokeballs to Nurse Joy in the partially repaired Pokemon Center, the trio of trainers made a short walk to a Oldale''s only bistro, a quaint place run by a family, just several minutes away from the Pokemon Center on foot. Lee would have stayed and waited for Vulpix''s recovery if it didn''t leave Brendan alone with Zinnia. Lee could feel Zinnia''s eyes boring into him each step of the way, but she did not pursue her earlier questioning. Sitting down and ordering was a simple affair, and of course, talk turned to the battle less than an hour ago.

    Lee sighs and leans back into his chair. "Yes. Yes, it was. I''ve been a trainer for a grand total of about a month and a half. Don''t rub it in please," he mumbles, looking at his and Brendan''s empty plates then back to Zinnia''s 3rd which is rapidly emptying. ''Where does she put it all?''

    The Dragon trainer gulps down her latest bite to answer. "I wasn''t about to make fun of you. That''s some crazy growth for just being a month into your career. Vulpix is as strong as a pokeon who has been battling for years," she says, pausing to finish her meal of rare-almost raw steak and green beans. The food vanishes in three large, rather unladylike bites before she sighs in satisfaction. "I was given Bagon when I turned sixteen almost three years ago and he''s no pushover. Both his sire and dam were top-level Dragons and he was close to evolving to boot. Shrimpy there," she points to Brendan, who looks decidedly sour at being called ''shrimpy'' "wasn''t wrong when he said Vulpix almost won. It''s got me curious about you..." Zinnia puts her hand on her chin and leans forward. "What''s your secret?"

    Lee blinks. "My...secret? I don''t understand."

    The Draconid woman hums to herself. "Yeahhhh. Likely story," she says with a snort. "That trick Vulpix did when trapped in Bagon''s Protect. Most Pokemon would panic without a trainer command, yet she got up and out of the way perfectly. That''s not something a rookie pokemon does on their own."

    "I''ve been wondering that too," Brendan chimes in, looking between Lee and Zinnia. "There have been times me and Lee would battle, and Vulpix would just jump into action sometimes. I figured she was just smart and Lee was letting her do her own thing, but the wall jump thing in Protect..." Brendan''s eyes stop on Lee, asking for an answer.

    ''Shit, she''s sharp. I guess it was too much to hope she thought my voice was lost in the commotion.''

    "That''s... Not something I''m willing to answer without Vulpix''s input on the matter first," Lee replies carefully, testing each word in his mouth before letting it go. "What you''re asking for concerns her too, and I can''t give the info if she doesn''t want to."

    Brendan mulls it over for a moment and groans. "That means ''I''m not telling you'' doesn''t it?"

    Zinnia''s brows rise in obvious surprise before falling again. "Huh. Not what I was expecting... buuuuut it makes sense." Then she smiles. "If that''s your answer, it really helps me make up my mind."

    "Make up your mind on what?" Brendan asks warily, leaning back at her sudden exuberance.

    "On whether or not I''m coming with you two or not, duh," she says with a bright grin.

    Lee and Brendan exchange glances. "Don''t we have to make that call?"

    "You can," Zinnia says with a nod. "I''m following regardless," she finishes with a clear laugh. "You, Mister Lee, are too interesting," she says, standing pointing at the bewildered man. "You say you''ve only been a trainer for a month and some change, but you battle like a pro, you know things, and your pokemon is freaky powerful. I need to grow stronger for my mission to the Draconid Tribe, and I get the feeling hanging around you is just the way to do it!"

    "Alright alright!" Lee hisses as people begin to stare at their table. One kid even points before his mother stops him. "Just sit down and stop yelling. We''ll discuss everything later."

    "Don''t I get a say in this?" Brendan whines.

    Zinnia beams.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Here you are, Mister Henson. Your Vulpix," Nurse Joy says, handing Lee a single warm pokeball with a smile. "I would recommend a day or two of only light training before returning to full activity. The bite on her leg did some considerable damage, but nothing that won''t heal."

    Lee throws an ugly look towards Zinnia, who is on his left. "I said I was sorry!" She squawks.

    He just shakes his head. "Right, C''mon."

    The pair head to the mostly restored lounge near the entrance of the Pokemon Center, where a number of trainers and pokemon gather into small groups. Overhead, a radio plays some tinny pop song through old speakers. Lee looks around, marveling over the fact that yesterday this room was a burnt husk but was now deemed safe enough for people and pokemon again. The smoke smell is even gone.

    ''Gotta hand it to those League workers. They don''t mess around.''

    Along the far wall a long padded bench runs the entire length, seating a number of people, Brendan being one of them. At the young trainer''s feet, his now fresh looking Mudkip and Shroomish voraciously eat some of the Center provided chow from a pair of bowls. Brendan looks up with a smile when the older trainers come close.

    Lee sinks down next to Brendan, his eyes firmly glued to Vulpix''s ball. With a feather-light tap, he presses the button and the ball explodes open in a flash of light.

    Vulpix materializes in his lap and blinks the stars away from her vision, looking up to Lee with soulful brown eyes. In the back of Lee''s mind, he can feel Vulpix''s mind prodding for access. He lets her in without a second thought.

    Lee blinks away a sudden prickling of tears when he feels her sharp and aware mind again, not her pain-filled and barely conscious one. He hugs the vixen close, the feeling of her whole and unbroken body a balm to his frayed nerves.

    Vulpix cuddles herself to her human, her curious vulpine purr rolling through her chest. A thin tendril of thought extends from her, letting her see exactly how he fared in her absence.

    Not well.

    She wraps Lee''s mind in her own, and then...

    I am well.

    You are well.

    All is well.

    All the stress in Lee''s body flows out like a full basin with the drain opened. The tension holding his shoulders and back rigid leaves, letting him lean back into the wall behind him with a sigh, holding Vulpix all the while.

    Zinnia watches the sight with a smile. "You really were worried about her, weren''t you?" She asks, sitting next to Lee and resting her elbows on her knees.

    Lee nods into Vulpix''s head tuft. "If something happened to her, they''d have to put me in the nuthouse," he replies, his voice muffled by the warm fox he''s hugging.

    The Dragon trainer''s smile takes on a strained, almost bitter look. "It''s crazy how that works, huh?

    ''...?''

    Lee pulls his head up enough to see Zinnia''s face before her smile returns to a genuine one. "So, intrepid leader. What next?"

    The scarred trainer files Zinnia''s words for later and thinks. "Wait. Intrepid leader?"

    "You are kind of the leader, Lee," Brendan chimes in, Returning both his pokemon to their balls in flashes of red. "Didn''t you say you had a route worked out already?"

    "Well, yeah," Lee says, pulling his head up from Vulpix all the way, and the vixen looks up as well. "But that hardly makes me the leader here."

    "Sounds pretty leaderly to me," Zinnia says, her smile growing.

    "Same!" Says Brendan, also smiling.

    Lee rolls his eyes. "Sounds like you two are lazy and just want me to do the work here." When neither denies the accusation, he shakes his head. "We''re going to go into town, stock up on supplies, then we can either get on the road tonight or wait until morning considering it''s..." Lee pulls his flip phone from his pocket and glances at it. "Almost 3 pm already. Up to you two. Either way, we''ll head west via Route 102 to Petalburg which is several days away on foot."

    Zinnia hums. "I say let''s go today. How ''bout you, shrimpy?"

    Brendan scowls. "I''m not shrimpy! For that, I say we stay the night!"

    "What? We''ve got like five hours of light left, that''s a good chunk of travel!" Zinnia protests.

    "Well, I say we stay anyway!" Brendan says, crossing his arms and turning away.

    Zinnia growls "You little..!" she flexes her hands as if about to throttle him

    Lee drags a hand down his face. "Of course they''d argue...Oi!" He says, getting the attention of both Brendan and Zinnia. "Flip a coin or something. Don''t act like children. I swear to god I''ll turn this journey around."

    Vulpix just gives a scratchy, vulpine laugh from Lee''s lap at his misfortune.

 Act 1: Interlude 1

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    After resupplying and saying their goodbyes in Oldale, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia set off onto the road after deciding to leave the same day. The heatwave of the week prior had finally subsided, allowing the trio to shorten their break at noon for more progress. After the sun had vanished over the horizon, they would build camp and rest for the night, often training and socializing before bed. Three days of progress saw them a mere part-day outside of Petalburg, leading to now, the end of the third day in a darkened forest clearing.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Above a crudely outlined battlefield in the grass, a ghostly ball of fire illuminates the dark surroundings, showing Brendan and Zinnia staring each other down in the middle of a heated battle.

    "Swablu, duck!" Zinnia franticly cries.

    A raging Watergun narrowly misses the flailing bird pokemon, instead crashing into a tree behind her and stripping chunks of bark clean off with a rip crack! from the force. Across the makeshift field, Brendan''s Mudkip bellows in anger at the miss.

    "Again!" Calls Brendan.

    Unfortunately, Swablu is caught by the rapid follow-up. The blast of water is like a sledgehammer to her small body, throwing the bird to the ground where she crashes with a shrill cry.

    Alongside the makeshift battlefield, Lee, Vulpix, Brendan''s Shroomish, Zinnia''s Shelgon, and Zinnia''s final pokemon, a small Goomy, all watch. Lee is seated on an old log with Vulpix on his left. Shroomish sits at his feet while Shelgon stands with Goomy atop his shell.

    Or rather all of them sans Vulpix are watching. Vulpix sits with her eyes closed, focusing on maintaining the hovering ball of flame above the battlefield to give the fighters enough light to work with. The sun has long since set, and Lee came up with the exercise as a way to kill two birds with one stone. The fighters get light, and Vulpix gets to practice.

    Goomy''s tiny body shudders as he looks at the savagely grinning Mudkip, who waits for Swablu to struggle to her feet. The little dragon burbles and chirps something with a shaking voice.

    Under Goomy, Shelgon rumbles something that eases Goomy''s trembling.

    Lee glances back to the campfire, where a large pot of stew he''s making for dinner simmers over a fire grate. ''Probably only a few minutes left on that,'' he thinks to himself before pushing his thoughts outwards. ''Hey, love? Any idea what Shelgon said to Goomy?''

    The fiery werelight above the battlefield wavers some, but Vulpix quickly stabilizes it and reaches out to him.

    Fear. She sends an image of Goomy with Mudkip in the background.

    Reassurance. This feeling comes with an image of both Shelgon and Goomy.

    ''So Shelgon was reassuring Goomy that he''d protect him from Mudkip then?'' Lee asks, looking between Mudkip and the still unsteady Swablu. ''Not surprising. The Goodra line is pretty passive with Sliggoo as the exception, and Mudkip is downright monstrous sometimes. He''s going to be a force of nature as a Swampert,'' Lee sends back, thinking about yesterday when Goomy and Mudkip had clashed.

    Even with Zinnia''s superior skill as a trainer and Goomy''s resistance to water attacks, Goomy was swiftly felled by Mudkip''s sheer aggression.

    Now it looks like Swablu was about to lose to Mudkip as well.

    "Swablu! Circle around and use Take Down!" Zinnia orders, a note of frustration to her voice.

    The bird pokemon arises back into the air on her cloudlike wings, quickly zipping around to Mudkip''s flank before enveloping herself in a shining cloak of white energy with a furious trill.

    Mudkip, already used to fighting opponents faster than he thanks to countless bouts with Vulpix, quickly pivots to face his attacker.

    "Meet her head-on with Tackle!" Brendan orders.

    Lee winces and closes his eyes. A second later, there is a bone-rattling thunk! as Mudkip and Swablu met head to head.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "Swablu!"

    Mudkip''s throaty, victorious bellow tells him exactly who won.

    Lee feels something prod his knee and cracks open his eyes. Looking down, he sees the ever-dour looking Shroomish, who regards Lee with lazy eyes.

    Just a week in Brendan''s care has done wonders for the little mushroom pokemon. His once dry and cracked skin now has a dull, moist luster to it and his body filled out to a size more appropriate for his species. The boy trainer''s care had an even greater effect on Shroomish''s personality, as the little mushroom is heinously slothful and gluttonous, but would (reluctantly) rise and fight at 100% if Brendan commanded him. The lazy eyes of Shroomish wander off of Lee and over to the campfire.

    Lee follows his gaze to the pot still simmering over the fire. Even now, after mostly recovering from his starvation, Shroomish still has a fixation with food, but Lee finds it hard to blame him. "Ah, it''s probably done. Thanks, little guy."

    Shroomish just replies with a wet grumble and follows when Lee stands to take the pot off the fire.

    As he takes the sets the pot down off the grate and fishes in his bag for the set of bowls he bought back in Oldale, a very happy Brendan and Mudkip swagger up followed by a much more sour Zinnia, who cradles her barely conscious Swablu. She stops off to the side and pulls a Potion from her own bag to treat Swablu before returning the bird to her ball to rest. Vulpix retakes her usual spot stop Lee''s shoulders after letting her fireball lantern fade.

    "Sooo, anyone learn anything new tonight?" Lee ventures as he ladles out a bowl and sets it down for Shroomish, who digs in before it even cools.

    "Mudkip learned Foresight tonight," Brendan replies with a grin, gladly accepting the bowl of hot stew and the spoon given to him. He quickly gulps down a spoonful only to almost spit it back out from the heat. He forces it down and pants to try and cool his mouth before continuing. "Usually a Mudkip will get Foresight and sometimes Bide down right before they evolve, so I think he''s close!"

    Mudkip raises his head from his own bowl and gives an excited cry in agreement.

    Lee rubs his chin and inspects Mudkip. Indeed Mudkip learned Foresight, as when Swablu used Mist earlier in the battle, she began to pick away at Mudkip from the safety of the lowered visibility before his eyes began to glow. Following that, he knocked Swablu from the air.

    Mudkip''s skin in the last few days had begun to lighten in color like a Marshtop''s, and the middle prongs from Mudkips gills had begun to lengthen, showing everyone versed in the Mudkip line that he had only a short time before evolution took hold.

    "Already?"Lee wonders to himself aloud, idly ladling another bowl out and handing it to Zinnia, missing her words as he thinks. ''It''s never really explained in the anime or games what sort of timeframe the adventures take place in. For such a huge change I would have figured it takes, well... longer. All the research I''ve poured over says it can take years for a pokemon to evolve. I fully expected inconstancies, but...''

    A pair of fingers snapping in is face pulls Lee from his thoughts. He looks up to see a pair of ruby eyes staring at him.

    The hand not holding an empty bowl rests on her hip as Zinnia raises an eyebrow. "Did you hear a word I said? You were staring into the fire awful hard."

    Lee looks around, noting all the pokemon are in the process of eating. He lets out a short laugh and smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, I was lost in thought there."

    Zinnia rolls her eyes and blows a lock of her hair from her face before flopping down next to him. "You do that a lot, you know? I said do you have any idea what pokemon you''re getting next? If we''re going to Rustboro first, I think you''ll want something other than a fire type to challenge Roxanne."

    ''I do, in fact. If I remember correctly, Ash got his Treecko from the Petalburg Woods. Once we get back into civilization I can check online and see if any poke-watchers have spotted any Treecko in the area. A little unoriginal of me, but why fix what isn''t broke?''

    Lee can feel a flicker of irritation from Vulpix for the unintentional slight, but he just shushes her wordlessly. He sits, careful not to jostle Vulpix too much, and digs in his pocket, withdrawing his Pokedex. Taking the little device out of sleep mode, he scrolls over to the ''notes'' function. Near the top of his list of ''potential additions'' is Treecko. "I have it on good authority that there is a Treecko colony somewhere in the Petalburg Woods. The Treecko final form, Sceptile, is a fast attacker with fairly balanced physical and special attack attributes and the ability to learn rock and fighting moves to ward off pokemon with type advantages," Lee says with a grin, already feeling a boyish excitement over the prospective capture. "Sceptile''s array of cutting attacks also makes it an excellent tank-buster with the ability to carve through defenses easily in a scenario where time might be critical. A Treecko would provide a great hard-and-fast offset to Vulpix''s more methodical style."

    Zinnia blinks and even Brendan looks over with surprise, making Lee flush some. "What?"

    "You really thought that out," Zinnia says, hugging one of her legs and resting her chin on her knee. She smirks and says nothing else.

    Brendan shakes his surprise away before grinning with stars in his eyes. "Hey, Lee! What pokemon should I get next?" Brendan asks, sitting close and pulling out his Pokedex. "I was thinking maybe, uh," he pauses for a moment then snaps his fingers when it hits him."Oh! A fire type because then I''d have the basic trio of elements, right?"

    Lee sighs and makes himself comfortable. Vulpix noses his cheek, but her quick exhale and the mental tether makes her amusement clear as day. "I already know you''re not going to stop pestering me, are you? Before asking ''what type'', ask ''what role does my team need'', then proceed to type. Type is important and all that but more often than not a poorly optimized but filled role is better than not having it filled at all. For example..."

    Brendan hung upon each word, and although Zinnia''s eyes were on the fire, Lee had her ears.

 Act 1: Logs 1

    "Day two of being a trainer. Or is it day one? We''ll call it two. I''ve finished giving Vulpix as good a physical as I can without tools or monitoring equipment. She is within the acceptable standards of a canid her size without much significant deviation, her internal temperature and muscle density being the only significant outliers. More on that later. I didn''t bother with much cognitive or any intelligence testing. Vulpix was alert and aware during the physical even if she was bored to death. Any intelligence test I could have given would have been outright demeaning to her and easily solved. Suffice to say she is smarter than most of the people I know and probably smarter than myself as well."

    The sound pauses for several seconds.

    "Let it be known that the crafty fox is still susceptible to a well-placed belly rub and her heart of gold taking pity on hopeless humans. Vulpix''s muscle density is incredible. She''s like a wall when her muscles are tensed and I know for a fact she is much physically stronger than I pound for pound, and probably just outright stronger than myself or anyone of similar size despite the weight difference. I''ll need actual equipment and not just hand-n-eyeball estimates to be sure. Her skin temperature seems to be around one-hundred ten Fahrenheit. Utterly feverish for a person, but very comfortable for her. I don''t have an accurate gauge for internal temperature, but just from feeling her breath, I can estimate somewhere close to...At least one-hundred-fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Again, doing this without tools so actual numbers may vary. I''ll probably do another physical if Vulpix is feeling up to it in a week''s time to confirm these estimates. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log two, day seven. I''ve finished Vulpix''s second physical, this time aided by equipment I''ve acquired from the local Pokemart. The results of the physical are in line with my prior observations. Her average skin temperature is one-hundred-twelve point four degrees Fahrenheit, with internal temp resting at about one-hundred-eighty one point seven, both in the average range of the Vulpix line according to my research. Once I devise some tests, I''ll be giving her supernatural strength a tryout to get some baselines."

    "While I am satisfied with her current health, her ongoing health I am still planning for. One thing I''ve found lacking is store-bought pokemon food. The ''league recommended'' brands all have a serious lack of nutritional information available, some only giving estimates while others use ''an optimal blend of meats, veggies, and berries'' as some sort of sidestep. I don''t trust like that. I would not feed any animal in my care something I myself would not eat, and I''m sure as hell not trusting Vulpix''s health to something that cannot even give me an ingredient list. I''ve made full preparation to produce her food myself. If Vulpix is an omnivore like mundane vulpines, and I''m sure she is, then her diet plan should be an easy build."

    "...Don''t look at me like that, love. I mean ''diet'' in a nutritionist sense, not a ''you''re overweight'' sense. You''re as fit and beautiful as they come and I want you to stay that way."

    "Anyway, we were training outside with Vulpix''s moveset earlier. We''ve made good progress on tightening the spread of Ember, which I suspect will be Vulpix''s main projectile attack until she learns Flamethrower. Even then, Ember should be a good fallback in the event that Flamethrower becomes too energy-consuming from some reason, like in a long battle. Strong foundations and all that. I have noticed something odd, however. Like most fire pokemon, Vulpix launches her attack from her mouth, taking a short time to charge before actually shooting. Although she breathes in to charge, her exhale is inconsistent with the potency of the attack, Ember, in this case."

    "I''ve found a surprising lack of information on pokemon physical training regimens outside of the obvious ''battle a diverse range of pokemon''. Why? I have no idea. I''ll have to adapt something for Vulpix. An obstacle course or something? Eh, it''s a start."

    "We also battled Brendan and his starter, Mudkip today. Despite his type advantage, Mudkip found himself defeated by Vulpix. I admit I was... reluctant to be aggressive during this battle to Vulpix''s ire. I guess I still have a few old hangups about animals being harmed. Mudkip''s swift recovery definitely sets my mind at ease. I forgot just how hardy pokemon are. Anyway, that''s it for now. Lee, out.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log three, day... Which day again?"

    "Vulpix Vul!"

    "Right, right, day eighteen. I meant to do this log earlier, but so much has happened recently that I sort of lost myself in the excitement. A lot is going on, so I''ll try and condense this down to the main points. The main main one? Vulpix''s pyrokinesis."

    "I can scarcely believe it. A fluke of observation and a vaguely recalled reference from a fake Pokedex entry lead to this. I''ve searched far and wide, through books and the internet, but the reports of the phenomena seems limited to legends of ancient Ninetales on out-of-date occult websites. How no one has discovered this, I have no idea. I''m suddenly thinking the secondary fairy typing of the Alola Ninetales may apply to the usual Vulpix line as well, at least in part. I''ll how to put in some more research in order to learn how to test this. As for practical use, it took several days of meditation and attempted practice for us to realize how much of a willpower and emotional component there is to the pyrokinesis. Vulpix can focus as hard as she likes, but if she doesn''t want it, then nothing will happen. I sort of expected a more, I dunno, structured activation, but this lends some credit to my minor fairy typing theory. Vulpix, with the appropriate motivation, can induce spontaneous combustion on flammable materials. Tests with a laser thermometer find that the combustion truly is spontaneous, as there is no discernable heat source being applied to the test media, yet the temperature rapidly rises to ignition when Vulpix so wills it. Testing with her move set is still ongoing, but with the sharp improvement to Ember and Fire Spin''s power and accuracy, it''s obvious Vulpix is already applying what she''s learned to her techniques. Proud of you, love."

    "Vul!"

    "Moving on. I''m still experimenting with Vulpix''s diet. The first few rounds made a solid base but proved a bit lacking in calorie count. I failed to account for Vulpix''s supernatural abilities, high brain activity, and training meaning a higher rate of calorie burn. My original mix consisted of a base of 85/15 ground beef and eggs for protein and fatty acids, wild rice for carbs and starches, diced carrots, broccoli, peas, and cauliflower for fiber and a medley of vitamins and minerals, a few slivers of supplements for anything I missed, and finally a few pinches of spices for taste. Certainly better than the premix garbage, right love?"

    "Pix!"

    "Heh. I started by giving her about one and a half cups a day divided into two meals, about six-hundred calories worth total. When she began to tire the next day during training, we went up to two cups, roughly nine-hundred calories. Again, she began to tire out about halfway through the day. Three cups was better, but Vulpix still petered out early. That''s when it hit me. At first, I was worried and thought I was doing something wrong, as the helpings I was giving her were much larger than the premix servings she was eating, so I began to research berries as a potential way to overcome this. At the same time, I upped Vulpix''s meals to four and a half cups a day, over two-thousand calories, doubtful she could eat it all, yet she did so without any discomfort. Shows I''ve still got a lot to learn about pokemon..."

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    "Anyway, I suspect that normal premix food is a huge helping of carbs for energy with some supplements thrown in to meet minimum nutritional requirements, as it''s the only way I can explain Vulpix being able to function a full day on a smaller amount of food. Vulpix certainly hasn''t protested the menu change, so we''ll stick to it and see. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log four, day twenty-five. It''s only been a week or so since my last update. Vulpix''s pyrokinesis continuously makes small but steady improvements. The newfound control of her fire means Vulpix can fire her Embers in a thin stream or a wide cone. She can even control the trajectory of the Embers after they''ve been fired. Actually manifesting flames still seems beyond her, but I''m certain we''ll figure it out and be inventing new moves soon enough."

    "Vulpix is still responding well to hand-made food. Her performance is showing noticeable improvements now, as she broke her previous best time on the rudimentary obstacle course I made for her by a full second. She''s also gained about an eighth of a pound, but I could not feel any formation of fat on her body when I felt for it. I''ll keep an eye on that, but I have doubts that its unhealthy fat gain considering her daily exercise. I did alter her diet a tiny bit after I made some headway on my study of berries."

    "Berries must be some sort of miracle material, as their properties simply boggle my mind. If what various sources I''ve looked into are correct, Oran promotes bodily homeostasis with a jolt of near-instantly digested energy and acts as a mild, non-addictive pain killer on top of being naturally antibiotic, antiviral, antiseptic, and sweet on the tongue."

    "Pardon my french, but that is fucking bonkers. If the Oran existed back home, it would be hailed as the end-all, be-all natural cure for everything from being ugly to stage-4 cancer."

    "But the Sitrus berry makes the Oran''s ability look like a common party trick. I didn''t believe what I read at first and had to look around to other sources to make sure someone wasn''t pranking me. One bite of Sitrus induces full-blown cellular regeneration. Not cell division, actual regeneration of dead and damaged cells and the spontaneous generation of new, healthy cells at a rate I want to call impossible. I can''t even process that. That''s...Look, professor, I know these logs are for you, but holy shit I need to get my thoughts down. That is so fucking insane to me, it quite literally is a miracle. I''m not a terribly religious man, but that kind of thing fucks with you... It also explains the obscene price tag on some berries. Almost ten grand for a single grade A Lum berry? Kiss my ass."

    "Okay, okay, on with the relevant stuff. After making sure mixing Oran with other foods didn''t cause some sort of strange reaction, I''ve been adding Oran slivers to Vulpix''s food. They''re well mixed in to promote a gradual release of the enzymes responsible for their special properties. I''m hoping the added Oran promotes muscle recovery post-training and mental acuity for her pyro powers. That''s it for today. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log five, day thirty. All the shit with Team Rocket and Ash has concluded and I''m sitting in bed. We got our first taste of combat with a high-leveled pokemon, no matter how brief it was. Even delirious, Pikachu proved himself to be a real danger. His Thunderbolt nearly fried Vulpix even with telepathy cutting order and reaction time to almost nothing."

    "Oh yeah. Recently, Vulpix and I have been taking advantage of the Vulpix line''s minor psychic abilities and have been practicing to incorporate telepathic communication into our style. Telepathy is... Strange. There are no words, just urges and feelings. After recalling yet another gamedex entry, I had Vulpix read my mind when we first met so she could verify my story. That''s where her heart of gold showed and she decided to help me rather than leave the crazy human and take off. Ah, right there. Love, don''t contort your pretty face with that frown, I can feel your anger just fine. I know you would never leave me. So, back to the battle. Issuing a command and strategizing via telepathy is infinitely faster than doing so verbally. Something I''ve found is that I can ''overshadow'' Vulpix in a manner. I can plug myself into her senses in a minor way, see what she sees, hear what she hears. I can''t exert any control over her, nor would I want to, but I can add my focus, my emotion to her, magnifying her powers. Some might see this as profoundly intimate, but I''ve already laid my soul bare to her before, and she didn''t find me wanting then. If I was ever so close to anyone, I''m glad it''s Vulpix."

    "I''d say more, but... I''m tired. I''ll try to update again soon. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log six, day thirty-fi- no, thirty-six. The clock just struck midnight. I''m tired as all hell so we''ll keep this short. Brendan and I had our first real crisis today. A pissed Manectric blew out the entire Oldale Pokemon Center''s electrical system and triggered a huge fire. Vulpix and I ran into an unexpected weakness in her pyrokinesis while helping to put out the fire. We tried to pull the oxygen away from the flames to extinguish large areas at once. It simply kept slipping. Vulpix and I opened our telepathic channel as wide as we dared and I added all my brainpower to hers, but still manipulating the oxygen escaped us. In a desperate bid, we tried pulling the flames away from the Center and then releasing control, and to the surprise of both of us, it worked. The previously flaming area was left fire-free, so I had Brendan and Mudkip soak the spots we put out to stop re-ignition. Using that method, we helped the fire department put out the external fires, which left the still burning inside. Officer Jenny and her Azumarill were taking their sweet time, having rushed in to evacuate any people or pokemon still trapped. After mulling it over, Vulpix and I went inside.

    "I gotta admit, seeing all the fire reminded me off... a less pleasant time, but Vulpix and I powered through. We found the previously mentioned Manectric cornering Jenny, Azumarill, and a Center intern in the egg nursery."

    Professor, this Manectric had to have been tall enough to look me in the eye. Cracking fur, enraged eyes, the whole nine yards. This was not a fight a battered Azumarill and Vulpix could have won. I was convinced for a moment we were about to die, as Manectric clearly had no problem attacking humans considering Jenny had electrical burns. Then Vulpix noticed the intern was clutching an Electrike egg and informed me that Manectric was female."

    "A pissed mom. I''ve unfortunately run into these before. I know this is what you''re wanting most, professor, so I''ll try to be detailed."

    "She wasn''t thinking clearly and zeroed in on me, now the largest thing in the room. I averted my eyes and slowly lowered myself in a way most canines would recognize as submissive. Being careful to not bare my teeth, lest she taking it as an act of aggression, I spoke in a soft voice, informing her that she was superior in this situation and that we acknowledged that she was wronged by the theft. Thankfully, she knew English and/or was able to read my tone and eased herself down a little more with every assurance. The intern was reluctant to give me the egg, saying it was slated to go to Professor Sycamore, but potential death via electrocution convinced her to make the smart choice. I set the egg down at a halfway point and let Manectric inspect it. She apparently found everything to her liking, as she took the egg and left without incident."

    "The Mayor of Oldale was nice enough to get Brendan and myself hotel rooms for the trouble, now if you don''t mind, I need some fucking sleep. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Nigel Birch leans back into his chair in his office within the Little Root Lab, staring at the ceiling with his mind running a million miles a minute.

    Less than two months. In less than two months his newest lab trainer, a man displaced through dimensions, has shed light on several mysteries and probably kickstarted new fields of research.

    Why has no Vulpix before displayed these powers? Does the Vulpix line actually have some fairy in them? And using telepathy mid-battle? Sharing senses? Psychics all over said sense sharing couldn''t be done by anything less than a Legendary using brute force. It was impossible. Humans and Pokemon were just too different in their mental makeup, and yet...

    "All from looking at things a little differently..." Birch mumbles to himself, still lost in his own swirling thoughts. Then the final log jumps out at him again.

    ''Lee should be dead.'' Birch can''t bring himself to say it aloud. A single bead of cold sweat runs down his brow. ''Manectric are vicious, unpredictable pokemon at the best of times. A mother out to recover a stolen egg? She should have attacked. All logic says she would be on a warpath.'' Birch lets out a shaking breath. ''Being submissive, is that all it takes? No. There has to be more to it. Lee took an extraordinary amount of caution, but most pokemon would just see it as a useless platitude.''

    Birch looks out the window in his office, watching a small formation of Tailow fly by.

    "Lee, what did you do differently?" He murmurs aloud.

 Act 1: Chapter 8

    "Not ringing any bells at all?"

    Shroomish glances around the well-beaten path leading into the shaded Petalburg Woods, his eyes lethargic but never totally stopping. He looks up at Lee and shakes his head with a grumble, making the man''s shoulders slump some. On his shoulders, Vulpix noses his cheek.

    To Lee''s right, Brendan shrugs in his pokemon''s stead while Zinnia advances a few steps and stares into the gloom of the woods. "It was worth a shot, at least," Zinnia comments as Brendan returns Shroomish to his ball. "Petalburg woods does have a huge Shroomish population after all," she finishes.

    Lee and company had briefly passed through Petalburg on their way to Rustboro, just long enough to top off their supplies but not long enough to truly see anything important. Lee himself was sorely tempted to visit Petalburg''s large Pokemart, one much more impressive than Little Root or Oldale''s but held off, reasoning that Rustboro''s would suffice.

    "Old fashioned way, then," Lee says with a sigh. He starts towards the trodden path with Zinnia falling into step with him. "Keep an eye out. Vulpix? Could you scan around with your telepathy as we walk and see what you find?"

    "Vul," She confirms, her eyes already glowing dully.

    "Well, how hard could a whole Treecko colony be to find?" Brendan asks, folding his arms behind his head as he follows a step behind the pair of older trainers.

    Zinnia hums to herself for a moment. "Pretty hard, I''d think," she chimes, "Treecko are rare pokemon, so I''mma guess they''re really good at hiding from nosy people." She''s silent for a moment before asking; "Say, why are we doing the gym route this way? Wasn''t there a gym in Petalburg?"

    "Yeah," Brendan says with a scoff. "But the Petalburg Gym Leader is Norman Maple, one of my dad''s old friends. He''s a Normal-type specialist and one of the toughest gym leaders in Hoenn. It''s a good call to skip him and come back later. Roxanne, meanwhile, is a newer gym leader without any evolved pokemon yet. Me, Mudkip, and Shroomish will wipe the floor with her, and I''m sure Lee can pull a win even with just Vulpix."

    "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall," Zinnia smirks. "Real confident, aren''t you?"

    "Roxanne has barely a fifty percent win rate. Of course, I''m confident."

    The dragon tamer shakes her head, smirk still in place. "That''s how you end up on the losing side of that win rate, shrimpy."

    Brendan scowls, but Lee jumps in before he can start an argument with Zinnia. "She''s got a point, Brendan," Lee says, looking around as the forest canopy begins to envelop them in darkness. "A fifty percent win rate means she''s still regularly sending trainers packing. She might have some sort of strat or hidden gimmick to her style. Don''t tempt fate because fate will fuck with you if you do."

    The boy grumbles to himself but doesn''t argue any further.

    As the three follow the beaten dirt path deeper into the forest, the tree-cover thickens until their sole illumination is shafts of golden sunlight that shoot through the few holes in the canopy like spears. The whisper of the wind through the dense trees plays a gentle, natural melody with the sounds of the wildlife. Above, the sound of Taillow chirping and flitting through the branches contrast with the scattered cries of distant Poochyena. In the distance, a pair of Beautifly flutter soundlessly through the air, passing a patch of sunlight and vanishing behind a thicket, leaving behind tiny, glittering wing scales in the light that settle to the ground. A tree filled with nothing but Seedot watches the three trainers pass by as a pair of Nincada on the trunk scuttle away.

    "It''s like something right out of a fairy tale," Lee breathes quietly. He glances at both Brendan and Zinnia, neither of whom seem as impressed as he with the Petalburg Woods. ''Of course, they''re not impressed. This is normal for them.''

    But for all the wonderful sights the woods afforded, there is no Treecko to be found even after two, almost three hours of walking.

    Finally, Zinnia calls for a timeout. "Alrighty boys, I think it''s time for a break," she says, stopping the party. She glances up to one of the shafts of sunlight. "It''s probably one PM or so, in other words..." She grins. "Lunchtime!"

    "You''ve been snacking as we''ve been walking this whole time," Brendan deadpans. "How are you still hungry? You can try and hide that jerky under your cloak and pretend you''re slick all you like, I''ve seen you."

    Silently, Lee agrees with him. Zinnia... isn''t the subtle type.

    Zinnia smiles, her ruby red eyes filled with mirth. "Peeking in my cloak, eh? Why Brendan! You just need to ask if you want to see anything~!" she flares her cloak out behind her and strikes a provocative pose.

    Lee can both see and feel Vulpix''s frown of disapproval.

    "You keep the front open all the time. That doesn''t exactly hide anything, thot." Brendan rolls his eyes. He yelps when Zinnia stalks forward and pinches his cheek.

    "You can at least humor me," Zinnia hisses through a tight, not-so-amused smile. "Lee? Are you teaching him words like that?"

    Lee wisely looks away. "Kids these days..." He mutters, trying to hide his smile.

    All the pokemon between the three trainers are released in short order as the group settles under a large tree for a short lunch. After Zinnia releases Brendan, that is.

    Brendan sits and crosses his legs as he rubs his smarting cheek with a pout. Under his breath, he mutters about "stupid dragon ladies who can''t take any banter." Mudkip pats his knee with a low croak, trying to offer some comfort. The boy trainer smiles down to his starter and gives him a rub on his smooth head, making the mudfish pokemon smile and lean into the touch.

    "''Least you and Shroomish are on my side, pal," Brendan smiles at Mudkip and turns to look at Shroomish, only to spy a food bowl with no Shroomish.

    "Oh shoot!" Brendan shoots to his feet, almost throwing Mudkip off and making the entire group jump. "Where did Shroomish go?! Hey! Shroomish!" He calls into the woods, hands cupped around his mouth. Mudkip joins a second later, bellowing out loudly into the woods.

    Lee follows Brendan''s eyes to the food bowl, instantly noting the food left as he stands as well, stuffing the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth and hurriedly gulping it down. "No need to freak out, Brendan. He''s not a fast pokemon, he couldn''t have got far," he says, throwing his trash and Vulpix''s empty bowl into his bag.

    "Swablu, fly up and see if you can find the little mushroom!" Zinnia orders as she gets up herself, her usual playful expression gone in favor of a more serious face. She swiftly returns her quivering Goomy to his ball, but the ever stoic Shelgon remains out.

    The little bird pokemon responds with an affirmative trill and quickly rises up as high as she can without being lost to the overhanging canopy.

    "Vulpix," Lee begins as the vixen takes her usual spot on his shoulders. "Can you psychically scan around and see if you can find him?"

    She nods, her eyes already glowing before she closes them in concentration. A moment later, she shakes her head, feeding Lee a feeling of futility through their mental channel.

    Too many. Too similar. Overlapping.

    ''Well shit. I hope Swablu has a sharp eye then.''

    Vulpix growls lowly in her throat, some of her self-disappointment bleeding through to her trainer.

    ''Love, don''t think like that. It''s just an area to grow and improve in is all,'' Lee sends back, reaching up to stroke her furry cheek. ''We''ll have you baffling actual Psychic-types with your skill before you know it.''

    The vixen leans into the hand, the disappointment stemming in favor of contentment.

    "Shroomish already indicated that he didn''t know the Petalburg Woods at all, so where could he have wandered off to?" Zinnia wonders aloud, pulling Lee and Vulpix''s thoughts back to the current crisis. "I don''t really see anything worth running off for around here." She states, her lips pulling down into a frown.

    Brendan''s hands ball up as he looks all around him, his face contorting into the beginnings of fright. "You don''t think he was taken, do you?"

    ''Right here, in front of all of us?''

    "I don''t think someone snagged him right under our noses like that," Zinnia says, crossing her arms as she shakes her head. "He probably just wandered off. It''s a big forest, after all."

    "Wandering away from his lunch?" Brendan asks, shaking his own head. "No way. He would eat until he bursts if given the chance. I have no idea what could drag him away from his food."

    "Swaaaaaaa!"

    The three trainers and their pokemon look up as Swablu flys back into view, chirping incessantly as she lands on a high branch. The bluebird hops to a further branch and looks at them, seemingly waiting for them to follow.

    "See shrimpy?" Zinnia says with a smile. "Swablu found him."

    The trainers and pokemon follow at a brisk pace behind Swablu as she leads them down a thin path through some undergrowth. As they walk, Vulpix raises her nose and sniffs the air. After a moment, she pokes Lee''s mind with her own and offers the scent she found.

    ''Jeez, that''s almost overpoweringly sweet, even second-hand,'' Lee sends back as he pushes a low branch away. His nose tingles from the phantom sensation. ''What could it be? Did Shroomish wander away for this scent?''

    When the group bursts out of the thick brush, they all find themselves in another small clearing.

    At the far end, a content Shroomish sits next to a bush where several Pecha berries hang. All the lower branches of the bush are devoid of any berries, making the pink stains around the little mushroom''s mouth very telling.

    Brendan breathes a sigh of relief at seeing his pokemon fine and in one piece. He walks ahead of the group and picks up Shroomish, who doesn''t protest at all. "Did you really have to scare me like that, pal?" Brendan asks with a sigh. "I thought something happened to you..."

    Shroomish seems to come out of his food-coma and blinks, grumbling something in his wet voice.

    Lee glances over to the vixen on his shoulder. "Any idea what he said? I still can''t read plant faces."

    Vulpix yawns.

    Remorse. Insincere.

    "Figures..."

    "I''m guessing Shroomish isn''t sorry?" Zinnia guesses, glancing between Lee and Vulpix.

    Vulpix answers her with a simple nod.

    Zinnia and Shelgon stroll up to the bush Shroomish was feasting from. The young woman plucks one of the higher berries off and pops it into her mouth, her face lighting up. "Wow, I totally understand why he wandered away," she says through her bite of berry. "Natural Pecha is just as good as they say." She takes another one and offers it to Shelgon, who turns it down.

    Lee follows shortly and grabs a pair. He bites down on one and gives the other to Vulpix, who snaps it up and gladly eats, her fan of tails wagging.

    ''Oh man, that''s... not bad,'' Lee thinks. In just a few chews the soft berry is little more than a sweet paste that goes down easily. ''I was expecting it to be disgustingly overpowering from the scent... Or does your nose make it seem overly sweet to my human senses?''

    Vulpix declines to answer in favor of licking her chops to get the last bit of Pecha flavor.

    "Either way, we''ll save a few of these just in case something around here knows Poison Sting or something," Lee quietly finishes verbally, grabbing a few of the Pecha and tossing them into his bag.

    Without warning, both Shelgon and Vulpix tense up. From Vulpix, Lee feels something he has no name for, but the feeling makes his spine tingle.

    Zinnia notices Shelgon''s sudden stillness. "Shelgon? What wrong?" Zinnia wonders aloud.

    Above, the leaves shake and something darts into view.

    All eyes turn to a tree branch above the Pecha bush, where a... a...

    Lee blinks when he comes up with no answer. ''The fuck is that thing?'' he wonders, reaching for his Pokedex.

    On the branch sits a crow-like bird nearly three feet tall, coated in metallic blue and black feathers. Its eyes, a bright red, look between the Pecha bush and the still pink-stained Shroomish with a narrow stare. Its talons knead and tear the wood branch below it as if the wood were paper mache.

    Brendan beats Lee to the punch and pulls his Pokedex out first, pointing it at the mystery bird. The Pokedex comes to life with a beep. "Corvisquire, the Raven Pokemon. Corvisquire are intelligent, Flying-type pokemon native to the Galar region. They use their impressive intellect to use tools both in battle and in everyday life. As a result of many harsh battles, Corvisquire are masters of gauging an opponent''s strength."

    Lee racks his brain. ''Galar? Was that the new region in the Switch games? I never got to play those! Why the fuck is this pokemon in Hoenn?'' Then the last part of the dex entry hits him. ''Masters of gauging an opponent''s strength?'' Lee looks back up at Corvisquire, the pokemon''s facial expression and ruffled feathers give away how furious the pokemon is, and the murder in it''s eyes for Shroomish is all too apparent. ''Vulpix and Shelgon sense something amiss, then this pokemon comes and thinks it can take on a Shelgon, a Vulpix, and a Shroomish?''

    "Oh shit."

    That''s all Lee can get out before Corvisquire dives down at Brendan and Shroomish, talons poised to shred both of them.

    "Quick Attack!"

    Corvisquire banks away just as Vulpix blasts through where he would have been, the vixen missing him by just inches. Vulpix bounds off a tree in her path and leaps back to Lee''s side in a single jump. The bird pokemon circles back around in the air, malice-filled eyes now locked onto Vulpix.

    Lee uses the instant to glance around. ''Cramped clearing with a ton of foliage to catch fire. Gotta be careful with Fire moves. If we try to run to a new place to fight, Corvisquire will have free reign to attack us in the back as we move through the underbrush. Corvisquire is fast and can move in three dimensions freely, making great use of the limited room. If he''s as intelligent as I think he is, then we''ll need to pull out all the stops. Not good...''

    "Brendan, Zinnia, back up!" Lee calls to his friends, making them look at him. "It''s too cramped for all three of us to fight. Let myself and Vulpix handle this."

    Before either can protest, Corvisquire lets out a bone-rattling "Caw!" and charges Vulpix again, flying in tight, expert zig-zags.

    "Baby-Doll Eyes!" Lee calls. He glances back at Zinnia and Brendan. "Move!"

    Zinnia grabs a protesting Brendan and pulls him away, back towards the edge of the clearing. Shelgon takes a stance in front of the trainers, sparks of green trailing his form, the telltale sign of a ready Protect.

    Vulpix''s eyes light up pink and focus on Corvisquire, casting a gentle, eerie light in the darkened woods.

    Corvisquire falters mid-air as his muscles slacken against his will, but he recovers rapidly and turns away mid-air, his wings now glowing white. With an echoing cry, the raven pokemon shoots a barrage of starry rays at Vulpix with a downward flap of his wings.

    ''Shit! Swift!''

    "Intercept it with Ember!" Lee cries. Mentally, he reaches out to Vulpix and lands in her waiting psychic grasp. ''Ready up Quick Attack as well. We''ll blitz him as soon as Swift is taken care off''

    With nary a second to charge the attack, Vulpix exhales a stream of tiny fireballs, each one screaming through the air with flyers swerving into Swift''s path thanks to her pyrokinesis. The stars and fireballs explode with jarring pops and cracks when they meet, and the instant the last star is gone, Vulpix is in motion.

    Corvisquire''s eyes widen and he almost manages to barrel roll out of the way of the speeding vixen. Instead of the clean dodge he tried for, Corvisquire is still clipped against his side, sending him spiraling out of control toward the ground.

    Vulpix lands against the side of a tree paws-first, still wreathed in her coat of Normal energy.

    ''Again.''

    She blasts off the tree, flying towards the falling Corvisquire.

    The edges of the raven''s beak suddenly upturn in a parody of a smile, then he shoots his wings out and he corrects his flight as if he never lost control, shooting straight up and out of Vulpix''s way.

    Both Lee''s and Vulpix eyes widen ''Shit! Vulpix!''

    The fox twists mid-air and cancels Quick Attack, landing roughly and awkwardly on her paws, but Lee can still feel the pain that shoots up her legs. Hovering above, Corvisquire laughs mockingly in scratchy caws.

    ''So he wants to play like that, huh? On my mark, love.'' Lee frowns. "Two can play at that game. Vulpix, Will-o-wisp!"

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    Vulpix opens her mouth and charges a white-hot ball of flames. It''s so hot, that even from several yards away, Lee grimaces and turns his head when his scars begin to sting.

    Corvisquire''s mocking laughter stops as he watches Vulpix warily. When the Will-o-wisp shoots past him, missing entirely, Corvisquire just laughs harder.

    He never notices the ball of fire do a perfect one-eighty turn and shoot back at him twice as fast. Both Brendan and Zinnia gasp behind Lee.

    Corvisquire''s laughter quickly turns to agony when Will-o-wisp crashes into his back and engulfs him in flames. The raven writhes mid-air and plummets to the ground where he bounces once and stops. As quickly as they came, the flames burn out, leaving Corvisquire with a gruesome burn across his back.

    Lee''s hair stands on end as his own burns flare with phantom pain. ''Were we too rough?'' He wonders. Vulpix is quick to give him the psychic equivalent to a jab in the side and pull his attention back to the battle.

    Corvisquire''s red eyes shoot back open, now filled with utter hate.

    ''I guess not...''

    The bird''s face contorts into an absolutely nightmarish visage, his entire face filled with bloodlust as he stands.

    Vulpix''s frame stiffens and her mind prickles with growing fear. Unnatural fear not her own.

    ''Was that Scary Face?'' Lee wonders. Either way, he''s quick to smother Vulpix with warm waves of adoration like she often does from him, pushing the fear away. It takes only a second for the vixen to relax again and return his affection.

    Corvisquire''s frightful face drops into confusion at seeing Vulpix smile of all things before morphing back into anger. The bird grimaces when ruffling his feathers pulls at his burns, but he none-the-less takes to the sky again, moving and flapping his wings as if he weren''t burned at all.

    ''What a tough son-of-a-bitch. No wonder he came in here so confident. He''s definitely not normal.'' Lee sends to Vulpix, who physically nods. ''Here he comes!''

    Corvisquire dives like he''s about to attack, but instead swoops out of reach. He calls out a long, taunting note and shakes his tail feathers as he circles around.

    Again, feelings that don''t belong to Vulpix invade her mind, this time a horrid rage that simmers just below her skin. She looks back at Lee with a growl, her body shaking as she almost begs for an attack to be called.

    Like last time, Lee pulls on her mind. ''Vulpix, love. Snap out of it! He used Taunt on you! Don''t fall for it!'' He tries to soothe her as best he can, and slowly Vulpix''s anger calms. Her growls quiet and her shaking stops.

    Above, the raven lands on a branch and looks as flabbergasted as his bird face will let him. Taunt failing truly threw him for a loop.

    ''I think I get how he fights...'' Lee sends to Vulpix, both of them carefully watching Corvisquire. ''He uses speed and misdirection to get his foe to make mistakes, then he jumps in and punishes said mistake. His inability to make you mess up is throwing him off. If he were against a slower opponent or one who does have outside help to shake off mental effects...'' Lee''s mind goes to Zinnia and Brendan''s pokemon. Shelgon and Mudkip might have the power and mental fortitude to go toe-to-toe withCorvisquire, but their poor speed would be their undoing. Shroomish, Goomy, and Swalbu would be outright overwhelmed. ''We''re the best to fight him. We just need to run the clock on him as his burn will wear down his ability to fight the longer this goes on. Keep it up.''

    Corvisquire apparently decides the lull in fighting is over and vanishes. An instant later, he''s upon Vulpix with his beak glowing white. Vulpix can''t even flinch before she''s stabbed over and over on her face and side. She yowls in pain and breathes a tongue of flame out in an instinctual attack, but the blue and black raven blurs out of reality again, leaving her attack to miss.

    "What the fuck?!" Lee cries, looking all around only to see Corvisquire coming a second too late. He swoops down as little more than a flicker and stabs Vulpix over and over once again in a near-invisible Fury Attack. The vixen tries again to attack with a short blast of fire, but Corvisquire is gone yet again.

    Vulpix pants and stands on shaky legs. Her sides are a mess of lacerations and stab wounds that slowly bleed, turning her orange coat a deep red. Her eyes scan around, but her avian foe is nowhere to be found.

    ''Shit shit shit! He''s just going all out! He must know he can''t drag this out with a burn!'' Lee tries to pull back his panic, but even Vulpix''s slowly hazing mind can recognize her trainer''s distress, making her stand taller.

    Just in time for Corvisquire to divebomb her.

    Coming down through the canopy, the bird pokemon lets out a terrible screech and lands on Vulpix''s back, throwing her down and knocking the wind from her. His beak glows white, then he launches his Fury Attack like a jackhammer, pelting Vulpix''s back, making her throw her head back and scream with each stab.

    ''No no no! Not again! You can''t get hurt, not out here!'' Lee tries to move but is frozen. He shuts his eyes and reaches for her, widening their channel more than ever before. He grits his teeth past the echos of Vulpix''s pain the widened channel brings and focuses. ''Focus on my voice, love. We''re forcing him off now!'' Lee screws his eyes shut and pours everything he has in the next words.

    "Fire Spin!"

    Vulpix''s eyes snap open, glowing an impossibly bright orange.

    The clearing erupts into flames.

    Lee opens his eyes, hearing nothing past the thunder of his own heartbeat. His mouth slowly drops open.

    All-round Vulpix and Lee, a whirling twister of pure fire easily thirty feet across is borne from seemingly nowhere. Corvisquire screeches as he''s dragged into the twisting, towering inferno that burns through the canopy. The fiery winds throw the bird pokemon around ruthlessly, burning him with another screech each time he bounces off the almost-solid tornado of fire. At the top of the Fire Spin, the smoking, long-since unconscious Corvisquire is carelessly flung out into the distance.

    Yet, Lee''s scars don''t react at all to the heat. He isn''t even warm. He looks down, seeing a perfect circle of grass around him untouched by the flames.

    She would never hurt you.

    A glow even greater than the fire draws his attention.

    Just a few yards away, Vulpix, standing tall even with her wounds, looks at him with unblinking eyes the same color as Hell itself.

    Slowly, the Fire Spin dies down, revealing the now burnt-out clearing. Fire Spin had turned everything it touched to ash instantly, leaving nothing in its wake.

    Vulpix''s eyes return to their soulful chocolate color. A second later, she sways on her feet and falls to a sitting position where she pants, total exhaustion radiating from her form.

    "Holy shit..." Lee looks around at the devastation. Thankfully, it looks like the sheer intensity of the Fire Spin burned out everything without starting a wildfire. Looking up, he sees a perfect circle burnt in the trees above.

    ''Wait...''

    "Brendan! Zinnia!" Lee whirls around, spotting the green dome of Shelgon''s Protect at the edge of the once clearing. At Lee''s voice, the dome drops, revealing a panting Shelgon, dumbstruck Zinnia, and ecstatic Brendan. Shroomish is nowhere to be found, but Lee spies his ball on Brendan''s belt.

    "That was the absolute coolest!" Brendan yells, running to Lee and kicking up soot with every step. "I''ve never seen a Fire Spin so powerful before! How did Vulpix do that?"

    Lee lets out a relieved half-laugh and takes his backpack off, opening it to pull his Potion out. "She''s just strong. Stronger than even I realized," he says, stepping closer to Vulpix. She barely seems to acknowledge him past her exhaustion but stands on shaking legs so Lee can get at all her wounds.

    Zinnia and Shelgon follow shortly after. Both just watch Lee give each of Vulpix''s wounds a generous spray of Potion before Zinnia finally speaks up. "You know, some warning would have been nice," she says, tone even. "If not for Shelgon, shrimpy and I would have been toast. Very burnt toast at that."

    Lee can only shrug as he looks up to her unusually stoic face. "Sorry. I trusted Shelgon to pop Protect if needed. I don''t think any of us expected that pokemon to be so strong as to require that. I know I didn''t." He takes a moment to reach in his bag for a water bottle and a cleaning rag, then pours some water over Vulpix''s now closed wounds and wipes away the blood in her coat as best he can. "I don''t know if that''s how all Corvisquire fight, or if he was trained. I know Corvisquire are not naturally found in Hoenn either way."

    The dragon tamer doesn''t reply and instead looks in the direction that the Corvisquire flew in. "Should we go check on it?"

    "We probably should," Brendan says with a nod. "If he''s owned, then his trainer needs to take responsibility for Corvisquire attacking us. If not... That might be an even bigger problem."

    Lee puts his Potion and water away, instead drawing an Oran from his bag that he offers to Vulpix, who scarfs down the berry and quickly perks up with the burst of energy it gives. "How is that a larger problem? A potential invasive population?" Lee questions.

    Brendan nods. "Yeah. If there is a population moving in, then we gotta tell the League so they can be relocated back to, where was it again? Galar?"

    "Good luck," Zinnia begins, she pulls Shelgon''s ball from her cloak and points it at him. "Excitement is over, rest for a bit pal," with that, she returns Shelgon back to his ball and turns back to the boys. "Galar is good and far away. They''re not too open to outsiders either."

    Brendan frowns and crosses his arms. "Well if they have a League presence, then they gotta respond. C''mon!" The boy turns and begins to walk.

    Zinnia shakes her head and follows after.

    Lee looks down at Vulpix, who looks dog-tired in her blood-stained, ruffled fur, but she still hops to Lee''s shoulders and settles down for a nice nap. The man just runs a gentle hand through her head-tuft with a smile and turns to follow his friends.

    After only ten minutes or so of walking, Lee smells something that immensely makes his shoulders tense up.

    Smoke.

    "Do you smell that?" Brendan asks, his jovial face falling into a rare serious look. He takes another deep breath and fingers Mudkip''s shaking pokeball. "Smells like smoke."

    "Not again," Lee groans, rousing Vulpix from her short nap.

    The trio of trainers pick up the pace, running through the underbrush and bursting out into a dried out clearing. In the center of the dusty clearing.

    "Wow..." Zinnia murmurs, no smart remark to make.

    Brendan just nods in awe.

    Lee blinks to make sure he''s not seeing things and even the tired Vulpix across his shoulders opens her eyes wide.

    In the center of the clearing is the largest tree any of them had ever seen. Easily hundreds of feet tall and as wide around as a house. It stands so far up in the sky that it blots out the sun for everything in its shadow and utterly towers over the other trees.

    However, the tree is bare of leaves and shriveled at the roots, clearly dead to any who look upon it. It also leans to the side to a notable degree, looking precariously like it might fall over.

    ''This monster must have been even bigger alive,'' Lee thinks to himself. ''How did we not see it from the entrance of the woods?.. Have I seen this tree before?'' His thoughts are cut off when the wind shifts and he once again smells smoke.

    At the base of the tree, the unconscious Corvisquire from earlier lays. Above it is a smoldering indent in the wood just large enough for the Corvisquire to fit into. It''s almost like...

    ''No way. Did Fire Spin really carry him all the way out here with enough force to damage the tree too?'' Lee thinks, trying to calculate how forcefully Corvisquire was thrown to do such a thing. He comes up with a ballpark number that just seems insane.

    Brendan throws Mudkip''s ball. "Mudkip! But out the smoldering spots before it can burn up the rest of the tree!"

    Mudkip materializes from the pokeball with Watergun already charged. With a wet gurgle, he blasts water into the Corvisquire-shaped divot and puts out the embers there with a hiss.

    Vulpix''s ears twitch, making Lee look over to her.

    "Ko?"

    Lee looks further past Vulpix at the sound. All around are a number of Treecko watching Mudkip put out the scattered smolder bits in the tree. Some large, some small, some youthful, others not so much. That''s when Lee finally realizes where he''s seen this tree before.

    ''This is the tree that Ash''s Treecko refused to give up on. He wanted to live here even after it died.''

    The scarred trainer looks around among the Treecko, his eyes settling on a young, surly tree gecko holding a twig with a single leaf in his mouth. His yellow eyes rest cooly on Mudkip, but they flicker over to Corvisquire for brief moments with barely contained disdain. For a moment, Lee is tempted to challenge the little Treecko, knowing full well how powerful he would become as a Sceptile. ''That would fuck up Ash''s team though. I can''t do that...''

    Mudkip puts out the last spot and turns to Brendan with a happy croak, making Brendan grin back. "Nice job, pal!" He reaches a hand down that Mudkip gladly hi-fives. The pair turn and finally see all the gathered Treecko. "Told ya we could find them, Lee!"

    Zinnia looks at the mass of green lizards as well. "Gotta hand it to you guys. You never half-ass anything, do you?"

    Grrrrooooooaaaaaannnnnnn!

    Crcrcrcrcrack!

    Everyone in the clearing, the Treecko included, go still at the sound.

    "Was that what I think it was..?" Zinnia asks, sounding afraid for the first time since Lee has met her.

    "Please no..." Lee whimpers.

    Brendan hastily returns his gaping Mudkip to his ball and turns to run.

    Everyone looks at the great tree. Along the divot where Corvisquire impacted, wide, arm-sized cracks run horizontally along the tree, growing larger by the second. The great tree groans and the ground shudders. Every sound makes the twig-chewing Treecko''s face twist in pain.

    Crrrrrrrrrrrrack!

    With a crack that made all the onlookers jump, the tree begins to topple over. Right at them.

    Lee stands dumbstruck as the tree grows larger and larger with its descent until a panicked Vulpix bites his ear and snaps him out of it. He turns and begins to run out of the mammoth tree''s path, hot on Zinnia and Brendan''s heels as the Treecko all scatter with frantic cries.

    He glances back for just a moment and feels his insides twist.

    Corvisquire is still knocked at the base of the tree out and about to be crushed.

    Just fifty feet behind them, the twig-chewing Treecko had fallen to his knees in the panic and refused to get up, instead staring at the approaching tree with both heartbreak and acceptance.

    Lee''s feet stop, even as his brain screams that he can''t save them.

    ''Or... Or can I?''

    He shares his plan with Vulpix over their telepathy, but the vixen just urges him to hurry up and run!

    Lee reaches to his belt where his pokeballs all hang. The first one belongs to Vulpix. The others? Empty. Grabbing two of them, he presses the buttons on both three times, feeling them both buzz afterward.

    ''Return function is three presses, right? Shit I hope it''s three presses. I should have read the manual closer. If Corvisquire is owned then he''s done for! Please work please work please work!''

    Both balls are thrown from his hands, then Lee turns tail and runs, following Brendan and Zinnia to safety

    The first ball flies to the distant Corvisquire, and Lee''s aim is true, as the ball taps the bird and sucks him inside. The ball doesn''t even wiggle before it beeps, signaling a capture. Then as if by magic, the ball leaps off the ground by itself and rockets back towards the still running Lee.

    The second ball hits the almost comatose Treecko, who is sucked inside without even moving. The ball falls to the ground, wiggling back and forth as if it didn''t care about the falling tree. Back and forth, back and forth, all as the tree looms closer.

    Lee looks back just in time to catch Corvisquire''s ball. He hisses and shakes his stinging hand from the impact, his eyes zeroing in on the ball with Treecko inside. ''Please just give in to it! I can''t let you be crushed!''

    Finally after a pain-staking seven seconds, Treecko''s ball beeps and goes still. A second later, it lifts off and rushes to Lee, escaping the tree with inches to spare.

    The enormous piece of lumber crashes into the ground with a sound like thunder and a hundred times the fury. The ground rumbles like an earthquake hit and the plume of foliage and dirt the felled tree kicks up can only be described as cataclysmic. The cloud of dirt rushes up into the sky like a biblical dust storm, blotting out the sun until it begins to settle. Countless bird pokemon all over the woods take to the sky, startled by the unearthly noise.

    The three trainers and Vulpix stand for a moment, all of them covering their faces until the dirt settles. Lee feels something bounce off of him and assumes it to be Treecko''s ball.

    "Everyone okay?" Lee questions, blinking open his eyes.

    Brendan grumbles and dust himself off. "Yeah, I''m good."

    Zinnia runs a hand through her hair and dislodges as much dirt as she can. "Never a dull moment around here. I could use a shower, though."

    Lee sighs. "We all could," he says.

    Vulpix hops down from her shoulder perch and shakes herself out. The addition of the dirt with the dried blood in her coat makes the poor vixen look miserable. Her face is kept cool, but her displeasure is easily felt by Lee.

    All three look at the devastation caused by the massive tree. It fell into the forest proper and destroyed countless smaller trees in its path, making a huge mess of broken wood and leaves. The sight makes the hairs on the back of Lee''s neck stand up. A look at Brendan shows the boy is feeling the same just from his expression alone, while Zinnia seems more contemplative than anything. Her eyes scan over the devastation with a level of familiarity that is disquieting.

    Lee rolls the pokeball of his new Corvisquire around in his hand and stops. ''Wait. Where is Treecko''s?'' He scans the ground, finding the ball under so leaves and dirt. Picking it up, he dusts it off and looks at the pair.

    ''From one to three in a single afternoon. I''ve got a lot of planning to do. I... I could release Treecko for Ash...'' Lee bites his lip. ''It would make it easier for me to only have to integrate one new pokemon...'' The longer he thinks on it though, the more of a non-option it seems. ''No, the timeline is already fucked beyond repair with the early destruction of the Treecko tree. Trying to fix it will just invite even worse trouble. People will ask questions, Zinnia in particular. I''m sorry, Ash, but it looks like I''m taking your Hoenn ace.'' He sighs. ''My meta-knowledge is officially unreliable now.

    "What''s the sigh for?" Zinnia asks, look towards Lee.

    The scarred man frowns. "I just dunno how Treecko is going to take this..." he says, raising his pokeball.

    "You caught both Corvisquire and that Treecko?" Brendan questions, stepping closer and looking at the pokeballs in Lee''s hands. "Quick thinking on that one. They could have died if that hulk of deadwood fell on them!"

    "That hunk of deadwood was Treecko''s home," Lee says, shrinking Corvisquire''s ball and clipping it to his belt. He eyes the remaining ball in his grasp with sympathy. "He probably wishes he was dead." As he said that, Vulpix''s returns to his shoulders and licks his un-scarred cheek, putting a wane smile on Lee''s face.

    Brendan flinches back, and Zinnia pretends she wasn''t paying attention in favor of looking at the wreckage again, but her watchful eyes give her away.

    "Best to do it like a bandaid, quick and painful to get it over with," Lee murmurs, tapping the button of Treecko''s ball. It bursts open with the pokeball signature snap-hiss and shoots Treecko out onto the ground. When the light fades, the green lizard blinks and looks around.

    Again, he drops to his knees when his eyes land on the dead tree that was once his home. The twig in his mouth falls from his open mouth onto the ground as very-human tears build in his eyes.

    Lee looks back to Brendan and Zinnia, silent shooing them away with a hand. Rather than the protest he expected, they shuffle off a respectful distance back. With a mental ''you too,'' to Vulpix, the vixen reluctantly vacates his shoulders and follows her trainer''s friends.

    For a while, Lee stands next to Treecko as he silently weeps for his lost home. As he stands, Lee thinks over what to say.

    ''I don''t think my normal approach will work here. This isn''t a primal problem. No, this is definitely the problem of a more complex being. Apes can mourn for lost homes as well, I think. Shit, I should have paid more attention to that section in college.''

    "It hurts, doesn''t it? To lose the place you called home."

    Treecko''s eyes dart to Lee, who keeps looking at the dead tree. "I know what you''re going through, almost to a T. The place you love, all gone for reasons you can''t control. You just want to cry, scream, rage at the world because it''s not fair."

    ''You''re one to talk,'' a snide voice in the back of his mind sneers. ''Have you even come to terms with it yourself?''

    Lee ignores the voice and the barrage of painful memories. He sits down, bringing himself down to Treecko''s level. The lizard''s eyes follow his every movement. "It''s not fair, it never is. Sometimes, the world just doesn''t care."

    Treecko''s paws clench into shaking fists as he listens.

    "But..."

    The shaking stops when Lee puts a gentle hand on Treecko''s shoulder.

    "I know your look," Lee turns for the first time and meets Treecko''s eyes. When the gecko pokemon shows no hostility, he continues. "You aren''t the type to stay down, are you? No, you''re stronger than that. The world just took everything from you, but you''re not about to admit that the world won. You''ll stand up and show everyone that you can''t be kept down."

    Treecko''s tears have long-since dried. He hangs onto Lee''s every word as if entranced.

    "You are a survivor, a struggler," Lee continues, keeping his unblinking gaze locked onto Treecko. "When push comes to shove, no one shoves harder than you. Soon, you''ll be pushing the world around, not the reverse."

    Lee looks away for a moment, then back to the still intently listening Treecko. "Have you ever had a dream, Treecko?"

    "Tree..?" Treecko tilts his head with inquiry.

    "I do," Lee replies. He can''t help but smirk as the corny words spill from his mouth. "That dream is to be the best, like no one ever was. To stand at the top of the world with my pokemon team. To show everyone that we''re the best there will ever be. It was losing everything that spurred me into doing it." The man lets the info sink into Treecko, who regards him with deep thought. "But I need the best pokemon around to help with that job. I caught you to keep you from being crushed by the tree, and you need only say the word and I''ll let you go, but..."

    Lee takes the hand off Treecko''s shoulder and puts it before him. "...I''d feel much better about my chances with a fellow struggler on my side. What say you? Will you come with me to the top of the world?"

    Treecko stares at the offered hand for a moment. He looks back to the dead tree, then to the other Treecko watching in the distance. He returns his blazing yellow eyes to again Lee.

    After bending down and putting his twig back in its rightful place, Treecko''s paw falls firmly into Lee''s hand, and Lee can''t help but grin.

    ''Sorry again, Ash.''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Night had fallen. In a clearing deep in the Petalburg woods far away from where the earlier excitement of the day had occurred, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia settle for the night. The night is dark and quiet, the tranquil of the woods is broken only by the crackle of the fire and the background noise of Bug pokemon.

    "Alright, we''re done."

    Treecko lets his arms rest at his side as Lee stops poking and prodding him. The green lizard regards his new trainer cooly, but Lee can still see some level of annoyance to his gaze.

    "I know it''s irritating," Lee says, raising his hands in surrender. "But you do need a physical so I can gauge any issues you might have. Vulpix got the same thing and still gets physicals as she grows. With the info I can better help you grow."

    Vulpix, now cleaned and rested, doesn''t reply, too busy maintaining the glowing orb of flame giving Lee enough light to inspect Treecko with.

    Treecko crosses his arms. "Treecko..." He replies with an aloof voice, but the minute drop his shoulders tells Lee he was okay with the answer.

    "I am glad to say that you''re as healthy as they come," Lee says, jotting down his last notes and putting his notebook away. "We''ll do some more testing when I can get supplies and everyone gets some rest. Some of us definitely need it..." Lee mutters, looking down at Corvisquire''s ball.

    The bird had been in terrible shape when let out of his ball. Hurt and barely coherent, Lee simply treated him with the remainder of his Potion and a Rawst berry that Vulpix managed to sniff out before returning him to his ball.

    ''I''ll get him treated at the Pokemon Center in Rustboro. With Treecko to guide us, we should be able to haul ass and get out of here by tomorrow. I need to pick up better supplies too. Common stuff Like Burn Heals and Antidotes.'' Lee thinks with a shake of his head. He lays back in the cool grass as Vulpix lets her orb go out to join him. She gladly snuggles under his arm, and although he doesn''t feel anything, the rustle of the grass tells Lee that Treecko is laying down near his other side.

    Lee feels his eyes drift shut as he watches the scattered, unfamiliar stars through the branches overhead.

    ''Fuck this forest.''

    He''s out like a light.

 Act 1: Chapter 9

    All around one of the Rustboro training grounds, young trainers chatter and point excitedly to the whirling column of flame above their heads. Near the edge of the field, a grizzled veteran trainer clad in green with scars marring his fearsome face watches the fire with a stoic, fearless expression.

    As quickly as the fire came, it dies down, revealing a little Vulpix calmly sitting in the center of the field.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee lets out a sigh and scratches his head. "No luck?" He asks, already knowing the answer.

    The vixen looks up to her trainer and shakes her head with a sigh of her own.

    For the past two days, Lee and Vulpix have been trying to replicate her burst of power during her fight with Corvisquire to no avail. Everything from shouting like a shounen power-up sequence to Lee pouring every bit of mental focus he could into helping Vulpix''s pyrokinesis proved fruitless. The repeated practice certainly increased the speed and power of her Fire Spin, but it all still paled compared to the hellscape she released in the Petalburg Woods.

    The scarred man looks around, feeling a bubble of nervousness as he sees all the other trainers and pokemon watching. ''The audience isn''t fouling your performance, is it love?'' He sends to her.

    Vulpix answers with an eye-roll, not needing any vocals or telepathy to make her ''as if'' reply apparent.

    A shadow flies overhead before the owner of the shadow lands harshly on the ground with a plume of dust, making Lee and Vulpix flinch.

    Red eyes regard them both with irritation as the dust settles, revealing Corvisquire with both a little paper card and Lee''s ID held in his beak. The raven pokemon hops forward and presents Lee with the cards, somehow making the movement mocking.

    Lee ignores the antics and takes the offered cards in his hands, noticing the Rustboro gym logo on the paper one. "Thank you, problem child. They didn''t hassle you at all?" he asks, slipping his ID into his pocket as he looks over the card from the gym.

    Corvisquire gives his trainer a queer look. As if mere humans could-would hassle him!

    ''I can''t really blame him for the look. If a mean, huge bird barged into my business, I''d do what he wanted, too.''

    On the little slip of paper given to him by his pokemon, Lee sees a date, Thursday four days from now, and a time, 2:30 PM. At the header of the card, Gym Battle Confirmation for Lee Henson is printed.

    ''No problems for him at all then,'' Lee thinks, a bit of wonder filling him. ''Did the person at the gym who printed this just think of Corvisquire as another person, or did my ID add a level of legitimacy to Corvisquire''s presence?... I should see about getting something a little more advanced than a flip phone so I can book this stuff online. A four-day wait is going to suck.''

    The man is pulled from his thoughts with a painful peck to his knee.

    With a hiss, he looks down to the smugly crooning raven, who stiffens and turns when he feels Vulpix''s burning gaze boring into his side. The vulpine and avian silently match stares, Vulpix''s hackles rising as Corvisquire''s steely feathers ruffle, showing off some of the still-burned flesh underneath.

    "Quit it!"

    Both pokemon look up at Lee. The man looks down at both pokemon with crossed arms. "Cool it with the hostility. We''re a team and need to at least act like it," he says, looking around at the other trainers. Some had left, but a few stayed to watch the spectacle. None dared actually challenge Lee and his pokemon, as much like their time in Oldale, the young trainers around Rustboro mistook the team as veterans.

    Brendan dominated four battles earlier today and suffered a single, narrow defeat to an agile Spinda that sent him to the Pokemon Center before we went off to see Rustboro''s Trainer School. Even Zinnia got a challenge, one from a well-off trainer that made a wager on the match. Swablu won handily and Zinnia went off to explore Rustboro''s shops with her prize money.

    Lee frowns and rubs his scars, silently cursing them again.

    Corvisquire turns his beak up at Lee''s scolding and looks away with a sneer, but Vulpix has the grace to look abashed at least somewhat. The trainer of the pokemon can only shake his head.

    "Alright, no need for the look, I can sense your disdain from here," Lee mutters, pulling Corvisquire''s ball from his belt and returning the bird in a flash of red. With Corvisquire back on his belt, Vulpix leaps to her favorite perch on her trainer''s shoulder as he begins to walk off of the field.

    "Where to, love?"

    As the pair begin the short trek back into town, Lee''s mind wanders to the night two days prior.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Treecko falls to the ground with a stifled grunt, holding the slowly darkening bruise on his side from the glancing blow.

    Across the makeshift field on the edge of the Petalburg woods, Mudkip bellows louder than a creature his size should be able to as Brendan pumps a fist. "He''s on the ropes, Mudkip! One more hit and we''ve got this!" Mudkip bellows again in agreement, almost bouncing on his feet.

    Treecko grits his teeth, nearly snapping the twig in his mouth, and stands again.

    Just behind Treecko, Lee grimaces and glances down at his Pokedex, it''s screen showing Treecko''s movepool.

    Leer

    Pound

    Absorb

    Not much, but a trainer worth their salt can make it work. Lee knows that Treecko has the makings of a Legendary level pokemon in him, but the movepool is a harsh reminder that Treecko is just starting out

    ...And that Treecko is starting behind the group.

    The prideful gecko may have been one of the strongest Treecko among his colony, but now he''s traveling with trained pokemon... Or at least that''s how Lee is rationalizing this poor battle.

    Treecko stands to his full height, arms crossed and steadfastly ignoring the discolored bruises, smashed scales, and cuts littering his form. He looks around, noting Zinnia and the other pokemon sans Corvisquire watching the battle carefully. Across the field, Mudkip has barely a welt to show for his trouble.

    "Treecko, hold steady," Lee instructs, trying to think of a plan, all of which die on first contact with Mudkip.

    Brendan smirks. "You wanna wait around? Alright then. Mudkip! Tackle!"

    The mudfish cries out and rushes forward like a runaway truck.

    "Treecko! Uh..." Lee almost instinctively reaches his mind out to Vulpix, who watches by the sidelines, but stops himself short. "T-Trip him with Pound! Sidestep and aim for the legs!"

    Treecko jukes to the right just in the nick of time and lashes out with his muscular tail, catching Mudkip mid-stride in the legs. The actual attack does little damage but does send a surprised Mudkip tumbling into the grass.

    "Mudkip! Get up!" Brendan instantly calls, suddenly looking nervous at the unexpected turn.

    "Treecko, use Absorb!" Lee orders at the same time.

    Before Mudkip can get his bearings, Treecko swiftly closes the distance and stops several feet short, opening his jaw.

    Mudkip cries out in pain for the first time in the match as little globes of yellow energy are ripped from his body to fly into Treecko''s waiting mouth. The mudfish fights through the pain and stands up, leaping away out of Absorbs short-range, but by that time Treecko''s mouth is nearly full.

    The gecko pokemon tips his head back and swallows the blob of shining yellow. Almost instantly afterward, his smaller cuts knit back together, his bruises fade somewhat, and a number of damaged scales fall out to reveal healthy ones underneath. He stands with only a hint of a smirk. "Tree..."

    Mudkip quickly shakes away the weariness Absorb forced upon him to scowl and growl deep his throat, visibly itching to counter-attack.

    Brendan abandons his cocky attitude in favor of a more calculating one. The boy chews on his lip for a moment before calling; "Mudkip! Saturate the ground!"

    Both Lee and Treecko blink as one. "What?" Lee asks aloud. "Hold on, we''re not standing around to find out! Treecko, flank and use Pound!"

    Treecko grunts and rushes to Mudkip''s side in a sprint, but even with the boost from Absorb, Mudkip is just a little faster.

    Mudkip takes a deep breath and vomits a torrent of water onto the ground, flooding the field in a few centimeters of water just a few seconds. An instant later, Lee understands why.

    Treecko missteps on the now muddy ground and trips.

    Without needing an order, Mudkip barrels towards Treecko, moving like the ground isn''t even wet and smashes into him with a brutal, bone-rattling Tackle.

    Treecko''s breath is forced from his lungs in a painful burst. His eyes bulge as he''s thrown end over end. After the longest two seconds of his life, he finally crashes into the cold mud where he lays and pants short, painful breaths.

    Lee shakes his head. "Treecko isn''t fit to fight further. You and Mudkip win, Brendan," he says, hiding how much the loss stung.

    "We won?" Brendan asks with a blink, as if he didn''t believe it. "Holy crap, we beat Lee, buddy!" He cries in joy, rushing in and snatching Mudkip up in a hug, not minding how muddy the pokemon is. The pair laugh and do a twirl.

    "Well, congrats are in order, shrimpy," Zinnia cuts in, a lop-sided smile on her face as she walks up to the field. "You managed to beat Lee''s weakest pokemon with your strongest," she finishes, clapping slowly.

    From his spot on the ground, Treecko grits his teeth at the word ''weakest'', turning his head to the forest.

    Towards where his tree now lay.

    Lee ignores Brendan''s retort to Zinnia as he steps into the field and kneels down at Treecko''s side. "You alright, pal? And none of that macho ''hide the pain'' bullshit either, I''m being for real." he asks gently.

    Treecko refuses to meet his trainer''s eyes and slowly stands, limbs trembling. Lee debates helping him up and enforcing his no ''hiding the pain'' statement, but decides hurting Treecko''s pride further isn''t worth it.

    After a long half-minute, Treecko is standing on his own, revealing his entire middle to be one cringe-inducing bruise. Lee rises back to his full height and walks back to his tent in slow, measured steps with Treecko following. By the field, Vulpix catches Lee''s eye and sends him a wordless, telepathic message that he vaguely interprets as ''I''ll be along shortly.''

    He sends her back an equally wordless pulse of understanding.

    Before the tent, Lee seats himself and digs in his backpack, silently cursing himself for not getting two potions in Little Root. Instead, he produces a single wild Oran sniffed out by Vulpix and picked not even several hours prior. Treecko takes the offered berry with all the coolness his battered form can muster and takes a slow bite.

    For a few moments, trainer and pokemon sit in silence. Treecko''s injuries fade as he eats and Lee thinks his coming words over.

    Once Treecko swallows his last bite, Lee begins. "Don''t let today get to you. Mudkip is a freak of nature and punches way above his weight class. The gap will close quickly, I promise."

    Treecko regards Lee silently for a moment, and Lee has to resist the urge to squirm under Treecko''s yellow eyes. After a long minute, Treecko looks away with a small nod. The unspoken ''I''ll hold you to that'' is louder than any words could have been.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee is pulled from the memory when he and Vulpix find themselves in Rustboro proper, more specifically, before the Pokemon Trainer School.

    The building is a large, multistorey academy with a red brick exterior. White flags depicting red pokeballs decorate a number of windows and balconies along the outside. It''s a rather humble appearance for what Lee knows is a high-tech establishment. The main doors of the school are wide open, with a colorful little floor sign depicting a happy Torchic welcoming any trainer inside. Another sign with an equally cheerful Geodude says Guest students and visitors please check-in at the office!

    "Didn''t Brendan say he was going to check this place out?" Lee turns and asks Vulpix, who nods in confirmation. The pair turn back to the doors and Lee bites his lip.

    ''A grown man wandering into a school would raise all sorts of red flags and probably result in the cops being called back home,'' Lee thinks to himself. ''This feels weird, but if they know anything useful...'' Mind made, Lee walks in.

    The clean, locker-flanked hallways echo faintly with the lectures of distant teachers and the shined linoleum floor shows an almost clear reflection of Lee and Vulpix when the pair look down. Doors break up the locker rows every so often, and further down the hallway splits into three more paths. The vague scent of ink and paper is everywhere, poking the scarred man with a dull spike of nostalgia. Both man and pokemon perk up when they hear the sound of a door opening and high-heels on the floor.

    "Good afternoon! Are you lost?"

    Lee turns around, coming face-to-face with none other than Roxanne, the Rustboro Gym Leader.

    The smartly-dressed woman looks up at Lee, her eyes flicking over to Vulpix for a second before she smiles. "Two guest speakers I take it? If you''re not sure which classroom you should be in, we can find that out," she says, gesturing a hand to the door she just emerged from.

    One labeled "Office/Guest Check-in" that Lee somehow missed.

    ''Jesus H, I feel like an idiot.''

    Lee pushes away his sudden nervousness at meeting the woman he''s set to battle tomorrow and clears his throat. "A-Ah, no actually," he starts. "We''re here because a friend came in to sit in on a few classes. He just got done with some team training and thought we''d come to see the school and maybe, uh, learn a few things?"

    If Roxanne noticed how awkward Lee became the longer he spoke, she politely ignored it. She just maintains her smile and nods. "Certainly, we''re glad to help any trainer who wishes to learn or refresh their skills. Which lesson plan were you interested in?"

    Lee smiles but internally screams. ''Fuck. Lesson plan? Don''t stutter in front of the Gym Leader, dummy.''

    On his shoulder, Vulpix rolls her eyes and quickly feeds him a telepathic answer.

    "Oh, just whatever was available as I walked in. I''m just killing time until my traveling companion gets out of his class, so I thought I would spend my time productively here."

    ''Love you,''

    Vulpix chuffs.

    The Gym Leader nods. "I understand. Please follow me."

    She turns and leads Lee and Vulpix into the office she just emerged from. Although there isn''t much to see, just a cluttered front desk and a door that probably leads further in the administrative area. Like the rest of the school, it has a modern yet cozy feel to it that evokes nostalgia in the man

    Roxanne picks up a tablet computer on the desk and scrolls through it. After a second, she blinks and stops, as if suddenly realizing something. "Oh, how rude of me. I apologize for not introducing myself. It must have slipped my mind as we''ve been busy since the new League year you see," She smiles a practiced smile and offers a hand. "I am Roxanne, a teacher here at the Rustboro Trainer School and the Rustboro Gym Leader."

    Lee takes her hand in a short shake, his nervousness fading some. "Lee is the name, and this is Vulpix," he says, reaching a hand up to pet the vixen, who leans into the touch as she regards Roxanne.

    The Gym Leader''s smile becomes more genuine as she watches. "Charmed to meet you both. Now, as for our visitor classes..." she looks down at the tablet in her hand. "The latest classes when into session about thirty minutes ago, so we still have another thirty minutes until they let out. A number of the upcoming ones are full, but we still have several spots. Do any of these catch your fancy?" She asks, turning the tablet around to show Lee and Vulpix.

    A decent number of the classes are greyed out, some of the interesting looking like Advanced Battle Theory, Care of Common Pokemon, Berry 101, Egg Care, etc. Others were more lackluster or of material that could be found with an internet search, like Hoenn History 101, which tended to be the classes with open seats.

    One jumped out with how few people took it. Psychic Type Study

    ''Now thats something we can use,'' Lee glances to Vulpix with a smile, feeling the sudden spike of interest within her. She turns her head to meet his eyes. ''We might be able to figure out more about the abilities of your line. Hell, we might even be able to get you started on learning Psychic moves.''

    Vulpix makes her distinct vulpine purr in her chest and pushes her cheek to Lee''s, turning his smile into a grin.

    "How fascinating. It''s not often I get to see telepathy at work, much less between a human and a non-Psychic pokemon."

    Both Vulpix and Lee stiffen, having forgotten Roxanne entirely. "Ha...Uh..." Lee debates lying or trying to deflect for a second, hoping to keep the advantage under wraps for the upcoming battle, but sighs when he sees Roxanne''s sure expression. "Yeah. How could you tell?"

    "I''ve only ever seen the level of non-verbal communication yourself and Vulpix displayed between trainers and pokemon with decades of partnership under their belt," the brunette begins, straightening up into a tall and authoritative posture. "Judging from the loose spirals in Vulpix''s head tuft and tails," Roxanne nods towards the bewildered vixen. "She is only several years old, nowhere near long enough for such a level of learned communication. From your own posture, demeanor, and your unusual age for even a guest student in the school, you''ve only been Vulpix''s trainer for a short time. For this reason, I can safely deduce that you must have a method of subvocal communication. Some might assume th-"

    Roxanne stops then blushes and looks away. She daintily clears her throat into her hand. "I apologize. I suppose I get carried away sometimes."

    "That''s fine," Lee waves it away, hiding how unnerved the accurate analysis made him. "One of my favorite teachers as a kid did the same thing."

    The comparison makes Roxanne brighten up. "Of course. Now, your class?"

    "Psychic Type Study please,"

    The teacher turns the tablet around and types several things. "Your ID please?"

    Lee digs the little card out of his pocket and wordlessly hands it over.

    Roxanne takes the ID and sets the tablet down on the desk to type on it. She looks at the ID and does a double-take. "A Lab Trainer?" She asks, now regarding the man and pokemon before her with a careful eye.

    ''Is it really that big a deal?'' Lee wonders. "Yeah, I work on behalf of Professor Birch mostly as an independent pokemon researcher."

    The Gym Leader''s gaze goes from cautious to searching. "Truly? May I ask what the subject of your research is?"

    Lee shrugs. "At the moment, my biggest focus is on alternative training methods and pokemon technique control experimentation with a bit of nutrition study on the side."

    Roxanne''s expression drops further into one of hunger. "Have you published any of your findings for public reading yet? What sort of further research do you have planned? Are there any pokemon in particular you are looking to work with? Are you wanting for supplies or facilities? Or employment? The Rustboro Trainer School has some openings that I-"

    Lee holds up his hands in surrender. "Ma''am, please. Slow down a little. My primary research belongs to the Lab and Professor Birch makes sure I''m equipped."

    The teacher deflates somewhat. "I understand, but..." she produces a business card from her pocket. "Would you perhaps be interested in working with the Rustboro Trainer School in the future? Perhaps not on a permanent employment basis, but for projects that may arise? As the premier trainer school in Hoenn, we undertake many more academic pursuits and projects than most realize."

    ''Is being a Lab Trainer really that big a deal? Offering me a job based on just that? There have to be more qualified people unless the employment of a Lab Trainer is just for the prestige of having the trainer.'' Lee thinks to himself. ''I guess the sponsorship is more or less an endorsement from Birch, who is... one of the highest pokemon authorities in Hoenn...Okay, now it makes more sense. I''m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and say no to the chance of being buddy-buddy with a Gym Leader.''

    "Ah, sure, thanks..." Lee takes the offered business card, giving it a lookover, finding Roxanne''s phone number and email on it. "I can''t promise I''ll be available at the exact time that such a project starts, but I''ll try my best."

    "That''s all I ask," she smiles. "Please send me an email when you can and I''ll have your log-in for our learning center made as soon as possible."

    "Learning center?"

    "Indeed!" Roxanne nods. "Being a school affiliate grants you access to our learning center, where you can submit any findings from school-sponsored projects and view our private lessons, the ones reserved for our enrolled year-round students, which are more comprehensive than our free guest classes," she says. "We''re fully accredited all the way to the university level, and that''s all available to you."

    ''Okay, now I''m much more interested.''

    Her smile grows a little. "Precisely the look I expected on a fellow academic."

    Lee looks up from the business card and realizes just how hard he was focusing on it. "Erm, I don''t know about the term ''academic'', but I''m not adverse to learning..." He tucks the business card away in his pocket. "Anyway, the class?"

    Roxanne glances down to the tablet and hums to herself. "Mister Henson, I have a proposition for you. You said you were competing in the gym circuit this year, yes?"

    Vulpix and Lee share a look. "I am, yeah."

    "Have you already reserved a match with me?"

    The nervous pit in Lee''s stomach begins to deepen. "Yeah. Thursday at 2:30pm."

    She nods. "Rather than take our guest class on the subject of Psychic-types, would you assist me in my upcoming battle theory class?" She asks. "I am willing to count it as an official gym challenge, negating your wait, and I assure you our online course regarding Psychic types is very informative."

    Lee groans inwardly and looks over to Vulpix. "Your opinion, love?"

    The vixen flicks an ear and meets Lee''s eyes.

    Suspicious...

    ''Good point.''

    "Why ask us?" Lee questions, crossing his arms. "Not to put you on the spot, but you must have a better, more qualified assistant around here. I''ve never taught anyone in my life, and..." Lee mulls over his next words and grimaces. "I''d rather have a real match, not a demo for students."

    Roxanne digests his words for a moment, looking away for a short few seconds. "I... can see how this would seem suspect." She turns back to Lee and Vulpix. "Teaching is my passion, you see, and while observing battles in the school is a large part of our lesson plan, our rental pokemon here at the school were given to us by the Pokemon League. They don''t make for the best examples."

    Vulpix raises a brow as Lee asks the question on both their minds. "Not the best examples? Why is that?"

    Roxanne sighs and shakes her head. "These pokemon were chosen by the Pokemon League specifically for their low potential and docile nature. Bureaucratic red-tape prohibits pokemon over a certain level of power and a number of species by name from being used in educational facilities, citing danger to the students." Her visage hardens. "It leaves some students ill-prepared for the life of a pokemon trainer. They believe that what they see here is average. Official battles they see on TV don''t convey the real average as well as a live experience. I record my gym battles for the school, but that still falls flat. A gym battle between a Leader and a Lab Trainer would be perfect for them."

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    A flicker of pleased thought from Vulpix tells Lee that she''s mollified. "And you won''t be penalized by the League for hosting a gym battle here?"

    The Gym Leader shakes her head. "No, as Gym Leader, I can declare anywhere in the Rustboro corporation limit to be a valid battleground. My authority as a Gym Leader supersedes nearly all others regarding this."

    Lee rubs the back of his head and thinks it over.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Good afternoon class!"

    "Good afternoon Miss Roxanne..." The group of teens, all dressed in school uniforms, replies in the same unenthused drone Lee remembers from his school days.

    Outside behind the large school in one of the large, chalk-outlined battlefields dotting the area, Lee stands behind Roxanne as she takes roll-call of her class, who all sit bored on the steel bleachers. Several pokemon are among their number. Lee spies a dopey Whooper, a Nincada who doesn''t seem to be enjoying the harsh sun, and a shy Whismer hiding behind a girl''s leg. True to Roxanne''s word, they aren''t much to look at, but they''re a little too far away to visually inspect in detail.

    "Everyone please take your notebooks out and be ready to take notes!" Roxanne calls with a smile. The teens slowly dig notebooks out of their backpacks as the teacher continues. "We have a special guest assisting me today. Please welcome Pokemon Researcher Lee Henson!"

    "Hello, Mister Henson..." The kids drone with the same dead enthusiasm they gave Roxanne. One or two of them eye him with something akin to interest for a second, then just as quickly dismiss him.

    Lee mouths ''Pokemon Researcher'' to himself in confusion before stepping forward. "Afternoon, everyone. Thank you for having me," he says, a prickle of nervousness in his stomach with Vulpix in her ball and not out with him.

    Roxanne takes over again. "Today is going to be a special class, as today, you all will be observing a no-holds-barred two-on-two battle between my gym team and Mister Henson''s team. This will be a sanctioned gym battle and will be much more intense than our normal showings. Please pay close attention!"

    A few of the students perk up and begin to chatter at the news.

    "A gym battle?"

    "I''ve never heard of this guy..."

    "More intense?"

    "Look at the scars! This could be rad!"

    Lee frowns and rubs the lines on his face. ''Every time...''

    "Quiet down everyone! Quiet please!" Roxanne calls. "Julie? Can you come down and act as a referee for this match, please? Please bring your notebook and take notes please!"

    The girl with the Whismer blinks in apparent surprise at being chosen and stands, shushing her whining Whismer and coming down to the field. She takes the ref spot as Lee and Roxanne separate to opposite sides of the field.

    Lee fingers the pokeball in his hand as he takes the side of the field labeled ''visitor'' in chalk, hoping that this choice doesn''t come back to bite him in the ass.

    On the other end of the field, Roxanne produces a shrunken pokeball from her dress pocket and expands it. "Standard gym rules. Whenever you''re ready, Julie!"

    The girl clears her throat. "This is a two-on-two match between Miss Roxanne and Mister Henson! The challenger, Mister Henson, may substitute, but Miss Roxanne may not! The battle will end when one side''s pokemon are no longer able to battle! And... and..."

    "Each round will end..." Roxanne gently reminds.

    "Each round will end when the pokemon is no longer able to battle as well!" The girl hastily corrects, making a few of her classmates laugh. "D-Defender, please select your first pokemon!"

    Roxanne throws the ball in her hand out. Midair, it snaps open and an immaculately polished Geodude materializes on the field. The living stone levels Lee with a steady look, calmly waiting for instruction from Roxanne.

    Lee lets out a shaky breath and tries to steel his nerves, but fails to keep his hands from shaking from the sheer adrenaline.

    ''The battle hasn''t even started yet and I''m already freaking out,'' Lee gulps. He looks over Geodude, but considering his zoology knowledge is useless when sizing up a rock, he can''t glean much.

    "Challenger, please select your first pokemon!"

    With a final deep breath, Lee throws the ball in his hand up. Like Roxanne''s did, it snaps open midair with it''s distinct pop sound.

    Before Lee, Corvisquire takes form.

    A wave of murmurs overtakes the students, some pointing at Corvisquire. Lee can''t catch much, but "What pokemon is that?" seems to be a common question. At least one student jeers and says "Sending out a bird against a Geodude?"

    Corvisquire catches the last one and turns his baleful red eyes to glare into the students, his feathers ruffling to make him look larger. A few of the kids hiss from sharp intakes of breath while the rest go quiet.

    "Just take it easy, Corvisquire," Lee eases his nerves and puts up a confident front, schooling his face into a thin mask of cool. "This is a Gym Battle, something serious, and I need your skill and guile."

    The raven pokemon gives Lee a sidelong look and calms somewhat, but still screws his avian face up into grudging acceptance. He looks to Geodude, sizing the other pokemon up, and as he does, his reluctance transforms into an arrogant sneer.

    ''Thank God he''s not fighting me on this.''

    Roxanne seems visibly confused before she recovers. "A Corvisquire! How very interesting to see a Galar native pokemon here! Type advantage isn''t everything, class! I''m certain Mister Henson has an interesting strategy to use against Geodude!" She turns to the referee. "On your mark, Julie. Everyone else, notebooks at the ready!"

    The girl pulls her eyes away from Corvisquire and raises a hand. Lee quickly scans the terrain as her mouth opens.

    ''A field of hard-packed dirt and rocks. The ground is even and a slight breeze to the north. No trees or anything that would impede Corvisquire, but that also means no cover.'' Silently, he goes over Corvisquire''s moveset one more time.

    Power Trip

    Hone Claws

    Fury Attack

    Pluck

    Taunt

    Scary Face

    And the last three that tipped him off that Corvisquire almost certainly had a prior trainer.

    Steel Wing, Swift, and Extremespeed.

    His research at the Rustboro library the day before hinted that Steel Wing and Swift could be learned naturally by the raven pokemon, but Extremespeed? A move only the fastest pokemon can learn?

    The world comes back into sharp focus and Lee''s soundless monologue ends as Julie raises a hand.

    "Geodude versus Corvisquire, begin!"

    "Corvisquire, in the air!"

    Before Roxanne can get her first order out, the raven pokemon is high up in the air with a single beat of his wings. He looks down at Geodude with a mocking caw.

    "It''s only natural for a flying pokemon to get up in the air where it has it''s best mobility, but you aren''t the first flyer we''ve fought," Roxanne remarks. "Geodude, scattershot Rockthrow!"

    ''What Rockthrow?''

    Geodude digs his stony hands into the ground as easily as a man would jelly, lifting out a cannonball sized chunk of earth like it weighed nothing. With a grunt, he squeezes the earth until it cracks.

    Then he throws it, and hardly a foot into its flight, the rock breaks into countless whistling, jagged shards, covering a huge area.

    ''Shit!''

    "Corvisquire, dive!" Lee yells, clenching his fists.

    The raven dives and twirls mid-air, narrowly missing the bulk of the rocky shotgun blast but is still clipped by a few fragments, drawing blood across one of his legs.

    "But as shown, mobility can be countered!" Roxanne calls to the students, who are watching with wide eyes. "Again, Geodude!"

    Geodude''s hands dig into the ground.

    "Fuck that!" Lee calls. "Corvisquire! Use Scary Face!"

    The bird pokemon levels out midair and glares down at Geodude with so much hate that it can almost be tasted in the air. Even a few of the watching students gasp and lean away.

    Geodude grunts and flinches, fumbling his throw and sending the spray of rocks wide, missing Corvisquire entirely.

    "Now! Dive in with Steel Wing!"

    Whole form radiating malice, Corvisquire jets towards Geodude as little more than a blur of blue flanked by gleaming wings that make a hideous scream through the air.

    Roxanne''s eyes widen. "Geodude, Defense Curl now!"

    The living boulder can barely raise his arms in time before a blade-like wing crashes into him, making a terrible squeal of metal-on-rock that throws sparks all over. As Corvisquire disengages and returns to the air, Geodude groans and gingerly lowers his arms, showing two ugly gashes across his arms that would have scarred for certain if he were made of flesh. High above, Corvisquire lets out yet another mocking caw, earning a scowl from Geodude.

    "Don''t let up! Hone Claws, then Steel Wing again!" Lee orders, now shaking again from the adrenaline.

    Corvisquire shrieks and grinds his talons together, even bringing a set of talons up to drag across his beak. Then he does a harsh downward flap, catching his primary feathers together and raking them across one another, throwing sparks. All the natural weapons across his body glitter with a sharp edge.

    If Geodude was unnerved by the show, his face didn''t reflect it.

    Then dipping into a harsh dive, the bird pokemon screams towards his foe again, a blur of razor blades and hate.

    "Wait for it, wait for it, Geodude! Sand Attack!" Roxanne orders.

    A simple slap across the dusty ground is Geodude''s reply to Steel Wing, sending a plume of sand up to meet Corvisquire only fifteen feet or so away.

    Corvisquire squawks in pain and aborts the attack, blindly banking hard to the side and up. He shakes his head, trying to dislodge the sand in his eyes.

    "Scattershot, Geodude!"

    The rock pokemon smirks and pulls another clod of earth from the ground, thankfully slower than he could previously.

    ''Either his injuries are slowing him down or he''s still recovering from Scary Face,'' Lee feels sweat drip down his face. "Corvisquire, level out and clear your eyes! Focus on my voice and be ready to move!"

    The bird hovers for a moment, blinking sand and tears from his irritated eyes. If he heard Lee, then he does not make it apparent.

    Just as Geodude winds up, Lee cries; "Fly towards my voice!"

    Corvisquire dodges the latest spray of rocks with just inches to spare, flying as quickly as he dared to his trainer. He blinks the last of the sand away and turns to Geodude with an angry hiss.

    "Enough is enough, right?" Lee asks, making the bird pokemon turn and eye him with annoyance. "How about a quick finisher?"

    Irritable red eyes suddenly brighten with malicious glee, as if to say ''Finally!''

    Roxanne and Geodude wait on their side of the field. ''And judging from their last attack, they want to react and use Corvisquire''s speed against him. Well, how about this?''

    "Corvisquire, charge up Steel Wing..." Lee pauses but suddenly feels silly for trying to be dramatic. "...and move in with Extremespeed."

    Roxanne''s eyes shoot open wide in alarm.

    Corvisquire unfurls his wings, which begin to gleam, then vanishes from sight entirely with only a whistle of displaced air.

    Before Geodude can even react, a wing as hard as a steel blade rends his side, carving a trench through his rocky body and throwing him end-over-end.

    Lee''s entire body breaks out into goosebumps as Corvisquire rematerializes on his end of the field, throwing his head back and laughing a dry, rattling laugh.

    This pokemon is just plain violent.

    ''I''m going to have to curb that...'' He thinks, but the unsettling feeling is offset with his sheer elation at the assumed victory, leaving uncomfortable butterflies in his stomach. ''Or Butterfree. Ha.''

    For a long moment, Geodude is still upon the ground and everyone stares, stunned. Then after a long ten seconds, the rock pokemon groans and tries to roll to his base, only to fail and go limp into blissful unconsciousness.

    At the side of the field, Julie gulps. "G-Geodude is unable to battle. Corvisquire and Mister Henson are the winners!"

    It''s quiet for a beat, then two, then the students erupt into cheers.

    "That was awesome!"

    "I had no idea you could use Rockthrow like that!"

    "That was way better than any trash teacher battles!"

    "Did you see how fast the bird was!?"

    "Yeah, that was nuts!"

    Corvisquire casually preens a wing, poorly pretending that he doesn''t hear the compliments.

    Roxanne returns Geodude to his ball and murmurs something too low for Lee to hear to the ball before she turns her slightly forced smile onto the scarred man. "I certainly wasn''t expecting a Corvisquire, nor that he knew Extremespeed. You certainly weren''t exaggerating about your move experimentation," she says. Then she turns to her class. "I hope everyone took notes on that! That was a prime example of why type advantage isn''t everything! A clever pokemon and trainer can overcome any challenge with a good plan and teamwork!"

    The teens quiet down and eagerly watch the proceedings.

    Roxanne shrinks Geodude''s pokeball and puts it away, drawing a more worn ball and expanding it.

    "Normally, Mister Henson," She begins. "I would battle with my League provided team, but I don''t think that will be a challenge for you, nor would it be engaging enough for the class."

    If the class was watching closely before, they''re utterly rapt now.

    The scrutiny makes Lee''s next question feel especially foolish. "League provided team?"

    The teacher nods with a smile. "Indeed, while Gym Leaders are the local pokemon authority and defender of their towns, we must also give badges to worthy trainers so they may compete in the Ever Grande Conference. However..." She looks down at the pokeball in her hand and rolls it between her fingers tenderly. "If we were to use our own personally trained pokemon, we would present too much of a challenge for new trainers, so the Pokemon League sees fit to provide us with pokemon of a more fair level of ability." She looks up at Lee, eyes hardening. "However, we may use our own pokemon upon worthy challengers, and a lower-tier team would be too easy for you, Mister Lee Henson. Geodude was my newest personal capture and was soundly beaten, but this pokemon is an old hand at battle. I am currently the weakest Gym Leader, so against a foe like you, I can''t hold back."

    Lee''s stomach drops as he realizes where this battle is going.

    The ball leaves Roxanne''s hand and snaps open, dropping a Nosepass upon the ground.

    The compass pokemon hovers just inches off the ground, unnervingly still and impassive. A low static charge fills the air, making Lee''s skin tingle. Looking down, the zipper of his jacket stands up and gently points towards the giant magnet that is Nosepass.

    Corvisquire''s feathers ruffle and his eyes narrow, no doubt annoyed by the magnetic field pulling at his ferrous feathers.

    "Gym Leader Roxanne calls out Nosepass!" The ref calls. "Will the challenger substitute?"

    Corvisquire turns and shakes his head at Lee, his eyes warily locked on to Nosepass. Lee licks his lips. "No subs from us."

    "Corvisquire versus Nosepass, begin!"

    "Corvisquire, up-!"

    "Thunderwave."

    Before Lee can even finish his command, Corvisquire is hit with a burst of high-voltage electricity shot from the tip of the still unmoving Nosepass''s nose, making Corvisquire cough out a squawk and convulse in his feet, his half-open wings frozen.

    Lee can practically feel his blood pressure shoot up. "Corvisquire! Fight it! You can do it! Up in the air!"

    The raven struggles and slowly extends his wings further

    "Now, Spark, Nosepass." Roxanne calmly orders.

    The only sound Nosepass makes is a quiet crackle before he''s wreathed in a shroud of snapping and popping electricity. A second later, he shoots forward headfirst like a missile.

    Corvisquire can only caw in alarm before the rock pokemon smashes into him, electrocuting and bludgeoning him in one go.

    The raven pokemon troubles across the ground before coming to a stop, burnt, twitching, and unconscious.

    Lee''s stomach drops. ''One hit. One hit and Corvisquire is down. Holy shit.''

    As Nosepass floats back to Roxanne''s side of the field, Lee spies shallow gouges in his rock-like flesh right where Corvisquire''s wings impacted.

    ''Spiteful little bastard used Steel Wing at the last second. What a guy...''

    "Corvisquire is unable to battle!" The ref student calls. "Nosepass and Roxanne are the winners!"

    Again, the class cheers, some standing and applauding. Even the handful of rental pokemon with the class are caught up in the energy and cheer.

    "Again, I hope everyone took notes!" Roxanne calls to the class. "In a real battle, the tides can turn in an instant, and it''s very important to regain lost momentum. Lets see how Mister Henson approaches this problem!"

    Lee takes a deep breath and reaches for his pokeballs, hesitating before taking Vulpix''s ball. With a flick of his wrist, the ball flies and releases Vulpix in a flash of light. The expected snark and giggling from the watching class about using a Fire-type against a Rock-type is ignored

    The little vixen blinks the stars from her eyes and Lee feels her mind touch his. He freely lets her in, offering his memories of the last battle to her as he feels the tension in his body loosens just from feeling her again. She widens the channel for a moment, taking the trainer in the psychic equivalent of an embrace, relaxing him even further.

    Vulpix sorts through the offered memories in an instant, pausing for a split second at the revelation of Gym Leaders having two teams, and looks back at him.

    Plan?

    ''Considering Nosepass is her ace, we can''t let up. We have to be dicks right out of the gate or we''re dead. We''re loading him up with confusion and burns, then pelting him from afar.''

    She nods, looking forward again.

    Across the field, Roxanne looks at Vulpix, visibly troubled. "Nosepass, be ready."

    The compass pokemon hums in reply.

    ''Turn up the heat, love.''

    Vulpix narrows her eyes, and high above, the summer sun seems to brighten and beat down even more harshly.

    The ref clears her throat. "Mister Henson sends out Vulpix! Final Match! Vulpix versus Nosepass, begin!"

    ''Confuse Ray! And stay mobile so his Thunder Wave can''t hit you!''

    Vulpix is in motion the instant the ref is done speaking, her eyes lighting up a sinister violet.

    The academic Gym Leader notices instantly. "Nosepass, Protect now!"

    A barrier of green drops around Nosepass just in the nick of time, as it''s surface ripples where the invisible Confuse Ray hit.

    Lee can''t help but grunt in frustration. ''Does everyone and their mom know Protect? Charge Confuse Ray again and I''ll give the signal as Protect drops.''

    The instant Protect begins to drop, Lee springs Vulpix. ''Now!''

    Again Vulpix sends out a Confuse Ray pulse, but Roxanne cries out; "Left one meter now! Then Rock Polish!"

    Nosepass quickly hovers to the left, the slow Confuse Ray missing. A second later, his rocky exterior begins to shine brightly as the rough surfaces upon him smooth out, making his aerodynamics skyrocket.

    ''Dodge this! Baby-Doll Eyes!''

    Still bounding around the arena, Vulpix''s eyes glow again, this time pink. This time the effect is instant, the eerie Fairy energy enfeebles Nosepass with almost no delay, making him wobble midair for a moment before he steadies out.

    Roxanne is beginning to sweat on her side of the field. "Nosepass! Slow her down with Thun-"

    ''Thunderwave. Use Quick Attack to dodge, then close the distance and point-blank Confuse Ray. Thank you, speed of thought.''

    -derwave!"

    Vulpix coats herself in white Normal energy and dodges left as a red blur. An instant later, a streak of lighting jumps off of Nosepass and misses spectacularly. Without stopping, Vulpix flanks Nosepass just feet away, eyes alight.

    Roxanne gasps. "Nosepass! Pro-!"

    The Rock pokemon lets out an ill grumble and sways side to side, before suddenly lashing out with an unexpected Tackle, catching Vulpix and smashing into her. He overextends the Tackle and crashes into the ground with a painful crack!

    Lee winces at the crunch he hears from Vulpix and feels his nose sting with phantom pain. Vulpix jumps back and uses a paw to rub her broken and bleeding nose with tears stinging her eyes.

    "Nosepass, snap out of it!" Roxanne yells. "I need you!"

    Nosepass quickly begins to steady.

    ''Will-o-Wisp, we can''t let him get any momentum.''

    As ordered, Vulpix shakes away the distracting pain and shoots a slow-moving orb of white flames from her mouth, which splashes over Nosepass. For the first time, the Rock pokemon makes a sound of pain, the sound being a high-pitched keen that makes Vulpix fold her ears back.

    The flames of Will-o-Wisp don''t last long, but they leave Nosepass''s side cracked and glowing a painful red like superheated rock. The impassive pokemon''s brow furrows in what has to be agony as he lists to his injured side. If he hadn''t snapped himself out of confusion by now, then the burn definitely did it for him.

    "Nosepass!" Roxanne cries in near panic. "We can''t let this go on! Pull through! We just need one good hit!"

    Nosepass groans and floats back into a ''standing'' position facing Vulpix.

    "Discharge!"

    ''Discharge? Oh shit, out of there now!''

    Even at the speed of thought, the order is just barely too late as Nosepass explodes into a nova of electricity that fills the field almost instantly. Vulpix yowls in pain and is locked in place until the wave passes. Even from the little phantom sensation he felt, Lee has to resist the urge to curl up as every nerve ending in his body stings. ''It''s official, I hate Electric everything.''

    He watches as Vulpix takes a deep breath and tries to shake off the weakness in her muscles from the Electric blast. Discharge damn near knocked her out from the overload, and Lee can only imagine the same move from a true Electric type pokemon would have been a one-hit incapacitation. Bits of her fur stand on end and more than a bit is singed, but she stands tall on all fours as the black in the edges of her vision recedes.

    ''Look, this is going to come off as a real asshole move, but fuck getting hit by that again. Ember, and curve them into his burn.''

    Vulpix doesn''t need much convincing. She takes a breath and fires a stream of fireballs from her mouth all around Nosepass.

    Roxanne opens her mouth to issue an order when she notices all the Embers go wide by Nosepass''s injured side, all of them missing.

    Then they turn midair to Nosepass as if magnified.

    Roxanne''s face becomes one of horror. "Nosepass, Protect!"

    The compass pokemon is just barely too slow as the first Ember smashes into his burn and breaks his concentration. Then the second one lands, then the third, fourth, fifth, tenth, twentieth...

    Nosepass makes the same high-pitched keen as before and wobbles mid-air, coming dangerously close to hitting the ground as the last Ember splashes over his burn, making the cracked stone break even more.

    ''Oh c''mon! I get that Fire isn''t good against Rock, but we hit a fucking burn! Just go down already!'' Lee grits his teeth.

    "Nosepass! Use Sandstorm!" Roxanne cries.

    ''Fuck. Breaking line of sight and slowing Vulpix down in one go. That''s smart.''

    Nosepass grunts and a whirlwind of sand blooms to life around him, rapidly expanding to cover the field in a gritty, howling wind that totally obscures Nosepass. Vulpix has to grit her teeth and squint to avoid getting the fine particulate in her eyes.

    "Nosepass, use Rocktomb!"

    ''No! Dodge left!''

    Vulpix blindly jumps several meters to the left, but Rocktomb doesn''t land on the spot she vacated. Instead, a half-second after she lands, the Rocktomb falls out of the raging Sandstorm from above and smashes into her, knocking the breath from her lungs and sending her down with her legs spread.

    One rock lands right on a hind leg with a sickening crack! And thus Lee knew how Rocktomb caused its slow-down effect.

    Vulpix lets out a scream and her trainer can feel her white-hot pain lancing up his own leg.

    The noise makes Lee''s stomach churn and he''s tempted to call the match right there, only for Vulpix to telepathically shout-down the idea.

    She''s not about to give up on such an important battle.

    Gritting her teeth, the vixen pulls her broken leg out from under the boulder that trapped her, uncaring of the pain and broken bones. She stands, favoring her good hindleg, but stands nonetheless.

    The Sandstorm howls again and forces her to shut her eyes.

    ''Shit, if she can''t see, she can''t aim. Even her pyrokinesis is useless without a way to accurately direct the fire.'' Lee eyes the barely visible Nosepass quickly hovering side-to-side to foul any blind projectile shots, silently marveling at the pokemon''s sheer willpower. ''Wait, if she can''t see him, but I can...''

    Lee tugs Vulpix''s mind with his own, and the vixen follows along easily. Now so close mentally, the phantom sensations he gets from her seem stronger than ever, making his whole body ache and leg throb. It takes a moment and a little help from her, but he finds her sense of sight.

    Then he plugs her sight into his.

    Her surprise is almost tangible, and physically, she almost lets her jaw drop a little before remembering the raging sand. Inside his own head, Lee can feel Vulpix watching through his eyes.

    Lee moves his gaze to Nosepass, and Vulpix smiles in understanding.

    "Rocktomb, Nosepass!"

    ''Wait for it, then Ember.''

    Eyes still closed, Vulpix waits, and when she doesn''t move, Nosepass fires his attack into the Sandstorm. Waiting until she sees the rocks moving through the sandstorm, Vulpix sidesteps out of the way with just inches to spare. Then she rears her head back and fires a barrage of fireballs into the Sandstorm.

    Roxanne''s voice is barely audible over the storm. "Good dodge, but I''m afraid blind fire isn''t going to wo-!"

    The Embers all track Nosepass through both the sand and his evasive movement, smashing into him with a staccato of explosions. He cries in his sharp keen and the Sandstorm begins to fade before dying entirely.

    As the last Ember pops against Nosepass''s large nose, the compass pokemon lets out a long groan before falling down to his stubby legs, falling over with a thud a second later, unmoving.

    ''Did we do it? Did we win?''

    The entire field is silent. Lee looks up at the class and sees each and every one of their faces is stunned. Roxanne likewise looks at her fallen pokemon with disbelief. Vulpix finally breaks the quiet by panting, her whole form shaking and exhausted.

    The referee finally blinks and regains her wits. "U-uh. Nosepass is unable to battle, Vulpix and Mister Lee are the winners!"

    The bleachers break out into wild cheers, some of the kids accidentally throwing their notebooks out of their laps as they stand to applaud. Their words are so rapid and mixed together that Lee can''t really make out what is being said.

    Vulpix limps her way to her trainer''s side, sitting and looking as dignified as a fox that got into a fight with a giant magnet could.

    ''Which is to say still pretty dignified. You''re the best love,'' Lee grins as the rush of a hard-fought victory hits him. ''We did it. We did it! We beat a Gym Leader who was going all-out!'' If it wouldn''t jostle her broken leg, Lee would have picked the vixen up and hugged her tight.

    Vulpix settles with a pleased snuffle through her still-smarting nose and leans into his leg.

    "I have to say, I... wasn''t expecting that."

    Lee looks up as Roxanne walks up. Behind her the field is empty, and he watches her deposit a shrunken pokeball into her pocket. For a moment she stares at Lee before sighing. "I suppose I set myself up for a downfall with my theatrics," she says, letting a smile form on her face. "Mister Henson, I, Roxanne of the Rusboro Gym, am happy to present the Stone Badge to you for your victory," she holds out a hand, upon which a shining Stone Badge lay.

    Lee takes the badge gingerly, almost not believing it. At that moment, the events of the past two months finally come into focus for him.

    He is a pokemon trainer with a whole world of opportunity before him, his childhood fantasy. He and his beloved team have defeated a Gym Leader, and his journey to be the very best is actually underway.

    It almost makes him forget about-

    He shakes the thought away. Now is not the time for that.

    Lee offers the Gym Leader a wide smile and slips the badge into his pocket. "Thank you, Roxanne."

    Her expression brightens. "Come by the gym later, and I can transfer your prize money and give you your TM."

    "Now that was quite the incredible show!"

    Roxanne looks behind Lee with wide eyes and the entire watching class gasps as one.

    Slowly turning, Lee isn''t sure if some higher power is purposely throwing curveballs at him or not.

    Smiling wide with an absolutely titanic Metagross behind him, Steven Stone himself takes a step forward. "Roxanne! It''s been some time since I''ve seen you cut loose like that. I hope you don''t mind my eavesdropping, but when I saw you teaching this battle class, I thought Metagross and I would watch for a bit. I''m rather glad we did now!"

    Behind him, the metal behemoth rumbles at his name, shaking Lee down to his bones

    Roxanne recovers much faster than Lee does. "It''s no problem, Steven. We''re always glad to have you here at the school. When did you get back to Rustboro?"

    "Metagross Teleported us in this morning," the man explains, running a hand through his steel-blue hair. "Just some business at Devon that needed my attention. So, who is your challenger here?" He asks, taking in Lee and Vulpix carefully.

    Over his shoulder, Metagross''s red, glowing eyes lock onto the man and fox as well, his stare even more penetrating than his trainer''s. Under the red eyes, Lee can practically feel himself being peeled back layer by layer, exposing him to the titanic pokemon like a book. Lee gulps as he looks back at the nearly seven-foot-tall pokemon. One thing jumps out at him instantly.

    All veteran pokemon have scars or marks from hard battles, Steel types included. Marks like that can be hidden or healed for vanity, but battling pokemon often wear them like badges of honor to show they fought hard and won.

    Metagross''s armored form is immaculate.

    ''Holy shit, we''re going to have to fight this monster one day.''

    In the back of his mind, he feels Vulpix''s telepathy jump and lash outward at something beyond them with a scowl. Shortly after, Metagross''s gaze shifts to Vulpix with a rumble and the horrid feeling of exposure fades.

    "This is Lee Henson," Roxanne''s voice pulls him from his thoughts as she gestures to him with a hand. "A researcher and Lab Trainer working under Professor Birch. He kindly agreed to help me with today''s class. And speaking of..." She turns to her pointing and whispering class. "Please excuse me, I need to finish up here. Okay, class! I hope everyone took notes, as we''re goi-"

    Steven turns to Lee, reaching a hand out. "Lee is it? A pleasure to meet you."

    With an almost dry gulp, Lee take''s the Champion''s hand and shakes it. "Y-Yeah, same to you."

    The Hoenn Champ crosses his arms and taps a foot in thought. "Ah! I do remember your name passing by my desk! A refugee from an isolated region, yes? How are you liking Hoenn?"

    "It''s already home," Lee replies, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets so as to not twiddle them nervously.

    Steven''s smile is bright. "I''m glad to hear it. Yours and Vulpix''s ending move was incredible! How did she curve those Embers? And your telepathy is very advanced for a new trainer."

    "How did you know about th-" Lee stops himself and looks at Metagross. "Right, Psychic-type ace. Anyway, as I told Roxanne, one of the facets of my research is pokemon technique modification and experimentation. I was told by Birch that I have an...unusual way of looking at things, and he offered me his sponsorship on the condition I conduct research for him. Vulpix curving her Embers is one of the modified moves we''ve created with others in the works."

    Steven nods and rubs his chin. "Interesting... I don''t think I''ve met a researcher with a focus like that. I''ll be looking forward to seeing how far you go in the gym circuit," He glances back to Roxanne with a small smile. "But considering you bested Roxanne''s personal pokemon, maybe I should say I look forward to seeing you in the Ever Grande Conference."

    ''And now the Champion knows who I am and is watching. Shit. Goodbye any chance of surprising him.''

    "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Lee sighs. He looks down when he feels Vulpix lean into his leg. The poor vixen looks ready to collapse on her feet. "Shit, sorry love," He draws her ball. "We''ll get to the Pokemon Center soon. Return,"

    With a red flash of light, Vulpix is safely in her ball.

    "Ah, how rude of me," Steven laughs nervously as Lee clips Vulpix''s ball to his belt. "Your pokemon must be tired. I''ll let you get to the Pokemon Center. Before you go through, take this."

    He reaches into his breast pocket, drawing Lee''s eyes to the gleaming pin topped with a Megastone upon the front, and withdraws a card he hands to Lee.

    Looking it over, the scarred trainer finds it''s a heavily personalized business card, similar to Roxanne''s but much more extravagant, fitting a Champion. Upon it is an email and a phone number.

    "I''ve got to get going, the League is a needy bunch and I''m probably late for a meeting. We''ll keep in touch," Steven says, turning and waving. He and Metagross glow a brilliant corona of colors before vanishing.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "No way! You got to skip the gym line and meet Steven Stone!?"

    Lee sits back against the headboard of the comfy hotel looking at the new smartphone in his hand. Roxanne''s prize money wasn''t a ton, but the $1500 gave him enough to get a good device with a fair amount leftover. In his lap, Vulpix dozes under gentle strokes of his free hand. Her left hind leg is tightly wrapped in white bandages, compete with a stern ''no strenuous activity for three days'' order from Nurse Joy.

    "I did," Lee confirms Brendan''s question, looking over at Brendan and Zinnia, who are seated on opposite sides of the other bed. "I was just at the right place at the right time...Or the wrong place at the wrong time..." He grumbles. "I''m not exactly happy that the Champion has his eye on me. I was hoping to surprise him when we made it through the Ever Grande Conference, but I guess that''s not happening now."

    Zinnia hums and rocks back. "If you make waves, he''s going to figure out something was up with you anyway. The Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and Champ have to talk to each other, right?"

    Lee feels his face go white. "Oh, fun. The others will be expecting us then..."

    "That''s such bull that you got to skip ahead, though!" Brendan bulldozes in, unconcerned about the Gym Leaders possibly upping the challenge. "I''m not set to battle Roxanne until Thursday morning!" He claws at his hat and falls into the bed back-first. "Aarrrgh!"

    "Don''t be so eager, if she finds out you''re Birch''s son and a Lab Trainer too, she''s going to put you through the ringer." Lee says with a shake of his head. He looks down at the pizza place website and the little ''Confirmed!'' message that popped up before navigating away to the Rustboro trainer school site. The newest recording is none other than this battle. "Dinner is on its way. In the meantime, it looks like they uploaded our fight against Roxanne. Take a look at the fun you have to look forward to."

    He tosses the phone to Brendan, who catches it and eagerly hits the play button as Zinnia curiously watches over his shoulder.

    Lee relaxes and pulls Treecko and Corvisquire''s balls from his belt, popping them open and releasing them on the bed. The pokemon materialize in flashes of white. Cool yellow and burning red eyes look at Lee, who looks back and stifles a yawn. "Normally I''d prepare something a little more healthy, but we won a gym battle and some celebration is in order. Hope you two like pizza."

    Treecko raises a brow, probably unsure what pizza even is, but Corvisquire''s resting murder face actually morphs into a pleased expression.

    Despite the worries of the day, they came out on top in a difficult battle, have friends all around, and have a delicious dinner on the way.

    ''Another day in the world of pokemon I guess,'' Lee smiles. ''Another day in the world of pokemon.''

 Act 1: Chapter 10

    "It''s all still undergoing analysis by lead experts in the area." The smartly-dressed, middle-aged man says to the camera before him. "Modern analytics technology has come a long way in the on-going pursuit of better understanding Psychic pokemon, with the acclaimed Dr. Cyan''s recent advancements in EEG machine manufacturing as the spearpoint of continued research. These specialized EEGs can read a much wider range of brainwaves, peeling back some of the mystery. On this chart, you can see-"

    The Rustboro school video upon Lee''s phone is interrupted by a little ding! and an alert in the corner, showing a new text message.

    From his shady spot in the grassy knoll he and his pokemon found at the edge of Rustboro, Lee groans and leans up, scooting his back against the tree. Opening the message, he sees it''s from Brendan.

    Brendan: my match is soon its almost 12 your going to be there right?

    Looking up away from the phone briefly, he sees his pokemon out training. Or rather Corvisquire and Treecko are training.

    Treecko glows white and dodges another set of Swift rays with his newly learned Quick Attack, moving when the rays are too close to the ground to correct their course and home back in on him, leaving divots in the grass where they explode. Treecko lands from his leap and focuses back on his aerial foe, favoring one leg over the bruised other.

    Above in the sky with the sun at his back, Corvisquire cackles and swings a golden, glowing wing, sending yet another wave of starry rays down at Treecko.

    Off to the side, Vulpix watches and mediates.

    After days of morning training with him and Vulpix, Treecko had come to learn Quick Attack. It wasn''t terribly fast, nor could he go from still to full speed like Vulpix, but it was a foundation to build upon.

    And build upon it Treecko did. Quickly, at that.

    Where he would be brutalized by Swift just three days ago, now he''s dodging the attacks consistently, which is rather impressive considering the inbuilt homing of Swift.

    Treecko expertly ducks under one incoming ray and sidesteps another, before launching himself left with Quick Attack, avoiding the main mass of Swift that would have surely tagged him otherwise.

    ''But he''s training until he drops each day...'' Lee frowns as he watches. ''The thought of stopping doesn''t even cross his mind...''

    High above, Corvisquire screeches, slowly becoming infuriated with the repeated misses. He winds both wings back, both of them glowing brighter than over before, then throws down a truly massive barrage of Swift.

    Treecko''s face hardens, the white aura of Quick Attack flaring around him again.

    ''Corvisquire was so eager to volunteer to help with Treecko''s Quick Attack training, but now that his attacks are missing, he''s getting frustrated.'' Lee''s frown deepens. In his head, he reaches out and taps the ever-present connection to Vulpix. ''Love, that''s too much too fast, intercept with Ember.''

    The vixen blasts a wide net of Ember from her mouth, covering the entire area between Treecko and Corvisquire. The tiny fireballs curve into Swift''s path, some missing, but the Embers outnumber the starry Swift rays at least three to one. With a great staccato of explosions, Ember and Swift cancel each other, making a hanging screen of smoke.

    Treecko looks between Vulpix and Corvisquire, brows downturned and mouth drawn into a tight line. He turns his gaze to Lee with narrowed eyes.

    ''...My stupid speech in the forest didn''t give him some kind of complex, did it?'' The more Lee thinks of the exchange between him and Treecko after the tree fell, the more he dislikes how he worded it. The more he dislikes how his greed took hold, unable to resist the allure of a pokemon with such potential. He should have let Treecko go, they weren''t meant to cross paths, but Lee promised the world to the shattered young pokemon and now that promise hangs over his head. ''He worked hard and took his training seriously under Ash, but not like this.''

    "Alrighty, everyone!" Lee climbs to his feet and pockets his phone after sending a short ''on the way'' to Brendan. "Brendan''s gym battle is coming up in a bit and we''re going to go support him, so we''re going to end it here for today. Treecko," The man regards the aloof green lizard, silently debating on what to say. "You''re really giving it one-hundred percent every day and I''m really enjoying your progress. You got Quick Attack down at an astonishing rate, but don''t overwork yourself. You don''t need to go full-throttle until exhaustion."

    Lee gives Treecko a wide smile, but Treecko''s own lips pull down into a thin frown. Before his smile can become brittle from the silent treatment, Lee turns to Corvisquire, who lands several feet away.

    "Corvisquire, your Swift was already great and is only getting better. It''s a good projectile to fall back on and you use it masterfully."

    The raven smugly puffs up under the ego-stroking.

    "But..."

    The puffed feathers quickly ruffle in agitation.

    "You really need to save the brutal, all-out attacks for real matches," Lee says, slowly lowering himself to a knee and earning a glare from Corvisquire. The trainer raises his hands in a gesture of surrender and continues. "You can''t blast your own teammates to smithereens," he says more gently. "All of us are in this together, and hurting a part hurts the whole here."

    The bird openly sneers and turns his head away.

    "You might not see it now, but you will someday," Lee finishes before standing again. ''Act up all you want, pal. I''ve dealt with your type before and I''ve yet to lose.'' He takes a breath. "Alrighty, we''ll have an early lunch then head over to the gym, sound good to everyone?"

    Lee gets a pair of nods and one slightly eased sneer, prompting him to unshoulder his bag and open it. In short order, he has three bowls set out each with its own unique food. Vulpix gives him a gentle smile and Treecko a simple nod before they start eating. Corvisquire meanwhile digs into his bowl without any such nicety.

    As he watches his pokemon tuck into their lunch, Lee pulls his pokedex from a jacket pocket and takes the device out of sleep mode, scrolling over to the voice recorder. "Day forty-six," he leans into the tree at his back as he talks. "I should probably start doing these on my phone. My Pokegear? Is Pokegear the name or the brand? Eh, it''s a phone. The pokedex is fine as for its own functions, but sending huge media files through this thing takes for fucking ever and kills the battery. Anyway, as I''ve noted before, Treecko''s growth is nothing short of explosive. He''s been working hard to master Quick Attack, and now has an adequate grasp after only a few days. He''s in excellent shape and health, and I have full intention of helping him stay that way, He throws himself into training with admirable aplomb, but I have fears of him burning out." The glare from Treecko as he looks up from his food is ignored. "We''ll... work on that more later. Corvisquire was already powerful at his time of capture and his performance in battle speaks volumes of his abilities. He improves quickly as well, adding power and technique to each of his moves with their repeated use. Now I just wish he would curb his enthusiasm for violence..." Lee looks over to the bird in question, who ignores him in favor of his food. "Again, we''re working on it."

    "On to other topics, I''m glad that both Treecko and Corvisquire are responding well to their diets. Corvisquire was easy, as I just copied Vulpix''s mix with more red meat and some grains substituted with nuts. To ensure healthy armor growth upon his eventual evolution to Corviknight, who I''m told is a Steel-type, I do add some iron supplements in for him. Treecko is where I ran into issues." Lee pauses to watch Treecko take another bite of his leafy-green lunch. He does so not reluctantly, but it''s obvious he doesn''t particularly care for what he''s eating. "I was surprised to learn the Treecko line is strictly herbivorous. I guess it makes sense given the Grass typing, but it threw me off. I admit I''m... not well versed with herbivores, as I spent most of my time working with carnivores. His mix should meet all his nutritional and calorie requirements even with his instance on harsh training factored in, but it leaves taste as something to be desired. I''ll wrap this up as I''ve got to go. Brendan''s match with the Rustboro gym leader is coming up and my team is about done with lunch. Lee, out."

    Treecko is the last to finish and takes his last bite right as Lee''s report ends.

    "Ready everyone?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    By the time Lee and Vulpix made it to the Rustboro Gym and purchased a spectator ticket, the match was set to start in only fifteen minutes. As the pair walk in, they take in the sight of the gym, having not seen much during the brief visit to Roxanne to collect their winnings and TM.

    The gym is structured like a miniature arena. There are stands with padded seats along the sides of the battleground. A few areas in the stands are devoid of human seating, instead having large padded spots for pokemon. The battlefield itself is made of the same hard-packed dirt of nearly every other battlefield Lee has seen. Milling around the battleground is a few gym staff in uniforms, a referee in a black and white shirt, and a pair of camera crews, one looking official with high-end equipment and the other one staffed by teens with an older camera. ''They''re probably the ones who record fights for Roxanne and the school,'' Lee realizes with a blink.

    There is a decently large number of people and pokemon in the audience with many of the seats already taken. A sharp whistle breaks through the dull roar of the talking audience, making both man and fox look up, seeing Zinnia waving near a set of seats with pokemon access.

    "What took you so long?" The Dragon tamer asks as Lee shimmies over a few people to seat himself next to her.

    "We were getting some early morning training in and grabbed an early lunch before heading over," he says, bending his shoulder so Vulpix could slide down into his lap. "Brendan has been blowing up my phone with reminders all morning, so I had plenty of warning."

    Zinnia nods and looks back out to the field. "How well do you think shrimpy is going to do? You barely won against Roxanne, so..."

    "We were working with a type disadvantage for both battles," Lee replies with a raised brow, wrapping his arms around the vixen in his lap. "Brendan has the opposite and is working with a type advantage today, and Roxanne may not use her personal team, either."

    "I''m pretty sure she is," Zinnia says with a lopsided smile. "What Hoenn Gym Leader doesn''t know the name Birch?"

    ''Makes sense,'' Lee thinks. "True," he says, looking around at all the people.

    "You seem surprised by something," the tanned girl says, following Lee''s gaze all around the room.

    "Just surprised. I didn''t realize how... involved gym battles are."

    Zinnia laughs. "Televising it probably earns the League big money, so why wouldn''t they? I think the League is going to be mad they missed your match."

    "Again, true," Lee says. "Just surprising to a bumpkin like me I guess."

    The remaining seats begin to fill until most are taken by a medley of people and pokemon. A decent number of people are in suits and work uniforms with a few glancing at their watches.

    ''Did they come here on their lunch?'' Lee idly wonders. ''Can it be because it''s Nigel Birch''s son battling?''

    The ref near the edge of the arena glances at his watch adjusts a small microphone on his shirt collar. He clears his throat, the sound carrying over into the Gym speakers and quieting the crowd down. "Welcome, everyone, to another Gym Battle at the Rustboro Gym!" He says, walking to the center of the battlefield as the camera''s focus on him. "Today''s match is an official gym challenge between challenger Brendan Birch-"

    A number of the watching people whisper excitedly.

    "-and Rustboro''s own Roxanne!" The ref finishes.

    The crowd erupts into cheers when both Brendan and Roxanne enter the arena. Roxanne is the image of cool, unphased by the crowd, while Brendan is decidedly more nervous looking. The boy fiddles with the tiny microphone on his shirt and looks up at all the people with trepidation. His eyes finally land on Lee and Zinnia, silently begging for reassurance.

    Lee pulls his lips up into a smile and Zinnia visibly debates with herself, probably wondering if she should be antagonistic, Lee thinks, before offering a short wave.

    Brendan steadies himself and smiles back.

    ''Poor kid, this is a lot of pressure,'' Lee sends to Vulpix, who flicks an ear in reply. ''I''m glad we just had some kids watching.''

    "Today''s bout will be a two-on-two match with standard rules! Pokemon will battle until they are unable to continue or by trainer forfeit!" The ref continues. He holds an arm up and sections of the wall above the seating open up, revealing large screens. The screens come to life and display portraits of Brendan and Roxanne, each with two empty pokeball slots below them.

    "Challenger Brendan may substitute mid-battle while Gym Leader Roxanne may not! Items are forbidden for this match! Trainers!" The referee gestures for both Roxanne and Brendan to step forward. "Please meet for the pre-match!"

    "I said it before, I''ll say it again, this is really involved," Lee says, rubbing a thumb through Vulpix''s chest tuft as he watches.

    Zinnia says nothing, focused on the proceedings.

    Both Brendan and Roxanne meet in the center of the arena and shake hands, exchanging words too quiet to hear before splitting off to take their sides of the field.

    "Pre-Battle, set!" The ref cries, chopping a hand at Roxanne. "Gym Leader, please choose your first pokemon!"

    "Gladly," the teacher says, her voice now carrying over the speaker system. "Geodude, ready!"

    Roxanne throws her pokeball, and out pops a familiar Geodude. The living stone is impassive in the face of the cheers sent his way.

    ''The same Geodude, the one Roxanne said she recently captured for her personal team.'' Lee squints and sees the healed gashes in the Rock pokemon''s arms and side. The healed stone is a lighter shade of gray than the rest of Geodude.

    "Challenger Brendan! Please choose your first pokemon!"

    Brendan visibly gulps and palms a pokeball. "Shroomish! You''re up!" He says, voice cracking a little over the speakers.

    Shroomish appears in the field in a flash of light, looking just as stoic as Geodude. He looks around at all the people and moves his mouth in what is probably a grumble.

    "Battle, set!" The referee cries, backing out of the arena and gesturing to a Gym assistant, who draws a pokeball and releases a Mr Mime. Mr Mime wastes no time and raises his hands, erecting shimmering walls around the arena that fade into invisibility shortly after.

    "The battle between Challenger Brendan and Gym Leader Roxanne will begin..." The ref raises his hand.

    Roxanne''s eyes narrow.

    Brendan''s knuckles go white from clenching the pokemon in his hand.

    The hand chops down. "Now!"

    "Shroomish, Stun Spore!" Brendan calls the instant the ref falls silent.

    "Blow it away, Mega Punch!" Roxanne counters.

    Shroomish shakes a noxious yellow cloud of spores from his body and sends it right at Geodude, who cocks his glowing fist back. With a cry of "Dude!" Geodude throws his fist forward, generating a shockwave that scatters the paralytic spores.

    "Now, Rock Throw!" Roxanne calls.

    Faster than Brendan can react, Geodude plunges his hand into the earth below and slings an earthen cannonball at Shroomish.

    The mushroom deftly twirls out of the way on his short legs like a ballerina, letting the Rock Throw crash and shatter on the invisible barrier behind him. He looks back to Brendan, awaiting instruction.

    Brendan shakes himself from his stupor and growls. "Shroomish, just like we practiced! Close in!"

    "Getting close with a status fighter like Shroomish?" Zinnia wonders aloud. "What''s he doing?"

    Shroomish trundles towards Geodude as quickly as his stubby legs will let him, and Geodude''s face shifts into the barest hint of confusion.

    Roxanne''s face morphs into a frown. "Not so fast. Geodude, Magnitude!"

    Geodude raises both hands and brings them down like lightning, slamming his palms into the floor.

    The entire gym shakes, pulling a few screams and cheers from the onlookers as Shroomish stumbles and grimaces as the vibrations run through his body.

    "Hang in there, bud!" Brendan calls. "Just remember our practice!"

    ''No idea what kind of practice this is, but it sounds suicidal,'' Lee grimaces along with Shroomish. ''What are you up to, Brendan?''

    The Mushroom pokemon keeps running, now notability slower, seemingly running right at Geodude''s now glowing fist. The Rock pokemon cocks his fist back in a retaliatory strike that a disappointed-looking Roxanne doesn''t stop, then unleashes his Mega Punch point-blank.

    ...Only for Shroomish to again twirl out of the way near-instantly, Geodude''s knuckles skimming Shroomish''s soft hide, all the while the mushroom spews yellow spores and engulfs both he and Geodude in a dense cloud.

    The crowd roars and Lee feels his jaw drop. He doesn''t even need his bond with Vulpix to feel her surprise, as her flicking fan of tails gives her away.

    "Damn... That''s smart." Zinnia blinks and watches as Shroomish backs away from the twitching Geodude. When she notices Lee looking at her for an explanation, she continues. "Shroomish is a squat little guy and his center of gravity is really low, so he can spin quickly and stably. It''s a good sidestep maneuver that really takes advantage of his stature," the Dragon tamer says with an amused huff. "Shrimpy really thought out of the box there."

    Roxanne''s face is bewildered before she quickly recovers. "Geodude! Scatter the remainders!"

    It takes a moment for the living rock to respond, out he throws a sluggish Mega Punch hard enough to disperse the cloud. It takes him a moment to put his arm back down and he does so with gritted teeth.

    Brendan''s face is beaming and his shoulders shake with so much adrenaline that Lee can almost feel it from his place in the crowd. "Now, Leech Seed!"

    "Geodude, catch it!" Roxanne calls, her brows furrowed hands clenched.

    Shroomish bends and shoots a single walnut-sized seed from the cap on his head. Geodude reaches up and catches it with herculean effort, crushing the seed in his hand, but Shroomosh simply fires another that hits his face. Vines sprout from the seed and wrap around Geodude, lighting up with stolen yellow energy that flies to Shroomish as yellow orbs that sink into his skin. The stone can''t help but stiffen in obvious pain

    "Geodude, pull it off!" Roxanne orders.

    "Don''t let up, Shroomish!" Brendan yells, pumping a fist. "Mega Drain next!"

    Roxanne''s face becomes grim.

    Geodude struggles in the vines and his own paralysis then lets out a yell of pain when the mushroom pokemon points his crown-like cap at Geodude, pulling even larger globes of yellow away from the Rock-type. After several seconds of torture, Geodude rips the vines off of him and hurls himself backward, throwing himself out of Mega Drain''s range. He lands several yards back and regards Shroomish warily, taking harsh, struggling breaths all the while.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    "I must admit, it''s rare to see such a battle capable Shroomish," Roxanne says in the lull, watching the little mushroom with the same level of caution as Geodude.

    Shroomish meets the Gym Leader''s gaze evenly.

    "Heh, it took a while to get ready for this match, but I knew Shroomish wouldn''t let me down!" Brendan says, casting a wide smile at his pokemon, who looks back at the boy with a small upturn of his lips.

    The young Birch''s smile is infectious, as Roxanne can''t keep her severe look in place for long before it cracks. A moment later, she sighs and shakes her head. "This is going to make me feel a little guilty...But this would not be a challenge for you if I did not give it my all."

    Brendan and Shroomish both tense up.

    "Geodude..." Roxanne''s eyes harden. "...Self-Destruct."

    A gasp runs through the crowd and Zinnia swears under breath at Lee''s side.

    Geodude, face set in grim determination, launches himself at Shroomish with a desperate burst of speed as his whole body glows a sinister orange.

    Lee''s arms tighten around Vulpix as he screws his eyes shut and looks away.

    Flesh Cooking

    Lungs Bur-

    Vulpix is quick to grasp his mind with her own, engulfing him in a comforting shell. A muted explosion rocks the Gym with sound and tremors as the audience thunders in reply, but Lee is so pulled inward that he barely notices.

    When Vulpix finally lets him go, the Gym comes back into focus over a few seconds, first with his eyes opening to blurs that sharpen just as Brendan yells something that sounds as if he''s speaking underwater, a pokeball leaving his hand that materializes into Mudkip who opens his maw in a soundless bellow. Across from the mudfish, Nosepass already hovers.

    Between them, a blackened crater blemishes the arena, making goosebumps break out along Lee''s flesh.

    A second later, the muted sounds come back as if his ears were plugged and suddenly cleared. "Lee!" A hand grabs his arm.

    The man almost jumps out of his skin and turns to his side.

    Zinnia''s ruby eyes bore into him with unusual intensity, her usually smirking mouth is pulled down into a deep frown. "What was that? Are you alright?"

    It takes a moment for Lee to formulate a reply. "I''m fine," he croaks through his suddenly dry mouth. He grimaces and reaches into his bag at his feet, quickly drawing a bottle of water that he takes a sip from. "Just fine," he says after a gulp of water, voice more even.

    The draconid woman looks him in the eye until he can take it no longer and looks away. "You''re certain?"

    Lee nods.

    Zinnia holds her look for a moment before withdrawing her hand and slowly turning back to the battle. "If you say so..." she says, her expression giving away how unconvinced she is.

    The scarred man just hugs the fox in his lap a little tighter and turns back to the match.

    ''So Shoomish and Geodude went down in a double-knockout. Brendan was probably hoping to wear down Nosepass before having to switch to Mudkip,'' He thinks to himself. ''He knows that Nosepass has Electric attacks and Mudkip can''t rely on his typing here. This could get messy.''

    "Nosepass versus Mudkip, begin!" The ref cries.

    "Nosepass, Spark." Roxanne calmly orders

    "Mudkip, Mud Sport!" Brendan counters.

    Nosepass rockets forward like a missile wreathed by a corona of sparking and snapping electricity, crashing into Mudkip and electrocuting the mudfish before he can even complete Mud Sport. Mudkip can only writhe and twitch in pain as Nosepass carries him and slams him into the barrier around the arena, throwing the breath out of him like a sledgehammer to the gut.

    "Mudkip!" Brendan cries, his eyes wide as the onlookers explode into cheers.

    "He''s too slow..." Lee murmurs, drawing both Vulpix and Zinnia''s attention. "Nosepass is damn fast with that magnetic levitation, and Mudkip isn''t a slouch, but Nosepass could keep up with Vulpix and Corvisquire. On top of that, he knows Rock Polish and can get even faster. Brendan and Mudkip have an uphill battle even with a type advantage."

    Nosepass finally backs off and lets Mudkip fall to the floor, and in his usual fashion, he gets to his feet without even acknowledging the electrical burn on his chest. He bellows out a challenge to Nosepass and the crowd cries out with him.

    Brendan can help but grin. "It''ll take more than that to beat Mudkip. Now, Watergun!"

    Mudkip takes a deep breath and shoots a huge torrent of water like a demented firehose at Nosepass. Then at the last second, he closes his mouth further and narrows the Watergun into an even more powerful stream.

    The Rock pokemon dodges to the side without any prompting, but still gets clipped by the Watergun when it unexpectedly changes speed mid-stream. The Watergun knocks a few chips of rock loose off of Nosepass, but Roxanne''s pokemon is otherwise unhurt.

    "Looks like he thought of the speed gap, too," Zinnia muses.

    "Now, Mud Sport! The close-in!" Brendan orders.

    "Thunder Wave, Nosepass!" Roxanne says at the same time.

    Mudkip fires a torrent of water at the hard-packed dirt of the ground and throws out a cloud of mud just in time, as Thunderwave strikes the mud plume instead of Mudkip, throwing smoking clods of baked mud everywhere. Mudkip rushes through the mud an instant later, charging right at Nosepass with reckless abandon.

    "Rock Tomb, then Rock Polish, Nosepass!" Roxanne calls.

    Nosepass raises his arms, and a number of boulders materialize from seemingly nothing around him. He throws his arms forward and the boulders rush at Mudkip.

    The water pokemon weaves between the falling boulders that hit the ground with bone-rattling crashes, slowing him long enough for Nosepass to glow brilliantly as his edges all smooth out from Rock Polish.

    "Now back up and Rock Tomb again!" Roxanne orders.

    Where it took Nosepass a second to charge Rock Tomb before, the attack is almost instant now. A barrage of boulders screams towards Mudkip as Nosepass hovers back to Roxanne''s side of the field, sliding through the air like a knife.

    Mudkip dodges one boulder, but another one smashes into him with a crunch that makes the whole room wince. He rolls to his feet just long enough to duck another other boulder that scrapes one of his orange gills, leaving a bloody furrow. Then with a growl, he rears his head back and headbutts the last boulder, shattering it into hundreds of pieces and opening a gash on his forehead. He raises his bloody head and bellows.

    The spectators go wild and even Lee has to resist the urge to stand up and cheer. Zinnia...

    "That was badass! If Shrimpy is teaching his pokemon stuff like that, then maybe he isn''t so bad after all!" She shouts, standing and joining everyone.

    Roxanne doesn''t seem phased. "Impressive. The Mudkip line is known for their physical abilities, and yours is going places, Mr. Birch."

    Brendan can''t help but grin.

    "It''s for that reason I need to go all out."

    Brendan''s grin falls.

    "Nosepass, Discharge!" Roxanne cries.

    The compass pokemon explodes into a dome of electricity that overtakes Mudkip in an instant, making him spasm and twitch and the volts rip through him. When the brutal attack finally ends, Mudkip keeps twitching and struggling in the tell-tale signs of paralysis. The mud that was coating him from Mud Sport chips and flakes off, baked into dirt by Discharge.

    "Why doesn''t Roxanne just use Electric moves?" Zinnia wonders aloud. "Why not just spam Discharge and end the match if she''s going all out?"

    "Nosepass is a Rock-type," Lee begins, watching Mudkip struggle to his feet. "He can use electric moves, but it takes time for him to charge back up, giving Brendan a small window to work with. For actual Electric types, they charge much faster and have a much higher capacity, or so I think..." Lee thinks back to all his cramming and research in Little Root, but it seems like a lifetime ago after just a few weeks.

    Mudkip finally gets up and glares at Nosepass, who gives no indication that he saw it.

    Down in the arena, Brendan bites his lip, his eyes darting between his roughed-up Mudkip and the nearly untouched Nosepass with despair. He growls clenches his fist. "Mudkip! Close in!"

    Mudkip, still sparking a little, powers through his paralysis and charges Nosepass at full speed, his little feet thudding across the ground in his wild haste.

    "Nosepass, Sandstorm! Then Rock Tomb!" Roxanne orders, the same combo she used on Lee and Vulpix.

    ''Well shit. You had a good run, Brendan.''

    A whirlwind of sand spins to life around Nosepass before expanding and engulfing a huge swath of the field in a howling, ripping desert gale.

    Mudkip flinches and shuts his eyes, slowing down when the sand tears at him.

    Then through the Sandstorm, a boulder falls and lands right on Mudkip with a muted crunch.

    "No! Mudkip!" Brendan screams, reaching out a horrified hand but otherwise frozen.

    At the sound of his trainer''s voice, the Water pokemon slowly lifts the huge rock off his back and to the side with a dull thud. He stands with one of his front legs obviously broken and can''t dodge the next rock that clips him and throws him end over end. For a moment, Mudkip lays on the ground and pants as best he can without his mouth filling with sand.

    Brendan grits his teeth and seems perilously close to tears. "C''mon Mudkip! One last try! You can do it!"

    On her side of the field, Roxanne shakes her head. "I''m sorry, Mister Birch, but I won''t drag this out. Nosepass, Rock Tomb!"

    Even in the whistling of the sandstorm, Rock Tomb can be heard flying through the air to finish off the mudfish pokemon.

    Brendan screws his eyes shut. "Mudkip!"

    Mudkip''s eyes shoot open, and white light engulfs him.

    ''No fuckin'' way,'' Lee feels his eyes widening. ''This is some anime clutch bullshit. Brendan, you are one lucky kid.'' He turns to Zinnia, who looks just as astonished.

    Mudkip''s form morphs and grows, limbs thickening, forelegs turning into forearms, hindlegs moving to stand upright, tailfin splitting into two, one-and-a-half foot form growing to just shy of three...

    With a roar, the newly evolved pokemon lashes out with a forearm and turns an incoming boulder to gravel in a single punch before the light of evolution fades, revealing a snarling, unscathed Marshtomp. Three more boulders fly from the sandstorm, all of them destroyed with a single punch each, throwing rock fragments everywhere.

    Brendan blinks and rubs his eyes, as if not believing what he''s seeing.

    Marshtomp turns and looks at Brendan, the same savage grin he had as a Mudkip etched on his face.

    The boy can''t help but grin back. "Hell yeah! Now thats what I''m talking about! Marshtomp! Rush him down!"

    Marshtomp bellows a deep note and surges forward into the sandstorm, now totally unbothered.

    Roxanne''s sweating brow furrows. "Nosepass..." she hesitates. "End Sandstorm and circle around with Rock Tomb!"

    ''Now that Marshtomp is part Ground, all her Electric moves go out the window. What a turnabout.'' Lee sends Vulpix, who is too glued to the fight to reply.

    Sandstorm dies down, showing Nosepass quickly levitating away to flank Marshtomp, Rock Tomb charged and mid-firing.

    "I''m sick of Rock Tomb!" Brendan yells. "Marshtomp, catch Rock Tomb and send it back!"

    Roxanne''s eyes shoot open in alarm.

    Nosepass fires his boulders, sending them hurtling towards Marshtomp, who sidesteps one, two, three boulders. On the last, in an incredible feat of strength, he catches the boulder nearly as large as himself in both of his hands, skidding back only a few inches. With his loudest bellow to date, the mudfish raises the huge rock over his head and hurls it back at Nosepass just as fast as it came.

    Nosepass moves to the side but still takes a glancing blow from the rock, shattering it and sending him spinning to the ground.

    "Marshtomp. Mud Slap!"

    "Nosepass, get up!"

    Marshtomp rushes in just as Nosepass begins to hover back up and slaps a water-coated hand along the dirt ground, throwing up a thick wall of mud that slams into Nosepass like a run-away truck, throwing the Rock-type all the way into the barrier. The compass pokemon sinks to the ground but quickly hovers back up, though with a noticeable wobble.

    "Sudden evolution or not, we''re not about to give up!" Roxanne calls, "Nosepass, Double-Edge!"

    Brendan''s grin turns brittle. "Uh oh."

    Nosepass shoots forward headfirst like a bullet, smashing into Marshtomp''s stomach and knocking the wind out of him. The tackle is so fast and violent that Marshtomp is picked up off his feet and smashed into the psychic barrier again for the second time in the match.

    The mudfish gets his fight back quickly and punches Nosepass several times with his powerful fists before finally blasting Nosepass with a point-blank Watergun, shaking off the compass pokemon.

    Nosepass backs up, letting Roxanne order him again. "Double-Edge!"

    Marshtomp crosses his arms in a block and takes the bone-rattling blow again with a wince when he''s crushed into the psychic wall again.

    "Marshtomp, you can pull through! They can''t!" Brendan orders, smiling.

    ''Some kind of code phrase?'' Lee wonders. ''But what move would...!''

    Marshtomp falls to his knees and takes another Double-Edge with a grimace, his arms shaking. When Nosepass winds up for attack again, Marshtomp suddenly stands and cocks back a brightly glowing fist.

    ''Bide. Damn good move.''

    Marshtomp roars and throws his fist forward like a meteor to meet Nosepass''s Double-Edge. For a half-second, time seems to slow, then the point of contact between the two pokemon explodes in a dramatic plume that fills the whole arena with dust and shakes the Gym to its core.

    After a long minute, the dust begins to clear, showing a bruised and panting Marshtomp...

    ...Standing over an unmoving Nosepass, whose rocky shell is covered in spiderweb cracks.

    The referee holds up three fingers and counts them down. Three, two, one. A horn sounds over the speakers. "Nosepass is unable to battle! Marshtomp and Brendan Birch win! The challenger is the victor!"

    The crowd, Lee and Zinnia included, rise and give a deafening ovation for the winners. The barriers shimmer and fall, letting Brendan race into the arena and hop the crater in the middle to pull Marshtomp in a hug. The pokemon totally ignores his bruising to hug his trainer back.

    Roxanne sighs and recalls Nosepass, saying something quietly to the ball before shrinking it and putting it away. She clears her throat in her microphone and everyone quiets down. She makes her way to the center of the arena and offers Brendan and Marshtomp a smile. "Brendan, you, Shroomish, and Marshtomp battled well today, better than I could have ever hoped. With a combination of strategy, power, and close bonds, you''ve overcome your first Gym challenge and show everyone how bright the future is with young trainers like yourself rising to take the mantle one day. I am happy to present you with the Stone Badge."

    She holds out a hand, where the glittering Stone Badge lay, letting Brendan take it gingerly. The boy can''t help but grin like a loon and raise it over his head to the crowd, who cheers again.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Oh jeez, I wasn''t even the one battling and I''m beat..."

    Lee watches Brendan lean back on the bench outside the Pokemart he, Brendan, and Zinnia visited after Brendan dropped his pokemon off at the Pokemon Center. Marshtomp just needs rest, but Shroomish needed a longer visit after taking a Self-Destruct.

    "High-stress battling does that," Zinnia comments, finishing off the soda she got from the Pokemart and throwing it into a trashcan by the sidewalk. "Just your body pumping adrenaline tires you out."

    "I was the same way after my battle with Roxanne," Lee says, petting the dozing vixen in his lap as he watches the people and pokemon walk by on the street. A few of them had come up earlier to ask for pictures with Brendan, who bashfully accepted. ''Being in the Gym Circuit kind of turns you into a pro athlete I guess.''

    "I still can''t believe that Mudk- er, Marshtomp evolved mid-battle," Brendan says, rolling Marshtomp''s ball in his hand with a mystified expression. The ball shakes in reply, making him smile.

    "Whatever you''re doing with him, it must be working. I imagine that Shroomish and whatever pokemon you catch next will be following along shortly," Lee says, turning to Brendan with a smile.

    The boy rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Heh. I''ve, well, kind of been winging it and maybe copying you a little, Lee. You''re the best trainer I know, after all." He steadfastly ignores Zinnia''s raised brow and cleared throat. "Best I know," he says again.

    Lee blinks at the unexpected admission as warmth blooms in his chest. "Well, uh. Thanks, Brendan. That means a lot to me, even if I''m pretty mediocre."

    Brendan just rolls his eyes. "C''mon man, just take the compliment. I mean it."

    The scarred trainer exhales a half-laugh and smiles. "Alright, don''t get so huffy."

    Brendan grins back and reaches into his bag to fish out a slim aluminum case, popping it open to admire the Stone Badge resting within again. Besides the badge, seven empty slots await.

    ''A hundred and fifty fucking credits for a League branded badge case. The League really knows how to rip that paycheck right back out of you,'' Lee thinks with a scoff. His own Stone Badge simply rests in an inner pocket in his bag. ''I have to admit, it does look nice, though.''

    Then with zero warning, a hand reaches out from behind them and snatches the badge case right out of Brendan''s hand.

    "Hey!" Brendan cries, whirling around to see a man in a red hoodie booking it down the street in a full sprint, pushing startled people out of his way.

    "Oh no you don''t!" Lee snarls, palming Corvisquire''s ball and standing. Behind him, a grim-faced Zinnia takes a pokeball of her own. With a mighty hurl, Lee sends his pokeball high, where it pops open and lets out Corvisquire with a loud cry.

    "Corvisquire! Don''t lose the guy in the red!" Lee yells. Corvisquire caws in reply and zooms after the thief. "C''mon!"

    Brendon is on his feet and racing towards the man in red before Lee can even finish his last word, his expression equal parts rage and terror at the sudden theft.

    Lee runs after the boy, giving Vulpix just enough time to climb on his shoulder, with Zinnia trailing not far behind.

    The thief is quick, jumping over benches, dodging people and pokemon, sometimes running in the road between cars, and ducking whenever Corvisquire comes down to take an angry swipe at him. He moves at full tilt, forcing his pursuers to do the same as they all run deeper into Rustboro.

    "Stop! Thief!" Brendan yells, pumping his arms and legs even faster, slowly pulling away from Lee and Zinnia.

    Lee feels his lungs begin to burn from the running and his limbs slowly begin to feel heavy. He dodges past several people, almost tripping and eating cement for his trouble. With a growl, he calls up to Corvisquire. "Corvisquire! Knock him down!"

    The crow lets out a shrill shriek and dives again, making the thief tense and get ready to duck.

    It would have worked had Corvisquire not aimed for his legs.

    The man is swept off his feet by the bird, tripping and falling to the sidewalk with a pained grunt. The badge case slips from his hand and tumbles along the sidewalk to a stop. He gets up to grab at it again, but Brendan blows past him to scoop the case up off the ground. The boy, red-faced and panting, holds the case to his chest and glares at the thief with more anger than Lee has ever seen on him.

    The man gets up, his hood falling to reveal a scraggly street tough just as Zinnia, Vulpix, and Lee stop before him. Corvisquire comes down and lands, flanking the man and cutting off any escape routes.

    The thief in red growls and looks around at all the people stopping to watch the spectacle. He backs up into the street from his place on the sidewalk but stops when Corvisquire flutters over the sidewalk across the street to block him. "I can''t leave without that badge, kid. Hand it over." he says, reaching into his hoodie pocket.

    Lee freezes. ''Oh shit, he''s got a gun.'' When the man pulls out a pair of pokeballs, the zoologist breathes a sigh of relief. ''Thank god... Wait, pokemon are more dangerous than any gun. Shit, again.''

    "Back up!" Zinnia shouts, fanning her arms out to ward away the bystanders, who all wisely comply with fearful chatter.

    The thief throws the pokeballs in his hand, both bursting open midair.

    One materializes into a Houndour, and the other into a Buizel.

    The Houndour snarls and the Buizel gazes at everyone with a reluctant stare, not a single sign of aggression.

    ''Yellow teeth, patchy fur, underweight, these pokemon are not well cared for,'' Lee frowns. ''I''ll have to see if the League places criminal pokemon in rehab homes after this.''

    "Vulpix, run damage control for Houndour''s fire attacks, Corvisquire, makes sure no one runs," Lee says, reaching for his final pokeball. Vulpix slides off his shoulder and takes several steps back, watching Houndour carefully as Corvisquire''s eyes narrow at being sidelined.

    "If it''s a fight you want, it''s a fight you got, pal!" Brendan says, unclipping Marshtomp''s ball. "Marshtomp! You''re up!"

    Marshtomp appears before the thief''s pokemon, still covered in battle damage from his Gym battle against Nosepass, with a loud, echoing cry that makes both pokemon flinch.

    "Treecko, get ready!" Lee throws his pokeball too.

    The wood gecko takes form next to Marshtomp, regarding his opponents with dismissal. Instead, he turns his envious eyes to Marshtomp and clenches his jaw so minutely that Lee almost misses it.

    Houndour''s bravado lessens when faced with Treecko and Marshtomp, and Buizel just closes his eyes with a long-suffering sigh.

    "Buizel, Aqua Jet! Houndour, Ember!" The thief opens up with a yell.

    "Treecko, intercept Buizel!" Lee wastes no time countering.

    Treecko zooms forward in a Quick Attack and meets the water-coated Buizel in the middle of the makeshift street battlefield, the pair struggling for a moment before Treecko overpowers Buizel. The water weasel is knocked aside and thrown down hard to the hot asphalt. Treecko doesn''t give Buizel a moment to rest and uses Absorb without any prompting. Buizel squeals and writhes in pain as his life energy is stolen away from him.

    Meanwhile, Marshtomp steps up before Houndour, taking the Ember attack meant for Treecko without even a flinch. The mudfish even has the gall to croak out a mocking laugh. Vulpix''s Ember is thrice as powerful on a bad day!

    "Is that your best?" Brendan taunts with a laugh of his own. "Marshtomp, Watergun!"

    "Shit! Houndour, run!" The man in red yells.

    The dog pokemon tenses to leap away, but Marshtomp''s Watergun is far too fast. It catches Houndour just as he jumps, battering and throwing the yelping canine down the street until he rolls into a mailbox with a painful clang, leaving a body-sized dent.

    Lee winces. ''Shit. I hope we don''t have to pay for any damages...''

    Buizel finally musters up the effort to fire a Watergun at Treecko, who cancels Absorb and ducks the attack with room to spare. He leaps back to Lee''s feet, looking at his trainer and awaiting an order. Buizel, meanwhile, slowly gets to his feet.

    The cocky look on the thieving trainer''s face is now absent, replaced now with naked panic. "H-Houndour, get up! Buizel, uh..." He stutters. "Use Swift on both of them!"

    Buizel grits his teeth and whirls around, shooting a fan of shining rays at Treecko and Marshtomp.

    Treecko steps into the rays and weaves around them, doing so easily after having to face Corvisquire''s much faster, deadlier version. The Swift rays can''t turn fast enough and most crash into the ground with pops, kicking up loose asphalt.

    With another croaking laugh, Marshtomp simply bats the Swift out of the air with barely a wince when the Swift hits his arm.

    The few fliers are quickly taken care of by well-aimed fireballs from Vulpix before they can hit someone.

    Buizel''s furry shoulders slump in disbelief while his trainer can only gape.

    Back near the mailbox where he impacted, Houndour limps to his feet, favoring one hind leg over the other. He regards Lee, Brendan, Treecko, and Marshtomp with his head low and ears laid back, all his bravado dead.

    ''What was this guy expecting when he stole from a kid who just beat them Gym?'' Lee wonders. ''Did this guy have any idea what he was getting into? It can''t be th-'' Then a thought strikes him. ''Oh. Gym Leaders use underpowered teams to issue challenges. This guy didn''t know we fought Roxanne for real...''

    "Treecko, finish this with Quick Attack."

    Before Buizel can react, Treecko blitzes him with Quick Attack, knocking the breath from his lungs and throwing the weasel end over end. He lands nearly twenty feet away, unmoving and breath coming out in sharp gasps.

    Houndour needs only to look at his fallen teammate for a moment before laying down submissively and whimpering, trying to shrink under Marshtomp''s savage visage.

    The thief blinks, as if not understanding what just happened. He looks between his fallen Buizel and his surrendering Houndour, mouth dropping open in surprise.

    Brendan grins. "Busted. Give it up, creep."

    Shrill whistles cut through the air as someone pushes their way through the gathered crowd. "Everyone put your hands in the air! You''re all under arrest for unlawful battling in city limits!"

    Rustboro''s Officer Jenny pushes her way into the circle that formed around the battle with a Growlithe hot on her heels. Her angry hazel eyes scan over the silent crowd. "Well?! Is someone going to explain or do I have to force it out of you?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Here are your IDs back, boys."

    Lee idly takes his ID back from Officer Jenny as he watches the red hoodie thief be loaded into a squad car by a regular officer. The Buizel and Houndour were easily contained by their balls thanks to their injuries, but their ultimate fate is still a mystery to him.

    "We can''t charge you with anything since you''re League lab trainers acting as peace officers, but try to avoid damaging things next time," Jenny says dryly, glancing at the dented mailbox another officer is photographing.

    Brendan has the decency to look sheepish.

    "Any idea what the guy''s motive was?" Zinnia asks from her place at Lee''s side.

    Jenny looks at Zinnia with a raised brow before turning her gaze to Lee.

    "She''s with us," he confirms. "It won''t hurt to tell her."

    The police officer nods. "He said his tomfoolery was to impress a recent radical eco group called ''Magma'', as they want some sort of merit before they admit members.-"

    The world slows to a stop for Lee as he focuses on four words Jenny said in particular.

    "Radical eco group."

    ...And "Magma."

    ''Holy fucking shit, I totally forgot about them,'' Lee feels dread pool in his stomach like ice water. ''Those maniacs Magma and Aqua are going to try and tear apart the world, and I''ve already fucked up the timeline just by being here. God only knows the damage I''ve caused by catching Ash fucking Ketchem''s Hoenn ace. Jesus Christ, Lee, what is wrong with you?!'' From his shoulder, Vulpix presses her face to his cheek to try and ease the turmoil, but only succeeds in taking the barest edge off.

    ''-We''re about to upgrade them to a gang if this keeps up. My guess is he wanted to pose as a trainer who got a badge." Jenny finishes.

    Lee has to bite his tongue to stop himself from insisting that Magma be sent right to the top of Hoenn''s threat list as terrorists. How would he explain what he knows?

    "Tch, what a loser," Brendan says, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "C''mon, did some two-bit gangster wannabe really think he could beat us?"

    "One Gym win and it goes to your head," Zinnia scoffs with an unladylike snort. "Oh Shrimpy, the world is going to chew you up."

    "Again with the shrimp thing!" Brendan turns to Zinnia, staring daggers at her. "You''re like three inches taller than I am, thats hardly tall!"

    "Taller than you," she smirks.

    Brendan wrings his fingers like he wants to strangle the tanned woman while Jenny watches bewildered.

    ''Joy, a crisis is slowly moving it''s way towards us and these two are my back-up.'' The scarred man screws his eyes shut and tries to fight away his blooming headache. ''Love? I''m sorry in advance for being a needy bastard, but you''re the only one I can rely on around here.''

    Vulpix lets out a scratchy, vulpine chortle.

 Act 1: Chapter 11

    "...Magma and Aqua, huh?"

    Lee nods, but remembers that Birch can''t exactly see him on a normal phone. "Yeah," he says, glancing over to the rest of the people in the Rustboro Pokemon Center from his spot in the corner. "Sorry Professor, I just sort of... forgot in all the excitement of the last few weeks."

    "It''s fine, Lee." Birch says back. The professor is quiet for a moment, seemingly troubled. Then he lets out a sigh. Lee can vaguely hear the man stroke his short beard in thought. "I can''t very well force this issue, law enforcement is out of my jurisdiction, but I''m going to tip off my League contact that Magma and Aqua may be a bigger threat than originally expected."

    Lee blinks. "You can''t take this to the Elite Four or Steven Stone?"

    "I can, but its going to look very suspect if I say my newest trainer unearthed two terrorist organizations without any proof. We''ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. There are a lot of channels this has to travel through before it reaches their level, and the League may start an official investigation. They''ll want as much detail as possible, so review what info you can give without outing your origins beforehand."

    The zoologist frowns and rubs his face when the action pulls at his scars. "Huh. Bureaucratic red tape. Guess it can''t be escaped anywhere."

    The professor laughs. "The only certain things in life are death and the government being filled with bureaucratic busybodies, or something like that. I''ll get it sent up asap, and Lee?" Birch''s tone shifts. "I don''t want to put more responsibility on you, but steer Brendan away from trouble, please? He''s my only child."

    An anxious lump forms in Lee''s throat. "Of...Of course, Professor. I''ll do my best."

    Birch is silent for a few seconds. "That''s all I can ask, really. Thanks for letting me know about Aqua and Magma. Stay safe, Lee."

    "Same to you, Professor," Lee murmurs, pulling the phone away from his ear and ending the call.

    "Vul?"

    Lee looks to his shoulder where Vulpix lays draped in her usual spot. "Yeah, I do believe that they''re still going to be threats, even with the League aware," he murmurs, too low for anyone sans Vulpix to hear. "Trouble has a way of being persistent like that."

    The little vixen frowns and flicks an ear, perfectly mirroring Lee''s own expression.

    "Whats with the gloomy staring contest?"

    Man and fox break their eye contact to look to the side, where Zinnia strolls up. The woman stops before them and puts her hands on her hips. "Well?"

    Lee grumbles and glances at the time on his phone. 4:34 pm, it reads. "Just thinking is all. I don''t think the robber today is the last we''ll see of Magma, so we should keep an eye out. That''s what my call with Birch was about."

    Zinnia scoffs and shakes her head, but stops halfway through the motion as if second-guessing herself. "Right, sure..." she replies with a slow nod, her suddenly intense eyes boring into Lee.

    Lee breaks the impromptu staring contest quickly and looks away, nervousness bubbling in his stomach from Zinnia''s unexpected focus. "Yeah, uh..."

    ''That wasn''t suspect, was it? I know she''s already on to me for knowing her tribe, but a warning about criminals is worthy of scrutiny?''

    The dragon tamer eases off her glare and leans back some, stretching her arms up and letting out a yawn. "I dunno about you two, but I could use a nap after today."

    "Hey! It''s you again!"

    Lee glances around Zinnia to the voice that called them and snorts past the sudden guilt he feels. "Good luck with that. Trouble just walked in," he tells Zinnia, who blinks and turns around.

    Walking into the Pokemon Center and heading towards him and Zinnia is none other than Ash and his friends. Ash and Pikachu lead with May and Max on his heels. Brock brings up the rear just a few steps behind.

    ''Why did it take them so long? We''ve been in Rustboro for a week now. Does the anime meander more than I remember?'' Lee idly wonders.

    "It''s good to see you again, Lee." Ash greets with a smile. On his shoulder, Pikachu offers his own greeting with an enthusiastic "Pika!"

    "Is this the kid you didn''t want to travel with? He doesn''t look like much." Zinnia bluntly asks Lee, making Ash''s smile falter.

    Lee elbows Zinnia in the side, making her hiss. "Can you not be rude for like five minutes? I said, and mark my words, ''A grown stranger traveling with children is going to look very strange'' and I stand by that. Ash and his friends are a good sort." That restores Ash''s smile.

    "So how was your trip through the woods?" Lee asks, then his eyes move to Brock and Max, who look back at him curiously. "And who are the new faces?"

    "It went swell!" Ash replies, a beaming smile on his face. "We had a blast! We met a ton of new pokemon and people, and on the way in we passed by a huge tree that fell. I didn''t find a Treecko like I wanted, but I did find this great Seedot!"

    Again, Lee''s guilt at taking Ash''s-HIS Treecko is like a strike to the gut. "Hah... That''s great."

    The young Kanto trainer then turns to his friend. "Oh yeah! You''ve met May-"

    The girl in question offers a short wave and a quiet "Hi..." to Lee and looks away, a pink blush painted across her face.

    ''Please don''t tell me thats what I think it is...'' Lee hopes to himself, feeling Vulpix''s amusement bleeding over to him as May nervously twiddles her fingers. Zinnia glances at Lee with a smirk, telling him she noticed too. ''Fucking really?''

    "-This is Max Maple, May''s brother," Ask introduces the smaller, bespectacled boy, totally oblivious to May''s fidgeting. "He wants to be a pokemon trainer one day too, so he tagged along for our journey to see what it''s like."

    The small boy steps forward, smile fading as he''s seemingly intimidated by the scarred man and red-eyed woman before him. "U-uh. Nice to meet you..?" He mumbles, raising a trembling hand to shake.

    From Lee''s shoulder, Vulpix huffs, drawing eyes to her before she leaps to the ground soundlessly. Max''s intimidation is quickly replaced by wonder as the vixen walks up to him, seating herself and holding up a paw in the classic ''shake'' pose.

    Max is quick to take the offered shake with a budding grin, and when Vulpix doesn''t protest, reaches out to pet her. She even makes a show of leaning into Max''s hand. Behind him, Ash, May, and Brock brighten up at the sight.

    With a short laugh, Lee takes the reigns of the conversation once more. "It''s nice to meet you, Max. You''ve obviously met Vulpix."

    The young boy nods, reluctantly pulling away from Vulpix to adjust his glasses. When his hand leaves Vulpix, she leaps back to Lee''s shoulder, silently grumbling about her now mussed fur.

    ''Love you, Vulpix.''

    Her grumbling continues for a moment before she acknowledges the message with a little touch of mental affection.

    "And this is Brock," Ash finishes his intros, raising a hand to the tanned teen behind him. "He''s a good friend I''ve been traveling with since my first circuit."

    Brock steps forward with a hand ready. "It''s nice to meet you. I''ve got a Vulpix myself, and it speaks a lot about you that she''s so calm around strangers."

    Lee takes the offered handshake with a small grin. "I assure you, she makes it much too easy for me. A normal Vulpix probably would have torched me by now."

    Brock laughs. "Well now that we''ve got that out of the way..." He turns his eyes to Zinnia.

    "Oh no..." May mutters, turning her embarrassed visage away in advance.

    ''So he''s already done this several times, eh?''

    "Who might this lovely flower be?!" Brock exclaims, rushing up to take Zinnia''s hand, drawing the eyes of the entire Pokemon Center. Lee can already feel his face heating up in second-hand embarrassment as Vulpix just stares.

    "Uhh..." Like most of Brock''s ''victims'', Zinnia seems stunned initially and takes a hesitant step back. "Zinnia is the name."

    "Zinnia..." Brock gushes with a goofy smile. "A beautiful name for a beautiful woman..."

    A moment later, Zinnia''s face takes on a sickly sweet, almost vile smirk, one promising mischief. "Brock, huh?" she swoons in a manner only a love-struck fool would believe. "Oh, goodness me I''ve needed a man like you," she slowly looks away, a dusting of red lighting her cheeks. "The boys I''ve been traveling with can''t appreciate the company of a woman, a woman with needs like me."

    Ash''s crew look on, all of them visibly confused by the turn of events, and none of them getting Zinnia''s undertone.

    Brock, however, does. Even squinting, his eyes light up like Christmas came early. "I-I''d love to provide for you in any way I can!"

    Zinnia leans in, unsubtly puffing her chest up to push out her bust against her already tight shirt. "Really?"

    "Really!" Brock agrees, head little more than a blur as he nods along.

    "Well," Zinnia coyly looks away with a smile. "There is this TM for Dragon Pulse in the Pokemart..."

    "Begone, thot!"

    Zinnia yelps when someone grabs her cloak and physically pulls her away from Brock, leaving the tanned teen dumbfounded.

    Lee turns, finding a scowling Brendan with the end of Zinnia''s cloak balled up in his hand. "Don''t try and pull that on the poor guy! He obviously doesn''t know any better!"

    "You little shit!" Zinnia whirls around to pull Brendan in a headlock with an irritated growl. Brendan struggles and cries out in pain when the draconid woman drags her knuckles across his skull in a violent noogie.

    "Let go of me, woman!" Brendan coughs as he tries to pry himself from her grasp. "Ever heard of deodorant? Your pits stink!"

    "Fucking..." Zinnia redoubles her abuse, making the young Birch flail.

    Lee turns to the now sobered Brock and the rest of the kids with a fragile smile. "This is what I travel with. Fun, right?"

    May takes her hands off of an annoyed Max''s ears with a frown. "Foul-mouthed, more like."

    "Oh, get over yourself, girly," Zinnia says, finally letting Brendan go. The boy grumbles and takes off his hat to fix his hair as Zinnia levels May with a raised brow. "Hang out with Mister Henson here for any length of time, and you''re going to hear a real potty mouth," she points a thumb at Lee.

    May''s ire settles in record time as she glances Lee''s way. "W-Well, a little is okay I guess if it''s not too much..." She murmurs, looking down at her feet and poorly hiding her pink face.

    Lee stifles the instinctive response to call Zinnia something unflattering and just sighs. "So, Ash. Taking the gym challenge in Rustboro?"

    "You know it!" Ash grins, Pikachu adding his own short cry to the reply. Ash''s grin falls a little when he pulls a little card from his pocket, a gym acknowledgment like Lee and Brendan got. "We have to wait five days though..." He mutters.

    Brendan finally finishes fixing his hair and joins the rest of the group''s little circle. "Yeah, there are record numbers of trainers starting this year," he says, replacing his white beanie back onto his head. "The wait times are expected to only go up as the year goes on."

    Ash groans and slumps. On his shoulder, Pikachu pats his trainer''s cheek with a paw to try and console him.

    "That''s pretty inline with my time as a Gym Leader," Brock chimes in with a nod. "Though, I think Kanto has a larger population of trainers than Hoenn, so give or take a few days."

    "But I didn''t have to wait for our battle?" Ash turns to Brock, a look of confusion overtaking him. "I didn''t have to wait in all of Kanto, or Johto for that matter."

    Brock nods. "Professor Oak''s Lab Trainers get moved to the front of the line for a lot of services in Kanto and Johto, so every time you signed up for a Gym battle, you got the next spot. Hoenn doesn''t practice that."

    "What?!" Brendan squawks. "Why don''t we get that here?! What a jip!"

    "Well, I''m rearing for a battle now!" Ash looks directly up at Lee, who feels himself shrink. "I really want to see what Seedot and Taillow can do. What do you say?" On his shoulder, Pikachu''s cheeks spark in anticipation.

    "Fine by me."

    Everyone turns to Zinnia, who smiles and takes a single step forward. "The boys had their fun with the Gym and the crook we busted, but I haven''t had a good battle since I battled Lee back in Oldale. If you want a fight, then it''ll be with me. I want to see what a Lab Trainer under Professor Oak can do."

    The Kanto-born trainer grins and doesn''t protest the opponent change at all. "Awesome! Around the back of the Pokemon Center?"

    "Ash," Brock gently starts. "We need to have our pokemon treated by Nurse Joy first, remember? We were just on the road for a week."

    Ash pulls the brim of his hat down over his eyes sheepishly. "Ah, right..."

    "Whats this about a busted crook?" Max asks, looking towards Zinnia, who in turn glances at Brendan.

    Brendan grins, dipping a hand into his bag to pull out the now scuffed badge case to show everyone. "Some dork looking to impress a gang swiped my badge, but me and Lee ran him down and beat him in a two-on-two pokemon battle. You shoulda seen it! My Marshtomp and Lee''s Treecko stomped his Houndour and Buizel easy."

    "We won because he was a poor trainer with weak and malnourished pokemon," Lee dryly interjects, raining on Brendan''s parade and making the boy turn to him with a betrayed look. "If he had been a bit more competent, or his pokemon in better health, we could have been in serious danger, Brendan. I want to keep my near-death scrapes as infrequent as possible, thanks."

    "What''s wrong with a bit of danger?" Ash asks, sounding genuinely confused. He crosses his arms with Pikachu mimicking him. "We''ve been in a bunch of near-death situations before and gotten out just fine."

    "I''m sorry, what?" May quietly asks behind him, looking over to Brock, who just chuckles nervously and shrugs.

    Lee pinches the bridge of his nose and screws his eyes shut. ''That''s because you and your friends have plot armor, Ash.'' Outwardly, he sighs and opens his eyes again. "We won''t keep you guys all day. We''ve got a few things to do today before we get back on the road," Lee shoots a look to Zinnia and Brendan from the corner of his eye, and thankfully, both get the hint and nod along. "I gotta admit, I''m looking forward to Zinnia and Ash''s match, so-"

    "Oh shoot that''s right!" Ash needs no other prompting as he rushes to get in line for the Nurse''s desk.

    As he sprints to the end of the line, May turns to Brock with unease plain on her face. "Brock? What was that about the near-death situations?"

    The older teen sighs and shakes his head. "Don''t worry about it, May," he says, walking to join Ash.

    "Normally when you tell someone don''t worry about it they''re going to keep worrying," Max dryly comments as he and his still unsure sister follow after Brock.

    Lee, Vulpix, Brendan, and Zinnia are left alone in the corner of the Pokemon Center.

    "Yeah, now I know going with you was the better option, Lee," Brendan says after a long moment.

    "Near-death being common for him?" Zinnia wonders aloud. "I know Oak has made some badass trainers over the years, but that seems a little..."

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Lee just slowly shakes his head and reaches up to stroke Vulpix under her chin. "Now you see why I didn''t want to hang out with him?" He asks, looking back to the group of kids nearing the front of the Pokemon Center line. "We''ve already been in a hospital fire and nearly been killed by a sky-scraper sized tree. I''m already over my quota of dumb shit for the next decade."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Less than an hour later, both groups of trainers were outside behind the Pokemon Center at the property''s sole battlefield.

    Standing across from each other, Ash and Zinnia both grin widely, Ash''s an innocent expression of happiness while Zinnia''s is much more savage, almost manic.

    Off the side, Brendan, Lee, Vulpix, May, Pikachu, and Max stand as Brock moves to take the referee spot at the side of the arena.

    "Why is this Zinnia lady so eager to battle Ash?" Max turns and asks Lee and Brendan with a raised brow. "She knows he''s an expert trainer with like two leagues under his belt already, right?"

    Brendan nods, focusing on the upcoming match with unusual intensity. "That''s precisely why. Zinnia is a Dragon Tamer. Dragon-Types grow fastest in battle, and the more desperate the odds, the better the progress."

    "Correct me if I''m wrong, but Ash just caught the pokemon he''s about to use, right?" Lee asks, getting nods from May and Max. "Let''s hope he''s great at planning on the fly, then. If not..."

    May, who is holding Pikachu, looks his way. "If not..?"

    Lee grunts. "This will be a short match. Zinnia should not be taken lightly."

    At the side of the arena, Brock takes his place. "This will be a standard two-on-two match between Ash Ketchum and Zinnia. Trainers may substitute. Matches will go one-on-one until one trainer is down two pokemon. Challenger chooses first."

    "Alright!" Ash takes a pokeball from his belt, complete with a dramatic hat-turn, and lobs the ball into the field. "Taillow! You''re up!"

    The pokeball splits open with its distinctive pop, and in a flash of white, a fluttering Taillow takes form over the field with a shrill tweet. The bird looks back to Ash, who smiles in return.

    "A bird, huh?" Zinnia remarks, pulling her own pokeball from her cloak. "I''ll answer in kind. Swablu! Out you go!"

    Zinnia''s ball is thrown just as high as Ash''s was, snapping open to release Swablu in a flash of light. She trills out a light note and locks eyes with Taillow, who glares back.

    Back down at the sidelines, May gasps, her eyes practically shining. "It''s so cute! What is that pokemon?" she gushes, freeing an arm from holding Pikachu to pull out her Pokedex.

    "Swablu, the Cotton Bird Pokemon. Swablu is a cleanly pokemon that often lives in or near cities. If it''s cotton-like wings become dirty, Swablu will diligently wash them in a source of clean water." The dex rattles off a little blurb and displays more details to May on the screen.

    "Ready?" Brock asks both trainers, raising a hand.

    "Ready!" Ask calls.

    Zinnia''s grin just widens.

    Brock''s hand chops down. "Begin!"

    "Mist!" Zinnia cries.

    Swablu rapidly flaps her wings, expelling a Mist so thick and opaque it looks as if it could be cut with a knife. The Mist slowly rolls over the field, more a cloud than a mist, engulfing Swablu and making its way to Taillow.

    Ash doesn''t sit idle for long. "Taillow! Blow it away!"

    The little bird cries an aggressive chirp and flaps his wings as hard as he can, kicking up a miniature gale around himself. The supernatural Mist barely even stirs, however, instead crawling forward lethargically.

    "Wha..?" Ash blinks as Taillow trills loudly and tries again, only to get the same ineffective result

    "What gives? Taillow should be able to blow Mist away easily. It''s just water vapor." Max exclaims.

    "Yeah, what''s up with that?" May chimes in, shyly looking up at Lee. In her arms, Pikachu looks just as bewildered.

    When Brendan looks to him for an explanation too, Lee wracks his brain for an answer. Vulpix is quick to nose his cheek and telepathically offer what she remembers from reading over his shoulder. "Well, this is just speculation, but Swablu might be overcharging Mist with Ice or Water energy, giving it much more substance than normal. A smart move, considering Taillow is much faster than Swablu, and a beefed-up Mist is a serious speed-bump."

    "But if the Mist is that thick, how is Swablu going to fight from inside it?"

    Zinnia''s grin takes on the same feral look it did when she and Bagon battled Vulpix. "Dragon Pulse!"

    The inside of the Mist glows an ominous blue, then a second later a stream of wild, whirling blue shoots out of the cloud, engulfing Taillow with frightening accuracy. The bird screeches and flails, diving out of the Dragon Pulses way and looking painfully crispy for the effort. For a second, Swablu can be seen hovering in the cloud through the hole Dragon Pulse made before the Mist closes around her.

    "What?!" Ash yells, his confusion is swiftly traded for alarm. "Taillow! Are you okay?!"

    The second Taillow takes his eyes off the Mist to turn to Ash, Zinnia barks another order. "Dragon Pulse!"

    The cloud glows blue, and once more a stream of spinning dragon fire shoots from it like a flamethrower, heading straight for Taillow.

    "Taillow, watch out!"

    Taillow spreads his wings to escape, launching up and away just in time. The Dragon Pulse hits the ground where he was a half-second later, heating it to red hot after just a few seconds. All the while, the Mist grows and eats more and more of Ash and Taillow''s side of the field.

    Lee watches the match closely, idly noting May and Max''s wide-eyed expressions. ''I''ve seen Zinnia use this tactic a few times, but never with this much... hostility? She stopped using it altogether when Marshtomp learned Foresight and when you proved you could evaporate her Mist.'' Vulpix silently agrees on his shoulder, pressing her warm, furry cheek to his as he thinks. ''How is she seeing in the Mist anyway? It''s not Foresight, Swablu can''t learn that... Or can she? Sounds would be a bit muted in the Mist as well, so it can''t be pure hearing...''

    Taillow flits through the air in a panicked, patternless flight-path as Dragon Pulse attacks shoot from the Mist, nearly hitting him every time.

    "Taillow!" Ash cries, suddenly looking determined. "Dive into the holes that Dragon Pulse makes in the mist! Then use Wing Attack!"

    The bird rolls out of the way of another Dragon Pulse and charges right for the barely visible Swablu in the mist, his wings glowing a bright white.

    Zinnia''s grin doesn''t waver in the slightest, in fact, it grows. "Swablu! Hit and Run!"

    Swablu trills and dives into the thick of the Mist, Taillow just barely missing her. Taillow halts and hovers mid-air, looking around as the Mist closes around him.

    Brendan hisses and Lee frowns. ''Bad move.''

    Once Taillow is obscured, there is a loud thwack and startled tweet in the cloud, rapidly followed up by another, more violent THWACK and a pained cry from Taillow.

    THWACK

    THWACK

    THWACK

    THWACK

    Taillow is struck over and over again by Swablu from inside the dense wall of fog, and each time Taillow''s cries sound lower and lower until the noise comes from ground level, then...

    THWACK!

    Battered and bleeding, a barely conscious Taillow is ejected from the fog, skipping across the ground, once, twice, then sliding to a stop on Ash''s side of the field.

    "Taillow!" Ash screams, his face screwed up in panic.

    May and Max lean forward, their whole forms radiating anxiety. Even Brock''s stoney face is creased in concern.

    The bird pokemon''s eyes snap open, taking on a determined glint. With sheer force of will, he rolls to his feet and stands, panting harshly as he does so.

    Mist begins to fade, revealing Swablu still unharmed and hovering mid-air, but her tiny chest huffs and puffs rapidly.

    ''I can''t imagine that Swablu has the best stamina, but does holding Mist really take that much effort?'' Lee idly wonders.

    Vulpix purrs in her chest. Unbidden, images of Swablu''s Dragon Pulse attacks come to mind right in the mental junction between Lee and Vulpix.

    ''Good point.''

    "Taillow, are you okay to keep going?" Ash asks uneasily, clenching a fist.

    Taillow turns to his trainer, the bird''s eyes saying everything.

    Zinnia, surprisingly, doesn''t jump on the opportunity Taillow presents by turning away. Instead, she slowly frowns, a sharp contrast to her earlier visage. "You''re on the ropes. What''s your plan?"

    ''Wrong thing to say,'' Lee grimaces. ''I can feel Ash''s plot armor activating now.''

    "Easy," Ash smiles as his eyes glint with determination. "We can be tricky, too! Taillow! Use Double Team!"

    Taillow opens his wings with a loud cry, ghostly illusions taking form around him and obscuring the real Taillow. Taillow''s cries seem to come from every single copy in a calamitous din.

    "Now, Quick Attack!"

    Zinnia openly scoffs. "Hyper Voice," she orders.

    All of the Taillows rocket at Swablu from the front, appearing as if a whole flock decided to descend on a single pokemon, and all of them stop dead when Swablu opens her mouth and screams.

    Lee flinches at both the sudden, ear-splitting noise and the phantom pain he feels from his wincing Vulpix. He brings a hand up and helps her press her ears down flat.

    May and Max both yelp and clasp their hands over their own ears. Pikachu can''t shoot May a look for dropping him because he too is too busy covering his long ears with his face twisted in pain. Brock simply winces and powers through it despite being closer.

    Ash and Taillow...

    Ash grimaces, but Taillow''s doppelgangers vanish as he practically seizes mid-air. The horrid sound coming from Swablu visibility distorts the air, no doubt shaking Taillow down to his bones. He falls from the sky rigid as a corpse. It''s only halfway into his fall that Swablu finally abates her attack, letting Taillow go limp. With a sad thump, the bird pokemon crashes to the earth and does not rise.

    One, two, three...

    "Taillow is unable to battle," Brock begins, frowning as he rubs an ear. "Zinnia and Swablu are the winners."

    Ash presses a hand to his forehead and gently rubs it, no doubt trying to ward away a headache. "Wow, that was some attack..." He murmurs, drawing Taillow''s ball. The unconscious bird is sucked back into the pokeball as a mass of red light. "You did great, Taillow, take a long rest," Ash lets a thin smile rise to his face and he palms his next pokeball. "Seedot, you''re up!"

    With a throw and pop of a pokeball, a rather ordinary Seedot takes form on the field, blinking and looking back to Ash.

    ''This is Ash''s ace replacement?'' Lee wonders, feeling a bead of sweat run down his face. ''Or are things so out of wack now that he''ll have some other ace?''

    Zinnia stares at Seedot, then with a second''s lag, pulls Swablu''s ball from her belt. "I''m subbing. Swablu, return!"

    As Swablu is returned, Brendan loops up to Lee with a grimace. "She''s not about to use Shelgon against a Seedot, is she?"

    "What''s a Shelgon?" Max asks, he and May turning to Brendan and Lee.

    "A powerful Dragon-Type pokemon, the second of three evolutions in the Salamence line," Lee supplies, watching Zinnia draw a new pokeball. "But Shelgon against a fresh Seedot would be laughably one-sided. So..."

    Zinnia throws the ball in her hand. "Out you go, Goomy!"

    In a flash, the tiny, slug-like dragon takes form out in the field. He burbles and looks around, eyes landing on Seedot. Goomy quivers and sinks in on himself.

    "That pokemon looks like a booger." Max blurts. Goomy seems to hear the boy as he sinks lower into himself with a sad coo.

    Zinnia scowls and shoots Max a narrow-eyed glare, making him stiffen. "Goomy, get ready."

    The little slug reluctantly rises back to his full but diminutive height, looking at Seedot with open apprehension in his beady eyes.

    "Second match, Goomy versus Seedot, begin!" Brock chops his hand down.

    "Seedot, start us off with a Tackle!" Ash takes the initiative.

    "Goomy-" Zinnia can''t get her full order out as Goomy squeals and sinks in on himself, shivering as Seedot sprints forward. Seedot hits Goomy head-on, but largely slides off Goomy''s slick skin. Enough force is still transferred to knock Goomy back and make his body jiggle in place.

    Zinnia growls. "Goomy! Dragon Breath!"

    Goomy shivers and opens his mouth, a tiny green flame forming inside. He rears his head back and throws it forward, shooting a weak plume of dragon fire.

    Seedot sidesteps out of the way without prompting, letting the Dragon Breath scorch the ground where he stood.

    "Looks like we''re the faster ones this time!" Ash exclaims, visibly pleased by the turn of events. "Seedot! Keep the momentum going with Rollout!"

    The Acorn pokemon mutely falls to his side and begins to spin laterally, becoming a brown blur and throwing up rocks and dirt in short order.

    Goomy squeaks and again tries to sink into himself.

    Seedot shoots forward right at his foe, and Goomy either can''t or won''t dodge. With an almost cartoonish splat, Seedot runs over Goomy and leaves the little dragon crushed flat on the ground. With a weary coo, Goomy slowly pulls himself up again only for Seedot to make a wide turn and run him down again with another splat. This time, Goomy refuses to get back up, staying little more than a puddle.

    With a sigh, Zinnia runs her hand through her hair and looks over to Brock. "Call it, loverboy. Goomy decided that he''s done."

    "Uh, alright," Brock unsurely looks at Goomy, who still hasn''t gotten up. "Goomy is unable to battle, Seedot is the winner."

    Seedot cancels Rollout and stops on Ash''s side of the field, taking a few dizzy steps before righting himself. Behind him, Ash pumps his fist with a cheer. "Way to go, Seedot!"

    Zinnia returns Goomy to his ball and looks down at her hand. "C''mon, Goom. I know you can do better. Next time, okay?" She shrinks the ball and returns it to her belt, hand going back for Swablu''s ball before she stops. "Hey, Ash?"

    "Hmm?" The younger trainer responds, giving her his attention.

    "Let''s call this a draw," Zinnia closes her eyes and lets the hand hovering over Swablu''s ball drop. She re-opens her eyes and levels him with an even look. "End it with a win and loss for both of us, yeah?"

    "Uhh," The young Ketchum blinks, obviously caught flat-footed by the offer. "I guess that''s alright..."

    "Why take a draw here?" May wonders aloud. In her arms, Pikachu looks up at her with a blink.

    Brendan rubs his chin with a hum. "Dunno. Swablu would have kicked Seedot''s rear up and down the arena, and I know she''s not doing it to be nice..."

    "Alright, Seedot. You did a great job. Return," Ash holds out a pokeball and Seedot is safely stored away again. With the pokemon put away, Ash turns to Zinnia with a bright smile. "Good match," he says simply, holding out a hand for a handshake.

    The tanned woman regards his hand without moving for a second, then takes the offered handshake mechanically. "Yeah, I guess."

    Ash''s smile falters somewhat at the answer.

    The pair of trainers separate, and after a few awkward parting words, the groups split, Ash and his friends leaving to find a hotel for the night as Lee and co watch their retreating backs. Several times though, Ash looks back to Zinnia, who pretends to not notice.

    Before long, it''s just Zinnia, Brendan, Vulpix, and Lee behind the Pokemon Center.

    "I''ll go ahead and ask what''s on all our minds," Brendan starts, looking towards Zinnia with a raised brow. "Why did you give up?"

    "It was a draw, not a forfeit," Zinnia shoots back. She crosses her arms and frowns. "Swablu would have gained nothing from that battle. If it wasn''t going to help her grow, then why bother?"

    "Fun, maybe?" Brendan dryly replies. "A lot of people and pokemon battle because it''s entertaining, y''know."

    The draconid woman rolls her eyes. "Curbstomps aren''t fun. Unlike you, I don''t like my pokemon thrashing the defender in one hit. I was expecting... More."

    "He did just catch those pokemon," Lee chimes in, looking between his two friends. "A fresh Taillow and Seedot aren''t going to be a match for..." He pauses. "A trained Swablu," he sidesteps Goomy''s embarrassing defeat at the last second. "Give it time. They''ll become powerful pokemon. I doubt this is the last time we''ll run into Ash and his pals."

    Zinnia''s un-ladylike snort tells Lee how much she believes him. "So, what''s the plan from here?"

    "Unless anyone else has business in Rustboro," Lee pulls his phone from his pocket and opens a map, using two fingers to zoom in on a little island. "We''ll leave tomorrow for Dewford. The ferry port to Dewford Island is south back through Petalburg Woods, but Treecko will be about to cut down our travel time to just two or so days with his know-how of the forest, assuming we don''t find anything interesting enough to stop for. From there, it''ll be a day''s ferry ride to Dewford."

    The news of going to Dewford seems to pull Zinnia from her funk. She grins and her ruby-colored eyes sparkle. "Beach trip you say? Sign me right up!"

    "Sounds fun!" Brendan agrees. "I bet Marshtomp would love some open ocean to explore, and the Granite Cave there is said to have Aron in it!"

    Lee smiles at the enthusiasm and tilts his head to look at Vulpix, who returns his look with amusement dancing in her chocolate eyes.

    "Bright and early tomorrow, then."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Consciousness comes slowly to Lee, as the first thing he notices is the smell of a spice with no name intertwined with inoffensive hotel shampoo. His eyes crack open lethargically, Vulpix''s head tuft of crimson fur partially obscuring his vision of the darkened hotel room. A deeper breath through his nose tells him that the spice and shampoo smell is indeed Vulpix.

    The vixen''s slow breathing tickles his neck from her spot on his chest, muzzle nestled to the crook of his neck. The blanket over both he and her is overkill, as Vulpix''s toasty pelt warms him better than any covering, making him almost uncomfortable with the blanket added.

    Lee pans an eye around, spying Treecko laying at the foot of the bed with his arms behind his head, the slow rise and fall of his chest telling Lee that the tree gecko is in dreamland.

    To the right of the bed and perched on the back of one of the hotel room chairs, Corvisquire sleeps with what has to be the most peaceful face Lee has ever seen on him. He has to blink to confirm his blurry eyes weren''t just playing tricks on him.

    Finally, to the left on the other bed, Brendan and Marshtomp sleep haphazardly, the boy and pokemon a sprawl of limbs and coverings. Shroomish, sitting on a claimed pillow, rests with much more dignity.

    Blindly grasping for his phone on the nightstand, Lee clicks the power button, seeing ''6:55AM'' stare back.

    "Time to get up I guess," the man grumbles. He gently strokes the back of the fox on his chest. "Hey, love. Time to get up. Long day ahead of us."

    Vulpix''s brown eyes blink open slowly. She stands on Lee''s chest and yawns, doing a full-body stretch before pulling herself out of her trainer''s grasp. She hops off of Lee as he leans up and surveys the room. The movement wakes Treecko, who goes from asleep to conscious in a heartbeat. Lee stands and regards himself in the mirror of the vanity in the corner. The scarred, wife-beater-and-shorts clad man staring back looks like he needs some caffeine, more sleep, or both.

    Lee turns away pads forward as quietly as he can, silently thanking the nameless designer on this earth that made kitchenettes standard in hotel rooms. He gives Treecko a pat on the head as he passes, prompting the lizard pokemon to bat at his hand in annoyance, and hooks his fingers in the top-loop of his backpack by the bed, bringing it with him.

    The kitchenette in the little hotel room is equally small, being little more than an alcove with a minifridge, a small sink, a two-burner stovetop, a coffee maker, and a toaster.

    Not much, but hotels that cater to trainers know their clients need only the basics.

    Lee fills the coffee maker with the crummy hotel-provided grounds and turns it on. Afterward, he digs in his bag and pulls both a small pan and a large pot out, setting them on the only two burners. It only takes a nudge to pop open the mini-fridge, as it''s filled to bursting with a medley of meats, vegetables, eggs, and a container of various berries.

    ''Just looking at all this makes my wallet sting,'' Lee muses, eyeing the berries in particular. ''Love hurts.''

    The kitchen prepared, the man sets about making a week''s worth of food for his pokemon and breakfast for the whole group. Vulpix and Treecko lounge on the bed and watch, speaking lowly to one another.

    The smell of cooking food rouses Corvisquire and Shroomish after some time. The crow pokemon looks around, his usual scowl setting into place as merely being awake ruins his day. Shroomish, meanwhile, just watches patiently.

    Brendan and Marshtomp are the last to awaken, bedraggled boy and pokemon sluggishly rolling out of bed and walking like zombies towards the smell of breakfast.

    "About time you two got up," Lee says, scooping some of the scrambled eggs in the small pan out onto a pair of paper plates. Brendan and Marshtomp take the food without much of a reaction, both blinking blearily. Brendan also takes the steaming styrofoam cup offered to him and absently takes a sip, only to recoil in disgust.

    "Euh! What is this, boiled dirt?!" He cringes down at the cup of coffee in his hands. It''s already lightened by a considerable amount of milk and sugar.

    "Free is free, kiddo," Lee says, putting the spatula in his hand down to take a sip of his own, darker brew. He forces back a grimace when it goes down like... boiled dirt.

    There is a knock on the hotel room door. "I smell food! Let me in!"

    Treecko rolls his eyes and hops to the floor, walking over and opening the door in his trainer''s stead. Zinnia, still clad in her nightclothes of a cut-off t-shirt and shorts, glides right past Treecko with Shelgon following shortly after.

    Lee mimics Treecko''s eyeroll and hands her a plate of breakfast with a cup of coffee.

    In nine seconds flat, the tanned woman scarfs every bit of food on her plate down and drains the whole cup in one pull. "Ahhh! That hit the spot!"

    "Well, that was disgusting," Lee sighs and turns back to the stove, turning the heat on the large pot of omnivore mix off as he pulls ziplock bags from his backpack.

    "Real lady-like," Brendan agrees with a snort.

    Zinnia smirks and turns her nose up after tossing the cup and plate in the trash. "You two wouldn''t know a real lady even if one came up and kicked your ass."

    "Right..." Lee mutters. "Anyway, does everyone have everything they need? Once we''re in the woods, there is no resupplying without a huge detour." Inwardly, he wonders if the Super Potion he bought the day prior is overkill.

    Certainly felt like overkill on his bank account.

    "We''ve got everything," Brendan says, forcing the last of his rancid coffee down with a shudder. Marshtomp warbles in agreement. "Gunna go get ready now!" He turns and scoops up his backpack, quickly producing bowls of food for Marshtomp and Shroomish before slipping into the bathroom. The sounds of the shower starting follow shortly afterward.

    Zinnia scoffs. "Even if I didn''t, I''d make do. This is a beach trip we''re talking about! I''m not delaying that."

    Behind her, Shelgon nudges her leg and growls.

    The dragon-tamer sighs and slumps. "I''ll run to the Pokemart and look to make sure I didn''t miss anything." She turns back to her pokemon with the beginnings of a pout. "Happy?"

    Shelgon''s growl sounds particularly pleased.

    "Alrighty," Lee looks to his pokemon. "Anything we''re missing?"

    Corvisquire clicks his beak with narrowed eyes as if saying ''I would not tell you if there was.''

    Treecko simply shakes his head.

    Vulpix is silent for a moment, and Lee can feel her mind churning through a checklist. As fast as she started, she makes it to the bottom of the mental list and shakes her head much like Treecko.

    "Alrighty, then," The man turns to the still steaming omnivore pokemon food and bowls out two servings for Vulpix and Corvisquire as Treecko''s veggie mix just comes off the stove. "Eat up and roll out."

 Act 1: Interlude 2

    Night has fallen in Rustboro city, and after the excitement of exploring a new town had died down, Ash and Co retire to their rented rooms for the night to rest up for a long day of... school tomorrow?

    "I wonder what''s going to be in that battling class," Ash wonders aloud, kicking his shoes off and flopping back onto the fluffy hotel bed with a relaxed sigh. Pikachu hops up to rest beside him with a content "Pika..." and a smile.

    At the other bed, Brock lays out his sleeping clothes and carefully sorts through his bag. Lotad and Forretress'' pokeballs sitting by his backpack. "Hard to say, Ash." The older teen mulls over his next words. "Different regions have different styles. Kanto experts have always been big on straightforward power, and Johto is much the same since they''re neighbors. I have no idea how high-level Hoenn trainers like to battle."

    Ash hums in thought and glances at the old CRT TV on the stand before the beds, a smile coming to him. "Hey, I bet we can find out a little of what we''re in for," he says, reaching over Pikachu to the nightstand and grabbing the TV remote. A flick of the power button later, and the TV buzzes to life, opening on some cheesy soap opera.

    There is a knock on the door as Ash cycles through the channels, and Brock pauses sorting his things to turn and open the door, revealing May, Torchic, and Max. The latter of the trio is closing their room door across the hallway.

    "Hey guys, what are you up to?" May asks, stepping in with Torchic held in her arms. Max follows in shortly after.

    "Trying to see if there is a League channel here," Ash answers, intently flipping through his hundredth channel. "Me and Brock were talking about that Trainer School and how different regions like to battle, and I figured what better way than to see what we''re in for tomorrow than to watch a few Hoenn trainers duke it out."

    Max hops up to sit next to Ash as the older boy groans when he passes the same grainy infomercial about evolution stone jewelry again. "Here, let me," Max says, taking the remote from Ash and looking it over, quickly finding a ''guide'' button. A few presses later, and the TV is set to the local pokemon news channel, which is in the middle of an irritatingly upbeat advert about PokeChow. "Easy."

    "Ah, oh. I knew that," Ash sheepishly rubs the back of his head and looks away.

    "I''ve only watched dad battle a few times, but he liked to throw tricks into his battles to trip up challengers," May sits on Ash''s other side. She strokes Torchic''s head, electing a pleased coo from the chick that makes her smile. "I dunno if everyone battles like that, though."

    The too-cheery commercial ends, and the screen cuts back to the news, drawing everyone''s attention.

    "Welcome back, I''m Katrina Ortega, and this is Rustboro Pokemon News, your source for local news and info," an attractive young anchorwoman behind a desk on the screen says with a wide smile. "Tonight, recent reports made by the Pokemon Rangers confirmed the felling of an ancient Evertree in the Petalburg woods, displacing a number of pokemon colonies, a Treecko colony included. Trainers in the area are advised to avoid any Treecko they encounter, as several have undergone stress evolution into Groviles and are acting in a hostile manner towards people and other pokemon." The young woman quickly flips to another page on her desk. "The Rangers are working to pacify the upset pokemon, and have had their eyes on this particular tree for some time, knowing it to be a falling risk. They ask for any information regarding the tree fall if there were anyone to witness it."

    "That huge tree falling is what scattered the Treecko?" Ash asks no-one in particular, his shoulders slumping. "What rotten luck." Pikachu pats his trainer''s arm with a tiny paw in consolidation.

    "Now, onto our top story tonight," the anchorwoman shuffles the papers on her desk once more. "Gym Leader Roxanne says the new League year is off to a dynamic start, as many talented trainers have challenged her, including both of Professor Birch''s new Lab Trainers. Professor Birch''s own son, Brendan Birch, and the more mysterious Lee Henson, both battled Roxanne''s true team and now have a Stone Badge to show for their incredible efforts."

    Behind Katrina, a portrait of a grinning Brendan Birch is displayed, and beside that, a black portrait with a question mark is unhelpfully put up.

    "Wow, I didn''t think Brendan would come so far already," May comments with a blink. "He''s way different from when we were kids."

    Max snorts. "No comment on your boyfriend, Mr Lee? Owowowow!" The young boy quickly regrets the taunt when a fuming, red-faced May reaches out and yanks his ear.

    "True team?" Ash questions aloud. Before anyone can answer, the anchorwoman continues.

    "Mister Henson''s battle was not televised, and the footage of the battle is the property of the Rustboro Trainer School, but Mister Birch''s battle was, and what a spectacular battle it was. Here, we''ll go over the battle one more time."

    The newsroom fades out in favor of a video, showing the Gym, Brendan, and Roxanne from a number of angles. Ash, May, Brock, Max, Pikachu, and Torchic watch raptly.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Not so fast. Geodude, Magnitude!"

    "Hang in there, bud! Just remember our practice!"

    The crowd roars.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    "Geodude...Self-Destruct."

    An explosion and screams.

    "Nosepass versus Mudkip, begin!"

    A boulder is shattered by a headbutt, and everyone bellows in sync.

    "I''m sorry, Mister Birch, but I won''t drag this out. Nosepass, Rock Tomb!"

    "Mudkip!"

    "Mudkip just evolved!" A commentator gasps. "The tables have turned!"

    The crowd erupts into chanting. "Marshtomp! Marshtomp! Marshtomp!"

    "Hell yeah! Now thats what I''m talking about! Marshtomp! Rush him down!"

    A thunderous explosion. A battered but unbowed Marshtomp stands and roars.

    "Nosepass is unable to battle! Marshtomp and Brendan Birch win! The challenger is the victor!"

    Cheers drown out everything else.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The video fades and returns back to the anchorwoman, but no one in the hotel room bothers listening to her, all of them processing the battle they just witnessed.

    ''What was that?'' Ash wonders, blinking. An unpleasant feeling he has no name for stirs in his stomach. ''That was way more intense than any of my first Gym battles. That was like a late Gym or even a League match! And personal team? What does that mean?'' He looks up at Brock for an answer, but the Rock specialist is lost in thought.

    "Wow..." May murmurs after a long moment. "Is... Is that normal? How extreme that was?"

    "That was like watching dad battle someone," Max says, looking dumbfounded. "But I thought Roxanne was the weakest leader..."

    Brock shakes his head. "Gym Leaders, at least in Kanto and Johto, and apparently Hoenn, have two teams. One is their personal team, and if their personal pokemon are too powerful, the Pokemon League gives them a weaker team of rental pokemon so new trainers have a fair chance, but..."

    The former Gym Leader looks back at his younger companions with an uncharacteristically severe face. "If a Gym Leader feels a challenger would be too strong for their League team, they can use their personal pokemon. The average Gym Leader''s team is usually much more powerful, ranging from above average to Elite."

    "Then... when we battled back in Pewter," Ash begins, looking to Brock with a troubled expression. "Were those your pokemon?"

    Brock hesitates. "Yes, they were my pokemon..."

    "But..." Max leads from the sidelines.

    "...But I was by far the weakest Gym Leader in Kanto, and thus was not issued a rental team," Brock reluctantly admits.

    Ash''s mouth opens as if to speak, but shuts with a click of his teeth. Beside him, Pikachu wears an expression of bold-faced surprise.

    May takes in Ash''s visage with concern. "Ash? What''s the matter? Is that a good thing that it''s easier?"

    "After everything we''ve done, I was treated with kid gloves this whole time?" The young Ketchum breathes in disbelief. He looks back to Brock, hoping for some kind of reassurance, but the tanned teen just seems confused.

    "Ash...Did you not know?" Brock probes, taken aback. "I...I thought you knew? Oh shoot, Ash! I''m so sorry! I would have said something if I had known! Honest!" Brock holds his hands up in a preemptive gesture of surrender. "I thought you were okay with it!"

    Ash reels back as if physically struck. "Wha...Why would I be okay with that?!" He barks back in a rare moment of anger. As quick as it came, the anger is gone, replaced with hurt. "I...I thought I was making progress, that we were making progress..." He holds his head in his hands and shakes it. "Am I doing something wrong?"

    "Ash," Brock starts gently. "You just started your third year as a trainer and already you ranked high in both Indigo and Silver. Higher than some people who have been trainers for a decade. That is progress. No one becomes an expert trainer in such a short time." The instant the words left Brock''s mouth, he regretted them.

    The younger trainer looks up, brows furrowed. "Then how did Brendan and Lee force Roxanne to take them seriously? Both of them just became trainers a few months ago."

    He gets no answer.

    The boy abruptly stands, swaying a bit when the sudden action hits him with a wave of vertigo. "I need some time to think..."

    No one stops him when he slowly makes his way to the door, but Pikachu does hop to his trainer''s shoulder without anyone, Ash included, impeding him. He and Pikachu slip out of the room without any of Ash''s usual exuberance.

    Sans the low whirr of the air conditioner, the hotel room is silent.

    "Do we know if that Lee guy really is a new trainer?"

    Both May and Brock turn to Max, who has his wide eyes glued to his PokeNav screen.

    "Why do you ask that?" May questions, but inwardly, wonders the same herself.

    In her lap, Torchic looks up to his trainer with an inquisitive chirp.

    "Oh! You probably only met him briefly, Torchic," May replies, looking down at the young Fire-type. "Remember the trainer with the burns and the Vulpix back in Professor Birch''s lab?"

    Torchic furrows his brow, then recalls the person and pokemon in question with an affirmative chirp.

    "Well, do you think he''s a new trainer? Or that Vulpix is new to battling?"

    May gets a very swift shake of Torchic''s head as an answer.

    Max pauses whatever is playing on the PokeNav in his hands and turns to his sister and Brock. "The news said the footage of Lee and Roxanne fighting belonged to the Trainer School, so I went to their website and found it... If Brendan is learning from him, it explains why he got so strong so fast..."

    Both Brock and May peer over his shoulder as he presses ''play''.

    "Corvisquire, charge up Steel Wing...and move in with Extremespeed."

    It''s not long before May and Brock''s eyes are as wide as Max''s.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Just outside in the cool Hoenn night, Ash and Pikachu peer up at the starry sky, both quiet and deep in thought.

    "Have we been doing something wrong this whole time, buddy?" Ash wonders aloud, not taking his eyes off the sky.

    "Pi, Ka!" Pikachu vehemently disagrees with a shake of his head.

    "But all those Gym Leaders not taking us seriously, and that Zinnia lady too! She didn''t think we were worth her time!" Ash grits his teeth before taking a breath and calming down. "It''s just frustrating, Pikachu. I know we''ve gotten so far, but it still feels like we''re running in place. First Gary, and now Brendan...and Lee."

    Pikachu lets out a quiet whine and nuzzles his cheek to Ash''s, making the boy''s cheek tickle from Pikachu''s resting electric current.

    Ash reaches up and places a hand on Pikachu''s other cheek in a facsimile of a hug. He turns his gaze down at the ground, his hat casting shadows over his eyes. "We''ve done so much. Two leagues, the Orange Islands, the legendary trio, Lugia, Mewtwo, Entei, Alto Mare, and everything else, but we''re still no closer to the top in the long run..."

    Boy and pokemon remain so for several minutes as Ash''s free hand clenches tighter and tighter. Finally, Ash looks up, eyes blazing with an intensity that would make a grown Dragon-type pause. "Fine then! Challenge accepted! We''ll just have to train harder and give it our all! No more second fiddle for us! I''ll become a Pokemon Master no matter what!" He yells, voice echoing in the empty street.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee looks up from the campfire in the middle of their clearing as something jolts him to the core, his eyes jumping to Vulpix''s instantly. "Love? Did you just feel fate breathe down your neck? Because I did, and I don''t fuckin'' care for it."

 Act 1: Chapter 12

    "Again!"

    All around a charred and torn-up stump of driftwood sticking out of partially glassed sand, fireballs the size of fists slowly bloom into existence one-by-one, forming a floating minefield of flames. Then as one, the fireballs converge onto the stump and explode. Most explode as one, but several are out of sync, detonating either early or late, but either way, it makes a bright flash in the early morning on the beach. When the smoke clears, even more of the stump is blown away.

    With Treecko''s guidance, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia had cut the travel through the Petalburg Woods to a mere two days, and after rising before the sun on the third day, made it to the small port town along Route 104 that serves as the nearest ferry point to Dewford. With hours to spare before the ferry arrives, the group split up to do their own thing.

    Naturally, Lee took the free time to train his pokemon on an abandoned part of the nearby beach.

    "Nice work, love," Lee says, grinning down to Vulpix as he writes down a number of notes in his notebook.

    Custom Techniques - Vulpix

    #1

    N?a?m?e?:? H?e?l?l?z?o?n?e? G?r?e?n?a?d?e?

    Name: Convergence

    -Fire-type

    Description: Fireballs spontaneously manifest around target and converge, exploding for Fire damage.

    +Leaves little room to dodge.

    +Strikes all points of foe, negating need to aim for weakpoints

    -Slower than Protect. Current speed can be dodged by faster foes that aren''t surprised.

    Notes:

    Requires pyrokinesis. (See - Vulpix bio notes)

    Power good. Need to work on explosion sync, projectile speed, and energy consumption. Don''t use in serious battles.

    The vixen simply nods in reply, too busy hiding her panting behind deep breaths.

    "Already, Corvisquire." He calls up to the bird pokemon hovering above him. He quickly turns the page in his notebook to a dog-eared page marked ''Problem Child'' "You''re up! Same as last time!"

    Corvisquire caws loudly and reels his glowing wings back, throwing them forward a second later and hurling a barrage of Swift rays forward.

    The starry projectiles fly not at the charred driftwood, but to an X drawn in the sand about forty feet behind it. As they pass the driftwood, however, the stars suddenly try to turn back to the driftwood target. Many of them crash into each other and others can''t turn in time, hitting the sand with loud pops or flying wide. When the fliers try to turn around a second time, many lose power and fade away. Only a small handful of the stars actually hit the rear of the target.

    The crow pokemon screeches in frustration at yet another failure, making Lee wince. "Easy, Corvi. We''ve only been at this for a few days. You''ll get the hang of it," he says, looking down at his notes.

    Testing: Problem Child

    Swift, Scary Face, Taunt, and Extremespeed ripe for abuse.

    Other moves need more research

    He looks further down.

    Swift #1 (Course Alter?)

    Much like Vulpix''s pyrokinesis, Swift relies on user focus to designate target. Mechanism that enables course correction currently unknown but seems autonomous once target is set. More testing needed. Current goal: Enable course alter mid-flight.

    Test #A1

    4 hours of practice. Corvisquire instructed to visualize Swift changing course mid-flight. Inconclusive.

    Test #A2

    3 hours of practice. Corvisquire instructed to intently visualize Swift changing course mid-flight. Inconclusive.

    Test #A3

    3 hours of practice. Corvisquire given instruction to fire at one spot but focus intently on another 1 second later. Inconclusive.

    Test #A4

    4 hours of practice. Course deviation seen at hour 2 after Corvisquire given instruction to fire at one spot but focus intently on another 1 second later. Turning speed of Swift too slow to land at new target.

    Test #A5

    3 hours of practice. See Test 4

    Test #A5

    2.5 hours of practice. See Test 4

    Test #A6

    3.5 hours of practice. Swift can now change targets after being fired. Note: Swift rapidly loses power and thus speed and homing after 7.4 secs flight time. Working to resolve this. Not battle ready.

    Test #B1

    ...

    Lee jots his findings down as Corvisquire lands before him in a huff.

    Test #B1

    1.5 hours of practice. Attempts to make Swift turn 180 degrees achieve mixed results. Some lose power, others cannot turn fast enough, and others collide. Less drastic maneuvers can land with decreased power. Effective flight time: 7.7 secs. Max flight time: 9.8 secs. Not battle ready

    "Now-"

    Lee doesn''t even need to finish his sentence as a green blur rushes forward from his side, kicking up sand with each step. The blur slows down several feet away from the target just enough to make out Treecko''s form with his tail glowing.

    "Tree..."

    He blurs again, this time in a whirl.

    "Ko!"

    The tree gecko''s muscular tail lashes out, blowing through the driftwood stump in a burst of charred mulch and harsh crack of wood.

    Lee''s fingers find Treecko''s section in the notebook with practiced ease. Looking down, he''s greeted with two entire pages filled with notes and training logs, even with Treecko''s currently limited moveset. The sight makes worry swirl in his stomach.

    Treecko is still working himself towards a burnout. Just a week ago he was just getting the hang of Quick Attack, and now he can casually use Quick Attack as a movement option like Vulpix. He''s even rapidly closing the speed gap between himself and the vixen, as the games of ''tag'' Lee had them ''play'' over the past week or so are getting more and more even.

    "Excellent work, Treecko," Lee says, forcing a smile to his face as he writes ''Pound is more akin to Slam now''. "That would knock around a pokemon twice your size easy, I would think."

    Treecko crosses his arms and peers at the destroyed driftwood, then to Lee. Treecko''s gleaming yellow eyes focus on his trainer''s smile, and Treecko slowly frowns and chews on his twig in response.

    Lee feels his smile falter and clears his throat before looking away. ''Of course he''s perceptive enough to see that you''re upset, dumbass. You can''t lie to a creature with sharp instincts like that. What is this? Amateur hour?'' He berates himself. "So I think thats good for some early morning practice. We''ve been out here for..." He glances over to the east at the sunrise, then to the town in the distance. "Probably an hour or two. Lets head back to town and see what the others are up to as a team, yeah?"

    Corvisquire''s sour look and up-turned beak already tell Lee what the crow''s opinion is, so he is returned to his pokeball.

    Treecko looks equally disgruntled, but steps forward and takes a spot next to his trainer.

    The most surprising one is Vulpix, who looks up to Lee with a yip, and a silent request to be returned to her ball.

    ''You sure, love? Are you feeling okay?'' Lee sends back, trying not to let worry bleed through his words.

    Vulpix is quiet for a moment. From the border between her mind and his, Lee can feel Vulpix''s brain working overtime to try and formulate something in English rather than just a feeling.

    ''I ** * *** t****. Yo* ****d *i** **** T*e****?''

    The end result is a heavily garbled mess more akin to radio static than any language. The brains of most pokemon just aren''t suited to rigid human language, and it shows especially with Vulpix. Just receiving the message makes his head throb. The man quickly responds with a telepathic burst of understanding after he puzzles out the message with the urges and feelings she could not filter out, the message being she''s tired and wants him to spend time with Treecko. The stain of human speech begins to give her a headache, so Lee quickly shuts down any further attempts.

    ''We''ll talk later, okay?'' He sends to her, pulling her pokeball from his belt.

    Idly, Lee feels his respect rise for other non-Psychic telepaths able to ''speak'' in fluent English. If it''s hard for a pokemon as intelligent as Vulpix, who has just recently started after months of constant conversation with him, then any pokemon with any proficiency must be truly genius.

    "You deserve the rest, Vulpix. Return." Lee replies aloud with a nervous smile, mostly for Treecko''s benefit as he returns the vixen to her ball. The pokeball muffles the constant connection between the man and fox, sending an uneasy shiver up his spine.

    He feels... vulnerable.

    Lee forces the feelings away and turns to Treecko. "Looks like it''s you and me for now, bud. Take care of me, yeah?"

    The gecko answers with a simple nod.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The tiny port town along Route 104 most definitely was just a single house that belonged to Mr. Briney in the games, and Lee struggles to recall if it was featured in the anime at all, but if it was, it had to have been small.

    Sans the bustling port, the town (or more appropriately, village) could not have been home to more than three-hundred people, and it showed. A number of the buildings between the bright gift shops and restaurants meant to drain money from travelers and the boardwalk were built in an older, utilitarian style meant for lifespan rather than aesthetics. There isn''t even a proper Pokemon Center, but rather a small clinic that proudly boasts the employment of a Nurse Joy on their dated website. If not for the beach backdrop, the town would have been rather ugly beyond the tourist area.

    Lee and Treecko stroll into the town at a sedate pace, and Lee is silently relieved to see Treecko''s fouled mood and narrow-eyed expression improve somewhat after the walk. He thinks back to Vulpix''s words earlier.

    ''I...don''t think I''ve bonded with Treecko or Covisquire very much at all,'' Lee frowns to himself. ''At least with Corvisquire I have the excuse of him being uncooperative, which I need to address sooner rather than later, but with Treecko...''

    Unbidden, all the moments and triumphs Treecko would have spent with Ash flash through his mind, and each one makes Lee''s stomach tighten. The two would have become friends, and Treecko would go on to become a pokemon able to compete with legends, maybe even surpassing Ash''s Charizard if not for the unfair type advantage.

    He stole Treecko, plain and simple.

    ''But after making that childish promise and that stupid speech, I can''t just let him go.'' And a smaller, greedier part of him doesn''t want to let the potential legend go. Lee glances down to the aloof little lizard. All the training in such a short time and the religious use of Quick Attack have refined Treecko''s movements, even just walking, into a prowl rather than a simple gait. The only limiting factor holding his movements back from being seamless is his young body.

    Already, he''s standing out. A few of the smaller pokemon Lee and Treecko pass in the town eyeball Treecko with wariness.

    ''He''s not having a good time with us, with me. I know he feels like I''m stifling him, like I''m going back on my promise,'' A bead of sweat rolls down Lee''s forehead, stinging the eye it drips into until he wipes it away. ''But...'' All the times Treecko has worked himself to exhaustion struggling against Vulpix, Corvisquire, Marshtomp, Shelgon, and even himself as he practiced Quick Attack until his legs refused to move come to Lee at once, driving a painful spike of self-loathing into his chest. ''And I keep letting him do it some days, then fight to deny him on others. Fuck, to him I can''t even make up my mind. What do I do?'' Again, he glances at his pokemon.

    If Treecko notices his trainer''s slow nervous breakdown, he keeps it to himself.

    ''Maybe just be consistent and give him what he wants for once? Or are you afraid he''ll see through your words and realize that you''re an underhanded shit that just wants to use him? You weren''t even fair in catching him.'' A snide voice in the back of the zoologist''s mind taunts. ''You''re holding him back.''

    Lee grits his teeth and takes a deep breath.

    "Treecko?"

    The gecko pokemon lazily turns his eyes to look up at Lee as the pair stop in the street.

    "How about we head deeper into town and see if anyone wants a battle or two? We''ve still got an hour before we need to meet with Brendan and Zinnia."

    "Tree..?" Treecko initially perks up and gives Lee his full attention, but frowns afterward, suspicion bleeding onto his usually cool face as expected.

    "Really, I mean it," Lee hastily defends the offer, trying hard to not be flustered. The lack of Vulpix there to help him straighten his thoughts makes it a chore. "Look, you''ve been working hard... Too hard I think."

    Treecko''s jaw tightens.

    "But!" Lee jumps back in. "But, I, uh... haven''t been the most supportive of your desire to become strong. I wasn''t lying when I said I saw how much potential you have, and that we''re alike, I just have some hang-ups that maybe I need to get over. I haven''t been a good trainer to you, and I want to correct that."

    The green lizard turns fully to Lee and regards him carefully. For a long minute, Lee has to force himself to meet his pokemon''s piercing, judging gaze without faltering. If he so much as twitches, all his credibility goes out the window.

    Finally, Treecko offers him a slow nod.

    Relief washes away the tension coiled inside of the man, and he feels his face pull upward into a smile. "Thank you. Now, lets get going. The competition isn''t going to thrash itself."

    For the first time since the gecko pokemon came into his care, Treecko smiles.

    The rest of the jaunt to the edge of the port town is done without the previous oppressive silence. "I really am proud of you, you know," Lee remarks as they approach the port and the beach. In the distance, he can spy a few battlegrounds in the sand, and he even sees Brendan and Marshtomp battling a girl with a Poliwhirl. "You''ve grown by leaps and bounds and I know you punch above your weight class. It won''t be long before you''re one-shotting opponents."

    Treecko crosses his arms and silently takes in the praise, but the upturn of his lips tells Lee that he''s pleased with what he hears. As they approach the beach battlefields, though, his eyes lock onto Marshtomp.

    The Poliwhirl across the field from the mudfish pokemon is in rough shape, bruises littering his body and one arm limp from an injury. The tadpole pokemon takes great heaving breaths, trying desperately to catch his breath as his panicked trainer looks around at the watching people and bites her lip in indecision.

    Sans some scuffs and a single bruise on his cheek, Marshtomp is unharmed and not even winded. Behind him, Brendan smirks.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    "Marshtomp, Take Down!"

    Marshtomp tenses his legs, then rockets forward with a nerve-shattering cry, the sand exploding under his feet.

    The girl behind Poliwhirl can''t get an order out fast enough before Marshtomp impacts her pokemon with bone-crushing force, throwing up a plume of sand.

    Treecko averts his eyes as his smile falls into a scowl. Neither he nor Lee need to look to know the outcome of Poliwhirl and Marshtomp clashing again.

    Lee grumbles and keeps walking. "Don''t compare yourself to him, Treecko. I told you Marshtomp is a freak. Soon enough you''ll be smacking him around."

    The pair take up residence at the end of one of the empty fields, making the challenge open to everyone around. It only takes several minutes before a pretty young girl in a sundress approaches with a surly-looking Zangoose as her heels.

    "Hiya!" She greets with a bright smile. "I''m Laura, and this is Goosey,"

    The Zangoose visibly twitches at the nickname.

    "Lee is the name, and this is Treecko as you could probably guess," Lee introduces himself as Treecko silently takes his side of the field. "One on one?"

    "Sure thing! Goosy is my only pokemon anyway," The teen trainer replies.

    One of the gathering spectators, a boy clad in swimming trunks, steps up to the referee position. "Treecko versus Zangoose, is everyone ready?"

    "Yep!" Laura answers with a smile.

    "Ready," Lee mutters, steeling his nerves as he watches Zangoose lower his stance and ready his wicked-looking claws. ''Be safe, Treecko.''

    "Begin!"

    "Goosey, Crush Claw!" Laura cries.

    "Move in and counter with Pound," Lee instructs a second later.

    Zangoose rushes forward, one paw held high in a telegraphed slash as his claws glow.

    Treecko walks forward almost leisurely, watching the approaching Crush Claw with dismissal. The instant Zangoose''s paw begins to descend towards him, the wood gecko pokemon twists around the blow and leaps over a follow-up slash aimed at his legs. With a twist of his hips, Treecko turns mid-air, his tail glowing.

    Laura''s eyes widen. "Goosey, duck!"

    The words are too late, as Treecko''s tail slams into the side of Zangoose''s head like a club of muscle and sinew, throwing the mongoose pokemon to the sand in a daze. Before the opposing pokemon or trainer can even think of recovering, Treecko opens his jaw and sucks in great globs of yellow life energy from Zangoose with Absorb, making Zangoose yowl and writhe in pain.

    Zangoose rises to his hindlegs and jumps back out of Absorbs range, glaring at Treecko with one eye beginning to swell into a painful shiner from Pound. Without an order for his trainer, Zangoose lashes out with another Crush Claw, missing as Treecko weaves around the swipe with ease. Poor Zangoose is rewarded with a Pound to his stomach that makes him double over with a grunt after another missed attack.

    Slowly, Lee feels his heart calming. Treecko is doing fine. Why was he worried before? One thing he knows for certain, is that Treecko needs this, the feeling of being a winner.

    "Treecko, Quick Attack into Pound, send him flying!"

    Treecko crouches, his form coated in an angry aura of white. Then he flickers forward like a spear of green.

    It''ll be the first win of many.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Treecko''s fourth opponent, a persistent and now very bruised Numel, finally falls with a groan to the sand, unable to fight further.

    On Lee''s side of the field, Treecko pants harshly and stands from a crouch. His medley of scuffs, cuts, and burns are ignored and he doesn''t bother listening to the cheers of the onlookers. This isn''t for them, it''s for him.

    Behind him, Lee can''t help but grin at how fulfilled Treecko looks. Treecko holds his head high as the passed-out Numel before him is recalled by his dejected beach bro trainer. As Lee walks forward to meet the other trainer for a handshake, he stops for a second to give Treecko a congratulatory pat on the head.

    Treecko still swipes at Lee''s hand, but it lacks any venom.

    "Geez, dude," the other trainer, a tall and tanned beach-goer begins as he and Lee break off their handshake. "I didn''t think a Grass-type could beat a Fire-type like that..."

    "Well, Numel has a Ground subtype, so Absorb let us stay in the game long enough for Treecko to land a few solid hits," Lee replies, unshouldering his bag and digging inside of it. "Your Numel is well trained and as far as I can tell, exceptionally healthy. My compliments to you," he says, fishing out a berry case. He takes an Oran berry from inside and tosses it to Treecko, who catches the little fruit and takes a bite. ''I should see if there is a berry vendor in town. I''m low on Oran.''

    The other trainer grins. "Thanks bro. I try." With a last farewell, he turns and leaves in the direction of town.

    Lee pulls his phone from his pocket and flicks the power button, noting the time of 7:37AM. "Huh, time flies. The ferry should be here in a bit..." Glancing around, he notices that Brendan and Marshtomp are gone, likely to the pier to wait for the ferry. "Ready to go?" He turns to Treecko, whose injuries are now partially faded as he finishes his Oran.

    Treecko answers with a simple nod and falls into step beside Lee.

    As they walk, the scarred man looks down at Treecko, mentally conjuring the image of him just an hour ago as well. It''s like night and day, silently amazing the man.

    Where Treecko previously walked with a subtle tension to his shoulders and his gaze locked forward, he now walks with a much looser gait and allows his eyes to lazily wander as they cross the beach towards a set of stairs leading up to the raised pier, where a large boat begins pulling in.

    ''I know it''ll take more than just a few good battles for him and I to actually be on good terms,'' the thought is sobering to Lee when it strikes him. ''But letting him work his frustrations out and feel the results of all his work has to be a good start..?''

    As they crest the stairs onto the wooden boardwalk that leads to the pier, both man and pokemon spot Brendan and Zinnia before one of the colorful shopping stands that line the boardwalk, one marked with a bold sign saying "Taste of Kanto." Zinnia turns, and when her eyes fall on them, she waves them over.

    ''What is that I''m smelling?'' Lee wonders and he and Treecko approach the stand. Something vaguely fishy and mouth-watering fills the air, and a half-forgotten taste ghosts along his tongue.

    "About time you got here," Zinnia says through a mouthful of whatever she''s eating. One hand rests on her hip, and the other holds a skewer of three fried balls. She thrusts the skewer his way. "Here, got you some breakfast."

    "Erm, thanks," is his unsure reply as he takes the offered food. "What is this?"

    "It''s takoyaki, my good man! A treat beloved in beautiful Kanto!"

    Lee turns to the voice, seeing an older, apron-clad man of vaguely asian descent behind the stand smiling at him. Seeing Lee''s eyes on him, the man continues. "Succulent Dewford octopus and traditional Kanto fillings come together in a crispy batter shell for a treat sure to please! Give it a try!"

    ''Octopus?'' Lee blinks. Looking past the owner of the stand, he sees a Machamp in a too-small apron that he somehow missed. The Machamp in the rear of the stand expertly chops and dices a whole octopus with one set of arms while the other set mixes up a batter blend.

    The sight of the octopus, the exact same as it would be back on Earth, is nothing short of jarring. There were several of the intelligent little critters back in the zoo''s aquarium, all of them crowd-pleasers, and he remembers his mother freakout when a freshly dispatched octopus twitched in her meal at a japanese restaurant some years ago.

    The warm memories of the zoo and his family vanish with a stabbing pain in his chest that robs him of his breath.

    ''Remember them all you want, Lee. The zoo is nuclear ash now, and lie to yourself like you always do, lie to yourself about mom and dad escaping. They''re all gone.''

    You can never go back.

    "Sir? If you''re a vegetarian, we do have meat-free takoyaki."

    Lee blinks and realizes he''s been staring at the octopus Machamp was working on. His heart races and his hands feel clammy. "Oh." He sucks in a breath and mentally reaches out to Vulpix, only to get a numb mental thread through her pokeball. He fights to stifle the ache in his chest and swallows the rising bile in his throat that his churning stomach forces up. "Uh, no no, thats fine," he offers the concerned stand owner an awkward smile and steadfastly ignores the raised eyebrows from his friends. "Just thinking, is all. I, uh didn''t realize there was an octopus farm in Dewford?"

    If the stand owner notices the deflection for what it is, he does not comment on it. Instead, he just smiles again. "Sure is! Dewford is a prime spot for seafood, second only to Slateport here in Hoenn. If you kids are headed to Dewford, then be sure to sample some!"

    "We will!" Brendan polishes off the last octopus ball on the end of his skewer with gusto. "If anything they have is half as good as this, then it''ll be a hundred precent worth it. Hey, Lee? What was that ju-Ow!" The boy is cut off by an unsubtle elbow and glare from Zinnia.

    The man quickly takes the offered lull and laughs. "Thank you, my young friend! If you go to Dewford''s Gilded Seaking restaurant, tell them Nagi and Machamp sent you!" The now named Nagi exclaims. He starts when Machamp turns and taps his shoulder. "Oh! And something for your vegetarian friend, too!" He takes an offered skewer with two takoyaki handed to him by his Machamp and leans over the stand, presenting it to Treecko. Treecko takes it with a silent nod of thanks before biting into the treat.

    A loud boat whistle cuts off any further conversation, making everyone turn towards the now docked boat on the pier.

    "We should probably get going," Zinnia says whats on everyone''s mind. "C''mon!"

    She races off, but not before catching Lee''s eyes with a look he can''t place. Brendan follows just behind her. Lee makes to follow but turns to Nagi and Machamp at the last second. "Thanks for the food, sir."

    He laughs. "Thank your girlfriend, boyo. She paid for it after all."

    "We''re not-" The boat whistle drowns out Lee''s denial, making him sigh. "Whatever, thanks anyway," he says, turning and speedwalking to the boat with Treecko easily keeping pace. He looks down at the Kanto treat in his hand, and his stomach protests at the thought of food. ''Damn.'' He throws the skewer up in the air, and a Wingull is quick to dive from the sky and grab it before it can fall. Its almost like the trips to the Florida gulf he and his family would take way back when, when they''d feed the seagulls out on the beach. Then they''d-

    You can never go back. They''re all gone.

    Lee falters, drawing Treecko''s attention. "A-Ah... Sorry, Treecko," he murmurs, stopping beside an empty stand out the view of others and bending over, placing his hands on his knees and taking great, heaving breaths. Twice he''s almost sick again, and no matter how much oxygen he takes in, his chest is still painfully tight and his head is light. Black begins to bloom at the edges of his vision and his ears ring with the roar of a waterfall.

    You can never go back. They''re all gone.

    Why did he agree to put Vulpix away? Why? He tries to grasp the thin psychic thread leading to her, but it fails again and again, slipping through his weak grasp like smoke would bare hands.

    Vulpix. Help me. Please. Make it stop.

    "Treecko!"

    The scarred man is shocked from his trance when a small paw slaps him across his face with enough force to knock him to the ground. He blinks and raises a hand to his unmarred cheek, rubbing the stinging spot. "What the fuck?"

    Lee blinks the spots away from his vision and looks up to Treecko, feeling his heart sink.

    The gecko pokemon stands with a shaking forearm still extended from where he struck his trainer. He chews on his twig, almost biting through it, but it''s his eyes that give his feelings away the most.

    Treecko''s eyes are wide and with his pupils fully contracted, making them dark slits against a sea of yellow. The stares are Lee with an expression so out of place on him that it takes the man a moment to place it.

    It''s fear. The same fear tell that other reptiles use.

    ''One step forward and one giant leap back. Nice one, Lee.''

    "Oh, oh shit Treecko I didn''t mean to...freak out like that, I''m sorry." Lee gulps and looks away, unable to meet Treecko''s gaze any longer.

    At the words I''m sorry, Treecko seems to come back to life, shaking his head and leveling his trainer with a much steadier look, one demanding an explanation.

    ''Shit.''

    "I..." Lee trails off, rethinking his words. "It''s..." Again, he stops.

    ''This is too fast. I wanted to fix this over the course of weeks. Why is this happening?''

    "Treecko," he starts slowly and unsurely. "Remember the day we met those weeks ago? I told you then, and then again today, that you and I are a lot alike. We both know what it''s like to lose our homes, our lives, and the difficulty of starting over from nothing."

    Treecko''s jaw sets and his brows furrow at the reminder.

    "The thing is, Treecko," Lee sucks in a deep breath of air, the previous pain in his chest gone.

    Go on. Lie to him again. Do it.

    Lee grits his teeth and banishes the thought, blurting what''s on his mind before he can second guess himself. "I''m not as strong as you are when it comes to dealing with it. I''m a weak man propped up by expectations, childish dreams, and companions much more resilient than I, companions like you, because if I don''t keep moving forward I''m going to have a nervous breakdown. You would have been better off in another trainer''s hands, but my greedy ass saw how much potential you have and now I do an about-face and fucking stifle you because I''m afraid you''ll hurt yourself and burn out! If I lose someone else, I am going need a long fucking stay in the nuthouse!" His voice rises to an open scream near the end, drawing the gaze of passing people, but he can''t find the willpower to care. He slumps against the pier railing behind him and pants, utterly drained. "There you go, Treecko. Thats me, your coward trainer. Say the word and I''ll break your pokeball. You''ll be free again."

    For a long moment, The gecko stares at Lee with a blank expression, which is somehow worse than any yelling or scorn. "Hah, what am I even saying?" Lee pulls Treecko''s ball from his belt and opens the empty capsule, hands poised to break it at it''s hinge. "I told you I''d get you to the top of the world, and god damn that was an empty promise. You''ll get there much faster without me."

    A green, scaly paw lands on his hand and stops him from twisting the ball in two. "Treecko?"

    The same paw lashes out and catches him right on the unscarred side of his face again, knocking his head to the side. "Fucking..!"

    Treecko grabs the front of Lee''s jacket and easily pulls the man down to a forehead-to-forehead staring match.

    To his shock, Treecko''s blazing yellow eyes are filled with unshed tears. His mouth is locked in a grimace so intense that his teeth sheer through his twig, dropping the remains to the ground. The gecko pokemon takes the pokeball from Lee''s limp fingers and closes it before shoving it back in his hands.

    Lee blinks. "T-Treecko?"

    Treecko turns his eyes back to Lee with a look the man has seen on Vulpix more than once. It''s the same vaguely annoyed one she wears right before she washes away whatever he''s feeling in favor of adoration and reassurance.

    The pokemon then sighs, and in a movement almost too fast to see, rushes in, hugs Lee tightly around his middle, then retreats just as quickly. He picks up his now shortened twig and puts it back in his mouth, chewing on the end as he looks away with practiced indifference. "Ko."

    The hollow in the man''s chest slowly begins to fill with hope. "You want to stay with us? Even after all this two-faced drama?"

    Treecko sniffs, then holds out a paw.

    It takes Lee a moment to realize the significance of the act. When it finally hits him, he can practically see the Petalburg woods, the ruined Evertree, and a shadow of himself behind Treecko, who patiently waits with his paw extended.

    With a small smile, Lee reaches out and takes the paw in his hand. "Top of the world, together. Don''t let me bitch out, okay?" He says, letting go and standing.

    Treecko openly smirks at him. Anything further is cut off as the boat whistles again.

    "Shit, we need to go," Lee turns toward the boat further down the pier with a worried frown creasing his face. He jumps a little when Treecko hops to his shoulder, resting himself along the top of Lee''s backpack rather than draping himself like a scarf as Vulpix would. With his pokemon in place and feeling lighter than he has in weeks, Lee runs to the boat.

    ''Alrighty, no more drama. Nope. Think about something else... I really need to find one of those farms or animal reserves. They can''t be perfect analongs of Earth animals, can they..? That octopus looked exactly as I remembered one through. No one seems interested in publishing anything about non-pokemon beyond the absolute basics. I have to know.'' Lee thinks to himself. ''Dewford, don''t disappoint.''

    It only takes a minute to reach the boat. It''s a medium-sized cargo ship with faded paint and crewed by obvious career sailors, as one burly man by the lowered ramp checks the ticket of the boarding stragglers.

    "They must stop here to offload some cargo and pick people up for a few extra bucks," Lee theorizes to Treecko. "They were certainly cheaper than all the other options."

    As Lee and Treecko approach, the sailor holds out a hand to stop them. "Ticket?"

    Lee withdraws his phone from his pocket and pulls up the ticket emailed to him, turning the phone around to show the sailor.

    He inspects it for a second then waves them along, but not before taking a look at Treecko''s roughed up form. "Only warning to ya. No battling on this ship."

    "Gotcha."

    With that, Lee and Treecko board.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The bunkroom provided to Lee, Treecko, Brendan, and Zinnia is exactly as Lee expected. Spartan, cramped, and musty. The single port hole window is open to try and alleviate the stale smell somewhat, but the success is limited. It has a small bathroom, one bed per corner, and an old TV on an equally old table. Considering the lack of power cord on the TV though, its just a decoration for the next eight hours of their ten-hour trip.

    "Ugh, I''m going to be sick..."

    Brendan groans and holds his stomach when the ship rocks again, rolling over in his bunk and trying desperately not to be sick.

    "Yeah, I feel that," Lee murmurs in agreement, mentally kicking himself for not going to a drugstore for motion sickness medicine beforehand. While his stomach isn''t revolting as much as Brendan''s, seasickness still isn''t pleasant.

    "Jeez, and I thought I was the only one with a vagina here," Zinnia, now minus her cloak smirks. The tattered brown cape lays in her lap as she sews up a little hole in it.

    Brendan, too sick to reply and facing the wall, just raises a hand and presents a certain finger.

    Lee rolls his eyes. "You really had us fooled then, Zinnia." He ducks a thrown pillow as Brendan lets out a few chuckles punctuated with an ill groan.

    "Sea sickness isn''t real, it''s all in your head," Zinnia insists. "Once you both try flying on a pokemon, you''re going to wish it was this leisurely."

    "I''ll walk then, thanks," Brendan grumbles.

    Lee stands with a stretch and takes a deep breath, feeling his stomach settle somewhat. "Well, I dunno about the rest of you, but I''m going on a walk. Some air sounds nice." He shoulders his bag and Treecko is quick to take up residence on his shoulder. "We''ll be back in a bit."

    Zinnia opens her mouth to say something, hand raised with an impending question, but she stops herself short. "Yeah, sure. Don''t get lost."

    With a blink, Lee turns to face her, but by then she''s already returned her focus to sewing her cloak. "Right... Will do."

    With that, Lee and Treecko exit the room.

    The bunkroom leads out into a hallway with a few other doors, each one labeled with a letter and leading to another guest bunkroom. The other wall of the hallway is devoid of doors sans one in the middle labeled ''Deck'' that Treecko and Lee walk through, finally taking them to the open starboard side of the deck.

    For as far as the eye can see is open blue ocean. The crests of the waves sparkle in the morning light and Water pokemon can be seen near the top of the strikingly clear water. A school of Magikarp swim alongside the boat, their orange hides highlighting them in the water easily. They all scatter when a huge Sharpedo comes out of the gloom of the deeper ocean and makes an unsuccessful pass at them with jaws wide open.

    "Hum, so he''s back."

    Lee and Treecko turn.

    Approaching them is one of the cargo ship''s sailors, a leaner man with a deep tan. He leans on the ship''s railing and watches the Sharpedo lazily dive and vanish. "He''s been hasslin'' us, that Sharpedo. Those Magikarp keep followin'' us to get our scraps, and that Sharpedo has been picking them off. Capt''n is worried one of them will panic and evolve. An angry Gyarados would send us to the bottom of the ocean."

    A chill runs down Lee''s spine. "What? You''re awful nonchalant about this."

    The sailor shrugs. "Ocean life is like that. I ain''t too worried, though. First Mate Johnny''s Vaporeon kicked that Sharpedo''s rear just a few days ago. If he stirs the Magikarp up too much, she''ll probably go down and fix it."

    "Vamurrah?"

    An odd, throaty mewl comes from just below Lee, making him jump and prompting both he and Treecko to look down.

    Standing between his legs and intently watching the water from the side of the ship is a Vaporeon. The pokemon''s slick skin and glossy black eyes shine in the sunlight. She blinks, scanning the open ocean by the ship.

    "Speak of the devil and all that," the sailor chuckles. "What are you doing startling guests, you soggy biscuit?" He addresses the Vaporeon. "Johnny''s not going to be happy."

    Other than an ear twitch at her trainer''s name, the pokemon ignores him. She flicks her tail then jumps off the ship in a perfect dive, cutting through the surface of the water with nary a splash and vanishing.

    For a moment, the pair of men and Treecko watch the water. After a long minute, the Sharpedo appears, rushing away from a blurry blue figure chasing him. The Sharpedo and the blur dart around in the water in an elaborate pattern before Sharpedo breaks away and beelines away from the ship, leaving Vaporeon behind.

    Vaporeon lingers in the water for a moment, then turns and leisurely paddles to the ship. Once close, she dives deep underwater, disappearing. Then she rockets straight up out of the water with enough force to land back on the deck.

    Lee can''t help but smile at the show and come down to a knee as the Vaporeon approaches him. He holds out a hand and lets the pokemon take a few cautious sniffs, then she smiles and presses her smooth head into his palm. "Vaaa!"

    "Strong, stylish, and social. You''ve got it all, don''t you, sis?" Lee asks, silently enjoying the cool, smooth skin of the Vaporeon on his palm.

    Behind him, the sailor clicks his tongue. "Don''t give that one too big a head now. Johnny can barely keep her under control as is."

    Vaporeon sniffs at the sailor''s tone before pulling away, walking towards... the wall? No, not the wall...

    By the hallway leading back to the starboard bunkrooms, there is a drain grate, probably for flushing away water from high waves. Vaporeon steps on it, then melts into water, phasing through the grate like it''s not even there. An instant later, she''s gone.

    Despite knowing the gamedex entries on a number of pokemon by heart, watching a Vaporeon spontaneously change her full body-makeup from flesh and blood to just water blows out a little more of Lee''s sanity right out of his head. From the corner of his vision, he sees Treecko''s own eyes widen a fraction.

    "Hey," he begins, turning to the sailor. "Did I just see that?"

    The tanned man grunts. "Never seen a Vaporeon before? They all can do that."

    The scarred trainer is silent for a moment, mind whirling the possibility of such a power. ''That''s so fucked up. That''s pyrokinesis levels of broken. I cannot believe I forgot about such a bullshit power until it was literally shoved in my face. I really need to sit down and make a list of what pokemon I want.'' Outwardly, Lee clears his throat. "If your First Mate isn''t busy, do you think I could talk to him? I think Vaporeon just went to the top of my next capture list."

 Act 1: Chapter 13

    "Thats about everything, lad. I hope the wisdom of old Johnny helps you out." The sea-weathered man sitting across from Lee says as he scratches his salt-n-pepper beard. In his lap, his Vaporeon dozes lightly and barely stirs when he leans back in his desk chair.

    Across from the sailor and leaning against the wall of Johnny''s quarters, Lee jots down one last line in his notebook, his face locked in a grin. It''s less than he had hoped, considering the sailor is a career seaman rather than a full-time trainer, but any info on a rare pokemon like Vaporeon is worth its weight in gold. "Hoho. I knew Vaporeon is a heavyweight contender, but this just cements it. I don''t suppose you''d know where I can..."

    The old man barks out a harsh laugh. "Son, you can buy a brand new car, or you can buy an Eevee. Aha! Your pale face tells me exactly how you feel about that."

    One interesting tidbit Lee learned early on in the world of pokemon, is that cars are expensive. No one needs passenger cars when paved roads are largely restricted to cities, and unpaved roads are much easier to traverse on foot, on a bike, or on a pokemon mount. Motorcycles and scooters exist for towns and cities, but most of the examples Lee could find were little electrically powered things. Lee had to ask if Birch was joking when the subject of his jeep, and subsequently the price, came up one day. He even looked up the model of Oldale''s sole taxi and found the price of such a barebones vehicle staggering.

    Long and short, if you have a car, you either have serious money or serious debt.

    "Well... I''ll just have to save up I guess," Lee mutters, mentally counting up his money and coming up laughably short. He steps off the wall, prompting Treecko to rise from his place by his trainer''s feet. "Thank you for all the info, sir. It''ll be a tremendous help. I hope I didn''t take up too much of your time."

    "Worry about it none, lad." The old sailor waves him off. "Now off with ye. I gotta get back to it before the Captain wonders where I slinked off to," he lifts his pokemon from his lap and tosses her to his bed, where she doesn''t even bother to land on her feet, but rather just flop lazily.

    A glance at the wall clock makes Lee''s eyes widen. Has he really been here for over an hour? "Right, thanks again. C''mon, Treecko." He turns and starts for the door when he feels Treecko leap to his shoulder. The pair exit and find themselves on the port side of the ship. A stiff and unusually chilled wind washes over the man and pokemon, throwing seawater droplets against them.

    Treecko looks up, his eyes widening just the slightest amount. He taps Lee''s shoulder and points to the sky in the west, the direction the ship is going. Lee follows Treecko''s finger and grimaces.

    Rapidly approaching from the horizon is a black, rolling storm. Lightning flashes in the clouds like a demented strobe light in a smokescreen and the faint sound of rolling thunder begins to reach his ears. Over the side of the ship, most of the Water pokemon loitering near the top of the choppy water dive deeper out of sight or turn and begin to swim away from the coming storm.

    A door opens then closes behind them, and First Mate Johnny stops by the railing with Lee and Treecko, Vaporeon at his heels. He looks in the direction of the storm with a contemplative expression. "Hmm. Looks like a bad one. Back to your room with ye. Don''t need you or green bean there getting swept off the ship and eaten by a Sharpedo. Bad for business and althat."

    "You don''t have to tell me twice," Lee murmurs. "Back to the hold we go, Treecko."

    Treecko just rolls his eyes in reply.

    The pair walk back to the guest side of the ship, passing a few other people yet to be corralled by the sailors watching the encroaching storm. "Tch, if worst comes to worst, I''ll jump ship and make it there on my Lapras!" One young hotshot tells a pair of crewmembers as Lee and Treecko pass by. "She''s won me countless contests, y''know?" He beams.

    One of the sailors shakes his head. "A Lapras, eh? Might be the best pokemon for calm waters, but in a storm? Son, the rain is going to make her shell slick, then it takes one good wave to throw you off. After that, you''re in the water or on a painful collision course with said shell when you come back down. Do yourself a favor and stay on the boat."

    The young trainer gulps and doesn''t reply.

    When Lee and Treecko return to their cabin, they find Brendan has finally fallen into a nap free of any sea-sickened fits and Zinnia sits upon her bed with her pokemon out. Swablu dozes upon a pillow while Goomy has taken residence on Zinnia''s folded cloak at the foot of her bed. Zinnia herself sits behind Shelgon as she polishes his metallic shell with a rag, and judging from the smell, a touch of chemical polishing compound. Shelgon himself rests with his legs folded under his bulk, eyes closed in contentment.

    The dragon tamer looks up when Lee closes the door behind him gently. "You took your sweet time," she says quietly. "Get lost?"

    "No," Lee answers back in an equally low voice. "Found out that the first mate on this ship has a Vaporeon, so I had to seek him out and ask about her. What a fascinating pokemon, Vaporeon. Unique with powers ripe to be abused in battle. I have to have one."

    Zinnia smirks. "Well, better start finding tournaments and competitions to enter. Even an Eevee runt is going to cost you an arm and a leg. The Water stone is an extra kick while you''re down, too."

    "Don''t remind me," Lee grunts.

    "So, what are you planning on doing with this hypothetical Vaporeon?" Zinnia asks, going back to polishing Shelgon when the pokemon grumbles his displeasure at her stopping. "Something special?"

    "I watched that Vaporeon turn her whole body into water and slip into a drain pipe. That alone makes it worth it to me," Lee begins, resisting the urge to draw his notebook from its place stuffed in his back pocket. "If a Vaporeon can do that, what''s stopping them from morphing to water mid-fight to negate incoming blows? Maybe shapeshift mid-battle? Can they control other aspects too, like temperature or matter state? Could a Vaporeon literally turn into vapor and become untouchable? If they can do all this, what is stopping other pokemon from mimicking such a stunt? Could Vulpix turn into a literal ball of flame to dance around attacks? Treecko into a storm of leaves? I have to know how it works!"

    Lee covers his mouth when he accidentally raises his voice, but Brendan barely even stirs. When he looks back to Zinnia, she stares at him with her jaw dropped just the slightest amount. "What?"

    Zinnia shakes her head and closes her mouth. "Heh. Nothing. I guess I should have expected that from you," she says, her smirk back in place. "Some of that seems a little, ah, fanciful though?"

    "I''m sure the prospect of keeping large pokemon was fanciful until someone invented the pokeball, too," Lee shoots back, seating himself on his bed and letting Treecko dismount from his shoulder. "Speaking of pokeballs..."

    Lee takes Vulpix and Corvisquire''s pokeballs from his belt and pops them open, depositing both pokemon on the floor in flashes of light. Near instantly, his connection to Vulpix is restored and it almost knocks the breath from his lungs. Idly, he''s glad he sat down before releasing Vulpix, lest his legs wobble from the sudden drain of tension in his body. It only takes a tiny prod from her mind for his to show the memories of what she''s missed.

    He feels her rapidly shuffle through the memories like one might do a stack of photographs, taking in each one quickly but thoroughly. Vulpix stops on his heart-to-heart with Treecko with a measure of surprise, physically looking up at him. Then, a gentle, vulpine smile blossoms on her muzzle and her proud approval flows into his psyche, making Lee''s insides grow warm as he grins in reply.

    Corvisquire glances between Vulpix and his trainer before looking around, his beak pulling down into a dour frown that quickly transforms into a scowl.

    "You don''t need to look so down. Corvisquire," Lee says glibly, his grin still in place as he hugs Vulpix to his side. The vixen''s fan of tails slowly wag. "Would a hug make you feel better? I''ve got a free arm over here."

    The snap of the crow pokemon''s beak makes it obvious what he thinks about the offer and what he would do to said arm.

    Before anything else can be said, a crack of thunder makes everyone jump and jolts Brendan awake with a yelp. The whole ship seems to shake from the noise. All eyes turn to the porthole window, where the tropical sun is rapidly being overtaken by black clouds. White-capped waves slowly make the sway of the ship worse.

    Overhead, the old PA system crackles to life. "Attention, please," The grainy, gravelly voice of a man echoes all around the ship. "This is your Captain speaking. We''re headed through a storm to Dewford that is expected to last several hours. All passengers, please return to your quarters and stay put. All hands, secure cargo and stand by. Thank you." With that, the line dies, leaving the now howling wind as the only sound in the cabin.

    Lee releases Vulpix and stands, quickly walking to the window and shutting it, though not fast enough as a raindrop nails him in the eye with unerring accuracy. "Ow! Fucking-!" He rubs his eye and sits back down, almost tripping and landing on Treecko when the ship rocks under him.

    With a grumble, Brendan abandons trying to sleep again when the staccato of thunder and rain pelting the ship like bullets makes far too much noise. "Man, I was having a great dream too," he complains, standing and stretching. "What''s up with this storm? It was perfectly clear when we left."

    "We''ve been on the water for a couple of hours, shrimpy. Weather out here can turn deadly at the drop of a hat." Zinnia comments blithely. "Gee, I sure hope nothing bad happens to us~!"

    "Don''t bring that evil in here, woman. I''ll toss your ass overboard myself if I don''t get at least a week without some dumb adventure," Lee warns with narrowed eyes. "Everyone just hunker down and try to get comfortable. It''s going to be a long day."

    "Urg, easier said than done," Brendan moans, looking decidedly green when the ship lurches under them. He draws his pokeballs and releases Marshtomp and Shroomish in flashes of light before laying back on his bed. "Lee? Can you feed my pokemon, please? I don''t think I can look at any food, even pokechow, without feeling like hurling..."

    "That''s fine, just relax and rush to the bathroom if you''re actually going to puke," Lee stands and grabs Brendan''s backpack, unzipping it and reaching inside for Marshtomp and Shroomish''s food.

    Marshtomp looks at his ill trainer with his brow creased in concern. The mudfish pokemon then turns to Lee with a low, inquiring croon. "Maaash?"

    "Caw, ha." Corvisquire answers before Lee can. "Craw!" He finishes with a dry, cackling laugh that plants a frown firmly on Marshtomp''s face.

    "Ko, Treecko," Treecko speaks up, from his spot lounging on a pillow with his forearms behind his head. His answer is apparently much less inflammatory than Corvisquire''s as Marshtomp smiles at him.

    Lee turns to his sole flyer with a flat expression. "Can you not pick a fight with everyone?"

    Corvisquire has the gall to smirk.

    Lunch is a quick affair. Lee feeds both Brendan''s pokemon as well as his own, with Zinnia following suit shortly after. Brendan, as expected, eats nothing and just lays on his bed staring at the wall. Zinnia scarfs a wrapped-up sandwich from her bag while Lee forces down a simple granola bar before the rolling of the ship begins to upset his stomach like Brendan''s. With food out of the way, all the pokemon huddle on their respective trainer''s bed for the rest of the ride.

    Lee sits with his back against the wall on his bed, pokedex and notebook in his lap. One earbud hangs from his ear as he busies himself transcribing his verbal pokedex logs into his notebook. He has to rewind the recording several times as he gets lost watching his pokemon from the corner of his eye during this rare idle moment.

    Vulpix and Treecko lay by one another, both talking between themselves in various purrs, hisses, and yips broken up by short verses of their species names. Of what they talk about, he has no idea since Vulpix doesn''t seem to deem it important enough to give him a telepathic translation. Both pokemon are obviously at ease with each other, but the cool demeanor of both makes it difficult to tell if they''re true friends or merely being professional.

    Further behind them perched on the edge of the bed, Corvisquire does not deign to give any of them his attention, instead watching the rain pound on the window with as placid an expression as he can manage... Which is to say a resting scowl. In a dull part of Lee''s mind, he''s faintly amused by watching Corvisquire''s head, which like many avians, remains gyroscopically stable while his body rolls with the rest of the ship under it. The crow suddenly seems to realize he''s being watched and turns his head, looking at Lee with a narrowed red eye.

    "I''m just admiring you, is all. No need to give me the stinkeye," Lee says, raising his hands. "You''ve got some good sealegs despite being built to fly."

    Corvisquire visibly mulls over the words before turning back to the window without a reply.

    ''At least he didn''t get huffy over it. I swear that bird is such a drama queen.''

    Vulpix ''overhears'' Lee and lets out a short, vulpine snuffle of amusement, drawing a confused look from Treecko when she stops in the middle of their conversation to do so. "Ko?"

    It was then that Lee realizes that he and Vulpix have kept her telepathy under wraps since the beginning of their journey, with the only ones who know being Roxanne, Steven Stone, and Birch. "Ah, well, we''ve been together long enough that I should probably spill this to you and Corvi," Lee begins, drawing both Treecko and Corvisquire''s eyes to him. Lee beckons his pokemon closer, forming a little circle before him. "Vulpix has telepathy and she and I use it often. If it seems like we''re silently communicating somehow, then we actually are. Keep that to yourselves, yeah?" He asks, looking to Brendan and Zinnia''s little camps, who don''t seem to notice over the sound of the storm. "I''ll tell them when a good opportunity arises."

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Treecko nods easily enough and Corvisquire just rolls his eyes. The crow caws out a short, mocking note.

    For a second, Lee debates asking Vulpix for clarification, but decides to go out on a limb and ask; "You already knew, didn''t you, Corvi?"

    The bird answers with another eyeroll.

    "I should have guessed. The PokeDex said your kind are plenty intelligent, and you''re already a cut above the rest so you probably figured it out quick."

    The flattery has the desired effect of making Corvisquire dial back his hostility from badly hidden to merely sour. His resting scowl eases just the slightest amount.

    "I don''t suppose you''d be open to finally getting a physical?" Lee probes, silently crossing his fingers.

    WIth that one sentence, any sort of goodwill he fostered in Corvisquire dies a brutal death as the bird pokemon hops backward and levels Lee with a glare just short of a full-on Scary Face.

    ''I guess that''s a no...''

    Both Vulpix and Treecko tense, subtly scooting between Lee and Corvisquire with their eyes locked on the latter. Corvisquire hisses, his feathers ruffling up and talons tearing through the bed comforter like razors through paper. For a single terrible moment, it looks like the three pokemon are about to tear into each other. Then Vulpix and Treecko both jump a little when Lee''s hands gently plant themselves on each of their heads.

    "Thats fine, Corvi. You don''t have to until you''re ready," Lee quietly says. He meets the crow''s hate-filled red eyes with his own steady gaze. "None of us will force you, and I only want to do so to get a baseline for you, so I can help you grow. We''ll do it when you''re ready and only when you''re ready," He rubs the cool scales of Treecko''s head with one hand while the fingers of the other trace the little heart-mark on Vulpix''s ear. "Right?"

    Vulpix responds with an immediate nod, her hackles falling as she melts into his touch.

    Treecko rolls his twig around in his mouth, silently mulling over Lee''s words. Then to his trainer''s relief, the gecko pokemon backs down as well, looking away from Corvisquire with a dismissive huff.

    Slowly, Corvisquire''s feathers lower back into place, but he still keeps his piercing eyes cycling between all of them for a minute with his wings tensed to flap.

    "Tell you what," Lee breaks the silence again, looking between his pokemon. "Vulpix is due for a check-up. Once we''re back on solid land, you can watch and see what the actual procedure is, Corvi. It''s nothing invasive or painful, then you can decide. We''ll not talk about it anymore until then, okay?"

    Corvisquire finally folds his wings back up with an imperious sniff, then turns back to watching the rain.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The rest of the trip through the storm was turbulent, tense, and generally miserable. The bad weather easily added over two hours to the voyage, changing their arrival from just before 8pm to well after 10pm.

    Weary, hungry, and ill-rested, Lee, a shoulder-riding Vulpix, Brendan, and Zinnia trudge off the ship into Dewford''s port at the end of the group of passengers. In the distance, Dewford proper illuminates the skyline with city lights.

    "Urh, sweet land, I''ll never take you for granted again," Brendan moans, falling to his knees on the concrete dock, then down spread-eagle on his belly. "Land, marry me."

    "Pretty sure most depictions of Groudon are male, Brendan," Lee says, rolling his shoulders as best he can without jostling Vulpix. One makes a satisfying pop and fills him with a second-long burst of vigor. "I''m sure he''d be flattered, though."

    "...Gro-who?" Brendan asks, slowly lifting himself off the ground.

    At Zinnia''s now intense stare, Lee feels as if he misspoke. "Ah, Groudon. A legendary pokemon said to have created the land and continents. Take that as you will," he says, pointedly ignoring the stares from his friends. He makes a dismissive wave with his hand and quickly continues. "Now, let''s get to town and find a hotel, and maybe a place that does late-night take-out. I''m done with today."

    He starts walking. After a moment, Brendan and Zinnia''s footsteps come from behind as the two fall into step on either side of him. For several minutes their little party walks in silence, and relief muted by exhaustion begins to fill Lee as no more questions come from Brendan or Zinnia.

    "So, not many people know about Groudon, let alone so much about it. You''re still a pretty fresh trainer, so how did you hear about it?" Zinnia asks, posture innocent but eyes probing.

    ...Nevermind. He still has enough energy to be nervous.

    "Just..." Lee''s mouth freezes when Vulpix interrupts his thought by grabbing the words in his mind before they can make it to his mouth. ''Just because I''m a new trainer does not mean I didn''t know about pokemon'' would have outed him to Brendan, who was there when Oak recited the isolated region story. Before Lee can question just how Vulpix did what she did, he feels her hot breath on his neck as she feeds him a new answer. "Just... some research is all. I did work with Professor Birch for a month before setting out, and he''s got a lot of reading material."

    If Zinnia is disappointed with the answer, it does not show. Instead, she hums under her breath. "Like that book about my tribe?"

    ''Fuck off, Zinnia. Why are you doing this when I''m tired?'' Lee frowns. "Not exactly. That one..." He stops as Vulpix double checks his answer, then silently approves when it leaves no open ends. "...I found it on a sketchy e-book site. It ended up giving my old phone a virus that a factory reset couldn''t fix, so while it was a neat read, I had to trash my phone afterward. Bad trade, all things considered."

    That makes Zinnia frown just the slightest amount. "What site?"

    "Couldn''t tell you. I found it one sleepless night and don''t remember."

    The draconid woman finally stops asking questions and turns to face forward. A quick glance to Brendan shows the boy isn''t listening at all, instead focusing on keeping his dead-tired self moving.

    ''Lies upon lies upon lies. One day we''ll be caught and have to come clean.'' Lee tries his hardest to care, but his growling stomach and leaden limbs make even being anxious a hard task. ''It''s a problem for another time.''

    The three trainers and single pokemon wander from the docks into Dewford, finding it to be larger than Oldale, but definitely smaller than Rustboro. Upscale houses line much of the beach space and one complex near the end by the cliffs must be a resort of some kind. The vibrant nightlife filled with people and bright signs as marks much of the town as a tourist attraction, and it''s made even more apparent when Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia step out of a side-street into a main-street lined with bars, restaurants, and shops filled with different curios and all manner of indulgent pleasures. People and pokemon pack the street, their voices mixing with the music all the different locations play and the cheering of a small crowd around a Drowzee street performer, who levitates great balls of water and morphs them into fantastical shapes.

    As they walk, Brendan''s energy seems to come back with all the excitement around him. His head turns every which way with a smile firmly planted on his face. "Look at all of this! We can''t go until we''ve checked everything out!" A bright candy shop with a Lickitounge painted on the window and a shop offering custom pokeball engravings draw his eyes the most.

    Lee pulls his attention away from a rich-smelling tobacco shop when Vulpix nips his ear. ''Yeah yeah, two months cold turkey and all. No need to get bitey. I still want a fancy Cuban, though... Or a cigar from wherever this planet''s Cuba is.'' He turns to Brendan. "You have fun, hotrod. I''m sticking to my plan of eating and going to bed. I''ll text you the hotel and room number. Call if shit gets crazy."

    The boy doesn''t need any more permission than that and bolts headfirst into the engraving shop, but not before calling back; "You''re such an old man! Live a little!"

    Lee shakes his head and turns to Zinnia. "You bolting too?"

    She opens her mouth to answer, but the ravenous growl of her stomach answers better than any words can. The tanned woman blushes and clears her throat. "A meal sounds good. Lead away."

    The pair weave through the crowd further down the road, where the throngs of people thin out somewhat, before slipping into a rustic, open-air bar they don''t even bother checking the name of. They find an open table near the back, and after Zinnia throws her cloak over the back of her chair and Vulpix hops off Lee''s shoulder, the trainers sit.

    "Fucking hell, we''re getting a faster boat for the return trip," Lee complains as he feels Vulpix lay across his boots and curl up for a nap. "Twelve hours? Miss me with that."

    Zinnia snorts. "Easy for you to say, mister moneybags. I''m not a government goon, so I don''t get paid to go out and have fun. I have to source all of my money myself, and I''m not going to blow it on a boat ride of all things when hitching a ride with a cargo ship is way cheaper," she says, propping an elbow on the table.

    Before Lee can reply, a young waitress happens by with a pair of menus. "Hello! Drinks to start?"

    "Rum and cola, thanks. Don''t be afraid of being heavy-handed with the rum," Lee says, popping open his menu to find some standard sports bar fare inside.

    "Hrmmm..." Zinnia glances at the back of the menu where all the drinks are listed. "Tequila Sunrise, please."

    The waitress nods and jots everything down on a little notepad. "Could I see your ID, ma''am?"

    Zinnia''s face sours, much to Lee''s silent amusement, before she fishes her wallet out and shows the ID to the waitress, who looks at it closely and smiles. "Thank you!"

    With that, she hurries off to another table.

    "Why the look? Isn''t it a compliment to you that you got ID''d?" Lee asks with a smirk still lingering in his face. ''What''s the drinking age in Hoenn? Zinnia is only nineteen-ish if I recall.'' He looks past her to the bar and spies a Chatot preening it''s wings. It stands upon a sign saying We ID. No under 18. ''Ah.''

    "How come you didn''t get carded?" Zinnia whines rather than answers. "That''s a load of shit."

    Lee pats the left side of his face where his scars lay. "These, probably. Adds an instant ten years. Glad they''re finally good for something."

    Zinnia stares at the burns for a moment. "I never asked. Where did you get those? They almost look like..."

    "Burns?" Lee finishes, feeling a sardonic smile pulling uncomfortably at said burns. "They are. Before you ask, let''s just say the only thing worse than playing with fire and getting burned, is someone else playing with fire and burning you. An accident, and we''ll leave it at that." Under the table, he can feel Vulpix listening closely.

    Zinnia frowns at the non-answer.

    "Now let me ask you some uncomfortable personal things," Lee leans back in his chair. "What''s this mission the draconid tribe put you up to? That e-book had bits of lore and whatnot, but nothing concrete."

    The waitress chooses that time to drop their drinks off. A rather plain glass of brown liquor is placed on Lee''s side of the table while Zinnia gets a much more flamboyant red and yellow drink in a tall glass. "Anyone ready to order their meals?"

    "Sampler for two, please," Lee says, surprising Zinnia as he hands his menu over. He shoots her a look and she too hands in her menu. "All of this on one check, too."

    Again, the waitress jots down the order and hurries off. "Back soon!"

    "Not that I''m not grateful, but why?" Zinnia blinks.

    The scarred man takes a chaste sip of his drink first, smiling when it goes down smooth. "You were just bitching about being broke, and you did get me breakfast so I''m just returning the favor."

    "Yeah, but I don''t think a three credit snack and a full dinner and drinks really compare," the dragon tamer points out, lifting her own drink for a sip. She smirks. "Mister Henson, are you trying the old wine-n-dine on me? The fastest way to a draconid''s heart is her stomach, after all."

    "That fruity drink of yours is thirteen credits," Lee deadpans, making Zinnia choke as her eyes bug out. He smiles at the reaction and rests his head in a propped up hand. "Again, you were just bitching about not having money, and I''m a cool guy like that. Besides, I''m married to my job now and I''m certain Vulpix wouldn''t be amused if I made googly eyes at another female. Right, love?"

    Under the table, Vulpix chuffs.

    "See?"

    Zinnia grumbles into another sip of her drink. "Funny how you mentioned draconid lore, earlier. I''m actually the Lorekeeper of the Draconid Tribe."

    "And what does a lorekeeper do?" Lee asked, an eyebrow raised. "Obviously not anything scholarly like it might suggest since you''re out here with us."

    When Zinnia doesn''t answer, instead looking down at the table with a conflicted expression, Lee relents. "You don''t have to tell me if you don''t want to."

    The tanned woman is silent for another few seconds before answering. "The Lorekeeper... is supposed to be the strongest of the tribe. There aren''t a lot of us, so it falls to the Lorekeeper to be strong enough to survive if the rest of the tribe does not, or to undertake special missions for the good of the tribe. That''s what I''m doing, currently. The Lorekeeper before me, shes... Not around anymore, and she chose me as the next Lorekeeper before she passed. I and my pokemon have to become strong to fill the shoes she left behind, so the draconids can live through me were something unthinkable to happen."

    Suddenly, much of Zinnia''s ruthlessness and manic eagerness to battle makes sense. "Swablu would have gained nothing from that battle, so why bother?" Her words from her battle with Ash echo inside Lee''s head.

    Dying wishes make the most dogmatic people.

    Lee nods, swirling his rum in its glass before taking a long pull from it. The liquor is starting to get unpleasantly warm. He sets the glass back down. "She was special to you, the last Lorekeeper?"

    Zinnia nods silently, not looking at him.

    "What was her name?"

    The woman across from him stops halfway through a pull of her Sunrise, the bright colors of it out of place in the somber atmosphere. "Aster," she says after a long moment, her face morphing into a blank mask.

    ''I thought her Whismer was named Aster? Come to think of it...'' Lee thinks back, never recalling such a pokemon in Zinnia''s ownership in the weeks he''s known her. ''Another timeline thing I fucked up?''

    "Aster, huh?" Lee drains the last of his glass. "You''re a good trainer, Zinnia. She''d be proud, I think."

    Her breath hitches and the stoic mask upon her face cracks, showing something underneath too briefly for Lee to identify. Then without any preamble, she throws her head back and laughs. "Ha! Arceus above, a few sips of tequila and I get all sappy. I was hoping to loosen your lips, not the other way around. How about this, since I didn''t get what I want outta you, you''ve got to help me with something tomorrow."

    "A free dinner wasn''t enough for you?" Lee asks, shaking his head and holding his hands out in the universally recognized ''really?'' pose.

    Zinnia easily ignores him and reaches into her back pocket to pull out a crumpled flier. She smooths it out as best she can and hands it to Lee, who takes it and looks it over.

    BRAWL ON THE BEACH!

    Double Pokemon Battle Tournament!

    Bring the whole family! Shops, foodstands, games, music, battles, and more!

    Celebrate the new league year with a thrilling tournament on Dewford Island''s own white sands! Contestants will battle two-on-two until only one team is left standing! The winner''s will receive a shared prize of $10,000 and the bragging rights of being Dewford''s best Brawl On The Beach Duo!

    The rest of the flier details the rest, like the bands showing up, the restaurants setting up stands, and a little section at the bottom with the usual legal disclaimer.

    "Nothing against shrimpy, but I feel like the chances of a win are better if it''s you and me," Zinnia says as Lee sets the flier down. "Plus you have to have three pokemon anyway, so unless he has a new one by tomorrow morning, he''s out."

    "I dunno..." Even with the warming booze in his stomach, Lee still bites his lip as a little flare of anxiety flickers inside him.

    "C''mon, it''ll be fun!" Zinnia argues. "I''ll even split the prize with you~!"

    The scarred man snorts. "You''re so generous..."

    "But really, I am kinda broke and it''s money to put towards that Eevee you want," she presses. "Unless you want to do bitch work for that school, this is the fastest way to get one."

    That makes Lee''s resistance crumble. With a sigh, he agrees. "Alright, I''m in. I need to register for a gym match and give Vulpix and possibly Corvisquire a check-up first thing tomorrow though."

    Zinnia grins. "Fine with me. We need to get proper attire, too, so factor that in."

    "...Attire?"

    "Duh, look at yourself!"

    Lee slowly looks down at his clothes. They''re the same camo green jacket, black shirt, jeans, boots, and gloves he normally wears. "Whats wrong with my clothes?"

    Zinnia groans and drains the rest of her Sunrise in one unlady-like gulp. "You drive me to drink, you know that? You can''t go to a beach like that! You need a speedo and maybe some crocs if you insist on being a nerd."

    He glares back at her. "I''ll do a lot of things, but wearing crocs and a speedo at once is not one of them."

    "Here you are! Sorry for your wait!"

    The waitress walks back with a huge tray of assorted bar food and sets it down on their table, making Zinnia''s eyes light up.

    Lee quickly makes a plate for himself before Zinnia''s grabby hands can take everything. "Jeez, woman. Where do you put it all?"

    His table partner laughs past a bite of an onion ring. "Wouldn''t you like to know?"

    The rest of the evening is naught but small talk as two traveling companions slowly turn into actual friends.

 Act 1: Logs 2

    "Log seven, day thirty-eight. Vulpix and I... suffered our first real defeat today. She was hurt badly, and I..."

    There is a long pause in the recording before it cuts off altogether.

    "Long seven, day thirty-eight, part two. Sorry about that, professor. Anyway, our winning streak was finally broken. Vulpix suffered from a cracked ulna, several cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, contusions to the head and back, various lacerations, and a concussion. I won''t lie, professor, this scared me. The loss stung, but Vulpix''s injuries... She''ll be back at one-hundred percent in just a few days, which both relieves and awes me. That many injuries on a common animal? One as small as Vulpix? They would be on a long and hard road to recovery if they recovered at all. The whole thing dislodged some... unpleasant memories of home. I had a lioness..."

    Again, there is an uncomfortable silence in the recording.

    "Animals don''t have the same higher brain functions we humans do. Much of it matches up to us, but others are nonsensical, even unthinkable to us. This is going to be greatly simplified or we''ll be here all day, so bear with me. In large predators, they often have what''s called K-selection reproduction, that''s with a capital K, where they produce a small number of very valuable and resource-intensive offspring in response to a stable environment. The opposite, r-selection, is seen often in invertebrates and prey species, who have many ''cheap'' offspring, so they can afford to lose several in their usually hostile environment and still continue the species."

    "Does that sound callous? Sit down for this next one."

    "Lions, one of the big cats I worked with, evolved to thrive in the harsh, arid land of Africa. They''ve taken an inhospitable environment and mastered it, but such a thing requires some extreme measures... Selective infanticide is one of them."

    Birch clicks ''pause'' on the recording and wheels his office chair back away from his computer, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling as he pretends Lee''s words didn''t rattle him. After several long minutes, he sits back up and hits ''play'' again.

    "To a lion, it makes no sense to keep and invest time into offspring that are unlikely to survive. Some abandon unwanted cubs, others... take a more violent approach. We had an incident back home some months back, after one of my lioness'' gave birth to three cubs. Something we could not identify triggered her, and she... One didn''t make it."

    "It was all too easy to imagine Vulpix... No, I''m not going there right now."

    "On a different note, I was surprised to see the healing machines in the Pokemon Center. They were always used as a convenient handwave for healing in the games, as no kid playing a video game would want to wait around for manual treatment and buying healing items all the time would be infeasible. Considering these healing machines, or I guess the proper name is ''Omni-Trauma Units'' take much longer and according to Nurse Joy, only work up to a certain dosage before a pokemon''s body begins to reject it, it''s definitely not a handwave and explains the need for the Pokemon Center needing to address serious injuries manually. Visually, it looks similar to Heal Pulse, so maybe they were inspired by the move? I dunno, I''ll research that. I was surprised absolutely none to find that the units are made by Silph Co, who still gives me dystopia megacorp vibes sometimes."

    "In other news, I came dangerously close to outing myself as a... foreigner... like a moron. A dragon-tamer named Zinnia, who forced herself in our group, nearly caught me after I blurted some half-remembered line about her tribe, the Draconids. At first, I was reluctant to let her come, but she and her Shelgon were the ones who defeated Vulpix. She and her pokemon are strong, something that may be useful later. As much as the back of my mind is telling me it''s a bad idea, the protection she can offer outweighs the risk just the slightest amount."

    "We''re setting out in the morning, and I''ve got to get to bed, so that''s it for this one. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log eight, day forty-one... Fuck."

    "I got my Treecko, and a Corvisquire, both on total accident yesterday. We finally made it to Petalburg Woods and began our way inside. For several hours it was uneventful. Or it was uneventful for Brendan and Zinnia, I was too enchanted by all the pokemon to really notice the time passing. Anyway, we stopped for lunch and Brendan''s Shoomish wandered away. We found him by a ransacked Pecha bush, and the owner of said bush was not happy."

    "This was the first time I''ve seen a Corvisquire. I vaguely recall his last form, Corviknight, from promos for the latest game, but other than that, he was a total unknown. I knew my meta knowledge was only going to get more and more unreliable, but this threw me for a loop."

    "Corvisquire came down at Brendan and Shroomish like a missile, and in such a cramped clearing, only Vulpix had the agility to fight him, so we did."

    "My Pokedex gave it''s a little blurb about Corvisquire when I was identifying him, saying that his kind are masters of gauging an opponent. This guy came down, saw three humans, a Vulpix, a Shroomish, a Shelgon, and a Swablu, and decided fighting was a good idea. It didn''t take long to figure out why. Even with me and Vulpix going full-tilt, Corvisquire kept pace, even taking a Will-o-Wisp to the back and getting up like nothing happened. It looked like we had the edge, then he busted out Extremespeed."

    "I would call Vulpix fast. With Quick Attack, she can move so fast that her features blur together to the naked eye, making her little more than an orange, fox-shaped smear. Normally the whole ''move so fast you vanish'' thing is a common occurrence in TV to signify someone moving quickly, but to actually see a pokemon be there one second, then be gone the next with the displaced air cracking loud enough to echo in the woods is... something else. I know there must be some trick to Extremespeed, because if my napkin-math is right, Corvisquire would need to move at roughly mach 50 to become invisible, and super-durability or no, I have a hard time believing a bird would not practically atomize itself at such a speed. The delay between his vanishing and his actual attack landing also points to Extremespeed not being mach 50... Unless physics here are different from my earth''s. Shit, that''s going to keep me awake."

    "Vulpix managed a miracle right before she collapsed, firing off a Fire Spin so huge it was like an orange, F1 tornado spawned from nowhere in the forest. Vulpix''s eyes glowed the same color as hellfire, and she somehow shielded me from the attack despite how I should have been fried. Zinnia''s Shelgon popped a quick Protect to keep her and Brendan safe. Corvisquire was caught in the whirlwind and had countless burns and contusions to show for it. At the mouth of the tornado, he was thrown almost a fourth of a mile with enough force to make an indent in a tree we found him in. This is where we found the Treecko colony."

    "Professor, I''m going to confess something I regret. I caught a Treecko I know was supposed to go to another trainer. The damage Corvisquire''s impact did to the tree caused the mammoth thing to fall down. It was a long-dead tree and was on borrowed time, but it was still the home of the Treecko colony. As it fell, the Treecko in question froze up, and Corvisquire was still unconscious at the best of the tree. I threw two hail-mary pokeballs and caught both of them, thus saving them, with pure luck. I could justify keeping Corvisquire, as we beat him one-on-one and letting a dangerous pokemon like him go would be irresponsible, but Treecko..."

    "I should have let him go. He wasn''t meant to be mine, yet I kept him, because I know he grows to be a Legendary contender, and thats legendary with a capital L. Was that wrong of me?"

    "I just... Shit, moving on."

    "I gave Treecko a rudimentary physical to get a baseline. Physically he''s in good shape, mentally I can''t say for sure. He just lost his home, after all. Corvisquire was given a Rawst berry that I had Vulpix sniff out to take the edge off his burns and promptly returned to his ball. He''ll need a visit to a Pokemon Center to get back up and running. I''m hoping he''s not going to be difficult, but I get the feeling he is. I am sick and tired of this forest so we''re going to bed to make haste out of here. Once we''re in Rustboro, we''ll begin training for our gym match. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log nine, day forty-two. We''re in Rustboro and have some non-flammable training grounds to use. I''ve had Vulpix limited to just control exercises like maintaining a hovering fireball and moving fireballs along short paths as to avoid a forest fire. We''re lucky her Fire Spin was so intense it turned everything it touched to ash instantly, or I''d probably have the Rangers jumping up my ass. Our attempts so far to replicate her burst of power in the forest have been... Well, the less said the better."

    "I dropped Corvisquire off at the Pokemon Center, and Nurse Joy cleared him after a round or two under the Omnitrauma. The little bird has been... combative to say the least. He''s yet to directly disobey me, even in the gym battle we had today. He even ran an unsupervised errand for me by getting my gym registration in my stead, so I''ll count my blessings there."

    "in the meantime, I had Vulpix and Treecko begin their own training. Vulpix''s physical conditioning is at a level I would call adequate, and she continues to gain lean muscle at a steady rate, so we''ll likely dial that back some in favor of more pyrokinesis. For reference, one of the few times I could coax her into playing with me, she easily pulled me off my feet with just a jerk of her neck during a tug-of-war with a rope toy. Before we get too in-depth with her pyro powers, I''ll have her help me teach Treecko Quick Attack. It''s a wonderful movement option as well as being a force multiplier, and would help his rather tame movepool."

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "This brings us to the last event of today: my gym battle with Roxanne."

    "I went to the Rustboro Trainer School to see about taking a class or two, and Gym Leader Roxanne was there. Rather than have us wait, she offered to let us battle right there if I helped her teach a class and kept an open mind about working with the School in the future."

    "Professor, I know you said your sponsorship would open a lot of doors for me, but I didn''t realize it would be this many. She took one look at my ID, saw my title, and practically offered whatever I wanted to work for the School. I told her I''d be open to projects here and there but that my primary research belongs to the lab."

    Birch sighs in relief and wipes his forehead.

    "The battle was something else. I had no idea that gym leaders have two teams, one for challengers and one of their own personal teams. Considering the citadel-like arrangement of all the regions, it makes sense that gym leaders are stronger than they let on since they more or less rule their cities. The mayors and local governments may say whatever they want, I know the League is really in charge with their monopoly on power. Also, they do need to give young trainers a fair chance, or the League tournaments would be barren."

    "Anyway, we battled her real team and squeaked out a narrow win. Corvisquire thrashed Roxanne''s Geodude with Steel Wing and Extremespeed. Just him having Extremespeed and being a Galar native pokemon makes me think Corvisquire had a prior trainer or let him go, but that''s for another time. He was felled by her much more powerful Nosepass, and despite the type disadvantage, I put Vulpix in."

    "We held our own, but when it got down to the wire, we had to make a leap of faith. Nosepass''s Sandstorm was fouling all of Vulpix''s shots because she couldn''t see, so using telepathy, I plugged her sight to my eyes so she could fight from the 3rd person. I didn''t ex-"

    Birch once again pauses the recording and tries to process what he''s heard. They pulled the sense-sharing trick, again. No, they pulled an even more extreme version. If Lee is being one hundred percent truthful, then they just performed something impossible.

    Telepathy with meaningful communication is only seen in one in a thousand telepathy-capable pokemon, and telepathy with one-to-one understanding is easily fifty times as rare. There was exactly one report of a blind man who owned an Alakazam saying he sometimes saw wispy things when his pokemon was near him, supposedly things Alakazam was looking at, but nothing came of it. Now, full overriding of senses?

    "That doesn''t happen..." Birch whispers to himself. He swallows, but it doesn''t help his suddenly dry throat any. The brains of people and pokemon are just too different. Countless men, all with decades of experience and access to near-infinite League resources, had tried and failed what Lee did casually.

    First the pyrokinesis, now this? What did he do differently? It could not have been just an accident. Or was it?

    Does... Does Lee even know of such a limitation? That can''t be it... can it?

    Birch eyeballs the videophone in the corner, now feeling out of his depth. He shakes his head and clicks ''play'' again.

    He and Lee need to talk soon.

    "-ect it to work so well, but we won when her last barrage of Ember hit."

    "Then Steven Stone walked up."

    Birch feels his blood pressure skyrocket.

    "He was, ah, a surprisingly personable guy, all things considered. I guess you get used to being nice to everyone in such a public position of responsibility. He instantly knew Vulpix and I used telepathy and watched her pyrokinesis in action, so I guess our chance of surprising him became an even bigger pipe dream. Jesus. Anyway, thats all for this one. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Day forty-six. I should probably start doing these on my phone. My Pokegear? Is Pokegear the name or the brand? Eh, it''s a phone. The pokedex is fine as for its own functions, but sending huge media files through this thing takes for fucking ever and kills the battery. Anyway, as I''ve noted before, Treecko''s growth is nothing short of explosive. He''s been working hard to master Quick Attack, and now has an adequate grasp after only a few days. He''s in excellent shape and health, and I have full intention of helping him stay that way, He throws himself into training with admirable aplomb, but I have fears of him burning out."

    There is a short pause.

    "We''ll... work on that more later. Corvisquire was already powerful at his time of capture and his performance in battle speaks volumes of his abilities. He improves quickly as well, adding power and technique to each of his moves with their repeated use. Now I just wish he would curb his enthusiasm for violence...Again, we''re working on it."

    "On to other topics, I''m glad that both Treecko and Corvisquire are responding well to their diets. Corvisquire was easy, as I just copied Vulpix''s mix with more red meat and some grains substituted with nuts. To ensure healthy armor growth upon his eventual evolution to Corviknight, who I''m told is a Steel-type, I do add some iron supplements in for him. Treecko is where I ran into issues. I was surprised to learn the Treecko line is strictly herbivorous. I guess it makes sense given the Grass typing, but it threw me off. I admit I''m... not well versed with herbivores, as I spent most of my time working with carnivores. His mix should meet all his nutritional and calorie requirements even with his instance on harsh training factored in, but it leaves taste as something to be desired. I''ll wrap this up as I''ve got to go. Brendan''s match with the Rustboro gym leader is coming up and my team is about done with lunch. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log eleven, day fifty."

    "I don''t have a ton to report on this one, as we talked on the phone regarding my ''concerns'' a few days ago. We''re in-route to Dewford. Recently, I''ve been working with my pokemon in earnest to create custom moves, as you''ll see by the attached file. It''s been going well I think. For Vulpix, Convergence still needs more work, and Fox Fire is still in the fanciful dream stage, but we''ll get there."

    "I''ve also been training with Corvisquire to further abuse Extremespeed and to try and figure out the secret to Swift''s homing ability. We''ve been able to get Swift to change targets mid-flight, but thats all. It''s frustrating Corvi something fierce. In another vein, research by a somewhat unknown researcher from Galar named Doctor Castel suggests the Corviknight line has a smattering of Dark mixed in with their Steel and Flying types. Not much, but enough to be useful. I''m really hoping this is the case. Why? I was re-reading the section in ''Type Advantages for Trainers in a Hurry'' regarding how Dark moves normally have a level of homing built into them like Faint Attack and Pursuit, as the Dark energy naturally gravitates toward anything living, or emitting ''aura'' I guess. If we can transmigrate Dark energy into Swift, we''ll have a seriously difficult move to dodge, see my notes on the custom move: Pursuers."

    "Treecko, meanwhile, has been learning Faint Attack from Vulpix. It''s taking longer than Quick Attack since Faint Attack is not a move that the Sceptile line learns naturally and this is the first time Treecko has ever had to mold Dark energy, but Vulpix is a patient teacher and Treecko is a stellar student. Fuck, I''m kind of kicking myself for not realizing the potential of such a move before. I know it''s not as fast as Extremespeed, but when used, I can''t seem to follow the user with my eyes. No one can. It''s as if my eyes just slide off of them and my brain just refuses to acknowledge that there is something there. I know there is a word for this but it escapes me right now. If we can apply that effect to projectiles... Anyway, I got to see a Vaporeon in action as she chased away a full-grown Sharpedo harassing the cargo ship taking us to Dewford, then I got to see her melt into a drain as a mass of water. What an unfair, broken ability that I must have. Vaporeon went to the top of my wanted list, and I will have one. I''m going to finish up here and send this before the cell signal gets too weak. Lee, out."

    By now, Birch is too tired to be surprised by the revelation of entirely new moves being created and sighs, promising himself he''ll be amped up later. He scrolls down the folder with all the audio files to find a single picture and several text files as well.

    Clicking on the first one, it''s a rather straightforward list of pokemon names written on photo-copied paper, presumably ones that Lee wants. Several are crossed out, and the last one is almost entirely scribbled out.

    -More to be added-

    Vaporeon

    Eevee?

    S?n?o?r?e?l?a?x?

    Flygon

    Audino/Chansey/Blissey

    Seviper/Zangoose (only one)

    Persian

    Absol? Research More

    Kecleon

    Manectric/Luxray

    Kangaskhan? Research More

    Mienshao

    Latias/Latios - Wishful thinking

    L?m?a?o? B?r?a?i?x?e?n?

    L?u?c?a?r?i?o?

    ��������wo- Get real

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Birch closes the file then goes to the next one.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Custom Techniques - Vulpix

    #1

    Name: Convergence

    -Fire-type

    Description: Fireballs spontaneously manifest around target and converge, exploding for Fire damage.

    +Leaves little room to dodge.

    +Strikes all points of foe, negating need to aim for weakpoints

    -Slower than Protect. Current speed can be dodged by faster foes that aren''t surprised.

    Notes:

    Requires pyrokinesis. (See - Vulpix bio notes)

    Power good. Need to work on explosion sync, projectile speed, and energy consumption. Don''t use in serious battles.

    #2

    Name: Fox Fire (Name not final)

    -Fire-type

    STILL IN CONCEPTUAL PHASE

    Description: Fox-shaped flame clone runs down and engages foe as a separate combatant. Explodes for Fire damage when defeated.

    Notes: Vulpix''s pyrokinesis has a long way to go before she can exert this level of control midbattle. Very cool, but very impractical (for now)

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Birch whistles to himself as he closes the file. "That''s bold, but game-changing if it can be done." He clicks the next one, feeling eager.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Custom Techniques - Corvisquire

    #1

    Name: Pursuers

    -Dark-type

    STILL IN CONCEPTUAL PHASE

    Description: N/A

    Notes: Swift needs deconstructed first.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The next file, the one for Treecko, is empty, leaving Birch to lean back in his chair as his throughs swirl a mile a minute.

    "Medi?"

    He looks up, seeing his Medicham at his office door with a bottle of aspirin and glass of water already in his hands.

    Birch laughs. "Thank you, old friend. Lee is giving me a headache again and you''re right on time. Here, come take a look at this," he says, turning his computer monitor around and opening the files again.

    Medicham steps closer and listens to each of the audio files, then looks at the text files with his face as impassive as stone. After a long moment, the pokemon looks between his trainer and the aspirin in his hand, before sighing and tossing the little pills in his own mouth without any shame.

 Act 1: Chapter 14

    "Almost done, love."

    Standing still upon their motel bed, Vulpix stares at the wall with her chocolate eyes unfocused as Lee''s hands poke and prod her body. From her mind, Lee feels her vague sense of deja vu bleeding over to him.

    Beside Lee, Treecko sits quietly in a deep meditative stance, his eyes closed and breathing slow. Were it not for the little corrections he makes to his posture whenever Lee jostles the bed, He would have thought his pokemon to be asleep.

    Finally, at the foot of the bed, Corvisquire watches Vulpix''s physical with barely veiled distaste, and his wings tensed to flap. Had he teeth, Lee is certain Corvisquire would be bearing them.

    Lee gently takes Vulpix''s chin and gives her jaw a little squeeze, making her open her mouth and he peers inside with a penlight held in his other hand. Silently, he marvels at the feeling of her powerful jaw muscles under his fingers. One bite and jerk of her neck would rend flesh with ease, he thinks. He''ll have to order a bite-force gauge and pick it up at the next Pokemart they visit.

    "Teeth, pearly and white. Gums, pink and healthy." Lee smiles, releasing her jaw to pet the curls of fur on her head, drawing a few wags from her tails. The man smiles and picks up the pen and notebook at his side, jotting several notes down.

    Weight: 24.6 lbs (+0.9 from last)

    Height: 2''3" (Discounting ears)

    Muscle formation remains even and consistent. Fur growth even and consistent. Temperature at 112F. Free of illness/parasites. Vulpix bored but alert during the whole process.

    Mouth/Teeth: OK

    Ears: OK

    Eyes: OK

    Lungs: OK

    Heart: OK

    Stomach: OK

    "So, that''s everything, Corvi," Lee smiles at the crow, taking care to not show his teeth. "A check-up is as easy as can be. If you''re up to it, we can do yours."

    For a split-second, it seems as if Corvisquire actually considers the offer, then he turns his beak up with a scoff and turns away.

    Vulpix levels the crow with a frown for the rude dismissal and Lee tries to not let his disappointment show on his face.

    Knock knock!

    "It''s open!" Lee calls, scooping up the equipment scattered across his bed and depositing it messily into his backpack. The digital scale and thermometer get stuck on each other and require him to shake the whole backpack for them to drop inside.

    The door of the tiny motel room opens, revealing a wet, grinning, swimming-trunks clad Brendan with an absolutely beaming Marshtomp behind him. Behind them, Zinnia follows in with several plastic bags held in one hand.

    "Are you still couped up in here?" Brendan asks, wiping sand off of his feet before setting further in. "C''mon! The ocean is warm and the beach is open!"

    "What he means to say, is that the Brawl on the Beach is starting soon, so up you go!" Zinnia whips one of the bags in her hand at Lee, who fumbles and catches it at the last second. "I guestimated your size since you were too lazy to come with, so sorry not sorry if they''re sized wrong."

    "I told you, I needed to swing by the gym and register then perform Vulpix''s physical," Lee grumbles, still sour that the Dewford gym website was down, necessitating a long, early morning walk there. He opens the bag in his hands and finds a plain pair of dark green swimming trunks and a pair of cheap flip-flops.

    Zinnia just turns her nose up mockingly. "What guy turns down the chance to watch their stupidly sexy friend try on bikinis all morning?" She gives her head an exaggerated shake and clicks her tongue in disapproval.

    "A guy with dignity, maybe?" Brendan dryly remarks, making Marshtomp chuckle.

    Zinnia steps past him, purposely billowing her cloak out to whack Brendan in the face. "I''m using your bathroom to change, then you''re up. We''ve got a tournament to win, so don''t take forever!" She slips into the small bathroom at the end of the motel room and shuts the door behind her.

    Brendan rubs his smarting cheek with a grumble. "Jeez, what''s her damage?" He wonders aloud. Brendan crosses the room to his bed and digs in his backpack, withdrawing three empty pokeballs before stuffing them in his pocket. "Me and Marshtomp are gunna duck out of watching that tournament if it gets boring and go to the Granite Cave," Brendan says, looking back at Lee. "In the meantime, we''re going back to the ocean. See ya!" With that, Brendan and Marshtomp zoom off.

    Lee shakes his head, then turns when the bathroom door opens.

    Out strolls Zinnia, clad in a black and red striped bikini that tightly hugs her figure and leaves little to the imagination, almost seeming a size too small. On her head, a pair of sunglasses sit unused, and her hair tie is absent, letting her roughly hewn hair fall down to her neck. She smiles at him, eyes sparkling with mischief. In the back of his mind, Lee wonders how she has no tan lines before his imagination provides an answer that makes his face grow warm.

    A nudge from Vulpix quickly snaps him out of his starring before Zinnia can comment on it. "Yeah, yeah, let me finish cleaning and I''ll be along."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    In the full-length bathroom mirror wearing just his swimming trunks, Lee silently regards himself.

    Never could he be called overweight on earth, as the zoo gave him enough work to do, but the presence of all the food stands and the small food court that all gave discounts to staff sabotaged his poor self-control. He was forever in the boring middle-zone of formless and average. Now, after weeks of walking being his main mode of transport and most of his meals being lean and self-made, he now sports the slightest amount of definition. If he squints, he could almost say he has abs.

    ''That probably won''t last long.''

    What truly draws his attention are the marks the now bare parts of his body exposed.

    His hands and forearms bear pale, thin, cross-crossing lines of marred flesh that most cat handlers acquire after several years on the job. Some are deeper and more visible, but most are faded with age. His torso and legs have several blemishes caused by young claws and teeth too playful for their own good, and he knows there are one or two small ones on his back. Most of the damage is too minor to see from a distance unless an observer is looking for imperfections, but...

    Looking further up his right arm, an ugly, messy bite mark marrs his bicep and wraps around to his tricep, a permanent reminder to a younger, more disrespectful Lee to not overstep bounds.

    He had only been under Aasir''s mentorship for several months when he got too comfortable on the job and paid for it. Usiku was the name of the old panther who taught him the painful lesson, and it was only Aasir''s intervention that let him get away with his arm still mostly in one piece. The older keeper yelled himself hoarse in a livid fury after tending to his idiotic student''s wounds.

    Lee pushes away the thoughts of his mentor in favor of the present, looking himself over again, self-consciousness rearing its ugly head the longer he inspects himself. Brendan has seen a bit of Lee while uncovered and simply thought all the marks cool as most young boys might.

    Zinnia has seen none of them, which is its own bundle of worries, but the sheer number of strangers who will see and judge makes him falter. Surely claw and bite scars upon a trainer when pokemon are normally so docile is a mark of shame?

    "Hey!" Zinnia pounds on the bathroom door. "Did you stop to take a dump and fall in? Hurry up already! We''ve got twenty minutes to be there!"

    With a sigh, Lee grabs his wallet and shrunken pokeballs off of the bathroom sink and stuffs them into his pockets. He opens the door to find a surprised Zinnia, who stops with her hand raised to knock again. "No need to bust down the door, I''m here," Lee remarks.

    Zinnia looks up and down his body, eyes lingering here and there before she smirks. "I would have figured you more built under that jacket. At least you aren''t flabby," she says, reaching out a hand to poke his arm. "Well, c''mon! Times-a wasting!" The dragon tamer nabs her own pokeballs from where they lay on Brendan''s bed, which are all attached to a loose belt that she loops around her waist just barely tight enough to not fall from around her hips. She throws the motel door open and saunters off, leaving Lee behind.

    He looks over to Vulpix, who watches silently from his bed. "Again, I think you''re the only one I can rely on," he says, making to follow after Zinnia.

    The vixen snorts and hops to his shoulders when Lee pauses to lock the motel room door behind him. The soft fur across his bare shoulders and neck soothes his worry just a bit.

    The pair turn, and find the beach right off the front doorstep, complete with a beating sun, white sands, the sounds of children playing in the waves, and the waves themselves.

    Lee looks back at the somewhat ratty motel they rented from with a frown. "This place looked better in the dark. Premium beachfront spot my ass," he grumbles, speeding up to match pace with Zinnia, who glances at him as she pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes.

    "Any idea who all is in this tournament? Or is it just locals?" Lee asks as he weaves past a laughing young boy being chased by a Zigzagoon. Looking further down the beach in front of one of the resorts, he sees a large gathering of people and pokemon by a lifeguard tower and can already hear bombastic music. "The flier made this look like a huge thing."

    "Brawl on the Beach is to draw tourists in," Zinnia answers bluntly. "Most trainers come for the gym and leave afterward, which doesn''t draw a ton of interest since everyone can just watch gym battles on TV. This is to squeeze some of that sweet, sweet moolah out of vacationers and passing trainers. The ten grand prize, band bookings, permits for running the event and all that other stuff?" She guffaws into her hand. "I bet they make that back thirty times over easy just by selling overpriced food and souvenir stand junk."

    And indeed, as they get closer to the lifeguard tower sporting a large telescreen saying "Brawl on the Beach", they pass several stands on the outskirts, one of which is selling just hotdogs and beers for an unearthly $5 and $7 respectively. The grinning vendor has a line several beachgoers long.

    "God damn," Lee swears. "Go back to the motel to eat, loud and clear."

    The pair of trainers and shoulder-riding pokemon slip between the crowd to the lifeguard tower, where a table with a sign saying "registration" taped to the front is set-up under the telescreen. There, an older, rotund man in flower-print swimming trunks and a bored-looking teen girl in a one-piece swimsuit sit behind a pair of laptops. The man is already talking to a pair of boys clutching pokeballs, so the girl perks up as Lee and Zinnia approach. Her eyes glide off of Zinnia to Lee, making them widen as she takes in his visage.

    "Zinnia Draconid and Lee Henson, reporting for the tournament," Zinnia grins and takes charge of the conversation from the get-go. "We should be reserved."

    Inwardly, Lee feels himself shrinking and fights to keep his face impassive, now acutely aware of how many stares he''s getting from Zinnia''s announcement.

    "O-Oh, sure!" The girl pulls her eyes off of Lee and looks down at her laptop. "Can I see your IDs and the pokeballs of the pokemon you''re using?"

    Lee wordlessly pulls his pokeballs and ID from his pocket, handing them to the outstretched hand of the attendant girl. She looks at the ID for a moment and types several things down, then holds each pokeball before a scanner on the front of the laptop, which beeps after each pokeball. The girl hands the card and balls back, and repeats the same process with Zinnia.

    After typing a few more things into her laptop, sneaking looks at Lee as she does so, the girl clears her throat. "Looks like everything is in order. You''re team number fifteen. Everything should be beginning in abo-"

    "Goooooood morning Dewford!" The speakers up on the corners of the lifeguard tower blare, echoing up and down the beach. A reedy, middle-aged man dressed like a beach bum with a wide smile and a microphone on the tower waves an arm out to everyone. "It''s that time again, time for a Brawl on the Beach!"

    The people and pokemon all gathered around cheer, drowning out everything else for a moment.

    "We''re mixing it up this time, folks," the man on the tower continues. "For this Brawl, we''re doing double battles! You heard that right, doubles! Twice the excitement this time! Sixteen teams of two will compete in single-elimination style for ten-thousand credits and the right to be Dewford''s Dynamic Duo till the next Brawl!" The man moves to the side to make room as someone else climbs up the steps of the tower. "I''m local radio host Josh Speakmen, and joining me today to commentate on today''s tournament is..."

    Stepping up beside Speakmen with a charming smile is none other than the Dewford Gym Leader.

    "Brawly!"

    Again, the crowd gathered under the lifeguard tower cheer, which redoubles when Brawly waves down to everyone.

    Lee ignores the crowd in favor of looking at Brawly. The man''s excellent physique, tall form, and handsome face make it obvious why a number of girls and even a pokemon or two in the gathering around the tower sport blushes and have eyes only for him. In the corner of his vision, he can see Zinnia rub her chin and eye the Gym Leader appreciatively.

    Brawly takes a second microphone offered to him by Speakmen with a smile. "Thank you everyone for the warm welcome!" He says, his surfer bro voice rolling up and down the beach. "This year''s Brawl is going to be a blast, I can already feel it. We''ve got some real talent competing today so this''ll be one for the books!" He says. As he talks, his eyes scan the crowd below, stopping on Lee, Vulpix, and Zinnia for a second longer than anyone else.

    ''That''s not ominous at all...''

    Vulpix sniffs dismissively from his shoulder. ''Y** ***** *** *u**.''

    "Then without further ado, lets get the battles underway!" Speakmen cries, drawing a pokeball. With a toss, the ball flies high and pops open, throwing down a bolt of light into an empty spot in the crowd. Several people back up as a Vibrava materializes in the sand with a buzz of his wings.

    ''A Vibrava?'' Lee blinks ''What''s up with this?''

    The dragonfly pokemon buzzes his wings again and then dives headfirst into the sand, vanishing with the crunch of displaced earth, then the sand begins to rumble under everyone''s feet, prompting a wave of backing up.

    The mussed sand vibrates and flattens into a circle almost a hundred feet across, radiating out from the center. On one end, the sand bunches up and forms the borders of a box large enough for two people to stand in with room to spare, and on the other side, another border-box forms. After a second, little flags pop out of the sand in each box, a red one and a blue one. The end result is a clean, circular battlefield.

    "Wow..." Lee absently applauds with everyone else as Vibrava emerges out of the sand and flies back up to Speakmen. ''Flygon went up a little more on my list.''

    "Let''s welcome our first competitors," Speakmen says. "Start the roll!"

    On the side of the tower, the telescreen stops scrolling through sponsor logos and displays all the names of the competing trainers. The screen rapidly scrambles them then throws the names into a bracket. The screen highlights the first fight with a red box.

    JANE & MANTY

    VS

    AMIR & DON

    Lee feels Zinnia lightly elbow his side and looks over, following her pointing finger to the screen. "Looks like we''re battle number four," she says, and indeed, they''re slated to fight in the fourth match against a pair of trainers named Deb and Jean.

    Speakmen smiles and waves a hand out. "First up is the daughter and father duo from our own Dewford, give it up for Jane and Manty!"

    From the people gathered around the ring, a young brunette girl, probably around Brendan''s age, and an older man with a laugh-line creased face wave to everyone amid applause and take the blue box.

    "And next up is Amir all the way from Unova, and Don of Slateport!"

    A pair of teen boys, one sporting a desert tan, and the other in an entirely too-bold speedo take the other box with dramatic waves to the spectators.

    "Our first heat will be one pokemon per trainer." Brawly picks up as the crowd quiets down from the competitor announcement. "Once one team has no pokemon left to battle, the opposing team will advance. Trainers, please send out your selections!" Brawly cries as Speakmen returns his Vibrava and withdraws another pokeball.

    The girl, Jane, throws out a Greatball. "Go, Pinchy!"

    At the same time, her father throws a pokeball of his own, "Wingull!"

    On the side of the father and daughter, a Corpish and a Wingull take form. As they send out their pokemon, the boys across from them do the same.

    "Dewott, you''ve got this!" Amir tosses a pokeball with a water drop sticker upon it.

    The other boy, Don, whips his pokeball high in the air without an intro.

    From their pokeballs, a Dewott and a Swellow take their places on the field, Dewott smirking confidently while Swellow screeches up from above.

    "It''s Corphish and Wingull versus Dewott and Swellow!" Speakmen calls. "Dewott is a rare and powerful Water pokemon from the far away land of Unova, and Swellow is the fast and furious evolution of Taillow! On the other side we''ve got Corphish, one of the toughest Water-types around, and Wingull, the high-flying Water and Flying type we all know and love! What are your thoughts on this one, Brawly?" He turns to the Gym Leader.

    "Dewott is the one to watch in this match, Josh," Brawly takes over the commentating seamlessly. "As you said, they''re rare and powerful pokemon. So much so, Unova''s rockin'' Professor Juniper gives their younger stage, Oshawott, to her Lab Trainers."

    ''Rockin?'' Lee wonders with his lips twitching up into a smile. ''Honestly? I can''t blame him.''

    "We''re looking at a dynamite first match here! Are all trainers ready?" Speakmen asks into his mic, opening his other pokeball, releasing a Hypno that stands at his side.

    "Ready!"

    "Ready!"

    Both sides call at once.

    Speakmen''s Hypno raises a hand, and a shimmering dome forms over the ring before fading into invisibility, just like with Brendan''s battle in the Rustboro gym.

    Idly, Lee wonders if Vulpix will be able to make Psychic barriers one day.

    "Begin!"

    What follows is a one-sided and somewhat mediocre battle. It''s clear that the girl trainer, Jane, only recently got her Corphish as the trainer and pokemon simply can''t synergize at all. Wingull is obviously not a dedicated battler, and is quickly picked off by Swellow, leaving Corphish struggling in a 2v1 match. One good Slash attack from Dewott leaves Corphish with a cracked and useless claw, letting Swellow rush in to his lame side for a knock-out Take Down.

    "And thats the match!" Speakmen calls. "The winners are the red team!"

    The spectators erupt into applause.

    Zinnia turns to Lee with a hand on her hip just above her pokeballs. "Those two seemed, eh. Not that great? The winners I mean."

    Lee frowns as he watches the teen boys high-five and recall their pokemon. "Dewott fights like a berserker and Swellow''s trainer refused to call any attacks unless it was one-hundred percent safe to do so. Quite the dichotomy, but I don''t know that such a thing makes for a good battle strategy. One is overtaxing himself and the other is wasting opportunities. Swellow would have been caught in an uneasy one-on-one if Dewott overextended and got nailed by Corphish, who Swellow''s trainer refused to engage. If Swellow knew any support moves, at least his time idling would not have been wasted. I could criticize Dewott''s trainer more for just brainlessly attacking, but at least he did something." He stops. "I don''t mean to shit on a match between some kids and a dad, though. It was fun to watch."

    "That''s what I was thinking, just in more words," Zinnia laughs. "You''re such a nerd."

    "I am not..." He grumbles.

    The next two matches are much the same, each one taking about ten or so minutes. A Beautifly and Spoink ended up roasted by a Torkoal, whose Clefairy partner stood by running support with Helping Hand and Heal Pulse. A missed Flamethrower from Torkoal splashed against the dome barrier, making for a thrill for the crowd.

    The next one was an outright bore until the end. A large Trapinch and a Lotad fought a Sentret and Nincada. The Nincada could barely fight with the harsh sun in it''s nocturnal eyes, and a savage Crunch from Trapinch took it out of the fight in a single blow. Sentret''s young trainer panicked at the sudden uphill battle and ordered Sentret to run away from his much slower foes and pelt them with Charge Beam. Lotad only needed two hits from Charge Beam to go down, but Trapinch''s immunity to Sentret''s only ranged attack meant they had to fight for real. The instant Sentret went in for a Fury Swipes attack, foolishly from the front since his trainer did not specify a flanking maneuver, he hesitated right before the attack and took a bone-shattering Crunch for the trouble.

    Literally bone-shattering, as there was more than one sickening snap when Trapinch''s jaws closed around the rodent pokemon like a steel trap, drawing winces and Oooohhhhh''s from the crowd. The on-site Chansey on loan from the Pokemon Center quickly moved in when the match was called and hauled the brutalized Sentrent and distraught trainer away to a medical tent behind the lifeguard tower.

    Finally, Lee and Zinnia''s match arrives.

    ZINNIA & LEE

    VS

    DEB & JEAN

    "Now for our fourth match, we''ve got Zinnia of Fallarbor, and Lee of Little Root!" Speakmen''s voice booms over the PA. "C''mon up!"

    Lee ignores his prickle of nervousness and holds his face in a mask of cool as he and Zinnia weave through the spectators, who all turn to look at them. They take their place in the red box. As Speakmen calls for the other trainers, Zinnia leans towards Lee.

    "Hey, I''m going to use Goomy, these two don''t seem like much," Zinnia whispers as the opponents, both teen girls in bikinis, both probably fifteen or sixteen years of age, take their places and send Lee nervous looks. "Goomy''ll be more willing to fight with someone on his side... So long as it''s not your bird."

    "Up to fight, love?" Lee asks Vulpix, who gives him a vulpine smile. He turns back to Zinnia. "Vulpix then."

    Zinnia''s smirk turns savage.

    "Trainers, please select your pokemon!"

    Vulpix leaps from her trainer''s shoulder, barely disturbing the sand as she lands and takes a loose, aloof stance. The action only seems to heighten the anxiety of the opposing trainers, who both clutch their pokeballs closely.

    Zinnia keeps her manic smile in place as she draws a pokeball and throws it in the ring. "Goomy, time to tear them up!"

    The tiny dragon pokemon appears in a flash of light, already looking resigned, then annoyed when the sand sticks to his damp body. A vulpine purr from Vulpix draws his attention, and the little dragon suddenly seems to realize it''s not Vulpix that he''s going against, but rather with. He draws himself up a little straighter.

    "Delcatty, you''ve got this!" Jean cries, her pokeball flying from her hand.

    "Volbeat, go!" Deb follows a second later.

    Delcatty and Volbeat materialize on their side of the field. The pair of pokemon meet eyes for a moment and look at their opponents. Delcatty''s hackles rise and Volbeat''s wings take him several feet up into the air, the lantern on his rear flashing.

    "In one corner, we''ve got Goomy, a rare Dragon-type pokemon, the first one we''ve seen in this tournament! What a thrill!" Speakmen laughs. "And his partner is a lovely Vulpix! A real spitfire of a pokemon in more than just the figurative sense. This match is going to be hot!" He turns to the girls. "Then we''ve got Delcatty, don''t let the pretty exterior fool you, a Delcatty''s claws will send you to a world of hurt! And with Volbeat''s literal razzle-dazzle, we might have our most stylish team yet! Any opinions on this one, Brawly?"

    Brawly raises his mic and looks right at Lee, making him sigh in resignation. "Yep," Brawly begins. "Considering Lee Henson here, a Lab Trainer under Professor Birch''s employ," he points as if it''s needed. "Defeated Roxanne''s own pokemon while working with a type disadvantage, it''s my opinion that Vulpix is the strongest pokemon to set foot in the ring yet, maybe the strongest pokemon in Brawl on the Beach in years."

    A number of surrounding people gasp, a few of them raising cellphones and pokenavs to point at Lee and Vulpix. Lee has to seriously fight to keep his face even, but he''s sure he''s twitched more than once already. It''s only Vulpix''s silent, telepathic urges for him to keep calm that prevents him from openly shrinking away from the attention.

    "And I doubt someone in his company with a Dragon pokemon is anything but a serious trainer as well," Brawly continues, looking at Zinnia as a smile blooms on his face. "I gotta say, I''m definitely going all-out when Lee and I battle at the Gym here in a few days. This is the first battle I''ve been eager for so far this year." he crosses his arms as more gasps and chatter breaks out. "I''m sorry to say, but Miss Jean and Miss Deb have got a seriously uphill battle here. It''s time to ride the wave, or drown."

    ''Brawly, you motherfucker,'' Lee glares up at Brawly with narrowed eyes, making the Gym Leader rock back on his heels, his confusion at the sudden hostility is plain on his face.

    If the girls across from Lee and Zinnia looked dismayed before, they''re positively petrified now, looking as if a Haunter just flew in their faces. Even their pokemon are measuring up Goomy and Vulpix with great reluctance.

    A small part of him is secretly pleased that Vulpix is being regarded with respect, but it''s overshadowed by his annoyance courtesy of all the eyes on him. "Lets just get this out of the way," Lee grunts. A second later he kicks himself for his tone when both of the opposing trainers flinch.

    "Are both sides ready?"

    "Ready!" Zinnia practically roars

    "Ready..." Both Jean and Deb murmur.

    Hypno''s barrier shines to life, locking the pokemon in.

    Goomy puffs himself up and Vulpix''s muscles tense.

    Delcatty''s hackles rise once more and Volbeat hovers backward a foot or two, uneasy eyes locked onto Vulpix.

    Speakmen draws in a breath, but time seems to slow as Lee reaches out to Vulpix telepathically ''Don''t activate Drought, love,'' Lee sends to the vixen. ''No need to dry out Goomy. Also, no need to advertise our telepathy. I''ll give verbal instructions, but add details here. They want to put us on the spot? Fine, I guess we can''t hide forever, so we''ll give them a show here before I lose my nerve. We''re not going to drag this out, but neither are we going to show our full hand, got it?''

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    She responds with a flicker of wordless understanding, and time seems to resume with the conversation over.

    "Begin!"

    "Quick Attack!" Lee calls first. ''Hit Volbeat, then bounce to Delcatty, who is probably the stronger of the two. We''ll let Goomy have the weaker ''Mon and help as needed.''

    Vulpix goes from still to a streak of orange in hardly a second, flying at Volbeat, who freezes like a deer staring down the headlights of a runaway truck. The firefly pokemon can barely brace himself before Vulpix hits him like a furry cannonball, then he''s thrown to the sandy ground with a wheeze when the fox pokemon uses him as a springboard and launches herself at a wide-eyed Delcatty.

    "D-Delcatty, duck!" Jean stutters out a half-second too late.

    Vulpix shoulder checks Delcatty, who yowls in distress when she''s knocked clean off of her paws and into the sand. The impact is so violent that the cat pokemon bounces off the sand and comes to a stop several yards away as Vulpix twists and lands on her paws.

    "What a dynamic start!" Speakmen booms. "Vulpix has blitzed both Delcatty and Volbeat! Can Deb and Jean turn this around, or has the tone of the match already been set?"

    "Volbeat!" Deb begins, "Help Delca-!"

    "Goomy!" Zinnia''s much louder voice cows Deb and makes her falter halfway through her command. "Dragon Breath on Volbeat!"

    Goomy gurgles and swells up like a balloon, a green glow shining through his skin, then he opens his mouth and unleashes a torrent of crackling green flames right at Volbeat.

    The Bug pokemon buzzes and dives out of the way of the flames, but Goomy, much like his teammate Swablu did in her match with Ash''s Taillow, quickly fires off another attack with corrected aim. Volbeat can only squeak before he''s engulfed in raging dragonfire that covers any noise of pain he might have made.

    ''Zinnia is ruthless as usual, and it looks like even Goomy can throw some good punches if fired up,'' Lee turns his attention back to Vulpix and Delcatty, but keeps Goomy and Volbeat in the corner of his eye.

    Delcatty struggles to her feet, blotchy discoloration blooming on her side as she avoids putting weight on one of her forelegs.

    "You can do it, Delcatty!" Jean cries. "Use Feint-"

    "Confuse Ray," Lee orders simply.

    "-Attack! Uh oh..."

    Delcatty stalks forward just as Vulpix''s eyes begin to glow, and before Delcatty can fade into Feint Attack''s curious invisibility, she jolts as Confuse Ray hits and stumbles face-first into the sand, where she flails helplessly.

    From the corner of his eye, Lee watches Volbeat zip at Vulpix in a Quick Attack to try and help Delcatty, but...

    "Dragon Breath!"

    Volbeat cries out as another plume of green flame washes over him and knocks him away.

    "Things are looking grim for Delcatty and Volbeat!" Speakmen says as the burnt and battered Volbeat struggles to stand. "Vulpix and Goomy are dominating the match and their opponents can barely muster a defense! They need to get up and get going if they''re going to win this!"

    ''Sorry girls, I hate to be a dick but I need this cash for my Eevee fund,'' Lee sighs. He turns his head to Zinnia. "Ready to finish this up?"

    Zinnia rubs her chin. "Goomy doesn''t have a good finisher unless you want to take both of them out."

    "Have him knock Volbeat towards Vulpix, and we''ll end it," Lee replies, getting a nod from her.

    "Vulpix, Fire Spin."

    The vixen''s eyes light up the same color as balefire as a wide ring of writhing, spinning flames comes to life along the ground around her with the still struggling and confused Delcatty in the radius. The flames begin to pick up speed, spinning faster and faster, growing more intense...

    "Goomy, Watergun just behind Volbeat!" Zinnia orders, her evil smile widening as she watches Fire Spin dramatically begin to spool up. "Throw him into Fire Spin!"

    "Volbeat!" Deb struggles to think of an order. "G-Get out of there!"

    Her partner Jean just watches with resignation, her head dropping into her hands.

    The slug-dragon swells like a balloon again then spits a bowling ball-sized orb of water that hits the ground at Volbeat''s side like a bomb, throwing water everywhere and the firefly into the air at Vulpix.

    The second Volbeat crosses into the ring of fire from above, the glow in Vulpix''s eyes doubles in intensity, then...

    A whirling tower of inferno explodes into existence, rising up and splashing against the top of the barrier with both the roar of a wildfire and shrill shriek of a tornado. Sand is dragged into the blazing whirlwind and swiftly turned to glass, making a crystalline ring around the perimeter that glows a molten red.

    "Holy smokes!" Speakmen exclaims as the spectators roar along with the fire. "It''s like Vulpix opened a portal to the underworld! I would have expected this out of a Charizard, not a little Vulpix! The insanity! I don''t think Delcatty and Volbeat are walking away from this one, folks!"

    After several seconds of hell on earth, Fire Spin fades and dissipates in wisps of flickering orange, throwing Delcatty and Volbeat carelessly into the sand, thankfully away from any glass. Both pokemon lay limp and coated in burns, unable to fight further. In the middle of the cooling glass ring, Vulpix stands on a little island of sand, her chest rising and falling deeply.

    "One! Two! Three!" Speakmen blows an air horn in his other hand. "Thats it! Vulpix and Goomy are the winners!"

    Cheers ring out as the barrier falls, letting everyone recall their pokemon. The girls across from Lee and Zinnia dejectedly recall their pokemon, turning to the Chansey already behind them and handing the pokeballs over.

    Zinnia recalls Goomy with a wide grin and kisses the ball when the tiny dragon is safely inside. "I knew you could do it!" She cheers. "You just gotta have some confidence in yourself, Goom. You''re stronger than you know."

    The ball wiggles in her hand.

    Lee smiles at the scene as Vulpix retakes her place across his shoulder. "Damn fine job, love," he tells her, smiling a bit wider when she presses her forehead to his unmarred cheek. He reaches up and rubs behind her ear, pulling her a little closer in a facsimile of a hug.

    "What an explosive match! What did you think of that one, everyone!?"

    Everyone cheers and Lee even sees someone hold up a poster board sign with a hastily drawn Vulpix and Goomy upon it.

    "Just like Brawly predicted, Lab Trainer Lee''s Vulpix and Zinnia''s Goomy aced the fight! All without taking a single hit, to boot!" Speakmen''s excitement is almost tangible. "There''s a storm overhanging this competition, a firestorm! Can anyone brave it? We''ll find out here soon, as we''ll be taking a short break to clean up the ring. Standby, everyone!"

    Again, Vibrava flies to the center of the ring and dives into the ground with Dig. The ring rumbles, then the sand begins to spiral inward, pulling the glass to the center where it cracks and grinds back to sand as it sinks underground. Vibrava has obviously done this before.

    Lee, Vulpix, and Zinnia step back into the spectators, many of whom crowd up close practically bursting with questions and congratulations.

    "That was nuts! How does a Vulpix get that strong?" A teenage boy with a surfboard under his arm gapes at them. The Marill at his feet mirrors his expression perfectly.

    "Or that fast?" A pretty young woman in a white sundress asks, standing very close. "She was a blur! There one second, gone the next. And that fur of hers is glorious. What''s your rate for breeding?"

    "Miss Zinnia! Miss Zinnia!" A young girl runs up, weaving through the legs of adults to reach the dragon tamer. "Was that really a dragon? Do you have others? Can I see em?!"

    "Hey, guys..." A man and a woman holding hands approach. They''re the Trapinch and Lotad trainers from the prior match and both are openly nervous. "So, uh. We''re fighting in the next heat. Can you maybe take it easy? We''re not pros or anything..."

    "You kids ain''t half bad!" A round, grinning man clad in a blue alolan shirt and sunglasses steps up. "What were your names again? Lee and Zinnia? It''s not everyday you see talent like this."

    Zinnia''s temper is getting ready to blow as more people crowd them, Lee can see it on her darkening face. For a second, Lee is tempted to let her do it if it''ll make all the prying eyes just back up a little!

    Vulpix nips his ear, sending him an image of Professor Birch, then his ID card with his title of Laboratory Trainer in sharp relief.

    ''Shit. It''ll look bad for both us and the lab if Zinnia opens her trap.'' Lee shuts his eyes and sighs. Then he reopens them and tries to put on his best answer dumb questions from zoo guests face. "Everyone! One at a time, please!" He starts, stopping Zinnia short from yelling "Fuck off" or something equally offensive. "I''ll answer everything as best I can till the next match starts. If you still have questions for myself or the Hoenn Pokemon Lab, I can provide you with my email and I''ll get back to you as soon as possible."

    ''Which is to say you''ll find yourself in my spam folder if what you have to say is stupid.''

    "Anyway," Lee points to the surfer boy and his Marill. "Vulpix has been on a harsh training regimen and diet customized down to the calorie from day one to maximize her power for her eventual evolution to Ninetales. Hours upon hours, day in and day out. It asks a lot of both the trainer and pokemon, and not every method works best for everyone. Do your research before making any drastic changes to your pokemon''s diet and routine. Next..." He turns to the woman in the sundress, who looks at him with large, hope-filled eyes. "Vulpix and I discussed such a matter awhile ago. She has no interest in breeding for profit, and I certainly won''t force the issue," he says, making the woman''s face fall.

    For roughly ten minutes, Lee, aided by Vulpix and sometimes an irritated Zinnia, field questions from and talk to the small crowd that has gathered around them. As Lee expects, a lot of the questions are asinine or intrusive, which get polite non-answers, but a surprising number of them are fairly intelligent things that it would do a trainer well to know. For several, he has to tell them to email him and he''ll get back to them, as he simply does not know, and others he has to keep short, lest they turn into full lectures. Of the handful of business cards Birch gave him, he''s down to just two copies after giving out many of them.

    "Hey pal, I got a question for ya. Do you think you''re hot shit because Brawly called you out?"

    The chatter in the group quiets as everyone turns to the person to ask such a bold thing.

    Lee follows the voice, turning to the side, where he finds a young, sneering face pointed at him.

    Before him stands an older teen boy, perhaps seventeen, with maroon eyes and hair down to his chin. His feet sport simple sandals partially covered by his long, ripped up jeans, and his torso is covered with a black sleeveless shirt. Most of his maroon hair is covered by a loose black beanie, sans a bang that stands up in defiance of gravity. On his left arm, a fingerless metal bracer that would look right at home in a Hot Topic is slotted with four shrunken pokeballs with spots for two more. All in all...

    ''This kid reeks of teenage angst and too much anime.''

    Lee pushes away what he really wants to say and clears his throat. "Honestly? No. I would have preferred to not have all this attention. Since we''ve been identified now, though, I don''t see much reason to hold back."

    The teen crosses his arms. "Of course you would have liked to keep the anonymous cool guy thing going. Can''t have anyone blowing away your smokescreen, can you?" He shakes his head condescendingly. "That''s all people like you have going for them."

    Lee''s brows meet as he tries to puzzle out what the boy before him means. "Excuse me?"

    "You''re a privileged, theatrical hack, I can see it even if no one else does," the teen says, his sneer transforming into a full-blown scowl. "You may have dazzled all the dimwits watching this farce of a competition, but I can see you for what you really are," He says before pointing an accusing finger at a startled Vulpix. "Your fox there needed a full ten seconds to charge up that Fire Spin. Looks fancy against no-talent shitters who will wait around to get wiped out, but against a real trainer? You''d be down and out if you stopped for even two seconds."

    ''He noticed,'' Lee feels his eyes narrow as the red-head calls out the failing point of Vulpix''s Fire Spin. ''We still can''t get the instant, turn-things-to-ash-in-one-touch inferno that she displayed back in Petalburg Woods, but charging it gets closer than a cold cast at the cost of needing to sit still, a death sentence in an even fight. This kid is sharp.''

    Zinnia''s short fuse finally hits its limit. She scowls right back at the mouthy teen. "Okay, let''s see your achievements, smartass. Can you take down a full-tilt Gym Leader working with a type disadvantage the whole time?"

    For some reason, that makes him snarl like a feral animal, he turns to Zinnia with loathing etched into his face. "I could if I was some privileged shit who had everything I needed to do so handed to me!" He roars, making several people around him gasp and back up. "Look at you!" He points at Lee, who freezes. "A grown-ass man covered in scars becoming a trainer this late in life? With a rare pokemon no less? Something tells me you failed as a trainer and ran away here to Hoenn. Then you had some buddy in the League get you a pokemon and a fresh start and a free paycheck so you can fake your way to the top, because all that fucking matters anymore is being buddy-buddy with someone in the Pokemon League! I''ve seen this before, and I know I''ll see it again!"

    Lee rocks back at the sheer vitriol the teen spews. On his shoulder, Vulpix openly growls, one of her paws sliding down to his pectoral to give better lift-off for a jump. He places a hand on the paw to hold her in place and mentally shakes off the second-hand rage that bleeds from Vulpix to him. "Kid, look, you''re making a lot of assumptions, and I think-"

    "I don''t give a rattata''s ass about what you think," The boy interrupts, red eyes blazing. "Backpedal all you want now that you''ve been found. I''m going to enjoy cutting you down to size when we battle, assuming you make it that far."

    Lee is just barely fast enough to catch a livid Zinnia''s wrist when she steps forward with a fist cocked back. Hard act or not, the maroon-haired boy flinches and backs up a step.

    "Zinnia, don''t." Lee orders, releasing her. She rubs her wrist and meets his eyes. "An assault charge is the last thing you need. We''ll settle it in the ring."

    "Good as new, folks!" Speakmen''s voice rolls over everyone as the ring stops rumbling. Vibrava pops out of the ground and flies back to the lifeguard tower. "Now, lets get back to it! Show us the next teams!"

    The telescreen highlights the next names.

    ANDRE & BENJAMIN

    VS

    KATE & DEE-ANNE

    The teen before Lee and Zinnia snorts. "Looks like I''m up. Watch closely and maybe you''ll learn something," he turns and walks toward the ring, everyone parting for him. A few steps in, he stops, and without turning around says; "Oh, and control your bitch, Henson." With that, he keeps walking.

    "The fucking audacity of that brat!" Zinnia screams, her fists clenched and face red in fury, marking this as the angriest Lee has ever seen her. "He better hope his ass gets knocked out before we fight him, or so help me there will be no mercy!"

    "He was certainly a character..." Lee mutters with a frown, His own flicker of annoyance is overshadowed as he tries to think back and see if he remembers the kid from anywhere. ''He''s weirdly familiar. The hair and attitude make me think of Silver, but he lives in Johto and doesn''t match looks-wise.'' Lee crosses his arms as he ruminates on the identity of the rude kid. ''I don''t recall any trainers of note being named Ben or Andre, either.''

    "First up, both here in lovely Dewford on vacation from Lilycove City, we''ve got Kate and Dee-Anne!" Speakmen introduces, pulling everyone''s attention back to the ring. A pair of older ladies in conservative beach-wear and sunhats smile and wave as a few cheers are sent their way.

    "Next up, we''ve got last year''s literal dark horse, and this year''s defending Brawl champ, Dewford''s reigning Dark-type specialist, Andre!"

    The teen who accosted Lee and Zinnia, now known as Andre, steps into his box as a near equal amount of cheers and boos are sent his way. He smirks and waves mockingly to several of his loudest decriers in particular.

    ''A Dark-type specialist?'' Lee wonders. ''It fits the angsty theme he''s got going on. If he won last year...''

    Vulpix flicks an ear, tickling him. Her emotions flicker, mostly being disappointment at how easy their match was.

    ''True, I guess it''s not a huge accomplishment if most battles are like the ones we''ve seen so far, but let''s watch to be sure he''s not just blowing smoke.''

    "And partnered with Andre, we have Benjamin from our own Dewford!"

    A short, mousy boy in glasses who looks like he wants to be literally anywhere else reluctantly takes a spot at Andre''s side.

    "Trainers! Pick your pokemon!"

    From Kate and Dee-Anne''s side, both ladies throw in pokeballs without an intro, releasing a Plusle and a Minun. Both pokemon let out delighted squeaks at seeing each other.

    Benjamin gulps and tosses his pokeball. "Psyduck, standby!"

    The ball pops open midair, shooting down a mass of light that collects and forms a Psyduck. The duck pokemon blinks and looks around. When his eyes fall on Andre, Psyduck quacks and openly quakes, his eyes wide.

    "Psyduck, it''s okay, we''re a team this time..." Psyduck''s trainer tries to comfort the duck pokemon without any results. Benjamin wrings his hands, and it''s unclear if he''s trying to calm himself or his pokemon. "Just take it easy, okay?"

    Andre smirks. "Do as Ben says, Psyduck. Hell, Ben. Just sit back and let us take care of this," he laughs, raising his pokeball dramatically before flicking his wrist, sending the ball in.

    At the apex of it''s flight, the pokeball opens with it''s distinct pop-hiss and drops a crouching, quadrupedal form into the sand.

    Lee feels his heart skip a beat when the light around the pokemon clears.

    Slowly standing from it''s crouch, an Absol rises to his full height, slowly opening his blood-red eyes as he does so. The eyes snap to Psyduck, who goes totally still, then to Plusle and Minun, who both stiffen and step closer to each other. In an instant, the ring takes on a fearful air.

    A bead of sweat unrelated to the Hoenn summer sun runs down Lee''s brow as he looks at the pokemon. His bone-white coat is clean, his red-eyes look almost feral in their intensity, and his claws, bladed tail, and most certainly his bladed horn all glitter with a freshly sharpened edge. ''Absol is much more menacing when you see one up close. I want a knifecat, but at the same time I don''t.''

    "In one corner, we''ve got Plusle and Minun! A real dynamic duo if there ever was one! In the other, we''ve got Psyduck, a Water-type with some psychic flair! Last, but most certainly not least, we have Absol, the Disaster pokemon! He was certainly a disaster for all his foes last year, and it doesn''t look like thats changed this year. What do you think, Brawly?"

    The Gym Leader''s expression is one of carefully maintained neutrality, one that doesn''t so much as twitch when Andre stares up at him with narrow eyes. After a few seconds, Brawly raises his microphone. "I don''t know about this one, Josh. It could go either way. Let''s watch and see."

    Andre''s face twists itself into a rictus of hate.

    "Are both sides ready?"

    The barrier comes down, locking the pokemon in.

    "Ready, I guess," Kate says with her partner nodding.

    "Just start already!" Andre yells.

    "Begin!"

    "As I said, just sit back, Ben," Andre grunts. "Absol, Night Slash!"

    Absol unhurriedly stalks forward, his blade humming with a threatening aura of pulsating purple.

    "Plusle," Kate, calls her pokemon, making him perk up.

    "Minun," Dee-Anne calls her own pokemon, who perks up as well.

    "Thundershock!" They both cry as one.

    Plusle and Minun mash their plus and minus marked cheeks together, throwing a wave of sparks, then as one, squeak and shoot a screaming bolt of electricity at Absol, who makes no move to dodge. Then at the absolute last second, with the bolt only feet away, Absol moves. He steps out of the way just barely enough to avoid the bolt, which smashes into the barrier with a crackle. He stares at Plusle and Minun with the same placid expression he''s had since he was released and keeps walking forward.

    "Again!" Both lady trainers order.

    Plusle and Minun repeat the same attack with a fierce cry, their whole bodies lighting up in a corona of electricity as they throw an even bigger bolt at Absol.

    Just like last time, Absol carelessly sidesteps the bolt with devilish speed, seeming to just teleport several inches out of the way all while never breaking his stride.

    Both pokemon opposite of Absol separate and take uneasy steps backward. In the instant they do so, Absol tenses.

    The sand explodes under Absol''s paws as he charges forward with breakneck speed, barely more than a flicker of ghostly white that reforms as Absol behind the pair. Plusle and Minun only have time to shriek in agony when the Dark-type throws his head and cuts deeply into their backs with Night Slash.

    The entire crowd cringes and Oooooohhhhhh''s as one.

    Another bead of sweat joins the one from earlier on Lee''s face. ''The instant they lost face, Absol struck. Definitely a cat-like behavior to have. And that speed! The only pokemon I know that''s faster is Corvisquire, and that''s only while using Extremespeed...'' There was no white aura to indicate a move being used when Absol dodged or charged in, which means... ''That''s all-natural speed. Holy shit.''

    Plusle hits the sand face down and does not rise, his back slowly weeping red. Only the slow rise and fall of his breathing tells everyone he''s alive.

    Minun somehow manages to twist midair and land roughly on his paws, his own back sporting a huge laceration. The rodent pokemon pants and shivers, but slowly stands back to his hindlegs, drawing a wave of cheers from the spectators.

    "Absol has no chill, as the kids say," Speakmen speaks up. "In just one attack, Plusle is down! Minun is left with a tense one on two match... Well, sort of, if Psyduck steps in. Can Dee-Anne and Minun make a monumental comeback?"

    "No, they can''t." Andre laughs. "Absol, Night Slash again!"

    "Minun, Electro Ball!" Dee-Anne frantically cries. "You can do it, honey!"

    Absol doesn''t bother playing with this weakened prey, and charges full-tilt. Minun charges up and fires Electro Ball in record time, but Absol ducks the attack instantly and lashes his horn out.

    Minun is thrown from his paws again, now with a matching cut on his stomach and unconscious before he even hits the ground. He rolls across the sand, before coming to stop at Psyduck''s feet. The duck pokemon looks down at Minun, petrified.

    "One! Two! Three!" The horn sounds. "That''s it! Absol and Psyduck are the winners with the fastest match yet! Will last year''s champ sweep the competition? Or will he find a challenge and really show his stuff? This Brawl is really heating up!"

    The Dark-type specialist recalls his Absol with a smirk and pats his partner on the shoulder, then he turns and stares right at Lee and Zinnia, his smirk growing.

    At Lee''s side, Zinnia grits her teeth. "Smug little shit. I''m going to enjoy beating that Absol into the ground."

    It was at that time Lee realizes that his team and Andre''s are on opposite sides of the brackets, meaning they can only meet in the finals. He runs his hand through his sweaty hair and lets out a tired breath. "Fun. I know some grand power out there is fucking with me. Would a break be too much to ask for?"

    Vulpix just noses his cheek and offers some silent comfort.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The next few matches are a blur, as Lee and Vulpix are too deep in thought forming a strategy to deal with Andre and the matches themselves just aren''t very interesting. Once, he looked up when the crowd got especially riled up, but it was just because a Seel''s Icy Wind formed an interesting pattern on the barrier. After what seems to be no time at all, Lee and Zinnia are called again.

    ZINNIA & LEE

    VS

    LANA & TROY

    "Lab Trainer Lee and Zinnia, versus Lana and Troy! Trainers! Select your pokemon!"

    Across from Lee and Zinnia, Lana and Troy both share looks, Lana''s determined while Troy''s is resigned, and pull out one pokeball each before throwing in tandem. For Lana, the large Trapinch she used earlier takes to the field, and Troy''s Lotad, still sporting a few electrical burns from his hasty healing session, finds his place next to Trapinch.

    Zinnia draws her ball next. "Shelgon! We''re not wasting time on this one!" She throws the ball, and from it emerges Shelgon in a flash of light. The encased dragon rumbles from within his shell, making the sand around his feet vibrate.

    For a second, Lee debates putting Vulpix in, but figures it better for her to save her energy. That in mind, he makes his decision. "Corvisquire! You''re next!" He throws the pokeball high, where it snaps open and materializes Corvisquire, who screeches loud enough to make Trapinch and Lotad flinch.

    "Lana and Troy start with Trapinch and Lotad again, but Lee and Zinnia switch it up! What pokemon are those two, anyway?"

    "Both are powerful mid-stages, Josh." Brawly takes over, watching the pair of pokemon with a growing smile. "Corvisquire will evolve into Corviknight, a huge crow pokemon from Galar, and Shelgon evolves into the dragon pokemon Salamence, the same ace pokemon of Drake, one of Hoenn''s most powerful trainers." The comparison to the Elite trainer''s pokemon draws a wave of exclamation from the crowd. "Both are serious powerhouses, and I''m frankly not surprised that Lee and Zinnia have them."

    "Lets see how this shakes things!" The barrier comes down. "Are all trainers ready?! Begin!"

    "Shelgon, Rollout on Trapinch!" Zinnia is the first one to bark.

    ''When did Shelgon learn Rollout? I guess that leaves us with Lotad,'' Lee thinks. "Corvi! Pluck!"

    Shelgon pulls his legs into his shell and spins up into a gray blur, kicking up a cloud of sand before rushing at Trapinch.

    "Trapinch, catch him with Crunch!" Lana orders.

    Trapinch opens his jaws wide and bites down right before Shelgon impacts him, but the dragon pokemon keeps spinning even in Trapinch''s hold. The sound of Shelgon''s shell grinding against Trapinch''s teeth is an awful, ear-splitting din like a circular saw trying to cut into steel, complete with a shower of sparks. It only takes a second for Trapinch''s mouth to begin smoking and for the tactical error to show.

    Meanwhile, Corvisquire divebombs Lotad too fast for Troy to call an attack, his beak glowing white. Lotad can only try to scramble away from the crow pokemon, but has the breath knocked out of him when Corvisquire lands on his lilypad head.

    "Lotad! Use Flail!" Troy desperately calls. "Get him off!"

    Lotad begins to glow but loses focus and yelps when Corvisquire digs his talons into the delicate leaf on Lotad''s head. Then with a malicious caw, the crow pokemon brings his beak down and harshly bites Lotad again and again, making the pokemon croak and struggle even harder. It only takes three or four bites before the already-damaged Lotad stops struggling and goes limp as the pain sends him into unconsciousness.

    Corvisquire stops and hops off of his foe, eyeballing the fallen Lotad with an avian sneer. For half a second, Lee fears Corvisquire will take out his frustration on the already downed Lotad, but despite a few caws and angry flaps of his wings at Lotad, Corvisquire does not strike again.

    "And it looks like Lotad is down!" Speakmen cries. "If Trapinch doesn''t make a move soon, it looks like he''ll be joining Lotad!"

    Trapinch finally throws his head to the side and spits out Shelgon, who cancels Rollout to reorient himself, but the damage has already been done. Trapinch groans and shakes his head, the edges of his teeth all worn down and dulled. Shelgon, meanwhile, only has scratches to show for the trouble.

    As the knocked out Lotad is recalled, Zinnia keeps the offensive going. "Shelgon! Dragon Pulse!"

    "Corvi, Swift!" Lee adds in.

    Shelgon''s barely visible mouth glows blue with whirling energy, and Corvisquire launches himself up into the air with his wings shining gold. Both pokemon cry and launch their attacks.

    "Trapinch, Dig now!" Lana screams.

    The antlion pokemon tries to dig underground, but with his teeth raw and painful, he can''t move the sand in time and is hit by the whirling beam of dragon energy, then by a mammoth barrage of star-shaped rays, both attacks kicking up earth-rocking explosions. When the resulting plume of sand falls back to the ground, Trapinch is partially buried and unmoving. After several seconds, the match horn sounds.

    "Two knockouts within seconds of each other! Corvisquire and Shelgon''s fury knows no bounds! Lee and Zinnia advance to the semifinals!" The words are met with cheering and a few more signs being held aloft.

    Lana recalls her pokemon and practically falls into Troy''s arms in tears. The man in turn glares at Lee and Zinnia.

    Lee can only shrug and mouth ''Sorry''. On his shoulder, Vulpix just shakes her head.

    The next match, Andre''s, is a repeat of his last one. The boy''s Absol makes short work of the Cacna and Rosalia he faces, both falling to a single, savage Night Slash despite their desperate attempts to keep some distance between themselves and the Dark-type. Absol simply dodges every projectile with ease and cuts them down with an instant burst of speed while Benjamin''s Psyduck stands still and just stares at his teammate in terror.

    After that, the other matches aren''t much to talk about. One younger trainer boasted about having a Gyrados, but then stuttered and declined to use it, if he had one at all. His team lost. Eventually, the matches loop back to Zinnia and Lee for the semifinals.

    AMIR & DON

    VS

    ZINNIA & LEE

    "It''s time for the semifinals! We''ve had a wonderful tournament now, and it''s getting down to the wire! Amir and Don with just Dewott and Swellow have made quick work of their matches so far, but how will they fare against a Lab Trainer and an apparent dragon tamer? For the semifinals, it''ll be two pokemon per trainer!"

    As they take to the ring, Lee turns to Zinnia. "Hey, this one we should probably plan for. These two aren''t pushovers."

    Zinnia nibbles on her lower lip. "Think they''ll open with Dewott and Swellow again?"

    Lee glances at the pair of young trainers. Amir has a cocky smirk on his face, while Don''s is more guarded, but certainly not fearful. "Yeah. Dewott and Swellow have only taken minor hits so far, so they''ll use them to open. They might even be expecting us to use pokemon we''ve already used in anticipation of them using different pokemon to catch us in a double fake-out. I''ll use Treecko for Dewott if you want to handle Swellow."

    The dragon tamer grins and palms a pokeball. "Swablu it is, then."

    "Trainers! Make your first selection!"

    Everyone draws their hands back, then at once, throws.

    On Amir and Don''s side, Dewott and Swellow materialize in flashes of light as expected. Dewott makes a show of drawing his scalchops and dropping into a fighting stance while Swellow just hovers with a keen eye watching the field.

    Treecko and Swablu form from their own flashes of light. Treecko stands with his forearms crossed and eyes closed, dismissing his opponents without even looking at them. Swablu, meanwhile, looks at Swellow and takes to the air with a chirp.

    "It''s Treecko and Swablu versus Dewott and Swellow! Are all the trainers ready?" Again, the barrier falls and traps the pokemon inside.

    "Ready!" Amir and Don respond at once.

    "Ready!" Zinnia and Lee mirror their reply.

    "Begin!"

    "Treecko, Quick Attack!"

    "Swablu! Dragon Pulse!

    "Dewott, intercept Treecko with Slash!"

    "Swellow! Use Agility to dodge!"

    All the pokemon explode into action at once.

    Treecko blurs forward, zig-zagging rapidly to try and throw off Dewott, who watches the green blur with caution. The instant Treecko is close enough, Dewott whirls in a full circle with the edges of his left shell whistling through the air right at Treecko''s unprotected face.

    The wood gecko catches Dewott''s wrist before the shell can slice into his muzzle and lashes out with a kick, catching Dewott in the stomach and drawing a grunt from the otter pokemon as he folds slightly. Dewott does not give the opportunity for a second attack and rips his wrist from Treecko''s hold, spinning on a single paw and sending his own kick towards Treecko, who narrowly backsteps the blow.

    Dewott growls and rushes forward, slashing furiously in a flowing dance that gives Treecko no opening for a counter, forcing him to backpedal with a frown. Once, Dewott surges just a little faster, giving Treecko a shallow cut across his forearm. Treecko scowls in reply and glows white with Quick Attack, stepping dangerously into Dewott''s wild attacks and weaving around one, two, three, four slashes to slam an elbow into Dewott''s face, making him recoil and clutch his snout. Dewott isn''t stunned for long and throws one of his shells, cutting into Treecko''s side.

    "Treecko! Keep him at arm''s length and use Absorb! He''ll tire before you do!" Lee calls, too engrossed in the melee to do more than glance at Swablu and Swellow, who are in a furious mid-air dogfight.

    Swablu screeches when she''s struck with Swellow''s blindingly fast Aerial Ace and fires off a retaliatory Dragon Pulse that clips Swellow, burning a thin furrow into his side. The larger bird rapidly circles around as Swablu struggles to keep him in her line of sight.

    "Swellow, use Aerial Ace again!"

    "Fuck that! Swablu! Hyper Voice!" Zinnia cries.

    Lee''s eyes widen as Swablu sucks in a deep breath that inflates her small body. "Treecko! Retreat and cover your ears!"

    Treecko wastes no time breaking away from Dewott, but not before hitting the Water-type with a split-second Absorb, making Dewott cringe and step back. In a flash, Treecko glows white and returns to Lee''s side of the field, tightly covering his ears.

    Swablu''s beak opens and unleashes an auditory hell.

    The whole dome rattles and the sand jumps and dances from the soundwaves. Even with the barrier taking the worst of the edge off, Lee still feels a twinge of phantom pain from Vulpix as she winces and folds her ears back. Many of the spectators back up, their own ears covered.

    Much like Ash''s Taillow did, the awful noise freezes Swellow midair and wracks the bird with pain, both from the hearing damage and his hollow bones being rattled by the violently vibrating air. Swellow can''t even keep his wings flapping and falls harshly to the ground where he writhes in abject agony.

    Dewott is hit as well, covering his ears with his mouth open in a scream that Swablu overshadows with ease. The otter sways and falls to his knees

    Treecko, even behind Swablu and with ample time to prepare, grits his teeth.

    After what seems like an eternity that was probably only a few seconds, Swablu runs out of breath and pants.

    Swellow goes limp, his eyes closing as he fades into blissful unconsciousness.

    Dewott, meanwhile, stands shakily and picks his shells up, looking between Swablu and Treecko with unfocused eyes.

    "What a heinous attack! It downed Swellow with ease! I wouldn''t be surprised if people on the other side of the island heard that!"

    "Treecko, put him out of his misery," Lee rubs an ear with a frown. "Quick Attack into Pound!"

    The wood gecko glows white once more and flies over the sand at Dewott, who brings his shells up in a shaky defense.

    "Dewott, Detect!" the now dismayed Amir cries, only for his pokemon to have no reaction.

    ''His eardrums are probably blown out. Sorry about Zinnia, kid.''

    Before the otter can raise his defense, Treecko slips into his now open guard and strikes out with his heavy tail, hitting Dewott in the temple throwing him end over end. The Water-type tumbles to a stop in the sand, knocked out.

    "And Dewott is knocked out! Both Don and Amir need to select new pokemon!"

    Both teens recall their pokemon slowly. Amir clenches the ball in his hand when Dewott is safely returned and Don murmurs something to Swellow''s pokeball too quiet to hear. Don says something to Amir, who looks up. The boys then huddle, talking to each other near soundlessly.

    Lee turns to Zinnia with an unamused frown. "Care to warn me next time you try to deafen my pokemon?" He asks, rubbing Vulpix''s aching ears.

    Zinnia crosses her arms under her bust and raises a brow. "What? And give away the element of surprise?"

    "We, your teammates, stop being useful if my pokemon can''t hear a word I''m saying."

    The draconid rolls her eyes. "Treecko lived. It''s fine."

    Lee just sighs and shakes his head.

    After about ten more seconds, their opponents break their huddle. Don steps forward and clears his throat. "Hey, proctor, commentator guy? We''re cutting our losses. Dewott and Swellow were our best pokemon. We forfeit."

    The crowd jeers and boos, making Don flinch and Amir just crosses his arms with a dour look upon his face.

    "Amir and Don concede defeat!" Speakmen recounts. "Lee and Zinnia are our first finalists!"

    "There is no shame in knowing when you''re outmatched and bowing out gracefully," Brawly quickly jumps to the rescue of the boys, instantly quieting much of the booing. "Amir and Don went far into the Brawl and both are great trainers with great pokemon. Lets hear it for them, everyone!"

    The crowd does a 180 and cheers erupt from everyone... Or almost everyone. From his place in the crowd beside his partner Benjamin, Lee sees Andre''s face fall into a deep scowl as he stares up at Brawly with something akin to revulsion.

    "And we''ve moving right along! Lets get the next match underway!"

    The telescreen lights up, moving down to the next backet.

    CECIL & ALEX

    VS

    ANDRE & BENJAMIN

    Lee''s eyes turn to the trainers named Cecil and Alex. Cecil is almost painfully average, being a man in his twenties or so with a build much like Lee''s own. His partner, Alex, is a fair bit shorter and slimmer, almost feminine in his appearance. If not for his lack of shirt paired with his swimming trunks, Lee might have mistaken him for a woman. Both did well in their matches, their Seel and Electrike making a surprisingly good team.

    Cecil raises his hand as he and Alex approach, both stopping short of the ring''s trainer box with anxious expressions. "Uh... Look, we hate to be buzzkills and all, but we''re going to forfeit too." His words draw a collective sound of disappointment and several boos from the watching people.

    "We... just don''t want our pokemon torn up that bad, is all..." Alex adds in a small voice, unable to meet anyone''s eyes and instead staring at the sand.

    Lee clicks his tongue and looks over to Zinnia, who gives him a manic smile in return. He looks away from her and to the vixen on his shoulder, who shakes her head in tandem with his.

    "Cecil and Alex drop out when faced with last year''s champ, advancing Andre and Benjamin to the finals! This is sure to be Brawl on the Beach''s best match ever! We''ll be taking a short break to get ready, so grab your drinks and snack now!"

    The telescreen flashes one final time.

    ZINNIA & LEE

    VS

    ANDRE & BENJAMIN

 Act 1: Chapter 15

    ZINNIA & LEE

    VS

    ANDRE & BENJAMIN

    The crowd around the makeshift ring begins to disperse, most heading to the various food stands around the beach before the final match. On the other side of the ring, Andre is content to stand with his arms crossed as his foot taps the sandy ground impatiently. At his side, Benjamin just twiddles his fingers and looks at the ground.

    Lee turns to Zinnia, starting slightly when he sees her actually shivering in anticipation. Her almost crazed ruby eyes are locked with Andre''s arrogant maroon in a silent staring match.

    Lee shakes his head. "Zinnia, we need to talk before this match,"

    With great reluctance, she turns away from the Dark-type specialist to look at Lee, her frown from earlier returning. "About what?"

    "About how to deal with that Absol and any other pokemon he has," Lee begins, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding the dragon tamer into turning to try and hide their conversation. "That Absol''s speed is insanity. Even if his partner just stands around, this is going to be a tough one and we need to work together if we''re going to win this."

    Zinnia just laughs. "Sure thing. Wipe the floor with his partner and I''ll have Shelgon trash the Absol. They aren''t known for taking hits. Easy."

    ''Really?''

    Lee feels his lips pull downward. "Don''t blow me off. Andre''s pokemon is as quick as Corvisquire when he''s using Extremespeed and downed all his opponents in one or two hits. If Andre''s other pokemon are half as strong, or god forbid, even better, then we might be toast. There''s no consolation prize, so that money you want is gone if we lose."

    That seems to make Zinnia stop and think for a moment. After a long few seconds, she says; "Fine, I guess. I still think you''re worrying too much. What''s your plan? I doubt he''s going to open with Absol."

    "Probably not," Lee agrees. "We want to remove Benjamin from the equation as quickly as possible so he can''t give them a come-from-behind victory, which means stalling Andre to focus him down. It''s kind of a dick move, but love and war and all that."

    Zinnia nods. "Exactly what I was saying. If you take down his pokemon, I''ll have Swablu play keep-away with the brat''s pokemon and then we can crush him."

    "And then when Absol comes out, we need to play it smart," Lee stresses. "I don''t know if we get any substitutions or not, so we''ll need to wear him down with anything we have. Burns, poison, paralysis, confusion, whatever we''ve got to weaken him for when Shelgon or Vulpix take the stage to fight him," he says, raising a hand to pet the vixen on his shoulder.

    "And we''re back, folks!" Speakmen cries, snapping Lee and Zinnia from their huddle. Everyone quickly begins to gather around the ring for prime viewing spots as the commentator takes a breath. "In the red corner, we''ve got Hoenn Lab Trainer Lee Henson and the lovely Zinnia Draconid, who have taken the Brawl by storm and made it all the way to the finals! In the blue corner, We''ve got Dewford''s bad boy defending champ Andre and final four finisher from last year Benjamin! Let''s hear it for them, everyone!"

    The cheers are so loud that echo off the hotels and beach houses lining the beachfront. Out in the ocean, a lone Dewgong pokes its head out of the water to see the commotion.

    Andre smirks and steps up to his side of the ring, Benjamin following demurely at his heels.

    With a deep breath, Lee steps forward into the red box with Zinnia at his side. "Remember the plan. I''m starting with Treecko," he says quickly, getting a nod from Zinnia.

    "This''ll be a three on three match with only one sub allowed per trainer," Brawly takes over, gazing down at Andre, who scoffs at him. "Once one side is out of pokemon, the other side will be our winners. Trainers, select your first pokemon!"

    As one, Lee, Zinnia, Andre, and Benjamin toss their pokeballs forward.

    On the red side, Treecko and Swablu take form. Swablu lets out a tweet and rises into the air as Treecko rolls a shoulder and settles into an uncaring stance.

    Across from them, Benjamin''s Psyduck takes the sandy field as a large Mightyena emerges from Andre''s ball. The dark canine pokemon lets a bone-rattling growl roll from his throat and stares down both Treecko and Swablu, ignoring the nervous Psyduck at his side.

    Treecko''s eyes narrow as he takes in Mightyena, but he keeps his loose stance rather than squaring up, making Mightyena draw back his lips in a dagger-toothed snarl.

    ''Shit, I was hoping Andre focused solely on his Absol and left his other pokemon weak,'' Lee sighs. The Mightyena''s teeth are all pearly white and his coat is sleek and shiny, all hallmarks of being well-raised. At least Andre raises his pokemon well. ''I was hoping a little too hard, I suppose.''

    "It''s Treecko and Swablu versus Psyduck and Mightyena!" Speakmen announces. A second later, Hypno''s barrier comes down, trapping all 4 pokemon inside. "Get ready! In three, two, one...!"

    Swablu puffs herself up.

    Treecko brings his forearms up in a guard.

    Mightyena lowers his body with a growl.

    Psyduck cowers.

    "Begin!"

    "Treecko! Focus down Psyduck! Hit and run with Absorb!" Lee cries.

    Zinnia and Andre shout orders at the same time Lee does, but their words get mixed up and are lost to Lee. Their pokemon get the message through.

    As one, Treecko, Swablu, and Mightyena explode into action.

    Treecko glows white in a Quick Attack and blasts forward at the petrified Psyduck, only to abort his charge and leap over Mightyena, who crosses the distance between them in a single, powerful bound.

    Mightyena''s flame-coated fangs close around nothing, drawing a growl from him. The canine pokemon turns, only to leap back as to not be hit by Swablu''s Take Down.

    "Keep going, Treecko!" Lee instructs, feeling his heart begin to race.

    "Fire Fang!" Andre replies from across the field, his face set into a smirk. "Take out Treecko!"

    Mightyena''s mouth bursts into brilliant orange flames, his fangs glowing a searing orange a shade brighter than the flames. He charges Treecko again, only to stop with a skid as Swablu nearly bowls him over again.

    "Bitch!" Andre yells, his smirk falling into a scowl. "Fine. You wanna go first? Mightyena, Thunder Fang on Swablu! Roast that bird!"

    Zinnia laughs. "Good luck! Swablu! Circle around and use Dragon Pulse!"

    Treecko isn''t idle as Andre and Zinnia issue new orders and races to the still frozen Psyduck, kicking up plumes of sand with each step.

    "P-Psyduck, use Confusion! Quick!" Benjamin cries, wringing his hands as he does so. "He''s going to get you!"

    The duck pokemon''s fearful eyes glow blue, but before any attack can be fired off, Treecko is before him. The wood gecko pokemon twirls, throwing his tail into Psyduck''s stomach and doubling poor duck over with a sputter. Treecko then quickly slides behind Psyduck and puts his arms around Psyduck''s neck in a chokehold. The psychic duck can only struggle in Treecko''s grip before crying out as his life force is stolen by Treecko''s Absorb.

    ''Where did he learn to do a chokehold?'' Lee silently asks the fox on his shoulder, only to get the telepathic equivalent of a shrug from her.

    "Psyduck! Throw him off now!" Benjamin desperately orders. "You can''t let him do this!"

    "Tighten your hold, Treecko! Don''t let him focus!" Lee orders right back.

    Psyduck''s struggles increase even as his energy is stolen from him. The duck''s eyes glow again, but he gags and lets the glow fade when Treecko''s arms strain against his neck and cut off more of his windpipe. The entire time, Absorb keeps sapping away at Psyduck.

    Lee takes the spare second to look over at Swablu and Mightyena, silently kicking himself for focusing too much on Treecko.

    "Dragon Pulse!"

    "Dark Pulse!"

    Swablu''s whirling ray of Dragon energy crashes against Mightyena''s dark beam, both meeting in a stalemate for a second before Dark Pulse begins to push Dragon Pulse back. Mightyena roars below Swablu, more inky blackness pouring from his throat as Dark Pulse blasts through Dragon Pulse, ripping the attack into wispy blue scraps

    Swablu trills in alarm and dives, Dark Pulse missing her by inches. The black column of energy slams into the barrier like a runaway truck, rattling the whole thing and drawing a wince from Speakmen''s Hypno up in the guard tower.

    ''Swablu isn''t going to be able to keep this up,'' Lee grimly realizes, his eyes zeroing in on the rapid rise and fall of Swablu''s chest. ''Mightyena is too strong. We need to finish with Ben as soon as possible.''

    He turns back just in time to watch Psyduck''s struggles weaken to nothing, the duck pokemon going limp in Treecko''s hold. Treecko releases his foe, letting him fall to the sand with a soft thump.

    "Psyduck is the first to go down!" Speakmen calls, drawing a wave of cheers from the spectators. "What happened to his robust performance from last year? Oh well. Benjamin! Select a new pokemon!"

    The bespectacled boy sighs and recalls his downed Psyduck through a little hole in the barrier, sucking the pokemon into the safety of his pokeball in a flash of red light. He murmurs something too quiet to be heard to the ball before placing it on his belt. After a moment of indecision, he grabs another from his belt and throws it, a small hole appearing in the barrier to let the ball in.

    With a pop, the ball opens and flies a full-grown Tropius. The great sauropod pokemon raises it''s neck to it''s full seven foot height and stares down at Treecko. It''s gaze strays over to Andre for a moment, an expression Lee cannot place briefly passing by it''s face.

    "And it looks like Benjamin is done playing around! His ace pokemon Tropius has taken to the field! Can this Grass-type titan be toppled?"

    "Tropius! Use Growth!" Benjamin calls.

    Tropius growls and unfurls his leafy wings, the appendages shining in the sunlight. A second later, the muscles under Tropius'' skin ripple and flex, bulging and turning the already intimidating pokemon into a wall of sharply defined muscle. He stares down at Treecko, who almost takes a step back as he chews anxiously on his twig.

    ''I can''t lose Treecko this early. He can''t fight Tropius with is current options,'' Lee bites his lip and glances at Swablu and Mightyena for a split second, just in time to watch Swablu shriek and hastily flit away as she''s clipped by one of Mightyena''s electrified fangs. ''Swablu needs help too. Damn. Looks like I''m burning my only sub.''

    "Ref! I''m subbing!" Lee yells up to Speakmen as he draws Treecko''s ball. A second later, a hole opens in the dome and lets Lee recall a disgruntled Treecko back to his ball.

    "Looks like Lee is substituting his pokemon! Who will he pick to replace Treecko?"

    The zoologist ignores the commentator in favor of whispering to Treecko''s ball, which shakes in obvious agitation. "I know, pal, but sometimes you gotta retreat from a battle to win the war," he says gently. "You''ll get your time to shine. I promise."

    The ball goes still, so Lee shrinks it and reaches into his pocket for Corvisquire''s ball. With a deep breath, he throws it in, and out comes Corvisquire with a flash of light and a screech to announce himself.

    "Corvisquire is back! It''s beak and brain versus bulk and brawn!"

    The raven pokemon sizes up Tropius only to laugh in his scratchy, throaty voice, making the much larger pokemon frown.

    "Don''t take him lightly, Corvi!" Lee orders, making the raven pokemon sober up just the slightest amount. "In the air! Hone Claws!

    Corvisquire takes to the skies and Tropius is quick to fly upward at him without any prompting from Benjamin.

    "Tropius! Stop him with Razor Wind!" Ben orders.

    Tropius bellows and flings his front set of wings forward, throwing near-invisible scythes of wind that scream towards Corvisquire.

    Corvisquire rolls out of the way agilely, grinding his talons together all the while. As he raises his talons to sharpen his beak, he smirks a vile smirk and waits as Tropius barrels towards him, then drags his claws down his steely beak, drawing sparks that he kicks into the eyes of the passing Tropius.

    The large pokemon bellows in pain and screws his eyes shut, throwing his head to try and clear his eyes and he halts and hovers in place.

    Lee can''t take the time to appreciate just how much of an asshole his pokemon is as he sees Swablu''s losing battle in the corner of his eye. "Corvi! Knock Tropius towards Mightyena with Steel Wing!"

    "H-Headbutt! Don''t let him hit you!" Ben cries, his whole face a rictus of panic.

    The bird happily complies and darts up high before coming down like a rocket onto Tropius'' back, slamming his shimmering wings into the wrists of Tropius'' own wings with a sound like an axe meeting a tree.

    Tropius bellows again and starts to fall, but not before whipping his long neck around and driving his head into Corvisquire like a wrecking ball. The raven can only gasp and is thrown off his opponent''s back like a missile.

    "What a dirty trick from Corvisquire! But it didn''t go unpunished!"

    Corvisquire''s wings shoot out and arrest his momentum before he hits the wall of the barrier, letting him hover mid-air as he takes harsh breaths of air into his abused body. His face slowly falls into a furious scowl.

    Tropius, meanwhile, comes down like a meteor at Mightyena as Swablu flies up and makes herself scarce at Zinnia''s yelled order, making Andre''s eyes widen.

    "Mightyena, Detect!" Andre roars. "Then nail Swablu!"

    The wolf pokemon''s red eyes glimmer with clarity as Tropius falls towards him. Then at the last second, he leaps, twisting his whole body around in an unnatural way, briefly standing on the still falling Tropius as he does so. Then with a tense of his rear legs, Mightyena uses Tropius as a springboard, launching himself right at a wide-eyed Swablu!

    Swablu can only screech as electrified fangs wrap around her, electrocuting her as Mightyena lands upon the ground paws-first and shakes her like a ragdoll.

    "Swablu!" Zinnia screams, horror written on her face.

    After a long second, Mightyena lets the mauled and burned bird go with a swing of his neck, throwing her across the field where she lays still, shuddering as she draws in labored breath.

    Tropius, meanwhile, crashes into the sand with a thunderous bang! Sand is thrown everywhere, obscuring the pokemon for a few seconds. As the last of the sand falls, everyone sees the Grass-type slowly rising to his feet, his whole form radiating scorn for the raven pokemon above him.

    "Swablu is down! Both teams have lost their first pokemon! Mightyena is barely scratched and took out Swablu in one decisive blow! Meanwhile, Corvisquire and Tropius both have wounds to show in their bout. What will Zinnia''s next pokemon be?"

    With gritted teeth, Zinnia recalls her wounded pokemon to her ball. Once Swablu is back on Zinnia''s belt, her hand flies to Shelgon''s ball.

    "Zinnia, wait!"

    The dragon tamer turns to Lee with a snarl. "Wait? For what?! I''m going to pound that prick into the ground!" She growls, turning to Andre and Ben.

    The first boy has the gall to smile at them, and the second one just keeps his expression in a very forced neutral. Ben adjusts his glasses and looks away.

    "Remember the plan," Lee insists. "We need to save Shelgon and Vulpix for last. They need to work together to take down Absol."

    "Fuck your plan!" Zinnia replies. She almost tears Shelgon''s ball off her belt and throws it before Lee can protest further.

    In a flash, Shelgon is once again on the field. The Dragon pokemon grumbles and locks eyes with Mightyena, whose hackles rise.

    "Stalwart Shelgon takes to the field! Have the tables turned?"

    ''Dammit all, Zinnia.'' Lee sighs, prompting Vulpix to nose his cheek with a quiet whine in her chest.

    With the new pokemon on the field, everyone begins moving again, starting with Mightyena.

    "Mightyena, Ice Fang!" Andre laughs.

    "Shelgon, Smokescreen!" Zinnia counters.

    Mightyena''s mouth crusts over with a layer of glittering ice too late, as Shelgon blows out a cloud of oily smoke and obscures himself. His squat form vanishes in the cloud of smoke.

    The wolf pokemon raises his nose and takes a few sniffs of the air, probably searching for Shelgon, but growls and backs up warily as the smoke rolls closer to him.

    Lee''s focus is pulled from Shelgon and Mightyena as Tropius growls and rises back into the air, the rear leaf on his left side noticeably limp.

    Across the field, Ben gulps and goes on the offensive. "Tropius, Magical Leaf!"

    "Corvi! Swift!" Lee cries out in reply.

    Tropius swipes a broad, leafy wing forward, throwing a barrage of beautiful rainbow leaves that home in on Corvisquire as if they have a mind of their own.

    Corvisquire responds with a screech and throws his gold-coated wings forward, sending out a mammoth wave of shining stars that fly into the Magical Leaves.

    The stars and leaves meet with a staccato of pops and explosions, each collision blowing up in a brillant shower of rainbow sparks that draws pointed fingers and cheers from the watching people.

    Of the few Magical Leaves that survive Swift, Corvisquire neatly dodges each one a second before impact, and although they all turn to come back at him, all of them lose power and fade before they can strike again.

    Tropius isn''t so lucky, his bulk and injured wings proving too much to make last minute flight adjustments. The remaining handful of Swift stars explodes against his thick hide, leaving scuffs and burns. To his credit, Tropius barely even winces.

    Lee hazards a look to Mightyena and Shelgon just in time to hear the dull thunk of a rattled skull and see a dazed Mightyena thrown from Shelgon''s smokescreen. The skin of the wolf pokemon''s head is split open from an impact, letting red leak from the wound as he stands on shaky legs.

    The smoke begins to fade, revealing Shelgon with a frost-crusted bite mark on his shell. The dragon stalks forward, barely noticing his own wound.

    "Shelgon, use Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia laughs, her bloodthirsty grin on full-blast.

    "Dark Pulse! Overpower Shelgon!" Andre growls.

    Both pokemon open their mouths and charge their attacks. A writhing ball of black and purple forms in Mightyena''s maw as Shelgon''s Dragon Pulse builds in a flurry of raging blue. Then as one, both pokemon roar and fire.

    Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse meet once again, but unlike with Swablu, Dragon Pulse rapidly begins to overpower Dark Pulse without a struggle. Just before Dark Pulse fails, Mightyena snarls and leaps away, but catches Dragon Pulse to his side, burning a furrow into his fur.

    Glad that Zinnia is holding off Mightyena, Lee turns his attention back to his battle.

    "Tropius! Synthesis!" Ben calls, his face falling further and further into frantic desperation the longer the match goes.

    ''Shit! No!'' Lee''s eyes widen. "Corvi! Taunt!"

    Tropius flares his leafy wings out, but not before Corvisquire dives at him, giving the sauropod pokemon a peck to his skull before fluttering away, cawing his scratchy laugh the entire time.

    The golden glow building around Tropius dies before much, if any damage can be repaired. With a bellow, Tropius flies headfirst at Corvisquire, making Benjamin claw at this hair in frustration below. "Tropius! Snap out of it!" The boy pleads.

    Tropius acts as if he hears nothing and flings a leafy wing at the fleeing Corvisquire, launching another wave of Magical Leaf easily twice as large as the last one.

    Corvisquire rolls and weaves through the leafy projectiles, a few of them scraping across his ferrous feathers and one even cutting into his side when it corrects its course more than expected. The raven lets out a furious screech, more angry than hurt by the injury, then sharply turns to face the still enraged Tropius.

    "Get behind him and use Pluck on his wings! Ground him!" Lee calls up to his pokemon.

    "Tropius, please listen to me!" Ben clenches his fists. "Don''t let him do it!"

    Corvisquire beelines for Tropius, then deftly barrel rolls out of the way of a Headbutt to find himself behind the huge pokemon. The bird lands on the back of his foe and digs his talons in before savagely biting at the wrists of Tropius'' wings, forcing a sharp note of pain from his throat. Corvisquire can only get a few bites in before Tropius whips his neck around and bites a surprised Corvisquire, tearing the bird away from his wings and flinging him into the nearby wall of the barrier back-first.

    Corvisquire coughs as the wind is knocked out of him for the second time today but quickly flares his wings to maintain a hover. He lets out a wheezy, hacking laugh as Tropus'' injured wings struggle to keep the pokemon aloft, forcing him to drop into a rough landing that vibrates the ground.

    Lee lets out a breath, silently marveling at how this battle is making his heart race like the battle with Roxanne did. "Corvi, don''t let up! Hit and run from the rear with Pluck!"

    Corvisquire obliges with a cruel cry.

    Devoid of his mobility, Tropius can only struggle as Corvisquire makes several diving-bombing passes at him, each pass leaving the sauropod with another wound that saps at his stamina as his own attacks miss the raven pokemon. Corvisquire is clipped several times by Magical Leaf, but the damage is little more than paper cuts.

    "C''mon Tropius! Not like this!" Ben cries, looking perilously close to tears. "Slow Corvisquire down with Sweet Scent!"

    Tropius waves his head around as he turns in place to keep Corvisquire in sight, a pink cloud of mist ejecting from the fruit dangling around his neck.

    The bird pokemon barrels through the mist, slowing almost none as he digs his beak into his foe''s side, making another bloody gouge in his hide. It''s only as Corvisquire rises again does he slow down, his avian face slowly easing into something resembling neutrality.

    "Shake it off, Corvi!" Lee yells. "He''s playing with your head! Don''t let him make a fool of you!"

    At the words ''make a fool of you'' Corvisquire shakes his head and clears his thoughts, his angry glower returning with twice the potency. His screech of rage makes Tropius flinch and even draws the eyes of Andre''s battered Mighyena before a Dragon Pulse throws him from his feet.

    ''Tropius is a tough bastard,'' Lee thinks, looking at all the wounds littering his body, wounds inflicted with a super-effective move. ''Making Corvisquire lose face before an audience was his last mistake, though.''

    And indeed, Corvisquire looks fit to be tied. His beady eyes glitter with hate at the mere suggestion that he was nearly played.

    "Corvisquire, finish him off with Extremespeed," Lee orders.

    The raven spreads his wings wide and lets out a loud, haunting cry before flickering out of existence with a loud crack of displaced air.

    Tropius can barely brace himself before Corvisquire rams into his side like a tank shell, crossing the distance between them in a single heartbeat.

    The sauropod can''t even vocalize his pain before he''s completely lifted off his feet, carried along by Corvisquire''s sheer momentum...

    ...Right at Mightyena.

    "Mightyena, Detect!"

    The canine pokemon''s eyes widen as his trainer''s order comes a second too late to process. Tropius strikes the wolf with a bone-rattling impact, drawing a yelp from him.

    Corvisquire''s wings snap open and halts his flight as Tropius and Mightyena roll to a stop in a heap. Tropius is still for a moment before slowly struggling to his feet, only to falter and fall back to the ground as consciousness leaves him.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Mightyena, on the other hand, rises and stands on wobbly paws, his teeth gritted in a growl. The canine is coated in burns and bruises with the wound on his head still slowly bleeding. He whips his head to the side to flick away blood that trails too close to an eye. He looks as if a stiff breeze will knock him over.

    Andre turns to Benjamin with a fury filled face. "Can you at least try to be useful?!" He screams at the mousy boy, who just flinches and steps away.

    "What a move! Corvisquire tips the scales into the red team''s favor in a single brutal attack!" Speakmen''s excitement amps up the audience even more.

    "Extremespeed, huh?" Brawly chimes in, looking at Corvisquire. "That''s a powerful move, one thats takes Quick Attack to its highest, most dangerous level. That''s a rarity to see on a pokemon that isn''t fully evolved."

    "Indeed it is!" Speakmen agrees easily, his head nodding along. "Tropius is down! Benjamin! Please select your final pokemon!"

    With great reluctance, the smaller boy on the blue side recalls his abused Tropius and draws his final pokeball. He holds it between both hands in what seems to be a prayer before tossing it into the ring.

    The pokeball pops open and out floats a purple ball of gas that sprouts a pair of large eyes and a fanged grin. The eyes take in Corvisquire, Shelgon, then Mightyena. Below the eyes, the fanged grin falls into a frown.

    "It looks like Ben''s last pokemon is Gastly! Does this ghost have the tricks in his non-existent sleeve needed to balance things out?"

    Across the field, Andre grabs his partner''s arm and pulls him closer, harshly whispering something into his ear. Ben grimaces but slowly nods.

    "Shelgon! Rollout! Finish Mightyena off!" Zinnia starts the battle again, pointing to the dark canine.

    Shelgon growls and pulls his legs into his battered shell before rolling at Mightyena like a bloodthirsty pinball.

    "Mightyena, Ice Fang. Give it your all." Andre quietly orders, his arms crossed.

    Mightyena''s face tightens into a grim parody of a smile as his teeth are once again coated in ice, then without dodging, he charges headfirst at Shelgon.

    The ice-encrusted teeth sink into the whirling shell pokemon, drawing deep, harsh lines in the metallic armor before Mightyena is swept under the Rollout and battered one last time.

    There is the cringe-inducing crack of a broken bone as Shelgon bowls over Mightyena, and the Dark-type does not stand afterward, finally succumbing to his numerous injuries and falling unconscious in the sand. Shelgon does an about-face and cancels Rollout, coming to a stop and showing everyone the new gashes in his chewed-up shell.

    "Mightyena is out! Shelgon proved to be just a little too much after Swablu wore Mightyena down! What pokemon will Andre call next?

    With a sigh, Andre produces Mightyena''s pokeball and recalls the wolf in a flash of red.

    Lee looks away from his partner''s battle at Vulpix''s mental prompting, noticing Ben had stopped to watch Mightyena fall as well. For a moment, he debates calling an attack and the boy is unaware, but... "Hey! The battle isn''t paused or anything!" Lee warns, making Benjamin jump. "Corvisquire! Steel Wing!"

    The raven shrieks and divebombs Gastly, his wings shining with a sharp, metallic sheen.

    "Gastly, out of the way!" Ben cries. "You can''t get hit! Not now!"

    The ghost pokemon moans and partially dematerializes, letting a startled Corvisquire crash painfully into the sand when he passes right through the ghost.

    "What?!" Lee exclaims aloud, his jaw-dropping. ''What the fuck? Ghost pokemon can just do that?''

    "And Andre''s next pokemon is Murkrow! This one is a new addition we didn''t see last year!"

    Lee glances over, and sure enough, a little black crow with a witch-hat plume of feathers now hovers on the other side of the field.

    "Now, Gastly..." Ben lets out a resigned sigh. "Use Curse on Shelgon."

    Gastly grimaces as a malicious red aura bursts into life around both he and Shelgon, who roars in agony and seizes on his feet.

    "Oh no..." Lee hears Zinnia whisper. In the corner of his eye, he can see her tanned face paling.

    "Corvi, stop him!" Lee orders. "Extremespeed into Steel Wing!"

    The raven pulls himself from the sand and glares up at the ghost above him. The instant his form begins to flicker, Ben gives Gastly one last order. "Gastly, Destiny Bond!"

    Lee blanks out at what he hears save for one word. ''Fuck.''

    The ghost''s face settles into acceptance as Curse fades, and an instant later he''s explosively driven into the sand by Steel Wing, unconscious with a rend running down his ethereal form.

    Corvisquire can barely croon over his victory before arcs of violet energy erupt from his being, drawing a horrid, nails-on-chalkboard scream from his throat. The bird writhes and thrashes, desperately trying to escape the torture he''s subjected to, even flying up and crashing into the barrier only to fall again. After only a few seconds that seems like hours to Lee, Corvisquire finally gives up and faints, the arcs of violet fading as he falls to the sand and goes still.

    "Ohhhh no! Gastly lays a Curse on Shelgon and takes down Corvisquire in a dramatic double-KO! It''s all up to Andre to win it, but with both Murkrow and Absol at full health, it might be Lee and Zinnia who are in trouble!" Speakmen exclaims. "Ben, please withdraw Gastly, and Lee, please select a new pokemon!"

    Gastly is pulled back into his pokeball as Ben steps back, letting his maroon-headed partner have the entire trainer box.

    Lee gulps and recalls his unconscious pokemon, his abused raven returning to his ball in a flash of red. ''Shit, this is looking bad. Shelgon isn''t going to last long, and Murkrow just has to run the clock on him. Murkrow needs to go down ASAP to draw Absol out so Vulpix and Shelgon can double team him. Just Vulpix is risky, and Goomy and Treecko won''t be enough to fight that monster, I already know that.''

    Mind made up, Lee turns to Vulpix, who looks back with her large eyes shining with resolve. "Ready, love?"

    Vulpix needs no other prompting and jumps from Lee''s shoulder through a hole that opens in the barrier for her. She lands lightly in the sand and coolly looks up at Murkrow, who caws much like Corvisquire might.

    "Vulpix takes the stage! Here is where things heat up, folks!"

    Before any moves can be called, Shelgon grunts as the red aura of Curse flares up around him, freezing him for a second save for his barely hidden twitches of pain. When the fit passes, he pants harshly.

    ''Right, we need to be quick. Shelgon is on his last legs. Chase him down with Ember, we can''t hide if we''re going to win.'' Lee growls. "Vulpix! Ember!"

    The vixen draws in a short breath and exhales a veritable storm of orange fireballs that all scream towards a very startled Murkrow. Without any prompting from Andre, the crow rises to escape.

    "Shelgon, herd him back with Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia quickly jumps in as Murkrow tries to run.

    "Double Team, now!" Andre counters.

    ''Nice try,'' Lee widens the channel between himself and Vulpix, easily settling into her psychic grasp. He snakes his will into her pyrokinesis and takes control of half the Embers to ease Vulpix''s burden for what comes next. ''There''s no running from this.''

    Murkrow''s form shimmers before countless clones scatter around the ring. Shelgon''s Dragon Pulse annihilates several of them, but the real one eludes the attack.

    "It looks like Murkrow is content to stay away from the action for a bit! A smart idea cons-hold the phone, what''s going on?!"

    The watching crowd roars when all the Embers change course and fly as if they have a mind of their own, groups of the fireballs all picking a Murkrow to chase down. Every single Ember that passes through an illusion joins another group until it''s three colossal clouds of fire running down three frantic crows.

    "Well, that''s certainly new..."

    "Damn it, what are you doing?!" Andre demands, his eyes wide as he stares at the immobile Vulpix, who ignores him, too engrossed in her task to move. "Murkrow, Detect!"

    Like Migtyena, Murkrow''s eyes glint with supernatural clarity as the last two illusions are destroyed by the Embers. He twirls mid-air and weaves through the projectile hell around him with impossible grace, Embers missing him by less than an inch and often colliding with each other in explosions of flame.

    Lee grits his teeth as the strain of guiding his half of the Embers begins to make his head throb. Likewise, he can feel the maintenance of the Embers beginning to drain Vulpix at an alarming rate. Each second that passes makes the rise and fall of her chest into more of a pant.

    ''Cut them off. We''ll try again later.''

    Vulpix obliges with a sharp exhale, making the Embers fade out into naught but sparks, leaving Murkrow hovering above as he catches his breath. The instant the crow pokemon stops moving, though...

    "Scary Face, then Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia orders. "Go, Shelgon!"

    Shelgon roars and glares up at Murkrow with eyes full of sheer hate, making the bird pokemon choke up and unable to dodge the following blast of Dragon energy. Murkrow is plucked from the air and thrown against the barrier with a burst of loose feathers. He slides down the wall for several feet before he can open his wings and shakily take flight again.

    "C''mon! Get at least one hit in!" Andre scowls. "Shadowball!"

    Murkrow coughs and opens his beak wide, an orb of squirming purple forming and growing until it''s nearly three times as large as Murkrow himself. Then with a loud caw, he sends the ball hurtling down to the spot between Vulpix and Shelgon.

    ''Move!''

    Vulpix''s legs tense, then she leaps away in one bound. Shelgon, however, is stuck with a grunt as his Curse flares up again. The Shadowball swallows Shelgon and explodes, a shock wave of curiously cold air washing over the whole ring.

    When the smoke clears, cheers ring out as everyone sees Shelgon still standing, albeit barely. His shell is lined with cracks and scratches, his legs shake, and although difficult to tell under his armor, his breaths come in sharp gasps.

    The longer he looks, the more Lee feels their chances of victory slipping away. ''Jeez. Okay, new plan...'' Lee thinks back to when Murkrow used Detect, and how much of a toll it had on the bird pokemon. ''Chase him down with a small number of Embers, enough to cause damage but not so many that your stamina dies up too quickly. Got it, love? When Detect runs out, we hit him with something big.''

    Vulpix silently agrees with a flick of her ear, already drawing in a breath that comes back out as a stream of Embers.

    Once again, all the Embers beeline for Murkrow, who turns tail and runs.

    "Detect!" Andre orders, a smirk on his face.

    ''Gotcha.''

    The much smaller group of fireballs remain hot on Murkrow''s heels, coming in for pass after unsuccessful pass, and each time Murkrow gets away with nothing more than singed feathers. Even with Shelgon firing off Dragon Breath attacks to help, Murkrow escapes unharmed. Rather than just a few seconds of pursuit this time, the fox-guided Embers stay locked on like missiles and keep swooping in regardless of their flight time.

    Murkrows dodging becomes more and more jerky and panicked as Andre''s smirk falls.

    Finally, one fireball tags the bird with an explosion of fire, throwing him off course with a squawk and into the path of another Ember, which explodes against him like the last one. With an unspoken signal from Vulpix, all the remaining fireballs make haste, and all crash into the flailing Murkrow one after another, trapping him in a barrage of fire and pain.

    After the last Ember meets it''s mark in a burst of flame, a smoking Murkrow falls limp from the sky with his eyes closed.

    "Murkrow! Pull up now!" Andre grits his teeth. "It''s not over!"

    Murkrow does not reply and hits the sand with a sad thump, all consciousness lost.

    "That''s all she wrote for Murkrow!" Speakmen''s words earn cheers from the spectators, a countless number of them now holding up phones and camcorders compared to the handful who were recording the whole battle. "It''s just Andre''s Absol against four pokemon! This is either a closed battle or a comeback for the books! Andre! Send in your last pokemon!"

    Andre''s sneer is traded for a sudden calm that immediately makes Lee wary. "Fine. Absol has always had my back and I know he won''t fail me here," the teen boy says with absolute certainty, returning his downed Murkrow to his pokeball and drawing the last ball from the black metal gauntlet on his arm.

    With deliberate slowness, Andre expands the ball and tosses it with only a flick of his wrist. In a flash of light following the pokeball''s distinct snap-hiss sound, Absol materializes in the field with his head bowed eyes closed. His eyes snap open and lock not onto Vulpix or Shelgon, but Lee and Zinnia.

    Despite the warmth of the tropical sun high above, Lee feels a cold shiver run down his spine.

    "Here we go! That could be the last match of the Brawl on the Beach!"

    "Absol, Night Slash." is all Andre says, crossing his arms as he does so.

    Just like with every match before, Absol''s scythe-like horn glows a sickly violet before he slowly walks forward. His footsteps in the sand seems infinitely louder than any cheering or chatter from the people watching. The red eyes under Absol''s brow of white fur watch Vulpix and Shelgon intently, waiting for a single mistake.

    Shelgon stiffens as his Curse flares up, and before he can even wince, Absol is behind him with his scythe raised to strike.

    Lee''s eyes widen, and a single, reactionary thought from him with no words spurs Vulpix into action. She turns at breakneck speed and blasts Absol with a gout of fire.

    Absol darts away from the nameless tongue of flame Vulpix shoots, well out of the way before the attack could even hope to hit. Absol lands in a crouch and regards Vulpix with the same flat expression he''s held since his first match. It makes the tilt of his head almost mocking.

    ''Mock this,'' Lee grunts. "Will-o-wisp!"

    Vulpix''s maw opens wide, a ball of white flame blooming to life. She rears her head back and-!

    Lee cries out when a white-hot line of pain is drawn across his back, his hand shooting to the wound, only to come back free of any blood. "Wha..."

    Vulpix''s yowl of agony instantly makes him forget his own pain, and he then realizes why he felt something in the first place.

    In the ring, Vulpix falters and shoots Will-o-wisp wide with no hope of recovering it. A deep slash across her back bleeds profusely as Absol stands behind her, his neck already bent in a post-strike stance. Absol then tenses and leaps away without even looking as Shelgon barrels through the spot he occupied just a split second prior.

    "Lee!"

    The man turns to Zinnia, who levels him with a look of alarm. "Are you okay? What was that about?!"

    "Worry about the battle, not me," he answers quickly. "Vulpix! Love! Are you alright?!"

    The vixen pants as her coat slowly turns red from the back down from the wound, but she nods without taking her eyes off of Absol.

    ''How the hell did this pokemon get so quick?'' Lee struggles to think of just how much time a pokemon would need to focus on speed alone to get that fast. Then another, more disquieting thought strikes him. ''Or maybe we''re just slow?''

    "Shelgon, we''re taking the offensive! Headbutt!" Zinnia orders with a pointed finger. She gives Lee a very pointed look, once saying ''help me''.

    Lee nods back and turns to Vulpix. "Vulpix, you know what to do," he says aloud. Mentally, he sends her: ''Use Baby-Doll Eyes. We need to lower his ability to attack as far as we can.''

    "Absol, take them apart. Night Slash," Andre says, even going so far as to close his eyes and smile.

    The Dark pokemon leans to the side, letting Shelgon pass him by as his scythe charges with Night Slash.

    ''Now!''

    Vulpix''s eyes light up with an eerie pink glow, invisible enfeebling rays shooting from them.

    Absol''s eyes widen, then without looking at Vulpix, he moves so quickly it looks as if he teleports a foot to the side, sidestepping Baby-Doll Eyes with impossible dexterity. He turns his blank gaze to Vulpix, making the vixen freeze.

    ''Did he just dodge an invisible priority move without even looking?'' Lee feels his head begin to spin and scrambles for an answer.

    Absol slowly lowers himself in what has to be a mocking telegraph before stopping and freezing. Then without looking behind him, he sways out of the way of Shelgon''s follow-up Headbutt and lashes out with his scythe, carving a furrow in Shelgon''s side that draws blood through his armor.

    Shelgon stumbles, and Absol takes the opportunity to loose a blindingly fast slash again, slicing through Shelgon''s shell like a knife might do through styrofoam.

    "Shelgon!" Zinnia screams, her eyes wide and devoid of her usual mirth. "C''mon, baby! Hang in there! Dragon Breath!"

    The encapsulated dragon growls and turns, his green flames licking the corners of his mouth.

    "Help him, Vulpix!" Lee calls. "Ember! And don''t let up."

    Vulpix wastes no time in throwing her head forward, launching a blast of Embers that all zig-zag through the air at Absol.

    Absol ducks Shelgon''s Dragon Breath then rolls to his feet and dances around the cloud of fireballs all desperately flying around like hornets attempting to sting him. Not a single movement is wasted and Absol only ever moves enough to avoid harm, not an inch more.

    Vulpix growls and pours more energy into Ember, making the fireballs whiz around like vengeful sprites, but no matter how fast they become, The Disaster pokemon flows like water around them and doesn''t even have a singed strand of fur to show for it. Finally, Absol scoffs and charges Night Slash once more. The instant a hole in Vulpix''s attack opens, he shoots through it and charges the fox, the sand under his feet exploding from the sheer force of his movement.

    Vulpix''s eyes shoot wide open as the scythe blade bears down on her, seemingly in slow motion.

    "Vulpix!" Lee screams, his heart jumping into his throat.

    Absol''s neck flexes, and the scythe-like horn falls.

    Schink!

    ...Right into Shelgon''s shell.

    At the last moment, the dragon forces his way between Absol and Vulpix, catching the horn in his armor, and before Absol can pull away, Shelgon roars and twists his whole body, drawing a wince from Absol as his stuck horn twists his neck.

    "Lee, if you''ve got a big attack, use it now!" Zinnia demands, turning to the scarred man with a grimace. "Don''t worry about Shelgon! Just blow this guy away!"

    Across the way, Andre frowns. "What? Absol, get out of there!"

    Absol begins to struggle, trying to remove the torque on his main weapon so he can disengage, but Shelgon holds strong and fights the Dark-type tooth and nail. Shelgon is wracked by his Curse again, but powers through to keep Absol still.

    It takes Lee a moment to process Zinnia''s words, but when he does and understands just what she''s doing, he gulps and nods. "Vulpix," he calls.

    "Use Convergence."

    The vixen leaps away, not needing to be told twice. She lands a dozen yards away, her eyes glowing a baleful orange as the ring begins to heat up.

    All around Shelgon and Absol, great, rolling balls of fire spawn from nothing, each one rapidly growing and driving the heat in the ring up even further. A few of the awestruck spectators back-up as the heat bleeds through the barrier.

    "Absol, get out of there now!" Andre orders, looking worried for the first time in the entire match.

    His pokemon struggles harder as the orbs of fire around him and Shelgon grow past the size of soccer balls and begin to creep up on the size of beach balls.

    Vulpix pants, her stamina beginning to falter the larger the fireballs under her control become.

    ''C''mon, love! You can end it right here!'' Lee wraps her psyche in a layer of adoration just like she always does to him. ''I know you can!''

    The fireballs surge and grow larger than ever.

    Absol sees the countless fireballs morph into miniature suns and growls. With a grunt, he slowly begins to overpower Shelgon, who is at his limit. Then with a shrill, haunting cry, Absol lifts Shelgon''s entire three-hundred-pound bulk, still stuck to his horn, over his head.

    "Fire!" Lee orders.

    As one, all the fireballs converge on Absol, exploding like a...

    LUNGS BLISTERING

    SKIN BU-

    Lee growls and forces the bout of vertigo away.

    The entire dome shakes from the force of the overcharged Convergence, prompting screams from onlookers. Cracks even spider web along the dome before Speakmen''s sweating Hypno repairs the damage.

    "H-Holy moly! What in the world was that move, Brawly?!... Brawly?"

    The bewildered Gym Leader in the lifeguard tower raises his microphone slowly. "I...am not sure, Josh. It was the first time I''ve ever seen something like that."

    As the smoke begins to clear, there are no pokemon left standing in it. Shelgon, finally knocked out with a shell filled with cracks, lays on his side, but Absol is nowhere to be seen. Off to the side, Vulpix falls to her rear and pants harshly.

    ''Did we win?''

    Ripping pain in his side answer''s Lee''s question in the worst way.

    Vulpix screams as something jagged tears into her flank and throws her against the barrier from the force. An instant later, Absol materializes at her side.

    The last of the smoke finally clears, showing Absol panting from his place by Vulpix. The Disaster pokemon is covered in horrible burns and one of his hindlegs is obviously dislocated from how he refuses to put weight on it. His eyes are wide and wild, a far cry from his aloof standing just a few minutes prior, but the most telling thing is his horn.

    Or what''s left of it.

    The keratin weapon has lost it''s last few inches, shortening it and leaving the edge ragged. It''ll likely take weeks before it grows back. Andre looks devastated on his side of the field.

    Vulpix, already running on fumes from bloodloss, her most powerful attack to date, and now a new wound, falls to the ground, her mind dulling not unlike a fitful sleep to Lee.

    "Unreal! Absol survives uh... What was it called? Convergence? Whatever it was, he made it out in one piece, taking down both Shelgon and Vulpix against the odds! Zinnia and Lee! Send in your final pokemon!"

    Lee numbly holds up Vulpix''s ball in a shaking hand and recalls her into it. All that''s left are Treecko and Goomy.

    Treecko and Goomy against a pokemon that took everything Vulpix could dish out.

    For a moment, Lee entertains the thought of surrender. ''But Zinnia would never let me hear the end of it, and Treecko...''

    Reluctantly, Lee draws his last pokeball from his pocket, but stops when Zinnia''s hand falls onto his. Looking up, he sees her with a wide grin.

    "Why so happy?" The man questions with a shake of his head. "You do realize we''re about to lose, right?"

    "No, we''re not!" She grins even wider and withdraws her hand. "I figured out his gimmick!"

    That earns a raised eyebrow from Lee. "Gimmick?"

    "How Absol dodges everything," the dragon tamer says, bringing her voice down to just above a whisper. "All of the brat''s pokemon know Detect, and Absol learns Detect naturally. It gives the pokemon a split second of all-seeing clarity, see?" She gestures with a finger pointed to her eye. "So they can see anything incoming, even things coming from behind. It would stand to reason his best pokemon is the best user of this shared move, right?"

    All at once, it clicks into place. "So Absol is using Detect without being ordered to? That''s how he avoided taking hits until he was trapped?"

    "Yes!" Zinnia wiggles in place happily. "And like with Murkrow, Detect can only be used for so long before the clarity fades, so if we keep Absol on the defensive..."

    "We can land a good enough hit to finish him off..." Lee realizes, hope burning in his chest. "Hot damn, Zinnia. Nice detective work."

    "Hellooooo, red team? Is your powwow done?"

    Lee turns and glares up at Speakmen, who jumps. "J-Just asking is all!"

    Taking Treecko''s ball in his hand, Lee brings it up to his mouth to whisper: "Stay in sync with Goomy, this one can''t be allowed to go on the offensive at all," he murmurs.

    The ball wiggles in his hand, drawing a smile from Lee. "Right. Treecko! You''re up!"

    "Goomy! Finish this!"

    Both Lee and Zinnia toss their last pokeballs, which pop open and deposit Treecko and Goomy into their side of the field.

    Treecko meets eyes with the nearly-feral Absol and settles into a guarded stance.

    Goomy quivers, the only thing keeping him from quitting against this scary pokemon being the fact that it''s a two-on-one fight.

    "Absol, Night Slash!" Andre orders, forcing a sneer that doesn''t quite fit on his face anymore.

    "Goomy, Dragon Breath!" Zinnia starts.

    "Treecko, Quick Attack into Pound!" Lee follows up a second later.

    Goomy balloons up with a green glow, then blasts a gout of green fire at Absol as Treecko circles around in a sprint.

    Absol weaves around the Dragon Breath and ducks a swipe from Treecko, only to have to leap to the side to avoid yet another blast of fire. His leap nearly sends him into Treecko''s Pound, where he narrowly ducks. Absol then has to jump with a growl to avoid a Water Gun from Goomy that explodes against the sand.

    For several long minutes, Absol is stuck in a game of avoiding the other two pokemon, and with each passing second, he tires more and more. Once he tries to rush Treecko, but his wounded hindleg makes him falter and he nearly pays with a Pound to the skull. All the while, Andre grows more and more frustrated.

    "Dammit, Absol!" Andre finally blows up, his fists clenched and his face red. "Take one of them out already! Push past the pain and get it done! Remember what is on the line, here!"

    Absol grits his teeth and raises his wounded leg at this trainer''s words. All the muscles in his lower body flex and ripple at once. Then with a sicking pop, his hip joint is popped back into place.

    The action is so unexpected that Goomy stops attacking to gape at the stunt, and Absol homes in on the hesitation instantly.

    As little more than a streak of ghostly white, Absol appears before Goomy with his broken scythe raised. An instant later, Goomy is sporting a deep laceration across his middle with an uncomprehending expression, his mucus armor doing nothing to stop the attack. After a split-second, the pain hits and Goomy cries out, writhing and struggling.

    Lee can see the brittle hope on Zinnia''s face die, her expression falling into resignation.

    As Goomy cries out, he accidentally bashes one of his antennae against Absol''s leg.

    Absol yelps and jumps away, holding his foreleg up with a wince.

    Right where Goomy''s antennae hit, a barbed stinger oozing a purple substance is sunk into Absol''s leg.

    "What the hell?" Lee asks, blinking at the Absol as he sways on his feet only to shake his head and correct himself. "Goomy has a stinger?"

    "Two, actually," Zinnia glumly replies, returning Goomy to his ball as the little dragon faints. "They''re hidden in his antennae. A stab from one is like getting hit by Toxic," she says, looking between Absol and Treecko.

    "Why didn''t Absol dodge?" Lee wonders aloud

    "Who knows. Maybe it''s because Goomy didn''t intentionally attack?" Zinnia shrugs. "Get ready. Here he comes," she warns.

    Lee ignores Speakmen''s words about Goomy''s withdrawal as Absol rushes Treecko, Night Slash ready. Already, Absol''s poisoned movements are positively sluggish since the naked eye can track him.

    "Treecko! Run him down until the poison weakens him enough!" The scarred trainer orders as Treecko barely ducks the Night Slash.

    "To hell with that!" Andre screams, his face contorted in desperation. "Absol! Full blast! Give him everything you''ve got!

    Absol and Treecko both narrow their eyes. Absol tenses and Treecko is cloaked in the white aura of Quick Attack, then the pokemon rush each other.

    Treecko sidesteps a slash that draws a thin red line in his side, then backpedals when Absol flips forward and lashes out with his bladed tail, cleaving through where Treecko''s head was a second prior. Then Absol ducks under a kick from Treecko and clamps his razor-sharp teeth into Treecko''s ankle, making Treecko wince. Then with a whip of Absol''s neck, Treecko is flung away like a toy.

    "Absol, Razor Wind!"

    Absol draws his broken scythe back and swings his head, throwing screaming wind blades at Treecko

    "Treecko, Feint Attack!"

    The wood gecko takes a deep breath, then to all the onlookers, vanishes as if he were never there. The Razor Wind attack flies right through where he was without hitting a thing.

    Absol pants and scans his eyes around, for one, two, three, four seconds, then rolls out of the way when a thick tail nearly brains him. The instant Treecko is visible, Absol roars and swipes a paw at him, drawing three thick lines across Treecko''s torso.

    "Don''t hold back! Night Slash!"

    Treecko leaps away and holds the wounds with gritted teeth. But Absol refuses to give him any rest and charges again, swiping with his paws wreathed in a watered-down Night Slash.

    Lee bites his lip as he watches Treecko just barely avoid a grievous, unconsciousness-inducing wound each attack, but he''s still nicked and cut a little each time. Each wound weeps just a little bit of red, but enough of them will...

    "Wait for an opening, Treecko! He''ll tire before you do, so punish every mistake!" Lee calls, desperately hoping he''s right.

    Absol finally overextends an attack and Treecko quickly slides to his side, tail glowing white as he twirls and goes in for a knockout.

    ...But the Dark-type just leans out of the way without needing to see the attack, letting Treecko turn a full 180 degrees away from him as the missed Pound bleeds off its momentum.

    Absol''s scythe glows with a charged Night Slash as the Absol rushes Treecko''s turned back with a final burst of flicking speed.

    Lee sighs and palms Treecko''s ball, but drops it in shock when he sees what happens next.

    Treecko twists around the Night Slash with supernatural grace, all without looking. His yellow eyes shine with clarity as he continues his spin and unleashes Pound again.

    The Dark-type''s eyes widen and he goes to duck, but freezes when a cough with sickly purple froth forces it way from his mouth.

    Treecko''s tail slams into the side of Absol''s head like a club, lifting the Dark-type right off his paws and throwing him harshly to the sand, digging up a trench as he comes to a stop.

    For a single heartbeat, everyone is silent. Then Absol twitches and groans, trying to force his way to his paws. After a few seconds of fruitless struggle, Absol finally goes limp, his eyes closing.

    Treecko pants from his place just a few yards away from Absol then straightens up with a small smile. A second later, a beautiful white glow overtakes his form.

    "No way..." Lee breathes.

    Treecko grows inside the shell of white light, gaining over a foot of height as long leaves sprout from his wrists, his head, and his tail. His body loses the roundedness of youth, replaced with a sleek reptilian form. The glow fades, and Grovyle takes Treecko''s place, now with several thin scars on his belly and arms.

    Grovyle looks toward Lee with a small smile around the twig in his mouth, and Lee can help but grin like a loon in return.

    One. Two. Three.

    Speakmen''s airhorn blows and the crowd explodes into cheers

    "That''s one for the record books, everyone! The most thrilling Brawl we''ve had in years!" Speakmen practically jumps for joy, making the rickety lifeguard tower sway. "I almost can''t believe it! It was neck and neck right till the end! Treecko''s decisive attack won the day and pushed him to evolve! I bet mister Lee Henson is beside himself with happiness!"

    Lee can''t help but throw his head back and laugh as Hypno''s dome comes down, letting him walk out into the ruined field to Grovyle, his Grovyle.

    Grovyle reluctantly lets Lee sweep him up into a hug, crossing his arms and trying his best to look indifferent in the arms of his trainer. After a long second, Lee sets Grovyle down.

    "I cannot begin to tell you how proud of you I am," Lee begins to Grovyle, his face starting to hurt from how hard he''s smiling. "Not only do you go above and beyond in training, but you also get it done when it counts in battle. I thought for sure we were done for, but you clutched it, bud! You did it!"

    Grovyle looks away but retains his smile. Lee is sure that if his reptile anatomy allowed it, Grovyle would have a dusting of embarrassed pink on his cheeks.

    "Wow... that was insane."

    Lee and Grovyle turn to see Zinnia walking up to them, looking dazed as she glances between them. She snorts, then the snort grows into a goofy full-belly laugh that restores her usual grin to her face. "I gotta say, I made a good choice following you."

    The Zoologist rolls his eyes then looks behind Grovyle to see how Andre took his loss.

    The boy sits on his knees in the sand, staring down at Absol''s pokeball in his hand with shock. The lack of scowl, or sneer, or any other foul expression makes his face seem shockingly young. The maroon-haired teen''s head bows and his free hand clenches around nothing. His shoulders begin to shake, from anger or what, Lee isn''t sure.

    Behind him, the other boy from earlier, his partner Benjamin, steps out of the crowd to place a gentle hand on Andre''s shoulder. Benjamin''s own face is set into a melancholic frown.

    Andre suddenly rises and throws Benjamin''s hand off of him before turning and quickly walking away.

    In the sand where Andre was kneeling, there are several wet spots.

    Lee just sighs and shakes his head.

    "Hey! Dynamic Duo!"

    Lee and Zinnia both turn, finding a grinning Brawly behind them. "We gotta crown ya! C''mon!" He says, turning and walking back to the lifeguard tower as Lee and Zinnia follow. He beckons them to come up the tower with him, stopping only long enough for Lee and Zinnia to hand off their pokeballs to the Chansey running the medical tent. When at the top, he grabs his microphone again.

    "How did you all like that Brawl, everyone?" He speaks as if he didn''t already know that answer.

    The uproar of everyone below can probably be heard on the other side of the island. Somehow, there are even more signs in the crowd depicting Zinnia, Lee, and their pokemon.

    ''Fast artists, I guess?''

    "I thought so. They''ll be talking about this one for years." Brawly smiles. "It''s my pleasure to crown Zinnia Draconid and Lee Henson our Dynamic Duo and champs of this year''s Brawl on the Beach!"

    Lee and Zinnia step forward, Zinnia with infinitely more pep than Lee as the tower lets him see just how many people were watching him. With a gulp, he waves to everyone and tries to look small as Zinnia openly relishes in the attention with a gleaming smile.

    "Feel free to rest up here for a bit before going down to your adoring fans," Brawly chuckles as Lee steps back and takes a seat in one of the chairs in the back corner of the tower.

    "Will do, thanks," Lee agrees easily. Then a thought strikes him. "Hey, Brawly?"

    The Gym Leader perks an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

    "How do you know that kid, Andre? He was giving you some ugly looks."

    When Brawly''s face darkens, Lee quickly amends his question. "No need to answer if it''s personal, but he was a hell of a trainer and it''s got me curious is all."

    Brawly is silent for a moment, seemingly chewing on his words. "He... is a friend of the family, and we haven''t seen eye-to-eye recently, is all," The taller man says. "He''s stubborn in a..." Brawly stops short. "...In an interesting way."

    Lee nods, not pressing further. "Gotcha."

    The Gym Leader smiles again. "Oh, before I forget, you might want to hit up a drugstore with your prize money."

    "Eh?"

    "Take a look at yourself," Brawly points at Lee with a snicker. "You''re as red as a Corphish. Get the Rawst infused stuff, and you''ll be right as rain in a day or two."

    Lee looks down at this chest and arms, which are totally red from several hours in the sun. "Well shit."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "What? It couldn''t have been that rad!"

    In the blessedly cool motelroom he and Brendan share, Lee smirks at the young boy and tosses another toothpick into the air.

    A glowing blade of green slices it cleanly in two.

    "Explain this guy, then," He says, pointing to Grovyle, who stands with his Leaf Blade powered up and eyes closed. Lee throws another toothpick from the box he bought at the drugstore at Grovyle, and without opening his eyes, the gecko slices it in two with a flash of green

    At the foot of the bed, Vulpix dozes quietly, her back and side wrapped tightly with bandages and a nurse''s order to take it easy for several days. The feeling of her being actually asleep rather than unconscious is night and day, a soothing balm to his excitement-frayed nerves. Lee is silently glad her beautiful pelt won''t scar up from the cuts.

    Corvisquire, meanwhile, remains perched on the back of one of the chintzy motel chairs and broods as he stares outside at the darkened beach. All of Lee''s attempts to pull him from his funk have failed so far.

    Brendan groans and falls back into his bed, drawing his phone from his pocket as he does so. "Has anyone put it on the Battle Network yet?"

    "You can try," Lee shrugs then winces when the action pulls at his sunburns. "There were a ton of people recording, so it''s all going to be crumby phone vids. How did your search for an Aron go?"

    "I don''t wanna talk about it..." Brendan grumbles. "Geodude and Zubats for days, but not one Aron. I''m going back tomorrow."

    "That''s the spirit," Lee agrees, but something strikes him as a little odd. ''Not a single Aron? Weird. Oh well, that''s tomorrow Lee''s problem.''

 Act 1: Chapter 16

    A blade of brilliant green flashes through the air with a quiet hum, slicing half an inch into a large, craggily boulder before stopping. The blade''s luster fades, revealing it to be a long leaf attached to the wrist of a scaled paw.

    Grovyle frowns and pulls his leaf free, eyeballing the boulder littered with slashes before him with distaste. The rare dead tree around the path to the Granite Cave proved too soft, letting his attack pass through them without much in the way of resistance. A large man-sized rock a bit off the path, however, provided an ample target to sharpen his blade against. Grovyle raises his leafy arm again and charges Leaf Blade, making the leaves glow a bright emerald and stiffen into razors. This time, he growls and does a full, lightning fast spin for even more momentum.

    ...Only to underbalance and stumble partway, killing his speed as he corrects his course, lest he fall.

    Schink!

    Leaf Blade stops only a fraction of an inch into the face of the rock.

    With a disappointed grunt, Grovyle pulls his leaf from the stone and takes a step back.

    A ways behind him, Lee sits with his back against a tree, watching his pokemon diligently train as they wait for Brendan and Zinnia to catch up.

    "Don''t beat yourself up, pal," Lee smiles encouragingly, looking up away from the Pokedex in his lap. "You''ve only had both that body and that attack for a day and some change. Try to limit how far you extend your arms and torso without moving a leg back as a counterweight. You''ll get the hang of it. You always do."

    Grovyle glances back at Lee, and after a second, offers a nod. He raises a humming Leaf Blade and focuses on the rock once more, letting Lee return to notes.

    Lee raises his pokedex to his mouth and clicks on the ''record'' button. "Log twelve, day fifty-two. Treecko evolved after his nail-biting victory at the tournament yesterday, which won us the whole thing. He proved his sheer talent by taking his dodging skills, refined from several weeks of dodging Swift, and refining them into Detect through observation of Absol, the ace of the other finalist. I even scanned him with my pokedex to confirm that he does indeed know Detect. With the new move, he dodged what would have been a game-ending blow to knock Absol out. Does that count as a win worthy of a grant increase for the lab?"

    Lee stops for a second and thinks. "You did say any prestige I bring to the lab means more money from the League, right? Anyway, Grovyle is definitely pleased with his evolution, but it has brought its own set of problems. The sudden increase in mass his body has undergone combined with the reduction in mass from his tail has left him unbalanced. I was hoping instinct would correct this, but apparently not. It''s not a huge issue, as Grovyle is nothing short of a kinesthetic genius and is already back to fighting condition. I suspect in the next week or two he''ll be back to his previous level of acrobatics and then some."

    The man pauses his recording to watch Grovyle tense, then drive his Leaf Blade into the rock again, cutting a deep gouge into its face with a resounding ting that echoes across the trees.

    "In other news," Lee begins with a smile as he watches his pokemon. "Vulpix used Convergence in battle for the first time yesterday. It took nearly fifteen seconds to charge up between Vulpix''s exhaustion and the stress of the battle, but with Zinnia''s Shelgon holding that monster of an Absol still, Convergence wore Absol down enough for Grovyle to secure the win. The move''s destructive power is incredible, and it doesn''t seem to suffer from the same sort of backfire effect that other charged experimental moves of ours have. I''ll have to research the cause of its stability more. Maybe more fireballs charging slowly is the cause? When we know more, we can begin on more moves."

    "Lastly for this one, I kind of regret not going over history more during my prep time. I''ve been focused so hard on training my team that I''ve ignored everything else, and some idle browsing of Pokepedia last night was a kick to the head," Lee shakes his head and smiles sardonically. "I knew about the main regions and some rough history, but I still have to remind myself sometimes that this isn''t a kids game, but real life. I had no idea that there were other regions like Fiore, Almia, Oblivia, Ferrum, Ransei, and a few even smaller ones I can''t remember. No idea if they were in any pokemon games or not, and if they were, I didn''t play them. I guess it makes sense that Professor Oak didn''t seem suspicious when he heard I was from some small, isolationist land devoid of pokemon, kind of like an especially barren Orre. Ransei in particular stuck out to me."

    Lee hums and silently wonders how to word this statement. "Ransei caught my eye for being the only region currently engaged in warfare. If Pokepedia is correct, they''ve been in a civil war raging between a fluctuating number of warlords for years, something I was not expecting at all. The mass embargo and travel ban placed on them from every major region doesn''t seem to have slowed things, either. I expected the worst as I read on, but something seemed off. The casualties are practically nonexistent for a place embroiled in war... I can''t help but morbidly wonder why? Military tech has obviously stagnated compared to what I''m used to, as America had a hulking military industrial complex, but some well-trained pokemon could cause death on a scale only surpassed by doomsday weapons like..."

    Lee stops himself short, his mouth suddenly drying up. He sees Grovyle has stopped practicing Leaf Blade to instead watch his trainer with his arms crossed and a scaly eyeridge raised like an eyebrow. The gecko pokemon rolls his twig around in his mouth, waiting.

    The zoologist clears his throat and raises his pokedex again. "Like, uh... Well, it doesn''t really matter," he continues quietly, but Grovyle''s eyebrow ridge raises a little more and gives away that he can still hear Lee. The man takes a breath. "Anyway, I guess there is also the flipside that factors the feelings of the pokemon in as well. I have no doubt a pokemon could slay a man easily, so the question then becomes ''would they want to?'' and I''m guessing no in most cases."

    "Hey! Did you have to run so far ahead!?"

    Lee turns away from his pokedex and looks down the path to the Granite Cave, seeing Brendan, Marshtomp, and Zinnia walking towards him. Brendan smiles and waves before dashing forward, Marshtomp hot on his heels. Zinnia keeps her leisurely pace.

    "That''s it for now. Lee, out," Lee hits the ''end'' button on his pokedex and stands up, dropping the pokedex back in his pocket. Grovyle leaves his rock to stand by Lee''s side as Brendan and Marshtomp skid to a stop before them.

    "I didn''t run ahead, you guys just took forever," Lee sniffs. "It gave Grovyle and I some time to get a bit of early morning training in."

    Brendan just sticks his tongue out at the older trainer, earning him a croaking laugh from Marshtomp.

    "So, why are we here again?" Zinnia asks as she finally joins the group. She looks between Lee and Brendan with her arms crossed. "Something about Aron?"

    "Yup!" Brendan nods. "Marshtomp and I were here all day yesterday looking for an Aron while you guys were battling. They''re a little uncommon, but I should have found one after a few hours at least," the boy trainer says, whipping out his pokedex. On the screen is an Aron with a map of Dewford below it, and the Granite Cave has a red outline on it. "Unless Dad''s database is out of date, but the Rangers are really good about their migration reports."

    "I just pulled a fresh update this morning, so it''s not the database," Lee supplies, pulling out his own pokedex. He goes to Aron''s entry and sure enough, the Granite Cave is still highlighted. "Something funny is afoot."

    "Hmm..." Zinnia taps her foot and looks up at the clear sky in thought. "Overcatching, maybe? Or an invasive pokemon?"

    "If all the Aron were caught, it definitely would have generated an alert to some professor somewhere. I don''t think it''s that," Brendan shakes his head. "Dunno about any invasive pokemon that would want to hang out in a bog standard cave, though. Other than some ruins inside, there is nothing special about Granite Cave." He then turns to Marshtomp. "Any ideas, pal?"

    The mudfish pokemon furrows his brows and rubs his chin in a show of thought, then he leans down and presses both of his palms flat on the ground before tapping the dirt of the path with a hindleg several times. For a long second, he waits, then stands and shrugs, his show of siesmolocation apparently returning no interesting results.

    Inspired by Brendan, Lee looks over to Grovyle. "Maybe you can sense something amiss, Grovyle?"

    Grovyle shifts his ever-present twig to the corner of his mouth and lifts his head. His long tongue darts out several times, collecting smells that his weaker nostrils surely would miss. He mulls to himself for a moment, then shakes his head.

    "That''s fine. We''ll try again when we''re in the cave," Lee smiles.

    Zinnia''s mouth lifts into a lopsided grin. "I hope you boys are okay with protecting little old me in that cave. Shelgon and Goomy still need to rest, and while Swablu is okay to fight, I''d rather her recover fully first."

    ''Glad to see she can dial-back the battlelust when her pokemon aren''t at 100%.'' Lee nods approvingly. "Vulpix is much the same. She still needs a few days to heal, but Grovyle and Corvisquire are ready," he says, silently giving the muted psychic tether to his vixen''s pokeball a little tug. A tiny niggling bug of anxiousness still crawls around in his stomach from the idea of Vulpix being down, but the composed wood gecko at his side eases Lee''s greatest worries.

    "Shroomish took a nasty Bite from a lucky Zubat yesterday, so he needs a day or two," Brendan finishes the little roll call with a frown. "Little jerk ate a Take Down from Marshtomp for the trouble."

    "So we''ve got four-ish battle ready pokemon between all of us. I''ve got absolute confidence in Grovyle-" said pokemon smirks at the praise "-and Corvisquire, and I know Marshtomp is a beast. Swablu and the others should be able to rest easy," Lee says, crossing his arms with a pleased smile. "Shall we?"

    The three trainers and two pokemon begin the rest of the trek down the beaten path to the cave.

    "Say, Lee?" Zinnia asks a minute into their walk.

    "Hmm?" He replies.

    "Who were you talking to when we walked up?"

    Lee blinks, his hand dipping into his pocket to fiddle with the pokedex inside. "No one. The Professor wants me to do logs every so often and send them to him so he can pick my brain. The one you caught the tail end of was an update about my team''s progress and some stuff I did some light reading on. You two heard of the Ransei region?"

    Zinnia shakes her head with a sheepish smile. "Ah, I don''t really keep up with news."

    "Ransei is a small region that''s been at war with itself on and off for almost a hundred years now. It''s made of seventeen different kingdoms that refuse to come to an agreement. The various Pokemon Leagues have tried to intervene over the years, but eventually gave up in favor of an embargo and a bunch of sanctions. It hasn''t worked since there is no formal blockade and smugglers like to take supplies there and sell them for huge markups." Brendan supplies. He flushes when four pairs of surprised eyes turn to him. "What? I didn''t become a trainer at twelve because I wanted to wait, dad held me back two years to tutor me. Geography and politics were included!"

    ''Huh. So that''s why he started late. Birch doesn''t get enough credit for how thorough he is.''

    "What''s so special about this Ransei place that you talked about it in particular?" Zinnia asks as the mouth of the cave comes into view.

    "It''s the only place that''s currently in conflict is all. I know Kanto and Johto clashed briefly like twenty years back, but it was over and done in a few short months with Johto''s surrender and minimal casualties. Before that, there is almost nothing bigger than border skirmishes. It''s just kinda strange that Ransei has dragged theirs out so long," Lee shrugs. "Anyway..."

    The three people and two pokemon stop before the wide entrance to the Granite Cave. It''s a massive hole in the side of a large, rocky hill that houses the rest of the cave system, easily large enough to let an Onix slither though. Off to the side, a warning sign bolted to the ground urges trainers entering to be wary and non-trainers to turn around. The sunlight barely penetrates the murky darkness within, and after several yards, everything beyond is pitch black.

    Brendan is quick to unshoulder his backpack and zip it open. He dips a hand inside, and a second later withdraws an electric lantern. He flips a switch, and the lantern comes to life with an artificial blue glow.

    "Alright! I''m not leaving without an Aron this time!" Brendan grins and steps into the cave. "C''mon!"

    Marshtomp croaks and happily follows.

    Lee slows for a second and turns to Grovyle. "Stay close to myself and Zinnia, alrighty?" He asks. "I''m sure we''re going to piss off more than one pokemon by disturbing them, and you''ll make them think twice about taking a swipe at the fragile humans, yeah?"

    Grovyle crosses his arms and nods, falling into step right behind Lee and just in front of an amused Zinnia. "My knight in green armor," she snickers.

    Brendan leads the train into the Granite Cave, his lantern providing just barely enough light to see ahead.

    Lee lets his eyes roam, taking in the sights of the cave.

    Just as named, the walls of the cave are all rough granite of different colors, mostly black, white, and gray. Stalactites of ringed granite, like a raccoon''s tail, droop from the ceiling, each one glistening with moisture and many holding sleeping Zubats and a single large Golbat. The ground below their feet is worn smooth, probably from the countless visitors and pokemon treading upon it, and an experimental scuff of Lee''s boot reveals that it''s slick as well. The sounds of dripping water and wind echo all over, making pinpointing the location of individual sounds a chore. The further into the cave they walk, the cooler it becomes.

    Zinnia shivers and pulls her cloak a little tighter around herself when a brisk breeze blows past. "Jeeze, I should have brought something a little heavier..."

    SIlently, Lee agrees. His jacket, built to breathe and protect from the sun, offers little in the way of warmth. ''I wish Vulpix was well enough to travel outside her ball. She''d keep me warm...''

    Brendan just rolls the normally rolled-up sleeves of his shirt down. "Yeah, but it beats the heat I say."

    Neither Grovyle or Marshtomp seem bothered by the cold, or atleast Marshtomp isn''t. Grovyle''s neutral expression slowly falls into a frown as he subtly rubs his forearms. No doubt he''ll need to bask in the sun for a while after this adventure, Lee thinks.

    The path in the cave trails apart into several smaller, less worn ones with jagged stalagmites jutting from the floor. A pair of Geodude watch the group warilly from behind several of the stalagmites as they pass down the largest and most worn path, one big enough for a large pokemon to squeeze by without breaking any of the granite formations.

    Twice, a pokemon irritated by the light and noise approach them from the gloom, one a Sandshrew and the other a Geodude, but both retreat when Grovyle growls and raises a Leaf Blade that hums with barely hidden malice.

    "Where exactly are the Aron supposed to be, Brendan?" Lee asks after nearly half an hour following the boy. He looks around to hopefully see a sign of them, like any shed iron armor, but finds nothing.

    A drop of water falls from the ceiling onto Brendan''s face, making him grunt as he wipes at the spot. "They should be in the deeper parts of the cave, but I went all the way down until the tunnels abruptly ended. No stalagmites with fresh rubbings on them, no bites out of a few iron desposts I found, and no dropped armor. It''s like they vanished!"

    Lee frowns and looks over to Grovyle. "Can you scent the air again? See if maybe you can find anything else? The smell of unrusted iron is what we''re looking for."

    Once again, Grovyle tips his head back and flicks his tongue a handful of times. He smacks his lips and furrows his brows, then once more flicks his tongue. The gecko hums to himself and points to the path they''re still on.

    "Perfect," the man smiles. "You heard him. Lets keep going."

    "This is the way I went before, though," Brendan says, crossing his arms as he does so and making the lantern light dance across the walls. "All I found was a wall where the path stopped abruptly."

    "Did you bother to look at a map, maybe?" Zinnia snarks with a shiver, looking more and more miserable as time passes.

    Brendan scowls. "Yes, and every map said follow this path."

    "C''mon, don''t fight," Lee sighs. "Lets just go and see this wall. Maybe the map isn''t accurate."

    The team of five continue walking.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "And right here is where it dead-ends!"

    Brendan points to a misshapen wall covered in dirt. Just as he said earlier, the tunnel narrows before coming to a sudden stop.

    Zinnia steps forward and wipes some of the dirt away from the wall, scrutinizing the lumpy gray stone beneath it. "I don''t think this is granite, shrimpy. It almost looks like this wall was put here on purpose."

    "That''s what I thought, too," Brendan ignores his nickname in favor of glaring at the wall. "But it''s not uniform at all like a person made it, and who would go to all the trouble of hauling all this down here anyway?"

    Lee leans back on his heels and crosses his arms, scrutinizing the puzzling barrier before them.

    It''s too rough to have been made on purpose by humans, yet the color of the stone doesn''t match the granite of the tunnel around them. A slight breeze blows around him and makes him cross his arms a little tighter for warmth.

    ''Probably not made by human hands, but maybe a pokemon? Roxanne''s Nosepass was able to move obscene amounts of earth with Rock Tomb.''

    Marshtomp seems to have an epiphany and blinks with a happy croak. He steps past a bewildered Brendan, the fin on the top of his head quivering. The mud fish inspects several points on the wall, his fin speeding up with each inspection.

    "What''s he doing?" Zinnia asks, watching the pokemon run his hands over the rough stone.

    Brendan suddenly realizes what his pokemon is doing with a grin. "Mudkips can detect changes in water and air flow with their head fin, and Marshtomps are even better at it! If he''s picking up on something, then air is escaping through here, meaning..."

    Marshtomp draws back, then before anyone can stop him, he gets a running start and launches a Take Down right into the wall.

    With a deafening, tunnel-rattling boom, the entire wall blocking the way is knocked down and blown into the next chamber as little more than oversized gravel. Tremors run through the whole tunnel and shake the ground below the group''s feet.

    Lee yelps and flails, and it''s only Zinnia''s quick, reflexive grabbing of his arm that keeps him from slipping and falling. Grovyle is even quicker, as he rushes across the slick cave floor and catches Brendan mid-fall before the boy can painfully meet the ground. A flurry of screeching Zubat fly out of the opened path just inches above their heads, no doubt roused by the noise.

    After a second, the shaking stops, the dust settles, the Zubat all pass, and the way forward is clear.

    ...

    "Hey, Marshtomp?" Brendan sighs as he pulls himself from Grovyle''s hold with a quiet thanks. "Some warning next time? You coulda bought the whole cave down on us..."

    The mud fish has the decency to look away shamefully.

    Grovyle crosses his arms and glares at Marshtomp. He lets out a rolling hiss and chews on his twig with obvious agitation.

    Whatever Grovyle said must be offensive, as Marshtomp''s head snaps up to glare right back. He bellows in anger, the sound made all the more intimidating by the echo in the cave.

    "Oi!" Lee''s voice shuts both pokemon down before any more jabs can be traded. "Both of you cut it out," he orders as both pokemon look up at him. "There will be no infighting down here when you two are our main fighters. Marshtomp made a mistake and knows it, so there is no need to needle him over it, right?" Lee''s eyes meet Grovyle''s yellow. For several long, unblinking seconds, it looks as if Grovyle won''t back down. Then the gecko pokemon finally breaks the staring contest and looks away, muttering something too low to hear.

    Too low for anyone other than Marshtomp to hear it at least, as the Water-type looks mollified and replies with a much more calm croak.

    "Anything else to add?" Lee asks, turning to Zinnia and Brendan.

    "I think you got everything..." Zinnia snorts. She shakes some fallen dust from her hair.

    Brendan looks between the opened way and Marshtomp. After a few repeats of this action, he seems to start and turns his eyes to Lee. "Uh, well it worked out this time, but Marshtomp and I will need to talk about busting stuff without warning," he says, trying to steel his expression into one of seriousness as he talks, but it looks somewhat comical on his young face.

    Grovyle smirks when Marshtomp visibly cringes at the incoming punishment.

    Off to the side, Zinnia smiles behind a hand and tries to play it off as a cough.

    "Whatever you say," Lee nods. "Now, your Aron."

    They all keep walking, and it''s only after spying his own resting face in a passing puddle does Lee realize Brendan was trying to imitate his expression.

    ''Oh jeez. Don''t grow up that fast, kiddo.''

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    The cleared path leads into an open chamber large enough that the light of Brendan''s lantern can''t reach all the way to the walls. The air inside is somewhat stale and humid, although the cooled breeze coming from behind them is swiftly changing that. Over the sound of the breeze though, is the sound of rock shuffling over rock.

    Grovyle''s head snaps to the side and his pupils dilate, staring at something Lee''s human eyes can''t see in the dark, making his stomach leap into his throat. The Grass pokemon steps forward and takes a stance in front of the humans of the group, with Marshtomp quickly lumbering to his side.

    Out of the dark, a large Graveler steps into the light of the lantern.

    The pokemon resembles a four-foot tall, knobby boulder on a pair of stubby, rocky legs. From its sides four arms jut out, two on each side that end in two thick fingers and a thumb each.

    The pokemon levels them all with a furrow-browed expression and grit teeth. A growl that sounds like rough stones being dragged along each other rattles the bones of the people and pokemon before it.

    ...Then the Graveler falls forward face-first with a crash that kicks up chips of rock before going still.

    "Is... Is it playing dead?" Brendan asks, daring to take a step closer.

    Lee wastes no time in putting a hand on Brendan''s shoulder, stopping the boy from going any closer to the huge rock pokemon. "Dunno, but let''s not get closer. I like my limbs where they are, thanks."

    "Uh, boys?" Zinnia slowly raises a finger to point at Graveler. "I think I found out why this guy passed out on us."

    Lee and Brendan follow her finger to Graveler''s back. Brendan gasps and Lee swears under his breath.

    A gigantic bite-mark that looks as if it came from a demented crocodile runs all the way down Graveler''s cracked and chipped back. Bits of Graveler''s rocky shell are missing, and several white outcroppings stand out in sharp relief to the living boulder''s armor.

    Lee carefully steps closer to the prone Graveler and gently grabs one of the white protrusions from its back. He freezes when Graveler groans, but when the pokemon does not rise, he slowly pulls the white thing free and steps back to inspect it with Brendan and Zinnia crowding around. Brendan raises the lantern to shed light on the object the older trainer pulled from Graveler.

    In Lee''s gloved hand is a tooth as long as one of his fingers.

    ''Oh hell no.''

    "A Mawile tooth?"

    Lee looks to Zinnia, not stopping her when she picks the tooth up to inspect it. "You know what this is?"

    Zinnia nods as she turns the tooth over in her fingers. "Yeah, Mawiles are Fairy-types, the bane of dragons, and a Draconid always knows her enemies well," she says with a smug grin.

    "I thought they were Steel-types?" Brendan asks.

    "Dual typing. Mawile was thought to be just Steel until a few years ago. No one was sure why Mawiles matched up better than they should have against dragons until Fairy-type was discovered." the dragon tamer corrects. "Anyway, this tooth isn''t yellowed at all, and normally it''s old teeth that go first, meaning the Mawile who did this is either young or stressed."

    "Maybe both," Lee frowns, looking at the other teeth in Graveler''s back. "How long was that wall up for? There are a lot of fucky things going on here and I don''t like it. C''mon."

    Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, Grovyle, and Marshtomp step around the wounded Graveler after Lee gives the rock pokemon a once-over to insure it incurred no fatal damage and resume forward at a slow pace. The two pokemon of the team carefully scan around so as to not be taken off guard again.

    "It''s too quiet," Zinnia murmurs after a few minutes of slow walking. She wraps her cloak around her a little tighter with a shiver when a breeze, the only noise in the cavern other than their footsteps, blows past. "There is no pokemon other than that hunk of rock behind us."

    "And that Mawile, wherever it is," Lee amends, looking around at the darkened cavern. He reaches into his pocket and takes out his cellphone. He opens the menu on the device and turns on its flashlight, making the camera flash LED on the back light up.

    The cellphone flashlight reaches much further than Brendan''s lantern, faintly illuminating the walls and rock formations they''ve dodged around for the past several dozen yards. Everywhere the flashlight is pointed to, though, there is no sign of life, making the hairs on Lee''s neck stand up. As he moves the light again, something glinting on the ground catches Grovyle''s attention.

    The lizard pokemon steps away from the group just long enough to grab the object from the floor and return, looking at it closely before offering it to his trainer.

    "Thanks, Grovyle," Lee''s smile fades as looks down at the bit of metal Grovyle presented to him.

    It''s little more than partially rusted scrap of iron the size of his palm. It''s bent and warped slightly with what looks like a stab through it, splitting the metal on one side.

    "Is that Aron armor?" Brendan asks, looking at the scrap in Lee''s hand with open curiosity.

    "I think so," the older trainer replies as he turns it over to look at the hole in it. It''s sized like... "Wait, Zinnia? Do you still have that tooth?"

    Zinnia blinks and digs a hand into the Silph pouch at the small of her back. "Yeah, right here," she presents the tooth to Lee, who puts his phone away to take it. It doesn''t take long for Zinnia to catch on. "Do you think..?"

    Lee slips the tooth into the hole in the iron scrap. The tooth falls to about half the length in, fitting perfectly into the scrap.

    "And the mystery deepens," Lee mutters. "The Aron couldn''t have been overhunted by a group of Mawile, cound they?"

    "A single Mawile," Zinnia jumps in, looking at the evidence in Lee''s hand with a careful, ruby eye. "They''re solitary pokemon, and I don''t think one could decimate an entire population."

    "We should keep looking, then." Brendan says, his eyes roaming the dark cavern. "Cus something is not adding up here."

    Zinnia slips the iron scrap and the tooth offered to her back in her pouch and Lee takes his phone back out, turning the flashlight back on. "Grovyle? Can you pick up any new scents? Maybe a stronger concentration of iron?" Lee asks

    "Oh! And Marshtomp! Do you feel anything big moving through the floor?" Brendan hastily adds an order of his own.

    Grovyle once again leans his head back and samples the air as Marshtomp drops to all-fours and stomps on the ground several times. Both pokemon look to the left a moment later. Marshtomp and Brendan are quick to take point as Lee, Grovyle, and Zinnia trail behind.

    It only takes a minute and a few stumbles to find what the pair of pokemon were alerted to.

    Along the far wall, there is an iron ore deposit that paints the wall a rusty scarlet color, and in the side of the deposit is a small burrow hole, one just barely large enough to let a pokemon under a foot tall walk through or let a slightly larger one crawl through. There are several other holes along the wall that the lantern light reaches, but the granite around the mouth of the one they find is worn smooth right where a pokemon might tread, more so than the others. Off to the side, there is one hole that is worryingly large, large enough for a Lairon.

    Lee hazards a look at the large hole, shining his flashlight in. When no luminescent eyes suddenly open to stare back, he peers in closer with Grovyle bringing up his rear.

    The walls of the burrow are coated in patches of natural rust, and in the back is a chamber spacious enough for several Lairon with room to spare. The granite and iron ore of the floor in the rear chamber is pulverized into a fine sand, probably for comfort. Lee reaches a hand in and feels around, noting that the burrow is cold.

    He crawls back out and turns to Brendan and Zinnia. "It''s cold. Whatever was in here, it hasn''t been here in quite some time."

    "Huh, why vacate a perfectly good nest like this?" Brendan wonders aloud. His eyes fall to the worn burrow entrance. "Maybe..."

    The boy holds his lantern to the hole, and deep inside of it, a blazing red eye snaps open.

    "Uh oh..."

    A thunderous growl ripples through the cavern and glittering teeth become visible in the lantern light within the burrow.

    Marshtomp wraps an arm around Brendan''s waist and leaps backward, pulling the young trainer away just as a massive pair of jaws bristling with teeth dart out of the hole and snap shut with a sound like a bear-trap deploying. The sound rings over and over in the cavern.

    Lee gulps and takes a step back as Grovyle takes a stance with a glowing Leaf Blade ready.

    Slowly, a Mawile crawls from the burrow, its gargantuan, salivating jaws held ready as its red eyes regard the humans and pokemon before it carefully. Video games and anime do no justice to Mawile''s main weapon, as the croc-like mouth is practically bursting with dagger-like teeth rather than a dinky handful with long open gums. There isn''t even enough room for all the teeth, as some of them are crooked or overtaking other teeth. The mouth gnashes, producing a sound like grinding steel and throwing spittle around. The small, humanoid pokemon carefully keeps its back turned to keep its second, much larger mouth aimed at them.

    "So you''re the one who drove out all the Aron?" Brendan asks with a huff as Marshtomp lets him go and takes his place in front of his young trainer.

    The Mawile simply snarls. the action dislodges a tooth that clatters to the floor.

    "Well, I''m not leaving this cave empty-handed again!" Brendan scowls. "Marshtomp, get ready!"

    "Brendan, are you sure about this?" Lee asks, looking between the Mawile and the now grinning Marshtomp. "Remember what I said about team comps and the pokemon who fill the role, both in terms of their personalities and abilities."

    "Oh, I remember," Brendan''s grin matches the one on Marshtomp''s face. He cranks the lantern brightness to max and sets it on the floor, illuminating a field just big enough to fight in "A Mawile works even better than an Aron. Get ready, Mawile!"

    The deceiver pokemon across from them lets loose a shrill roar.

    Lee and Zinnia share a look and back up several steps, Grovyle following without turning his back on the wild Mawile.

    ''I hope you know what you''re doing, Brendan.''

    "Marshtomp! Water Gun!" Brendan opens.

    The mudfish pokemon takes a deep breath, then fires a battering ram of churning water from his throat.

    Mawile''s eyes widen, and it uses its jaws to grip a nearby rock and pull itself out of danger in just the nick of time. The Water Gun narrowly misses, carving into the ground and deflecting into one of the burrows.

    "Again!" Brendan orders. "Don''t let Mawile rest!"

    Mawile''s eyes narrow as Marshtomp''s chest swells again. It snaps its jaws shut, then a pink glow shines through its teeth. The lips of the mouth bulge as if trying to keep something inside. When Marshtomp''s mouth opens, Mawile responds in kind, opening its mouth with a roar and firing a wispy beam of translucent pink.

    Water Gun meets the pink air bullet halfway, throwing water everywhere.

    Marshtomp just lets out a gurgling laugh and ups the power of his Water Gun midstream, turning the firehose torrent into an almost solid pillar of liquid.

    Mawile''s unnamed attack shatters like glass and Water Gun barrels forward like a runaway truck. The dual-type pokemon can only bring its shut jaws to bear as a shield.

    With an earth-rattling boom the Water Gun hits Mawile dead-on, throwing water everywhere and launching a wincing Mawile up into the air. It strikes the wall roughly from how hard it was thrown, but lands on its feet with a snarl and only scuffs to show so far.

    "Is that all you''ve got?!" Brendan taunts. Marshtomp bellows in agreement.

    Both of Mawile''s mouths grit their teeth, making the same screeching steel sound as before. Then with a growl, Mawile rushes Marshtomp with surprising speed.

    "Get ready, Marshtomp!"

    Marshtomp''s grin only gets wider when Mawile whirls around at the last second and throws open it''s slathering jaws, which close around Marshtomp from either side like a spring-loaded trap.

    Marshtomp''s leathery hands shoot out, each one grabbing a single jaw each and stopping Mawile''s Bite dead. The teeth dig into Marshtomp''s skin, drawing droplets of blood. Mawile strains its jaw muscles, making Marshtomp''s arms shake, but the jaws close no further.

    "Marshtomp, let''s show Lee, Zinnia, and Grovyle your new move!" Brendan laughs. "Use Seismic Toss!"

    Mawile''s struggles increase with a desperate growl.

    "Damn, really?" Lee blinks. "Marshtomp must have had a Fighting-type as a parent. Little bastard is way too strong sometimes."

    Grovyle just scoffs.

    Back in the battle, Marshtomp bellows and lifts the flailing Mawile over his head by its jaws, then with a savage whirl of his arms, throws the pokemon at the ground head first like a sledgehammer.

    An explosion of rock and dust is kicked up when Mawile strikes the ground like an abused toy, forcing the onlookers to cover their eyes. After several seconds, the dust clears, showing Mawile buried in the cracked granite floor head-first all the way to its shoulders. Its mouth of dagger-teeth lays limp, its tongue lolling out.

    "Ha! Easy!" Brendan smiles and draws a pokeball. "Here we go!"

    The empty ball flies from his hands and strikes Mawile, popping open and sucking the pokemon inside as a cloud of energy. It snaps shut and falls to the ground, wiggling to and fro, to and fro. Then...

    Pop!

    The ball snaps back open, it''s hinge breaking as it does so, and deposits the limp Mawile back on the ground where it remains unconscious and bleeding from a gash in it''s skull

    Brendan''s smile falls and Marshtomp looks bewildered. "What happened?"

    ''It''s not owned, or the pokeball would not have worked at all. Did Brendan just have a dud?'' Lee wonders.

    Marshtomp frowns and steps a little closer.

    Inside Lee''s head, he flashes back to Vulpix approaching a ''downed'' Bagon. ''Hold up, I''ve seen this before...!''

    "Brendan, it''s playing dead!" Zinnia warns a second before Lee can.

    Mawile''s eyes snap open and its jaws lash out like a snake, biting Marshtomp right around his middle, and drawing a yelp of pain from him. Then with great effort, Mawile raises its captive in its jaws and drives Marshtomp headfirst into the ground much like a bastardized Seismic Toss.

    There is no great crash or explosion as Mawile lacks Marshtomp''s might, but Marshtomp still hits the floor with his skull, making a cringe-inducing thwack. Mawile grunts and tries to lift its foe again, but a retaliatory Water Gun from Marshtomp loosens the jaws around him and throws Mawile away, letting Marshtomp roughly land on the ground.

    Both Lee and Zinnia wince when Marshtomp rises.

    Marshtomp''s body is a mess of stabs and cuts from the teeth that all slowly ooze red. On the top of his head, his fin is bent and his blue head is dyed purple from a migraine-inducing bruise that slowly swells into an ugly goose-egg. Marshtomp rears back and lets out an absolutely livid bellow, his loudest to date.

    "You like to play dirty, huh?" Brendan''s face darkens to match his pokemon''s fury. "Two can play at that game. I didn''t want to bust out the Ground moves to keep it all sportsman-like, but okay. Marshtomp! Mud Bomb!"

    Marshtomp lets out a gurgling laugh as his throat bulges, then he opens his mouth and fires a speeding cannonball of earth at Mawile.

    Mawile tries to dodge by biting a nearby rock formation and pulling itself away, but is just barely too slow. The super-effective Mud Bomb strikes home and explodes into a plume of damp mud, throwing Mawile end over end until it hits the ground face-first. The fairy tries to rise again, but falters and finally goes limp.

    "This time for sure!" Brendan calls, whipping another pokeball at Mawile.

    Like the last one, the ball bounces off of the downed pokemon and snaps open, sucking Mawile inside before clattering to the ground. It wiggles back and forth several times, then...

    Beep!

    The middle button flashes and the ball goes still.

    Brendan grins and walks over to the ball. He picks it up and shrinks it down, putting it on his belt by Shroomish''s pokeball. "Too easy!" He says, pulling out his pokedex and navigating to his ''owned pokemon'' screen if the sounds of his button presses are anything to go by.

    Marshtomp grins and takes unsteady steps to his trainer, stopping and faltering over a divot in the ground.

    "Oh man, you haven''t been this busted up since our last gym battle, buddy," Brendan remarks, putting his pokedex away and unshouldering his bag. He produces an Oran that Marshtomp greedily gobbles down and a Potion that is liberally sprayed over Marshtomp''s worst injuries.

    "Good battle, Brendan," Lee smiles and walks closer, Grovyle silently shadowing him. "Mawile must be tough, to stand up to Marshtomp so well."

    Brendan blushes under the praise as he treats the last of his pokemon''s wounds. "Heh. Yeah. She''ll do fine once the whole ''playing dead'' thing is worked out." He puts his half-empty Potion away and stands again. "You alright to walk, pal?" He asks Marshtomp.

    The mudfish rolls his eyes with a playful croak, striking a strongman flexing pose.

    "Okay, if our little adventure here is done, can we go back up, please?" Zinnia whines. "It''s cold as hell down here!"

    "Isn''t hell usually hot?" Brendan smirks. The smirk is promptly wiped off when Zinnia''s hand darts out and pinches his cheek. "Owowow! Take a joke, woman!" He grumbles and rubs his cheek when he''s released. "This is all I wanted to do down here, unless you have something to do, Lee?"

    "At the moment, no," Lee shakes his head. "I do kind of want to see the ruins, but I might come back down with just my team and I to make it quick. Let''s get going."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "This again?!"

    Brendan groans and brings his lantern closer to ensure his eyes aren''t playing tricks on him, but the lumpy wall remains.

    Someone walled up the doorway leading back to the main Granite Cave tunnels again.

    With all of them inside.

    "Fun..." Zinnia says in a sarcastic drawl. "So there is someone down here doing it and keeping an eye on the door, too. Oh well!" She looks at Brendan. "Mind having your masochist bust down the door?"

    Brendan bites his lip and looks at Lee, silently asking permission.

    "Not much else we can do..." Lee reluctantly approves. "Go for it."

    "You heard ''em, Marshtomp," Brendan tells his pokemon. "Take Down on the wall."

    Marshtomp grunts and runs right at the wall with a white aura around his body, crashing through it and throwing stone everywhere on the other side.

    Several of the stones ping off of metallic legs.

    Lee peers through the opened path and instantly wishes he didn''t approve of the dumb idea to break the wall down.

    Standing in the middle of the tunnel flanked by several snarling Lairon, is a full-grown Aggron.

    The pokemon is huge, easily standing seven feet tall and so wide it almost takes up the entire tunnel. The grey, metallic armor covering its body is pockmarked with rends and scuffs, and its steel claws reflect the light of Brendan''s lantern like razors. Each breath from its nose produces rolling plumes of steam in the cold air and an idle whip of its tail makes the earth shudder under their feet. Its blue eyes regard them coldly.

    ''Oh fuck. Is this guy the one who was sealing the door?''

    It was then that Lee noticed the lack of Aron with Aggron and the several Lairon.

    ''So either they were left behind for safety, or Mawile really did...''

    "U-Uh, Lee?" Brendan gulps. "Do you, you know, wanna do the thing you do? The ''not die from an angry pokemon'' thing you did with Manectric?"

    Lee takes a moment to find his voice. "Heads down, do not make eye contact. Make no noise. All of you."

    Without waiting for a reply, Lee slowly steps forward to the front of his group and stops several arm-lengths away from the procession of Steel-types. "Hello, we apologize for intruding on your territory. It was not proper of us. Are you the one who was sealing the way?" The entire time, Lee keeps his unblinking eyes focused just to the side of Aggron''s head, not daring to meet the icy blue gaze head-on, and never lets his teeth flash past his lips.

    Aggron''s low growl is punctuated by a burst of steam from his nostrils.

    "I see..." Lee licks his lips to try and wet his dry mouth. "It was to keep someone in, or to keep someone vulnerable out, yes?"

    Aggron''s growl is the same as last time.

    The scarred man resists the urge to blink. "You may be pleased to know that the interloper is gone, driven away by us. Your efforts wore her down. Your nests, your rightful property, are yours again," he says, omitting that Mawile now belongs to Brendan.

    The metal behemoth is quiet for a moment, then slowly, he lumbers closer.

    Grovyle is in front of Lee in a flash, his Leaf Blade humming and raised to strike. He stares fearlessly at Aggron, and Lee can practically feel his soul exit his body.

    Aggron pauses to look at Grovyle, then makes a rolling, reverberating growl in his chest that makes steam shoot between the gaps in his metal mouth. It takes Lee a moment to realize that Aggron is laughing. He steps around the frozen Lee and Grovyle, carelessly breaking stalactites and stalagmites as thick around as small children as he makes a path of his own. He steps past Brendan, Zinnia, and Marshtomp, who move out of his way.

    At the entrance of the cavern, Aggron raises his nose and takes several deep sniffs. He makes a deeper growl in his chest and turns an eye to the honor guard of Lairon.

    One turns and runs down the tunnel while the rest shuffle past the group and follow Aggron, who lumbers away into the dark.

    For several minutes they stay there until the sounds of Aggron''s footsteps are gone. "Okay," breathes Lee. "Time to go before they realize their nests are full of water."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Finally!" Brendan stretches his arms in the sunlight. "Time for a break!"

    He and Marshtomp collapse in a heap, and Grovyle sits in the sun a short distance away, taking a deep breath and settling into a meditative stance.

    Outside the cave, the sun has since fallen past the halfway point, and a look at his phone confirms to Lee that it''s two in the afternoon.

    He''s also missed two calls from Birch in the cell deadzone that is the Granite Cave.

    "Great," Lee mutters, opening his phone app.

    "Hold on!"

    Lee looks up from his phone to Zinnia, who stands before him with her hands on her hips with a frown. "What was that you did with that Aggron?"

    "What was what?" Lee asks with his own frown. "I backed down, remained non-aggressive, and vacated his territory ASAP. It''s the an- pokemon equivalent of kissing ass."

    If Zinnia notices his near-slip, she doesn''t show it. "That''s not all you did. A pissed off pokemon isn''t going to care for platitudes and will make an example out of you. I saw it. That Aggron was well and truly mad. What else did you do?"

    "I explained it already," Lee shakes his head. "Why are you so insistent on this?"

    Zinnia''s mouth opens to answer, but she stops halfway. Then quietly, she says; "Aster could do that too."

    "She could do what, too?" Lee asks, slowly becoming frustrated. "I still don''t know what ''that'' is."

    "Talk to pokemon as easily as you."

    That makes Lee stop. "I don''t follow."

    Zinnia sighs. "Aster. She had this way with pokemon, the same way you do. She just understood them and they understood her. She talked a raging Salamence, my Shelgon''s sire in fact, down out of a rage that threatened to burn down our village. No one talks down a Salamence, Lee. She did something different from everyone else, and no one could do it like her, not until I met you. You and Aster are alike."

    Lee blinks from the sudden info drop. "Well, uh..."

    "Who is Aster?"

    Both Lee and Zinnia turn, finding Brendan standing by them with big, curious eyes.

    "She was the strongest trainer in my tribe and a dear friend of mine before she passed away." Zinnia closes her eyes and schools her face into a mask of neutrality. "She left the duty of Lorekeeper to me, the duty of being the strongest Draconid so that the Draconids could live through the strongest, most likely to survive member if calamity strikes."

    ''I didn''t expect her to share that with Brendan.''

    Brendan winces. "Oh, uh, sorry if I brought up any unpleasant memories."

    The tanned woman smiles, but her ruby eyes are still dull. "Ha, don''t worry about it. I''ve mourned and moved on. She would hate it if I was mopey over her anyway." She then looks at Lee. "Well if you''re clueless about everything, I guess I need to keep following you till I figure it out. Go on, I won''t keep you from calling your boss any longer."

    "Gee, thanks," Lee rolls his eyes with a small smile and dials Birch, watching as Zinnia goes and sprawls out in the sunlight with a sound of delight.

    The phone rings once, twice, then: "Professor Birch speaking."

    "Hey professor, it''s Lee. Sorry for not answering, I was down in the Granite Cave with no signal." Lee explains.

    "Lee! Just the guy I wanted to talk to!" Birch sounds happy. "So, I got done reviewing your latest logs and I want to start off with how pleased I am with your progress. You''re making ripples that will one day become huge waves, and your win at Dewford''s little local tourney was excellent! Convergence is the talk of a lot of academic circles and forums alike. Take a look at the BattleNet forums sometime, it might be good for a laugh or some inspiration. In particular, Convergence and your Ember stunt with Murkrow shut up a few skeptics of your findings."

    "Thanks professor," Lee grins.

    "Anyway, I wanted to go over a few things and run a potential study by you and see how you feel about taking it on."

    "I''m all ears, lay it on me," The displaced trainer says, slowly pacing under the shade of a tree by the Granite Cave path.

    There is the sound of papers being shuffled over the phone. "So your list of wanted pokemon. Can you explain the reasoning behind them?"

    "Sure," Lee aggressed, mentally recounting his list as he stares at a Taillow preening itself in a tree. "Vaporeon, I want to research its shapeshifting abilities and I need a Water-type for my team, and Eevee is to get the aforementioned Vaporeon. I wanted a Snorlax, but their upkeep is just too much at this point in my career."

    "Wise choice. Trainers have bankrupted themselves feeding their Snorlax before."

    "Yep," Lee lets out a short laugh. "Flygon, I want a dragon, but am not super confident in taking on a full dragon dragon yet. Audino and Chansey to help keep everyone in one piece. Seviper and Zangoose are whim picks. Persian and Luxray..." Lee pauses. "They''re familiar, and I feel like I could raise one well."

    "Ah, like your... what were they called? Lions?"

    "Yes," Lee answers shortly. He pushes away the stinging melancholy and clears his throat. "Kangaskhan, I want for research into pokemon breeding and young rearing, but that can wait much like Snorlax. Mienshao..." Lee rubs the back of his head, feeling silly. "I want a Fighting-type, but a mammal that isn''t humanoid. Call it a dumb hang-up..."

    "No no, I understand," Birch reassures. "Funny circumstances and all."

    "Funny circumstances and all," Lee agrees with a sardonic smile. "Latias and Latios are me shooting for the stars. I don''t ever expect to find one, but it would be nice."

    "I heard that there are regular sightings of Latias and Latios in the island city of Alto Mare off of Johto. If you''re serious, that might be a good place to investigate."

    ''Alto Mare is real? I thought the pokemon movies weren''t canon at all...'' Lee feels his mouth drop open. "Uh, sure. I''ll look into it. Where was I?"

    "Braixen and Lucario."

    "Right, Braixen was a joke. I can''t double-dip when I''ve already got a fiery fox," Lee laughs to himself. "And Lucario was my first pick over Mienshao, but considering Lucarios are all natural empaths..."

    "One under your care would be stressed out all the time," Birch finishes knowingly. "Well, sorry to hear that. Mienshao is still a good pick. Oh! And what is this last one that''s scratched out?"

    "Last one?"

    "Yes. The only letters I can make out are W and O at the end."

    Lee is silent for a second to berate his past self for not tearing that out of his notebook. Shit. What is a good answer that Vulpix could come up with? "Uh, I misspelled Glameow and then decided I didn''t want one."

    "Huh, okay. Thank you, that sheds some light on all this. If your list ever changes, shoot me an updated one, please."

    Lee breathes a silent sigh of relief.

    "Anyway, onto the study I was talking about. Lee, you should know that the level of telepathy between you and Vulpix is unprecedented. If you can get some official studies done and figure out how to replicate your feat with other pokemon," Birch''s voice hardens into a serious tone. "You could redefine the field of pokemon-human relations."

    "What?" Lee asks with a furrowed brow. The Taillow he''s watching flies away. "I''m not following you."

    "Sharing senses with telepathy is impossible."

    The scarred trainer takes a second to digest the fact. "But-"

    "You and Vulpix do it all the time, yes. It was impossible until you and Vulpix came along. Think of the brains of humans and pokemon as two different computers, one transistor-based and one vacuum-based. Both can do the same basic tasks and resemble each other to a degree, but getting them to communicate without special hardware, in this case, mouths that can speak, can''t be done. Sometimes a telepathic pokemon capable of basic things, like relaying raw emotions or images comes long, they aren''t too rare. Then there are the really rare ones, ones able to convert their thoughts into understandable language. The talents of these pokemon are coveted, but Vulpix is on a level that only Legends are thought to be capable of. Lee..."

    Lee gulps at how severe Birch''s tone becomes. He can hear the capital L in Legend.

    "You can tell no one of Vulpix''s talent. You haven''t, have you?"

    "No, not a soul."

    "Good. Her pyrokinesis is one thing, but sense sharing? If word got out, rich, powerful people would put their whole life-savings on the table to either buy her or pay a thief to steal her. They might even hurt you to get to her. Her talents are unique. This study of ours will be one to determine how she can do all these things with resources I trust without question... If you''re okay with doing it."

    With a tired sigh, Lee leans back into the tree he''s paced past at least twenty times. "I''ll need to talk to her first."

    "Perfectly fine. Take all the time you want. If you accept, I''ll begin making arrangements. Now, onto lighter topics," Birch loses his severe tone in favor of his usual joval one. "Is there anything you need from me?"

    Lee thinks for a second. "Know any breeders who would give a discount to a Lab Trainer? Or any study grants the League might offer? I''m not paying forty grand for one pokemon."

 Act 1: Chapter 17

    <hr>

    Lee squints at the glare of the morning sun in the glass door of the Dewford Gym as he pushes the doors open, making sure to hold it open long enough that a still groggy Zinnia and almost-bouncing Brendan can follow behind him.

    Strangely, the anticipation isn''t nearly as bad as his first gym battle. Maybe it hasn''t fully sunk in that his second Gym challenge is upon him, or maybe Birch''s words from the day prior, about Vulpix''s telepathy, is still bugging him too much for anything else to get a foothold.

    ''Rich, powerful people would put their whole life-savings on the table to either buy her or pay a thief to steal her. They might even hurt you to get to her.''

    On his shoulder, Vulpix shoos the anxiety away simply by wrapping a little tighter around his neck. ''*e c*n ***** ****t s**h ***n** l****,'' she telepaths to him. Though much is lost in translation, her intention to soothe him is obvious.

    Lee sighs and focuses on the here-and-now.

    The Dewford Gym lobby is deserted, as to be expected since Lee took the 7am slot. The Gym is smaller and less extravagant than the Rustboro Gym, and the old but well cared for lobby reflects it. There are several seats off to the side with a few potted plants breaking the lines of chairs up. By the front desk, there is a trophy case filled with glittering gold cups and medals. On the other side of the desk, a table with an old coffee machine sits. Behind the front desk is a door labeled "Staff/Challengers only", offsetting the larger double-doors by the trophy-case saying "Arena Seating".

    Zinnia breaks off from the group with a grumble, beelining for the coffee machine as Lee and Brendan walk to the front desk.

    "Nervous?" Brendan asks Lee. "Brawly took over for his dad just a few years ago, but he''s already considered to be really strong."

    "Honestly? Not really..." Lee answers back as they wait before the desk. He leans back on the desk, being careful not to knock a large logbook off the side as he turns to face Brendan. "Whatever happens, happens. I''ve got confidence in my team."

    Brendan gives the older trainer a sidelong look. "You sure? What''s actually on your mind?"

    The expected reply makes Lee falter some. "Er, nothing, really." At Brendan''s raised brow, Lee sighs and relents. "Just an assignment your father gave me. The info is sensitive and I''m just trying to figure out how to best go about it."

    The half-truth seems to satisfy the boy, who nods with a smile. "I getcha. If dad is okay with other people knowing, let me know and I''d be glad to help."

    "You''re a good kid, Brendan," Lee smiles, making the boy grin. "Now, where is the receptionist?"

    Lee turns and looks at the front desk, not finding a bell or anything to call someone. He glances down to the logbook that his elbow almost knocked off, and finding his curiosity getting the better of him, he opens it.

    Inside is a neat day planner filled with names, trainer IDs, and times. After a quick glance, it seems like Brawly takes six or seven challenges a day if he''s in. One repeating name jumps out at him.

    Andre.

    Brendan looks at the book as well. "Andre? Isn''t he the dick who you and Zinnia beat?"

    "Yeah," Lee confirms, flipping through a few more pages.

    It doesn''t take long to find a pattern. Andre is the last match every other day going back for weeks. Turning a few pages forward, he finds the young Dark-type specialist has slots saved weeks in advance.

    "The hell?" Lee mutters to himself, feeling Vulpix''s bewilderment as well as she peers over his shoulder.

    "Ahem..."

    Lee, Vulpix, and Brendan freeze, looking away from the logbook as one.

    Behind the front desk stands an older woman, probably in her fifties. Her light blue hair is tied back in a ponytail and her eyes, framed by slight wrinkles and a set of bifocals, stare at Lee and Brendan disapprovingly. "Perhaps you could not snoop through our schedule? I would be glad to disclose any relevant details if asked."

    Brendan laughs nervously and shuts the book on Lee''s behalf. "Ah... Sorry about that..."

    The woman still clicks her tongue in disappointment. "See that it doesn''t happen again. Now, can I help you two?"

    "Yes, I''m Lee Henson and this is Brendan Birch," Lee tries to smile past his embarrassment. "We''re scheduled to see Brawly for gym matches this morning?"

    The woman makes a show of sharply lifting up the schedule book and slowly thumbing to the latest page. After silently scanning the page, she nods. "You''ll be first, Mister Henson, followed by Mister Birch. Take a seat and you''ll be called when Brawly is ready."

    "Sure thing, ma''am! Thank you!" Lee smiles and quickly leads Brendan away with a hand on his shoulder. The pair take a seat in the corner waiting area as the woman vanishes behind the staff door.

    "Jeez, that lady was something..." Brendan murmurs. "Why do you think that Andre guy is on the list so many times?"

    "What about the brat?"

    Lee, Brendan, and Vulpix look up when Zinnia takes a seat to the right of Brendan, a steaming cup held in her hand. Already, the dragon tamer looks to have much more life to her. She takes another sip from the cup in her hand as she waits for an answer.

    "He''s booked fights with Brawly for weeks in advance," Lee explains, leaning back in his chair. "Is he really getting beat every time?"

    Zinnia shrugs and crushes the empty paper cup in her hand before tossing it in a trash can a few paces away. "Dark-type versus Fighting-type, so probably. Brawly probably knows the little shitheel''s Detect gimmick and can counter it."

    ''Now how does one effectively counter Detect, I wonder. Overwhelming speed? Run the clock like we did? Or is there a trick to beating it without wasting so much energy?'' Lee internally muses with only Vulpix privy to his thoughts. "Probably," he agrees with Zinnia aloud.

    The conversation peeters out into silence, neither Brendan nor Zinnia making an effort to continue. Brendan sits with his two pokeballs in his lap as he pulls out his pokedex. He rapidly flips to the section on common Hoenn Fighting-types as he bounces his knee nervously.

    Zinnia, meanwhile, seems content to withdraw her phone from her hip pouch and idly scroll through the news.

    With nothing else to do and not wanting to think of the upcoming match, lest he make himself anxious, Lee thinks back to yesterday after the Granite Cave adventure.

    <hr>

    Again, Lee is struck by just how normal the squid and octopi in the tanks before him are. One octopus runs a tentacle over the glass, letting Lee see the little suction pads work in sync. He looks away from the glass to the myriad of other tanks in the clean, if dimly lit marina warehouse, finding all manner of unsettlingly familiar sealife. At his feet, Vulpix sits quietly. Lee can feel her displeasure as the fishy smell of the warehouse makes her nose tingle unpleasantly.

    Lee''s call to Dewford Seafood Outlet the night prior was met with zero resistance from the enthusiastic owner, who accepted Lee''s flimsy excuse of wanting to study mundane animals without a second thought. "Our establishment would love to host a trainer and Pokemon researcher of your esteem!" The man enthusiastically agreed, and Lee vaguely recalled his voice among the many he spoke to during the beach tournament. The man even had his employees go out and gather examples from the actual open-air farms that dominate a little corner of Dewford and bring the animals here in display tanks. With Lee, a boy in water waders marked ''DSO'' stands several feet behind him, ready to answer any questions the trainer might have.

    No doubt this is all a stunt to curry favor with Lee, and thus the much more influential Hoenn Pokemon Lab, but the scarred trainer is grateful nonetheless.

    Lee looks down at his notebook, where notes on the animals before him and several crude sketches dominate the page. He slowly walks by the tanks with Vulpix following close, not paying his teenaged farmhand watcher any mind. He passes by a tank containing common bay clams, then a tank containing what looks like several dungeness crabs that scuttle about. Then a thought hits him.

    "Say, ah-" Lee turns and looks at the nametag on the teen boy''s waders "-Jordan, do you know what species these crabs are?"

    The boy jumps, apparently not expected to be addressed. "Oh, uh, these guys? They''re just Dewford crabs I think. Some other places have different names for em, though."

    Lee frowns at yet another unexplainable similarity. "And the octopi?"

    The boy shrugs. "Uh... Dewford octopus?" His answer sounds more like a question.

    "Don''t feel bad if you can''t answer this one, but do you ever see any of these guys in the wild?" Lee gestures to the whole setup of display tanks.

    "Well, sometimes," Jordan rubs the back of his head with a hand. "Not often, though. Pokemon gobble up animals pretty fast."

    ''If that''s the case, then how did any animals live long enough to be domesticated? No books or websites seem to know.'' Lee feels a headache coming on and sighs. "Right, I should have guessed that. Is it okay with you if I run a quick experiment? It''ll involve one of your bay clams being eaten."

    "Sure, go ahead. Boss gave you free rein. If you''re hungry, though, I can ask a supervisor if I can take you to the marina restaurant."

    "Not for me, but thanks for the thought," Lee smiles. He removes one of his gloves and rolls his sleeve up, then reaches a hand into the tank of clams and withdraws one on the smaller side. Then he tosses the little mollusk into the octopus tank.

    One of the little invertebrates immediately comes to investigate the clam, it''s little tentacles curiously wrapping around the invader. The octopus seems to realize what it has and shuffles the clam to its mouth. With one venomous bite from the octopus'' beak, the clam opens to its doom and is promptly eaten.

    "All very standard feeding behavior..." Lee murmurs. "It''s almost like nothing changed, it''s too perfect..."

    <hr>

    Lee is drawn from his thoughts when he notices the throngs of people entering the gym heading for the Arena Seating door. Unlike Rustboro, there doesn''t seem to be anyone checking tickets.

    "Hey hey, guys!"

    Beside Lee, Brendan looks up away from his pokedex, then his eyes light up. "Dad!"

    Lee looks up as well, finding a smiling Professor Birch standing before them.

    "When did you get here, dad?" Brendan can''t help but grin like a loon and pocket his Dex and pokeballs before standing to greet his father. "And why?"

    "Medicham teleported us this morning," Birch laughs. "Tuckered him out coming all this way, so he''s resting right now. I was originally going to come out here to study bird pokemon inhabiting the seaside cliffs, but I figured I would come early to see my son and the lab''s cashcow battle in the gym!"

    "Oh, cashcow, am I?" Lee snorts and stands. "Gee, professor, glad to know you regard me so highly," he says, sarcasm woven into every word.

    "Don''t be like that, Lee," Birch mockingly chides. "Your and Miss Zinnia''s big win at Dewford''s tournament got us a full five percent increase in funding and a flood of independent donations. Keep up the good work, really." The scraggly professor then turns to the still sitting Zinnia with a pleasant smile. "And you must be Zinnia! Thank you for keeping an eye on the boys here."

    The tanned woman openly laughs and stands, reaching out to take Birch''s hand in a handshake. "It''s a fulltime job, really. If your lab has any professional babysitter positions open..." she trails off coyly.

    Birch shakes his head. "Afraid not, but it''s not often I meet a Dragon type specialist. If any studies that need dragons with a paycheck come up, I''ll have Brendan or Lee pass it along. Now!" He looks back to Lee, Vulpix, and Brendan. "It''s been awhile since I''ve seen a good gym match, so you two give it your all, okay?"

    "You know it!" Brendan exclaims while Lee just nods.

    ''Boss is watching. No pressure...''

    "Oh, and before I forget!" Birch suddenly jumps, looking over to Lee. "Did you think over the offer of that study I proposed?"

    Lee looks over to the fox on his shoulder, and she hesitates before shrugging her little shoulders. "We''re... Still debating it, professor."

    "Mister Henson!"

    The older woman from before pokes her head out from behind the staff door. "Please come back here so we can get you ready. Your match will begin shortly."

    "That''s my cue," Lee begins, shaking away the excitement that makes his limbs tremble. "Wish us luck."

    "Break a leg!" Zinnia laughs.

    "You got this!" Brendan cheers.

    Birch just smiles.

    With Vulpix astride his shoulder, Lee follows the blue-haired woman behind the staff door to a barren waiting room with little more than a single chair and a small table holding a few water bottles, a box of nausea medicine, and a little box that is a mess of black wires. Just ahead of them is a large door labeled ''Arena''.

    "Need anything to settle your stomach?" The still unnamed woman asks, peering at Lee over her glasses as she taps the little box of generic nausea pills with a finger.

    Lee shakes his head. "I''m fine, thanks."

    She nods. "Very well. One second here..." She turns to the box of wires on the desk and withdraws a little microphone unit, the same sort Lee used when giving lectures to zoo guests. Without bothering to ask, she clips the unit to one of his front pockets and clips the actual microphone to the collar of his shirt. "The range on that little contraption is narrow, so it''ll only work in the marked trainer box in the arena. Keep that in mind."

    "I will," Lee confirms. After a second of hesitation, Lee keeps speaking. "Ma''am? I know it''s not my place to pry, so feel free to not answer, but what was with Andre having so many reserved matches?"

    The woman pauses and looks at Lee with narrow eyes. "Why do you wish to know?"

    "Well...?" The scarred man struggles to formulate an answer and rubs the back of his head. "Andre was our final opponent in the Brawl on the Beach, and his pokemon were top notch, but he seemed to have some sort of preconceived notions about me before we even battled, something about me being a failed trainer who ran away to Hoenn. That, combined with his obviously sour relationship with Brawly just... has me curious is all."

    The woman sighs with disappointment and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Oh, Andre. Must you lash out at everyone who even looks similar to him? The world isn''t out to get you." Her murmurs are too quiet for Lee to hear, but Vulpix telepathically feeds him what her ears pick up. Before Lee can puzzle out who ''he'' might be, the woman looks up tiredly and pushes her glasses further up her nose. "Let me apologize for anything he might have said. Andre is rough, but he''s a good boy at heart."

    Lee nods along. "The condition of his pokemon speaks a lot about him."

    "Indeed. Where are my manners? My name is Wilma, Brawly''s mother, and manager of this gym," the now-named Wilma introduces herself with a slight incline of her head.

    "Lee Henson and this is Vulpix, but I suppose you already knew that," Lee returns her courtesy.

    Wilma inclines her head once more. "It''s not my place to say much. Andre lives here in Dewford with us at the behest of his mother. He insists that he has something to prove in defeating Brawly''s full-powered team, hence his spots on the schedule, but considering his fondness of Dark-types..."

    "...It''s an uphill battle," Lee finishes with a frown. The answers only muddle things more. "I see. Thank you. I won''t pry anymore."

    "Welcome to the Dewford Gym! Today we''ve got an exciting lineup of trainers set to face your Gym Leader, Brawly!" A booming voice can be heard over the gym sound system, rattling the room.

    There is muffled cheering behind the door leading to the arena.

    "Looks like it''s beginning," Wilma mutters. "Alright, young man," she addresses Lee. "When your name is called, head on out and stand in the box on your side of the field. The rest is self-explanatory. Ready?"

    The zoologist takes a deep breath. "As ready as I''ll ever be."

    "Good. Brawly will not be pulling his punches, so beware," the blue-headed woman warns before she pats his shoulder and leaves back to the front room.

    "Our first challenger this morning is a doozy! Coming from Little Root town, we have Lee Henson!"

    "Here goes nothing..." Lee sighs and walks out to be greeted by a wave of cheers.

    The arena is almost a clone of the Rustboro Gym, only the ground is just hard-packed dirt with no rocks scattered around. The bleachers lining the arena are filled to the brim. Some of the more excited fans hold up signs. A few are for him and his team, and an amusingly large number for Brawly are held up by teen girls. Near the center of the right side, Brendan, The Professor, and Zinnia all sit and applaud Lee''s and Vulpix''s entrance.

    Lee waves up to the crowd, and after a mental nudge to Vulpix, she raises a paw as well, easily doubling the roar of the crowd. ''Huh. This is much easier than the first few times.''

    ''J*** h**e ***fi**n** ** y*****lf'' Vulpix snuffles in wane amusement.

    "Not only is he this year''s Brawl on the Beach winner, but Lee is also a special researcher and Hoenn Lab Trainer under the esteemed Professor Birch! With Rustboro Gym''s Stone badge already in hand, Lee is really going to give Brawly a run for his money!" The commentator''s booming voice hypes the crowd up even more.

    Off to the sides, a TV camera crew takes their place as a gym aide, and a pair of Drowzee, no doubt there to power the barrier, set up a few paces away. One member of the TV crew even releases a Magnemite from a pokeball, who levitates over the arena with a smaller camera hovering at its side.

    Across the way, Brawly grins eagerly at Lee, and Lee can''t help but grin back, excitement overwhelming everything else.

    Finally, a referee in a black-and-white striped shirt makes his way to the field and clears his throat into his microphone, causing the chatter to die down. "This match will be a two-on-two standard battle between challenger Lee Henson and Gym Leader Brawly. Matches will commence until one team has lost two members. Only the challenger may substitute, and may only do so once. Trainers!" The ref looks between Lee and Brawly. "Please select your first pokemon!"

    ''No brainer on this one,'' Lee thinks, taking Corvisquire''s ball and expanding it. "Corvi, you''re up!"

    At the same time, Brawly takes a ball from his belt and throws it just as Lee does his. "Machoke! I need your help!"

    Corvisquire bursts from his ball in a shower of white light, a chilling screech already echoing from his beak. The bird''s red eyes gleam with malice as he hovers on their side of the field, eager to tear into a worthy opponent.

    Brawly''s Machoke appears in a flash of light just like Corvisquire. The Superpower pokemon stands six feet tall and is built like a brickhouse. Bulging muscle ripples under his thick, grey hide, and his five-fingered hands are already clenched into cannonball-like fists. The pokemon takes one look at Corvisquire and sighs in distaste.

    "It''s wicked speed and mobility versus classic Dewford muscle! Corvisquire dominated his fights in the Brawl, but Machoke is an old hand on Brawly''s personal team with a punch that can derail a train! This''ll be a nailbiter!"

    "Are both trainers ready!?" The referee picks up where the commentator left off.

    "Ready!" Brawly calls, his voice echoing through the sound system.

    ''I really hope that ''derail trains with a punch'' line was hyperbole...'' Lee takes a deep breath. "Ready!"

    The Drowzee off to the side raise their hands and wiggle their fingers, raising a transparent barrier and locking the pokemon in the arena.

    "Begin!"

    "Corvi! Get up high and use Hone Claws!" Lee orders quickly.

    Brawly and Machoke make no move to stop Corvisquire, who quickly rises to the ceiling. When Brawly smirks, Lee instantly hears alarm bells ringing in his head.

    As Corvisquire raises his talons to grind them together, Brawly speaks. "Machoke! Rock Tomb!"

    ''Oh fuck off with that.''

    Machoke drives his fingers into the ground, and with an effortless flex of his arm, pulls up a boulder larger than himself. He reels back his arm and throws the enormous rock with the same ease a human might a baseball while Corvisquire is mid-buff. A faint red glow overtakes the boulder, which cracks and splits into five smaller stones that rush the crow pokemon with menacing whistles.

    "Abort and duck!" Lee orders frantically.

    Corvisquire heeds his words with only a second to spare, sharply diving and twisting to fly between two of the stones he can''t dive fast enough to avoid.

    The Rock Tomb crashes against the barrier with a thunderous bang!

    ''Not going to let us buff, huh? Then we''ll just have to debuff you instead.''

    "Scary Face!" Lee calls out to his pokemon.

    Corvisquire is in motion before Brawly or Machoke can react. His already irritated visage takes on a nightmarish twist, his eyes practically shining red. He opens his beak and lets out a shrill, bloodthirsty cry that makes Lee''s spine stiffen. The sheer potency of Corvisquire''s Scary Face almost makes a weight settle over the arena. From the corner of his eye, Lee spies several of the audience members rock back in fright.

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    Machoke stiffens and grits his teeth, sweat breaking out on his brow despite his best efforts to maintain his composure.

    "Now, Hone Claws!"

    "Machoke! Stop him with Rock Tomb!" Brawly is quick to bounce back.

    Corvisquire rises once again and grinds his talons together, dropping glittering, metallic sparks below him.

    Machoke gasps and suddenly realizes he was given an order. Arm still shaking, he plunges his fingers into the ground and lifts another boulder up before hastily tossing it, but by the time the rock is in the air, Corvisquire finishes sharpening all his natural weaponry and rolls out of the way of Rock Tomb.

    "Corvi, move in with Extremespeed! Then Pluck!"

    Lee can see Brawly curse under his breath. "Machoke! Be ready with Thunder Punch!

    High above, the raven cackles and vanishes in a blinding burst of speed with the crack of displaced air being the only hint something was once there.

    Machoke''s right fist only just begins to crackle with electricity over before a razor-sharp beak is driven into his back. The Fighting-type pokemon roars in pain and whirls around like a top, his fist lashing out in a backhand.

    Corvisquire can''t avoid the partially electrified fist in time and takes the blow to his sternum like a cannonball. The raven''s eyes bulge as he''s thrown all the way into the left barrier wall with a dull thud!, drawing a wince from the onlookers. Corvisquire wheezes and forces his way back to his feet, his face drawn back into a scowl.

    "Corvi! You alright?!" Lee asks. When the bird looks at him with an expression that clearly says What do you think?, the man feels a little foolish.

    "Man, I knew that Corvisquire was fast, but that''s something else..." Brawly says aloud. "Machoke, square up!"

    The Fighting-type stands and brings his fists up in a ready stance, now seemingly ignoring the wound in his back.

    ''Fast huh? Brawly battles that monster Absol all the time though. Does Corvisquire edge him out?'' Lee''s mind quickly churns. ''Brawly probably didn''t start with his ace, no, I''m sure Machoke is not his ace. An ace that has probably clashed with Absol over and over... That in mind...''

    "Ref! I''m substituting Corvisquire!" Lee calls to the ref, who just nods and presses a little button on his mic, causing an airhorn to blare out over the speakers

    "It looks like Lee is using his substitution!" The commentator calls. "Why sub now? And who will he send in?"

    Across the arena, Brawly raises an eyebrow and Machoke lowers his fists just the slightest amount.

    ''Grovyle still needs to get used to his new body, so you''re up, girl,'' Lee sends to Vulpix, who mentally reviews his plan with a nod and slides down from his shoulders. He draws Corvisquire''s ball and recalls the raven in a flash of red light. The entire time, Corvisquire wears a betrayed, furious expression.

    Lee holds the shaking ball close to his mouth. "No need to be so upset, I''m saving you for the tougher battle. You''ll get your time to shine," he whispers quietly.

    The displeased shaking calms.

    "It looks like Lee is sending in Vulpix! How will this little fox compare to Machoke?"

    Vulpix calmly walks her way into the arena through a little hole in the barrier that closes behind her, sealing her inside.

    "Match restarting in three, two, one..!" The ref sounds the horn again.

    "Vulpix, Baby-Doll Eyes!" Lee rapidly orders. ''Then charge Confuse Ray.''

    "Machoke, look away!" Brawly reacts near instantly.

    Machoke tries to look away as Vulpix''s eyes shine an eerie pink, but the move is just too fast and seeing a split second is enough to force Machoke''s muscles to slacken. He groans and his shaking becomes visible.

    "Bulk Up!" is Brawly''s follow up. "Then Karate Chop! No more playing defense!"

    Machoke takes a deep breath and flexes every muscle in his body at once, and he''s back to looking like Baby-Doll Eyes never hit him. Then he drops down into a runner''s stance and charges Vulpix like an Olympic sprinter, eating the distance between them in a scant second.

    ''Confuse Ray!''

    Vulpix smirks a vulpine smirk as her eyes glow yet again.

    Machoke can barely even react before he trips in his sudden confusion. He falls face-first to the dirt and his momentum drags him painfully across the ground, digging up a shallow trench behind him. The crowd lets out a collective wince.

    "What happened?! Why did Machoke suddenly lose his footing?!"

    Brawly face morphs into open surprise.

    Did Roxanne not tell him about their telepathy? Oh well, now is not the time to be dwelling on that.

    "Vulpix, Will-O-Wisp!"

    The vixen plants her feet and opens her mouth, a white-hot orb forming between her jaws. She rears her head back and throws the ball forward with a dramatic flourish.

    "Machoke! Listen to my voice! Dodge it!" Brawly orders

    Machoke, even in his confused haze realizes the danger and tries to stand. His powerful legs let him leap well over twenty feet to the side, where he lands in a boneless heap with a grunt.

    It''s for naught, however, as the slow Will-O-Wisp makes a perfect ninety-degree turn to follow.

    With a growl, Machoke rolls to his back at Brawly''s order. Then; "Machoke! Intercept Will-O-Wisp with Ice Punch!"

    Machoke''s right fist frosts over with a layer of blue ice, and with either luck or sheer, confusion-overpowering willpower, his fist rockets forward and smashes into Will-O-Wisp with a loud hiss of steam, throwing up a cloud of vapor that obscures him.

    Brawly clicks his tongue and sighs.

    "Don''t let him have any time to breathe! Ember!" Lee follows up.

    A barrage of fireballs fly from Vulpix''s mouth and spread themselves out into a wide net to cover the entire steam cloud. They fly through the steam with minute hissing sounds, dispersing the mist after just a second, revealing no Machoke there, only a hole in the ground.

    ''What?''

    Neither Lee nor Vulpix can react in time when a huge fist bursts from the ground right below Vulpix, socking her right in the chin so hard that she is sent flying straight up in the air with a yelp.

    The crowd roars at the titanic hit.

    Lee bites back a cry when his own jaw and teeth suddenly flare with Vulpix''s pain, and several of his teeth feel as if they''re broken. The tang of non-existent blood coats his tongue. With great reluctance, he closes his side of their telepathic bond just enough to reduce the pain to a minor ache. "V-Vulpix! Reposition with Quick Attack!" Lee grounds out, sending her a mental landing point.

    The fox twists midair and pushes away the stars in her vision to zig-zag down to Brawly''s side of the field where she lands and tries to shake off the super-effective hit. Lee re-widens their connection and winces when he ghosts over her senses. She was hit so hard that she''s seeing double, her ears are ringing, and at least one of her teeth is broken. The rapid swelling in her jaw only makes the tooth pain worse.

    ''You alright to keep going, love?''

    She huffs.

    Machoke pulls himself out of the ground and stands tall, his eyes now clear. His right hand is raw and burnt, his torso is a mess of less severe steam burns, and the stab in his back still bleeds, but the pokemon is unbowed. He even flexes his injured arm to the crowd, drawing cheers.

    "What a turn! Machoke proves his power with a huge hit using Dig! Poor Vulpix nearly had her lights knocked out!"

    Brawly smirks. "You two aren''t the only sneaky ones!" He yells across the battlefield to Lee.

    He knows, and has nonverbal signals of his own.

    Shit.

    "Fine then, no stops." Lee grunts. ''Vulpix, get ready,'' he sends, falling into her psychic embrace with ease. Lee feels his own body become slightly numb as he pours his being into her. ''Ember!''

    Vulpix rears her head back with a quiet breath, and even behind the barrier, Lee can feel the temperature of the arena spike by several degrees. Then she throws her head forward and unleashes a veritable storm of fireballs, easily thrice the volume of before with twice the speed. The sound is akin to an automatic rifle burning through its entire magazine, fitting considering the Embers are little more than bullet-like streaks.

    Machoke and Brawly''s eyes widen as one, and Machoke is already in motion when Brawly''s mouth opens to yell; "Detect! Then close in and cut her off with Revenge!"

    Vulpix''s large foe leaps to the side, left hand already crackling with red energy, but he''s forced back further when the Embers swerve mid-flight to scream right at him. He ducks under one stream only to dance backward as another blasts at his feet. His charged Revenge is used to swat away several fireballs that he isn''t fast enough to avoid. Then his back hits the corner of the barrier.

    ''Gotcha.''

    Vulpix and Lee, working in sync, pyrokinetically spread the Embers out in a net spaced perfectly to catch Machoke. As one, all the fireballs descend like demented wasps.

    With nowhere to dodge and out of time to use a move, Machoke can only squeeze his eyes shut and raise his arms in defense.

    One Ember explodes against his arms and Machoke grits his teeth.

    Two, three, four, five, six, and the Fighting-type groans.

    Seven, eight, nine, ten, twenty, thirty, and he can''t help but cry out as smoke overtakes his form.

    Forty, fifty, seventy, and finally the last one strikes and detonates.

    "Machoke!" Brawly cries out, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

    The crowd waits with bated breath as the smoke slowly clears, and when it does, it shows them all Machoke, slumped against the wall with his eyes closed and body covered in burns.

    "Hey, Machoke, buddy! Can you get up!?" Brawly calls, his fists clenched tightly.

    Other than the harsh rise and fall of his chest, Machoke does not move.

    Three, two, one...

    The airhorn overhead sounds and the referee waves his arms. "It''s over! Machoke is unable to battle! Vulpix is the winner of round one!"

    Lee sighs and drifts away from Vulpix''s psyche back to his own as she trots back to their side of the field. His limbs feel the slightest bit unsteady for a moment until he reorients himself. A smile is worn on his face the entire time, however.

    The audience erupts into applause and cheering, though Lee can spy a few of the teenaged die-hard Brawly fans adding boos into the noise.

    Across the way, the Gym Leader pulls a pokeball from his belt and recalls Machoke in a flash of red. He stares down at the ball blankly, as if he didn''t actually expect to lose. Then he huffs out a short laugh and replaces it on his belt, this time taking a greatball from his belt. Even from this distance, Lee can see the top hemisphere of the pokeball is worn down to bare metal in places.

    "I gotta hand it to you, Lee. That was something," The surfer smiles. "It shows me I''ve still got plenty to improve on. Machoke won''t go down to a ranged fighter so easily next time. This pokemon, though..." He holds the worn greatball up. "He belonged to my father and was passed down to me when I took the mantle of Gym Leader. He''s helped me a lot over the years, and I''ve stepped away from borrowing his power, but I know when I need help out of a bind."

    Lee feels his smile sink a little. "I don''t like the sound of that."

    Brawly''s smile morphs into a wide grin. "It''s good to be cautious!" He glances at the ref, who gets the signal.

    "Gym Leader Brawly! Please select your next pokemon!"

    Brawly throws the greatball past a hole in the barrier. "Hariyama! I need your help!"

    The ball bursts open, and a shape wreathed in white light expands onto the field, growing bigger.

    And bigger, and bigger...

    When the light finally fades, Lee finds himself blinking in disbelief, but the spike of alarm he both feels from Vulpix and sees on her vulpine face tells him his eyes aren''t failing him.

    Standing over eight feet tall and easily eleven feet wide with his arms spread out, an absolutely gargantuan pokemon stares them down.

    The Hariyama before them looks just as Lee remembers them, being a roughly humanoid sumo wrestler of unbelievable proportions. Two-toed feet attached to legs as thick as tree trunks hold a massive torso of pure muscle aloft. His short arms end in wide, flat three-fingered hands perfect for arm-thrusting attacks. But what strikes Lee most is the little details littered across the huge pokemon.

    The Hariyama''s eyes are framed by faint wrinkles, and the left eye is a blind, foggy white, probably owing to the scar dragged through Hariyama''s face. His hands are likewise marked, his palms a menagerie of calluses and scars, leaving almost no unharmed flesh behind.

    Lee''s dread-filled musings are broken when Hariyama grunts, a low sound that Lee feels in both his and Vulpix''s chest. The enormous pokemon puts his palms on his knees and raises a single leg, then he brings it down like a lightning strike, shaking the entire gym. The lights above rattle, someone in the crowd screams, and one of the cameramen falls over. Lee himself bends his knees to not be knocked over.

    Hariyama raises his other leg and brings it down again, pulverizing the ground under him and rattling the entire building again. Then with his knees still bent, he plants a hand on the ground, taking a sumo-like ready stance. An almost tangible weight settles over the arena, eerily like standing before Steven Stone''s Metagross.

    ''We''re fucked.''

    "Get ready," Brawly''s smile could light up the arena if Hariyama''s preparation accidentally knocked the lights out. "We''re going full tilt!"

    "Match two, Hariyama vs Vulpix, begin!"

    For a moment, no one moves, and it gives Vulpix ample time to pull Lee back into her mind for his added strength.

    ''Love, while I''m not doubting your abilities, there is no way you can beat him after Machoke nailed you with Dig,'' Lee gulps. ''We need to wear him down as much as possible for Corvisquire.''

    "Not going to move first, eh?" The Gym Leader nods. "Fine by us. Hariyama! Belly Drum!"

    ''Fuck! Confuse Ray!''

    Vulpix growls and fires off the invisible, sinister ray from her shining eyes.

    Hariyama draws his huge hands back, then pounds his own stomach with a series of deep thuds. The sound Belly Drum makes moves something primal inside of Vulpix, and Lee can feel her sudden thrill of fear.

    The pupil of Hariyama''s one good eye dilates, and a hazy cloak of red energy diffuses from nowhere to cover his form. He slows for a moment as Confuse Ray strikes him, leaving his eye unfocused, but after a single blink, the confusion vanishes and Hariyama finishes Belly Drum with a loud, echoing strike to his own abdomen. The cloak of red, smoky energy surges and crackles.

    "From bad to worse," Lee grimaces. ''Vulpix, Ember! Come in on his blind side!''

    Like before, Vulpix draws her head back and fires off a stream of Embers more akin to laser bolts than fireballs.

    Some rush Hariyama from the right, but the majority of the flames twist and curve into his blindspot.

    "Whirlwind!" Brawly orders.

    Hariyama''s arms are little more than blurs as his flat hands move the air like fans, kicking up rushing currents of tornado-like winds on both sides of him. Vulpix''s Embers, even empowered by pokemon and trainer working in tandem, are snuffed out like candles in the face of the Whirlwinds.

    Then Hariyama thrusts his arms forward, merging the Whirlwinds and sending a titanic tornado right for Vulpix.

    The tornado gains power as it moves, dragging in all manner of dirt and rocks as it howls furiously at the shocked fox. It crosses the arena in less than a second, and by then, the tornado is too big to dodge. Vulpix screws her eyes shut in panic.

    "Firespin!" Lee screams, both in body and mind. ''Counter Whirlwind''s rotation!''

    Vulpix''s eyes snap open, shining a hellish orange.

    A spiraling inferno pours from Vulpix''s throat, and in an instant, Whirlwind is met with a twisting, raging tower of fire that roars just as loud as the Whirlwind shrieks. The two elements meet, and Whirlwind begins to peter out as it feeds the vicious Firespin, which grows into a seething wall of white, spinning hellfire that splashes against the top of the barrier.

    Lee can''t see Brawly or Hariyama or even hear anything over the din of Firespin, but he does see the attack rush forward and engulf the other side of the field.

    Sadly, Vulpix''s burst of might runs dry after a scant ten seconds.

    Firespin dies near-instantly, leaving a cloud of smoke and deafening silence behind.

    When the smoke clears on the Brawly''s side of the field, it reveals Hariyama standing with his arms raised and blackened, burn-coated palms out. Grunting, he slowly and painfully pulls his arms back into a ready stance, revealing that his body is pockmarked by smaller, less severe burns that overtook his defense. Around his feet in a perfect V formation is charred dirt and soot, meaning he stopped the Firespin.

    Even with the unmistakable power Vulpix displayed in her battle with Corvisquire, Hariyama stopped Firespin.

    "Jumping Joltiks, folks! Vulpix unleashed the fire within and turned Whirlwind right back around on Hariyama, but Hariyama was having none of that!" The audience goes wild when the commentator breaks the ice.

    Vulpix wavers on her paws, and Lee can easily feel her exhaustion. She pants harshly and falls to her rump.

    "Hariyama," Brawly hesitates for a second. "Force Palm!"

    The massive sumo pokemon thrusts a hand forward, shooting a screaming shockwave that crosses the field like a tank shell.

    Vulpix scrambles up and leaps away, but the explosion Force Palm makes when it hits the ground she was standing on throws her down to her side where she tumbles. Another Force Palm flies from Hariyama''s hand and crashes into her like a missile, throwing the limp fox head-first into the barrier with a painful thunk. She slides to the ground, her breathing shallow and body unmoving.

    Lee winces. Already he feels the phantom pain in his sternum and head fading, meaning his vixen is in blissful unconsciousness, but it does nothing for the deeper hurt in his chest whenever Vulpix is harmed. ''She''s just knocked out. Nothing she can''t handle,'' he silently reminds himself. With great reluctance, he catches the eyes of the referee and shakes his head.

    The airhorn sounds and the referee raises his arm. "Vulpix is unable to battle! Hariyama is the winner of the second match!"

    The crowd applauds and cheers. As Lee recalls Vulpix to her ball and near silently murmurs how proud he is of her, he scans the crowd. Almost instantly, he finds who he''s looking for.

    Brendan, Birch, and Zinnia all sit near the middle of the right side. Brendan''s face is one of open shock as if he can''t believe what he just saw. Zinnia''s is harder to pin, being a combination of surprise and worry rather than the calculating expression she normally wears when viewing an intense battle. Birch...

    Birch''s eyes are glued to Lee, and in his lap is a notebook with several full pages already flipped. The look is so intense that the younger man looks away.

    "Challenger, please select your next pokemon!"

    Lee grabs Corvisquire''s ball, which wiggles in anticipation. Like before, he holds the ball close to his mouth to whisper to it. "Corvi, whatever you do, take this seriously. This guy tanked Vulpix at her full power, even after hurting himself with Belly Drum. He''s torn up, but this is still an uphill fight. If we want to win, we need to play smart, got it?"

    The ball goes still.

    With a deep breath, Lee reels his hand back. "Go! Corvisquire!"

    The ball flies from his hand and releases the raven pokemon, who screeches and flies into the arena when a hole in the barrier opens up for him. He glares down at Hariyama with malicious glee, and Hariyama stares back cooly with his working eye.

    "Final match! Corvisquire versus Hariyama! Begin!"

    "Swift!" Lee orders to feel out Hariyama.

    Corvisquire caws and swipes a golden, glowing wing through the air, throwing a wave of shining stars down at the sumo pokemon.

    Hariyama just swats the stars out of the air with a single broad hand when they approach. Some of the burnt flesh on his hand cracks and bleeds when the Swift rays explode against it, but he ultimately seems unbothered.

    "Force Palm!" Brawly counters, his smile growing.

    Hariyama''s massive palm flashes forward, and a rippling shockwave rushes the raven pokemon.

    "Corvi! Extremespeed into Pluck! Get out of there!" Lee cries.

    The raven vanishes from sight with a crack of displaced air, letting Force Palm smash into the barrier behind where he was.

    Hariyama whirls around one hundred and eighty degrees with speed that should have been impossible for a creature of his size, his palm lashing out the instant Corvisquire appears behind him. The raven is so shocked that he loses focus on his Pluck and his beak loses its glow. An instant later, Hariyama''s palm strikes him like a battering ram.

    Corvisquire is thrown into the barrier without an arc to his flight, crashing into the invisible wall with a bang! that rattles the whole thing and a plume of loose feathers. His eyes bug out from the impact and he can only wheeze in pain. Unlike with the blow from Machoke, Covisquire is much slower to get to his feet.

    "Don''t let up! Close in and end this with Close Combat!" Brawly orders, even pointing a finger for emphasis.

    Hariyama grunts and thunders forward like a locomotive, every step shaking the Gym.

    "Corvi, get up!" Lee urges. "C''mon! Don''t go down like this!"

    Corvisquire''s eyes light up hatefully, and with a shrill cry he shoots up into the air away from Hariyama with a single powerful wingbeat.

    Hariyama doesn''t stop his charge, and with a stomp that rocks the building, he leaps right at the bird pokemon in stark defiance to gravity. His hands shine a baleful red just like the cloak of energy still wrapped around him. He winds up an arm thrust just as Corvisquire flies up higher.

    It''s almost too quiet to hear, but Hariyama grunts something that makes Corvisquire''s entire face twist into a rictus of loathing, and rather than run away out of Close Combat''s range, the raven howls and dives right at the sumo pokemon, making Lee''s heart sink.

    Corvisquire narrowly dodges one arm thrust, but the other one clips his wing with a quiet snap that Lee almost doesn''t hear, making Corvisquire spin in the air unevenly. Nonetheless, Corvisquire''s beak lights up with sky-blue Flying energy that he brutally drills right into Hariyama''s left shoulder, drawing blood.

    "Hariyama!" Brawly yells in alarm, his smile dropping for the first time in the match.

    The sumo growls and slaps away Corvisquire like one might do a mosquito as gravity takes its hold again and drags him back down.

    Corvisquire contorts his body mid-air and flares both his wings, even the broken one, to stop in a hover. His face shows no pain, only seething, burning anger.

    Hariyama crashes into the ground feet-first, throwing up a short plume of dust. His good eye glares up at Corvisquire, who stares right back without wavering. Hariyama raises his hands into a ready stance again, but his left arm shakes and sinks ever so slightly.

    ''Corvi''s attack must have nicked something important in his shoulder...'' Lee silently theorizes. ''He''s blind and now partially lame on that side. We need to take advantage of it now, before Corvi''s rage-fueled adrenaline runs dry... Can he safely use Extremespeed? If I dare even imply that he''s not fighting-ready, he''ll be pissed... More than usual.''

    "Corvisquire, Extremespeed!" Lee orders. "Hit him where it hurts!" he says, silently hoping his pokemon knows how to interpret the order.

    "Hariyama, behind you!" Brawly yells in advance. "Arm Thrust him into the wall!"

    Again, the avian pokemon blurs into motion as if his wing was never injured, and again, Hariyama turns a perfect one-eighty to catch him.

    Only this time, Corvisquire appears above him. Before the Fighting-type can defend himself, Corvisquire, cackling like a villain, is upon him. He drives his beak right into the same wound on Hariyama that he created earlier and cruelly twists at whatever he can bite.

    The larger pokemon roars in pain, his first sign of weakness the whole match, and swats at Corvisquire, who blurs away again with a cackling laugh. The strength in Hariyama''s shaking left arm wanes, and he can''t raise it up any higher than his waist.

    "Stay angry, Corvi! Win this! Come at him again!" Lee calls, the excitement from earlier beginning to grow in his chest.

    "Hariyama, watch your left and above you, that''s where they''re coming!" Brawly instructs.

    ''Corvisquire is a little too smart to hit the same location three times in a row.'' Lee smiles. ''Hariyama is too slow to keep up, so if he doesn''t know where Corvi is going from...''

    A caw echoes through the room and Hariyama turns to his left, his good arm blasting forward at nothing. At the same time, a twirling beak shining a sky-blue drills into his upper right arm, savaging the muscle and connective tissue.

    ''...Then he''s going to get picked apart.''

    Hariyama growls and swings at Corvisquire, who once again backs off with Extremespeed.

    "Bring him down!" Brawly''s face is now losing confidence and his fists are balled up. "Whirlwind!"

    A broad right hand swipes through the air, kicking up a huge gale, but not anywhere near the tornado that ravaged the arena earlier. With a flick of his wrist, Hariyama throws the Whirlwind forward.

    The raging wind tears at the flying blur that is Corvisquire, slowing him enough that his form becomes visible once more. He struggles to not be sucked into the Whirlwind as his broken wing just can''t flap with the same power of his unbroken one. The Whirlwind passes and dissipates, but to Lee''s despair, he can see Corvisquire''s energy beginning to flag. The bird pants and even his ever-present wrath slowly begins to fade

    "Force Palm, knock him down!" Brawly''s voice shocks Lee out of his thoughts.

    Hariyama''s eyes narrow in concentration as his right fingers flex, and he throws a shock wave right at the hovering Corvisquire, who just barely dodges by folding his wings and plunging from the sky. Force Palm smacks the barrier with much less force than earlier.

    "Corvi, finish him! One more Extremespeed! You can do it!" Lee calls up to the raven.

    "No you don''t! Defend yourself with Whirlwind!" Brawly counters.

    Corvisquire rushes forward just as Hariyama draws his hand back, and that''s when Lee knows they lost.

    Hariyama spins around, Whirlwind following his palm and wreathing him in a cloak of swirling, protective air.

    Then Lee''s jaw drops.

    Corvisquire pulls up at an angle that rips at his broken wing, making the bird grimace as he flies directly up, abreast the Whirlwind, then he flies over the mouth and drops down right at his foe. He closes his injured wing and holds his good one out, letting the air currents in the Whirlwind spin him up like a drill. His beak bursts into an eye-searingly bright blue just as vibrant as the sky, and then like a screaming missile, he drops onto Hariyama in a full-powered Drill Peck.

    The sumo pokemon''s eyes widen, and in a last-ditch effort to defend himself, he pulls back his right arm and thrusts it at the raven with a roar.

    Beak meets palm, and Flying meets Fighting in a contest as old as the pokemon world.

    The whole tornado glows with the clash, crackling red versus screaming blue. Blue overtakes red, and the Flying energy overpowers the Fighting with an explosion that kicks up a huge cloud of dust.

    The entire arena holds its breath.

    Slowly, the dust settles, and Lee''s heart sinks.

    Prone on the ground, a broken and battered Corvisquire lay, his eyes closed and unconscious face peaceful. Scattered around the bird are broken stones and loose feathers. Then Lee''s eyes look further.

    Just as knocked out as his raven, Hariyama lays on the destroyed and cratered ground with only his breathing as any indication that he''s alive. Behind Hariyama, Brawly''s eyes are wide in boldfaced surprise.

    Above, the airhorn sounds.

    "That''s it! Round three ends in a double knockout! This battle is a draw!" The referee calls.

    The audience goes wild, everyone standing, shouting, clapping, and more than a few cellphones are held up, some of which flash with camera lights.

    "A... draw?" Lee wonders, his mind flashing back to the League rulebook he is still trying to finish. What was the end result of draws? Was it the challenger''s loss? "Damn..."

    Slowly, the Gym Leader on the other side of the arena smiles a big, goofy smile. "Wow! That was awesome! Hariyama hasn''t had to fight that hard in years!" He draws the battered greatball from his belt and points to his pokemon. "Hariyama, return!"

    The behemoth of a pokemon is withdrawn in a flash of red, leaving behind a crater that several grown men could stand in easily without touching shoulders.

    Lee licks his lips and mirrors Brawly, taking Corvisquire''s ball from his belt before recalling the bird in a flash of red. He shrinks the ball and holds it gently in his hands. "Thank you for going above and beyond, Corvi. Be a pain in my ass all you want, I won''t ever give up on you because I know you would do the same for me, even if you deny it..."

    A few onlookers audibly go "Awww...", and that''s when Lee realizes his mic is still on with a blush. He flips it off and starts walking when the barriers drop and Brawly begins walking to meet him.

    Both men meet in the middle of the devastated field. Still grinning widely, the blue-headed trainer claps Lee on the shoulder. "Now that was the battle I wanted. I knew it would be good, just not that good. It''s going to be a while before someone tops this one."

    Lee sighs and smiles ruefully. "Well, you''re getting more here soon, so don''t worry too much. We''ve got a ways to go now that you''ve seen our best tricks firsthand."

    The Gym Leader blinks. "Huh?"

    "I''ll schedule the next one here in a week or two. We''ll win then, it''s a promise," Lee smiles and turns to leave for the Pokemon Center, but Brawly doesn''t let go of his shoulder.

    "I don''t know why you''re leaving," Brawly''s smile grows a little. "You need this first," he says, holding out his hand.

    In the surfer''s hand is a shining Knuckle Badge

    Lee feels his mouth go dry. "Hold on, that was a draw, not a win."

    "Maybe," Brawly smirks. "But my Gym Leader authority says I get to choose the win condition for our match, and after a showing like that? You''re the winner here, dude. Take it, you earned it."

    Slowly, Lee reaches out to take the badge.

    "But!"

    Lee''s hand stops.

    Brawly''s eyes shine with mischief. "On the condition that I get a rematch next time you''re in Dewford."

    The scarred trainer lets out a short laugh. "I can do that."

    Lee''s hand raises the badge up for everyone to see, and the crowd roars their approval.

    <hr>

    "At least four days with no strenuous activity and at least six with no battles, Mister Henson," Dewford''s Nurse Joy hands Lee the pokeballs he turned in just half an hour prior. "Your Corvisquire''s wing suffered two breaks and he''ll be exhausted for at least a full day. Vulpix, however, will be fine with a day or so of rest. Next time..." The nurse''s hands fall to her hips and her pretty face frowns. "...Don''t push your pokemon so hard."

    "I''ll try, nurse," Lee promises with a sheepish smile. "For a while there, Corvi was keeping himself in the air by sheer force of anger alone."

    The joke seems to go over Nurse Joy''s head, but at Lee''s side, Zinnia snorts back a laugh. "Hhehe..." She clears her throat. "C''mon," she elbows Lee. "Let''s go find a good spot to watch Shrimpy''s match."

    The pair stroll away from the Center''s front desk to a waiting area in the corner with a large, wraparound couch that faces a wall-mounted TV. Several other trainers ranging from young adults to teens watch Brendan''s match on the TV closely. Beside one of the trainers, a Ralts sits on the edge of the couch and kicks her feet.

    Thankfully, Brendan wasn''t upset when Lee left to take care of his pokemon... So long as the older trainer promised to watch the match remotely. Brendan just stuck his tongue out at Zinnia when she left with Lee.

    Zinnia and Lee watch Marshtomp overpower Brawly''s Hitmonchan when the fists of the two pokemon meet again. Hitmonchan grits his teeth as the grinning Marshtomp pushes him back.

    Earlier, Shroomish battled Brawly''s Mienfoo and wore down the weasel-like Fighting-type enough that Marshtomp could steamroll him. Now Marshtomp and Brawly''s Hitmonchan are locked in a slugfest where Hitmonchan is losing steam. Meanwhile, Marshtomp only gets more eager the more bruises he accumulates.

    "Think he''ll win?" Zinnia wonders aloud.

    "Brendan?" Lee asks with a smile. "Hitmonchan is on borrowed time." He watches Marshtomp take an Ice Punch to the face from Hitmonchan, only to laugh and lash out with a punch of his own that makes Hitmonchan double over.

    "Say, Zinnia? That freighter we sailed with last time. Do they do runs to Slateport?

    "I think so. Why?" Zinnia turns and blinks at him.

    Lee draws his phone from his pocket and opens the browser, typing in the name of the cargo company they rode with. "It''s where we''re heading next."

 Act 1: Interlude 3

    ''My office has so much wasted space,'' Steven Stone silently muses to himself. ''Do I really need an entire floor to myself up here?''

    In the extravagant Champion''s office at the top of Hoenn''s Pokemon League HQ, Steven looks down at the bustling island city of Ever Grande from the wall-spanning window, watching all the people and pokemon below. Looking away to the west, he can see the faintest hint of Sootopolis''s top rim on the horizon.

    Oh, how he longs to dive deep into the waters of the crater city and find bits of the meteorite that formed said crater over a millennia ago. What secrets and wonder would the meteorite hold? Would it hold an interesting mix of earthly elements, or would it show him something alien and exciting? Alas, the rock-headed members of the Sootopolis city council are adamant that the entire lakebed is a historical landmark and denied his requests to excavate samples.

    It would be child''s play to overrule them and go anyway, but no one would be amused by a Champion flagrantly abusing their power like that. The Steel specialist shakes his head in disgust, thinking of Unova''s Champion, Alder, and the recent scandals the man has been involved in.

    "Perhaps when I pass the title to someone else I could go to Sootopolis not as Steven the Champion, but Steven the Devon heir..." He smiles and fingers the mega keystone crowning his lapel pin.

    ''Ruminating on the meteorite once more?''

    The rumbling voice comes not from anywhere in the office, but in his head, making Steven smile a little wider and turn around.

    Standing before his desk and gleaming in the sunlight, Metagross regards Steven impassively.

    "That I am, friend," Steven smiles a little wider. "A mere sliver of it would tell us so many things about the larger universe out there. It makes my skin tingle just thinking about it!"

    If Metagross had eyebrows, Steven is sure one would be raised. ''I understand your fascination,'' the pokemon ''says'' dryly, but sincerely. ''But perhaps you can daydream another time. You have fifty-four unfinished forms to review, and a meeting with the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four in four minutes and seven seconds.''

    Steven looks down at his opulent oak desk. In the corner where his paperwork sits in two piles, the ''In'' section has a stack of thick folders several inches high, and the ''Out'' has only two.

    "I really need to gather a task force to review what gets sent to me. So much of this is junk or just redundant," the Devon heir sighs and sinks into his plush office chair as Metagross just chuckles, a sound so deep it rumbles the floor. Faintly in the back of his mind, Steven feels his pokemon''s amusement. It''s no greater than a tickle, but the alien feeling, so far removed from what a human might ever feel or even perceive to be emotion, makes his skin break out into goosebumps.

    Steven jiggles the mouse of his computer to pull it from sleep mode and opens his email, silently groaning when he finds yet another hundred or so waiting to be read. He ignores them for now and opens his calendar, clicking on a meeting link within. From there, he mutes his microphone and leans back.

    Rarely do they ever need his input, and he doubts today will be any different.

    Over the next few minutes, several other names pop up on his computer screen. First is Roxanne, ever punctual and the usual leader of these meetings. Petalburg''s Norman is next, with Mauville city''s Wattson following shortly after, Sootopolis Gym Leader and Steven''s best friend, Wallace is next. Dewford''s Brawly, Fortree''s Winona, and Mossdeep''s Liza/Tate pop in one after another. The Elite Four- Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake all enter at once, no doubt using a meeting room a few floors below Steven. The only one missing is...

    "Is Moore having computer troubles again?" Norman''s faintly amused voice asks, the microphone icon by his name flashing.

    "Seems like it," Wattson laughs. "The old coot can barely work a toaster."

    Sidney''s scoff conveys his sneer better than any camera feed could. "Maybe he should retire rather than waste our time."

    "No need to be hostile," Roxanne jumps in to play mediator at the first sign of trouble. "I''m sure he''ll figure it out."

    Just as Rustboro''s Gym Leader says that, the name, Moore - Lavaridge, appears on the screen.

    "There you go, grandpa. It just needed a reboot I think," the sound of a young woman''s voice comes from Moore''s icon.

    "Thank you, dear. Damn computers, they were easier back then, I swear..." An older man''s voice comes from Moore now. "Sorry, everyone! The old confuser was on the fritz!"

    "It''s no problem, Moore. Thank you," Roxanne says quickly before a certain someone can sling an insult. "If we''re all here, let''s begin. Moore? You said you had big news?"

    "I do!" The old man laughs. "I am both happy and a little sad to announce that I''ll be retiring this year and handing the Gym over to my granddaughter, Flannery."

    There are murmurs of surprise over the line and even Steven feels one of his eyebrows rise.

    "I thought we were the psychic ones here, Tate." Liza giggles

    "I have trained her diligently for this day, and she, in turn, has trained her pokemon for the rigors of being a Gym Leader," Moore presses on past Liza''s interruption. "All the paperwork is done and just needs to be sent in. In the next month or two, I''ll turn her loose to run things on her own. I''ve even got her here with me to see how we do things. Say hello, dear!"

    "Err, hi everyone..." The young woman greets unsurely, getting a few quiet welcomes from several of the other Gym Leaders.

    Steven unmutes himself for a moment with a smile. "That''s very exciting news, Moore. I have no doubt that Flannery will be a great Gym Leader. We''re all going to miss you here in the League, though. You were one of the best Elite Four members and Gym Leaders Hoenn has ever had. I''ll have one of my pokemon head out to Lavaridge to pick up your paperwork in the next day or so." He says, muting himself afterward.

    "Ohhh, can''t wait for the Magcargo mail to get rid of me, eh?" Moore chuckles. "But thank you, Steven. Ty and I are getting old, and it''s time to do everything we couldn''t when we were young. Wattson! Drake!" Moore suddenly exclaims. "You two are the only ones left of the old guard. Don''t let the kids get into trouble, you hear?"

    Drake merely grunts, but Wattson lets out a hearty laugh. "What do you take us for?"

    "Speaking of new things," Winona leaves off. "We''re a month and some change into the new league year. Has anyone had any interesting challengers so far?"

    Most answers are negative, with Wallace being the only exception. "Ah! I had a splendid young woman with a beautiful team challenge me just yesterday!"

    Steven can almost hear everyone''s eyes rolling at his best friend''s words.

    "Did they win?" Phoebe asks despite everyone knowing the answer.

    "They did not, but they were as graceful in defeat as they were in issuing their challenge!"

    "Wallace, dear, perhaps tell us when you have a challenger that excels in battle prowess rather than aesthetics..." Glacia dryly says what''s on everyone''s mind. "Roxanne, Brawly, you two have been silent. Have any trainers of note crossed your path?"

    The champion''s mind is instantly taken back to several weeks prior when he and Metagross watched one of Roxanne''s lessons turned gym challenge live. The scarred, passionate visage of Lee Henson is impossible to forget.

    Equally difficult to forget are his pokemon, a rare Vulpix that prevailed against Roxanne''s Nosepass with techniques he had never heard of before, and a Corvisquire, a Galarian pokemon Steven had never even seen in person before that day.

    The eyes of that Vulpix, even exhausted, burned with unmistakable power. It''s only a matter of time before she and Metagross clash, and by then, she''ll have matured into a worthy adversary.

    "Indeed I have," Roxanne''s contemplating voice breaks Steven''s thoughts. "Three, to be exact."

    Three? Brendan Birch and Lee Henson are surely two of them, but who is the last one?

    "The first was an older trainer in his twenties, a Lab Trainer under Professor Birch by the name of Lee Henson," Roxanne begins. "I offered to count a demonstration battle for my class as an official challenge, citing the... lackluster learning material mandated by the League Education Committee. He used a Corvisquire and a Vulpix against my personal team."

    That draws a few exclamations from a few of the gathered Gym Leaders. "Lab Trainer, eh?" Wattson hums. "I thought Birch''s son was starting this year, and the other slot was going to your daughter, Norman?"

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    "I decided that May would have more fun on her journey without needing to answer to Nigel, so I am paying for her expenses," Norman answers simply. "It seemed unfair to have Nigel use his only two slots on children anyway. I hope the League board provides him more next year."

    "Well, it looks like the professor chose wisely, as both Lee Henson and Brendan Birch defeated my personal team," Roxanne reveals, starting another round of startled chatter. "Lee''s fighting style is difficult to pin down, and it seems like he even changed tactics part way through our battle, though he is fond of using status moves to place his team into a favorable position. Corvisquire displayed a mastery of Extremespeed, and his Vulpix was somehow able to control her Fire attacks mid-flight, connecting projectiles even with her line-of-sight obscured. Lee''s claims of his research being focused on pokemon moves and techniques certainly hold water."

    "Mastery of Extremespeed?" Winona wonders aloud.

    "...Controlling Fire moves after launch, hmm?" Moore hums. "Interesting..."

    ''She didn''t tell them about their telepathy?'' The champion wonders. ''Well, I''ll not rock the boat. If they can cultivate such a skill in such a short amount of time, I think they deserve the advantage.''

    "Brendan, meanwhile, is very much his father''s son, and played to his pokemon''s strengths well," Roxanne continues, ignoring the comments like she would a rowdy class. "He and his Shroomish were content to take the battle slowly, refusing to fall into the trap of moving too fast as many young trainers do. I had to end the first round in a double knockout with Geodude''s Self Destruct, lest Shroomish become a thorn in Nosepass''s side. His Mudkip evolved mid-battle into Marshtomp, thus rendering Nosepass''s electric moves useless. Brendan and Marshtomp capitalized on this and ended the match with Marshtomp''s newfound power."

    "That''s the Birch family for ya," Wattson cuts in. "Be glad most of you weren''t Gym Leaders twenty years ago because Nigel Birch was a Gym-sinking terror. You''d play right into his hands without even knowing it and end up crushed. The academic community might give little Nigel the cold shoulder for his short tenure, but none of them would dare slight him to his face." He guffaws. "I bet that kid Brendan had his moves planned several steps in advance just like his pops always did."

    "It certainly seemed like it..." Roxanne murmurs. "The last trainer, who just departed for Dewford several days ago is Ash Ketchum."

    "Ash?" Norman asks, incredulous.

    "I take it you''ve met him?" Roxanne asks. "Your children were with him and his other friend Brock."

    The mic symbol next to Norman''s name blips when he bumps something on his desk. "Yes, I''ve met Ash and Brock, they''re good kids. Ash and I had a short practice bout when we were... interrupted by some hooligans calling themselves Team Rocket."

    "...So you''ve met them too..." Roxanne''s irritation is almost too quiet to hear.

    "We sent them packing and filed a police report," Norman sighs. "I thought they were cosplayers or some practical jokers..."

    "The furthest thing, actually. The Rockets were an organized crime ring that terrorized Kanto and Johto for years," Moore openly growls. "Even after they were broken up, cells still pop up here and there. Hoenn police should be on high-alert for them," he says, obviously directing his last line at Steven.

    Steven unmutes himself for a moment, "Of course, I''ll notify the League Law Enforcement command and the Rangers." He mutes himself again and frowns. ''Why is a foreign gang suddenly encroaching on Hoenn?''

    ''New victims, new opportunities, escaping law enforcement already looking for them, or just on a whim?'' Metagross silently provides. ''The motives of criminals are often illogical and can vary drastically.''

    ''You''re right. We''re not letting them get a foothold here though,'' Steven''s face darkens.

    ''Certainly not.''

    Roxanne clears her throat. "Ash Ketchum is one of Professor Oak''s Lab Trainers and proved it in our match. He asked to face my true team, and I agreed even if I was doubtful of his ability. He played to his Seedot''s strengths in an unorthodox way, using Rollout, stopping just long enough to cast Absorb, then using Rollout to escape my Geodude''s retaliation. We eventually hit Seedot with a Mega Punch for a knockout, but by then Geodude was in no condition to face Ash''s Pikachu."

    Brawly whistles. "An Electric-type against a Ground-type? That''s bold."

    "Indeed, but Pikachu''s impressive speed and use of Iron Tail secured him the win against Geodude. Nosepass put up a valiant fight, and Pikachu was hurting after their match, but Ash''s pragmatic strategy of keeping out of reach with Pikachu''s speed and punishing openings with lightning-fast Iron Tail attacks proved effective, even when Nosepass used Sandstorm to try and keep Pikachu at bay."

    A contemplative silence descends upon the call, then Dewford''s Gym Leader clears his throat and takes the reins. "Guess it''s my turn, then." Brawly''s smile can be heard in his voice. "My list is more or less the same as Roxanne''s. We battled Brendan and Lee just two days ago. Lee''s Vulpix and Corvisquire took on Machoke and Hariyama."

    "Hariyama?" Drake''s gravelly voice speaks for the first time in the meeting. "Which one?"

    Brawly laughs. "My dad''s starter."

    "I didn''t think that old mountain was still kicking," The old dragon tamer grunts. "Salamence still remembers him... So the Lee boy lost, then?"

    "Nope."

    You could hear a pin drop in the following silence.

    "Well, it ended in a draw I felt was worth a badge," Brawly hastily explains. "Machoke could only get one good hit on Vulpix before she blew him away with a storm of Embers, and Hariyama weathered a huge Firespin to knock out Vulpix. Hariyama then fought Corvisquire, and the type advantage tipped the scales just a little too much, so Covisquire''s last ditch Drill Peck resulted in a double knockout. Hariyama is pushing sixty years old and has slowed down a lot over the years, but he''s anything but a pushover," Brawly pauses. "That Corvisquire though...The little dude is hostility distilled into bird form. When he evolves, he''s going to be a once-in-a-generation monster."

    "I want to see it." Drake grumbles. "Don''t bother explaining anymore. Someone play it on your screen. I want to see the other boy, Brendan, too."

    It takes a moment, but Brawly shares his screen with everyone else and pulls up the battles that the local TV station captured.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Corvi! Get up high and use Hone Claws!"

    "Machoke! Rock Tomb!"

    "Corvi, move in with Extremespeed! Then Pluck!"

    "Machoke! Be ready with Thunder Punch!"

    "It looks like Lee is using his substitution! Why sub now? And who will he send in?"

    "Lee is sending in Vulpix! How will this little fox compare to Machoke?"

    "Bulk Up! Then Karate Chop! No more playing defense!"

    "Ember!"

    "What a turn! Machoke proves his power with a huge hit using Dig! Poor Vulpix nearly had her lights knocked out!"

    Then the Embers start to fly again.

    One Ember explodes against his arms and Machoke grits his teeth.

    Two, three, four, five, six, and the Fighting-type groans.

    Seven, eight, nine, ten, twenty, thirty, and he can''t help but cry out as smoke overtakes his form.

    Forty, fifty, seventy, and finally the last one strikes and detonates.

    "Machoke!"

    An air horn blares. "It''s over! Machoke is unable to battle! Vulpix is the winner of round one!"

    "This pokemon... He belonged to my father and was passed down to me when I took the mantle of Gym Leader. He''s helped me a lot over the years, and I''ve stepped away from borrowing his power, but I know when I need help out of a bind."

    Several of the younger Gym Leaders gasp when they see the huge Hariyama.

    "Match two, Hariyama vs Vulpix, begin!"

    "Firespin!" An inferno overwhelms the cameras.

    "My word..." Moore mutters. Flannery can be heard squeaking behind him.

    "Vulpix is unable to battle! Hariyama is the winner of the second match!"

    "Final match! Corvisquire versus Hariyama! Begin!"

    "Corvisquire, Extremespeed! Hit him where it hurts!"

    "Is that Corvisqure fighting and using Extremespeed with a broken wing?" Winona sounds equal parts aghast and disbelieving.

    Brawly''s answer is quick. "As I said, that bird is powered by raw fury."

    "No you don''t! Defend yourself with Whirlwind!"

    Beak meets palm, and Flying meets Fighting in a contest as old as the pokemon world.

    The whole tornado glows with the clash, crackling red versus screaming blue. Blue overtakes red, and the Flying energy overpowers the Fighting with an explosion that kicks up a huge cloud of dust.

    "That''s it! Round three ends in a double knockout! This match is a draw!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Brawly lets the video end and jumps right into Brendan''s match before anyone can comment.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Shroomish, start this off with Poison Powder!"

    "Mienfoo, circle around and use Acrobatics!"

    Mienfoo does as instructed, but runs face-first into a cloud of purple when Shroomish throws out Poison Powder from every direction.

    "Shroomish, back up and use Leech Seed!"

    "End it fast, Mienfoo!"

    The chubby Shroomish dances around every strike with a little twirl as his weasel-like opponent grows weaker and weaker. Then in a burst of desperation, the Fighting-type lands a critically placed Acrobatics and knocks Shroomish out.

    "Shroomish is unable to battle! Mienfoo is the winner of round one!"

    "Go! Marshtomp!"

    Wallace gasps. "What a robust Water-type! The good professor certainly picked only the finest pokemon for his child. Look at his height, his muscles, his vibrant color! This Marshtomp is beautiful!" The mightiest Hoenn Gym Leader gushes.

    "Fruit��" Sidney murmurs.

    "Oh! Mienfoo is down with only one punch! Who will Brawly pick next?"

    "Hitmonchan! You''re up!"

    What follows is a brutal slugfest, where Hitmonchan rapidly loses ground and stamina while Marshtomp only laughs and strikes harder. Even the camera hovering above rattles from the furious exchange.

    "Hitmonchan! Ice Punch!"

    Marshtomp takes the attack right to the face with barely a flinch. Then he laughs and lashes out with a punch to Hitmonchan''s stomach that makes the Fighting-type double over.

    Steven can hear a few of the watchers mutter in sympathy for Hitmonchan.

    "Marshtomp! Seismic Toss!"

    Crash!

    "Hitmonchan is unable to battle! Marshtomp is the winner of round three! Marshtomp and Brendan win the challenge!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Brawly lets the video end. "Ah, I admit if I had Machoke or Hariyama, I think I could have beaten Brendan. Hard to say, however, because that Marshtomp was insane."

    "Hrm. These two are worth watching, I guess," Sidney clicks his tongue. "Is this meeting over yet? I ain''t getting any younger here."

    "There was also Dewford''s local event, the Brawl on the Beach, where Lee and his partner Zinnia Draconid won."

    ''Like the Draconids in Meteor Falls?'' Steven wonders with only Metagross to hear it.

    Drake''s attention is instantly captured again. "Draconid?" He asks sharply. "Play it. Skip everything else."

    Brawly obliges. "We''ll do just the last one, it''s the good part."

    He opens the video, and everyone, Steven included, watches closely. The champion can''t help but notice that Sidney goes suspiciously quiet as soon as a teen boy in black is called to battle Lee and Zinnia.

    As soon as they all witness Vulpix''s Convergence in action, Steven knows there are wide eyes all around even without a video feed, as he himself blinks owlishly at the attack he''s never seen before.

    Tate, brother of Liza and one of the Gym Leaders of Mossdeep is quick to ask something. "Mister Moore? I''ve never heard of that Fire move. Do you know it?"

    "...No. No I do not..." The Fire-type master quietly replies. Even Steven is taken aback by the answer.

    "Hrm..." Wattson snorts. "Moore, my buddy ol'' pal, I don''t think old Drake and I can keep that promise about keeping an eye on the youngsters if they''re going to be this much trouble."

    Drake makes no comment, and Steven knows it''s because his eyes are locked on the tanned young woman, Zinnia.

 Act 1: Chapter 18

    Theft at Devon Thwarted.

    By: Amelia Thatch

    Earlier this week in Rustboro City, where the headquarters of The Devon Corporation is stationed, a gang member from the eco-radicalist group known simply as Aqua attempted to steal experimental Devon technology.

    Readers might know Devon for their numerous mining subsidiaries or their wide array of household products, but the company has also dabbled in many trainer-focused technologies such as the PokeNav, new pokeball variants, pokemon medicines, and other tools to aid trainers.

    In an official statement delivered from Mr. Joseph Stone, owner and president of Devon Corp, the thief entered into the restricted section of Devon''s R&D laboratories by posing as a member of the public and taking one of the weekly tours of non-restricted areas. He then released his Crawdaunt, and after overwhelming on-site security, threatened harm to tour-goers until a security officer relinquished his keycard to the laboratory.

    Before the thief could escape, he was confronted by Kanto-born trainer Ash Ketchum, one of Professor Samuel Oak''s professional Lab Trainers, and then promptly defeated in an intense pokemon battle. The stolen goods were recovered, but the gang member managed to escape arrest, and the Rustboro PD urges the public to remain alert for suspicious activity.

    "While this was a frightening experience, we came out of it without any bloodshed and wiser than before." Joseph Stone said in an interview. "I trust our men, women and ''mons of R.P.D. to catch the perpetrator and bring him to justice. We will also be putting tours of our facility on hold for some time as we review our security procedures and hire additional officers. The safety of both our staff and visitors is paramount."

    Mr. Stone declined to comment on what the thief was attempting to steal.

    "I couldn''t just let him go!" Ash Ketchum was passionate during our interview with him. The twelve-year-old veteran of both the Indigo League and Silver Conference had this to say; "Stealing is wrong, it''s as simple as that. I don''t know why he was after Devon''s technology, but he was up to no good. Being a pokemon trainer has taught me to trust my gut, and my gut said I couldn''t let him get away."

    The young trainer''s take is as down-to-earth as it is refreshing, but Ash declined to answer any further questions and asked Hoenn News Network to contact Professor Samuel Oak for anything further. Ash recently battled Rusboro''s Roxanne in a gym challenge, so be sure to click here to see the HNN highlight reel!

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    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee looks up from his phone when the ship''s horn blows, signalling that they''re coming into port.

    The trip to Slateport via cargo ship proved to be much more leisurely than the ride to Dewford. The weather stayed beautiful and sunny, and Brendan made sure to bring nausea medication this time, meaning he wasn''t confined to his bed with a face as green as Grovyle''s scales. The rooms were much the same as last time as well.

    "Maw!"

    "Yeouch!"

    The older trainer hisses and plucks the dozing Vulpix from his lap. He deposits both his phone and the drowsy vixen on the lumpy bed, ignoring her telepathic irritation, and hops to his feet.

    Over on Brendan''s bed, the boy cradles his bleeding hand as his Mawile hisses and backs away. Between them lies a pile of misshapen teeth carefully extracted from Mawile''s overcrowded jaws.

    Brendan must have tugged on a painful one that isn''t ready to come out.

    "Timeout, both of you!" Lee frowns and slowly steps closer, keeping a careful eye on this still hissing Mawile as he does so. When she opens her jaws a little wider in a clear threat display, Lee stops his advance and slides over to Brendan.

    The younger trainer holds his hand with narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. "What''s the deal, Mawile?! I''m trying to help!" He exclaims loudly, his voice cracking somewhat.

    Mawile just glares at him with her red eyes and hisses much like a crocodile would, making her sound much larger than she is.

    ''C''mon...''

    "I said enough!" Lee finally raises his voice, stopping both Mawile and Brendan short. Out of the corner of his eye, Lee sees Zinnia finally stop playing with Goomy and pay attention to the commotion. "Zinnia? Can you get my first aid kit from my bag please?"

    The woman sets Goomy down on the bed so she can get up to get Lee''s bag, but Brendan is quick to protest. "I can dress my own cuts, Lee. I''m not a kid..." the Birch heir grounds out harshly. "If I needed help, I would ask."

    Lee doesn''t need his bond with Vulpix to notice her irritation with the younger trainer''s attitude, as her face portrays her thoughts perfectly. ''Marshtomp and Shroomish were cakewalks, ''Pix,'' Lee sends to her. ''He''s just a kid, a talented one at that. It''s natural that he would get frustrated when he comes across something he can''t get right on the first try.''

    Vulpix sniffs, but lets the issue drop in favor of laying her head down and dozing off.

    ''You''ve been sleeping a lot during the day. Are you feeling okay? Not sleeping well?''

    A flicker of dismissal is the only answer.

    Lee frowns and makes a mental note to look into it later. Right now, he''s got bigger fish to fry. He turns his attention back to Brendan and Mawile. "I understand, Brendan, but sometimes you need help whether you like it or not. Dental work is delicate stuff, and tooth pain is one of the most distressing experiences an ani-pokemon can endure," Lee nearly trips over his words with a grimace. "Go hang out with Vulpix and bandage up your hand while I finish up Mawile''s tooth extraction. When she''s past the worst of it, I can teach you how to spot a tooth that needs to come out and the safe way to do it, yeah? It''s not something you''ll have to do often."

    For a second, Lee fears that Brendan is going to put up a fight, judging from the glower that darkens his face, but then he sighs and stands from the bed. "Okay... Sorry I didn''t notice you were in pain earlier, Mawile," he says quietly, meeting the deceiver pokemon''s eyes.

    Mawile''s face remains blank.

    Lee claps Brendan on the shoulder before he can walk off. "You did a good job, Brendan. If we weren''t on a rocking ship, I''m sure you would have gotten her fixed up easily," Lee smiles.

    The boy trainer returns the smile with a small one of his own.

    Brendan takes his bag over to Lee''s bed and pulls out a small roll of bandages before sitting down. Vulpix huffs and flicks an ear when the motion awakens her again, but she still crawls into Brendan''s lap before shutting her eyes again.

    Seeing that she''s not needed anymore, Zinnia shrugs and returns to laying back and petting Goomy, who coos and gurgles in delight.

    Lee steps back over to his little corner of the ship cabin to grab his own backpack and withdraw his berry case. Popping it open, he shakes his head when he finds that he''s low on Oran. Again. He also spares a glance at Brendan and is satisfied to see the boy disinfect the cut across the back of his hand and wrap it tightly.

    Walking back to the still wary Mawile, Lee seats himself and shows her the berries in his hand. "I''m going to crush these into a paste and then we''ll rub your gums down with it, okay?" He asks slowly. Without waiting for an answer, he sets one down between them. "You can sample one if you want. It''s just a normal Oran."

    Mawile''s distrustful gaze softens slightly, and she steps closer to take the offered berry. She inspects the blue fruit in her little hands carefully, sniffing it a few times, then takes a bite with her smaller, front-facing mouth. The tension in her shoulders eases somewhat.

    "See? Easy." Lee smiles, taking care to not display his teeth as usual. After pulling his gloves off, he cups his hands and crushes the other Oran into a thin mush as Mawile watches and munches on her treat. She hesitates when Lee twirls a finger telling her to turn around, but she presents her crooked jaws to him, looking back at him the entire time.

    "Modified horns my ass, this is a full mouth..." Lee mutters, looking at all the pearly razors that would make a crocodile green with envy. Her gums are swollen and even bleeding in places, definitely owing to the teeth all trying to overtake each other. Lee dabs his fingers in the blue paste in his hand and gently rubs the Oran mixture along Mawile''s gums, stopping for a second whenever she flinches. The entire time, Lee is careful to not let any part of his hand linger between her teeth any longer than needed.

    ''One bite, and off goes my hand. I can only imagine the sheer power of these teeth if they can rend an Aron to bits and pierce Marshtomp''s skin.''

    "Hey, Lee? Is Mawile always going to pop teeth out?" Brendan asks, stroking the sleeping fox in his lap.

    Lee nods absently as he works. "From what I can tell, yeah," He pokes Mawile''s drooling tongue to keep her from licking at the Oran soaking into the roots of her teeth. Then with feather-light touches, he carefully prods her teeth to find loose ones. "She''s what''s called a polyphyodont."

    "A poly phone what?" Zinnia perks her head up off her pillow to blink curiously. Brendan likewise looks lost.

    "A polyphyodont is a... pokemon that continually sheds and regrows teeth, usually because they''re often used," Lee explains, nearly tripping and saying ''animal'' again. He pauses to finger a wiggly tooth, and when Mawile doesn''t flinch, he grabs it between his index finger and his thumb and gives it a short tug. With a quiet ''shlick'', the tooth comes free and is tossed into the pile. "Normally you see it in certain reptilian and fish pokemon, like the Sharpedo, Garchomp, or Sceptile line, but some mammals like Mawile can be polyphyodonts too. When your teeth are your main mode of attack, it makes sense to be able to replace them when one is damaged. Mawile''s mouth is overcrowded at the moment, so this is not the norm."

    As he gives his impromptu lecture, Lee''s hands keep moving, slowly removing several more loose teeth and dropping them into the pile. Lee stops, then tenderly runs his hands over a few spots where teeth are still trying to grow over each other, but none of the remainders wiggle like they''re ready to come out. "Well, it''s not perfect, but this should keep the pain down until we get to the Pokemon Center and have a professional perform something more comprehensive. Thank you, Mawile."

    The little pokemon tilts her head at being addressed. "Maa?"

    "Normally my patients aren''t so understanding when I root around in their mouths without proper anesthesia," Lee chuckles and stands, walking to the small bathroom to wash off his hands. "The boat sh-"

    "Attention all guests," The old PA system crackles to life, echoing up and down the ship. "This is your captain speaking. We''ve docked in Slateport. The time is 2:45 PM, and the weather is clear and sunny. Thank you for riding with us, and please disembark on the starboard side."

    "...Should be docking any minute," Lee finishes with an eye roll. He flicks the faucet on, cleans his hands off, and dons his gloves again. "Let''s roll."

    Brendan and Zinnia both withdraw pokeballs. "Mawile, return!" "Goomy, return!"

    Both pokemon are recalled back to their balls in flashes of red light. Brendan then shakes Vulpix awake, who yawns and stands, letting Brendan get up to gather his things.

    Lee shoulders his bag and lets his fox leap to his shoulder, where she settles but remains awake.

    It takes the three trainers only a minute or so to stuff their belongings away and exit their room. Brendan throws open the door leading out and nearly bowls over a Meowth standing in the way.

    "Erk! Sorry?" Brendan apologizes when the Meowth rears up on his hind legs and hisses.

    The cat pokemon hisses again and scrambles away into another open cabin door, his tail fluffing up as he does so. Then; "Meowth? Were you out there making trouble again?"

    Lee and Zinnia step into the hallway just as a man exits the other cabin with the Meowth trailing at his heels. The man smiles at the group. "Hi there. Name''s Tyson. Sorry if Meowth was being a pest. He does that." He leans down to stroke the cat pokemon along his back.

    The beige cat looks totally unrepentant and just soaks in his trainer''s affection with a purr.

    The man before them looks to be a young adult, a bit younger than Lee and probably closer to Zinnia''s 19 years of age. His brown hair is several inches long and lightly swept back, matching his brown eyes. Garbed in an open, light green jacket, a darker green shirt, simple cargo pants and plain boots, it would be easy to lose him in a crowd.

    "No, it''s cool. I shouldn''t have opened the door so fast," Brendan returns Tyson''s smile with a sheepish one of his own. "My name is Brendan Birch, and this is Lee and Zinnia," the Birch heir introduces the group, pointing to Lee and Zinnia in turn.

    Zinnia raises a hand in a casual wave. "Heya."

    "It''s a pleasure, Tyson," Lee nods absently. ''Where have I seen this guy before? I know I have... Some part of the anime? Let''s dig, shall we?'' "What brings you to Slateport?"

    "It''s not really Slateport in particular I''m going to," He begins, falling into step with the other three trainers as they continue off the ship. "My hometown is in Mauville, and after blowing the Gym Challenge big time a few years ago, I traveled around and trained my team..." Tyson lets out a wistful sigh. "Wattson curbstomped us, and I... kind of gave up."

    Zinnia snorts and crosses her arms. "If you''re that much of a quitter, then you''re not going to go far in the world, let alone a gym circuit."

    ''Zinnia!''

    Both Brendan and Lee shoot the dragon tamer glares, but Tyson just shakes his head ruefully. "You''re not wrong, hence our little sabbatical," he mutters. At his feet. Meowth mewls softly and rubs up against his leg.

    The group exits the ship and finds themselves on the sunny deck, making Lee blink his eyes in the bright sun. He turns his head slightly so less sunlight can sting the lines marring his face. When his vision finally adjusts to the sudden brightness, he looks at Slateport and feels his eyebrows rise.

    The port city is a true metropolis, with sleek high rise buildings that dominate the skyline and sidewalks packed with people and pokemon. The port is massive, easily dwarfing Dewford''s. Tankers, cargo ships, and cruise ships crowd the docks as other ships, smaller boats, and even a number of Water-type pokemon weave between each other in a complex dance. To his amusement, Lee even sees an Empoleon casually towing a small sailboat with a broken mast. The crew of the damaged boat all lean over the side rails with spirits low.

    "But I think we''re strong enough to make a difference this time. It was arrogant of me to think I could take on Wattson''s real team back then, but I believe that my team can do it now." Tyson''s bright smile is dazzling like the sun and drags Lee''s attention back to the conversation as they descend the ramp to the terminal the cargo ship is moored to. "So I''m on my way home to reunite with my family, beat Wattson, and then challenge the rest of Hoenn."

    "Heh, good luck!" Brendan laughs and pats the pokeballs on his belt. "Cuz Lee and I are taking the Gym Challenge too! Both of us already beat Roxanne and Brawly going all out!"

    Tyson''s eyes widen. "Really?" Do you have the badges?" He asks.

    The group steps out into the terminal and several paces away from the ramp before Brendan fishes the badge case from his backpack. With a proud grin, he pops the case open to show the two badges inside.

    Tyson almost reaches out, but stops himself short. "May I?"

    Grin dropping into an expression of wariness, Brendan mulls it over and slowly nods.

    The older trainer lifts the Knuckle Badge from the case and turns it around, his eyes widening even more. "No way..."

    Lee steps a little closer to see what Tyson is looking at. Peering over the slightly shorter man''s shoulder, he finds a tiny B engraved into the back of the badge. It''s outlined in what looks like a laser-etched QR code.

    Tyson replaces the badge and picks up the Stone Badge. The back of it has an R engraved into the metal with the same code-like pattern around the letter.

    Standing on the tips of her toes, Zinnia looks over Tyson''s shoulder to see the little mark as well. "What does that mean?" Zinnia asks, raising a brow.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    "You guys don''t know...?" Brendan blinks.

    "If you beat a Gym Leader," Tyson begins, putting the badge back in Brendan''s case. "Then you get a badge, everyone knows that. What a lot of people don''t know is if you really beat a Gym Leader, then the badge will have a mark on the back, and that badge qualifies you for the Ever Grande Conference for three years rather than the standard two."

    ''Note to self. Finish that rulebook. That would have been nice to know...'' Lee sighs.

    "If it''s not too much to ask, could I bother you for a battle?" Tyson asks, catching Lee''s eyes with his own. "Sorry if this is too sudden," the brunette man laughs nervously. "But I want to know how well I stack up against trainers who can go toe-to-toe with Gym Leaders."

    "I don''t see why not," Lee shrugs. "Let''s find a battleground."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The walk to the battleground is a short one, as just off the terminal where the cargo ship landed, there''s a large, circular shopping plaza bustling with sailors, tourists, and a dizzying menagerie of pokemon. The center of the plaza is dominated by a towering two-story-tall fountain featuring a slew of stone water pokemon statues spraying jets of crystal-clear water into the shallow pool below, and onto a Slowbro who rests in the cool water half-asleep. Around the massive fountain, several pokemon battlegrounds marked with white paint sit ready to be used.

    "Does one on one work for you?" Lee asks as he and Vulpix take his side of their chosen field. "I''ve still got one down from the battle with Brawly."

    Tyson''s visage sours when the Gym Leader is mentioned, but he covers it up immediately. "I was about to suggest the same thing!" Tyson calls. His hand throws back his jacket, revealing six pokeballs on his belt that his hand hovers over.

    "Brendan?" Lee calls the boy. "Care to ref?"

    He smiles. "Sure thing!" Brendan bounds to the side of the arena and clears his throat. "This will be a one-on-one match between Lee of Littleroot and Tyson of Mauville! The battle will end when either pokemon is no longer able to fight. Select your first pokemon!"

    A crowd quickly gathers around the arena as the people watching realize a battle is about to start. Already, cellphones and PokeNavs appear in people''s hands, ready to capture the action.

    Lee draws Grovyle''s ball from his belt and enlarges it as Tyson pulls one from his. Reeling his hand back, the zoologist tosses his ball in with Tyson following suit a second later.

    "Grovyle! You''re up!"

    "Donphan! Let''s go!"

    Grovyle materializes on Lee''s side in a crouch, one hand planted against the ground, his eyes closed. Slowly, he rises, shifting his twig to the corner of his mouth and crossing his arms. His eyes snap open, then he dismissively scans the on-lookers, who eat up the dramatic intro with cheers.

    Lee shakes his head as he feels Vulpix''s exasperation. ''Just let him have his theatrics.''

    When the bright white light clears around Tyson''s pokemon, it reveals a scowling Donphan.

    The squat pokemon resembles an armored elephant just a bit over four feet tall at the highest point of his hunched back. Thick, rock-like armor covers the outside of his trunk and continues up his back, covering both his long ears and tail. Long ivory tusks shine in the sunlight just below Donphan''s narrowed eyes. The pokemon''s body carries small, discolored scars and chips in his armor here and there, much like the marks across Grovyle''s torso.

    Donphan raises his trunk and cows the small crowd with a trumpeting, bone-shaking cry that echoes off of the tall Slateport buildings in the distance.

    ''Huh, that''s a fearsome pokemon. Less so than Absol, though. I hope we don''t discourage him enough that he gives up again.'' Lee shrugs. ''I wish I knew where this Tyson guy was from in the anime, though...''

    "Begin!" Brendan chops a hand down.

    Tyson''s eyes narrow and focus solely on the pokemon in the arena "Focus Energy!" Tyson wastes no time calling out an order.

    ''Uh oh...'' Lee frowns. "Grovyle, circle and use Leaf Blade!"

    "Catch and punish him, Donphan!" Tyson''s mouth is moving before the last syllable of Lee''s order is even out of his mouth.

    Donphan lets out another trumpeting cry and raises his trunk, orange energy crackling like lightning around his body briefly. His narrow eyes shine with cruel intent.

    At the same time. Grovyle raises his arm, the leaves on his wrist growing into rigid Leaf Blades. Then without needing to be told, the white aura of Quick Attack bursts to life around him before he charges forward as a featureless blur of green, curving to come in on Donphan''s left.

    Donphan moves.

    Before Leaf Blade can tear into Donphan''s hide, his trunk comes down like lightning and wraps around Grovyle''s wrist in one precise movement, stopping Leaf Blade dead just an inch short of landing. Grovyle seems stunned, then struggles to pull himself free, but Donphan doesn''t budge or even look as if he''s straining his muscles keeping a hold on Grovyle.

    "What the hell?" The words pour from Lee''s mouth unbidden. At the side of the arena, even Brendan seems dumbfounded from how easily Grovyle was stopped. Zinnia, who stands further back, looks on with her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline.

    Donphan''s scowl twists into a malicious smile, and with a simple flex of his trunk, Grovyle''s wrist snaps like a dry twig, drawing a collective wince from everyone watching.

    The gecko pokemon bites his lip hard enough to draw blood, but does not cry out.

    "Other hand, Grovyle! Leaf Blade! Get him off of you!" A cold feeling settles Lee''s stomach even as he gives the order.

    Grovyle''s first Leaf Blade powers down, and the leaves on his free hand, powered by desperation, flare into bright, humming blades.

    "Deflect and punish with Fire Fang!" Tyson orders the instant before Grovyle swings.

    Donphan''s tusks burst into raging, crackling flames, and a simple twist of his trunk redirects Grovyle''s attack into the closest tusk.

    Leaf Blade and Fire Fang meet with the sound of steel-on-steel, and after a half-second, the Leaf Blade shatters.

    The other tusk is then savagely driven into Grovyle''s stomach right as Donphan releases the gecko pokemon''s broken wrist from his trunk.

    Grovyle''s high pitched cry -almost screech- of agony is as harsh on Lee''s ears as seeing his pokemon in pain is to his heart. Grovyle lands on the concrete ground and skids for several feet, breaking off scales and scraping the soft flesh underneath. He stops nearly at Lee''s feet and lays on the ground, panting in short gasps.

    Donphan takes a few heavy steps forward and snorts almost dismissively.

    With a grimace, Grovyle slowly rises to his feet, cradling his snapped wrist as he glares daggers at the armored pokemon, drawing cheers and shouts of encouragement from the people watching. On his belly is an ugly burn, like a red-hot iron was pressed to his flesh, the leaves on his left arm are ragged and half-gone, and his right arm hangs limply at his side. From his view of Grovyle''s back, Lee looks at the mess of scrapes and cuts with a grimace.

    Tyson''s focused eyes narrow a little further, almost to slits. "Superpower!" he almost roars.

    Donphan rushes forward like a bullet-train, each step breaking the concrete ground below him as a shell of blinding red energy forms around him. Under the shell, the elephant pokemon''s muscles all bulge with raised veins and ripple in sync with each step.

    ''Shit shit shit!'' Lee panics. "Detect!"

    Grovyle''s eyes shine with sudden clarity, instantly chasing away the weariness that dominated them before, then with a tensing of his legs, he jumps over Donphan with less than an inch to spare.

    Donphan grunts, then stops on a dime and jumps right along with Grovyle, making a shallow crater in the ground from the sheer strength of the leap.

    Grovyle''s Detect-powered eyes widen, and he rapidly charges Quick Attack to launch himself through the air to safety, but Donphan is just a hair too fast.

    Like a boulder hurled from a catapult, Donphan hits Grovyle and dispels both Detect and Quick Attack. Grovyle''s head brutally smashes off of Donphan''s Superpowered hide, instantly knocking the Grass-type unconscious before he''s thrown straight up from the force. At the apex of his flight, nearly as high as the fountain, Grovyle begins to fall, limp and dead to the world.

    Lee''s hand grabs Grovyle''s ball with haste borne of terror, then his arm snaps out as he begins to yell "Return!"

    Grovyle is caught by the beam of red and sucked back into his pokeball just ten feet away from a painful meeting with the ground.

    Brendan looks between the unscathed Donphan and the spot where Grovyle was about to land with something akin to confusion. "Uhh. Grovyle is unable to battle. Tyson and Donphan are the winners?"

    The onlookers break out into applause, but some look disgruntled, and Lee hears one old sailor grumble; "Only a minute? What a waste."

    ''Did that really take just a minute?'' Lee wonders, his head feeling light and stomach-churning. ''How...?''

    Vulpix nuzzles herself into the crook of his neck, psychically smothering him in waves of comfort, but it doesn''t help.

    Across the battleground, Tyson breaks out into a bright smile as Donphan returns to his side. The elephant''s scowl drops off, replaced with a bright, bubbly expression that would be right at home on a Phanpy. He reaches his trunk up at his trainer, and Tyson gladly drops to a knee to accept a hug from Donphan. The trainer and pokemon break apart, and after saying something too quiet for Lee to hear, Donphan is returned to his ball.

    "Good match, Lee!" Tyson smiles as he walks up with a hand held out. "Sorry if Donphan was a little rough on Grovyle. One of the lessons we learned on the road was to not give any quarter, or we could lose at any time. No hard feelings?"

    Lee looks down at the offered hand. A spiteful, childish part of him wants to slap the hand away and tell Tyson to get lost, but after a brief internal struggle, the rational side wins out, if only barely. With a sigh, Lee reaches out and takes Tyson''s hand in a weak handshake. "Yeah. No hard feelings..."

    If the younger man senses the barely hidden hostility, he doesn''t comment on it. Instead, he turns to the still dumbfounded Brendan and the now indifferent Zinnia. "It was nice meeting you all, but I''ve got to get going to Mauville. I hope we meet again, if not on the road, then in the Ever Grande Conference!"

    The crowd disperses as Tyson walks to the north into Slateport proper with a wave behind him, leaving just Lee, Vulpix, Zinnia, and Brendan.

    "Pokemon Center?" Zinnia suggests.

    As they leave, the Slowbro in the fountain awakens and surveys the destruction of the battleground with a lazy eye. With a slow, almost casual wave of his paw, all the concrete fragments glow a light blue and fly back into their spots like time itself is being reversed, leaving the arena clean and in one piece.

    The walk to Slateport''s Pokemon Center is brisk and quiet. Vulpix stops trying to comfort Lee about half-way there when it''s made apparent that she''s being ignored. The vixen instead goes silent, but not before Lee hears a whisper quiet ''So*ry''.

    Lee just kicks himself for what feels like the millionth time today.

    When they get to the Pokemon Center, Lee swiftly checks-in Grovyle, followed by Brendan handing off Mawile''s ball to a dental specialist that Nurse Joy calls from the back of the Center, then the group stops in the lounge area to enjoy some rest away from Slateport''s muggy heat.

    With a sleeping Vulpix in his lap, Lee leans back into the old couch in the secluded corner of the Center''s main room with Zinnia on his right and Brendan on his left. Zinnia busies herself watching a young woman check in her Dratini with Nurse Joy at the front desk while a fidgeting Brendan looks though his pokedex.

    Finally, Zinnia breaks the silence with a sharp exhale. "Okay, do you want me to give it to you straight, or spare your feelings and keep my mouth shut?" The dragon tamer looks at Lee. "Because I know which one I want to choose."

    Lee blinks at suddenly being addressed. "I don''t understand?"

    "About why you lost that battle so badly," she says, brushing some hair behind her ear.

    "There was nothing that could be done!" Brendan hotly speaks in Lee''s defense. "That Donphan was too strong!"

    "Brendan."

    The boy stops when Zinnia actually uses his name. She crosses her arms and continues. "You''ve seen it too, and it''s best to get it out now." Then she turns back to Lee, who is still lost. "I had my doubts back in Oldale when you said you were a beginner trainer, but as we''ve traveled, I''ve come to believe it. Your brains and prep work are top notch, but you''re a mediocre battler, Lee."

    The words sting his pride much more than Lee cares to admit, and he struggles to suppress a flicker of anger. "What makes you say that?" He responds, careful to keep his tone neutral.

    "You can never seem to settle on a style, for one." Zinnia begins, holding up a single finger. "You''re all over the place, and not in a good way. Your pokemon are freaky powerful, probably because of how you care for them, and you rely way too much on that. They can overpower other pokemon easily and battle more-or-less on their own. You''ve got little tricks that can turn the tide of a fight, yeah, but you make choices that make me scratch my head sometimes."

    Lee notices that Brendan doesn''t come to his defense, and an unpleasant feeling he can''t identify rolls around in his stomach. "And you have a style? I recall you just sort of went wild in Dewford."

    Zinnia''s face twists into a scowl and Lee instantly knows he misspoke. "You have some gall saying that. This isn''t about me, so don''t deflect it onto me. I do have a style of battling, and if you want to be like that, I''ll be happy to demonstrate it."

    A growl interrupts any further words, and everyone looks to the now awake Vulpix, who stands and glowers at Zinnia with her hackles raised.

    "And you!" The draconid growls right back at the fire fox. "You''re part of the problem! You''re telepathic, aren''t you?"

    "What?" Lee''s mind goes blank. "How did you...?"

    "Telepathic..?" Brendan parrots in confusion.

    Zinnia snorts. "I''m not stupid, so don''t insult me by implying I am, Lee. I can put two and two together, and I can research to see what pokemon has what powers. I was just wondering how long you were going to keep it under wraps."

    Lee isn''t sure how to respond, and the sinking feeling in his stomach is too distracting to think of a reply anyway.

    In the back of his mind, Vulpix begins feeding him an explan-

    "Right there!" Zinnia''s voice startles both Vulpix and Lee out of the mental exchange. The tanned woman points a finger at Vulpix, as if damning her. "You both spaced out for a second. Are you giving him answers and making decisions for him?"

    Vulpix''s answer is just a glare.

    "You are, and you''re enabling these bad habits," Zinnia accuses.

    Now it''s Lee''s turn to glare. "Leave Vulpix out of this."

    "I will if she stays out of our conversation," Zinnia counters without hesitation. Then she sighs and lets her expression soften just slightly. "Look, I''m not saying all of this just to be an asshole. Just let me finish, okay?"

    Without waiting for an answer, Zinnia bulldozes on. "One," she holds up a finger again. "You battle like you''re just guessing, and you panic and pull last-second tricks when things go wrong. It works because your pokemon are powerful enough to make do, but up against someone with a refined style, or stronger pokemon, or both like that guy Tyson? It''s going to fail every time. Two," a second finger rises. "You second guess yourself all the time, then let your pokemon decide for you. You are the trainer in the relationship so you should be the one calling the shots. It''s fine to consult your team and stuff, but the roles of trainer and pokemon are the way they are for a reason. You''ve got to be confident to be a good trainer. Three," now three fingers are held up on her hand. "Stop being afraid of failure."

    Affront floods Lee and he can''t stop his offended reply. "I''m not."

    "You are," Zinnia shoots back, her brows furrowing. "You can deny it all you want, maybe you don''t even realize it, but you are. You stumble into battles and flail your way to victory, acting like losing means death. If it was Brendan or I or any other trainer who battled Tyson, we''d shake off the loss in a minute or two, because we know we can''t win all the time. You''re still moping and it''s been nearly an hour."

    "Is this the part where you tell me you''re a psychiatrist or some shit?" Lee snaps, his emotions finally reaching a boiling point. "Go on. I''m waiting," he says with a sarcastic wave of his hand.

    Zinnia''s scowl deepens. "Work with Dragons sometime. You''ll learn real fast that reading body language is a skill dragon tamers need. A skill that I thought you had, jackass. I guess not since you feel the need to insult my intelligence again." The dragon-tamer stands suddenly. "I dunno what kind of complex you''ve got, but fix it before it lands you with something worse than those," she points to the burn lines across Lee''s face. "I''m going for a walk. Bye." With that, she turns and walks to the exit of the Center with a clipped pace.

    "Wait!" Lee''s plea stops Zinnia for a moment. "Why did you wait so long to say anything?"

    "Why are you still holding things back from us?" She shoots back before quickly making her way out the door.

    Lee is quiet for a moment, the anger bubbling in his chest clashing with a sudden surge of melancholy before both burn out, leaving him empty. Then he turns to a very uncomfortable-looking Brendan. "Brendan? Does... Does it seem like I have no idea what I''m doing in battles?"

    Vulpix''s almost instinctual attempt to telepathically deny the statement is halted when Lee places a palm on her head with a quiet hush.

    The boy hesitates, his eyes looking around at anything but Lee''s face. "Well... I always thought it was some kind of strategy that was just too complex for me to get. I didn''t really know..?"

    Slowly, Lee stands and Vulpix hops from his lap to the floor. He tries to think of what to do next, and Vulpix is silent in his mind. After a moment, he says; "I''m going to get a hotel room. I''ve got some things to think over. I''ll text you the address and room number later, okay?"

    The boy nods quickly, and Lee begins the aimless walk out of the Center''s doors into the streets of Slateport.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    He and Vulpix weave through the people on the sidewalk, looking around without actually seeing anything. Vulpix keeps pace at his feet as they walk, seeming just as lost in thought as her trainer.

    After almost thirty minutes of wandering, they come across a chain hotel that Lee''s bleary mind judges as ''good enough'', and a swipe of his debit card later, he and Vulpix are resting in a two bed hotel room with the lights off and the curtains drawn.

    As he lays back in the bed, minus his boots, gloves, and jacket, Lee''s mind keeps replaying Zinnia''s words over and over again as he stares at the ceiling.

    You battle like you''re just guessing, and you panic and pull last-second tricks when things go wrong.

    You second guess yourself all the time, then let your pokemon decide for you. You are the trainer in the relationship so you should be the one calling the shots.

    Stop being afraid of failure.

    With a sigh, Lee sits up and crosses his legs, drawing Vulpix''s worried eyes from where she rests at his side. "Vulpix? Do you think..."

    ''You already know what she thinks.''

    The former zookeeper stops himself short. "Should I..." He stops again and balls his hands up. "I don''t..."

    You second guess yourself all the time, then let your pokemon decide for you.

    Lee grits his teeth. "Damn it!" he pounds a fist on the bed.

    Vulpix watches on, but does not offer any comfort like she usually would. Slowly, she stands and pads her way to the foot of the bed, where Lee''s backpack, discarded jacket, and pokeball belt lay. The vixen taps her pokeball with a paw and pulls Corvisquire''s ball free with another. Her ball enlarges and sucks her inside as a mass of red light, and Corvisquire''s shrunken pokeball freely rolls to rest against Lee''s leg.

    The action is so unexpected that it takes Lee a moment to process it, but her message to speak to someone else isn''t lost to him.

    ''Does she think she''s influencing me in some way? Zinnia''s words didn''t bug Vulpix that much, did they?'' Lee silently ponders, taking Corvisquire''s ball in his hand and enlarging it with a push of the button. ''I don''t think she''s influencing me. What does Zinnia know? She doesn''t understand the full story.''

    Lee falls back to the bed with a quiet poof from the covers, rolling Corvisquire''s ball in his fingers as his jumbled thoughts bounce around in his head. "Maybe I do need someone to talk to about all this. I can barely focus..."

    His thumb falls on the pokeball''s button, and in a blinding flash of light, the ball pops open and deposits Corvisquire on the bed beside him.

    The raven looks even more displeased than usual with his left wing still tightly wrapped with a splint and not due to be freed for another few days. He glances around the darkened room, and upon spying just Lee, who looks at the ceiling rather than him, some of Corvisquire''s customary anger is traded for confusion.

    "It''s just us, Corvi," Lee quietly explains, turning his head enough to see the bird pokemon. "Some stuff happened today, and Vulpix thinks I should talk to someone other than her. Grovyle is hurt and still at the Pokemon Center, otherwise I''m sure he would have volunteered. Sorry for bothering you."

    Corvisquire just sighs and sits, already looking disinterested.

    "You don''t have to respond back, if you could just listen, that would be great," Lee mutters, meeting Corvisquire''s red eyes for a moment. The red eyes roll and the raven gives a noncommittal nod. "We battled a guy today, Tyson. It was a one on one between Grovyle and his Donphan, and Grovyle lost without even managing to scratch Donphan."

    That gets Corvisquire''s attention, making the corvid actually listen to Lee intently.

    "It was frustrating, more than anything on our journey yet. I don''t know why it bugged me so much," Lee growls. "Brawly could have just as easily said our draw wasn''t worth a badge, and I don''t think that would have upset me this much�� We got to the Pokemon Center after the battle with Tyson and checked-in Grovyle. Brendan, Zinnia, and I sat and talked for a bit, and Zinnia said we lost because..." He pauses. "Because I rely too much on you guys being healthy and powerful, and that I''m not a good trainer for battling. Do you agree with that?"

    Corvisquire unhelpfully trills in his throat. The sound is distinctly uncaring.

    "Right..." Lee grimaces. "She also said I need to stop being afraid of failing, and that I need to get over it before I end up with something worse than these," he rubs the left side of his face, feeling the scars pull and stretch the healthy skin around them unpleasantly. "Corvi? I know she''s told Grovyle bits, but has Vulpix told you where I got these?"

    The bird is silent, then shakes his head in negation. If he was paying attention before, then he''s truly focused now.

    "I haven''t told Brendan or Zinnia either, and I''m not sure when I will be ready to, but I know it has to be soon..." Lee takes a deep breath to brace himself. "Before I was a pokemon trainer, I lived in a place without pokemon at all. There, I made a living caring for animals. You know? The creatures that look like pokemon, but lack your spark or intelligence? We got warning when it was already too late that some unknown faction of humans used..." Lee stops as images flash before his eyes, and pushing them away without Vulpix''s help is a struggle that makes his fists clench. "Bombs. Flying bombs with enough power to level an entire city. As far as I know, I was the only one to escape and it''s a miracle that I did. It''s a miracle that Vulpix found me and kept me sane. My animals, friends, and family are gone, and all I got for the trouble was a torn-up face as a bad memento."

    Lee once again pauses, memories halting the words in his mouth. "Corvi?" He finally asks, voice little more than whisper. "I''ve been thinking about them less and less. I''m just... out of tears I suppose. Or maybe I''m running away from the thoughts, I don''t know." When the raven pokemon doesn''t reply, Lee continues on before his nerve can give out. "When you evolve into a Corviknight, can you fly me to Littleroot? I want to make a grave for them. Just a little one, so they''re not forgotten."

    Corvisquire, who has been silent and listening with a blank face the entire time, slowly nods.

    "Thank you..." Lee breathes, feeling a little lighter. "I''m sorry to have kept this from you for so long, but I wasn''t sure how to say it. Maybe Zinnia is right. Maybe I do need to be more confident, or be more decisive. I''m just not sure how. What I am sure of, is I need to improve. I need to grow so you, Grovyle, and Vulpix can grow."

    Corvisquire''s scoff is much less venomous than expected.

    With reluctance, Lee''s hand snakes into his pocket and withdraws his wallet. From it, he pulls a little card he was given weeks ago.

    1800-2134-9991

    Post Traumatic Stress Specialists of Hoenn.

    100% Confidential. All insurance types accepted.

    He stares at the card for what feels like hours when really only a minute passes. Then he puts the card away and stuffs his wallet back in his pocket.

    "I don''t need that," he mutters. "Not yet." Feeling his eyelids grow heavy as the events of the day catch up with him, Lee turns to Corvisquire a bit more. "I''m just going to take a short nap, alright?"

    With a sigh, the raven pokemon hops onto the other pillow and stomps a divot into it, then he seats himself and gets comfortable.

    "Thanks, Corvi," Lee murmurs as his eyes drift shut.

 Act 1: Chapter 19

    In the dim morning light that streams in through the mostly-drawn curtain of the hotel window, Lee sits on the edge of his bed and looks down at his hands.

    He slept for several hours yesterday until a hungry and annoyed Corvisquire made his displeasure known with a nip to Lee''s nose. After feeding the ornery raven and still-quiet Vulpix, Lee made the trek to the Pokemon Center to pick up Grovyle, who was on a no-battle advisory for two days until his wrist finished healing. The gecko pokemon was sullen over his loss, but a good meal perked him up.

    He passed Zinnia in the street on the way back, and neither of them exchanged words, or even looked at each other.

    The rest of the evening was spent in an uncomfortable silence with his pokemon, then by himself when his team decided to sleep in their balls. He tried to distract himself with a video from one of the Rustboro university courses, but his troubled mind refused to focus. Sleep escaped Lee until nearly midnight as he dwelt on Zinnia''s words.

    He thinks back to the weeks he''s spent with Brendan and Zinnia. It seems like every other day there is a spar between them all, and Lee can count his team''s losses on one hand with fingers to spare.

    ''Style. What did she mean by style?''

    Zinnia''s battles all come to mind. It always seemed like she was a simple berserker, going full throttle and ruthlessly exploiting any openings. Openings that her pokemon made by using Mist, Smokescreen, Sand Attack, shooting at her foe''s feet, and other ways to halt and break momentum so her pokemon can take a low-risk, advantageous position. Then when the opponent exposes any weakness, Zinnia''s pokemon move in and strike like vipers, repeating attacks if needed so the moment isn''t wasted.

    ''She does have a style!'' Lee blinks as the realization hits him like a train. ''And she sticks to it. Is that how she keeps her flow in battle? What about Brendan?''

    Again, he dredges up memories, this time of Brendan''s battles. With how often Marshtomp is used, it always looked like Brendan''s strategy was to just punch the meat off of anything in front of him, but the more battles he thinks about, the more Lee realizes just how far from the truth that is.

    Brendan plays his pokemon''s strengths like a master. Marshtomp always keeps a measured pace, his stamina seemingly endless with how he takes his time, giving Brendan all the time in the world to come up with a plan. Each blow is calculated, with Marshtomp taking hits so long as he can retaliate with greater force, and when physical force fails, he backs off to attack from range.

    Shroomish meanwhile almost never fights head on at Brendan''s order, always patiently waiting for his Poison Powder and Leech Seeds to sap his opponent dry. All his real attacks are to simply make the opposing pokemon back off or to herd them into a more advantageous position.

    ''Brendan battles like he''s playing chess.''

    Lee takes his phone off the nightstand and opens his browser. A few taps of his fingers later, and he''s signed into BattleNet, looking up Brendan''s battles.

    The battle with Roxanne was rough, but Brendan showed his tactical prowess there in a subtle way, finishing with a genius non-verbal Bide. The bout with Brawly truly shined, as Brendan kept control of the battle from start to finish. Brawly made a mistake using his inexperienced Mienfoo, and by the time Hitmonchan took to the field, the Gym Leader played into Brendan''s hands.

    ''I never realized that there was such a level of depth to how they battle.'' Lee realizes. Then a more sobering thought hits him. ''What else have I missed? Maybe I should take Brendan out to eat or something as a late congratulations. What does he like again?''

    Another unpleasant realization is thrust upon him then. He doesn''t know what Brendan''s favorite food is. Lee bites his lip in concentration. He doesn''t know what the younger trainer enjoys eating, or his favorite color, or even his birthday... And the same can be said for his knowledge on Zinnia. The only personal things he knows about her is her love of Dragon types and first choice of drinks.

    And the last one is because she explicitly said it, not because he noticed.

    ''...Oh my God, am I blind or something? How do I not know these things? They''re my friends. I should know all of this.'' Lee shakes the distressing thought away and focuses back on his earlier problem of a battle style, and what exactly Zinnia meant by it.

    ''Is this what I''m lacking?'' Lee wonders, running his thumb over the cool glass of the cell phone in his hand. ''Would I do better if I had my own way of battling? Like a set of operating procedures?''

    Not trusting his bruised ego to present his memories fairly, Lee gulps and types his own name into BattleNet''s search bar, finding videos of both the Dewford Gym battle and the beach tournament.

    As he watches the videos play out on his phone, Lee feels his heart sink as he picks out countless opportunities he wasted, points where he froze, so many mistakes where he just seems to give a random order. Firespin in the first round of Dewford''s tournament was utter overkill, and the last match with Andre''s Absol was won because Treecko took charge when Lee himself choked. His way of battling is purely reactive.

    ''Would I freeze up less if I had a style or procedure?'' He silently asks himself again.

    He sets the phone on the bed, mind whirling as he rises and gets dressed for the day. Looking at the messy state of the other bed, he concludes that Brendan must have crept in during the night, slept, then left again all before he woke up.

    The last thing Lee dons is his pokeball belt, holding Grovyle, Corvisquire... and Vulpix, all of whom elected to sleep in their balls. Grovyle and Corvisquire were obvious considering their injuries, and Vulpix...

    Lee gives the thin psychic thread leading to Vulpix''s ball a tug with his mind, just to confirm she''s there. A second later, the thread is tugged on the other end, drawing a small smile from him.

    Knock knock knock!

    "Eh? The maid or something?" The zoologist wonders aloud as he turns to the locked hotel door. He walks over and cracks open the door, peering through to see who knocked.

    On the other side of the threshold, a disheveled Zinnia stands, nervously wringing a handful of her cloak and looking down at her feet.

    Schooling his face into one of careful neutrality, Lee-

    "I''m sorry!" Zinnia suddenly blurts, her eyes darting up to meet his. "Can I come in and talk to you?"

    Taken aback, Lee absently opens the door the rest of the way and lets the woman in. She slowly steps past him before seating herself heavily on the edge of Lee''s bed.

    Lee, meanwhile, closes the door and turns to lean against it with his arms crossed, waiting.

    For almost a solid minute, neither of them say anything. Lee waits, unsure what to expect while Zinnia balls her hands up in her lap, refusing to look at him.

    Finally, she sighs and looks up, startling the former zookeeper with how remorseful she looks. "Lee, I uh..." She trails off and looks away once more, uncharacteristically quiet. "I want to apologize for yesterday. I''m not sorry for saying what I did, but I am sorry for how I said it, and I''m sorry for not saying something sooner. I started traveling with you and Brendan just to see what makes you tick, but..." Zinnia looks up, her shoulders slumped and ruby eyes forlorn. "You''ve been a nice friend to me even if you are kinda distant. You remind me so much of Aster, and after yesterday, a bit of that image kinda shattered and it made me angry like I lost her again."

    She pauses to take a deep breath and seemingly gather her thoughts. "I shouldn''t have blown up like that. You''re not Aster, and I shouldn''t take my issues out on you because you remind me of her. She had no problem sharing whatever was on her mind, and I guess it just frustrated me that you aren''t the same."

    It''s there Lee realizes just why he never seemed to bother learning about Brendan or Zinnia, or why the revelation of their unique manners in pokemon battles surprised him.

    Zinnia is more than just ''Zinnia the Lorekeeper'' with some flavor text in her background. That first night in Dewford wasn''t a lore dump. She can hurt just like you. She is real just like you.

    You aren''t the protagonist of some game. This is your life now.

    The logical part of his brain already knows this, but the sudden acceptance makes Lee''s stomach flip and his head light.

    Zinnia''s head drops into her hands and she runs a hand through her hair. "It''s not fair to you, Lee, and I''m sorry. I... still want to be your friend and travel with you, if you''ll let me," she says, looking up at him hopefully.

    For a moment, Lee sits and debates with himself. Is it worth it to forgive her? The apologies seem genuine, and the longer he waits, the more she fidgets and the more the hope in her eyes begins to fade. Still, she called him mediocre when his win rate is something to behold and worse yet, made Vulpix doubt her relationship with him.

    What he and Vulpix have is special. Maybe even unique. Zinnia has no place sticking her nose into it.

    ...Then he remembers the dragon tamer''s words in full, proclaiming that his wins are because of his pokemon''s health, not his own ability, and how she never said to totally stop speaking with Vulpix, just to make decisions on his own.

    ''Have I been getting full of myself without noticing?''

    All the arguments Lee''s still smarting pride forced into his mouth, primed and ready to tear into Zinnia like razors, crumble and vanish. The anger boiling in his chest cools, leaving him strangely empty. He sighs and rubs the back of his head. "It''s... okay, Zinnia," even with his ire extinguished, the words still sting his mouth just a bit. "I don''t appreciate how harsh your dressing down was, but I think it opened my eyes a little bit. It would be dumb to throw away our friendship, no matter how flimsy it is, over one fight."

    She blinks in surprise and her mouth drops open before she closes her jaws with a quiet click. Then she smiles so brightly that it practically lights up the room. She stands and in one deft movement, pulls Lee into a tight hug.

    The sudden hug makes Lee stiffen, but Zinnia doesn''t seem to notice as she pulls away, smile still in place. "Thanks, Dolittle. I''m not good with all this emotional stuff as you probably know by now."

    ''Dolittle?'' Is Lee''s bemused thought. ''Is Dr. Dolittle even a story here?''

    "And it''s just Zinnia saying this, not Lorekeeper Zinnia," She continues, looking away as her smile wanes into something a bit more wistful. "If you ever want to talk about anything to someone who isn''t a pokemon, I can listen if nothing else. Only when you''re ready, though!" Her soft voice rises into a demand at the end, complete with a thin finger pointed at his face.

    Lee''s chest grows warm, and at the same time, he can''t stop the amused half-laugh that escapes through his nose. "Yeah, sure thing. I don''t know when I''ll be ready to talk, but when I am, I''ll let you know."

    "Of course!" She exclaims with a grin. "Here, I got this for you, too."

    Lee raises an eyebrow when the draconid tribeswoman reaches back into the Silph pouch at the small of her back and withdraws a colorful blue and red ticket. "Oh?"

    "This little baby is a ticket to the Battle Tent here in Slateport!" Zinnia says, waving the bit of paper before Lee''s eyes. "They''ve got big prizes for trainers who do well in their battles, and the gimmick in Slateport''s Battle Tent is rental pokemon. It''ll be good practice to battle with pokemon who aren''t naturals in the field like your own."

    "Battle Tent, huh?" Lee asks as he takes the offered ticket and looks it over, finding the address, a little serial number, and effective date on its redemption to be from now until next week. ''I kind of forgot about these.''

    "Mmhm," Zinnia nods. "Kind of like a mini Battle Frontier with less snobs." She looks around, her smile falling somewhat. "Say, uh, where is your Vulpix?" She asks, looking somewhat nervous again. "I feel like I should apologize to her, too."

    Lee''s gaze drops down to the pokeballs at his waist, and slowly, he pulls Vulpix''s ball free and rolls it between his fingers. "I haven''t spoken to her since last night, so I''m not sure what sort of mood she''s in."

    The dragon tamer grimaces. "Oh."

    Regardless, Lee hits the button on the pokeball, making it grow to full size with a low whine before it bursts open.

    Instantly, he can feel Vulpix''s mind reach out to his before she''s even fully materialized, and he gladly embraces the little probe of thought. She hesitates, but then gives in and floods his psyche with rolling waves of love, instantly washing away his lingering worry.

    When she fully takes form upon the bed, Vulpix blinks the stars from her eyes before turning her chilled gaze to Zinnia.

    To the dragon tamer''s credit, she doesn''t falter at Vulpix''s nearly palpable displeasure. "Hey Vulpix." Zinnia begins awkwardly. "I dunno if you bothered to listen to Lee and I talk, but I wanted to say I''m sorry to you. I shouldn''t have gotten snappy with you when you''re probably doing the things you do for Lee''s sake, right?"

    Although Lee can feel a trickle of surprise from her, the vixen''s face remains impassive as she gives Zinnia a single clipped nod.

    "I still stand by what I said," Zinnia frowns. "I don''t think you should be making decisions for Lee when he should be the one to do it, but I could have been nicer about it, so... I''m sorry," she says, swallowing her pride and inclining her head.

    Vulpix''s frigid anger lessens considerably, but she still turns her nose up at Zinnia in dismissal.

    "Well, I don''t think she forgives you, not yet, but she''s not as upset anymore," Lee supplies, looking between his two friends.

    Zinnia''s face scrunches up in annoyance, but rather than make a fuss, she just takes a deep breath. "I can live with that for now..." She mutters. "Anyway, enough of this gloomy shit. Shrimpy said he was going to run an errand his dad asked of him, so let''s go check out the huge market in the west side of town. It''s supposedly got stuff that can''t be found anywhere else, and we might find supplies that could be useful in getting your style going. C''mon!"

    Before Lee can get a word in, Zinnia seizes his hand with her own and pulls him along with surprising strength, barely giving him enough time to wrap his free hand around one of the straps of his backpack and drag it along.

    Vulpix just shakes her head and leaps to Lee''s shoulder before either trainer can get too far.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Outside the hotel, Zinnia releases her ironclad grip on Lee''s hand, making him flex his slightly numb fingers until he can feel them again. "No need to break my hand. It''s not like I was going anywhere," he says dryly.

    Zinnia puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow, the corners of her mouth perking up. "It''s hard to tell with you, Dolittle," she says, starting a brisk walk down the sidewalk. Lee follows just beside her as she continues. "You''ve got three expressions. ''Tiny smile'', ''surprised'', and ''blank''. It''s not often I see something else on that mug of yours."

    "Really?" Lee muses aloud. "It might be because anything intensive pulls at these," he says, tapping his index and middle fingers on the left side of his face. "It''s probably a subconscious thing now."

    Zinnia winces. "Ah... Wow, I really need to stop putting my foot in my mouth..." She mutters.

    "It''s fine," Lee reassures as they come to a stop at a crosswalk with a few other people waiting to cross. He glances up and down the street, noting the amount of cars on the road and how their numbers are dwarfed by scooters, motorcycles, large delivery vans, and even a few pokemon mounts in traffic. Further down the road, Lee spies a woman astride a Sawsbuck laden with saddlebags, who is stuck trotting behind a slow, miniature car. The deer pokemon snorts and leaps right over the small, slow car with effortless grace. His hooves land on the asphalt with a staccato of cli-cli-clip, then Sawsbuck and his passenger catch up to the rest of traffic easily.

    Lee almost doesn''t notice the crosswalk signal change until Zinnia is already a few steps ahead of him in the street, forcing him to pick up the pace.

    "So what exactly is in the Slateport market?" Lee asks as they walk away from the hotel and resort part of town into Slateport''s downtown, where the city is already bustling. He recalls the market in the games sold some unique items, but in a real pokemon world? It could be anything. "Something special I''m assuming."

    "More like everything special," Zinnia grins with a bounce in her step. "A big port town like this? It''s got a huge market square with everything you could ever imagine. Exotic food, clothes, electronics, jewelry, you name it, and that''s just for normal people. You better believe they''ve got tons for trainers and pokemon too. Maybe you''ll even find an interesting pokemon to buy."

    The same thought runs through both Lee and Vulpix''s heads independently, and Lee feels his lips pull downward into a frown. "Please tell me there are licencing and proper care requirements in place for pokemon merchants..."

    "Duh. The city probably wouldn''t let them do business otherwise," Zinnia rolls her eyes. "You worry too much, you know that? Just live in the moment sometime!"

    "I''ve got you and Brendan to do that for me," The zoologist smiles, making an effort to make it a little more expressive. The end result is more of a smirk when the left side of his face doesn''t quite lift as much as the right. "If I don''t worry, who will?"

    She smiles again and shakes her head. The expression is rather pretty, now that he looks at her not as Zinnia the 2D party member, but Zinnia, his friend.

    ''Kinda moronic of me to accept pokemon as more real than other people, or did you help me get over that so quickly that I didn''t notice?'' Lee silently asks Vulpix, who makes her curious not-purr in a noncommittal reply. ''Eh. We''ll make things work either way.''

    "You know, now that I know it''s telepathy for sure, it''s real interesting to see it work, even if I can''t tell what''s being said." Zinnia suddenly says, pulling Lee and Vulpix from their silent conversation. Both trainer and pokemon look over at the dragon tamer. "What''s it like? Er, if you feel like saying," she hastily amends.

    Lee carefully thinks over the answer for a moment, remembering Professor Birch''s warning. ''I should give her something, though.''

    He looks around at the other people on the street, and when satisfied that all of them are too absorbed in their own business, he looks back to an openly curious Zinnia. "Well, it''s kind of hard to describe," Lee begins, raising a finger and tapping his temple. "There''s no words, just urges, emotions, and sensations. It took a week of constant back-and-forth before Vulpix and I got the hang of understanding each other. Even now, though, not everything is one hundred percent clear. Humans and pokemon have a radically different mental makeup and I have to put myself in Vulpix''s shoes for some things to make sense."

    Zinnia blinks. "Put yourself in her shoes, huh? How does that work?"

    "Again, that''s rather hard to put into words," Lee thinks for a moment as they walk. "I just have to stop thinking like a human, and start thinking like a pokemon. Things they see as common and logical are alien to you and I, and you really have to stretch your definition of ''logic'' to come to the same conclusions that a pokemon might. You have to take into account how they see the world with their stronger senses, the tools at their disposal to deal with the problems the world throws them, how those senses and tools would be applied to different stimuli, and the knowledge and personality held by the individual pokemon." He leaves out how the intelligence of pokemon makes this much easier than with common animals.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Seeing Zinnia paying rapt attention, Lee continues. "Even then, I''m oversimplifying this by quite a bit. This is all useful not in just telepathy, but in understanding pokemon in general," he punctuates the statement by reaching a hand up and stoking Vulpix''s chin, who leans into the hand with a small smile. "Knowing the hows and why of their behaviour, imagining yourself in their place, and emulating said behaviour to better connect with them and aid with communication brings you closer together. With this understanding, you can tailor-fit your care for them as well," he smiles along with Vulpix, letting his fingers trail up to her heart-marked ear.

    Zinnia''s hand rises to rub her chin as she looks down at the sidewalk. The two continue the walk in an easy silence as Zinnia visibly ponders. As they go, the sidewalk comes more and more packed with people as they approach a street blocked off with bright traffic cones. By the time they reach the blocked street, it''s almost shoulder-to-shoulder.

    Upon turning the corner, they come face-to-face with something right out of a storybook.

    Stands, shops, people, and most importantly pokemon dominate the wide street with a dizzying amount of color and noise. Stands with boisterous, hollering merchants line the street and money changes hands faster than anyone can hope to keep track of. Above, bird pokemon fly to and fro, talons clutching wrapped packages coming in and out of the market. Many of the birds are Delibirds or large fliers like Pidgeots hauling whole pallets with ease. Agile pokemon like a bounding Breloom cut through the crowd without so much as a stumble, carrying their own loads to who-knows-where.

    All the stands and stores are filled with everything Zinnia said and more. Jewels, textiles, food, berries, antiques, knick-knacks and other odds and ends with no name. One stand selling clothes has a Gardevoir in a flamboyant orange kimono dancing with supernatural grace to pull in a mass of captivated customers, while another just a few spaces away has a grinning, shiny Sableye coated in enough jewelry for a king holding a sign saying Olaf''s Fine Jewelry.

    One smaller stall in particular catches Lee''s eye, where a young woman with her hair tied back is selling customized pokemon grooming kits all nicely boxed up and ready to go. The young woman has to shout over the flimsy stall next to hers, where an overweight man bellows mightily about his stacks of ''authentic'' TMs, all of which have ridiculous names that he shouts without shame. The street opens up into a large plaza absolutely stuffed with people and pokemon further down, where a great Wailord balloon hovers high above, moored to the ground by long cables.

    Lee can''t help but blink as he takes it all in.

    "Hehehehe!" Zinnia''s eyes light up and a smile instantly finds its way to her face. "It''s even bigger than I heard! C''mon!"

    She slips into the crowd easily, and Lee has to swiftly follow, lest he lose sight of the dragon tamer.

    Lee and Zinnia flit between stalls rapidly, guided only by Zinnia''s whim. When the tanned woman finally seems preoccupied with some rapid-fire haggling with a vendor over a new set of boots, Lee breaks away to visit the stand selling the grooming kits.

    As he walks closer, the young woman smiles brightly and beckons him closer. "Welcome! Looking for something to help you pamper your cutie there?" She asks, her loud voice cutting through the din of the market easily.

    Lee smiles back, again making an effort to make it large. Again, the right side of his face lifts more, making the smile into more of a smirk. "That I am," he replies, reaching up to stroke a content Vulpix several times. "You wouldn''t happen to have kits for reptiles and avians too, would you?"

    "Do I?! Of course I''ve got what you need! Any types in particular?" She asks, her hands already pulling aside a little box labeled "Mammal - Fire".

    "Grass for the reptile and Steel for the avian," Lee says. Then a thought strikes him. "Say, in the reptile and avian kits, what''s the type-specific stuff you put in there?"

    "The reptile kit has a natural scale-lotion that eases shedding and boosts photo receptivity in chlorophyll-rich skin, and the bird kit contains a special feather oil blend that doubles as armor polish along with a rust prevention compound," she rattles off from memory, hands flying to assemble a pair of flattened cardboard boxes that she pulls from behind the stall. "All made by Carla Cosmetics here in Slateport! We ship anywhere in Hoenn for a flat rate if you ever need more!" She swiftly fills each box with bottles, brushes, nail trimmers, and a single instruction sheet from somewhere hidden from Lee''s view behind the stall then seals the boxes with colorful stickers saying "Reptile - Grass" and "Bird - Steel". She stacks them on the Mammal box and gives Lee a dazzling smile. "Your total comes to 220 credits, honey."

    ''Yeesh, that seems a little steep for just some grooming supplies,'' Lee frowns, but nonetheless, he pulls his wallet from pocket and hands over his debit card to the eager woman, who scans it with a tablet computer she pulls from under the stand''s counter. ''I''ll have to learn how to make this stuff myself.''

    "Thank you! Stop by again any time!" The grinning vendor hands his card back and pushes the boxes his way.

    Lee nods, slipping his card back into his pocket and unshouldering his backpack to drop the boxes into the nearly bottomless bag.

    "A pro trainer, eh? Take a look here, sir! I''ve got what you need to take your battling to the next level!"

    Lee''s eyes are drawn to the shabby stand next to the one he just bought from, where the overweight, middle-aged man he spied earlier stands with a multitude of CD racks filled with TMs. The man grins widely and clasps his hands together before rubbing them in a decidedly greedy manner. "Come on, friend! A new move to unleash in a battle or to dazzle in a contest will help anyone, but I think a pro like you can truly use these techniques to their maximum!"

    With an amused smile, Lee can''t help but step closer, sharing a short look with the vixen on his shoulder as he does so. "A new move or two sounds nice. What have you got?"

    The vendor grins even wider, showing off a shiny false-tooth. He then plucks a red TM in a simple plastic CD case and holds it up gingerly, as if it''s made of glass. "This right here my friend, is a TM for Flamethrower!" He exclaims with building excitement. "This TM was copied from the mightiest Charizard of the Charicific Valley, a fine pokemon belonging to Ash Ketchum, the powerful protege of the legendary Samuel Oak! With this, your Vulpix will be able to melt rock and boil lakes! It''s all yours for a measly 3,000 credits!"

    Lee hums and taps his foot, making a show of thinking it over. He can see that the red film-like sticker on the ''TM'' has a bubble in it from being applied incorrectly, so when Vulpix noses his cheek and feeds him a devious idea, Lee has to suppress a smile. "Do you have anything stronger?"

    "Stronger?" The portly merchant asks in confusion, then he recovers after nary a second. "Stronger! Yes my good man, yes! Of course, you need something better! Only the finest for experts of your caliber!" He carelessly replaces the red TM and pulls another one, this one also red, from a different rack. "Now this is something to behold!" He begins. "Fire Blast! The most powerful Fire attack there is! This one was copied from the Infernape of Flint, a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four! One attack from that Infernape can turn a city block into a pit of lava! That power can be yours for just 7000 credits!"

    ''So he''s not heard of Blast Burn then, or he''s trying real hard to dupe us...'' Lee snorts. "I need something even better. Don''t hold back," he forces down a giggle.

    The merchant nods slowly, putting the dubious TM back. "I see. You are well learned, then. Let me show you my very best," the man mutters, theatrically pulling a briefcase from under his stand''s counter and slowly opening in. He turns the case around, showing a single gold-foil wrapped TM inside resting on a pillow of foam.

    "This, my friend, is the Hyper Beam of Lance Blackthorn''s Dragonite," The rotund man says with the utmost seriousness. "It will teach your pokemon a terrible power, the power to crumble mountains and reshape the landscape. It''s yours... for 20,000 credits."

    ''Are TMs actually copied from pokemon?'' Lee idly wonders. ''What kind of machine does that? That''ll be something to research.'' Outwardly, he holds his chin and taps his finger in a thinking pose, staring down at the TM as the merchant sweats. "Nah," Lee shrugs. "Thanks for showing me, though."

    The man blinks, and the woman running the pokemon grooming stall next to him openly laughs at his expression.

    Before the bogus merchant can recover and complain about his time being wasted, a tanned arm wraps around Lee''s and pulls him away.

    Lee stumbles, nearly throwing Vulpix off, but catches himself before his pokemon can take a spill. He extracts his arm from Zinnia''s and levels her with a dry look. "Can you not? I like my arm not dislocated, thanks."

    She scoffs. "If a little jolt like that pulled our arm out of its socket, then I''d tell you to find another career. Now c''mon! There is way more in the plaza that we have to see!"

    Lee rolls his eyes and in the back of his mind, he can feel Vulpix''s lingering hostility for Zinnia flare-up before he silently shushes her. They weave through the throngs of people and out into the main plaza of the Slateport market, where the mass of people have room to thin out.

    The plaza of the marketplace is enormous, dwarfing the street entrance easily. Countless stands, stalls, and even a number of parked trucks and vans acting as storefronts form lines up and down the several-block space. The range of people and pokemon is even greater than the entrance.

    Zinnia, Vulpix, and Lee walk down one of the first rows of vendors, taking in all the sights and shops.

    One of them with a long line is a Smeargle drawing expert caricatures of customers with just his tail and simple canvases. He takes payments on a little phone-like scanner and operates seemingly without a trainer under his simple tent.

    Another is a man with a Natu on his shoulder touting the power of his special pokemon supplements into a microphone, and everyone lets out gasps when behind him on a small stage, a smiling Aipom effortlessly lifts a full anvil with just his tail and a happy chitter. Considering the psychic bird on the presenter''s shoulder is glowing a faint blue, the ruse is obvious to anyone watching closely.

    Just across from the scam artist, a woman with a thick set of glasses dressed in overalls works on something on a bench in the back of her stall, the drill in her hand whining as she bores into something. Her silently hovering Magneton minds customers perusing the various devices and bits of junk on display.

    "Where to even begin...?" Lee wonders aloud.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Over the course of the next two hours, the group wanders around the huge market. Lee stops at a fruit stand selling the largest berries he''s ever seen, and promptly blows 300 credits on berries alone. One vendor dressed like a stereotypical beatnik is selling evolution stones from the back of a colorful mini-bus, but when Lee sees the multi-thousand credit price tags on the subpar stones, he blanches and promptly turns around. Zinnia, meanwhile, aggressively haggles with all of the shopkeepers they visit, yet never buys a thing. She nearly gets into a shouting match with a burly leatherworker over a fine pokeball belt that she only has a passing interest in. Lee has to physically pull her away before it comes to blows and lead her away.

    "Shitty old man," Zinnia grumbles, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "100 credits for a single belt? That''s robbery!"

    Lee sighs and shakes his head. "Why even bother when you''ve already got a working belt?" He asks, looking at the red rope around her waist that holds her pokeballs. "Just seems silly to me."

    ''St**i*, y*u ***n,'' Vulpix huffs from her perch, but a scratch on the chin from Lee soothes her ire.

    "Can you blame a girl for being thrifty, Dolittle?" Zinnia uncrosses her arms as she weaves around a young family passing by. "I don''t like asking the tribe for money, so I''ve got to make whatever I earn myself last. If I can get a deal though..."

    She trails off and stops when they pass a simple canvas tent, where an old, weathered woman clad in a baggy robe sits cross-legged behind a tarp filled with different stones, seemingly asleep.

    Zinnia walks over to the tarp with all the stones, crouching down to better look at them.

    Lee follows, curiosity piqued. He stops next to the dragon tamer, who is intently scanning all the rocks.

    ''None of these look special or anything, though I''m no geologist,'' the scarred man muses, letting his eyes roam over the collection of rocks. Most of them are common earthy brown-gray colors with lumps and dirt, looking like any old stone that anyone could find outside. None of them seem to be any special mineral or gem.

    "Sharp eye."

    Lee starts, jostling Vulpix when the elderly shopkeeper suddenly speaks.

    Zinnia looks up, grinning as she meets the now open eyes of the older woman. "I wouldn''t be a good dragon tamer if I missed the dragons who came before."

    ''Dragons who came before?''

    The old woman inclines her head, dropping a few strands of wispy white hair into her face. "Dragon tamer, hmm? Indeed. Do you know which one you want?"

    Zinnia''s smile becomes a touch mocking. "Really? Do you need to ask that?"

    "I suppose not, but begrudge not an elder with a faltering mind," the shopkeeper clicks her tongue. "You too shall face the same problem one day."

    Zinnia says nothing.

    The old woman picks up one of the stones, one a bit larger than her hand with an oblong protrusion, and after producing a square of white cloth from her pocket, she wraps the stone up into a neat bundle with deftness unfitting of her age. After setting the bundle down, she reaches into another baggy pocket and produces a large, ancient-looking card scanner that could easily be mistaken for a graphing calculator. "That will be 2000 credits, my dear."

    Without even trying to argue, Zinnia fishes her wallet from her back pocket and swipes it through the presented scanner, her grin only growing.

    The elderly woman watches the device for a moment, then nods and drops the wrapped-up rock into Zinnia''s waiting hand. "Good luck, my dear."

    Practically shaking in excitement, the dragon tamer stuffs the bundle safely in her silph pouch and stands back up. "Thanks!"

    As she and a bewildered Lee walk away, Lee can''t help but ask; "What was that all about?"

    Megawatt grin still in place, Zinnia beckons him closer with a finger, then stands on her toes to whisper in his ear. "That was a Tyrunt fossil I just scored."

    "What?" Is Lee''s instinctual response, and the sudden mental jolt he feels from Vulpix tells him the vixen is just as surprised. He blinks and looks back at the old woman, who looks as if she''s nodded off again. No one pays her little store any mind. "She''s selling fossils?" He asks, keeping his voice low enough to not carry in the noise of the busy market.

    "Yep!" Zinnia replies with a giddy giggle. "I would have said something, but I have no idea what the other ones were, and I don''t think you''d want to gamble on one, right?"

    "Well, no..." Lee mutters. There aren''t any fossil pokemon on his wanted list anyway. "Are you planning on reviving it?"

    "Well informed, as usual, Dolittle," his tanned friend laughs. "Yeah, I am. I might have to call in some favors and it might take a while, but I think I can get the little guy revived. Tyrantrum, here I come!" She giggles again and holds her cheeks with a beaming grin, no doubt caught up in the destructive fantasy of having her own T-Rex.

    Lee shakes his head and smiles a bit himself. "Give me more to worry about, why don''t you?"

    "Gladly~!" She replies.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The pair walk further into the heart of Slateport''s biggest attraction, and as they do, the shops grow more and more focused on pokemon rather than trainers. Eventually, they stumble right into the corner where all the breeders have set up.

    Stalls and stands are sparse, as the breeder corner is dominated by pens containing all sorts of pokemon awaiting adoption. Many of them are pokemon native to Hoenn, with the exotic pokemon in larger, more expensive set-ups complete with artificial terrains and full HVAC systems. Many of them have vehicles parked nearby, instantly giving away how lucrative pokemon breeding can be, or maybe the vehicles are an unfortunate cost of business? The few stands that are set up between the pokemon enclosures are quite...

    Lee glances at a little shop between two pens. The sign says ''Dexter''s Canid Specialties.'', and one of the most eye-catching things is a rack of white vials in a glass-doored refrigerator behind the counter. The shopkeeper''s large Mightyena, who sits nearby, looks entirely too pleased when a middle-aged well-to-do woman with a finely groomed Furfrou at her side buys one of the dubious vials.

    ...Quite interesting?

    ''Yeah, staying away from that one. I had enough of that as an intern...''

    Vulpix growls and wrinkles her snout, constricting her end of the psychic pathway to halt the images leaking over to her.

    As they walk deeper into the little corner of the market, Zinnia lightly jabs Lee''s side with her elbow and points a finger to a large pen with an old truck parked beside it. "Check it out!"

    Lee follows her finger and feels his eyes widen.

    Inside the pen are a number of different pokemon, all mammals. He spies a small wisp of a Shinx, several Poochyenas that lay together in a pack, a pair of playing Growlithes, a panting Rockruff that the pen owner is showing to a young blonde girl, a fox-like pokemon from Galar, the name of whom he forgets, and most importantly, two young, healthy-looking Eevees.

    A grin finds its way to Lee''s face. "Hot damn. Let''s go take a look," he says, already in motion.

    By the time they get to the gate of the small pen, the breeder running it is showing the young girl who was interested in the Rockruff out. The man smiles and waves as they approach.

    The breeder is rather normal in appearance, being a tanned, brown-haired man who looks somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years old. His boots, denim overalls, and flannel shirt all sport bits of dirt and scuffs, and the front pocket of his overalls hold several packets of paper, likely transfer or adoption forms. "Hey there!" He greets with a raised hand. "Name''s Leo. Something I can help you all with?" He asks with a friendly smile.

    "Sure can," Lee nods his head to the pen. "I couldn''t help but notice you have a fine pair of Eevees, a pokemon I''ve been wanting. Mind if I ask how much you''re wanting out of them?"

    The pair of pokemon in question sit by the fence of the enclosure, both already wearing resigned, knowing expressions with their ears low.

    The breeder winces. "Ah, both are 100,000 credits each, friend."

    Lee rocks back at the price while Zinnia''s jaw drops. "What?!" The latter squawks. "You could get a house in some places for that money!" She almost yells.

    A few of the other breeders set up around Leo don''t pay the outburst any mind, Vulpix notes, then sends to Lee. ''Must be a regular occurrence...'' He thinks, looking around for himself.

    "Both siblings are pure stock sired and born from a pair of Eevee parents without a hint of Ditto in their lineage," Leo explains with his hands raised disarmingly. "Raised on natural diets on top of the prelim training they got when they were young. I was told by the appraiser when I got them that a hundred-and-twenty grand was the lowest I should price them. I want them to go to a loving home, but I can''t just throw out an opportunity like this for my business and give them away."

    "How... did they come into your possession if you don''t mind me prying?" Lee asks, still taken aback by the sticker shock. He crosses his arms and frowns. ''Holy hell. I thought fifty was a lot. Just one of them is twice that.''

    "Well, I''m not in the business of breeding Eevees," the breeder begins, looking back at the pokemon in question. "These two came to me when a family friend who is getting on in his years just started getting too old to breed pokemon any longer. A real pro he was, and his ranch churned out high-quality pokemon all the time. He wanted me to have a breeding pair, but I think he forgot in his old age that siblings usually aren''t keen on each other like that, especially when both are male."

    "That makes sense..." Lee sighs, letting his arms fall to his sides. "Still, that''s a lot of money for one pokemon."

    Leo mirrors Lee''s frown. "Well, I could see if any banks ''round here are willing to offer a loan, but..."

    "No, that''s okay," Lee shakes his head. "Knowing my luck, they''d try to hit me with something insane like thirty APR for ten years."

    ''If there is one positive about Earth being a scorched hellhole, it''s that all my student debt vanished with it,'' he morbidly jokes to himself.

    "Murrrew?"

    The mewl pulls Lee away from his thoughts. Looking down at the fence of Leo''s enclosure, a pair of bright yellow eyes stares back up at him with unbridled curiosity.

    "It is getting to be about your dinner time, eh, Shinx?" Leo looks down at the tiny kitten with a smile. He walks a short way to the old pick-up truck, and out of the bed, he withdraws a simple backpack, and after unzipping it, pulls a capped hand-feeding bottle.

    The little Shinx''s eyes quite literally light up, shining a brilliant gold. The Electric feline resists none when Leo reaches over the fence with one arm and picks...

    ''Her.'' Vulpix silently supplies.

    ...her up to cradle her to his chest.

    With a thumb, the breeder pops the cap off the bottle, letting the little kitten eagerly latch on to the rubber nipple and begin drinking. Shinx settles and contently closes her eyes as she eats. She''s almost like a...

    ''Lion cub...'' Lee realizes, captivated. Without even intending to, his mouth begins to move. "What''s the story with this one?"

    "Oh, Shinx?" Leo asks, looking away from the kitten to meet Lee''s stare. "Poor girl was a live birth, but her mother was sickly and Shinx was born several weeks premature. Her mother..." The older man trails off uncomfortably, telling Lee, Zinnia, and Vulpix everything. "Shinx needs a good home, but she''ll need a dedicated trainer if she''s ever going to grow up healthy and strong. I''ve had to turn away a few trainers wanting her because I didn''t think they would give her the attention she needs."

    ''She''s just like Sefu...'' Lee''s throat tightens as he remembers the cub he raised by hand. His right hand rubs his left wrist, right where the little lioness would accidentally knead with her claws whenever he fed her.

    After the survival of her mother''s attempted infanticide, Sefu lost so much weight, looking as small as the Shinx before him. He would encourage the lion cub to eat whenever she could without overfeeding her, just so she would stop being so fragile that he feared she would break when he let her go.

    A normal Shinx is usually a few ounces shy of twenty pounds. This poor girl looks like she barely breaks ten, and she looks even smaller being held in a man''s arm.

    Lee''s mouth moves again before he can stop it. "How much are you asking for her?"

    He can feel Zinnia''s curious look on the side of his head and Vulpix silently asking if he''s sure, but the zoologist can''t bring himself to care.

    Leo''s eyes narrow. "550 credits."

    "Sold. Where do I-"

    "Hold on!" The breeder stops Lee short. His raised voice makes Shinx open her eyes and watch the proceedings with the naked curiosity only a cub could have. "I just told you that this gal needs a lot of TLC, and just looking at you, your friend, and your Vulpix, I can tell you''re a battling, traveling sort of guy. Do you really think you can care for a baby like Shinx on the road?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "You know she won''t be battle-ready for weeks, maybe months, right?"

    Lee scowls and crosses his arms. "If she''s never battle-ready that won''t bother me."

    "Uh-huh. Okay then. Why do you want her?" The breeder shoots back.

    "She..." Lee hesitates, acutely aware of Zinnia watching the going-ons closely. With a sigh, the scarred man makes up his mind and spills some of the truth. "She wouldn''t be the first cub I''ve raised by hand. My other cub, she was ripped from me by circumstance, but I''m not exaggerating when I say I raised her from birth. Her mother rejected her for a reason that still escapes me, but I made damn sure she was happy and healthy. I see the same thing here with Shinx. You''ve got other pokemon to raise and can''t give her as much attention as you''d like if Shinx is up for adoption, right?"

    Leo deflates somewhat, his hostility dying as he searches Lee''s face for any trace of deception. "That I do."

    "This is the exact same situation. Shinx needs someone to love her and ensure she''s healthy, yes?" Lee nods. "I want to be that someone. I want her to grow up strong. I make my own pokemon food, I monitor my team''s health myself, I give them customized regimens, and if it helps my argument any, I am a Lab Trainer under Professor Birch." Idly, Lee feels some distaste waving around his title, but the thought of leaving without tiny Shinx makes his chest tight.

    He can do it, damnit.

    The breeder is silent for a moment, his eyes flicking between the Shinx in his arms and Lee. "I''m not a shrink or anything, but isn''t trying to fill a hole inside you like this unhealthy?"

    Vulpix openly growls at the slight, but Lee calmly shushes her with a finger held to her muzzle. "It''s not about me, it''s about her."

    Leo looks down at Shinx again and sighs. For a moment, no one speaks. Then; "Prove it. Here," he says, gently passing Shinx into Lee''s arms.

    "Merrow?" Shinx mewls piteously when she''s moved from one set of arms into one without her bottle, but Lee is quick to take the half-full bottle from Leo and present it to Shinx again. He lays the kitten along his right arm and holds the bottle close with his left, letting the blue and black feline latch on and begin suckling again, her fussing instantly ceasing. Her left paw reaches up absently, her claws finding purchase on the wrist holding the bottle for her

    ''She really is just like Sefu after all,'' Lee silently smiles as Vulpix watches from her spot on his shoulder. With his right hand under Shinx''s neck, Lee tenderly massages her neck with his index finger and thumb, helping the premature cub''s weak throat muscles swallow.

    Sefu needed the same help until she recovered.

    The dull roar of the market seems to fade to nothing as Lee focuses intently on Shinx''s pace and the gentle rubbing of her throat. After another fourth of the formula in the bottle vanishes into her stomach, Shinx''s suckling begins to lose steam and she slowly begins to go limp. Her breathing begins to even out, and from muscle memory, Lee unhurriedly pulls the bottle away, the rubber nipple coming out of her mouth with a quiet pop. Before her head can fall, the hand that was massaging her throat reaches and props her up by her chin, then slowly lowers her head down when it''s obvious she''s gone to sleep.

    *Snap!*

    Lee looks over to Zinnia, who is grinning like a loon with her phone held up, the camera facing him. "Now that was adorable, Dolittle!" She gushes, turning her phone around to show the bewildered Lee.

    The photo, one of him feeding Shinx with a tranquil and decidedly emasculating expression, is none-too-flattering.

    Lee blushes and turns away. "Fuck off," he mutters before looking at Leo, who watches with a neutral expression. "So?"

    The breeder chews on his lip for a moment, then he reaches into the middle pocket on his overalls. "Well, I''ll need to see your trainer ID and your credit card after that."

    Lee''s heart soars.

 Act 1: Chapter 20

    "Okay, I think that''s everything!"

    Lee leans back against the headboard of his hotel bed, dropping the pen from his cramped right hand with a grimace.

    Sitting across from him with her legs crossed, Zinnia grins and collects all the papers scattered across the surface of the bed. She shuffles through them, eyes gliding across Lee''s chicken-scratch writing as she slowly nods.

    On his own bed, Brendan sits holding his phone - eyes glued to the screen - with most of the trio''s pokemon crowded around him. Swablu sits on his shoulder, Goomy upon his bare head, and Shroomish in his lap, with the rest crowded up at his sides. The volume on his phone is courteously set low, so as not to disturb Lee and Zinnia as they study, but Lee can still hear the sounds of a pokemon battle. The only pokemon missing are Corvisquire, who sits by the window watching the stormy, raining sky, and Shinx, who lies sleeping against Lee''s leg.

    For the last three days the dragon-tamer has quizzed Lee furiously on countless battle-scenarios, ranging from common encounters to once-in-a-lifetime hypotheticals. She challenged him constantly by dictating the pokemon in the scenarios, what moves they know, and what the terrain was like, only letting Lee pick his own team and moves on occasion. All of this in an effort to see what Lee''s first thoughts were and to build a profile on his ideal form of battling. She broke up the theory-work with sparring matches where Lee was forced to work around restrictions, such as strictly using attacking moves, no telepathy with Vulpix, direct orders only, swapping teams, and battling against both her and Brendan at once.

    ''It''s been... surprisingly professional. Part of her training as a Lorekeeper, perhaps?''

    He also worked on rounding out Grovyle''s limited-ranged capability with a Bullet Seed TM that ate into an unfortunate chunk of his savings. It still felt silly putting the button of Grovyle''s pokeball into the hole of the TM and watching it spin until the whole disc cracked and crumbled away. Lee always thought that a special machine would be needed picturing a CD player with a slot for a pokeball on top... or something. As silly as it seemed, the results were hard to argue with as, sure enough, his pokemon was now able to spit seeds like a botanical machine gun.

    When not training, Lee spent every moment getting Shinx settled in. The small waif of a kitten didn''t take long to come out of her shell, and had explored the hotel room thrice-over by now. She tired out easily, but would never turn down any opportunity to play. With Slateport''s robust market, it didn''t take long to source electrically-insulated toys and top-grade Miltank milk to feed her with. Her physical examination was short, as she simply refused to sit still, but Lee found himself satisfied when the only defect he could find from her premature birth seeming to be her small size.

    "Ever the methodical sort, eh, Dolittle?" Zinnia smiles over the papers in her hand. Looking back down, she scans the answers to all the proposed questions one more time with a nod. "Taking it slow and bleeding the foe dry before attacking. It''s not a bad plan in most cases, but it falls apart when the other pokemon is too fast and aggressive to play keep-away with. Here is what I propose..." She lays the stack of papers down. "You need to keep training yourself to keep calm and formulate real plans rather than just reacting so you aren''t caught on the back foot, or you need to train a dedicated bruiser or two to send in when shit gets crazy. Or both. Both would be best."

    Lee frowns. "A dedicated bruiser, huh?" He glances over to Corvisquire, who is busy glaring through the window at a Wingull braving the storm, then to Grovyle, who sits with the other pokemon in a meditative stance rather than watch the battle playing on Brendan''s phone. "I know who my prime candidates are, then."

    "I thought so," Zinnia replies, a faintly-amused look on her face. "You''ve been getting better at working under pressure and not just reacting, which is great. You know when you should be using status moves and when to use raw attacks... for the most part. Switching gears between status moves and frontal fighting is still kinda clunky for you, though, so until you can instantly identify when you need to adjust, having a pokemon whose only job is to hit like a truck makes it easier."

    "Makes sense..." Lee nods and raises his arms over his head in a mighty stretch, and groaning when he feels his back pop. "Gah, how long have we been here?"

    The loud pop rouses the cub cuddled to his side. She blinks her luminescent yellow eyes and stands, arching her back in a stretch of her own, then she looks up at her trainer and paws at his hand when it comes down to rest by her. "Merow?"

    "Did I wake you, baby girl?" Lee smiles, rubbing her chin with a finger, the small kitten leaning into his touch and starting to purr. The slight electric charge in her soft fur makes his finger tingle. "Sorry about that."

    "We''re probably not going to get in any meaningful training today..." Zinnia murmurs, looking out the window as the rain pounds against the glass. Standing, she grabs the remote for the hotel room''s TV from the night stand and flips it on. After a moment of scrolling through the channels, she lands on the news and sits back down on the edge of the bed.

    "-wers are expected to continue for the rest of the day and into the evening," A well-dressed anchorman on the TV smiles and waves a hand at the map of southern Hoenn behind him. On the map is a blobby mess of green indicating rain over the landscape with Slateport in the heart of it. "Tomorrow will be a muggy one, with highs in the upper eighties, so enjoy the cooldown while you can, everyone."

    Brendan looks away from his phone and to the news with his brows furrowed and a frown set on his face. "What are we going to do all day if we can''t go outside?"

    ''That''s refreshing to hear a kid say, albeit in a rather depressing way.'' Lee snickers and cups the underside of Shinx'' head in his hand, petting her cheeks with his pinky and thumb. "R-and-R day it sounds like. Who wants to numb their brains with a movie and order take out?"

    Both Brendan and Marshtomp jump up, scattering the other pokemon with a smattering of cries. Grovyle just barely ducks a startled snap of Mawile''s jaws from the commotion. "Heck yeah! A break day sounds great! ... Not sure how we''re going to get a movie working on this dinosaur, though." The boy points out, motioning to the rather dated CRT TV.

    "Don''t you worry your little head." Zinnia stands, walking over to the corner where she''d kicked her boots off, taking a moment to slip them back on. "There''s a video store down the road not too far from here, so we won''t have to be in the rain for very long." Walking over and tapping the old VCR under the TV.

    "Places still sell tapes?" Brendan blinks.

    After recovering from being so rudely roused by Brendan jumping up, Vulpix sniffs and hops back to Lee''s bed away from Brendan''s side. She then settles next to Shinx, pulling the cub''s attention away from Lee.

    When Lee first introduced Shinx to his team, a tiny part of him worried about conflict arising between her and Vulpix due to jealousy, but...

    He watches as Shinx cuddles into Vulpix'' warm side with a purr, and Vulpix responds by fanning her tails to cover Shinx'' thin form. The vixen runs a careful eye over Shinx, then grooms a patch of mussed fur on the cub''s head with her tongue, laying it flat. The baby pokemon''s pleased purr only increases in volume, and she kneads the covers with her little needle-sharp claws.

    ...Lee feels a bit silly about his worries now. He hasn''t felt even the slightest twinge of jealousy from Vulpix so far.

    ''Vulpix is a little too mature for games like that. She''s a den mother at heart.'' He smiles and mentally reaches out to Vulpix. ''You''re the best, you know that?''

    She gives him a sidelong glance along with an amused snort, and the little pulse of love she returns is wordless.

    Out in the physical world, Zinnia turns and gives Brendan a befuddled look. "Yes. Yes, places still sell tapes. Is that actually surprising?"

    "It carbon dates you pretty well, grandma." Brendan smirks. Said-smirk dies a grizzly death when Zinnia scowls and rushes over to pull the boy into a headlock. "Gack!" The Birch heir cries, clawing at the arm around his neck. "Lemme go! Marshtomp! Help!"

    Marshtomp just stands on the bed and lets out great, croaking guffaws at his trainer''s plight.

    Shinx huddles further into Vulpix'' side from the commotion, watching the going-ons with wide eyes and the fur on her back raised.

    Lee shakes his head and gently strokes Shinx across her back, making a few quiet crackles of discharging static as she relaxes some. "Children, please. If you''re going to rough-house, do it outside. You''re making Shinx anxious."

    Zinnia grumbles and lets Brendan go. Brendan, meanwhile, smiles down at the still wide-eyed Shinx. "Sorry about that, girl."

    Shinx raises her head and flicks her tongue out to wet her nose, fear totally forgotten after hearing the apology.

    ''Already beginning to grasp tones and facial expressions,'' Lee recalls a video lesson he watched from the Rustboro TS a week prior regarding the rearing of infant pokemon and how in-tune they are with the emotions of everyone around them. ''She should genuinely begin to learn English in the coming weeks.''

    Zinnia pulls her pokeballs from her belt and holds them out, aiming at her three pokemon. "Alrighty guys and gal, I doubt you want to be in the rain, so return!"

    In a flash of red, Shelgon, Goomy, and Swablu are brought back into their balls.

    Brendan is next. He pulls the pokeballs from his belt hanging off the side of his bed and rolls their shrunken travel forms in his hand. "Anyone want to walk with us?"

    Marshtomp lets out an affirmative croak, but Mawile hisses at the thought of the rain and Shroomish just shakes his head. Satisfied, Brendan expands their pokeballs and returns the two dissenting pokemon to storage.

    Lee stands next, hands already reaching for his pokeballs. "Any takers?"

    Vulpix wrinkles her muzzle at the thought of being in the rain. ''No''.

    Grovyle shakes his head, and Corvisquire just lets his already dour expression deepen into a scowl.

    Seeing the pokeballs being raised, Shinx lets out a mournful mewl and reaches a paw out, melting Lee''s heart.

    Something else he learned from the RTS online courses? How to care for infant Electric-type mammals. Lesson one was keep them away from water unless you want them to quickly and painfully master suppressing their excess charge.

    "I''m sorry, baby girl. You''re a little too young to be in the rain. You''ll short out and hurt yourself..." The scarred man runs his hand across her head with a feather-light touch. "Maybe next time, okay?"

    Before the kitten can protest, Lee returns all four of his pokemon in flashes of light. The sudden dulling of his connection to Vulpix is hesitantly accepted as he gives the psychic thread to her a tug, feeling a comforting tug back in response.

    She''s still there.

    "C''mon boys!" Zinnia throws her cloak on and pulls the wide collar over her head like a hood, casting a shadow over her face. "Time''s a-wastin!"

    "Hang on!" Brendan complains, throwing his hat on lopsided and shouldering his backpack.

    With all three trainers and the singular pokemon prepared, they leave the hotel and walk out into the downpour. It doesn''t take long for Brendan, being the lightest dressed, to break into a sprint to try and avoid being soaked. Lee and Zinnia follow after him, while Marshtomp practically skips through the warm rain in delight.

    It''s only a minute or so of a sodden, splashing run before Zinnia points out the video store in question. "There!" She points a finger at a small, hole-in-the-wall shop in the corner of the block. "That''s the place!"

    The three trainers quickly file into the store, with Marshtomp remaining out in the street, enjoying the rainfall. The sudden chill of the air conditioning on Lee''s wet shoulders makes him wish Vulpix was out of her ball to warm him up.

    The inside of the store is small and devoid of customers other than them. Different racks of DVDs and VHS tapes line the walls, and a number of standing racks form aisles. The musty smell, humming fluorescent lights, and tinny music playing overhead is surprisingly nostalgic to Lee''s senses.

    Near the front of the shop, an older, balding man sits behind the register, leaned back in his creaky chair and snoring away, dead to the world as the rain batters the window behind him. Sitting by him on the counter, a Noctowl turns its head to regard Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia with its red eyes. "Who?"

    "We''re just browsing right now! Thanks!" Brendan gives the pokemon a friendly smile.

    Noctowl bobs his head in what Lee assumes is a nod. "Whooo."

    Looking around and following behind Brendan and Zinnia, Lee takes in all the foreign titles and pulls a few tapes from the shelf to inspect the covers. The faded cardboard cover of the tape in his hand has a pair of posing police officers in front of a cruiser, and hanging out of the car window is a panting Growlithe. The tape is titled with a very cheesy "Burning Justice". ''Some kind of buddy-cop drama?''

    The more he inspects the tapes, the more it looks like all the movies feature pokemon in some main-character capacity, as expected. He pulls a few more to look at and turns them over to read the backs. One is a very disney-looking fantasy about a lost Cutiefly finding her way home, another is several episodes of anime packed into one tape (complete with an appropriately edgy-looking punk-dressed teen and Bisharp on the cover), and a third is an amusingly low-budget kung-fu flick featuring a Cacturne and Hitmonlee back-to-back, surrounded by various silhouetted humanoid pokemon, entitled "Spike Lee 4" in bold letters, with a caption at the bottom "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Enemy''''

    ''Man, I''m going to look like I''ve lived under a rock my whole life.'' Lee frowns. ''I don''t know what any of these movies are. Come to think of it, I''ve never really stopped training or researching long enough to absorb any kind of Hoenn culture... other than pokemon.'' He replaces the tapes and resumes following his companions. ''I''ll have to correct that at some point.''

    "I haven''t seen some of these in years," Zinnia muses aloud, running a finger down the spine of a shelved tape and flicking the dust away. "The Tribe doesn''t have much in the way of tech, so the old TV and VCR in the elder''s house was always in use. Trips to the nearest town were pretty rare, but the runner always brought tapes back."

    Brendan hums to himself in thought. "So you''re some kinda film buff?"

    "If it''s older than thirty or so years, then I guess you could say that," Zinnia barks out a short laugh. "When my pokemon and I weren''t beating ourselves into the ground training, we were at the elder''s house on that TV. She had to chase us out pretty often."

    "Huh..." Lee smiles, filing the interesting tidbit of information away. "Well, any recommendations?"

    Zinnia grins. "As a matter of fact..." She flits from shelf to shelf, intently scanning over the titles of everything she finds. Sometimes she pulls tapes from unmarked cardboard sleeves only to quickly put them back. "Aha!" She snatches one sitting on a lonely corner and dusts it off. "I remember this one from when I was a little girl; a real classic. Take a look!"

    Lee blinks at the colorful cover thrust into his face and takes a step back to properly look. When he does, his eyes widen a little.

    The title of the movie is "Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon." On the cover is a Pikachu and a Piplup in matching blue neckerchiefs, both peering into a treasure chest with excitement. Behind them, a sinister, grinning shadow looms.

    ''That''s a... Pretty extraordinary coincidence.''

    "What''s it about?" The zoologist asks, despite having an idea as to the answer.

    "A girl wakes up one morning in a world with nothing but pokemon as a Pikachu, and she partners with a Piplup to make a rescue team," Zinnia fondly recounts, flipping the tape around to look at the cover herself. "I always thought that would be cool, to be a pokemon."

    Brendan doesn''t seem as impressed if his flat expression is anything to go by. "PMD is a kids movie, Zinnia."

    "I know," the dragon tamer sniffs imperiously. "Perfect for a brat like you and a softie like Dolittle. This is my vote and I''m not changing it."

    ''Probably time for me to step in.''

    "We can get more than one," Lee stops Brendan''s retort before he and Zinnia can argue in the store. "We''re going to be in all night, so may as well be sure we''ve got ample entertainment."

    That seems to defuse Brendan instantly. He grins and passes Zinnia, beelining for a corner of the store labeled ''Horror''.

    "You know he''s going to pick out the most bloody, gore-filled thing he can find, right?" Zinnia dryly asks. "Then he''s not going to be able to sleep."

    "Perfectly honest?" Lee shrugs. "That''s fine. It''s what boys his age do. I''m just glad he didn''t go to that section." He points behind Zinnia, who turns to follow his finger. "I don''t think I could explain that to Birch."

    Against the back wall and covered by a curtain is a narrow doorway, and pinned to the doorframe is a sign that says Adults Only.

    The tanned woman can''t help but hold a hand over her mouth and snort, stifling a fit of laughter as her face turns red from the effort, her shoulders shaking from mirth.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Brendan seems to find what he''s looking for and plucks a tape from a shelf with a grin. "Got mine."

    Lee nods, then turns and grabs the cheesy-looking kung-fu movie he was looking at earlier off the shelf. "Alrighty. Let''s get moving before the storm gets worse."

    The trio shuffles to the front of the store, where the shopkeeper is still fast asleep. Feeling only slightly foolish, Lee presents the tapes to Noctowl, who picks up a handheld scanner off to the side with obvious familiarity. With the scanner held in his talons, the owl scans all three tapes then bends down and taps a few keys on the register with his beak.

    The card reader on the front lights up, and a swipe of his debit card later, Lee is 15 credits poorer.

    The register spits out a receipt that Noctowl rips and offers to Lee with a hoot.

    "Thanks," Lee smiles and pockets the paper before taking the tapes under his arm. Turning back to Brendan and Zinnia, he nods towards the door. "Any other stops? I''m just going to order dinner and have it brought to our room, so don''t worry about food."

    Brendan answers first with a shake of his head. "Nah. Let''s just get back before..." He stops as he peers out of the glass door to the shop. "Where did Marshtomp go?"

    Lee follows the younger trainer''s eyes and scans the wet sidewalk, only to find no pokemon. "Not this again..."

    Throwing open the door, Brendan steps out into the deserted, rainy street and swivels his head around, but his Marshtomp is nowhere to be found. "Marshtomp! Marshtomp! Hey! Where are you!?" His voice carries far despite the rain, but his starter does not appear.

    With a groan, Lee hands the tapes under his arm to Zinnia and steps out after Brendan. "Head back to the hotel, I''ll help Brendan."

    "Don''t have to tell me twice," she grins and stuffs the movies under her cloak. "I''ll have some towels ready when you get back, cuz you''re going to need them. Have fun in the storm, boys!"

    Zinnia turns and runs back down to the hotel, each step kicking up a splash of water.

    Lee throws the hood of his jacket up and follows Brendan, who is walking down the road calling for Marshtomp and peering into alleyways.

    The pair of trainers travel eastward down the road, both calling for the lost pokemon. Only a few minutes into their search later, and a loud croak catches Lee and Brendan''s attention.

    Marshtomp appears from around a corner ahead, waving his arms and bellowing frantically.

    Brendan sprints ahead, leaving Lee to run behind him trying to catch up. ''Why did Marshtomp just run off like that? Normally he''s attached to Brendan at the hip.'' Lee wonders.

    Both trainers skid to a stop before Marshtomp, who warbles and takes Brendan''s hand on one of his own.

    "Hey, what are you-" The young Birch almost trips when his pokemon pulls him along. "Hey!"

    Pulling his trainer''s hand the whole way, Marshtomp leads Lee and Brendan down several blocks, and as they go, the surrounding buildings shift into industrial designs rather than hotels and shops. Finally, Marshtomp takes them down one final turn between two warehouses before letting go and stopping.

    Before them stands the Slateport shipyard. Ships of all sorts, cruise ships, freighters, fishing vessels, just too many to count. They dot the water in various states of repair. Large drydocks bearing half-complete vessels that can''t hold their own in the water, and warehouses hanging over the water containing who-knows-what. Only a few dock-workers scurry to and fro in the storm, hurrying to get between buildings. A ship''s horn blows from out on the water, and the noise combined with the dreary vista of the rain-drenched shipyard makes Lee''s spine tingle.

    Marshtomp croaks and points to the nearest warehouse, marked with a large 3, and Lee sees just what has Marshtomp so worked up.

    Off to the side of the large bay doors on warehouse 3 is a small man door with three people around it. Two stand at the door fumbling with something while a third sits on the wet ground against the side of the warehouse for some reason. With the heavy rainfall, it''s near impossible to make out any details of the three.

    Marshtomp lets out an urgent growl. He steps behind both trainers and gives them a nudge before squeezing between them and taking point again.

    "We''re goin'' pal, don''t worry." Brendan assures with a hand raised in a pacifying manner. "Did you follow these people all the way here?"

    The mudfish pokemon nods with an impatient croak.

    "C''mon, Lee. If Marshtomp is this upset, it''s got to be worth looking into."

    Lee just frowns as he takes in the strange scene in the distance. "Alright, sure..." He quietly mutters, and after a second of deliberation, he palms Grovyle''s ball and rolls it between his fingers.

    The trio crosses the street and walks to the warehouse, where the two people at the man door are too engrossed in their work to notice them, and the third one sitting against the wall seemingly asleep in the downpour doesn''t stir.

    As they finally get within fifty feet or so of the warehouse, Lee realizes something that makes his hand clench around Grovyle''s ball.

    The third person, a dockworker in a blue jumpsuit and hard hat, isn''t sleeping against the building. No, he''s knocked out. The ugly bruise across the left side of his face makes it obvious why he''s slumped over.

    Brendan''s eyes widen when he notices, then his eyes shoot to the pair by the door with a scowl. "It''s you two again!"

    Both men by the door stiffen and look over their shoulders.

    The first one, a tall, muscular man with a plain face and a scar on his chin, scowls when he sees Brendan and Marshtomp.

    The second man is shorter with a bearded face and narrow eyes that only narrow further when he sees the trainers behind him. He turns just enough that Lee can see the electronic card lock on the door, now devoid of a faceplate and exposing the wires inside. One wire leads from the lock to a thick, phone-like device in the man''s hand.

    But the thing that stands out most about them is their blue bandanas, each one boldly emblazoned with an "A" stylised to look like bones.

    ''Team Aqua...'' Lee feels himself sweat even through the pouring rain.

    "Take your friend and fuck off, kid!" The first man raises a fist. "This is your only warning."

    "You know these two?" Lee quickly asks, not taking his eyes off of the gang members.

    Brendan crosses his arms and glares right back at the Aqua grunts. "Yeah, they were loitering around here a few days ago when I was on the way to the Slateport museum, and they kept coming back after the dock workers told them to buzz off. Looks like they were staking the place out for a robbery." The Birch heir steps forward with Marshtomp taking an eager ready stance in front of him. "Both of you give up! In my capacity as a Hoenn Lab Trainer, you''re both under arrest for assault and attempted breaking and entering!"

    Both Aqua grunts share a look, then as one, they reach into their pockets and draw pokeballs.

    Lee hisses out a sigh when he realizes that Brendan intends to drag them both into a fight. "Grovyle! Get ready!" He throws the ball in his hand out, and in a flash of light, the wood gecko pokemon takes form beside Marshtomp with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

    ''Bruiser, remember. Don''t worry about status right now.'' The zoologist catches Grovyle''s pokeball in his slick fingers when it flies back to him. "Don''t hold back, Grovyle!"

    Both thugs throw their scuffed pokeballs without any fanfare, and from them emerge a Corphish and a Poochyena.

    The Corphish, which resembles a two-foot-tall lobster with large, cartoonishly blank bug-eyes, scowls and burbles, scuttling forward on his six lobster legs and brandishing his pincers at Marshtomp and Grovyle. Lee can''t readily recall what signs point to a healthy crustacean and abandons the notion of sizing the lobster up.

    The Poochyena, meanwhile, stands steady with his hackles raised, growling loud enough to be heard over the rainfall. His fangs and red eyes gleam in the poor light. While not unhealthy, the pokemon is smaller than average.

    ''We should probably separate them and pick them off one on one. These pokemon don''t look terribly impressive, but if they have decent teamwork, then this could turn into a slog.''

    Lee and Brendan meet eyes for a second, and Brendan''s small smirk tells Lee he already knows the plan that the older trainer is thinking of. "Marshtomp! Scatter them with Watergun!"

    "Grovyle, Feint Attack!" Lee orders a second later, eyes trained on Corphish. "You know who to target!"

    Before the Aqua grunts or their pokemon can process the orders of the trainers across from them, Marshtomp''s throat swells with water, then he spits a pillar of water like a missile at the asphalt between Corphish and Poochyena.

    Poochyena''s eyes bug out, and the Dark-type canine just barely manages to jump to the side and out of the way. Corphish, however, is caught in the explosion of water and ripped-up asphalt, which throws him off of his feet like a ragdoll. The lobster pokemon hits the ground and scrapes his shell across it painfully.

    No one notices Grovyle''s form flickering and vanishing in the excitement.

    "Poochyena! Howl and then Bite Marshtomp!" The short, bearded grunt yells.

    The muscular grunt''s eyes shoot wide open when he sees an invisible shape displacing the rain behind his pokemon. "Corphish, look out behind you!"

    The taller grunt''s Corphish jumps to his feet and turns on a dime. His lobster claws glow a faint blue and one rises just in time to close around a three-fingered reptilian hand crackling with Dark energy. A moment later, Feint Attack''s invisibility fails, and Grovyle melts back into the world. Both pokemon strain against each other, but remain in a deadlock. Grovyle''s face is still cool even with the pincer crushing his forearm.

    ''Not making this mistake twice.'' Lee smiles. "Bullet Seed!"

    "Fuck! Corphish! Harden!" The grunt trainer counters with gnashed teeth.

    Corphish throws Grovyle''s arm to the side in a burst of strength, then lets the glow around his claws fade as his shell stiffens and shines as if polished.

    Grovyle doesn''t stumble at all from having Feint Attack deflected and instead whirls around in a full 360-degree turn, using the momentum given to him by Corphish. He digs his hind claws into the ground and skids to a stop with his maw open wide, then with a sound like a fully automatic pistol, Grovyle unleashes a point-blank Bullet Seed.

    Ratatatatatatatat!

    The seeds ping off of Corphish''s hardened armor with more than a few loudly ricocheting away, leaving scuffs and scratches. Several super-effective seeds hit dead-center, cracking and denting his shell despite Harden, leaving the lobster pokemon reeling. Grovyle looses a final salvo before finally ending his attack, battering Corphish and pushing him back several inches.

    Lee takes his eyes off his battle to glance at Brendan''s. He''s just in time to see the bearded grunt''s poor Poochyena take a skull-rattling uppercut from Marshtomp, sending the canine off his paws and up into the air.

    "Seismic Toss!"

    Before Poochyena can fly away from the uppercut, Marshtomp''s other hand shoots up and wraps around one of the Dark-type''s hindlegs, stopping him cold. Then with a savage laugh, Marshtomp throws Poochyena down and spikes the unfortunate wolf off the asphalt. Poochyena hits the unforgiving ground with such force that all the air is driven from his lungs in a single explosive wheeze. Behind him, his trainer''s face twists in sympathetic pain.

    So far, the only injury Marshtomp has is a bite mark on his leg that is just barely bleeding.

    "Damn it all, Corphish! Do something!" The taller grunt screams, dread beginning to form on his face. "Back up and use Bubblebeam! Spread it out!"

    Slowly leaking ichor from his wounds, Corphish grimaces and hops backwards. He takes a breath as his mouth glows Water-blue.

    ''Trying to make some distance? I don''t think so,'' Lee shakes his head. "Detect, then close the gap with Quick Attack!"

    Corphish breathes out a wide stream of gleaming, fist-sized bubbles at Grovyle. The lizard pokemon smirks and dances around each bubble, sometimes with only an inch to spare. The wood gecko''s eyes, glowing with Detect, leave ghostly trails of yellow in his wake. The missed bubbles slow down as they fly and explode behind Grovyle without effect.

    The Water-type strains himself to keep the Bubblebeam going, but after several seconds he begins to shake and his claws sag with fatigue. The instant the Bubblebeam begins to falter, Grovyle cloaks himself in the white aura of Quick Attack and moves as a blur of green, blowing away the water around his feet from the force.

    "Leaf Blade!"

    "Corphish! Move!"

    Shink!

    The Aqua grunt''s cry is half a second too late, as a Leaf Blade cruelly cuts into his Pokemon''s back, cleanly cutting through Corphish''s shell and drawing blood.

    Corphish stumbles forward with a weak chitter, then finally falls face-first to the ground as his legs give out. He goes limp and pants harshly.

    Lee grins. "Good work as usual, Grovyle."

    The Grass-type crosses his arms, being just the slightest bit ginger with his bruised wrist, and shifts the twig in his mouth dismissively. Both he and Lee turn to watch the end of Marshtomp''s fight.

    "No no no! Shit!" The taller grunt presses his back against the door behind him when he sees his pokemon fall. He turns to his partner and shakes the bearded man''s shoulder frantically. "We''ve gotta run!"

    "Take Down!"

    "Run fucking where?!" The other gangster screams back, and taking his eyes off the battle proves to be a mistake. His Poochyena freezes up in fright when Marshtomp bullrushes him like a train.

    Marshtomp smashes into the dark-furred canine in a full-body Take Down, lifting Poochyena up and throwing him back-first into the side of the warehouse with a pained cry. The little wolf''s head rebounds off the wall, and he falls to the ground like a sack filled with rocks, out cold.

    The bearded Aqua grunt looks between Marshtomp, Grovyle, Brendan, Lee, then his knocked out pokemon with his face going pale.

    With the battle over and the elation of a win quickly passing, Lee takes a single step forward with a scowl. "Both of you, on your knees with your hands up. You''re finished."

    For a moment it looks as if the pair might bolt, then the shorter of the two lets out a shaking sigh and drops to his knees before raising his hands high.

    It only takes a growl from Marshtomp to get the larger grunt to quickly drop and give in.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Just 20 minutes later, the shipyard is lit up with the flashing blue and red lights of parked police cruisers and a single ambulance.

    "-and that''s about everything..." Lee recounts, watching as the now conscious dockworker is checked over by the paramedics parked nearby. He rolls Grovyle''s occupied pokeball in his hand as he talks. "They complied until the first units showed up for an official arrest, one of your guys bagged ''em and tagged ''em, and you know the rest."

    Standing before him and Brendan with another officer holding an umbrella for her is Slateport''s Officer Jenny, who nods as she jots down Lee''s statement in a PD marked notebook. "That''s about what I expected..." The woman murmurs with a frown. "We''ve picked these two up for loitering before, but this is the first time they''ve really messed enough up to warrant anything other than a catch and release," she sighs and pockets her pen and notebook. "The gang affiliation and sudden willingness to get violent are worrying, too. I didn''t think a radical eco group could go this far."

    ''It''s going to get worse before it gets better...'' Lee thinks to himself. ''I should shoot Professor Birch an email or something about this. He might be able to pressure his guy in the League after another run-in like this.''

    "What''s in this warehouse that would drive those guys to assault someone and try to break in?" Brendan crosses his arms and taps his foot. "If these Aqua guys are like that Magma gang, then they''re after something for some kinda environmentalist end, right?"

    The officer holding the umbrella for Jenny clears his throat. "If I may? A few of these enclosed docks are owned by Captain Stern, and may house submarines and the special deep-sea equipment to go with them. They may have been looking to steal one."

    "Possible, but we''ll need to interrogate them before we know for certain." Officer Jenny reaches a white-gloved hand into her pocket and withdraws a plastic bag with EVIDENCE emblazoned on the front. Inside is the thick, glass-screened device one of the Aqua thugs was using to hack the lock to the warehouse door. "What I want to know is where they got an electronic lock decrypter. These things are expensive, too expensive for low level gangsters to realistically get, and this one is bleeding edge! The door was unlocked when we disconnected it."

    Lee smiles inwardly and seizes the chance Jenny just gave him. "Realistically? They have a wealthy benefactor... or Aqua is something more sinister than just a gang of disgruntled hippies. I''d keep an eye on them, officer, and spread the word to other PDs and agencies to be wary. Who knows what their ultimate goals might be."

    Jenny''s eyes narrow just the slightest amount. "A rather strong warning, Mr. Henson. Is there something you''re not saying?"

    "Lee is just a professional worrywart, don''t sweat it," Brendan cuts in with a smirk aimed at Lee. "We smoked their pokemon easy, so they''re probably nothing worth stressing over."

    ''And Brendan undoes my work...'' Lee holds back a sigh when Jenny relaxes.

    "Well, either way, you boys are free to go, and thank you for stepping in this evening." Jenny smiles. "You should head back to wherever you''re staying the night and get a change of clothes before you two catch a cold."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "I can''t believe you guys went and got into trouble without me..."

    As the end credits of Lee''s chosen movie begin to run, Zinnia sulks from her place laying belly-down on Lee''s bed. "You could have called me or something," she grumbles, lifting her head out of her hands to look back.

    Lee himself sits against the headboard, clad in a sleeveless shirt and sweats. In his lap, Shinx greedily drinks from a warmed bottle of milk held in his hand. "They weren''t that strong," the scarred man replies, raising his eyes away from his pokemon to Zinnia. "No grand plans, no employing anything you taught me, just a one-two punch for Grovyle''s opponent to go down, and Marshtomp brutalized that poor Poochyena like it was nothing. I think if I called you in for backup, you''d complain about having to be out in the rain for a lackluster battle."

    "Maybe," she sniffs and turns her ruby eyes back to the TV.

    "Maybe?" Brendan parrots from his bed, surrounded by his pokemon and bundled tightly in nothing but underwear and blankets. The shivering boy blinks incredulously and pulls the covers around him a little tighter. "I froze to the bone out there! It sucked!" He whines. "I think you would have hated it even more!"

    Lee just rolls his eyes. Looking back down, he sees Shinx beginning to slow her suckling, and once she comes to a stop, he pulls the almost-empty nipple-capped bottle away from her without any protest. "All done, baby girl?" He asks, setting the bottle on the nightstand.

    "Mrrrrew?" Shinx stretches out on Lee''s folded legs and rolls to her side, wiggling in delight when a hand comes down to rub her full belly.

    The sight alone is enough to make Lee grin. When he lightly drums two fingers on Shinx'' middle, she mewls and bats at them with her paws, zapping his hand with little static arcs making quiet *pop pop* sounds.

    A sleepy snort drags his attention away from Shinx over to Vulpix, who lays asleep, napping for the third time today.

    ''Why is she sleeping so much?'' Lee''s smile slowly falls. ''I know she insists that she''s fine, and she''s not ill, but what is going on? Is she not getting enough sleep at night? She''s not been irritable or anything.'' He mulls over the quandary. ''Maybe..?''

    Slowly and with as much finesse as he can, Lee reaches across the psychic tether to his fox, then lightly touches her sleeping mind. He worms past the dull shell of sleep around her brain and peers inside.

    A barrage of jumbled confusion and uncertainty not his own ricochets around his skull instantly, and Lee has to suppress a wince from the sudden headache that blooms behind his eyes. The feelings are so strong yet so vague that he cannot even assign proper words to most of what Vulpix'' unconscious mind feeds him. It''s like hearing a language humans cannot hope to reproduce with their vocal chords blasting at jet-engine volume, but in the deluge of psychic noise, Lee hears one thing that stands out in sharp contrast despite being near inaudible.

    ''Why am I?''

    Lee pulls his mind away from his dreaming Vulpix'' as if burned. The tiny hole in her hazy mind he gained entry with closes, leaving his brain blessedly quiet once more.

    He doesn''t really notice Brendan''s movie come and pass, too lost in thought to care.

    ''''Why am I?'' What did she mean? Why were those words so clear?''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    ''Two Aquas got picked up by the cops in Slateport. They were stopped and beaten by a pair of powerful trainers before they could bust open dockside warehouse 3. They were likely after sub parts. Agents are keeping an eye on the area to acquire the sub parts for Magma''s use.''

    Courtney, right hand of Magma Leader Maxie, rereads the curt report on her laptop screen before standing from her desk. Slowly, the short woman paces around her office.

    The Magma Admin''s office is spartan at her own request, being little more than a side-cave in the hideout of Team Magma. Her desk, computer, full file cabinets, a stack of books, a bed, and a few personal effects are the only things the purple-haired admin keeps. Once Maxie''s plan comes to fruition, then she can allow herself frivolous luxuries.

    Courtney''s blank eyes, the same hue as her hair, narrow slightly.

    The attached video file showed her the battle the Aquas got into, but in reality it was more of a curb stomp. The pair of grunts were par for the course, each with a single pokemon of low to middling ability. They were no better or worse than any of Magma''s foot soldiers.

    But the speed at which they were flattened left Courtney with a raised eyebrow.

    It took only a cursory search to find out that the older trainer, a fearsome man with an equally fearsome Grovyle, is Researcher Lee Henson.

    All of his battles on Battlenet showed Courtney a curious hodgepodge of battle-styles and powerful pokemon. A Vulpix, a Grovyle, and a Corvisquire, all of whom hitting freakishly above their weight class. If the Magma admin didn''t know better, she would swear that the Vulpix was some sort of pyrokinetic from the intense power and control of her Fire attacks. Despite becoming a trainer so late in life, the man has already defeated two Gym Leaders and boasts an unreal win/loss ratio. The real number of wins could be much higher, as unless one films all of their own battles, many are usually missed.

    Returning to her desk, Courtney takes the worn mouse and tabs back over to Henson''s Battlenet profile. The scarred, faintly frowning visage on her screen seemed to glare at her, daring her to do something.

    Lee Henson is dangerous, and any one of his pokemon would cut swathes through Magma''s foot soldiers. Already he''s putting his nose where it doesn''t belong, even if his actions today benefited Magma.

    Dangerous or no, if he dares to interfere with the plan, Courtney will remove him from the picture.

    The next trainer, however, interests her much more.

    Brendan Birch, the son of Nigel Birch.

    The boy is a prodigy, plain and simple. He dominates nearly all of his battles with a brutal cunning hidden behind a bright smile. He takes his time, and knows that sometimes ground must be given before more can be taken. His mind and his pokemon are constantly being honed by the grindstone that is Lee Henson, and only a few short months into his career, he''s already toppling Gym Leaders.

    The admin navigates to a saved link on her laptop, opening the Battlenet profile of young Birch. She watches the latest battle with what is reported to be his newest pokemon, a Mawile.

    Once again, he plays his opponent like a fiddle.

    Birch''s foe, a trainer in his late teens, sends out a Torkoal, which should have been a clear indicator of who was going to win from type-advantage alone.

    Less than two minutes later, Mawile wins with only minor burns to show for it. Mawile uses Attract then feigns fright at Birch''s direction to lure the unsuspecting Torkoal closer despite the other trainer''s commands to stay put. A sudden, critical Bite right to the head puts Torkoal out of commission.

    Brendan Birch battles like she does, and such skill has taken her to the position of Admin in Magma.

    They are alike, and thus both can help change everything for the better of humanity. Both can help make Maxie''s plan to save the world a reality.

    Slowly closing her laptop, Courtney stands and throws the red hood of her uniform over her purple hair.

    "...There are arrangements to be made..." She mutters to herself, her feet guiding her to her Leader''s office.

 Act 1: Chapter 21

    "Step up, trainers! Step up! The Battle Tent has fabulous prizes for trainers of all ages if they can brave the challenge! Test your skill and mind with pokemon not your own! Maybe discover a new favorite!"

    A smiling man in a colorful suit and tie bounds between onlookers passing by Slateport''s Battle Tent, one hand holding a microphone and the other clutching crumpled tickets. By his feet, a Bellossom duo cheerfully dances in tune with his voice. Behind him is Slateport''s Battle Tent.

    ''Tent'' is a total misnomer considering the tent is truly a large, domed building painted an eye-catching red, blue, and white. Bombastic, upbeat music that would be at home in an arcade can be heard through the walls, and people are gathered around the windows, each of which have a TV mounted in them. Non-stop replays of the battles inside play on repeat, thrilling the people standing outside and making passersby slow to watch.

    With Vulpix seated on his shoulder and Brendan and Zinnia flanking him, Lee stares down at the Battle Tent ticket in his hand as they all approach.

    "Jeez, this place always seems to be busy..." Zinnia pulls her phone from her pocket and presses the side button, frowning at the ''8:24am'' that stares back.

    "It''s one of Slateport''s big attractions," Brendan begins, crossing his arms behind his head as he walks and takes in the sight of the Tent. "I''d be more surprised if it wasn''t jumping all the time."

    Lee glances down at his ticket again, then to Vulpix, who regards the Battle Tent with a raised brow. It doesn''t take telepathy to understand she''s thinking the same thing as him. "I take it they offer more than just battles?"

    "I''m pretty sure, yeah." Zinnia nods as the trio weave through the crowd around the front door and step inside. She lets out a pleased sigh with the AC in the tent blows away the muggy morning air. "It''s probably... oh wow." She slows to a stop with Brendan gaping next to her.

    Lee blinks and looks around, suddenly feeling as if he were ten years old again. Unbidden, a memory of a childhood birthday he spent at an indoor amusement park comes to him in sharp detail.

    The inside of the Tent is dominated by a literal arcade, explaining the choice in music that could be heard outside. The darkened room expands out, feeling much larger than it really is. The floor is covered by game cabinets filled with kids, young teens, and pokemon. On the far wall, ticket counting machines and a prize desk filled with all manner of things from cheap toys to pokeballs to TMs of all things to win. Off to the right side, the arcade peters off and leads into a small restaurant and bar where a number of adults sit, some turned in their seats to watch their children.

    "Hello. Welcome to the Battle Tent! Is it your first time here? Please take this!"

    Lee and co stop staring at the scenery and turn to the voice.

    Standing before them and gyrating to the beat of the pounding music, a Ludicolo in an apron stands with a wide smile. His apron is adorned by the white and blue three-pokeball symbol of the Battle Tent, and pockets on the front hold different pamphlets. The dual Grass/Water type reaches into the middle-most pocket of his apron and thrusts three pamphlets out to the trainers.

    Absently, Lee takes the offered papers and gives one to Zinnia and Brendan each. "Hey pal. Did you just talk?"

    There is a squawk, and the scarred man looks up.

    Sitting on Ludicolo''s broad headleaf is a Chatot who looks at him with narrow-eyed annoyance.

    "Erm, sorry about that?" Lee offers with an awkward smile. "Say, sorry if this seems invasive, but did you actually speak or are you mimicking lines? If you''re actually speaking for yourself, do you think I could ask your trainer for a short meeting? I''m a pokemon researcher and-"

    The Chatot cuts Lee off with an irritated flare of his wings. "Hello! Welcome to the Battle Tent!"

    Vulpix takes this as her cue to nose Lee''s cheek. ''He d****''t *n*w *** t* sp**k o**er **m*n wo*d*.'' She says.

    It takes Lee a moment to decipher the telepathic speech, and when he does, he sighs. ''Damn.''

    "Sorry about Lee here," Brendan says with a sheepish grin. "He''s a bit of a nerd. We''ll clear out of the doorway now."

    Ludicolo gives a non-committal hum and cheerfully dances over to a young couple who walked in behind them, totally unaffected by Chatot''s sour attitude. "Hello. Welcome to the Battle Tent! Is it your first time here? Please take this!"

    A still-grinning Brendan takes point, and Lee, nose in the pamphlet, follows behind him.

    Welcome to Slateport''s Battle Tent! A place for trainers of all ages to come and have a great time. Try our arcade with over 200 different games meant to sharpen your skills as a trainer! Hungry? Head on over to our three-star restaurant, the Taste of the Sea bar and grill! We stock only fresh ingredients and have your favorite drinks cold and on-tap! We even have tasty and nutritional pokemon food for all types!

    Make an event out of your day here! Talk to our front desk or visit our website to book one of our meeting rooms and get a discount on special package deals for your next birthday or corporate event!

    Or maybe you want a real thrill? Head down to our pokemon battle arena and test your skill for fabulous prizes! Here in Slateport, we test your abilities as a trainer using our rental pokemon. How fast can you come up with a plan on the fly? Can you seize opportunity when it''s bared? Are you good enough to synergize with any pokemon? Prove it here!

    F3: VIP Lounge

    F2: Staff Office

    F1: Arcade/Restaurant

    B1: Meeting Rooms

    B2: Onsite Pokemon Center/Arena Seating

    B3: Battle Arena/Battle Check-in

    "Much more comprehensive than I expected..." Lee mumbles. When he looks up, he finds himself at the prize corner of the arcade just as a smiling worker hands Brendan back his debit card and a small bucket of arcade tokens. Zinnia, meanwhile, leans over the glass counter full of prizes with mild interest.

    There''s the obvious stuff, like cheap toys and stickers that cost a measly ten tickets. Some of the better stock costs fifty, or a hundred, like an amusingly bad Torchic plushie. The higher-end winnings, like phones, game consoles, and large, quality plushies are at minimum several thousand tickets. Then there are the actual interesting prizes.

    Great Balls for fifty thousand tickets, some common TMs ranging between a hundred thousand to three hundred thousand tickets, and evolution stones starting at a mind-boggling million tickets. They all rest behind a case protected with much thicker glass.

    Lee quickly runs some math in his head. ''If a hundred tokens are twenty credits, and assuming you''re good at arcade games and win roughly ten tickets per token... That''s twenty thousand credits for one of those stones! That''s nearly twice the MSRP of a high purity stone itself!''

    The water and fire stones behind the glass are so close yet so far. Already he can imagine Vulpix as a majestic Ninetales, a pokemon so beautiful grown men cry at the sight of her golden-furred form.

    In his ear, Lee hears Vulpix chuff at the mental flattery.

    ...But not for that kind of money.

    Zinnia looks up at him and smirks as she stands straight again. "Sticker shock?"

    "Scam shock more like..." Lee grumbles.

    "C''mon, you two!" Brendan holds up his plastic bucket of tokens and gives it a shake, jingling the shiny coins inside. "It''s not about the prizes, it''s about the fun! Let''s go! You can share my tokens!" He eagerly turns and starts walking into the throngs of people bouncing between the games.

    Lee looks to a blank-faced Vulpix, then to Zinnia, who looks faintly amused. "After you, Dolittle."

    They follow after Brendan, and as they walk, Lee glances around at the different games.

    Many of them are just that: games. A few, however, do actually look like they might benefit trainers on some level. One is a light-gun cabinet, where the player''s ammo has different ''types'' corresponding to pokemon types, and they can only zap pokemon on screen that would be weak to the ammo typing. Another is a rather basic-looking turn-based battling game almost like the pokemon series on Earth. A different one, where Brendan currently is, is a glorified milk-bottle pitching game probably meant to improve pokeball aim. Small pokemon plushie targets on mechanical arms move erratically, each one numbered. On the side of the machine is a trough where the ''pokeballs'' are dispensed.

    Brendan hefts a ball painted like a pokeball in his hands, then takes careful aim at the small, moving targets in the caged lane where the game is housed. He winds his hand back, then hurls the ball right at the smallest, furthest, trickiest target, a Milotic.

    The ball flies true, only to clip the Milotic''s head and not count. The ball smacks against the rear of the cage as a buzzer sounds.

    Brendan''s face goes from joyful to dour in an instant.

    "Tough luck, shorty," Zinnia giggles. "Maybe try a closer one?" She points to the biggest and slowest target, a Snorlax worth a single ticket.

    The young boy''s face flushes in anger. "You try it, then if you''re so good!" He takes a token from the bucket at his feet and drops it into the machine. A second later, the targets begin moving again and three more balls are dispensed with a clatter.

    "Sure thing," Zinnia smirks and steps forward. She takes the first ball and rolls it between her thin fingers, taking a pitcher''s stance as she does so. Then with a deep breath, she takes one hopping step forward and throws the ball so fast that it flys with almost no arc.

    The ball whirls through the air like a dart, only to just barely miss when the Milotic jerks out of the way.

    The Birch heir snickers as Zinnia just calmly takes another ball in her hand. "It''s called a warm-up, shorty," She says with a sniff. "Watch this." She takes in another great lungful of air and holds it, then fires off her second ball.

    It brushes the Milotic''s tail, not counting as a hit.

    Now Zinnia is scowling. With a growl, she takes the final ball and whips it from her hand as hard as she can.

    The ball zips to the back of the cage like a lightning bolt, hitting the metal with a frightful clatter when it flies wide and misses entirely.

    Brendan openly guffaws as Zinnia''s face burns red, and even Lee has to suppress a smile. "No idea why you''re laughing, kid. You''re the one wasting your tokens on a rigged game," The dragon tamer crosses her arms and turns away with a grumble.

    When the youngest of the trio gets his mirth under control, he smiles and looks over to Lee. "You wanna give it a shot?" He asks with a final giggle. "Bring home the gold for us?"

    Lee shrugs. "I guess?" He leans down and takes a token before popping it into the game. Like last time, the targets come to life and another the faux pokeballs are dropped into the trough. "Don''t laugh when I miss, though."

    He takes a ball in his hand and tosses it up and down. ''You might want to hop down, love.'' He sends to Vulpix. ''I don''t want to launch you off your perch.''

    The vixen mulls the suggestion over, then slides down to the floor to sit at his boots.

    ''Is there any pattern to how they move?'' Lee watches the targets carefully, but when no pattern emerges, he shrugs and winds his arm back. "Here goes nothing."

    He looses the first ball, which flies at the distant Milotic, but like with Brendan, the ball brushes the head without counting as a hit. With a frown, he takes the next ball and throws it at the Milotic once more, but the ball flies wide and misses on the right. Taking the final ball, Lee suddenly has an idea that puts a smile on his face. ''Vulpix? Can you...''

    The fox pokemon doesn''t need him to finish, as she gently grips his mind with her own, dragging her trainer deeper inside herself. Then like a plug being inserted into a live socket, a jolt runs down Lee''s spine, followed by a sudden nausea when he looks forward from two different perspectives, one much shorter than he.

    Vulpix jumps back up to Lee''s shoulders with him watching from her eyes the entire time, then he can both feel and see her rest her head on top of his, giving him a perspective just slightly above his own.

    Lee blinks then almost stumbles when Vulpix not blinking throws him off. ''Okay, this is making me sick. Let''s try and get it over with.'' Winding his arm back, Lee watches from both his and Vulpix''s eyes. The dual, slightly offset perspective gives him a supernatural amount of perception and twice the visual input to work with. Then his arm moves.

    The entire time he throws, he adjusts his arm until it''s perfect, and the fauxball flies in a light arc straight for the Milotic, aimed to nail it square in the middle where it''s sure to count as a hit.

    Zinnia''s eyes widen and Brendan gasps.

    ...Then the mechanical arm holding the plushie jerks out of the way at the last second, letting the ball whiff and smack the back of the cage. A second later, the buzzer sounds and the machine once again dispenses no tickets.

    Both Lee and Vulpix blink in disbelief as Lee mentally extracts his sight from Vulpix''s eyes, instantly clearing his nausea. "Yeah, fuck this. It''s rigged."

    As one, Brendan and Zinnia break out into laughter that makes the latter of the two double over.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "New High Score! Enter Initials?"

    Lee watches Brendan grin widely at the flashing screen, and using the lightgun in his hand, the boy shoots the letters on the screen. "A...S...S... Hehehe!"

    High Scores

    #1: B&G 11125520

    #2: LOK 11002250

    #3: ASS 10800050

    #4: DES 10600550

    #5: TTT 10056450

    ''Oh jeez, Brendan.'' Lee sighs. At his side, Zinnia giggles like a schoolgirl as she watches Brendan enter his ''name.'' "Classy, kiddo! Really giving the kids after you something to ''asspire'' for!"

    Even Vulpix wrinkles her nose at that one.

    "Bet I could do better..." Brendan reaches into his bucket of tokens, only for his hand to hit the plastic bottom. "Huh?" He peers down and sees none left. "Aww..."

    "Finally out?" Lee asks, peering over Brendan''s shoulder to see the empty bucket. "You had a good run, I think." He says, looking at the tickets still pouring from the lightgun game cabinet. "You should get something nice."

    "Not sure I''d call anything you can win in one afternoon ''nice'', Dolittle," Zinnia dryly interjects from his left. "It''s mostly one-credit store junk."

    Brendan gathers up the tickets at his feet when the game cabinet stops spitting them out and folds them into a neat stack. "Even if it''s junk, I''m going to go look anyway," he says, counting his tickets under his breath.

    "No prob," Lee withdraws his Battle Tent ticket from his pocket and looks it over again. "I''m going to register for my battle before it gets too late. See you two down there?"

    "You know it!" Zinnia smiles. "C''mon, shorty! Lets get your junk then get some choice seats!" She hooks her arm around Brendan''s and drags the boy along, making him stumble with a yelp. They quickly vanish in the throngs of people in the arcade.

    Vulpix snorts from his shoulder, her irritation with Zinnia leaking over and tickling the back of her trainer''s mind. ''I ***** **i*k **u s****d **** to*d *** ** le*** *** gr***.'' Her message is almost totally garbled in her annoyance, too much for Lee to piece together.

    ''I know she hasn''t been a good friend until recently, love,'' Lee sends back as he begins weaving through the people to the west wall, where a neon sign saying Elevators hangs. ''And she made a lot of assumptions... and tried to drive a wedge between us...and, er, okay so her track record is pretty abysmal,'' Lee admits with a sigh. ''But I don''t want to tell Zinnia to just get lost. I was serious when I said her experience and powerful pokemon are tempting protection.''

    Vulpix turns her frowning face to him, a wordless feeling of inadequacy on the forefront of her mind.

    ''No! It''s not that either.'' Lee tries to keep his face from looking sour as he steps into the elevator with several other people, but still feels his lips pull downward. A few people look at him, a younger girl gaping in particular, but as usual the eyes are glued to his scars, not his full face. Thankfully no one seems to realize there is a silent conversation going on. ''You, Corvi, and Grovyle are my champions, my family. I know I can trust everything to you. Baby Shinx...'' The man pauses for a moment. ''I know she''ll grow up to be as powerful as you three, then she can share that mantle too. You are my life, and that''s why I want to stack the odds in our favor.''

    The fox pokemon bows her head slightly, a silent, apologetic whine escaping her lips. Lee then realizes that he''s battering her with a barrage of emotion and constricts his side of their link, reducing the flow to a trickle. ''I get that you''re upset, and you have every right to be. Just put up with Zinnia for now, okay? Who knows, maybe she''ll keep the good behavior up.''

    ''...Ok*y.'' Vulpix finally concedes. Although she hides it well, Lee can still feel why she gives in so easily.

    She''s too tired to argue further.

    ''Vulpix,'' The vixen perks up as she''s addressed by her name. ''Are you feeling okay? You''ve been exhausted for what seems like a week now, and I know you''re not sleeping well. Please, if there is anything I can do to help, tell me.'' He keeps his peek into her sleeping mind to himself.

    Again, she takes time to answer. Then Lee is smacked with a jumble of confused emotions that nearly make him stumble into a woman in front of him as he steps out of the elevator onto the third basement floor.

    Vulpix shuts off the deluge of psychic noise after just a second with a sigh. ''Too. Com... Plex.'' She haltingly sends to him, and already he can feel the second-hand migraine blooming in her skull as she slowly, painstakingly sounds out the telepathic English. Even with the effort, the words are coated with a curious psychic ''static'' that makes Lee''s brain feel fuzzy just listening. ''Exp. Plain. When. Talk. No...'' Vulpix struggles to formulate further words as her migraine worsens.

    ''You''ll explain when you''re better at telepathy, I understand,'' Lee halts her and steps off to the side so the people behind him can pass. He rests his hand on her head and pulls her into a half-hug, gently rubbing her furry scalp behind her head-tuft. She melts into the touch as the throbbing in her head slowly begins to subside. ''When you''re ready, I''m ready.''

    The flow of love from the fox is as warm as the furry pelt pressed against Lee''s neck and cheek, making him smile. Heart-to-heart over, Lee keeps walking down the darkened hallway to the arena check-in.

    Checking in was a simple affair. Lee needed only to present his ticket, sign a few forms, and return Vulpix to her ball before the attendant at the desk led him into a musty back room behind the arena to select his pokemon. Then came the difficult part.

    Actually picking which pokemon he wants.

    Lee scrolls through the selections on one of the provided terminals in the rear of the arena with a frown. The pokemon are all common fare, like a selection of Zigzagoons, Poochyenas, Geodudes, Nincadas, Shroomishes, Wurmples, and the like. The terminals are rather sterile in their descriptions of the pokemon and the moves all of them boast are... less than impressive.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ''Maybe my pokemon really are spoiling me with their talent,'' Lee blinks. ''A regular pokemon like one of these could manhandle me easily, but I still feel undergunned.''

    Finally, he scrolls to an Electrike and pauses.

    Summary:

    Sex: Male

    Age: 3 yrs old

    Personality: Volatile temperament. Quick to anger. Use caution.

    Known Moves: Tackle, Leer, Thunder Wave, Spark, Howl

    ''Electric types only have Ground as a hard counter...'' Lee rubs his chin. ''Howl and Leer give some flexibility, and Thunder Wave is a utility move that''s hard to beat. On-demand paralysis is a game-changer.''

    Mind made up, Lee clicks ''confirm'' steps off to the side, waiting for a Tent attendant to bring him his pokemon.

    It doesn''t take longer than a minute for a teen in an apron bearing the Battle Tent logo to rush in via a side door, a pokeball in her grasp. "Lee Henson?" She asks the gathered trainers.

    Lee raises his hand, and she quickly bounds over and hands the ball off to him before taking off in a hurry. "Your match is in twenty minutes sir! Feel free to get to know your pokemon in the meantime!" She''s gone again through the same side door a second later.

    "Busy place?" Lee wonders under his breath, looking at the other handful of trainers still lining the walls trying to pick a pokemon from the terminals. With a shrug, he taps the button on his loaned pokeball, making it open with it''s distinctive snap-hiss and depositing a glowing white mass on the floor.

    The light fades, and a young Electrike takes shape at Lee''s feet. The canine pokemon shakes his head and glares up at him, his foul attitude already rearing its head.

    Lee crouches down slowly, but leisurely, not taking his eyes off of Electrike''s and silently daring the young pokemon to break eye contact first.

    Electrike lifts a lip to growl.

    "Shh!" Lee quickly presses a finger to the pokemon''s chin, halting the growl without looking away. "None of that. We''re working together for this match and I expect you to give it your all. Understood?"

    Although the finger against Electrike''s chin buzzes uncomfortably as an electric charge runs through it, the canine doesn''t growl again and finally averts his eyes.

    "I''m glad we have an understanding," Lee smiles without baring his teeth and stands again. "Listen to me closely, and I''ll lead you to victory as best I can."

    Electrike snorts.

    The man and ''mon wait for roughly fifteen minutes, and in that time, several of the other trainers with loaner pokemon are called to the arena. The matches seem to only take a few minutes each, but the lack of a TV showing the fights in the musty backroom makes it impossible to tell exactly.

    ''Thats probably on purpose...'' Lee muses. ''It makes for more of a challenge if we''re going in blind and unsure of who we''re fighting.''

    Finally, one of the Tent workers, a younger man, pokes his head in the room and glances down at the tablet computer in the crook of his arm. "Henson, Lee!"

    Lee gently nudges Electrike with his boot, rousing the Electric-type into standing. "That''s us, bud. Let''s go put on a show."

    With his loaner pokemon on his heels, Lee is led through a winding hallway that splits down two paths. Coming down the path Lee, his pokemon, and his guide take is a dejected, older woman closely following another Battle Tent employee. They pass the pair, who are heading back to the waiting room.

    "I take it the paths split into the two sides of the battleground?" Lee idly asks as he follows the apron-clad employee leading him and Electrike.

    The man nods his head. "Yes sir. Did Amy go over the rules with you?"

    "Erm..." Lee struggles to recall any of the nametags on the Battle Tent attendants he''s talked to. After a second, he sighs. "I don''t recall talking to an Amy, no."

    The attendant nods. "That''s okay. The rules are simple. Matches are one-on-one, win three to get a prize, you can swap pokemon at the end of the match or keep Electrike, standard tourney rules are in play."

    "Simple enough." The scarred man agrees.

    They come to a stop at a thick steel door that the younger man opens. Gesturing inside, he smiles and says; "Good luck."

    Lee glances down to Electrike, who is bouncing nervously on his paws. "Ready?"

    The pokemon answers with a short, eager bark.

    Lee and Electrike step out into the arena, and Lee raises to his brow a hand to shield his eyes from the harsh lights. When his eyes adjust, he gets a good look at the Battle Tent''s main attraction.

    The ground is coated in astroturf that sports gouges, burns, wet patches, and spots that are totally upturned. Sports pads line the walls, also displaying an impressive level of damage. About twenty feet above the walls is a seamless glass window surrounding the entirety of the ring, and behind the glass are seats lined with people. Many of them are cheering and seemingly hollering, but the window allows almost no noise into the ring. It takes only a second to spot Brendan, Zinnia, and their released pokemon, who found seats close to the window. Both humans wave down at Lee.

    If not for the obvious legitimacy of the rest of the Battle Tent, Lee would have sworn this area held illegal underground battles.

    "Next up, we have Lee Henson of Little Root!" An unseen announcer blares through an overhead speaker. "His partner for today is the spitfire Electrike! Can they take down Maybelle and Snorunt, who need just one more win for a prize? Let''s find out!"

    From the other across the arena, a young woman with long blonde hair strolls out and waves to the crowd with a wide smile. Trailing just behind her is a little Snorunt, who takes a few hopping steps into the battleground. The strange pokemon''s expression is difficult to read.

    Elecktrike mirrors Snorunt and steps forward without any prompting, a snarl on his face.

    A second later, a shimmering barrier flares to life on each side of the arena before fading into invisibility, locking the pokemon in.

    "Trainers, ready?"

    The young blonde woman smiles brightly and Lee just nods, focusing on the pokemon before him intently.

    ''Elecktrike is likely faster than Snorunt, and we want to keep that advantage out of the gate. One unlucky Ice-move could stop Electrike in his tracks and then it''s game over.'' Lee takes a deep breath as his mind churns out ideas. ''Keep it simple, stupid. Electrike is a straightforward fighter like Grovyle. Use his strengths and don''t let up. Maybelle has to know Snorunt can''t keep up with an Electric quadruped, so she''ll likely start out with...''

    "Begin!"

    "Snorunt, use Icy Wind!" The other trainer calls near instantly, pointing with a finger.

    ''...A frontal attack out of the gate.''

    "Dodge left!" Lee cries, keeping his voice loud and commands short just as Zinnia drilled into him.

    It still stings a little, remembering how casual and verbose the dragon tamer was with Bagon in their first battle.

    Electrike bounds to the side just as Snorunt exhales a cloud of crackling ice crystals and snowflakes, leaving a thick sheet of frost on the ground where the canine stood a second ago.

    "Thunder Wave!" Lee orders again, voice filled with authority.

    Elecktrike growls and sparkles with a corona of bright yellow bolts, then he shoots a thin lance of lighting that crosses the field near instantly, zapping Snorunt and making the Ice-type convulse violently on his feet.

    "Snorunt, get out of-" The blonde woman stops herself short when her command is much too late. "E-er, Snorunt, use Double Team!"

    "Howl, and then Spark!" Lee doesn''t relent. "Now!"

    Electrike throws his head back and cries out in a deep howl that cuts down and touches something primal in everyone in earshot. Then he''s wreathed in another snapping coat of electricity before charging forward with a savage snarl. The astroturf smokes and curls under his paws as he runs.

    Snorunt can barely stop shaking long enough to screw his eyes shut and concentrate, but by the time the illusionary clones of Double Team begin to take shape next to him, Elecktrike strikes him like a dog-sized taser. The arena is filled with a stomach-churning ''pop-pop-pop'' of electricity flowing through flesh, and poor Snorunt is thrown off his feet from the force. The teepee pokemon rolls to a stop just a few feet away and struggles to rise, before giving out and falling to his belly.

    "Snorunt, c''mon, baby! I believe in you!" Maybelle holds her hands together as if praying. "Get up!"

    After a few seconds, just as it seems like the buzzer is going to sound, the Ice-type slowly gets to his feet with a pained grimace, and the crowd above roars in approval.

    Lee bites his lip as Electrike looks back at him for an order. ''Be sportsman-like and let them recover, or go for the throat?''

    "Lee!"

    The man looks up at Zinnia, who has her hands cupped against the glass to help her voice carry through. "Evo stones are a portental prize! Don''t let this go!"

    Beside her, Brendan nods frantically and presses his phone against the window. Not that Lee can see what''s on the screen from this distance, but if he''s actually agreeing with Zinnia...

    "Spark!"

    "Snorunt, Protect!"

    Just as Snorunt stands and gets his bearings, Electrike slams into him again, this time driving the other pokemon into the wall. Snorunt convulses as Spark runs through his body, then falls to the ground limp when Electrike backs off.

    A buzzer sounds overhead as the barrier around the arena falls. "And thats that! Snorunt is down! Lee and Electrike are the winners without a scratch to show for it!" The announcer says, prompting the onlookers to stand and cheer.

    Across the arena, the dejected Maybelle recalls Snorunt into his ball and is led back through the door behind her by a man in a Battle Tent apron, but not before she turns and sneers at Lee and Electrike. "Stupid pro tryhard..." She holds her nose up as she leaves.

    Lee can''t help but frown, but he wipes it off his face when Electrike proudly trots back to his feet, stubby tail wagging.

    "See? I told you we''d win." The man grins and kneels down and offers a hand to his loaner pokemon. Electrike presses his muzzle into the offered hand, and Lee suppresses a wince when an electric jolt runs up his arm.

    "Mister Henson?"

    Lee takes the excuse to withdraw his hand from Electrike and stands, turning to face the same young attendant who escorted him to the arena.

    The man clears his throat and looks down at a tablet in his hand. "Your next match starts immediately. Would you like to swap pokemon, or keep Electrike?"

    "Hmm..." The zoologist glances down at the green Electric-type, who looks back up at him expectantly. ''Why fix what isn''t broken?'' Lee shakes his head. "I''ll keep Electrike. I feel a winning streak with him, eh, pal?" He smiles down at the pokemon, who barks excitedly and wags his short tail faster.

    The attendant nods and smiles a bit himself. "Good luck," he wishes before bowing out and leaving the arena again.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    With a final wobble, the shuddering and burned Pansage falls to the arena floor, unmoving. Even landing on the wince-inducing electrical burn on his chest does not rouse the simian pokemon.

    "Pansage, I know you''ve got one more in you! C''mon!" The middle-aged woman trainer on the other side of the arena tries to make Pansage fight further with her pleading.

    Lee shakes his head and turns his eyes back to his loaned Electrike.

    Favoring his left side and panting harshly, the Electric-type''s exhaustion from three back-to-back battles is obvious. Snorunt did no damage, but the Baltoy in the last match proved to be a pain in the ass thanks to it''s immunity to Electric moves. What Lee expected to be a rough match actually wasn''t that bad, just time-consuming when hit-and-run became the name of the game to escape Baltoy''s Psybeam, which did hit Electrike once. Several times, the volume of Lee''s voice swallowed the other trainer''s commands or made him stop short, leaving Baltoy open. By the time the other trainer, a man of similar age to Lee, decided to start using Rapid Spin to ward off Electrike, Baltoy was on it''s last leg and only got one good hit in.

    Pansage was the toughest of all, being both faster and more versatile than Electrike with Vine Whip and Leech Seed. Something interesting Lee discovered? Spark fries planted Leech Seeds, and Vine Whip becomes a liability when the foe can light themselves up like a stun-gun and zap the Vine Whip user via their own whips.

    One such zap opened Pansage to a surprise Thunder Wave, then the immobilized monkey pokemon was promptly assailed by a barrage of Howl empowered Spark attacks.

    Electricity is such a powerful element. Although he would never dream of forcing her to battle, Lee silently hopes that Shinx can learn to wield her electrical powers like a pro.

    Overhead, the buzzer sounds for the 3rd time. "That''s it! Lee Henson has cleared the Battle Tent challenge and is our second winner today!" The announcer''s voice is punctuated by cheers. Brendan in particular gives a standing ovation with a bright grin.

    "I feel like I overtrained for this..." Lee shakes his head and waves to the other trainer. "Hey! Good match!"

    The woman, Lee didn''t catch her name, just huffs and recalls Pansage before handing the ball off to the Battle Tent attendant behind her.

    On the field, Electrike finally gives in to his exhaustion and falls to his rump, still panting like he ran a lap around the entirety of Slateport.

    ''Opponents like Snorunt, Baltoy, or Pansage would barely wind one of my team... But Electrike isn''t one of mine. This was probably a huge uphill fight for him.'' Lee raises the loaned pokeball in his hand and levels it at the exhausted pokemon. "You helped me to a big win, pal. Thank you for everything. I couldn''t have done it without you."

    Electrike turns and stands, his head held high as he''s sucked back into the pokeball as a beam of red light.

    Lee hands the ball to the attendant behind him and gives one final wave to the roaring spectators before stepping back into the darkened hallway. The Battle Tent worker closes the door behind the both of them, and the trek back to the waiting room is spent in silence until Lee breaks it halfway back.

    "I''m only the second one to win today, eh?" He asks over his shoulder to the attendant. "What do I win?"

    The young man at Lee''s side smiles a strained ''customer service'' smile as they stop back in the musty waiting room filled with terminals. "The prizes are randomized, sir. It could be anything!"

    "So I''m not getting a Fire Stone, then." Lee grouses, making the apron-clad man falter. He sighs. "That''s fine, I guess. I still need to talk about evolution to my Vulpix. No need to get ahead of myself."

    "While a Fire Stone is a tall order for our easiest Tent, I think you''ll find this to be a decent compromise."

    Both Lee and the Battle Tent employee turn to face the interloping voice, the latter stiffening.

    With a grin on his face, a short, rotund man with curly brown hair wearing an alolan shirt and sunglasses stops to Lee''s left. In one of the man''s hands is a small box, and the other hand is raised in a wave. "Yo!" He greets, voice as cool and laid back as he looks.

    "S-Sir! I didn''t realize you were visiting today!" The attendant escorting Lee hastily steps up and gives the man a deep, proper bow at the waist.

    Lee blinks, a half-forgotten memory surfacing as he scans the very tourist-looking man. ''Some kind of VIP? No. Where have I seen this guy? Not in the games... or was he? Damn. I need to dig my old phone out and do a replay of Pokemon Emerald to refresh my memory.''

    "No need for that," the still unnamed man adjusts his sunglasses and waves off the bow. "I just popped in when I saw a trainer of interest register for our challenge here. Lo and behold, he wins handily. Heh, we''re going to need to put that Electrike up for adoption soon. He''s probably too experienced to stay here after battling under an elite-in-the-making." He thrusts a hand forward with a smile. "My name''s Scott. I''m the owner here. Nice to meet you properly, Lee."

    Lee''s eyes widen when the man''s name suddenly fills in the missing piece of the puzzle. ''Oh shit. The Scott? The Battle Frontier owner? Fuck, how did I forget that?'' Outwardly, he clears his throat and clasps Scott''s hand for a handshake. "The performance was enjoyable I hope? And meet me properly?"

    Scott laughs when Lee releases his hand. "Not as enjoyable as seeing your personal pokemon battle, but I had a good time watching. I caught yours and Miss Zinnia''s performance in Dewford''s yearly Brawl at the tail end of my vacation and I''ve been hooked ever since." Scott clears his throat as his smile becomes more business-like. "There''s little I enjoy more than watching rising stars. You, Miss Zinnia, and Mister Birch are all such stars. I''ve found a handful of others this year, but you three are some of my favorites. It was Nigel Birch''s reign of terror over the Hoenn Gym circuit twenty years prior that started my fascination, you know?" He crosses his arms, and even with sunglasses on, the nostalgia in Scott''s eyes is undeniable. "Then I find his son, a dragon tamer, and a mysterious newcomer turned Lab Trainer traveling together trashing Gyms and tournaments like Nigel did?" The short man''s grin is face-splitting. "Ohohohoho! Hoenn is due for a shake up. It''s been too calm since Steven Stone took power, and I think you three are the ones to do it!"

    Lee bites his lip. "You intend for us to challenge the Battle Frontier someday?"

    "Someday soon." He nods, grin still locked in place. "Here," he holds the box in his hand out. "After I saw your Treecko-turned-Grovyle''s impossible win in Dewford, I''ve been wondering what a boost would do for him. I think this is better than one of our regular prizes."

    Gingerly, Lee takes the unmarked cardboard box and at Scott''s silent urging, pulls it open, letting out the scent of loamy earth and revealing the inside.

    Sitting in a velvet-lined indent inside is a cloth band with a glittering, seed-like gem sown into the center. The gem faintly glows a sun-light gold even in the bright fluorescent light of the room.

    "What is it?" Lee wonders aloud, picking up the band and holding it aloft.

    Scott chuckles. "I thought a researcher like you would have known?"

    The zoologist''s face colors red a bit, drawing another chuckle from the shorter man. "It''s a Miracle Seed," Scott explains, reaching out to tap the gem with a finger. "A seed so overflowing with Grass energy that it empowers the Grass techniques of the wearer. Mister Grovyle will enjoy a nice boost to all of his Grass attacks, and it''s legal in most tournaments too!"

    Lee''s mouth drops open a little. ''I hadn''t even thought of using held items. Then again, I''ve not come across anyone else using them either.''

    "You''ll encounter trainers using doodads and bobbles like these the more serious you become," Scott practically reads Lee''s mind with a knowing nod. "The smart ones will try to hide their use when they can. I know Roxanne has a Magnet somewhere on her Nosepass painted to camouflage it, and if Brawly is following his father''s example, then his pokemon probably have Coba berries ready to bite down on to dull Flying attacks."

    ''That... Actually explains a lot. It was weird that Nosepass''s Discharge was so strong, and Brawly''s pokemon took Corvi''s attacks with more ease than I would have expected.''

    "Only the brazen wear their gear casually." Scott finishes, not noticing Lee''s thoughts. "Make of that what you will." Then he reaches up and clasps Lee''s shoulder. "It''s a shame I couldn''t see your friends fight, but I understand given the ticket price. Next time, I''ll call ahead and let the next Tent know that you three are battling as VIPs." He then withdraws a business card from his pocket and slips it into Lee''s hand. "We''ll keep in touch, okay? I''ll be watching your career closely."

    As Scott turns and walks away through a staff door with a wave, leaving Lee and the gaping attendant behind him, Lee looks down at the card in his hand and rolls it between his fingers.

    ''I can''t escape this main character bullshit, can I?''

    He wraps the Miracle Seed up and stuffs the business card into the box before making his way out of the backroom, passing another group of people being led in to pick pokemon to battle with.

    Alone in the elevator, he takes Vulpix''s ball from his belt and pops it open, depositing the vixen on the carpeted floor. Barely even needing to blink the spots out of her sight, she jumps to Lee''s shoulder, gives him a short nuzzle in greeting, and reconnects her mind to his. Without bothering to ask, she scans through his memories of the last hour lethargically.

    "You slept in your ball, didn''t you?" Lee asks, already knowing the answer.

    Vulpix''s wince and surge of guilt is immediate.

    "It''s nothing to be upset over," Lee murmurs, reaching a hand up to stroke her soft cheek as the elevator begins to rise. "We''ll keep practicing your telepathy until you can tell me what''s on your mind, right? You helped me, and I''ll help you. Just try to get some sleep at night, okay?"

    In her throat, Vulpix makes her curious not-purr and gives the man a lick across the side of his nose, her warm gratitude making his chest feel light.

    The elevator stops on floor B2 and opens, letting in a handful of people going up, Brendan and Zinnia among them. Brendan immediately beelines for Lee with a hand held up for a high-five. "That was awesome! Way to clown on everyone who looked your way!"

    Lee huffs out a laugh and meets Brendan''s hand with his own for a loud ''smack!'' "Clown on them? Is that some kind of figure of speech?"

    The boy trainer just sticks his tongue out at his older friend. "Get with it, old timer."

    "In all seriousness, well done, Dolittle." Zinnia steps in with a smile. "All the pokemon here are roughly on par with each other, and you took three wins pretty skillfully. The matches were... a little dull, but that''s more because the low level trainers and low level ''mons rather than you." She easily ignores the ugly looks from a few people in the elevator, one of them Maybelle, the first trainer that Lee denied a win. "You''ve already got the bond thing down, and now you''re on track to be..." She pauses for some reason, red eyes looking away in thought for a moment. "Worthy of some really amazing stuff."

    Lee raises a brow, and Zinnia awkwardly clears her throat. "I''ll explain what I mean later."

    "How much are Battle Tent tickets?" Brendan asks Zinnia, steamrolling over the conversation. "Oh!" He turns back to Lee. "What did you win?"

    Zinnia grins evilly. "They''re three-hundred and fifty some credits, shorty, and no consolation prizes."

    The elevator dings and reads "F1". The door opens, letting everyone inside out.

    "What?!" Brendan exclaimed and he, Lee, and Zinnia walk off to a corner to finish talking. "Over three-hundred credits!? That''s criminal!"

    Lee shakes his head and looks at the draconid tribeswoman as well. "Did you seriously blow three-hundred and fifty credits on an apology gift? One that wasn''t sure to have some kind of return on investment?"

    "Yes and yes," she crosses her arms under her bust and preens with a smile. "And no return? You won, didn''t you? I''m curious too, what did you get?"

    Holding the box up, the camo-clad man opens it and shows the pair of curious faces the Miracle Seed inside.

    "A Miracle Seed?" Brendan breathes. "Wow. Uh, that''s not an evo stone, but that''s not a waste of credits either."

    Zinnia whistles and grins. "Ha! String bean is already a lean, mean, sword-fighting machine. This is going to kick him up a huge notch. Look at the purity of this thing! It''s even glowing!" She turns and looks back at the elevator with calculating eyes. "If these are the kinds of things they give away, I might need to get a ticket for myself..."

    "I don''t get the feeling that this is in the usual winnings pool," Lee closes the box again and slouches so Vulpix can step over the straps of his backpack that he pulls off. He drops the Seed in his bag and replaces it over his shoulders. "The head honcho of the place gave it to me. He said he''s been following our progress since Dewford."

    The dragon tamer''s head whips back around so quickly that the collar of her cloak makes a ''snap'' sound. "Someone''s been stalking us?!"

    "Not like that," Lee holds his hands up passively. "He''s some bigwig who owns the Battle Tents and the Battle Frontier. The guy''s name is Scott, and he said he wants all of us to eventually take the Battle Frontier challenge."

    "Really?" Brendan''s eyes light up like Christmas came early. He balls his hands and bounces in place. "No way! The Battle Frontier is only for the best of the best! It''s where Elites rub shoulders and Champs hang out! He wants us there!?" Brendan almost squeals in happiness. "Holy crap thats awesome!"

    "Know a lot about it?" Zinnia asks with a raised brow. "You''re fanboying out reaaaal hard."

    The Birch heir scoffs. "Of course I do. Dad was invited to the Battle Frontier when I was little but turned it down to keep his career as a professor. Honestly? I think he should have gone for it."

    ''I need to look up Professor Birch''s battles sometime. Can you remind me next time we have some time, love?''

    Vulpix flicks an ear in acknowledgment, then silently reminds him of something else he forgot.

    "Oh!" Lee exclaims, drawing both Brendan and Zinnia''s attention. "Scott also mentioned that any other Battle Tents we visit are free of charge. He wants to see you two battle as well."

    Brendan''s mouth drops open in surprise, and Zinnia just smirks greedily.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    In the forest path leading to route 110, the road to Mauville just north of Slateport, two blurs of green and blue cease clashing at an unspoken signal and materialize into a pair of pokemon.

    On the right, Brendan''s Marshtomp pants with his eyes wide and almost manic. His body is littered with cuts, small bruises, and one deep slash in this thigh that bleeds profusely. The mudfish''s whole body shakes with energy aching to be released, and his fists are clenched so hard that his knuckles are bone-white.

    Across from Marshtomp, Lee''s Grovyle stands coolly with his arms crossed as the Leaf Blades on his wrists power down. Any who know him well can see how deep his breaths are and the tremor that runs through his legs, however. His form is black and blue with bruises and busted scales, and his usual chewing twig is bent, clearly broken. He shifts the twig to the other side of his jaw, which lacks a swelling bruise shaped like a three-fingered fist. Around the wood gecko''s neck, a black neckerchief bearing a radiant seed sits, ruffled.

    "Nice job, Marshtomp!" Brendan praises from behind his pokemon. The young trainer already has a spray bottle of Potion and a water-soaked rag at the ready. He steps in and gently guides his pokemon into a sitting position before spraying down Marshtomp''s wounds, who barely notices the disinfecting sting. When the cuts close he wipes the spots of blood away with his rag. "Never let a type disadvantage keep you down!"

    The Water pokemon takes a deep, gurgling breath and lets out a jolly laugh as his energy finally dissipates.

    Lee, with Vulpix in her usual spot astride his shoulder, mirrors Brendan and steps up to Grovyle with the Super Potion he bought a number of days prior. Like usual, Grovyle needs no spoken encouragement and doesn''t so much as flinch when the Super Potion soaks into his scales, reversing the bruises and growing new scales in a way Lee knows has to be itchy as hell. When Grovyle sees his trainer''s pleased smile, though, the Grass-type''s stance relaxes ever so slightly.

    With his pokemon treated, Lee wipes his forehead with his sleeve and pulls his phone from his pocket, gazing at the time. "I think that''s enough of a spar for now. Take a rest, Grovyle."

    The gecko nods easily, so Lee returns him to his ball in a flash of red.

    "Same for you, Marshtomp." Brendan holds out his ball. "Rest up! I''ll need your help coaching Mawile when we stop next time!"

    Marshtomp gurgles again and raises a finger in a rough thumbs-up with a smile before vanishing into his ball as a mass of red light.

    "Okay you two!" Zinnia calls from the shade of a tree to the side. At her feet, a wide-eyed Shinx and bored Shelgon stand. "Time to bail out of here before a ranger shows up!" She points a finger behind them.

    Lee and Brendan both turn, then pale as one.

    A few trees along the path are laying on the ground, felled in the furious fight between pokemon. A few are cut clean through as though done by a giant razor, and some look as if someone mistook a sledgehammer for an axe but was too stubborn to stop until the tree fell.

    "Well, Mauville is several days away on foot, so let''s not dally..." Lee clears his throat and turns away from the mess. He kneels down, and Shinx darts away from Shelgon''s side into his arms, drawing a smile from him wide enough to pull at the marred side of his face.

    Zinnia returns Shelgon to his ball and falls in step with Lee and Brendan as they quickly walk northward, away from their impromptu battleground. "You know, if you keep spoiling her by carrying her around, she''s going to turn into a wussy daddy''s girl." The dragon tamer eyes Shinx, who ignores her in favor of cuddling into Lee''s arms.

    "That''s fine," Lee sniffs, shifting his arms so the cub in his grasp can get comfortable. "Nothing wrong with that. She can walk if she wants. If not, the fresh air will do her some good."

    Zinnia just chuckles. "Sure thing, Dolittle. Sure thing..."

 Act 1: Interlude 4

    For what feels like the thousandth time in the last few weeks, Zinnia wonders just what she was thinking when she joined Brendan and Lee on their journey.

    A full day''s travel led the group to stop about three hours away from the intersection of route 110 and route 103, and another full day from Mist Village, the halfway point between Mauville and Slateport. Along the way, they stopped to rest several times and passed a number of other young trainers, most of whom shied away at the sight of Lee''s stoic mug. Even with the adorable furball of a Shinx in his arms to break the tension, the taller trainer is just too daunting looking for kids to challenge. Not wanting to come off as a bully as he''s said before, Lee never issues a challenge first.

    The wandering trainers gladly challenged her and Brendan, though. She battled one while Brendan battled another. Her opponent, a flirty boy of roughly fifteen years of age, had a Lombre with a rather impressive repertoire of moves, but considering the power of all the moves were piss-poor, it instantly told Zinnia that the kid focused too much on learning new moves rather than mastering old ones. Goomy struggled in the fight, but netted a narrow win.

    Brendan''s Mawile fought his battle. One against a twelve-ish year old girl with a Doduo. The girl was just a budding trainer, so Brendan had Mawile bait Doduo into range, then finished Doduo with a single, merciless Crunch.

    Neither Brendan nor Lee seemed interested in the pokemon in the area, but Brendan, following in Lee''s thrifty footsteps, recruited his pokemon into looking for berries and wild veggies as they walked. They did find a mostly empty bush of Aspear berries, but Shroomish ate the remainder of the disgustingly sour things despite how his face puckered up like a Grumpig''s rear end afterward.

    The dragon tamer breaks out of her thoughts when Shelgon nudges her knee. Sitting on his shell, Swablu tilts her head and peeps out an inquisitive trill. Zinnia sits up from her spot leaned against a tree and reaches her hand out to rub across Shelgon''s smooth shell. "I''m fine guys. Just pondering, is all." She grins and looks around their twilit camp.

    Lee is sitting cross-legged at the foot of his and Brendan''s tent. In his lap, Vulpix dozes as a lazy loaf of fox, not at all minding Lee using her back as a prop for his phone, which is playing another one of those trainer school courses.

    "Pokemon evolution catalysts can be split into three primary causes," A dry voice, one that makes Zinnia sleepy just listening, drones from the Pokegear branded device. "Age, experience, and external causes. As seen here, pokemon require one or more of these factors to undergo evolution into their next stage. Several examples, such as the Charmander line of Kanto, Treecko line of Hoenn, and Totodile line of Johto, require only battle experience to evolve. These pokemon can undergo evolution at a young age should they have talent and a guiding hand. Others like..."

    Ok, enough of that!

    Lee''s Grovyle is meditating off on his own under a tree, but Shinx and Goomy, being inquisitive little boogers, keep bothering him. More than once the exasperated lizard has tried to get them to meditate with him just so they would quit, but Shinx could barely sit still for a minute and Goomy quickly followed his new best friend''s lead.

    ''I hope some of Shinx'' confidence rubs off on Goom. The little guy could use it.'' Zinnia watches the cub and tiny dragon trundle off to find something else entertaining.

    Corvisquire is high up in a tree above the camp, brooding as per usual. His head slowly swivels around, keeping watch. Despite working himself to the bone for almost two hours prior practicing Swift, the crow pokemon doesn''t seem winded. In the low light, his feathers shine with a faint polished-iron gleam.

    In Brendan''s little corner of the camp, he and his pokemon are huddled around a small dry-erase board in the boy''s lap. His voice is low enough that Zinnia can''t make out what he''s saying, but from how engaged his pokemon look, he''s probably discussing some kind of battle strategy with them.

    "It won''t be long before shorty catches up and surpasses Lee and myself." She muses to Shelgon and Swablu. "We''re going to have to up our game..."

    Oh, how she wishes that taking her pokemon to new heights meant staying competitive with her... friends.

    For the thousand and first time, Zinnia wonders what she was thinking, joining Lee and Brendan.

    Her plan was all laid out, and she threw it away on a hunch, a feeling in her gut. Even now as she rests, the clock ticks damningly, each second another punishment for her inaction.

    In less than a year''s time, Hoenn, her people, and her pokemon, will all be reduced to ruin. As surely as she draws breath, deep in space, beyond the safety of their beautiful planet, death draws closer and closer. Ancient Draconid texts all speak of this year, predicted over and over by many an oracle, who emerged from their prophetic trances from the World Between pale and ill. Without fail, their warnings matched the prophecy word for word, even if they lived their entire life without knowing the prophecy beforehand.

    Beware! Beware the hateful intruder! Beware the end of our home! It comes uncomprehending of our plight, and with a shell of earth born to another sun, it will see our home gone and her inhabitants reduced to ash. Only the Almighty Who Claims The Sky and a Champion with the power of Ascension might avert disaster. Save us, Almighty. Save us, Champion.

    Scholars poured over the texts for years and all came to one conclusion. A meteor sized to destroy the entire region and devastate the wider world is on a collision course with Hoenn, and only god-like power has any hope of destroying it.

    The god-like power belongs to the ultimate Dragon, the one who the Draconids still speak of in hushed, revered whispers.

    Rayquaza.

    The almighty dragon would not be enough alone, however. He would need the power of Ascension, unlocked with a bond to a powerful human. This Rayquaza and human, working in tandem, would save Hoenn.

    And who is usually the strongest trainer in the Draconid tribe? The Lorekeeper.

    Then Aster, the best Lorekeeper in generations, the perfect woman to understand and empower Rayquaza, died and left the mantle to Zinnia.

    Aster''s very memory seems doomed to live on only within Zinnia...

    Zinnia sighs and tucks a bit of her hair behind her ear. At the same time, her other hand trails down and wraps around a cold, empty pokeball at her belt. The way the ball chills her fingers makes her chest hurt. Thankfully, Neither Lee nor Brendan have noticed her moping.

    Her plan was all figured out. She would infiltrate Magma or Aqua, let the jokers summon their Legendary Pokemon, then seize the opportunity when Rayquaza came down to quell Groudon and Kyogre. In the meantime, she would train and grow strong enough to impress Rayquaza, so she could power his Ascension with Mega-Evolution and save Hoenn. It was simple and effective.

    Then she met Lee and Brendan and her plans went right to hell.

    Brendan was just an uppity kid in her eyes only several weeks ago. Other than his family name, he wasn''t anything special. Then he began to improve.

    His clumsy battles swiftly formed up into a game of both brains and brawn for the boy. He learned his pokemon''s strengths and learned to pace himself. His slow and methodical way of battling grows more and more advanced by the day, and it only sharpens the more she and Lee spar with him. Truely, it won''t be long before she and Lee are struggling to keep up. The kid has a good head on his shoulders and faces every day with a grin even if he stumbles along the way. The more and more she thinks, the more Zinnia sees Brendan as Elite, or even Champion material.

    Then there''s Lee...

    The man is... frustrating, for lack of a better word. A man becoming a trainer so late in life is unusual, but not unheard of. A man becoming a trainer late in life looking like he went three rounds with a pissed-off Charizard with a rare Vulpix as a starter is just bizarre.

    She thought the Dewford punk Andre may have been onto something with his ''failed trainer'' dig, but that doesn''t make sense now. Lee has too many gaps in his knowledge, and his way of battling had little in the way of cohesiveness until recently. Even a failed trainer would have something. Then he displays so much medical and behavioral knowledge of pokemon that he could be mistaken as a professor if you slapped a white coat over his shoulders. Then the other things, like how powerful his pokemon are, yet Lee cringes if they so much as get a cut in battle, or how pokemon just seem to understand him and grow at obscene speed under his care. Only Aster could do the things he could.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    It makes no sense, and damn it''s frustrating. She promised not to pry if he didn''t want to say, though. Just a few weeks ago, she would have never agreed to such a promise, and thus Zinnia realizes something.

    She meant to only travel with them long enough to figure out the secrets Lee is hiding, but then something happened. Brendan and Lee became her friends. The first ones since Aster, and like Aster, they''re changing her.

    Her plan to infiltrate Magma and Aqua and let them summon their pokemon seemed so bulletproof. A few people may die in the chaos and some things may be destroyed, but it''s a small price to pay... Until she wondered what Brendan and Lee would think.

    The shrimp would instantly decry the idea like the little hero that he is. No amount of suffering would agree with him, and he''d loudly let her know. It might be enough to break their friendship, or even spark a battle that Zinnia isn''t sure she could put 100% into. His pokemon would thrash hers in her weakness, then he''d demand that they all work together to do it the right way, by finding and calling Rayquaza themselves somehow.

    Lee, ever so pragmatic... might actually agree with her. The dummy would reluctantly follow her if he could convince his pokemon. Zinnia has seen the thousand-yard stare and the guilt that chews at him when he thinks no one else is looking. She can barely stomach the thought of putting another burden like willingly sacrificing lives on him.

    It may not even matter, though. Lee might already know.

    For every one thing Lee is ignorant of, he seems to know something else that, by all rights, he shouldn''t.

    The telepathy, the wild Fire moves, modifying other moves like Swift, knowledge of legends and her tribe... It''s not too far-fetched to think he could know about the secrets of Mega-Evolution, the mythical ascension of a pokemon fueled by the bond between pokemon and human, the coveted ability of the Draconids. He might even know the Draconid Prophecy.

    ''Or at least Mega-Evolution was coveted until that bastard Sycamore poked his nose where it didn''t belong and blabbed to his buddies... Do I keep quiet and wonder if Lee, and by extension Brendan knows? Or do I tell them and deny them the chance of living without the burden?'' The woman grimaces. ''Brendan would want to know, but if Lee is keeping his mouth shut because he doesn''t want to be involved, then he might try to help out of a sense of duty if I say something...'' Zinnia sighs and stands. ''I''ll think about it.''

    She stands and waltzes over to Lee with Shelgon and Swablu on her heels. Lee seems too engrossed in his video class to notice her approach.

    Vulpix, however, cracks open an eye to level Zinnia with a frosty glare.

    Zinnia ignores the fox in favor of flopping down next to Lee, making the man jump a little and turn to her. "Zinnia?" He asks, pausing his video. He looks away from her for just a second when Shelgon and Swablu settle by her.

    "What are ya working on, Lee?" She asks, peering over at the notebook she can now see on his other side. It''s filled with medical jargon that she can barely make sense of. "You''re cramming like you''ve got a test coming up."

    He shrugs. "I do, actually."

    Zinnia blinks at the answer. "Huh?"

    "I''ve started taking the courses from the Rustboro Trainer School in earnest," he smiles a smile that doesn''t quite lift the mangled side of his face. "They''re pretty understanding regarding work and travel and all that, so I don''t plan on actually going until this League year is over. In the meantime, I''m brushing up so when I do go for a placement test, I can hopefully skip a year or two on a four-year degree in pokemon nutrition. If I''m really feeling masochistic, maybe I''ll go back for another degree in pokemon medical science or psychology." He lets out a short laugh, more of an amused exhale, really.

    Zinnia smiles in return. ''Too bad a giant flaming rock could put a damper on that.'' She banishes the thought and continues on. "What brought this on?"

    Lee''s smile becomes overly polite, and instantly Zinnia can tell he''s uncomfortable. "Well, after our heart to heart in Slateport..."

    Vulpix''s glare redoubles, but Lee cups her chin with his hand and gently strokes her cheeks without looking. The pokemon huffs and looks away.

    "...I''ve kind of been wondering what kind of direction I want my career as a pokemon trainer to go in." He hums. "Battling is fun, and while my pokemon enjoy it... I''m not too keen on that being my main career. I''ve promised to make them strong and take them to the top of the world..." He glances over at Grovyle, who is meditating in peace, before turning back. "So I''ll fulfill that promise, but after that dream is accomplished? I''ll probably stick to academics and caring for pokemon. Professor Birch''s endorsement is nice, but I can''t make it into the big leagues on that alone. Hence, studying."

    ''He wants to be a pokemon professor or something?'' Zinnia wonders to herself. ''I guess that isn''t too surprising.'' She nods. "Yeah, I can see it. Have fun with the tuition fees, though." She snorts.

    Lee''s face twists into a grimace. "I can''t escape student debt, it seems..."

    ''He was in debt before?'' The Draconid frowns and voices her thoughts. "You were in debt before?"

    Lee tries to hide a wince, keyword tries. "Ah. Yeah. Did I... ever tell you about my home?"

    Zinnia shakes her head, too worried that a verbal reply might spook Lee into clamming up again. Across the camp, Brendan''s troupe suddenly falls silent as well, obviously listening.

    "It was an isolationist region called The United States of America," he begins slowly. He doesn''t glance at Vulpix, nor does she look at him. "It was a lot like Orre, where there was no wild pokemon. Instead, animals that pokemon would have otherwise driven to extinction lived in the wilds."

    The dragon tamer nods again, her brain turning.

    "I had a degree in zoology and frequently worked with large carnivores," Lee draws one of his sleeves up, showing his arm. With a finger, he traces a few thin scars. "That''s where all of this came from, and the debt came from the degree."

    Zinnia doesn''t miss how Lee refers to his home in the past tense, and despite her burning curiosity, she refrains from asking. "Big carnivores? Like what?"

    "Lions and other large felines," He smiles fondly, but it doesn''t quite reach his eyes. "Much weaker than a pokemon, but they were majestic creatures that captivated me from a young age. If you dared not pay them the respect they were owed, they would cut you down in a heartbeat. I learned the hard way a few times." He chuckles. "My last day there, I drew the short straw and had to feed Mara, one of the tigers. They''re another type of large, predatory cat. Mara was in heat, though, and was feeling extra cuddly. When I went back to my normal charges, the lions, my oldest lioness caught the scent of Mara on me. She was furious and tried to get into my blindspot so she could jump me."

    Zinnia can''t help but scratch her head at how casual he sounds when normally Lee is so danger-shy. "Jump you?"

    "Kill me, I mean." He shifts, and without any prompting, Vulpix raises from her spot in his lap and does a stretch. "Makiri had full intention of making her anger known, so with haste borne of caution, I got out of there."

    By now, the night is setting in, so as per usual, Vulpix seats herself near the center of the clearing and conjures a blazing ball of fire over her head, lighting the camp. Around her, different flaming shapes flare to life, each one morphing as they orbit her at varying speeds.

    Lee snaps his fingers, and instantly Shinx turns away from pondering how to climb Corvisquire''s tree to face Lee. With barely any delay, she toddles across the clearing, stumbling once and hops into Lee''s lap with a mewl, leaving a frantic Goomy behind.

    The man smiles down at the kitten, and this time it''s a real, tender smile. "Heya, baby girl. Getting into trouble?"

    Shinx blinks her big yellow eyes up at him and twists so that she''s laying on her back. "Mrrreow?" She bats at the hand that comes down and rubs her belly with her tiny paws.

    Lee chuckles and deflects her baps and boops with a finger. "It''s getting dark and time to settle down, okay? Let''s get your therapy done and then you can have dinner."

    The bright yellow eyes quite literally shine at the prospect of food, so Shinx goes still, letting Lee gently take one of her hind legs and massage it in gentle, circling motions. All the while, the kitten purrs and lets her eyes drift shut.

    "Where was I?" He asks, turning back to a still bewildered Zinnia. "Right, Makiri. The thing with lions and other big cats is that they don''t like to come at you from the front, it''s always from the side or behind. Their psychology in hunting and hostile encounters is rooted in identifying low-risk, high-reward positions, like attacking prey who aren''t aware of them. If they''ve been seen, they''ll give it their all to wait until the prey''s guard is down or move to a more opportune position. With that in mind, I kept my eyes on her and backed out." His smile steadily falls. "I really loved them."

    Many things suddenly make sense to Zinnia, and all at once, guilt crashes down on her as many dots connect and form the beginnings of a grim picture. The dependence on Vulpix, the burns, the odd knowledge peaks and valleys, his insistence on adopting Shinx. They make sense now. Her questions on the things he shouldn''t know and the feeling that he''s still holding something back are forgotten for now. Zinnia clenches a fist under her cloak and fights to keep her face neutral. She wants to ask what happened and why, but the words refuse to budge. Instead, she gulps. "Uh. Right..." She lets the conversation die and desperately tries to think of something else to talk about before the silence stretches into something awkward. "Say, what are you doing with Shinx?"

    "Hmm?" He looks down at the kitten as he takes her other hind leg and stretches it out, using his other hand to rub the inside and outside of Shinx'' thigh. "Ah, well, since Shinx is a premie baby, I want to be sure I can maximize her growth. Miltank milk alone is good, but I''ve been adding protein and small vitamin doses to her mix as well. If we''re lucky, Shinx should grow to be healthy and full size considering her activity level, but to avoid any discomfort with her growth and to help her muscle weakness, some minor physical therapy is called for."

    "You really think she''ll be full size?" Zinnia keeps the conversation going with a smile.

    Lee shrugs. "I''m hoping, yes. This is factoring in her evolution, too. If she''s not fully grown as a Shinx, then as a Luxio or Luxray, the problem should be mitigated. Once she''s a bit older, I''ll test her for her electrical output and see about electrotherapy if she needs a boost." He lets Shinx'' hind leg go and reaches for a foreleg, pulling and stretching it gently while rubbing up and down the limb. "What I''m doing here is pulling just a little beyond what she would normally do on her own to keep her muscles pliant and to promote even growth. Normally, these problems are self-correcting in an active cub, but I-"

    Zinnia nods along and lets the smiling Lee talk about advanced pokemon care, asking questions here and there to keep him going. It makes him happy, so she''ll tolerate the boring subject for a while longer.

    ''I can tell them everything later...'' Zinnia lifts Goomy into her lap when the tiny dragon finally hops over and strokes him across his moist head. ''Brendan should stay a kid for as long as he can, and Lee doesn''t need more heartache. Or... I''ll figure something out and do it on my own. It''s the Lorekeeper''s job, after all...''

    She looks up at the night sky, and one bright star draws her attention more than any other.

    ''What would you do, Aster?''

 Act 1: Lees Logs 3

    "Log twelve, day fifty-two."

    "Treecko evolved after his nail-biting victory at the tournament yesterday, which won us the whole thing. He proved his sheer talent by taking his dodging skills, refined from several weeks of dodging Swift, and refining them into Detect through observation of Absol, the ace of the other finalist. I even scanned him with my pokedex to confirm that he does indeed know Detect. With the new move, he dodged what would have been a game-ending blow to knock Absol out. Does that count as a win worthy of a grant increase for the lab?" The recording pauses for a moment. "You did say any prestige I bring to the lab means more money from the League, right? Anyway, Grovyle is pleased with his evolution, but it has brought its own set of problems. The sudden increase in mass his body has undergone combined with the reduction in mass from his tail has left him unbalanced. I was hoping instinct would correct this, but apparently not. It''s not a huge issue, as Grovyle is nothing short of a kinesthetic genius and is already back to fighting condition. I suspect in the next week or two he''ll be back to his previous level of acrobatics and then some."

    "In other news, Vulpix used Convergence in battle for the first time yesterday. It took nearly fifteen seconds to charge up between Vulpix''s exhaustion and the stress of the battle, but with Zinnia''s Shelgon holding that monster of an Absol still, Convergence wore Absol down enough for Grovyle to secure the win. The move''s destructive power is incredible, and it doesn''t seem to suffer from the same sort of backfire effect that other charged experimental moves of ours have. I''ll have to research the cause of its stability more. Maybe more fireballs charging slowly is the cause? When we know more, we can begin on more moves."

    "Lastly for this one, I kind of regret not going over history more during my prep time. I''ve been focused so hard on training my team that I''ve ignored everything else, and some idle browsing of Pokepedia last night was a kick to the head. I knew about the main regions and some rough history, but I still have to remind myself sometimes that this isn''t a kids game, but real life. I had no idea that there were other regions like Fiore, Almia, Oblivia, Ferrum, Ransei, and a few even smaller ones I can''t remember. No idea if they were in any pokemon games or not, and if they were, I didn''t play them. I guess it makes sense that Professor Oak didn''t seem suspicious when he heard I was from some small, isolationist land devoid of pokemon, kind of like an especially barren Orre. Ransei in particular stuck out to me."

    "Ransei caught my eye for being the only region currently engaged in warfare. If Pokepedia is correct, they''ve been in a civil war raging between a fluctuating number of warlords for years, something I was not expecting at all. The mass embargo and travel ban placed on them from every major region doesn''t seem to have slowed things, either. I expected the worst as I read on, but something seemed off. The casualties are practically nonexistent for a place embroiled in war... I can''t help but morbidly wonder why? Military tech has obviously stagnated compared to what I''m used to, as America had a hulking military industrial complex, but some well-trained pokemon could cause death on a scale only surpassed by doomsday weapons like..."

    There is almost ten seconds of silence, followed by the sound of Lee clearing his throat. The sound is dry and uncomfortable, making Birch''s own throat itchy. And doomsday weapons..?

    "Like, uh... Well, it doesn''t really matter. Anyway, I guess there is also the flipside that factors the feelings of the pokemon in as well. I have no doubt a pokemon could slay a man easily, so the question then becomes ''would they want to?'' and I''m guessing no in most cases."

    "Hey! Did you have to run so far ahead!?" A young voice familiar to the professor calls in the background of the recording.

    "That''s it for now. Lee, out,"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log thirteen, day fifty-six."

    "A lot has happened in just a few days. I''ve updated both the training routines and diets of all my pokemon here recently, as I realized that we''ve been focusing a little too much on specialized subjects and ignoring the fundamentals. Updating the diets was pretty straightforward, as all that I really needed to do was increase the serving size to scale upward with the effort that everyone is putting into their training. I''m still trying to better my cooking ability so that a strict vegetarian like Grovyle can better enjoy his food, but I''m struggling a bit to find a mix that is both properly nutritious and pleasing to the palate. It doesn''t really help that Grovyle refuses to complain and insists that whatever I give him is fine. I can appreciate trying to make things easier for me but come on."

    "Since Vulpix''s pyrokinesis is growing leaps and bounds every day as evidenced by her successful use of Convergence, we''ve decided to pull back slightly and return to her physical conditioning. If you''re wanting to see the move in action, take a look at my Battlenet profile and I''m certain it will be there at about 20 different angles, all equally grainy. While Vulpix was the fastest member of my team for quite some time, she''s begun to fall behind both Grovyle and Corvisquire recently. Considering Corvisquire''s mastery of Extreme Speed and Grovyle''s almost religious use of Quick Attack, I suppose it''s not too surprising. Anyway, Vulpix has remained healthy as expected and continues to grow at a wonderful pace. While I had suspicions about her being stronger than myself pound for pound just a few weeks ago, I know she''s stronger than me now."

    "Onto Grovyle, the one you haven''t seen in action yet. Like I said, he recently evolved during a local tournament at Dewford. His opponent was a monstrously powerful Absol owned by a teen boy named Andre. I''m not joking about how powerful this pokemon was, professor. He could cross a field one-hundred feet in diameter in literally the blink of an eye without using any speed enhancing techniques�� Or if he was using a speed enhancing technique, then he has it mastered to such an incredible level that there is no visible aura. I don''t even want to think about how long that would take. I''m getting off topic here, back to Grovyle. He evolved after pulling off a narrow win and gained an instinctual knowledge of how to use a number of cutting moves with the leaves on his wrist. Leaf Blade was the first one I observed, then he learned X-Scissor in what seemed like no time at all. To help round out his repertoire, I''m going to begin teaching him how to use Slash soon. I still need to figure out a good ranged move for him. As for his conditioning, he still throws his all into whatever training I set in front of him and is growing powerful enough to give Vulpix a challenge even with the type disadvantage. He''s a stunning pokemon and my regret for ''stealing'' him is swiftly dwindling."

    There is a pause in the recording followed by a tired sigh.

    "Finally, there is Corvisquire. I don''t know what I''m going to do with this bird. I know that he had a prior trainer, he''s too strong and has too varied a technique pool to not have, but his reluctance to let me touch him has some very worrying connotations. I''ve tried multiple times without success to get him to agree to a physical checkup, and he''s rebuffed me every time. He won''t even tolerate human medical staff at Pok��mon Centers getting close to him with the intention of helping, meaning that the Nurse Joy on duty has to call in her Chansey or Audino to do the job. At the very least he doesn''t look put off by my mere presence anymore, so there is some improvement. If what I fear happened to him is true, then this is the easy part and the worst is yet to come�� In regards to his training, he steadfastly refuses to fall behind Vulpix or Grovyle and I believe that is what is currently driving him to listen to me. Our experimentation with Swift is coming along slowly but surely. The technique seems most responsive to Corvisquire thinking out a set of commands for it before it is even launched, sort of like a programmable missile. Improving the speed and power to tolerate tight turns or target changes is boiling down to practice, practice, practice. Once he has this down to a comfortable level, I''ll begin teaching him about Dark-type energy and how to infuse it into his attacks. I''m probably going to need to recruit Vulpix''s help for this since I don''t have a frame of reference for what the actual feeling is like, but we''ll figure it out. After doing a bit of research into his evolutionary line, Corvisquire''s next form, Corviknight, should have a larger concentration of Dark Type lineage than his current middle stage even if it''s still not to the level of a true subtype. That in mind, I fully expect Pursuers to be battle-ready by the time Corvisquire evolves."

    "With our business in Dewford complete, we''ve chartered a cargo ship to take all of us to Slateport, and from there we will head to Mauville. That''s it for this one. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log fourteen, day fifty-eight��"

    There is no noise coming from the recording other than the faint drone of an air conditioner. Leaning back in his office chair, Professor Birch waits patiently.

    "We�� I�� Am I doing something wrong? I didn''t ask for Grovyle to get thrashed in a hopeless fight. God dammit! I''m not doing this right now. Fuck, this isn''t some stupid diary. I''ll do this report tomorrow when I can think."

    The recording abruptly cuts and begins the next one, making Hoenn''s Pok��mon professor frown.

    "Log fifteen, day fifty-nine."

    "We were dealt a pretty devastating loss yesterday. Another trainer in his twenties made short and brutal work of Grovyle with his Donphan. I panicked during the battle and was barely able to help. Apparently, I''ve been doing this for a long time and just didn''t realize it until Zinnia very bluntly pointed out."

    "Evidently, I have little in the way of a cohesive style-of-battle. Looking back, I can see it and I think I realize what exactly went wrong. Those pokemon games I told you about? While the player versus player aspect was very competitive, the actual storyline of them was not. Why would it be? It was made to entertain children. My own way of playing them both as a child and adult was to overlevel my pokemon to a disgusting degree and stomp the CPU trainers. I think I''ve been trying to do that here as well and it''s finally backfired. I have been relying too heavily upon the sheer power of my pokemon and contributing too little to the actual battles myself. Zinnia was very�� thorough in her dressing down of me. She pointed out my panic when the going gets tough in battles and confronted me about my overdependence on Vulpix. I suppose it all stung my pride and I apologize about the previous recording."

    "Thankfully, our argument didn''t shatter our traveling group. For as irritating as she is, Zinnia is still very much a powerful trainer that I can learn from. Although she didn''t apologize for her harsh words, she did apologize for coming off as more hostile than intended. I''ll leave out the details of why she was so upset since they were rather personal, but she''s offered to assist me in the refining of my own battling ability as an apology that I accepted."

    "She and I visited the famous Slateport marketplace today and I have to say that it definitely lives up to the hype. There was quite literally everything there. I wasn''t terribly interested in any of the knickknacks or other souvenir style junk, but some grooming gear and a few other minor supplies were appreciated. This is also where I found my fourth pokemon, a Shinx."

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    "She''s such a tiny little thing, Professor. Just barely large enough to fill my palms when I put my hands together. The breeder here in Slateport said she was a premature live birth and that he expected her to stay a runt for her entire life. This�� Is actually a situation I''m familiar with. One of the cubs at the zoo years back was premature and she was given a very low chance to live beyond several weeks. This was years ago when I was just beginning my courses on zoology and the cub in question was hand raised by my soon-to-be mentor. She went on to live and grow into a healthy adult, so my mentor, Aasir, thought it necessary to teach me how to care for such a cub. I''ll be putting everything I learned into practice here. Additionally��"

    There is the sound of someone shifting in a creaky chair in the recording, then a faint sound that Birch leans in and strains his ears to hear.

    Purring.

    "Baby Shinx, she''s�� so much like them that it''s almost painful to look at her. So many behavioral cues from her would match one-to-one to a lion cub. She''s still so young that little in the way of a personality has emerged from her yet, and a selfish part of me almost wants her to stay this way forever. As she grows, the animalistic side of her will be tempered by intelligence and it''ll distance her from how she is today. I bought her on pure impulse and now I think that maybe I shouldn''t have. This might be some sort of unhealthy coping mechanism and Shinx doesn''t deserve to be caught up in that. I wish that the zoology courses I took went over the psychology of primates a bit more, so maybe I could self-diagnose this shit and pretend that I didn''t make a dumb decision."

    Birch pauses the recording and gently rubs his temples with his fingers. After massaging away some of the impending headache, he looks at his computer and at the other audio files lined up after the current one with trepidation. "Lee, what am I going to do with you?" He murmurs.

    It''s obvious to the professor that the experiences the younger man went through are still haunting him, holding him back. He''s a kind, wondrous, unique trainer with the potential to turn the entire world on its head, but he''s going to crash and burn before he gets that far if he doesn''t sort through his issues.

    Birch bites his lip and looks up at the ceiling as he reclines in his chair, tracing a faint pattern in the ceiling tile above with his eyes. He could always�� mandate that the younger trainer received counseling to remain under his employment. In most places, such a thing might trigger a medical confidentiality complaint, but as the regional Pok��mon professor, the only person that Nigel Birch truly must answer to is Steven Stone... But on the flip side, letting Lee go would be a horrific blunder if the scarred man refuses to see reason. He could potentially wander into the clutches of someone less than kind, and all of Lee''s enormous potential would be outside of Birch''s reach. Still weighing his options, Birch presses "play" on the recording from his lab trainer and keeps listening.

    "Well, what''s done is done and I''m going to stick to it." Lee''s voice is more confident now. "I don''t know if she''ll ever be battle ready, or even if I want her to be battle ready, but I''m going to raise little Shinx to be as happy and healthy as possible."

    "With that in mind, I''m going to resume normal training with my team tomorrow. The only good thing to come out of my episode yesterday was that I talked to Corvisquire for a while. I told him bits and pieces of my past and he seems more agreeable today. Hopefully this little bit of extra common ground is just what I need to begin cracking his shell. Grovyle is recovering well from his injuries yesterday and should be back to full capacity in about half a week. Finally, the thing worrying me most at this moment is Vulpix."

    "Over the past week, I''ve noticed that she has been having trouble sleeping. I''ve given her another physical and found nothing out of place, but several times I''ve noticed her napping during the day or struggling to sleep at night. I''ve asked her what is going on, but she just insists that it''s nothing and I should not worry. Her skill with her telepathy continues to grow and I imagine it will only be several months before we are able to have full conversations. I''m hoping she can tell me what''s eating her before then."

    "Circling back to my conversation with Zinnia, it did make me stop and think about what I actually want out of being a trainer. Battling is certainly fun and all, and my Pok��mon are well-suited to it, but I don''t see that being a long-term lifestyle for me. After much mulling over it, I think I am going to do what I did back home and pursue a career as�� Well, not an animal handler but a pokemon caretaker. I''m still torn on if I want to be a breeder or a researcher, but I''m sure the choice will become more clear as time goes on. In preparation, I''ve begun using the resources given to me by the Rustboro trainer school so that by the time the league year ends, I will have enough of a grasp on the subject matter to take an entrance test into the trainer school University courses. Uh, I don''t want to seem too pushy but the performance back in Dewford was enough for a pay bump, right? I''m not going to count on any scholarships or anything and it''s pretty much a universal rule that academia is expensive."

    "And that''s all for this one. Lee, out."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Log sixteen, day sixty-six."

    "Quite a bit has happened in the last couple days, so I''ll try to condense it down. Zinnia and Brendan have been assisting me with building my own procedures in battle. Zinnia in particular has thrown herself into this, likely seeing it as some sort of challenge. We''ve had our pokemon sparring day in and day out with a medley of different conditions attached so that I''m forced to have a style or procedure to fall back on when things become uncertain. It certainly highlighted Zinnia''s brutal style and Brendan''s slow and steady approach so much that I feel like a bit of an idiot for missing it. In lieu of direct battle, I found that I quite enjoy the use of different status ailments in order to keep an advantageous position, which is apparently pretty common if what Zinnia says is anything to go by."

    "Onto my team. Shinx has been an absolute sweetheart and I''m glad to have her. Her physical examination showed that her small size and weak muscular structure are the only issues she''s had. A few days after the fact, I did take her to the local Pok��mon Center to get a second opinion just to be a hundred-percent safe. Nurse Joy agreed with my prognosis, so I''ve begun taking corrective steps. Rather than feed her with store-bought formula, I returned back to the Slateport market and purchased Miltank milk to use instead. The formula would be fine as a stopgap, but genuine milk has the correct mix of fats, sugars, vitamins, enzymes, and antibodies needed to promote healthy growth on top of just plain being easier to digest. Miltank milk is not perfectly optimal but trying to source Luxray milk has proved to be an expensive pain in the ass. After taking Shinx'' weight into account, I''ve also been adding a small bit of additional protein to promote muscle formation and an even smaller amount of powdered copper mix to assist in electrical flow."

    "Sorry if I ramble a little bit off topic here, but having both an infant and an Electric Type has opened up even more avenues of research for me. I never knew that mammalian and some types of reptilian pokemon can both give live birth and lay eggs."

    Birch blinks. "Huh? Do animals not do that?"

    "That''s just such a�� Strange adaptation. There''s a lot of conflicting information in the sources that I''ve read regarding the phenomena, how some people say egg-born pokemon are weaker than live-born, or the inverse, or that there is no appreciable difference at all. I''ve definitely noticed that purebred, live-born mammal pokemon fetch a very high price in the breeder market��" There''s an inaudible grumble in the audio. "While not super high on my list, that''s something I''m probably going to study in the coming years. Circling back to the fascination with Electric Types, I was expecting something like a secondary nervous system used just for the transmission of electricity in the body of fleshy Electric Types. I was actually pretty surprised to read that electricity flows through the bloodstream and the circulatory system of most. The tiny nodes of copper particles in the red blood cells used to transfer bioelectricity up and out of the body without interacting with anything sensitive is a genius bit of evolution. My heart goes out to the electric pokemon with copper deficiencies and blood-related birth defects. I can''t imagine that accidentally locking up your muscles all the time is pleasant at all."

    "Anyway, I have high hopes for Shinx and she is an absolute delight. I don''t have much in the way of an update for the rest of my team. Vulpix continues to improve steadily and is the one adapting best to the new tactics that I am implementing considering that she can simply pluck the information from my head. Grovyle, being a battle savant, is adapting equally quickly. Corvisquire required some convincing to adopt a new battling style. Previously, I had him battle largely as a mindless thug, and changing that has required flattering his intelligence by saying that a smart pokemon like himself deserves a more sophisticated battling style. It works�� Most of the time. Besides that, the individual training of all three continues to progress."

    "I meant to shoot you a call regarding this, but it was in the middle of a rainstorm and my only thoughts at the moment were getting inside and getting warm. Brendan and I had a run-in with Aqua."

    Birch stiffens, making the plastic computer mouse in his hand groan quietly when he squeezes it.

    "It was just a pair of thugs this time. Both had weak pok��mon and were defeated quickly by Grovyle and Brendan''s Marshtomp working in tandem. After the confrontation, the police were called and carted both off to jail. What worries me was the equipment they were carrying. They were trying to break into one of the enclosed docks here in Slateport and had some sort of electronic lock picking device that Officer Jenny said was bleeding edge, as in far too expensive for common gangsters to afford. Magma and Aqua are beginning to move. I don''t want to sound like a broken record, but please push your contact with League law enforcement to do something. Letting them run around unchecked is going to be disastrous."

    "Finally, during our last day here in Slateport, I competed in the local Battle Tent as a test of my battling skills without my pokemon acting as crutches. It was pretty hard-fought, but I and a spunky little Electrike powered through three matches and won. I have to say, I do feel a little proud of myself. After that, the owner of the place, Scott, showed up."

    "Scott?!" Birch exclaims in alarm, rewinding the recording several seconds to make sure that he heard correctly.

    "-After that, the owner of the place, Scott, showed up."

    "Oh no��" The pokemon professor mumbles. He drags a hand down his face and sighs. "Don''t tell me��"

    "He presented me the award for winning the challenge and openly said that he was scouting Brendan, Zinnia, and myself for the Battle Frontier."

    The professor groans. "Scott, you meddling, bloodthirsty��" The descriptors become increasingly rude until Birch stops himself and remembers that he was in the middle of reviewing his lab trainer''s logs.

    "I''m not quite sure how to feel about that, knowing that he''s going to be watching from here on out, but I suppose there''s nothing I can really do about it. Tonight is the last night we''ll be spending in Slateport, and then we''ll begin the trip to Mauville in the morning. The path to Mauville is apparently somewhat mountainous and the only civilization between Slateport and Mauville is a small little town called Mist Village. We''ll probably stay there a night or two along the way. That''s about it for this one. Lee, out."

    With the last audio log over, Birch stands from his desk and idly strolls out into the laboratory proper, his mind whirling with several different thoughts. He passes by several of his lab aides, who all smile and greet him, but he''s too distracted to return the courtesy. His feet carry them to the rear door of the laboratory which leads out into the pokemon pasture.

    Birch steps out onto the rear porch and slips his hands into the pockets of his lab coat, watching the various pokemon out and about. He looks down at the edge of the porch, where the concrete ends and the grass begins. Vividly, he remembers the day that he met Ash Ketchum over a month ago and the subsequent fiasco of the lab''s electrotherapy unit being overloaded and destroyed. The Kanto-born trainer''s powerful Pikachu is something else.

    On that day, on the rear porch and completely out of place, there was a puddle of vomit, some scorched grass, a neat pile of loose orange fur, and the signs of a struggle in the depressed grass�� Or the signs of something as large as a grown man convulsing uncontrollably. If Birch remembers correctly, then Lee and Vulpix were resting in that spot when the electrotherapy unit exploded.

    Behind the professor, he hears the rear doors of the lab open and close again, followed by faint, almost inaudible footsteps. In the corner of his eye, he sees Medicham stoically take the spot to his right and stand as still as a statue.

    After several long minutes of silence, Birch sighs for what feels like the millionth time today. "I know we''ve talked about it before, but do you think I really should be meddling that much? I don''t want to be one of those people like Scott. Should I really be pushing Lee into doing something like that against his will? You can lead a Ponyta to water, but you can''t make them drink after all. I still feel like he has to make the first step himself."

    The Psychic and Fighting dual-type at his side says nothing, instead just holding up the professor''s cell phone for him to take.

    Birch stares at the offered device. Then he takes and unlocks it with a swipe of his finger. "Sorry Lee, but I''m adding another condition to my sponsorship��"

 Act 1: Chapter 22

    In the misty morning sky, a blue and white blur races down like a rocket, fluffy white wings bent back for maximum velocity. The black-button eyes of the avian-missile flash with glee as her vulpine-prey below is too slow to fully dodge.

    "Vulpix, move! Tree on your right!"

    From her place high on the end of a tree limb, Vulpix tenses and springs away from Swablu''s diving Peck, only to receive a shallow cut on her flank from the bird''s short beak. She winces, but bounds off the trunk of another tree and up into the thick foliage, breaking line of sight with Swablu as the bird pulls up from her dive. A second later, a writhing, orange fireball flies from the hidden fox and homes in on the cotton-bird pokemon.

    "Hold steady, Swablu!"

    Swablu hovers just a foot over the ground, watching the fireball streak towards her carefully, then at the last second, she ascends away with a powerful beat of her wings, letting the fireball splash across the damp grass with an explosion and a plume of steam.

    From his place watching a dozen yards away with Zinnia and Brendan, Lee frowns when he feels the tickle behind his eyes telling him Vulpix is psychically peering through him. He silently constricts his side of their bond, shutting her extrasensory out. ''Sorry, love.''

    A spike of frustration is her answer.

    Earlier this morning, Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan arrived in Mist Village, a small town that Lee only somewhat recalls from the old pokemon anime. It also shook up his knowledge of Hoenn''s topography, as the area around the route 103-110 junction turned out to be mountainous rather than flat grassland. The fog that covers the low mountain range makes everything unpleasantly sticky, so both Brendan and Zinnia were partial to staying only a single night. The trip up the mountain path meant little space for passing trainers to challenge them, leaving Lee to his own thoughts between idle chit-chat with his pokemon and friends.

    One thought was that he and Vulpix should work on battling normally rather than use telepathy. Surely it''s only a matter of time before someone gets wise to their trick.

    "Baby-Doll Eyes into Quick Attack!" Lee orders up at the tree his fox is hiding in the tree. "Go!"

    In the corner of his eye, Lee can see Zinnia''s red eyes narrow. "Swablu! Get up high!" she yells.

    The cotton-bird pokemon flaps her wings harder, swiftly ascending, but the instant Vulpix pokes her head from the leaves below, eyes alight with enfeebling Fairy energy, Swablu falters with a chirp of alarm. The sudden muscle weakness makes Swablu yaw to the side, and Vulpix wastes no time blurring into motion, throwing herself at Swablu like a furry rocket.

    Swablu''s eyes widen, and the bird flaps to dodge, but Vulpix twists to follow. Her white Quick Attack aura surges and propels her in a partial turn, and her shoulder clips Swablu, sending the bird spinning out of control.

    ''Did Quick Attack just add momentum to her?'' Lee blinks and withdraws his notebook from his back pocket. ''Interesting.''

    Swablu recovers before she hits the ground by flaring her wings out, halting her. Meanwhile, Vulpix lands paws-first on the trunk of a tree as she falls. The orange vulpine bounces between that tree and another, bleeding off her momentum as she descends. Once low enough, she lands lightly on her paws. The pair of pokemon eye each other warily, awaiting orders.

    "That''s enough for now, I think," Lee sighs and pops open his notebook, swiftly turning to the section on Vulpix. "We''ve been out here for a few hours now and I feel like we''ve made some decent progress." He says, letting his pen glide across a fresh page. ''Quick Attack can add thrust/forward momentum? Investigate more later.''

    "Aww, what''s the matter, Dolittle?" Zinnia smirks as Swablu flits down and lands on her trainer''s outstretched arm with a curious trill, as if mirroring the question. "Did you sense the beatdown coming?"

    Brendan snorts from his place behind the two elder trainers. "Yeah right," he begins cockily. "No offense to Swablu, but Vulpix is still crazy skilled even if she and Lee aren''t using telepathy. You would have gotten creamed eventually."

    Zinnia''s brow twitches as she returns Swablu to her ball in a flash of light. "Gee, aren''t you just the most supportive little punk there ever was." The dragon tamer clips the pokeball to her belt and turns on her heel, pointing a finger so close to Brendan''s face that the boy crosses his blue eyes to look at it. "You talk awful big when I''m the one who won our last match."

    The young Birch blushes in embarrassment. "Shroomish and I were trying out something new! Sue me!"

    ''Let''s step in before they really get at each other''s throats... Again.''

    "You''re getting him ready for his evolution, aren''t you?" Lee interrupts the argument with the question sent Brendan''s way. He bends down to inspect Vulpix when the vixen coolly trots to his side, but keeps speaking. "Going just for physical attacks, yeah?"

    ''Looks like that cut is already scabbed over,'' The zoologist nods as he runs a finger lightly over the cut on Vulpix''s flank. ''Any aches or pains you want taking care of, Vulpix?'' He thinks, widening the emotional channel to her again. It''s an empty question considering that Lee himself doesn''t feel any out-of-body sensations, but it''s always best to ask.

    Vulpix''s answer is a demure shake of her head.

    Brendan''s smile is almost bright enough to cut through the dense fog. "Yeah! He''s grown about as big as he should, and his spots are beginning to deepen in color. It won''t be long before Shroomish becomes a Breloom!" He almost dances in place, positively giddy at the prospect of another evolved pokemon.

    Lee can''t help but smile at the enthusiasm, and from the corner of his eye, he sees Zinnia openly grin. It''s not the savage grin she wears in a battle, or the sarcastic, condescending one that she uses to talk down to others, but something much more genuine.

    ''I wonder what''s gotten into her?'' Lee muses.

    Retaking her favorite spot upon his shoulder, Vulpix shrugs her shoulders. ''It c**ld ** a****i*g, th*ug* pr**a*ly n*thin* g*od.'' She sniffs in reply.

    "We''ll be glad to help you train Shroomish more later, Brendan," Lee takes his phone from his pocket and checks the time, finding it to be 1 PM. "I think we''re due for a late lunch first, however. Let''s head back into town for a meal and a bit of rest."

    Brendan agrees with a smile and a nod while Zinnia smirks. "Only if you''re paying, Dolittle."

    As one, the three start the short walk back to town.

    "Blech, why is it so foggy?" Brendan grimaces and tugs at his skin-tight shirt, which lethargically peels off of his damp skin. "This humidity is for the birds." He complains.

    "Take a look at the surrounding mountains," Zinnia points a thumb at the rocky spires just barely visible in the distance. "The tall mountains to the west block jet-stream generated winds that would normally stir up water vapors, so those vapors can condense and settle as fog in low-lands like the little valley that Mist Village sits in."

    Lee blinks. "That''s... Rather insightful."

    The tanned woman''s face lifts into a grin. "Learning the weather is something you should do if you plan to ever ride a flying pokemon." She says. "I''d study up if I were you, Dolittle. Your crow is going to be big enough to ride someday soon."

    Lee hums under his breath. "You think so?"

    ''Problem child still refuses to let me touch him so I can''t exactly get a good idea of where his growth is yet. He''s definitely bigger than average, maybe a little over three feet tall, and there''s nothing obviously wrong with him, but I''ve got no exact numbers.'' His hand falls to his belt, where his thumb rubs over Corvisquire''s shrunken pokeball. ''Ha, from a danger I said I would keep so he doesn''t cause havoc to a friend. You can open up to me, Corvi. I won''t harm you.''

    The ball remains still.

    "Probably," Brendan chimes in. "He''s huge for a Corvisquire and he''s being trained by you, so naturally he''s gonna grow stupid fast. I wouldn''t be surprised if he is eight feet tall after he evolves!"

    "Eight feet tall?" Lee questions, ignoring the embarrassment from Brendan''s flattery. Before either of his travel partners can answer, Lee withdraws his Pok��dex from his pocket and opens it, quickly scrolling down to the entry for Corviknight. His eyes widen.

    Average height: 7''0" to 7''6"

    Average weight: 160lbs to 190lbs

    ''Good God, how am I going to feed him?'' Lee ponders. ''Making food for four ''mons is expensive enough. When Corvi evolves, he''ll probably be able to eat as much as a lion!''

    As he ruminates over this latest speedbump, the group falls into a companionable silence as Mist Village slowly comes into view through the fog. The only landmark of the small hamlet, a tall lighthouse of bland gray stone, juts out above the mist. The rotating light at the top, a beacon for lost travelers, gently bathes them in light for a moment before it continues its endless twirl.

    "So what do you guys feel like for lunch?" Brendan asks as the dirt road under them slowly transitions to cobblestone. "I can''t imagine a place like this has much variety."

    Zinnia laces her fingers and raises her arms over her head in a refreshing-looking stretch. "Hum. I don''t really care. Anything is fine with me. What say you, Dolittle?" She asks, turning her gaze to Lee.

    "Brendan was probably on point when he said that there''s not much here," Lee spares a simple wooden sign just off the side of road a glance, one humbly printed with the name of the village. Underneath the name is a meager population count of just 300. "We''ll just stop at the first place that looks appetizing."

    Gradually, the forest makes way for a simple rural town. Many of the homes are of similar, simplistic makes and many of them boast gardens. The closer they get to the main street, the more densely packed the houses become. A bit further into the town, Lee''s cell phone buzzes in his pocket. With a curious brow raised, he withdraws the little device and unlocks it, noting that he has a cellular connection again. At the very top of the screen a message reading "4 new emails" blinks. He taps the alert with a finger. The first two are nothing but spam that are promptly deleted. The second one from an R. Belle makes his curious brow rise a little more.

    Hello Mr. Henson.

    I hope that you and your prot��g��''s journey is going well. Considering the excellent performance of both yourself and Mr. Birch against my colleague Brawly just recently, it certainly seems that things are going swimmingly!

    Regarding your application for our university-level Pokemon Care and Breeding classes, the Rustboro Trainer School would enjoy the pleasure of your attendance in the next league year!

    Upon proper entry, you will be required to participate in an aptitude test to determine your proper placement. During this league year, our scholarship evaluation team will be monitoring your progress closely. They are looking not only at your performance in Pok��mon battles and contests but at all aspects of yourself as a person and as a trainer. Your Pok��mon will likewise be scrutinized for their health, happiness, and abilities. All or part of your tuition may be paid depending on the decision of the evaluation team so please give it your all!

    Warm Regards,

    Roxanne Belle,

    Rustboro City Gym Leader.

    For a moment, Lee is stunned, then a wide grin dominates his face. He got in just like that!

    His joy is so all-encompassing that it bleeds over to the vixen on his shoulder, who smiles gently. Vulpix licks Lee across the cheek once and nuzzles him in silent congratulations.

    Lee''s arm quickly rises to pull Vulpix closer in a hug and he resists the urge to squirm in place. He turns his head so he and Vulpix are forehead-to-forehead, letting him stare into her soulful chocolate eyes. ''Hot damn! I had to be rejected three times back home before I finally found a college that would take me. Just needed one go this time!''

    She exhales a hot breath filled with amusement.

    "Geez, Dolittle." Zinnia''s bemused voice pulls Lee back to the real world. When Lee glances her way, she continues. "Did you win the lottery or something? If you smile any harder your face is going to get stuck like that."

    "No, nothing like that." He laughs. "I just got an email saying that I was accepted into The RTS''s university-level classes and that I''ll be starting next year, probably with a scholarship if they like my performance this year. If I''m lucky, I''ll have my bachelors in either Pok��mon nutrition or psychology in the next couple of years."

    Zinnia giggles. "Nerd."

    "And proud of it," Lee flips his phone between his fingers.

    Brendan grins too. "I saw that one coming from a mile away. Of course they''d want you! Honestly, you could quit right now and they''d still give you a full ride. They did the same thing for one of Professor Elm''s Lab Trainers last year."

    "Huh?" Lee turns to Brendan, feeling his smile fall in favor of confusion. "They did?"

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Brendan nods. "Yeah, poor guy got stuck at four badges and didn''t qualify for the Ever Grande Conference in time. The Trainer School and a few others from other regions offered him full rides and he ended up taking the one in Rustboro. I think he''s still there."

    An odd feeling replaces the elation in Lee''s chest. ''Huh. Just for being a Lab Trainer? I suppose it does seem kind of strange that they did approve me without any kind of prior credentials or even so much as a preemptive test��'' Stinging pride? Dissatisfaction that he might be taking a spot from someone more worthy? Anger that he''s wanted for status only? Although he can''t properly place the strange emotion flowing through him at the news, Lee decides that he doesn''t enjoy it. ''Well, at least I won''t have to pay so much��''

    Brendan seems to realize that his words took the wind out of his friend''s sails. After a few seconds of visible thought, he cringes. "Oh. Uh. Well, if it makes you feel better, I''m pretty sure they would''ve given you a full-ride Lab Trainer or not."

    Lee waves the boy off with a shake of his head. "I''m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. Don''t stress over it." He mutters. Looking back down at his phone, worry suddenly replaces the vague dissatisfaction in his gut. The last email is from Prof. Birch and it has just one line.

    Lee,

    Call me when you get a few minutes alone. We''ve got something important to discuss.

    Nigel.

    ''Shit. I''m suddenly not liking this.'' Lee grimaces. "Brendan, Zinnia," He turns to the two, who give him their attention. "You two go on ahead. It looks like Professor Birch wants to talk to me in private. I''ll be along in a couple of minutes."

    Brendan nods easily enough and continues walking as Lee slows down, but Zinnia lingers for a moment with a curious stare. After an uncomfortable handful of seconds, she speeds up and resumes walking with Brendan. "So! I saw some little diner down the way��"

    As the pair continue walking, Lee turns down a side street and considers the narrow road. Besides a house at the end of the dead-end lane, there is no indication of anyone else being around. Upon the bare-wood fence of the home sits a single Pidgey, who is far too engrossed with preening his wings to give the man and fox the time of day. Lee and Vulpix are essentially alone.

    Unable to shake the worry clinging to him, Lee mutters a silent prayer and dials Nigel''s number. The phone rings once, twice, then;

    "Hoenn Pok��mon Lab, this is Professor Birch speaking." Birch''s polite and well-practiced voice comes through the phone.

    "Hey Professor," Lee begins, slowly pacing around the streetlight he''s found himself under. "It''s Lee. You said you want to talk?"

    "Oh, Lee! I was wondering when I would hear from you!" The professor''s tone lightens into something much more friendly. "Yes, I did want to talk to you for a little bit. Sorry for skipping the pleasantries and all that, but I need to talk to you about something fairly serious. Are you alone?"

    "It''s just Vulpix and I here," Lee confirms. "Sorry for not responding faster, but reception is pretty spotty out here."

    The sound of shuffling papers comes over the phone. "That''s fine. No need to apologize. Lee, please answer this honestly. Have you seen a professional about your PTSD yet?"

    The question, as sudden as it is blunt, makes Lee freeze. "Uh�� Well��"

    "I''ll take that as a no." The professor''s voice isn''t judgmental. Birch sighs. "Lee, I understand not wanting to confront something unpleasant, but there has to be a limit." A sound similar to a pen tapping a desk flows through the speaker. "Your logs have been completely candid just like I want, and I''ve got to thank you for that, but they also highlight these issues with you. Maybe you did it unconsciously, but you''ve gone as far as to openly admit that you''re not coping well. Remember?"

    Vulpix cuddles a little closer into his neck, taking the edge off Lee''s slowly growing distress. "I did?"

    "You did." Birch confirms. "It was the log shortly after you adopted Shinx. That makes me worry, Lee. Not just about you, but also about your Pok��mon. Please don''t take it the wrong way because I know you would never purposely hurt any member of your team. It''s the unintentional consequences to both yourself, your traveling partners, and your Pok��mon that prompted this call. If you haven''t already, I''d like you to give that number I gave you a call after this or source your own professional help, either way is fine to me. I''m not��" Birch hesitates. "I��I don''t want to make this a condition of your continued sponsorship with me, but as both your friend and professor I''d like you to seek therapy. The little glimpses I get through your reports are concerning, but it''s everything I''m not seeing that really keeps me awake at night."

    A million thoughts run through Lee''s mind at once. How is he supposed to explain any of this to a therapist? How does he explain Armageddon? How does he explain losing everything?

    How does he explain death?

    How is a common therapist supposed to help with any of that?!

    "P-Professor," Lee gulps roughly, his throat suddenly dry. "How do I explain what happened? I can''t give them the full story, you know that."

    "I do," Birch agrees easily. "You just give them what you can. You came from an isolated region with no Pok��mon, and after a power plant exploded you found yourself here without knowing how. You don''t have to give them everything, just enough to help."

    "That''s not how that works! Its-!" Lee stops himself short and clenches a fist. Professor Birch isn''t a professional psychologist, he isn''t going to know that. Lee holds the phone away from his face for a moment and takes a deep breath to steady his nerves, then he recalls a crucial detail.

    He didn''t tell Birch everything. Birch still thinks it''s a power plant that leveled the surrounding area, not the end of the world. Black spots dance in the edge of Lee''s vision as he recalls the sheer scale of the devastation in horrific detail, burning flesh and charred lungs and-

    The fox on his shoulder opens the psychic channel between them wide, and from her comes a tidal wave of love and reassurance so powerful that it washes away the building episode. Just as Vulpix hugs herself around Lee''s neck, so too does her mind wrap around his, soothing the terror with her presence. The terrible inferno his body so keenly insists it feels is doused as if splashed with water.

    Deep in the back of his mind, Lee can''t help but be idly amused by the irony, then he returns to the matter at hand. ''I need to tell him.''

    For roughly a minute, Lee stands and takes unhurried breaths, then he raises the phone back to his ear. "Professor? I may have omitted some details about my origin. I�� wasn''t ready to discuss them at the time."

    "I see." To his credit, Birch doesn''t sound at all upset. "And you''re willing to share those details now?"

    Before the nerve can escape him, Lee lets the words pour out. "I told you that I found myself here in this world after I was hit by a nuclear explosion, and that''s true, but it wasn''t a power plant."

    "Not a power plant?" Birch questions. "What else would you use something as volatile as radioactive compounds for?"

    Lee is struck dumb for just a moment, completely unsure how to reply.

    What else would you use something as volatile as radioactive compounds for?

    The implications of that one sentence alone are staggering, and for a moment Lee debates simply hanging up. Should he say and possibly put the idea out there? After a brief second of indecision, he hisses through his teeth. ''Love?''

    Vulpix pauses. Thoughts whirl through her head with dizzying speed, then Lee feels her nod against his cheek.

    "Professor, are you in your office right now?" Lee steels himself for the bomb he''s about to drop.

    "I am."

    "Then close your door and lock it, because this information can''t get out to anyone!" The zoologist insists. "This is a matter of life and death, so no one else can know. Not your family, not the league, absolutely no one."

    Birch wordlessly sets the handset of his phone down with an audible clunk, then Lee hears a door closing. "Okay, I''m ready."

    ''You really aren''t.'' The displaced man thinks, but nonetheless, he continues. "That blast, Professor, it wasn''t a power plant and it wasn''t an accident. It was��" A fresh wave of love from Vulpix bolsters his nerves. Her breath on his neck assures him that he''s here and alive. "A nuclear b-bomb." He forces out. "It was a deliberate attack. One of God knows how many that turned every major city I know of into nothing but smoldering ash. During our first meeting, when I said I would have to track down a god of space like Palkia to go back, there would be no point. I know the instant that we were warned of the bombs, that missiles were probably crisscrossing in the sky because everyone would be determined to go down swinging. Mutually assured destruction, they call it. There''s nothing to go back to." He raises an arm and pulls Vulpix close. She''s trembling. "It''s all gone. All of it. My family, my animals, my friends, my world. All of them are dead."

    For almost a full minute, there''s no reply. Shaking like a leaf and coated in cold sweat, Lee leans back against a streetlamp behind him and waits for Birch''s reply.

    "Oh�� Oh Arceus above��" Birch''s even and pleasant tone of voice is gone, and in its place is naked horror. "Lee, I��" The Pok��mon Professor halts again. "I didn''t know it was so�� I don''t know what to say."

    "Do you understand what I''m trying to get at?" Lee''s back slowly slides down the streetlamp until he''s seated on the sidewalk, his nervous energy abandoning him in favor of exhaustion. Vulpix switches places and climbs down into his lap, so she''s not pinned between her trainer and the streetlamp. "How do I explain that?"

    "Yes��" Birch breathes, voice no higher than a whisper. "I understand. By Arceus, Lee, I''m so sorry." The line goes silent as the professor processes everything. "Okay�� This is going to require a more delicate touch. Had I known things were this severe, I would''ve made special arrangements from the beginning."

    Lee winces. "It wasn''t my intention to make everything so difficult."

    "No no no, don''t apologize. Not at all. This just means we need to handle this carefully." Birch''s phone rubs up against something, then Lee hears fingers dancing across a computer keyboard. "Alright, here''s what we''re going to do. I''m going to be making a few phone calls here soon to some specialists, then to my lawyer so we can draft up an airtight nondisclosure agreement. Once I''ve got a top-notch therapist to sign it, I''ll reach back out to you and we''ll take it from there. In the meantime, just take it easy, okay? If you don''t think talking to your Pok��mon is enough you can call me anytime you need. Whatever you do though, don''t bottle everything up. Talk to someone, anyone! Just promise me that, okay?"

    Lee lets a shaking exhale hiss out his lips. "Got it."

    "Oh, and consider that alternative study I suggested back in Dewford on hold for now. This takes priority."

    At first, the zoologist wants to argue. Birch doesn''t need to put valuable studies like that on hold. Instead, Lee just sighs, too exhausted to argue. "Understood."

    "Good. You sound tired, so go get some rest. I''ll let you know when everything is ready." Without giving Lee any time to reply, Birch disconnects the call.

    Putting his cell phone away, Lee hugs the vixen in his lap close and stares up at the foggy sky blankly, unsure what to do now.

    The worst possible outcome, that Lee is too much of a danger to himself and others to be a Pok��mon trainer, has not come to pass. The intelligent part of him knows the chance of such a thing was narrow at best, but he still breathes a sigh of relief. ''On the other hand though, the more people who know a secret, the less likely it is to stay a secret. If this so-called specialist isn''t trustworthy, they may blab to everyone and then��'' Lee cuts his train of thought off there, determined not to jump to any conclusions and stress himself out further. He looks down at the fox in his lap, who peers back up at him, looking just as weary as he is. ''I''m sorry Vulpix. I know you''re already tired after training this morning.'' He cups her cheek and rubs a thumb through her soft fur, leading her to lean into the touch and close her eyes contently. ''Maybe after all this therapy stuff, I can quit using you like a crutch.''

    The orange vulpine''s eyes snap back open and stare at him, openly offended. She stands on her hind legs in his lap and plants her paws on his shoulders, pressing her forehead to his. For the second time today, he stares deeply into her dark brown eyes.

    ''Trust.''

    Lee''s eyes widen and he sucks in a breath. That wasn''t just a wordless feeling, that was...!

    ''Support''

    ''Empathy.''

    ''Loyalty.''

    ''Love.''

    ''Companionship. Always.''

    The phantom pain of a telepathy-induced migraine echoes from Vulpix into Lee, but he doesn''t mind it at all.

    ''Goodness deserves goodness.''

    The man doesn''t hesitate for an instant to pull the little fox into a tight hug, and for a minute they stay there. Like she oft does for him, Lee reaches across the shallow gulf between their minds and gladly pulls the pain of her migraine away, instantly doubling the throb in his head. It does nothing to dull the wide smile on his face.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It''s about twenty minutes and a text message to his friends later. Lee finds himself back in the dinky motel room shared between himself and his traveling partners. Being such a small town, Mist Village has little in the way of visitor accommodations, which forced Brendan, Zinnia, and himself into the only vacant room left. With his traveling companions still out to lunch, that leaves Lee with some privacy for what is to follow.

    Sitting on the small couch that doubled as his bed the prior night, Lee rolls Grovyle and Corvisquire''s pokeballs between his fingers in anticipation. Who knows just how much they were listening in on the conversation that he had with Professor Birch?

    Shinx'' ball, still in its shrunken travel form, is resting under a pillow on Zinnia''s bed. A quick test with Vulpix told him that the pillow muffles conversation well enough.

    "I''ll explain things to her when she''s a bit older��" Lee murmurs. Beside him, Vulpix nods in agreement. "Love? How much have you told Corvi and Grovyle?"

    Her eyes narrow and glow faintly. ''Little.'' Her reply is stilted and curiously monotone, but coherent. How telepathy can be monotone, Lee isn''t sure. ''N*t my pla*e to say. Yours.'' She ''says''.

    Lee nods and steadies his nerves. "Okay. I think if anyone deserves to know the full story, they do."

    Vulpix reaches a paw out and lays it on his leg, her unspoken support heartening her trainer.

    With a final deep breath, Lee presses the buttons on the balls, letting both burst open with flashes of white. Two shapes take form as the light fades, one forming into the ever cool and collected Grovyle, who regards Vulpix and Lee with a raised brow. The other flash coalesces into Corvisquire, who glares up at them with a preemptive scowl on his beak.

    Lee gestures to the couch and beds with a hand. "You guys might want to get comfortable. This is going to take some time."

    The wood gecko and the raven share a look, then Grovyle turns his attention to Vulpix. "Grooo��" His vocalization descends into an inquiring hiss.

    Vulpix nods her head slowly.

    Corvisquire''s scowl eases just enough for curiosity to shine through and Grovyle''s eyes widen a little. The bird flutters up and seats himself on the edge of Brendan''s bed as Grovyle sits and leans back against the bed frame. Both give Lee quiet, expecting looks.

    So he tells them everything.

    His world, who he was, what he did, the lack of pok��mon, what happened, how he met Vulpix, and everything in between. He tells Grovyle of his destiny to be a legend, and how he essentially stole the wood gecko pokemon from another trainer, how he didn''t offer Grovyle freedom out of his own greed. He tells Corvisquire how the raven was captured to save him from being crushed, and how his reluctant plan to keep the bird so he can''t cause chaos or seek revenge transformed into something more. How he grew to care for Corvisquire, and now wants to see the raven at the top of the world with the rest of them. How he wants to see Corvisquire healthy and loved.

    It didn''t take any longer than an hour, but by the end, Lee is slumped against the old couch and feels nearly ready for bed. ''And it''s only a bit after 2 o''clock��''

    Both the raven and the gecko are silent after he finishes. Grovyle slowly chews on the twig between his teeth, his arms crossed. Besides the hum of the air conditioning, the only sound in the room is the quiet tap-tap of Grovyle''s claws drumming the scales of his arm.

    Above Grovyle and still seated on the bed, Corvisquire can''t hide the conflict on his face. His feathers are ruffled and agitated, and his red eyes continually scan the room, unable to settle on something to look at.

    Finally, Grovyle grunts in his throat and fixes his yellow gaze on Lee.

    "All of it is true. A hundred percent." Lee nods, trying not to let just how nervous he is show in his face. "I have no reason to lie, and Vulpix has seen everything. If my words aren''t enough, then trust her."

    The leafy fringe on Grovyle''s head raises slightly. He looks to Vulpix and warbles a note deep in his chest. Vulpix blinks and Lee can feel her surprise, but she nods.

    Grovyle turns back to Lee and stands, stepping closer. "Vyle�� Groissss." He hisses and chirps a line several syllables long, then turns his eyes to his vulpine teammate. Her eyes glow.

    ''I was not stol*n; my choice was my own. I f*llow beca*se you are st*ong. You unde**tand me, and now I, you.'' Vulpix translates Grovyle''s speech with growing difficulty. ''To endure is *o be mighty, thus y*u are the might*est. I want n* other tr*iner.''

    "Even if you were fated for someone else?" Lee softly asks.

    Grovyle chirps and warbles once more, his head held high.

    ''If it w*s fated other*ise, why did w* meet?''

    Slowly, Lee smiles, feeling part of himself that he didn''t realize was weighed down suddenly lighten. "Thank you, Grovyle. I won''t disappoint you."

    Grovyle''s smirk says I know you won''t better than any telepathy.

    The room''s attention turns to Corvisquire, who has been silent the entire time.

    The raven pokemon can''t seem to formulate any words for what he''s heard. He stands and paces back and forth across the bed, up to the headboard and down to the edge several times. After the 10th round of pacing, he halts and barks out a sharp Caw, caw! to Vulpix. The vixen looks visibly taken aback and even Grovyle tilts his head. Before Lee can wonder just what surprised the two so much, Vulpix'' mental voice echoes inside of his head

    ''He agr*es to a chec*-up. Mu*t be private. Must be o*tside. Not today.''

    Lee feels his mouth drop open in surprise, then it transforms into a grin. "Of course. You name the terms and I''ll agree."

    The raven''s black and blue feathers bristle again, but there''s no outburst.

 Act 1: Sidestory - Unveiled

    With a deep inhale that fills his lungs with cool air, awareness returns to Grovyle''s body. The flood of sensations fills him instantly, and opening his eyes, he finds himself right where he was prior to his nap; the foot of young Brendan''s bed.

    The sleeping form of his Master draws his attention first. The man, now devoid of his green jacket and boots, lays slumped length-wise on the too-small couch of the musty motel room. One arm is draped over his eyes, and the other is holding little Shinx close. The babe is sound asleep, just the same as her Master. Grovyle''s gaze traces the faint lines along the man''s arms, then to the angry, pinched burns that cling to his face. The final reminders of a world lost, and they''re seared into flesh to never be forgotten. Only in sleep does Lee appear at peace.

    Grovyle bites down on his twig. Ghastly beyond words is a grave understatement for the phrase ''mutually assured destruction.'' Such horrors happened long before his Master''s sojourn led him to the home of Grovyle''s colony... So why does it still feel like a personal failure?

    On the windowsill, ever-sour Corvisquire stares out into the fog of the village. His face, his stance, his very being is devoid of his seething anger. On his beak is conflict, and his eyes are far away. His steely feathers now lay flat, but they''re unkempt and in need of preening.

    ''Resist all you wish, the allure of one who understands will snare you before long,'' Corvisquire doesn''t seem to sense Grovyle''s eyes on his back. ''All wounds heal, Corvisquire. Would you be so weak as to allow your own hurts to linger when your Master moves past pain much more vast?'' The gecko pokemon debates repeating his thoughts aloud, but decides the sleeping human and cub should not be disturbed by an argument.

    Just to Grovyle''s side, Vulpix lays on her stomach on the too-hard mattress. The carefully controlled firestorm under her skin, usually pressing on Grovyle''s greater senses, is especially quiet. She turns her eyes away from the Master and young babe to Grovyle himself. "You''re awake?" She asks, voice subdued.

    Grovyle resists the urge to scoff. "I would hardly call my rest ''sleep''. There is much on my mind," He says, sitting up and crossing his legs. He takes a deep breath and centers himself, folding his paws in his lap.

    Vulpix nods simply. "I expected as much," she murmurs, returning her eyes forward.

    "Are you well?"

    The fox turns her entire head to regard him with a raised brow. "Why do you ask?"

    Grovyle pauses to measure his words. "Lee and yourself, you two are connected on a level deeper than words. Did you... see what he saw?"

    His Master''s first pokemon turns away, staring at the wall without actually seeing it. "I felt it. Everything. Sensation. Emotion. All at once, I understood him, I understood humans, and I understood..." She halts. To Grovyle''s silent alarm, the vixen slowly begins to tremble and her unshakable image gradually crumbles. "Grovyle... I understood - I understand death." Vulpix'' tails lash and she bares her teeth in a grimace. "I know what awaits at the end. Part of me feels as though that alone should worry me, yet all it does is raise the question of why I am, and what the point is."

    "..." Grovyle recalls the explanation of Vulpix''s ''birth'' as he processes what she''s said. "Why you are?" He reaches out and places a paw lightly on her back, hoping to ease her shakes. "Have you told Lee that you''re troubled by all of this?"

    Vulpix shakes her head with a sigh. "No. I shouldn''t. I need to protect him, not the other way around. He can''t hope to recover if he''s worrying about me." She rises into a sitting position. "I can''t even if I wanted to. It''s one thing to comprehend the mind of a human, but another entirely to speak one-to-one, to formulate concepts into rigid human words." She murmurs. "I''ll continue to improve my telepathy, then when the time is right, I''ll tell him."

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    The Grass-type is silent. Then; "You''re not giving him enough credit. Do you think he''ll be pleased when he discovers what you''ve been hiding from him?"

    The vixen''s lips pull themselves into a thin line.

    "Oh? You''re wondering why you''re here and alive at this very time?"

    Grovyle and Vulpix look up as Corvisquire flutters to the bed. The crow lands and eyes them with barely veiled annoyance. "Well?" His scratchy voice asks.

    Vulpix'' expression becomes guarded. "Why the sudden interest? I was under the impression that you didn''t care to speak to us."

    Corvisquire sneers. "Ha! The human happily spills his guts and goes on and on about friendship, yet his queen furball won''t deign to speak to me."

    "The ''human'' is your Master. It would do you well to remember it and address him properly," Grovyle glowers at the disrespect.

    The crow pokemon stiffens at the word ''Master''. His jaw works as if to spit an insult, but he can''t seem to do it. He clenches his eyelids closed, but Grovyle can still see his eyes rolling in their sockets. His talons, strangely, don''t rip into the covers of the bed as expected. Just as quickly as the fit came, it''s gone again and Corvisquire reclaims himself. "Y-You..." His fury is almost palpable as he opens his baleful reds and glares at them. "Don''t you dare spit in my face! Especially not now when I''m lowering myself to help you!"

    "Shhh!" Vulpix cringes and shushes the ornery bird. "Lee and the baby are asleep!" She growls as quietly as she can.

    On the couch, Lee grumbles in his sleep, but remains still.

    Corvisquire huffs, but his coat of feathers smooths over again. "You want to know why?" He addresses Vulpix. "Sometimes, most times, there is no why, you simply are. There''s no grand purpose, no meaning... but you''re different, queen furball. An aberration. You were born on purpose. For a reason. Tell me, in what world does being born from a human device make sense?"

    A frown pulls Vulpix'' muzzle downward. "Porygon are created in such a way. They''re brought into this world as data given life."

    "Wrong," Corvisquire shakes his head with exasperation. "Those things aren''t pokemon. Those things are cursed, they live half lives with the brand of the slave on them from creation."

    Grovyle crosses his arms. "Brand of the slave? I didn''t take you as one for drama."

    Corvisquire ignores him. "Again, in what world does being born from a human device make sense?" He slowly paces back and forth between Grovyle and Vulpix. "Your existence is one plucked from a toy and dropped into the lap of a human. Think! Why would you be here?"

    The Ace of the team recoils slightly. "I..." She hesitates. "I don''t know. Lee said that nuclear energy is so powerful that reality itself can be stressed. That could be the reason?"

    "Humph!" The crow draws himself up imperiously. "You''re mistaking cause with purpose. Try as you might, the cause of such supernatural events is beyond you or I, so to speculate is to waste your breath. The human isn''t an expert on such subjects anyway and is merely going by conjecture, so rely on his knowledge at your own peril. Think, damn you! Is there nothing but mangy orange fur in your head as well? I''ll give you one hint as to why you might be here." He turns and looks pointedly at the sleeping human on the couch.

    "Lee himself is my reason?" Vulpix asks with a blink. To Grovyle, her expression is quite befuddled.

    Corvisquire croons. "It''s about time. There is no such thing as a coincidence, queen furball. Extraordinary events happen for a reason, and sometimes pokemon are born for a reason, rare as it may be. Quit being a mope and do as you were, and your purpose will reveal itself in time."

    Vulpix turns her eyes down the mattress, deep in thought.

    Grovyle blinks, not quite hiding his astonishment. "You''re rather wise when you aren''t brooding or brutalizing someone in battle, aren''t you?"

    The crow lets out a scratchy harumph and opens his wings. "If the human wants trust and camaraderie, then so be it. I''ll delight in taking it away when he fouls up." He flutters back to the windowsill and resumes his silent vigil over the misty landscape outside.

    "Do you speak from experience, Corvisquire?" Vulpix asks without looking up, voice little higher than a whisper.

    Corvisquire doesn''t turn around. "Some are born for a reason, yet none of them ask for it. Curious, hmm?"

 Act 1: Chapter 23

    "Doing great! Just a bit more!"

    Corvisquire, too busy focusing on the slowly darkening Swift stars under his wings, doesn''t bother turning and sneering at Lee''s encouragement.

    The walk from Mist Village to Mauville took the better part of a day thanks to rain slowing the group''s progress. The march down the mountain was wet, muddy, and miserable if otherwise unremarkable. The darkened sky meant that light to travel by faded much earlier in the evening than normal, forcing Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia to halt and hastily set up camp roughly an hour outside Mauville under a copse of trees. Their little camp was shared by several Poochyena, a Mightyena, and a well-hidden Kecleon hugging a low branch of a nearby tree. Luckily, no one had to negotiate for a peaceful night with the wild pok��mon, as they seemed to understand the trainers and their pok��mon were just hiding from the rain as well. The downpour stopped before morning, and the tropical Hoenn sun dried the worst of it by the time the gang awoke. With clothes and bags still drying in the sunlight, the trio of trainers and their pok��mon defaulted to their usual method of passing time.

    Training.

    Standing just a few yards away from Corvisquire, Lee watches his pok��mon charge Swift with Dark-Type energy. Slowly but surely, the shining white and gold of Swift darkens to a pink, then to purple. The projectiles also begin to lose their star shape, the points blunting and drawing inwards as they become orbs.

    ''What causes that, I wonder?'' Lee ponders as he scribbles his observations in his notebook. ''Dark-Type energy naturally gravitates towards anything ''alive'', or emitting Aura if I''m understanding right. Does the energy itself also contain Aura, causing a collapsing effect as the concentration increases? Hrm...I''ll have to see about experimenting with that.''

    Lee spares a glance to Grovyle, who sits roughly ten yards away with his arms crossed, waiting inside a circle of dirt for Corvisquire to finish charging his new prototype move. If he can''t dodge the newly dubbed ''Pursuers'' move without leaving the circle or using Detect, Lee will consider the test a success.

    In other parts of the woods just a short ways away, Brendan and Zinnia aren''t idle.

    "Dragon Pulse!"

    "Shroomish, get in cover!"

    With his shell coated in yellow pollen and shaking in partial paralysis, Zinnia''s Shelgon opens his mouth and takes aim at the mushroom pok��mon just a few yards away. Before he can fire, Shroomish hops behind a tree just as Brendan orders, safely hiding away from the attack.

    Shelgon growls and aborts his attack, the whirling Dragon energy in his mouth dying.

    Zinnia growls right along with her pok��mon, and for good reason. Brendan and Shroomish are playing them well.

    When the match started, Brendan ordered Shroomish to move in for a boneheaded Tackle attack out of the gate, bewildering Zinnia when the little mushroom trundled forward without so much as a complaint. She countered with a Headbutt to punish the mistake.

    Then Shroomish twirled out of the way, spraying a cloud of Stun Spore at some sort of signal that Lee missed. Zinnia''s reflexive "Flamethrower!" order burned much of the surprise attack away. Against a normal Shroomish, it would have saved them. Against Brendan''s? The boy must have seen such a counter coming because Shroomish released a positively enormous cloud.

    With his paralyzed foe now too slow to pursue and the field too crowded by trees for Shelgon''s Rollout to be an effective gap-closer, Shroomish was free to plink away at Shelgon from the safety of all the natural cover. A genius maneuver on Brendan''s part.

    ''Unless Zinnia decides to just bust down the trees with Dragon Rush, but that might bring a Ranger running.'' Lee dryly muses. He looks over at his and Brendan''s tent, finding Vulpix and Shinx laying together as they watch Zinnia and Brendan''s battle along with Marshtomp, Mawile, Goomy, and Swablu. The vixen has a foreleg thrown over the wide-eyed kitten, keeping her still so she doesn''t accidentally run into the crossfire of Shelgon and Shroomish''s bout. ''Thanks for keeping an eye on Shinx, love.''

    ''Th**k *oth*ng ** it.'' She sends back, watching Shroomish nail Shelgon with Mega Drain and narrowly avoid a Dragon Pulse for the trouble.

    ''Your telepathy is really coming along,'' Lee compliments. Her words become a little more coherent by the day, and now the partially garbled telepathy doesn''t cause headaches as it did just a few weeks ago if she keeps her sentences short. It won''t be long until they can converse one-to-one!

    "Caw!"

    Oops. He turns back to Corvisquire, who looks decidedly displeased at being ignored for so long. Under his still spread wings, the Swift stars finally turn completely into orbs and darken into a dense black. The rays of light they would otherwise emit are now replaced with dark, smoky wisps of purple.

    "Hot damn we did it." Lee smiles. "Excellent work, Corvi! You''ve got no idea how proud I am. You''ve got your own custom move now!"

    The crow pok��mon''s scowl eases somewhat as he looks at the dark Pursuer orbs now hovering under his black and blue feathers, each one the size of a tennis ball. Being so close, Lee can hear each one hum and hiss ominously. The chilled Dark energy makes a loose fog cling to the surface of each Pursuer, making them seem that much more ethereal.

    "Now, do you feel like you can hold them for a while?" Lee asks, bringing his notebook to bear again.

    Corvisquire just nods, no sneer or condescending caw for once.

    "Great." The zoologist smiles. "Memorize the feeling of your new move. Our ultimate goal here is for you to be able to make Pursuers on their own without needing to charge Swift and convert the Normal energy to Dark. Once you feel like you''ve got a good grasp on the feeling, let ''er rip."

    Naturally, Corvisquire smirks and throws his wings forward immediately. The dark orbs seethe to life and float forward, homing in on Grovyle with malicious intent. Much like the fictional spell that Pursuers draws its inspiration from, the orbs move with a deceptive lethargy, beelining for Grovyle''s center of mass with fog and purple wisps in its wake.

    The wood gecko tenses as the subtle white glow of Quick Attack diffuses through his scales. When the Pursuers are almost upon him, he hops to the side as little more than a smear of green and red. The Pursuers turn sharply to follow, barely losing any speed.

    Corvisquire''s eyes glow balefully and his feathers stand up.

    Shakily, the Pursuers deviate and spread out, covering a wider area as they approach Grovyle.

    The Grass-type narrows his eyes and grunts, leaping high up as the white aura around him flares. He shoots past above the dark orbs, but is forced to twist when they correct their course faster than expected and nearly tag him. As Grovyle lands on the opposite edge of the circle, the Pursuers don''t hesitate to make u-turns and keep flying at him. Before they can make it, they begin to lose cohesion, then fizzle and explode into clouds of inky smoke.

    Banbanbanbang!

    "Wow..." Lee murmurs, his pen moving across his notebook. He pauses when he realizes his current page is completely full and flips to the next one. "A solid eighteen second operation time, that''s almost double Swift''s current ten. And that tracking! Oh, this''ll fit perfectly into your moveset, Corvi," Lee smiles down at the bird, who looks sour at the miss. "Care to try again?"

    Corvisquire huffs and raises his wings again. This time, the Swift stars manifest already purple, then darken and transform into orbs. Where it took Corvisquire almost twenty seconds to charge it last time, this time is just a little over fifteen.

    "Just keep it up until you feel like you can use Pursuers without using Swift as a starting framework, alright?" Lee asks, not minding when the crow doesn''t bother replying. "Once you can do that, we can work on the power and speed. Something tells me you''ll really enjoy an attack as relentless as yourself."

    That makes Corvisquire smirk.

    "And Grovyle!" The scarred man addresses his other pok��mon. "This is some prime practice for Detect and Quick Attack. When you can use Quick Attack so well that it has no aura, then that''ll open a lot of doors for you."

    Grovyle just nods, not taking his eyes off Corvisquire.

    The bird and lizard repeat their exercise several more times, each one ending with Grovyle getting closer and closer to being hit as Lee takes notes. On the fifth repetition, all three pause when a bright light blooms from behind them followed by an excited cry from Brendan.

    Turning, Lee feels a smile tug at the marks on his face.

    In the impromptu battle arena, Shroomish glows a brilliant white as his body begins to metaphorize before everyone''s eyes. His entire shape changes, with his legs growing from simple stubs to lean and clawed limbs built to sprint. Then his body expands out, a pair of short, clawed arms and a long, clubbed tail sprouting from nowhere. Finally, the nubby crown on his head turns into a full mushroom cap. Then the light fades, leaving a young Breloom standing three-and-a-half feet tall behind.

    Now looking like a cross between a monster fungus and a raptor, Breloom is much more impressive than his prior form... but it''s completely ruined by the bored, slothful look on his face.

    The spar between the newly evolved Breloom and Shelgon comes to a halt when Brendan races into the field and pulls Breloom into a tight hug. "You did it! You evolved! I knew you had it in you!" The young trainer''s smile is so brilliant that even Breloom''s lips pull upward into a phantom of a smile. "Let''s check you out and see if your evolution came with any new moves!"

    Brendan pulls away from his pok��mon and withdraws his pokedex from his pocket, flipping it open and pointing it forward eagerly.

    "Breloom, the Mushroom Pok��mon," the Pok��dex''s monotone voice begins. "With its springy footwork, stretching arms, and poisonous spores, this pok��mon pummels paralyzed opponents with boxer-like technique." Once it rattles off its little blurb, the screen fills up with all the information Brendan is likely looking for.

    "Let''s see��" Brendan scrolls down. "Tackle, Stun Spore, Leech Seed, Mega Drain, Headbutt��" Brendan''s eyes light up. "Mach Punch and Counter! Yes!"

    "Dare I ask what you''re so excited about?" Zinnia dryly asks, walking up to her trembling Shelgon. She dips her hand into her bag and withdraws a small yellow spray bottle along with a rag. She wets the rag with a spritz from the bottle and carefully starts cleaning the Stun Spore off of Shelgon. "Other than your little mushroom evolving, that is."

    The young Birch heir just smirks in an expression that would not be out of place on Zinnia''s own face. "Don''t worry about it."

    "Well, when you put it that way, you''re pretty much just asking us to worry," Lee comments, raising his voice just enough to carry to the rest of the camp. "Some kind of new combo?"

    ''Though I wonder what kind of combo would use both Mach Punch and Counter?''

    "Something like that," Brendan answers as he and Breloom walk back to the main campsite and away from his and Zinnia''s makeshift battle arena.

    As they approach, Marshtomp quickly rises to his feet with a happy cry and rushes Breloom with his arms held open, Mawile following more sedately behind. Marshtomp pulls the mushroom pok��mon into a hug so tight that it drives the air right out of Breloom''s lungs.

    Breloom coughs, looking as if he wants to be anywhere else but in his teammate''s arms. He grunts something that sounds vaguely condescending, making Marshtomp release him with a sheepish laugh.

    The other pok��mon rise as well, trotting over (Or toddling over in Shinx'' case) to Breloom. Lee doesn''t need Vulpix to translate to know that most of the chatter is congratulations for Breloom.

    Lee returns his eyes to Grovyle and Corvisquire, who have yet to move, instead regarding him neutrally. "Dismissed for now, guys. We''ll keep going later today."

    Grovyle nods and strides past, walking to the throng of pok��mon gathered around his fellow Grass-type. Corvi, meanwhile, just holds his beak up and flies up to a high branch with a few flaps of blue and black. Upon his perch, he simply watches from afar.

    Lee resists the urge to sigh and instead walks his way over to Brendan and Zinnia, the latter of whom is returning Shelgon to his pokeball.

    "I think that''s good for some early morning training," Lee begins as he and the other two trainers huddle in a loose triangle. He pauses and looks behind Zinnia, where a makeshift clothesline made from paracord sits in a sunny spot stretched between two trees. On the cord is the soaked clothing everyone was wearing the night before, now looking much drier. "We''ve only got another hour or so until we get to Mauville. From there, we can snag a hotel room, get in line for the gym, and take the rest of the day for ourselves. Unless there is anything else that we need to do out here?"

    "Nope!" Brendan grins and folds his arms behind his head. "Getting Shroomish to evolve was my big thing to do for this whole week, so I''m ready to go!"

    "No complaints from me," Zinnia says, twirling Shelgon''s ball on the tip of her finger. Just as she says that her stomach picks that time to rumble, making her falter and almost drop the pokeball she''s spinning. "Erm, no complaints after we have some breakfast, that is." She laughs.

    Lee rolls his eyes and Brendan snickers under his breath. "Well, let''s try to find some firewood that isn''t soaked to the core and get started." Lee sticks his thumb and middle finger in the corners of his mouth and whistles sharply.

    Grovyle is by his side in a flash, arms crossed and looking unruffled by the summons.

    Vulpix takes her time. The vixen coaxes Shinx closer, then takes the kitten''s neck scruff in her teeth, making the smaller pok��mon go limp with a confused; "Merow?" Taking care with her delicate cargo, Vulpix trots to Lee''s side.

    "Brendan," Lee kneels and takes Shinx with the same gentleness Vulpix used to carry her. "Why don''t you take Grovyle and Vulpix with you and Breloom to find some firewood? It''ll be a good exercise for Breloom to get used to his new body. Grovyle can cut larger pieces to a manageable size, and Vulpix can dry out anything that''s not hopelessly soaked. Right?" He asks his pok��mon, rising back to his full height with a purring Shinx nestled in his arms.

    Grovyle grunts his agreement and Vulpix simply nods, already knowing his plan.

    "Sure thing!" Brendan smiles. "We''ll be back in no time."

    "Glad to hear it," Lee replies, looking up at the sunlight poking through the leaves as he strokes Shinx'' chin with his thumb. "Remember; deadwood is best. Green doesn''t burn."

    Needing no other encouragement, Brendan picks a direction deeper into the woods and starts walking. "C''mon guys and gals!"

    His Marshtomp eagerly follows along, followed by Mawile and an exasperated Breloom. Grovyle and Vulpix bring up the rear, both slowing down long enough for Grovyle to lean down and for Vulpix to whisper in his ear. The Grass-type turns back to glance at Lee, then he and Vulpix catch-up to the rest of Brendan''s merry group.

    Once Brendan is out of earshot, Zinnia turns her red eyes to the zoologist. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

    ''She caught on quick,'' Lee thinks to himself. Rather than answer right away, he slowly meanders to the tents with the Dragon Tamer following. "I''m not well, Zinnia," he blurts before his nerve leaves him. "You''re observant, so I''m sure you''ve caught on. Maybe it''s one of the questions you have that I''ve not answered yet. I''ve talked with Professor Birch, and I''m going to be talking to an expert about it." In his arms, Shinx goes still, no doubt sensing the shift in the atmosphere. Lee can feel her nervous eyes peering up at him. "I figured I should let you know so you''re not wondering where I''ve really gone if my team and I need to separate from the group for a bit."

    Zinnia''s face is one of carefully schooled neutrality. "I see..." She chews on her lip. "Why send Brendan away for this?"

    "I don''t think a conversation about an adult in his life being mentally unwell is something he needs to be here for," Lee answers. He raises a hand away from Shinx to rub the left side of his face. Even through his glove, the three burn scars are unpleasantly warm to the touch, even if he knows the heat is just imagined. "It''s something that needs to be addressed, though. Before something truly bad happens."

    The tanned woman slowly nods. "Yeah, I understand." Then almost as an afterthought, she says; "Thanks for telling me, Lee. If Brendan asks, I''ll keep it to myself."

    "That''s all I ask," Lee smiles and settles in the grass by his discarded backpack. "I''ll tell him after I''ve made some progress. No need to worry him."

    Shinx, now acutely aware that the serious moment has passed, picks that time to squirm and whine.

    "Shhhh... I know you''re hungry, babygirl. You get to go first..." Lee shushes the kitten as he unzips his backpack and gropes around inside. It takes a moment considering the space-bending Silph tech inside, but he grasps a bottle of Miltank milk already capped with a rubber nipple and pulls it out. He can barely get the protective cap off the nipple and get Shinx settled into his lap before she latches on.

    "May not be nice to tell a girl she''s gaining weight, but I''m glad I can already feel a difference in you, babygirl." Lee looks up when he hears Zinnia snort, seeing her covering her smile with a hand. "Since my hands are full, why don''t you cook, Zinnia?" He asks, wiping the smirk off her face. Before she can protest, the bushes far to the west shake and out comes Brendan with an armful of wood. The pok��mon follow just behind him. Breloom trudges along carrying a log in his red claws while Mawile happily skips in carrying... nothing. Marshtomp follows through the underbrush next, the huge stack of chopped wood in his arms and the blushy grin on his face explaining why Mawile is being spared of any labor.

    Grovyle and Vulpix bound over Brendan''s team as a pair in one mighty leap, each one landing and settling at Lee''s sides.

    Lee grins up at Zinnia. "Looks like they''re just in time. Don''t look at me like that, I''ll instruct you from my spot here. I''d rather not eat char, thanks. First, grab the cookware from my backpack..."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    With breakfast eaten and most of the pok��mon returned to their balls to digest their meals in peace, Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, and Vulpix busy themselves with cleaning up their campsite and stacking their extra firewood nearby for the next group to happen through. Lee and Brendan are in the middle of folding up their two-man tent while Zinnia takes down the now empty clothesline and gathers it in a tight loop. By the fire pit, Vulpix is using her pyrokinesis putting out the last embers that Marshtomp''s Water Gun didn''t quite get to.

    Beep beep beep!

    Three cell phones in three pockets all chirp simultaneously. It''s so unexpected that everyone jumps a little bit.

    "What in the world...?" Zinnia slips the paracord in her hand into her hip bag and pulls her phone out to look it over. Lee stops folding his tent with Brendan to watch her blink her eyes. "A Pokemon Ranger alert?"

    To Lee''s silent chagrin, Brendan drops his half of the tent to draw his own phone. "Huh? Not just an alert, an all-points bulletin." He says, swiping a finger across the screen.

    Lee folds his section of his and Brendan''s tent neatly before being the last to take out his mobile phone and read the notification. "What?"

    From: PKMN RANGERS

    APB / Danger advisory

    WARNING: Roving Zangoose pack has encroached on Seviper den located in MAUVILLE �C SOUTH. All persons in locale advised to stay indoors until all-clear given. Trainers advised to be wary. Trainers with battle specialization requested to meet at below coordinates to assist Ranger Donovan in quelling Zangoose/Seviper conflict. Monetary reward to be paid out upon completion.

    Below the alert is a map with a hyperlink, and when Lee taps it, it expands out to show a location less than a mile north of them.

    "Monetary reward, eh?" Zinnia smirks greedily. "That''s all they had to say. Pick up the pace boys! We got a paycheck to collect!" She stuffs her phone in her pocket and takes a pokeball from her belt, practically bouncing in place.

    "Cool your jets," Lee objects, crossing his arms. "Should we really be getting involved with this? And do the Rangers even have the authority to request something like this?"

    Brendan lets out a single nervous laugh and scratches the back of his head. "Yeah, the Rangers get to have a lot of power when there''s an emergency, so it''s perfectly okay for them to ask for help from any trainer in the area. It would reflect pretty bad on us as Lab Trainers if we just walked past this. Man, that suuuuucks." His hand hovers over Breloom''s ball, telling Lee that the boy isn''t actually nervous at all and is as raring to go as Zinnia.

    Lee can feel Vulpix''s flicker of amusement before she hops up to his shoulder. He turns his head and gives the fox a flat look. "Why can''t I ever win any of these ''let''s not throw ourselves in the mortal danger'' arguments?"

    She says nothing, mentally or otherwise, but her eyes sparkle with laughter.

    "You don''t have to go, Dolittle." Zinnia shrugs, but the mischievous expression on her face tells Lee that she already knows what his answer is. "You can keep going on ahead. Short stuff and I can go alone."

    ''Really, now?''

    "That worries me even more than a pack of rampaging Zangoose." Lee grumbles. "Let''s hurry up and get this out of the way."

    The rest of the camp is cleaned up in record time, and before setting out Brendan and Zinnia release Breloom and Swablu respectively for safety. The mushroom pok��mon takes his place at Brendan''s side while Swablu perches herself on Zinnia''s shoulder. With their direction set and pok��mon ready, they set a brisk pace towards the rendezvous site given to them by the unknown Ranger.

    "I wonder why a rogue pack of Zangoose are out here stirring up trouble." Lee muses aloud. His words are even and steady despite his arms pumping and legs moving at a speed just under a sprint. ''Just a few weeks ago a run like this would''ve left me breathless after just a few minutes. I guess this happens when your own two feet are your only way of getting around��''

    "Could be anything, really." Brendan huffs. "Old habitat was disturbed? A new pack leader making a boneheaded decision? Who knows."

    "Tweet! Trerereeet!" Swablu trills something, but without looking at her Lee can''t exactly tell what she''s trying to relay.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ''Translation, love?''

    Vulpix twitches her nose. ''Z*ngoo*e pack m*y be di*pla*ed by sto*m las* night.'' She dutifully translates. Her nose twitches again and raises her muzzle into the wind. ''H**ans an* p*kemon ah*ad.''

    Lee nods, sweat beginning to dot his brow from the run in the Hoenn sun. "Let''s slow down, everyone. Vulpix is picking up human scents ahead."

    The running pace settles down to a speedy walk as the group comes to a bend in the road, and not a moment too soon it seems. As they clear the bend, they stumble upon several people and pok��mon off to the side of the road.

    The first person is the most striking. Dressed in the red and yellow short-sleeved jacket and black cargo pants of the Pok��mon Rangers, a dark-haired, square-jawed man appearing several years Lee''s senior stands with his arms crossed. On his back is a simple red backpack. The man''s physique is chiseled, doubtless honed by years of fieldwork. At his side is a Marowak.

    The Marowak, resembling a brown, bipedal lizard with its head encased in a sickly-white bone helmet, has obviously seen more than one battle. It''s bone helmet is littered with nicks and gashes, and its body is well muscled under its scales, meaning it can strike with much greater force than its three-foot-tall frame would suggest. In its right hand, a club made of bone hangs limply.

    Beside the Ranger and Marowak are a pair of young trainers, if the backpacks and pokeballs at their belts are any indication.

    The first is a young woman looking to be around Zinnia''s age if not a bit younger. She''s dressed conservatively with a loose, short-sleeved red shirt and a black skirt hanging at calf height. On her pretty face is an expression of cool disinterest, and her brown eyes contrast sharply with her mane of seafoam-green hair that reaches down to her rear. A black, cross-shoulder messenger bag sits against her hip.

    ''I swear I''ve seen her somewhere before��'' Lee glances at the next trainer. ''You, however, I definitely remember.''

    The other trainer, a boy roughly Brendan''s age, stands cockily with his hands in his jean pockets. His ear-length, emerald-green hair draws the eye instantly, and although his eyes are closed to better pair with his smirk, Lee knows that they are the same color as his hair. The boy''s top half is covered with a black long-sleeved shirt and an open purple vest. On his back is a single strap backpack a shade darker than his vest.

    ''Drew the Coordinator? Is he on his way down to Slateport for that contest? If I remember right, that''s where he meets May and the rest of Ash''s little gang.'' Lee doesn''t bother worrying about it for too long. "Hey!" He raises a hand to the group gathered around the Ranger, making them all look over. "Are you Donovan? The one who sent out that APB?"

    Drew''s eyes widen ever so slightly as they approach, and the unknown girl watches them with an eyebrow raised. Lee can feel the green-headed boy focus on his scars and silently resists the urge to rub them.

    The Ranger raises a fist to his mouth and clears his throat. "Yes, that''s me! I take it you read all the details?"

    "We did, but you''re going to give us a better briefing now that we''re here, right?" Zinnia asks in Lee''s place. "What do we gotta do?"

    The Ranger holds up a hand. "Hold on just a moment. While I''m sure that your veteran friend here can handle himself just fine," he gestures towards Lee. "I don''t know the same about you two," the same hand gestures towards Zinnia and Brendan, who both scowl. On Zinnia''s shoulder, Swablu trills in anger while Breloom, still at Brendan''s side, doesn''t seem to care one way or the other. "We don''t need anyone who might get hurt during this expedition. No offense, it''s just safety protocol."

    Drew turns away to hide a self-superior smirk and the unnamed girl just sighs and taps her foot impatiently.

    ''That''s hilariously backwards.'' Lee can''t help but smile awkwardly. "Don''t worry about my friends, Ranger Donovan. Brendan Birch here is the son of Nigel Birch and a Lab Trainer much like myself. Zinnia, meanwhile, is a Dragon-type specialist. I assure you that both are very much my equal." Vulpix''s telepathic scoff is promptly ignored.

    "Wha��?" Drew wonders aloud, his smirk dying.

    The unknown girl''s eyes sharpen and suddenly scan Lee and Co much more intently.

    The older man blinks in obvious surprise, unknowingly mirroring the green-haired boy behind him. "I see�� W-Well then," the Ranger clears his throat once more, trying to cover up his awkward rebound. "Now we have a nice even team of six people, let''s go ahead and begin, shall we? I already have Mister Drew and Miss Katie''s name here," he waved a hand at the two green-haired trainers. "Can we have yours, please?"

    Lee nods. "Lee Henson." He raises his hand and strokes Vulpix under her chin, making the fox smile just a tiny bit. "And this is Vulpix."

    "Brendan Birch, but Lee already told you that." Brendan grins, he and Breloom step forward and take the spot at Lee''s right.

    "Zinnia of the Draconid Tribe," Zinnia introduces herself with an overly dramatic flair of her cloak. She would''ve accidentally thrown Swablu off if the bird pok��mon hadn''t suddenly spread her wings for balance. "And don''t forget it."

    Donovan gestures for everyone to step closer as he draws a plastic PDA-like device from a holster on his belt. His thumb falls on the power button as everyone huddles around, and above the device a holographic map flashes into existence.

    "Okay, everyone. Let''s get to the brass tacks." Donovan presses another button on the PDA, and the map expands to show everything around them in a mile radius. "The Zangoose pack is encroaching on this area after a power structure shift in their pack. Other Rangers report that a young new alpha male has taken leadership of the pack, and they''ve migrated away from their usual territory west of Mauville in Route 117 down here." The map flashes once. "After an inspection of the Zangoose territory on Route 117 was completed, the Rangers determined the area was still well below its carrying capacity, so these Zangoose weren''t forced to move. We have reason to believe that the alpha male knows about the Seviper nests in the area and has moved his pack here for something more personal."

    Lee turns his head to look at Brendan. "Nice call on the Zangoose," he whispers, drawing a smile from the younger trainer.

    Drew crosses his arms. "So what are we supposed to do? Catch them before they get to the Seviper nests?"

    Katie frowns. "My team is full," she speaks for the first time.

    "We won''t be catching them, no." Donovan shakes his head. "All we''re doing is informing them they''re not welcome here. You don''t even need to defeat them. Simply scare them off and drive them north. They''ll loop around Mauville and return to their territory on their own once they realize being here is too much of a hassle. The pack won''t follow an alpha who makes a poor decision like this if it backfires instantly."

    ''Now that sounds fascinating.'' Lee thinks to himself. ''Once the league year is over, I need to organize a trip to observe interpersonal and familial power structures in pok��mon. It must be so much more complex than that of common animals, and that''s saying something considering I was already learning something new every day from the lions.''

    "We''ve got a rough estimate that Zangoose scouting parties are moving south in a rough fork formation as seen here," The Pokemon Ranger points a finger at the holomap as red arrows flash on it, pointing south. "These pok��mon have been in close enough proximity to Verdanturf and Mauville to know human speech, so everyone should clearly and concisely state that you want the Zangoose pack to return home before engaging them. We''ll need to work fast, because if they get to the Seviper nests, then this entire section of the forest is going to erupt into chaos," Donovan lets his warning hang as several purple circles flash on the map, marking the snake dens. "We''ll be moving in teams of two to cover as much ground as possible while still retaining safety, so pick your partners."

    Katie doesn''t waste time. "If it''s all the same to everyone, I''ll go with Ranger Donovan," she says, drawing a pokeball from her belt and tapping the button, enlarging it in her hand.

    The Ranger nods. "I''ve no objections if no one else does."

    Lee turns to Brendan and Zinnia, who both frown as a silent debate starts between them. From the corner of his eye, Lee can see Drew fidget. The green-headed boy doesn''t seem comfortable as the odd man out.

    After a moment of rapidfire telepathic back-and-forth with Vulpix, the scarred man makes up his mind. "Brendan, Zinnia, you two should partner up," he says, making both of them blink.

    "Are you sure, Dolittle?" The tanned Dragon Tamer questions, giving Brendan a sidelong glance.

    "I would worry less if you two keep an eye on each other," Lee nods. Then he turns to Drew, not giving Zinnia further time to protest. "Looks like it''s you and me, kid."

    The young coordinator frowns and crosses his arms. "Whatever. Try to keep up, old man."

    "Two seconds and I already regret trying to be helpful. A new record." Lee wryly replies. "Anything else we need to know?" He turns back to Donovan.

    "Just one thing..." The Ranger holds up his PDA and presses several buttons, dismissing the holomap and making the device play a short tune. Half a second later, and everyone''s phones chime with an alert, prompting everyone to pull them out and look. "I''ve sent you all a copy of the map and the projected locations of the incoming scout parties. Every team take up a spot and get ready."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee checks his phone again, glancing nervously at both the map and the time. It''s been twenty minutes since he and Drew got into position and they''ve yet to see anything.

    The young coordinator didn''t bother to make small talk, so Lee kept silent as well. Without knowing the temperament and exact number of incoming Zangoose, Zangeese? Bah. Without knowing their number and temperament, planning ahead was little use. On his belt, Grovyle and Corvisquire''s pokeballs hang in their enlarged forms. From the minute shakes both make, Lee assumes their attention is pointed outward, ready to spring out of their balls if needed. On his shoulder, Vulpix lays with her eyes closed. If they were open, the purple psychic glow in her irises would be visible to all. Lee can feel her mind reaching out and sweeping like a radar, alert for any danger.

    A short few yards away, Drew paces with his Roselia. The pok��mon, who he released upon reaching the clearing, looks like a bipedal plant standing a delicate one-foot-tall. Two nubby, light-green roots function as her legs and her equally green body is covered by a pair of long leaves forming a ''dress'' of sorts. Her ''arms'' each end in a blooming rose rather than hands, one red and the other blue. Her round head is framed by three green spikes, and her gentle black eyes watch Drew with open concern.

    Lee drops his phone into his pocket. "Hey, Drew? You nervous?"

    The boy abruptly stops his pacing and turns to Lee. "No. Of course not." His brows furrow. "Where did you get that idea?"

    "Roselia is worried about you," Lee points briefly at the Grass-type, who looks away, embarrassed. "You hide it well, but Roselia is giving your thoughts away. It speaks well of you that she''d worry on your behalf, you know that?"

    Drew pauses, then turns away with a huff. His shoulders are stiff and hunched.

    ''Again I''m reminded this isn''t some anime or game. Drew isn''t some antagonist of the day, he''s just a preteen kid alone in the woods with a scary looking stranger on some mission given to him by another stranger.'' Lee winces a little at the revelation. ''I don''t know if his family is supporting his pok��mon journey or not, so he might have no choice but to take odd-jobs and spur-of-the-moment assignments like this one.'' Lee clears his throat. "Drew?"

    The kid doesn''t turn around.

    "It''s okay to be nervous. I''m nervous too."

    The green-headed trainer looks over his shoulder, searching Lee''s face for deception. "No you aren''t." He accuses. "You haven''t so much as twitched this whole time."

    ''He didn''t deny the anxiety he''s feeling.''

    Lee smirks. "I can''t be too expressive when these have the skin of my face stretched pretty taut," he rubs the left side of his face.

    Drew, to his credit, looks the slightest bit abashed and turns completely around to face the older trainer.

    "Trust me, just because I''m not emoting it doesn''t mean I don''t have the jitters." The zoologist mutters. "I wouldn''t have paired up with you if I wasn''t confident in mine and my team''s ability to protect you if things go wrong. Just trust in your pok��mon and know you aren''t being thrown to the wolves."

    The coordinator takes a deep breath and nods, then stops with a frown. "What''s a wolve?"

    Before Lee can launch into a lecture about Canis Lupus, Vulpix''s eyes shoot open. ''Th*y''re here.'' The vixen hops down and takes a stand in front of her trainer, tails flared and flames licking the corners of her mouth.

    Roselia likewise goes still, then hops in front of Drew with her roses pointed forward. The petals open slightly, letting a green shine bleed through the red and blue.

    Lee stiffins and Drew blinks. "H-Hey! What''s going on?!" The boy demands, his fist clenching.

    The bushes about thirty feet ahead of them rustle and out walking on all fours comes one, two, three Zangoose, all of whom look at them with angry, disgruntled expressions on their muzzles. The leader in the middle of the formation stands and brandishes his claws with a growl.

    ''These guys don''t look happy at all. Is it because we''re in the way, or because they were ordered to come out here against their will?''

    Vulpix growls right back and Roselia opens her petals a little more, letting the green shine strengthen.

    Drew recovers first, hiding his fright behind the cool mask of a professional stage performer. "So, you all are the ones down here causing a ruckus," he swaggers up to stand just behind Roselia and sneers. "Well, beat it! You''re not wanted here! Unless you want to be beaten into the dirt where you belong, get lost!" He says with a dismissive wave of his hand.

    Rather than intimidate them, all three wild pok��mon scowl as one. The two flanking the leader rise to their hindlegs. The leader, meanwhile, growls once more and brings his claws together in a violent, metallic krshink! Slowly and carefully holding his natural weapons edge-to-edge, he grinds them down by pulling them apart, leaving a shiny edge behind.

    ''That''s Hone Claws!'' Lee realizes. ''Interrupt him with Baby-Doll Eyes!''

    Vulpix heeds the order with no delay, her eyes narrowing and shining a sinister pink.

    The lead Zangoose grunts, missigning his claws and badly chipping the last inch with an ugly scraping sound. His followers wince at both the scraping sound and the sight of their leader''s muscles spasming in a sudden fit of weakness.

    Drew takes the flinch as his cue to attack. "Roselia, Energy Ball!" He orders with a dramatically pointed finger.

    The Rose pok��mon twirls once and points her red rose forward in a flowery flourish. A bulb of sparkling green light blooms in the rose, then shoots forward with the same speed as a pro baseball pitch.

    The lead Zangoose narrowly jumps to the side and out of the way, almost getting hit when his limbs, still suffused with Fairy energy, tremble and nearly don''t respond. His underlings growl and leap at Roselia and Vulpix, claws poised to shred.

    ''Oh no you don''t. Ember!''

    Vulpix''s mouth opens, and out pours a staccato of Embers so fast they''re more akin to tracer rounds from a rifle rather than miniature fireballs. From so close, the pair of attacking Zangoose can''t even attempt to dodge. The first Embers hit them like solid projectiles before exploding with brilliant orange bangs.

    BangBangBangBangBangBang!

    The pair of Zangoose actually stop in midair, their momentum halted by the sheer number and force of the streaks of fire. The left Zangoose coughs, his eyes bugging out as Embers impact his stomach and force the air from his lungs. At the same time, the fire-streaks blow away bits of his fur, leaving burns behind. Righty can only howl and shield his face with his forepaws when an Ember nails him right in the muzzle, burning his nose into a raw red. His forepaws get the same treatment and swiftly become a mess of singed fur and reddened skin. A second later, both are thrown back with a pair of identical cries, landing roughly in the grass.

    Vulpix ceases her attack and holds her nose up imperiously, quite literally looking down upon the fallen team of Zangoose. The remaining Embers pull perfect turns and angle upward, flying up and burning out safely away from the forest greenery.

    Lee ignores the confused and slightly stupefied look from Drew as the lead Zangoose hisses in his throat and surges to his feet.

    The mongoose pok��mon shakes away the weakness that gripped his body a moment ago and holds his claws up in a ready yet wary stance. He hisses again, kicking one of his fallen friends with a hindpaw and prompting the pair to slowly stumble to their feet.

    The underlings share a brief, wordless conversation with just their eyes. Lefty is looking between Vulpix and his friends with uncertainty while Righty gingerly rubs his burned nose. Both settle into reluctant fighting stances.

    "We don''t have to fight, you know." Lee mentally applauds himself for keeping his face straight and his voice free of a stutter. "You can turn around and leave anytime. This isn''t a fight that you''re going to win."

    The Leader doesn''t reply. Instead, he races head-on towards Vulpix with the bright white aura of Quick Attack flowing through his fur. His pink eyes shine with violence and his partially chipped claws whistle through the air. Behind him, Lefty and Righty both let out hoarse cries and charge in right after their leader.

    ''Confuse Ray!''

    Vulpix''s eyes shine once more, this time an evil red.

    Leader''s eyes widen as he smacks face-first into the invisible Confuse Ray. With his motor controls now scrambled, he trips and digs a furrow in the grass, crying out as his own Quick Attack forces him to tumble painfully.

    "Magical Leaf!" Drew''s voice cuts through Lefty and Righty''s cries. "Now! Cut them off!"

    Roselia''s face drops into a gentle frown as she gracefully swipes her blue rose up and across her body not unlike a dancer getting ready for a twirl. From her rose, crescent leaves coated in a brilliant rainbow aura fly like shuriken right in front of Lefty and Righty, forcing both Zangoose to stop short lest they be sliced to ribbons.

    "There''s two of us here, you know!" Drew grits his teeth and takes a step forward, a scowl planting itself on his face. "You had best fight like it! Roselia, ready Energy Ball!"

    Lee frowns but doesn''t interfere.

    By now, Leader is stumbling his way to his feet, rocking like a drunkard on a boat. He growls a deep, feral, and absolutely furious note. He raises a forepaw�� And sinks one of his claws right into his own thigh.

    Lee can help but gape slightly. Even Vulpix seems taken aback, leaning backwards slightly.

    Leader roars as blood wells up and begins to dye his white fur an ugly red. The confusion in his eyes clears instantly, replaced with a razor-sharp lucidity. With that newfound focus, he sprints right at Vulpix.

    The vixen yelps in surprise, quickly ducking and twisting out of the way of the pair of claws trying to impale her. The near-miss opens up a cut on her shoulder.

    "Payback!" Lee orders the instant he sees Vulpix has been hit.

    Dark energy bubbles around Vulpix, a deluge of it seemingly pouring from her cut like blood. Then the dark energy coalesces into a thin purple shimmer around the fox pok��mon. Without needing any further instruction, Vulpix hops and slams her skull into Leader''s, sending him rocking back with a cry.

    Leader clutches his new head wound and jumps back to make room, but he still glares at both Lee and Vulpix with determination.

    ''Shit, we need to end this already. These guys don''t understand that they''re outclassed and are getting unnecessarily tore up for it.'' Lee grunts. He looks over to Drew and Roselia, who are locked in the heat of a two-on-one battle. The younger trainer is sweating, but his cocky smirk is back in place and remains so as Roselia juggles the pair of tiring Zangoose with some effort. ''Any ideas, love?''

    Vulpix doesn''t answer for a moment, too caught up in her stare down with Leader. Then she sends only a mental image that he instantly understands.

    ''Shock and awe? I didn''t know that you have a dramatic side. Have you been hanging out with Corvi too much?'' Lee smiles, mentally pumping himself up. ''I''ll distract him. Go ahead and charge up.''

    "Zangoose."

    Leader scowls, but doesn''t immediately strike.

    "You''re hopelessly outgunned. You know that, right?" The scarred zoologist begins, not stopping when Leader snarls. "You''re hurt and your teammates are slowly losing a two on one fight. There''s no shame in knowing when to retreat."

    Leader is so focused on Lee''s words that he doesn''t notice the slowly whirling ring of orange flames beginning to encircle the clearing. Or perhaps his head wound is impairing him.

    "I know of the legendary dislike between your kind and Seviper, but you don''t have a right to come here purposely looking for trouble. Do you understand me?" Lee asks. "So I ask you, why come down here? Are you the new alpha of the pack?"

    Leader snarls something guttural out, a truly terrifying sound that raises goosebumps along Lee''s skin even with the knowledge that anyone of his pok��mon could deal with Leader. He doesn''t need a translation from Vulpix to hear the sheer amount of spleen in Leader''s voice.

    ''I was under the assumption that hate was something strictly human��'' The last son of Earth thinks grimly. ''I guess not.''

    Overhead, the sun suddenly begins beating down with fervor. Everything the light touches grows uncomfortably warm, everyone in the clearing included.

    Lefty and Righty, both panting and now covered in cuts, pause their assault on Roselia to look upward in confusion, both shielding their eyes with their paws.

    Drew raises an arm to cover his eyes as well as his sweating redoubles. "Gah. What''s with this sunlight?"

    Leader doesn''t seem to notice, but he does begin to pant.

    "We can choose to hurt others too, Zangoose," Lee addresses Leader again. "Yet we don''t. You can make that choice too." Lee silently adjusts his stance, sucking in a deep breath and pushing his shoulders out to make himself look as large as possible. Then he glares down at Leader with all the venom he can muster, his lip rising into a sneer that exposes his teeth, an open threat display. "If we actually wanted to hurt you, this is what you''d be up against."

    Vulpix''s eyes flash red, and the entire perimeter of the clearing erupts into whirling, shrieking flames.

    Drew screams and falls backwards, away from the wall of fire now raging just a couple yards away from him. His arms rise to cover his face and Roselia, despite shaking like a leaf, quickly rushes to her trainer''s side. Drew slowly lowers his arms and stares at the inferno with his jaw dropped.

    Lefty and Righty both squeak and tumble to the grass, neither daring to move an inch in the eye of the monstrous Firespin now twisting around them. Both begin to pant harshly in the oppressive heat.

    Leader blinks and looks around, seemingly not comprehending the fifty-foot-tall tornado of orange flames around him. He looks up at the lip of the firestorm, seeing only the glare of the sun. His ears twitch, but Lee knows that the only thing he can hear is the overpowering roar of fire.

    Lee himself takes a slow breath of the hot air and closes his eyes, knowing Vulpix would never hurt him.

    As quick as the Firespin came, it vanishes, leaving only a handful of embers gently floating down. Slowly, the sunlight returns to normal as well. In the middle of the clearing, Vulpix calmly sits as if nothing had occurred

    ''Or at least that''s what it looks like. Just keep your shakes still for another minute or two, Vulpix. I think your idea worked.''

    "Go home, Zangoose." Lee finally says, letting his shoulders drop and his expression ease into something neutral.

    Leader, his face still blank, turns to leave without a word. As he limps through the charred underbrush, his friends pick themselves up and race after him, giving Vulpix a wide and fearful berth as they do so.

    Taking a deep breath of blessedly cool air, Lee walks over to Vulpix and picks her up gently in his arms, letting him feel her exhausted tremors. "Damn fine job, Vulpix. Damn fine job."

    She snorts and stretches her neck to lick Lee across his chin. ''D*d yo* expe*t a*ything le*s?''

    "What��"

    Lee and by proxy Vulpix turn to see a pale and wide-eyed Drew. "...Was that?" The boy asks, looking between them and the charred ring around the perimeter of the clearing. Roselia is nowhere to be found, but the pokeball clutched in Drew''s white knuckle grip is a good indicator of where she is. "I''ve never seen something so��"

    ''Oops��'' The zoologist wipes his sweaty forehead with the back of his gloved hand. "That was Firespin taken to its logical extreme. Vulpix here is the best at what she does. Sorry for not warning you, but I wanted to scare those Zangoose off before they were too injured to leave under their own power. If they had any idea what we were cooking up, they would have surely tried to stop us."

    Drew takes a few deep breaths, his pallor beginning to return to something more healthy. "Yeah, yeah I understand that. No hard feelings��" The green-headed trainer seems to mull over something before speaking again. "You''re not in the Contest circuit, are you?"

    "I may try one out to see what it''s like, but I don''t think I''m ever going to be a dedicated coordinator." Lee stifles a laugh when Drew barely hides a relieved sigh. "With that out of the way, let''s head back to the rendezvous point and report our success." Lee smiles gently. ''Shit. I''m not getting into that stupid main character mindset of not knowing what is shocking to people, am I? Hrm. I wonder how Ash and his pals are doing��''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Out on the Dewford boardwalk right on the edge of the beach, a young trainer with a Pikachu astride his shoulder is enjoying some fresh air before he goes to join his friends for dinner. Oh man, after a day like today where he skipped lunch due to jitters, the young trainer feels like he could eat an entire buffet to bankruptcy!

    With a big grin on his face, Ash holds up his latest prize to the light of the Dewford sunset to admire its simple beauty. Between his fingers is a Knuckle Badge, his second Hoenn badge and the first one he''s earned against a Gym Leader that he knows is going all out.

    The battle earlier today was incredible! His Corphish went toe-to-toe with Brawly''s personal Machop. The battle was touch and go for a little while until Corpish landed a lucky Vicegrip on the fingers of Machop''s left-hand, breaking several and forcing the Fighting-type to battle with only one hand. Brawly then went for broke and had Machop use Dynamic Punch on the floor. The explosion knocked out Machop, but also softened Corphish up enough for Brawly''s Hariyama to finish it off.

    Man, that pok��mon was brutal as a Makuhita, and after evolving during Ash''s first failed challenge, he only got more powerful. It was only after recalling a few old battles with heavyweight pok��mon did Ash realize the key to victory: disable Hariyama''s legs.

    Nuzleaf, his nimble Grass-type stole the show during the match! At Ash''s direction, Nuzleaf kept maneuvering into Hariyama''s blind spots and cutting away at his legs with Razor Leaf. It wasn''t long before Hariyama was simply too wounded to keep up. One great, leaping Pound attack to the back of the sumo pok��mon''s head finally ended the bout and earned them their Knuckle Badge!

    Ash clinches the badge in his hand with a laugh and turns to Pikachu, who is sitting on his favorite perch. Namely, Ash''s shoulder. "Man, today was the absolute best! Don''t you think, pal?"

    Pikachu''s smile is no less blinding. "Pika!" He agrees with just as much enthusiasm.

    "I can''t believe how tough Hariyama was," Ash muses aloud. "Even after we figured out how to beat him, he was still so tough! Brawly sure knows what he''s doing with Fighting-types."

    "You battled Brawly''s Hariyama?"

    Ash and Pikachu blink and turn around to face the unexpected voice.

    Paused midstep and standing just a few feet away on the boardwalk, a boy several years older than Ash stares at him with disbelief. The older boy is clad entirely in black, including the black beanie on his head covering most of his maroon hair. On his left arm is a black metal vambrace with slots for shrunken pokeballs, and three of the six lots are filled. The older boy focuses his dark maroon eyes on Ash. "Are you going to answer me, kid? You''re saying you battled Brawly''s Hariyama and won?"

    Ash bounces back from the older boy''s rude tone near-instantly. "Sure did!" Ash grins and holds up the Knuckle Badge in his hand. "He was crazy tough, but Nuzleaf and I won in the end!"

    The still-unnamed older boy blinks, seemingly not believing a single word that came out of Ash''s mouth. "Brawly''s Hariyama?"

    Now little concerned, Ash nods again, Pikachu mirroring him for emphasis. "Yeah. We nearly had him as a Makuhita, but he evolved mid-battle and narrowly beat us."

    The maroon-haired boy''s face scrunches in confusion for a moment, then settles into amusement. "Ah, you fought his actual Hariyama''s runt. Yeah, nevermind. Don''t care anymore." With that, he keeps walking.

    ''What?'' Ash looks at Pikachu, but the mouse pok��mon looks just as lost. The Kanto-born trainer huffs and jumps into the path of the older boy. "Hey! Wait! What did you mean by that?"

    The black-clad teen''s amusement swiftly turns into annoyance. "What I mean, kid, is that Brawly gave you the kid gloves treatment. You didn''t battle his actual Hariyama. I bet if you had, your journey would''ve ended right here. You would''ve thrown in the towel after seeing just how high the mountain gets." He crosses his arms and clicks his tongue. "As far as I''m concerned, that badge of yours may as well be a handout."

    The words sting something fierce and Ash can instantly feel his temper begin to boil. "Oh yeah? How do you know all that? And just who are you anyway?"

    "Andre is my name, and how do I know?" The now named Andre smirks nastily. He reaches into the pocket of his black jeans and pulls out a small case. He pops it open, and inside Ash sees a shiny Knuckle Badge sitting with seven empty slots. "I know because I beat that bastard Brawly just a few days ago. He used everything he had against me, Hariyama included, and he lost. I won, totally and utterly." Andre''s grin is so wide that it''s almost splitting his face. He puts his badge case away. "I''m the only person to completely defeat him since he became the Gym Leader. Now I can finally leave this trashy little island��" His voice trails off near the end.

    Conflict whirls around in Ash''s gut, filling him with the same feeling that he felt those weeks ago back in Rustboro, where he learned that... ''Almost no one was taking us seriously��'' Unsure of what to think, the 12-year-old trainer defaults back to blurting the first thing on his mind. "Brawly''s not a bastard! Take that back!"

    Andre''s face instantly twists into a hateful sneer. "Really? You''re going to say that after he disrespected you by not going all out?" He makes an airy gesture with his hand. "You really don''t know him at all, then."

    Ash scowls back. On his shoulder, Pikachu''s red cheeks spark dangerously. "He didn''t disrespect me! He used his own pok��mon during our Gym battle! I''m sure we can take on his other pok��mon too!"

    "Ha!" Andre openly laughs, throwing his head back and laughing so hard that several people walking along the boardwalk stop to see what the commotion is. A few of them see the teen with nervous recognition in their eyes and quickly keep moving.

    "Oh man��" Andre chuckles. "Ah�� I really hate guys like you." He shakes his head condescendingly. "Do you think you''re tough? Do you think you''re good? Fine then. Let''s prove it right here." The teen draws a pokeball from the vambrace on his arm and enlarges it.

    Ash''s eyes narrow.

    "One-on-one, here on the beach," Andre''s smirk grows into something openly malicious. "Let''s see you put your money where your mouth is, smart ass."

 Omake: You Asked For It

    In which Lee is born in a world even more wild than Pokemon. One rife with its own monsters.

    (Monster Hunter x Pokemon)

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Norman Maple, Leader of the Petalburg Pokemon Gym, has no idea where things went wrong today.

    This morning, he woke up as he usually did. He rose out of bed, kissed his wife good morning, enjoyed breakfast, got ready for the day, called his kids to see if they''re having fun on their pokemon journey, and finally got to his Gym duties.

    He was called in by City Hall to help mediate a land dispute between two neighbors. Why he had to do it, Norman was unsure. Besides the old zoning laws he had to look up for Gym renovations, he''s not well versed in real estate. Bah. The civilian government is useless��

    Then he battled a few hopeful trainers. None of them were anything special. One came prepared with a Machop and saw success against Norman''s rookie team, earning him a Balance Badge.

    Then his next challenger raised an eyebrow when he read the profile.

    Lee Henson, age 24. No sponsor, and only an active trainer for about half a year.

    The situation happens. An adult becoming a trainer later in life isn''t that strange. Some are educated, but simply have circumstances get in the way of their journey and need to delay. Some are unhappy with mundane lives in offices or the like and decide to do what makes them happy: raising pokemon. Others hit a mid-life crisis and yearn to return to their youth, sometimes taking a short stint as a trainer. Against younger trainers who grew into the lifestyle, though, these poor adults are often left outclassed and despondent when someone ten years their junior stomps them. After such disappointment, they often quit.

    Lee Henson is not one of them, and now Norman is kicking himself for not starting with his own personal pokemon. The man''s first pokemon should have been a red flag.

    Against Norman''s league provided Spinda, Lee sent out a Salazzle. The following battle (if it could be called that) was embarrassing. After releasing his pokemon, Lee simply smiled and told her to "Do what you do best."

    Salazzle fought like a Persian, playing with Spinda cruelly. Spinda''s teetering fighting style did nothing to throw off the Alolan Poison/Fire-type, who hit her with Toxic and forced the panicking Spinda to stumble away from thin tongues of flame. Norman''s attempts to recover from the backfoot battle failed when Salazzle used Screech each time he tried to give orders, making Spinda cringe and freeze, unable to hear him.

    After entirely too long, Spinda, burned and miserable, fell to her poisoning and Norman recalled her.

    The crowd gathered in the stands hissed and booed at the underhanded tactic, all except Brendan Birch, the son of Norman''s friend and the Hoenn Regional Professor, Nigel Birch, and a tanned young woman in a traveling cloak.

    Salazzle bounded back to her trainer, tail waggling like an eager Poochyena, and another red flag jumped out at Norman.

    Salazzle are one of the few controlled pokemon species, needing special licensing and proof of competency to own. Their mind-addling pheromones, which work twice as well on both pokemon and human males, means unwary trainers can quickly find themselves enthralled and used as playthings. The average Salazzle is usually difficult in personality as well, being disagreeable at the best of times and less affectionate than the young men who desire them would wish.

    Lee''s Salazzle embraced her trainer and looked up at him, almost begging for his approval with her eyes.

    The man smiled and stroked her head, and the lizard pokemon blushed, looking as if she''d gone to heaven.

    Norman''s Vigoroth, despite being stronger than Spinda by a huge margin, went down just as easily. Salazzle toyed with him, poisoning him and dancing around the sloth pokemon''s speedy attacks. Norman ordered him to use Facade, the move famous for its power increase when the user is suffering some sort of ailment. Empowered by his poison-fueled pain, Vigoroth roared and shot towards Salazzle.

    A pillar of fire from the dark lizard''s throat stopped Vigoroth dead, and the heat was so intense that several people in the stands screamed in fright, the barriers on the field not keeping all the heat in.

    When the fire faded, Vigoroth was a twitching heap on the ground.

    Frustration mounting, Norman sent out his Chansey, determined to turn this around. Chansey''s healing prowess should keep her in the fight long enough for her Sing into Focus Punch combo to end Salazzle.

    Then Lee recalled his pokemon and sent out a fucking Haxorus. The Dragon-type was a monster, standing nearly nine feet tall rather than the average of six and rippling with muscle. Again, the infuriating trainer told the pseudo-legend to have fun, and issued no other orders.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Chansey fell in just two brutal attacks, and Norman''s Linoone was just plain insulted when Haxorus stood and took several ineffective attacks before retaliating.

    Now, with his last pokeball in a white-knuckle grip, Norman wonders how things got to this point.

    Across the arena and behind Haxorus, Lee stands with a carefree smile on his scarred face. Just the man''s visage should have been a warning of things to come, now that Norman thinks about it.

    Standing a few inches over six feet tall and with a messy mane of hair pulled back into an equally messy Ponyta tail, Lee Henson would be easy to pick-out in a crowd. The man''s arms, coated in scars of all sorts, are muscular and bare, speaking to a life of labor. Under his plain black sleeveless shirt, his broad chest strains against the fabric, and laying around his neck is a necklace with a simple charm made of bone. His faded pants, made of gortex or something similar, Norman isn''t quite sure, lead down to equally worn work boots. Finally, on his face are a trio of claw-marks running down the left-side of his face and faded with age. One line carves through his eyebrow, and the man is lucky to still have his eye.

    Norman''s not sure what''s worse. The losses so far, or the fact that the man isn''t taking him seriously.

    Rolling his pokeball in his hand, Norman decides his pride is worth more to him. "Mister Henson?" He calls, voice amplified by the lapel mic on his shirt. "You aren''t giving it your all in the bout. Is the Gym Challenge a joke to you?"

    The wild-looking man blinks. "Ah?" He blinks. "No no, Mister Norman. You misunderstand. My partners and I are giving this a sporting effort. This is far from a joke. I''ve asked them to battle at a level they feel is appropriate. I understand if it comes off as... well..." Lee trails off, looking vaguely sorry.

    "Mister Henson��" Norman clenches his jaw. "You''re meant to bring your full power to bear here. This isn''t a game."

    "I''m playing no games, Mister Norman." Lee sighs and shakes his head. "I attempted to explain this to Mister Wattson, but��"

    ''Wattson? Did he battle Wattson?'' Norman looks away briefly. The next Gym Leader meeting isn''t for a week, so the Normal-type master has no way of knowing until then. "You''re just insulting myself and the League by not taking this seriously. As Gym Leader, I can cancel your challenge and deny you my badge for contempt. Please don''t force my hand, Lee. Take this seriously."

    Lee goes silent, and for a worrying moment Norman thinks he''s going to be forced to make good on his threat. Then, Lee sighs. "Pokemon Battling is a sport, is it not? I don''t see senseless beat-downs as sporting. I am in no position to argue, though, Gym Leader Norman. I will oblige you with the strongest member of my team and I working together."

    Haxorus whirls around and looks at his trainer with undisguised horror. He lets out a shaky growl ending with an inquisitive lit, staring at the pokeball Lee takes from his hip.

    A sudden unsettling feeling begins to creep up Norman''s spine.

    Lee smiles. "Yes, my friend. I understand. You and she will have to make peace eventually, but that can wait. I''ll return you first." The scarred man holds up a pokeball marked with a little claw sticker. "Return!"

    Haxorus slumps in relief as the red beam of light engulfs him and sucks him back into his ball.

    Lee returns Haxorus'' ball to his hip and raises the other one. Norman can just make out a cartoony bomb sticker on it. "Gym Leader Norman, allow me the pleasure of introducing my oldest partner. I raised her from birth years ago, and she''s been a steadfast friend I can no longer imagine life without." He winds his arm back and whips it high in the air.

    The ball splits open with its distinct pop-hiss and out comes a mass of white light. The light hits the ground and grows larger.

    ...And larger, and larger, and larger..!

    When the light fades, Norman has no idea what he''s looking at, he just knows he should have taken the loss to Haxorus.

    A pokemon unlike any other looms before him and glares down at him hatefully, it''s golden eyes shining with seething hostility. It stands on two, four-toed reptilian hindlegs and wyvern-like front legs with great webbed wings fused to them, each ending in a raptorial claw. It''s tarnished-bronze scales shine with a dull light, looking entirely like a suit of armor. It''s head, with a short, wide muzzle fitted with slathering pearly teeth, is connected to a thick neck that leads to an equally wide body. Trailing behind it, a long, flat tail whips impatiently, only barely missing Lee. Along the underside of its neck and tail, curious, enlarged scales lay flat with thin stems of gray skin holding them on.

    The sheer scale of the beast is what cows Norman through. From the floor to the top of its hunched back, the pokemon is at least fifteen feet tall. Nose to tail, it must be pushing eighty feet. It takes up a huge part of Lee''s side of the arena just by standing there! What does this pokemon eat? Entire Wailords?!

    The pokemon rears up then opens its mouth to let out a terrifying, deafening roar. The cry displaces so much air that the barriers around the arena flare and groan from the force, drawing screams from the spectators.

    "Gym Leader Norman," Lee calls over the noise. "May I introduce you to Bazelgeuse, my closest friend."

    The now named Bazelgeuse rears her head back and roars again, holding the trumpting cry long enough that she drowns out everything else.

    Norman winces and looks down at the pokeball in his hand. Saying a prayer to Arceus, he tosses it in the arena. "Slaking! I need everything you can give me!"

    The pokeball bursts open, and out comes the ape-like sloth pokemon Slaking, already laying on his side as materializes in the arena. Slaking''s eyes flutter open as if awaking from a pleasant nap, and the sloth smacks his lips before scratching his belly. It''s only then does he seem to realize the mammoth wyvern, larger than any pokemon he''s ever seen, looking down at him with eyes that promise violence. Slowly, he looks back at Norman, expression clearly saying "Are you fucking serious?"

    "Bazelgeuse!" Lee''s voice thunders across the Gym. "Bombing Run into Double-Edge! Go!"

    The skin between Bazelgeuse''s scales begins to glow with a baleful orange light, and with the sound of churning water, the flat scales along her neck and tail begin to inflate into egg-like orbs filled with fire distilled into liquid form. The whole Gym becomes uncomfortably hot as the scales swell almost to bursting, then she spreads her wings and takes to the air with a single flap, casually blowing up a gale that would make a Pidgeot green with envy.

    Norman sighs.

    Today would have been a good day to stay in bed.

 Act 1: Chapter 24

    Standing in a circle drawn on the Dewford beach sand, up-and-coming Dark Type master Andre waits impatiently for his dopy opponent to return. In his hand, Absol''s shrunken pokeball rolls between his fingers in a dance mastered during idle moments such as this.

    This Ash kid is just like the rest. It''s all just some piddly little sport to them, something to laugh and have fun with. People like him will never make it into the upper echelons; the Elite. Both people and Pokemon are creatures that thrive in hardship, and they magnify each other when together, this Andre knows. The joy of being bigger, being better, is beyond trainers like this kid.

    The teen ceases rolling Absol''s ball in his hand and presses the button, making the ball expand with a quiet whurr. Inside, he can almost feel Absol eagerly stir, still riding the high of a victory so rightfully deserved over Brawly.

    Damn that beach-bum bastard. Damn Brawly for stifling him and keeping him here for so many years. It''s criminal how a privileged shit like Brawly can just do whatever he wants, riding around on his borrowed power like he owns the island. Worse yet, everyone else follows him blindly, gladly giving into the manipulation of power behind a pretty-boy smile. He still fell to Andre and his team, though. After years of struggle, Absol clashed with Hariyama again, and this time the outcome was different.

    Years ago, Andre regretted his choice to run away to Dewford, but now that they''ve overcome such an incredible obstacle? Nothing can stand in their way. They did it. Now begins their real journey, and for the first step? The maroon-haired boy turns and stares into the setting sun, knowing it''s a precursor to the bright morning where he leaves Dewford behind.

    He''ll beat all the Gym Leaders.

    He''ll win Ever Grande.

    He''ll find and shred Henson.

    Then finally, Andre will battle the one person he wants to battle above all. The man who set himself up for ruin by being a liar.

    Absol will be that ruin. He and Andre have struggled together for years, and now it''s time to taste the sweet fruits of their labor.

    Only people who stand up and grow from adversity can truly be called strong. Who knows? Maybe this Ash kid won''t be a total disappointment. Maybe he''ll learn that only through struggle do you become great. There''s no place for anyone who takes shortcuts or doesn''t give their all in a pokemon battle.

    Hearing feet shuffling through the sand, Andre turns to face the Dewford boardwalk and smirks.

    Ash is approaching, still wearing a petulant glower that the Pikachu on his shoulder mirrors. Behind him follow a few other people, probably his friends. A brunette girl in a bandana who looks to be somewhere between 10 and 12 years old, a young boy in glasses, and a tanned teen roughly Andre''s age.

    "Ash, are you sure about this?" The girl asks, her voice betraying her nervousness as she looks at Andre. "Do you need to settle everything with a battle?"

    "I think we already know the answer to that one, May." The little boy wearing glasses dryly quips. "Is this the guy, Ash?" He asks, pulling a Pokenav from his pocket and flipping it open.

    Ash doesn''t answer his friends, instead stepping up the edge of the ring. "Alright, Andre. I''m ready," He says, words and stance firm.

    Andre can''t help it. He smirks. "Hah. I have my doubts. Tell me this, who are you going to battle with? A Nuzleaf? A Corphish? Pick any pokemon you want, it won''t matter." The teen crosses his arms, tapping Absol''s ball with a finger. "Whatever you do, you best give it your all."

    The younger trainer has the gall to smirk back. "If it''s my best you want, then I choose Pikachu!"

    The Electric-type leaps from Ash''s shoulder into the sand-circle, landing on all-fours with his tail raised alertly. His cheeks spark with gold arcs of electricity. "Pikaaa��" The rodent pokemon eagerly bounces in place, a leer on his face.

    "A Pikachu? Really?" Andre holds back a snicker. "Sure, bud. Okay."

    To the kid''s credit, the Pikachu looks healthy and fit. Andre can''t claim to know much about the Kanto-native rodents other than their depressing tendency to get chunky when kept as pets�� and how people like showing off their overweight Pikachus online. ''Honestly, the League can''t do a fucking thing right. Why not use some of that grossly overblown power to take pokemon away from abusive people like that?''

    "Let''s see your pokemon, then." Ash challenges, crossing his arms.

    Behind him, the younger boy with the Pokenav blinks and gulps. "Uh oh�� Ash might be in trouble��"

    "What? Why?" The girl, May, leans over the boy''s shoulder to look at the little device. "Max? What''s wrong?" She asks as the tanned, squinty teen leans over to look too.

    Max holds his Pokenav up. "According to Battlenet, this guy Andre is one of the best trainers in Dewford! His only big loss was against Mister Henson a few weeks ago!"

    Hearing Henson''s name makes Andre''s smirk falter, but he powers through the anger that wants to surface.

    "Apparently, he''s one of the few people to ever defeat Brawly''s strongest Hariyama, and he''s a Dark-type master. He beat a Fighting Gym with a type disadvantage!" Max blinks and readjusts his glasses. "Ash can''t win this! This guy is just a bully goading him into a meat-grinder!"

    The tall, tanned teen places a hand on Max''s shoulder. "Easy, Max. Don''t doubt Ash now. He''s the best trainer there is when it comes to turning a bad situation around." He looks up and stares at Ash''s back. "He''s got three league challenges and twenty badges under his belt, something Andre can''t boast about."

    ''Three leagues and twenty badges?'' When the math doesn''t add up, Andre easily dismisses the claim as a lie and sneers. "False bravado for your pal will go nowhere fast." Andre uncrosses his arms and resumes rolling Absol''s ball in his hand as he returns his attention to Ash. "You''ve heard the odds. You gonna run away?"

    "As if!" Ash answers, his smirk transforming into an eager smile. "No way we''re going to back down from a battle like this, right buddy?" He asks his pokemon.

    "Pika!" Pikachu smiles back and sparks even more vigorously, making little beads of glass when the gold arcs coming off of him zap the sand.

    Andre clicks his tongue and tosses Absol''s ball up high. "We''ll see how long that lasts."

    Dark-type is unlike the others, a type plebeians like these don''t understand. To most, dark just means the absence of light, and by association, the absence of good things like security and warmth. That''s wrong. Dark is the type of raw emotion, the type of being true to oneself and not shying away from urges others cringe at. Things that are natural.

    The red-and-white pokeball spins high in the air, then splits open with a pop-hiss. From the ball, white light shoots out and strikes the sand. As the light begins to fade, Absol''s ghostly white form is left crouching in the circle. Just like they rehearsed, Absol rises and raises his head, and when at his full height, he snaps his blood-red eyes open and trains them on Pikachu. In the air, Andre can feel his partner''s hostility.

    Both the mouse and his trainer look spooked for a second before swiftly hiding it.

    Dark-type is unlike the others, it''s the type of violence.

    And that''s okay.

    "Ready?" Andre asks simply, already forming a plan in his mind.

    "Ready!" Ash clenches a fist.

    Andre bends down and picks up a shell from the sand, then tosses it up into the air.

    Ash, Andre, Pikachu, Absol, Ash''s friends, and the beach-goers watching in the distance all watch the shell slowly tumble through the air, making its way back down to the ground in what seems like slow motion.

    Ten feet.

    Five.

    Two.

    One.

    The shell splashes in the sand with a soft thud.

    "Night Slash!"

    "Thunderbolt!"

    The commands come out at the same time, so Pikachu and Absol blur into action as one.

    Absol crosses the circle as a phantasmal flicker of white, his scythe blade leaving a trail of dark purple behind him, but to Andre''s astonishment, Pikachu dodges.

    The mouse pokemon leaps straight up nearly thirty feet, there one moment and gone the next, leaving Absol''s blade to slide through nothing. Hearing the sound of crackling electricity, Absol looks up, his eyes going wide.

    The sparks wreathing Pikachu grow into an angry, snapping halo of yellow. The wind-up of the Thunderbolt takes less than a second, but both Absol and Andre are given just enough time to see Pikachu''s confident smile. "Piiikaaa..!"

    Absol''s eyes glow bright.

    "Chuuuu!"

    A pillar of lightning shoots down so fast that it''s halfway to the ground before Absol throws himself out of range. When it hits the ground, molten sand explodes out in a hail of glowing red, forcing Absol to juke around globs of hot glass lest he be forced to fight with savage burns. The Disaster pokemon is pushed all the way back to Andre''s side of the circle, where he stands and waits warily.

    Pikachu throws his hind legs out, somersaulting through the air and landing lightly right next to the smoldering, glassed crater left behind by his Thunderbolt. The glass groans and crackles as it cools and slowly cracks. The crater is just as big as the one made by..!

    ''By that explosion attack Henson''s Vulpix fired off��'' Andre blinks, not trusting what his eyes are showing him. ''But that Vulpix needed so much time to charge up while that Thunderbolt was instantaneous.'' He rubs his eyes, but the shiny divot in the sand remains.

    "Keep the momentum going, Pikachu!" Ash capitalizes on Andre''s astonishment, dramatically punching a fist out as he orders; "Give him a taste of Quick Attack!"

    Rather than a wispy aura, Pikachu''s Quick Attack manifests as a rolling mantle of white. "Pika��" Pikachu''s legs tense like coiled springs, and that''s all the warning Absol gets before the electric mouse pokemon is a bullet of yellow streaking towards him, faster than any pokemon they''ve ever fought before. Andre is used to keeping track of his pokemon in motion, but Pikachu is little more than a formless blur that he nearly loses.

    Absol''s eyes shine with Detect, but even then, Andre watches his partner duck with only inches to spare. Pikachu''s Quick Attack flares as he misses, then the mouse halts midair and... lets his attack fade?

    Why isn''t he pressing the offensive?

    Pikachu lands on all-fours in the sand, turning and looking back at Ash for a new command.

    "Your Absol is really fast!" Ash compliments, again wearing that stupid grin. "But it''ll take more than that to come back from the defensive we''ve got you on! Pikachu! Thunderbolt again!"

    Pikachu once more begins to spark violently, forks of lightning making a light show in the waning sunlight. "Pika��"

    ''Who the fuck is this kid?!'' Andre thinks to himself. "Absol, Double Team!"

    Absol''s eyes narrow, and right before Pikachu can fire his Thunderbolt, flickering copies of the Disaster pokemon appear from seemingly nowhere all over Andre''s side of the field. Each one wears the same impassive expression and stares down at Pikachu with thinly veiled distaste.

    "...Chu?" Pikachu''s Thunderbolt is withheld as the mouse pokemon looks between all the illusions with worry and confusion.

    "Oh no, Not Double Team. I hate this move..." Ash looks at all the Absol clones with the same uncertainty as his pokemon. "Which one?"

    ''Fast enough to nearly tag Absol with detect, and strong enough to instantly glass sand, but Double Team trips them up?'' Andre almost trips over himself at just how absurd this kid is. He won''t call out the mistake, however, as he sees Absol slink between his illusions to get an angle on his foe.

    "Ash!" The tall, tanned teen standing behind the kid cups his hands around his mouth and yells. "Don''t worry about picking the right one! Sweep an attack through them all! Absol can dish out a lot of damage, but they''re fragile!"

    "Fuck off, peanut gallery!" Andre growls back, making the girl, May, scowl and cover Max''s ears with her hands. The Dark trainer returns his attention forward. "Night Slash!"

    Absol explodes into action, running from his crowd of fading doppelgangers and circling around to Pikachu''s back, scythe blade in motion without any dramatic flourish.

    Pikachu''s ears twitch, his eyes widen, and he instinctively springs away back to Ash''s side of the field, escaping with only a shallow gash along his back.

    "Pikachu!" Ash exclaims, his brown eyes alarmed. "Are you alright?"

    Pikachu turns to face Ash, presumably to answer, but Andre can''t resist punishing the rookie mistake. "Night Slash!"

    In a flash of white, Absol is in front of Pikachu just as the mouse''s head is looking away. Absol growls and throws his neck out, his scythe-like horn whistling through the air and trailing with hazy purple Dark energy.

    Schink!

    Pikachu stumbles back as Absol leaps back out of retaliation range. A weeping cut opens up diagonally across Pikachu''s chest, and his yellow fur quickly begins to stain red.

    "Pikachu!" Ash''s anguished voice carries over the whole beach. Behind him, all of his friends gasp as one. The girl even raises her hands to cover her mouth.

    Pikachu rocks back, almost falling, but shakes his head and grits his teeth, remaining standing despite the wound that would have made a pokemon twice his size pass out. "Piiika!" He exclaims, falling back to all-fours with his red cheeks sparking dangerously.

    "Pikachu, are you okay to keep going?" Ash asks, this time not taking his eyes off of Absol.

    Slowly, Pikachu nods. Much like Ash, he keeps his gaze forward and trained on his opponent.

    "That was a dirty trick!" The Kanto-born trainer points an accusing finger at Andre, quickly making his ire rise. "Why''d you have Absol attack Pikachu when his back was turned?!"

    Andre narrows his eyes, silently wondering if Ash is serious. "Matches don''t pause, idiot. Double Team again!" The black-clad boy smiles nastily. "Then Swords Dance!"

    Behind Ash, the tanned teen''s eyes widen, though only slightly. "That''s not good��"

    Max looks up to the taller boy with a tilted head. "What''s Swords Dance, Brock?"

    The now-named Brock crosses his arms and frowns. In the light of the setting sun, the sweat on his brow is plain to all. "Swords Dance is a move that provides a huge boost to physical attack power. Not many pokemon can learn it, and even fewer can use it well. If they mess up with the boost, then they might hurt themselves. That''s to say nothing about pokemon strong enough to use the move in quick succession."

    May gulps. "So that means��"

    "Absol just got even more dangerous," Brock trails off.

    ''Brock, huh? He knows his stuff.'' Andre wonders where he''s heard the name before, but shrugs and returns his attention to the battle.

    Back in the ring, illusionary clones of Absol form all over the field, each one flickering and staring at Pikachu with a frown. Around each clone, swords made of pure shining blue begin to take form. From the ethereal swords, orb-like motes of energy flow out of them and into Absol, making the Dark-type hunch his back and growl as might floods into him. His muscles bulge, his pupils dilate, and his scythe glitters with a deadly edge.

    "Go! Quick Attack into Night Slash!"

    An aura of bleached white explodes from Absol''s body as his Double Team fades away, and with a small, sinister smirk, the Dark-type moves. With Quick Attack on top of his natural speed��

    ''Nothing short of ExtremeSpeed can match him.'' Andre watches his pokemon move in for the knockout as a near-invisible wisp of bone-colored fur.

    "Intercept with Iron Tail!" Ash orders without any time to spare.

    Even with his bleeding wound slowing him, Pikachu growls and whirls around in a circle, his flat tail shining like polished steel. His tail cuts through the air like a blade, whistling through its arc.

    Ka-chang!

    The Pikachu catches Absol''s scythe on his tail.

    ''What the hell?'' Andre watches on, lost as Pikachu and Absol each struggle to overpower the other. Absol strains his legs and neck, trembling as he pushes down on his smaller foe with all his might.

    Pikachu is trembling even more, slowly losing the power struggle as Absol pushes him back. His small feet don''t give him enough grip in the sand, so he loses a bit of ground each second even as he pushes back with his tail. The mouse pokemon squeaks and whines as he loses focus on Iron Tail, letting Absol slowly cut into him. Sensing the weakness, Absol pushes even harder, determined to slice Pikachu to ribbons.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    "Hang in there, buddy!" Ash calls from the sideline, his face schooled into determination. "Deflect him and counter!"

    Ash''s voice seemingly drags more willpower out of his Pikachu, because the Electric-type cries out and swipes his tail to the side, overpowering the Swords Dance-fueled Absol just long enough to disengage. With Absol''s failed attack thrown wide, Pikachu flips backward, Iron Tail aimed to brutally smash right into Absol''s chin.

    The Dark-type''s eyes glow with Detect just as Andre taught him, so he leans back just enough for Iron Tail to tickle the short, velvet fur of his face before leaping back to a safe distance.

    "Double Team and Swords Dance again!" Andre orders the instant Absol''s paws touch down in the sand. ''Not bad, kid. Your Pikachu is actually pretty strong, but you''re still nothing compared to Absol and I.''

    "A second Swords Dance?!" Ash''s eyes bug out.

    Like the previous two times, intangible clones of Absol appear all over the sandy ring, hiding the real Absol in their number. Again, shining swords of blue energy manifest from thin air, then begin to fade again as they surrender their power to Absol in the form of wispy ribbons of blue.

    "RooaaaaAAAAAAAAA!"

    Andre''s ace finally breaks his stoic streak by leaning his head back and roaring as he absorbs the second round of Swords Dance. His red eyes gleam with unrestrained malevolence as his physical strength surges to a level even Brawly''s elder Hariyama would struggle to match. The air around him even begins to distort from the heat and exhaust energy his forcefully strengthened body generates.

    "We can''t drag this out and there''s no time to find the real one!" Ash calls, the beginnings of panic in his voice. "Hit them with Thunder!"

    If Pikachu''s Thunderbolts coated him in a halo of crackling yellow, then the building Thunder around him is like a dome of pure luminescent gold. The air begins to snap and spark as the unearthly charge builds, and Andre can feel the static on his skin and in his hair. The dark red bangs not covered by his hat begin to rise. "What the fuck is-"

    The ring is engulfed in blinding light.

    From what little Andre''s dazzled eyes can see, a spear of lightning as large around as a redwood tree is thrown up into the air, rising like a breaching Gyarados at least a hundred feet up, before curving - shooting down towards the crowd of Absols vengefully.

    Absol and his doppelgangers vanish in a flash of lightning before the Dark-type can even try to dodge. The Thunder attack is so violent that there is no splash of molten sand, as the sand is simply vaporized on contact.

    Andre raises his arms to shield his eyes as the resulting crack of thunder generates a shockwave that throws sand everywhere. Over the ear-ringing crack, he can just barely hear a few onlookers scream in fright. ''...!'' So shocked is he, that Andre can barely form a coherent thought.

    Slowly, the smoke clears, revealing the results to everyone.

    On Ash''s side of the ring, Pikachu pants in exhaustion, but still stands ready with sparks arcing from his cheeks. His wound drips slowly into the sand, making an ugly red-spot that he ignores. On the other end of the ring��

    Absol''s ball falls from Andre''s limp fingers, falling to the sand with a soft thud.

    Lying prone in a glassed divot and coated in raw, spider-webbing electrical burns, Absol is out cold. His chest rises and falls with difficulty, and the fur spared being burned off snaps and pops with left-over electricity. His keratin scythe-horn is covered in cracks and flaking, likely having been the point the monstrous Thunder entered his body through.

    They lost. After the trials involved in beating Brawly, Absol was felled in one shot.

    One. Shot.

    "No��" Andre whispers, a terrible feeling welling up in his chest. "No��"

    How did this happen? How did this happen?! Absol can go toe-to-toe with Hariyama, an Elite with a capital E! Did a common Pikachu just win?! Andre sways on his feet, struck with a sudden bout of vertigo as doubt begins to claw at him.

    He''s a good trainer, isn''t he? He trained his pokemon well, developed strategies with them, joined them in their struggles just as they did for him, and never gave up. They clawed their way to the top of Dewford, then toppled Brawly. They''re the greatest!

    "Did Andre just lose?" A nearby girl in a bikini asks the man whose arm she''s clutching.

    There''s a scoff on Andre''s right. "''Course he did, he''s just hot air!" An overweight man with a smug-looking Rufflet on his shoulder cuts in. Andre remembers thrashing that Rufflet and his lardass trainer at last year''s Brawl. "Any good trainer could do that!"

    "Hey, isn''t that kid Ash Ketchum? Professor Oak''s golden boy?" Another spectator, a boy in swimming trunks asks no one in particular.

    "Yeah! Way to go, Pikachu!" Ash runs into the ring, the glassed sand crunching under his shoes. He scoops up Pikachu with a joyful laugh, and Pikachu, despite the hard battle, musters enough energy to smile and nuzzle his trainer.

    Max, Brock, and May run up to the boy and his Pikachu, each one wearing their own smile. "Great battle, guys!" Max cheers. "I thought he had you for a second, there!"

    "He almost did," Ash admits, setting Pikachu down gently and shrugging off his backpack. The Kanto-born trainer unzips his bag and pulls a Hyper Potion from inside, uncapping it and giving it a shake. "If we didn''t start working on Pikachu''s defense a few weeks ago, that Night Slash might have ended the match." His piece said, Ash gingerly sprays down Pikachu''s wound, making the flesh hiss and knit back together.

    Andre just watches numbly. Slowly, he bends back down and takes Absol''s ball before mechanically recalling his unconscious pokemon. The cheers for Ash and the jeers shot his way fall on deaf ears, and before anyone can say anything further, he turns and starts the walk to the Pokemon Center.

    "Hey, Andre! Wait!" Ash''s voice calls out to him.

    His walk speeds up to a jog, then to a run, then to a sprint. He clutches Absol''s ball to his chest protectively, as if to shield his partner from any more harm.

    The powerful, unevolved Pikachu, the outrageously expensive potion, being called Professor Oak''s ''golden boy''...

    That bastard. That rat bastard Ash is just like them. Just like Henson and Brawly.

    Andre''s eyes sting and his vision blurs, but he keeps sprinting so Absol might be treated faster.

    It''s not fair.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The ragged, frightened, panting Kirlia can only brace herself as the persistent orbs of darkness close in, as she''s too frazzled to focus on Teleporting like her trainer frantically commands.

    Standing across from a young woman trainer in one of Mauville''s outskirts battlegrounds, Lee watches Corvi, who is hovering above the field, cackle as his newly mastered attack homes in on the hapless Kirlia.

    The young woman commanding Kirlia, a fairly unremarkable trainer with her brown hair in a high ponytail and wearing a school uniform approached Lee for a battle as he and Brendan explored Mauville. Zinnia wasn''t with them, having taken herself and all the female pokemon sans Shinx off for a "Girls'' day out." Considering how rare the occurrence of a challenge is, Lee shrugged and took the schoolgirl''s offer.

    Kirlia proved to be a tricky foe, dodging around with expert short-range teleports and dragging Corvi out of the air and painfully into the ground with Confusion. That changed when Lee had Corvisquire break out Pursuers. Since she was forced to keep dodging lest she be struck by the unknown and very persistent move, Corvisquire was free to divebomb her with Pluck and Steel Wing at his leisure. Now coated in welts and cuts, Kirlia only needs one stiff breeze to be felled.

    "C''mon Kirlia, one more Teleport!" The young woman orders, looking at the closing in Pursuers with trepidation.

    "Corvi, stop them! Speed up Pursuers!" Lee calls up to his crow in reply.

    Corvisquire screeches and spreads his wings, wispy tendrils of black flaring off of him.

    The Kirlia screws her eyes shut and begins to glow with a cloak of ever-shifting colors, but falters as the hissing Pursuers surge and close in faster. Before she can move, it''s too late.

    Bambambambam!

    The black and purple orbs smash into her like freight trains, each exploding and releasing a small cloud of caustic Dark-type energy that slowly dissipates. Kirlia is thrown harshly to the ground from the fusillade of explosions, where she groans and doesn''t attempt to get back to her feet.

    Once it''s clear Kirlia is down for the count, Brendan, who stands at the side of the arena as the referee, calls the match. "It''s over!" He waves his arms in front of his chest in an X shape. "Kirlia is unable to battle! Corvisquire and Lee are the winners!"

    A few onlookers waiting for a battleground to clear up politely applaud the victory, and although most are too far away for Lee to properly make out what their conversations are about, he can see that the unveiling of Pursuers has caused a bit of a stir.

    The young woman trainer - who Lee is embarrassed to admit he forgot the name of - recalls her Kirlia with a despondent sigh. Once the Psychic-type is safely tucked away in her ball, Kirlia''s trainer walks to the middle of the battleground to meet Lee for a handshake. "Wow! That was some battle! Your big old crow here sure packs a punch!"

    At Lee''s side, Corvisquire puffs out smugly.

    Lee gives her a smile as he clasps her hand and gives it a firm shake. "Thank you. He''s been working extra hard and it certainly shows. Your Kirlia''s Teleport is well refined. We had to break out a secret technique to break the rhythm there."

    Not exactly true, as Corvisquire could have just used Scary Face to slow Kirlia down, or Taunt to halt the teleporting entirely, but the crow has been so eager to use his new move in a live battle that Lee didn''t have it in him to let the opportunity go.

    "Say, what was that crazy Dark move that you used?" The young woman asks as she, Lee, and Corvisquire move off the field so other trainers can take their place. "I''ve never seen something like that."

    Lee mulls over telling her as they get to a safe distance away from the field and watch two more trainers step up to battle. One is a boy around fifteen or so years of age who sends out a fluttering Dustox, and the other is a young blonde girl who releases a surly-looking Gligar. ''There is forever a camera watching every Pok��mon battle around here anyway, so there''s probably no harm in telling. It''ll get out sooner or later.'' Mind made up, Lee explains. "Pursuers is actually a custom move created by Corvisquire and me. It has homing capabilities similar to Swift, and trades its speed for better tracking ability and a Dark typing."

    The girl blinks and lets her mouth fall open a little bit. "Holy..! A completely brand-new move? That''s wild! Do you think I can get a TM of it? I don''t have a ton of money, but I''ll pay what I can."

    Lee gives her a confused, sidelong look. "A TM of a custom move?" He asks, suddenly remembering that he doesn''t know the process that creates TMs. "Sorry about my ignorance on the subject, I''m from way out in the sticks."

    The schoolgirl nods, apparently accepting the excuse with ease. "Yeah, how do you think new moves get circulated around? If a pokemon or a trainer makes a new move, you can usually get places like Devon or Silph Co. to make TMs if they get a cut of the profits. Lots of trainers make a killing selling limited runs of their powerful pokemon''s moves."

    It takes a moment to sink in, but Lee can suddenly feel his wallet weigh more. ''Really now? Powerful and custom moves can make a mint? Well, my struggles to find an Eevee might be over here soon.'' The zoologist pulls the spike of greed back in with a more sobering thought. ''Assuming the cut that the manufacturer takes to make and distribute the TMs isn''t huge.'' He clears his throat. "That gives me a lot to think about," He glances down to Corvisquire, and Lee doesn''t need any mind-reading to know the scowl on his face is from the thought of his special move being marketed. Lee levels the Kirlia trainer with a smile. "Ah, Pursuers is kind of a signature move made especially for Corvisquire here, so I don''t think that one''s going to be sold anytime soon, if ever. I am working under Professor Birch as a researcher focusing on moves and alternative training styles, though, so I''ll probably bring something to market eventually. Look for TMs made by Lee Henson''s team if you''re interested."

    That makes the girl''s face light up. "Sure thing!" She glances up at the noon sun and hums. "I gotta get back to class. Thanks for the fun battle!" She waves and trots off.

    As the girl takes off, Brendan walks up to Lee''s side, taking her place. "You know, it never really struck me that you could make some crazy money selling TMs." The boy comments. He takes off his white beanie and runs his fingers through his sweaty brown hair. "If you ever make any crazy TMs, can I get a friend discount?"

    Lee chuckles. "I''ll make sure you and Zinnia each get free copies."

    Brendan replaces his hat and pumps his fist with a grin. "Heck yeah! You''re the best, Lee!"

    "I try," The scarred man smiles and withdraws his phone from his pocket, checking and finding no notifications. "Any word from the girls?"

    "Nope." Brendan shakes his head. "Zinnia said she was taking them to some kinda spa that caters to trainers and pokemon. I dunno how long something like that takes."

    "Hmm," Lee noncommittally hums in reply. It''s a little odd that a tomboy like Zinnia would be interested in something so traditionally girly, but on the other hand, what girl of any species doesn''t like being pampered every once in a while? ''She''s still trying to get back into Vulpix''s good graces I suppose.''

    The relationship between Lee''s starter and the Dragon Tamer has been icy ever since their confrontation in Slateport. Zinnia''s apology, no matter how abrupt it was, came off as rather genuine to Lee, but Vulpix isn''t of the same opinion. She''s only regarded Zinnia with annoyance at best since then and has been doing a magnificent job holding a grudge. ''I should step in�� Or should I? Zinnia came off more hurtful than intended and doesn''t really know the full story, but she did apologize. I don''t want Vulpix to forgive her just because she mistook my intervention as an implied order��'' Lee grumbles. ''I almost prefer when my chief-concerns were not getting mauled in the lion exhibit because I smelled like a horny tiger. Yet again the women in my life are out to give me gray hairs.''

    Like the schoolgirl that Lee battled just several minutes prior, Brendan looks up at the midday sun with a hand shielding his eyes. "I''m getting kinda hungry. Wanna head to the Mauville mall? They''ve got a huge food court to check out."

    Lee glances down at Corvisquire. "I could eat. What about you, bud?"

    Corvisquire eyeballs his pokeball hanging from Lee''s belt, and for a moment, Lee expects him to peck the button and return himself. After several seconds of indecision, the Crow Pok��mon sighs and nods.

    "All right then, let''s get going," Lee hides his surprise as best he can and gestures for Brendan to lead the way.

    The walk from Mauville''s outskirts to the city proper doesn''t take very long, but considering that Mauville is by far the largest city in all of Hoenn, getting to where you want through the throngs of people is the time-consuming part. As they walk along a nature trail that leads into a corporate park near the mall, Lee is given some time to mull over the last few days.

    Lee, Brendan, Zinnia, and their pokemon arrived in Mauville three days ago after responding to the Pokemon Ranger ABP with little fanfare. They found a middle-of-the-pack hotel near the center of the city and just a few minutes walk from a Pok��mon Center and the local Gym. Upon visiting the Gym, both Brendan and Lee were disheartened to find that the wait time for a gym match was sitting at a full week.

    Wattson, the elderly Electric-type master and Gym Leader of Mauville, is apparently a very busy man. On top of his duties as Gym Leader, the apologetic receptionist at the Mauville Gym explained that Wattson is part of the Mauville city council, the head electrical engineer of the local power plant, and part of the Board of Directors for a local construction firm that replaced the now-defunct Greater Mauville Holdings. As such, he can only respond to a handful of challenges per day.

    Without much in the way of recourse, Brendan and Lee scheduled their battles and have been training their teams ever since.

    "Hey, Lee?" Brendan starts, pulling Lee away from his thoughts. The boy looks up at him. "Do you think you can teach me about pok��mon nutrition?" He asks.

    "I''d be happy to, but that kind of came out of nowhere." Lee replies as the nature trail around them slowly transitions into a sidewalk leading through Mauville''s corporate district. Lee takes a look at the tall, shiny office buildings around him, silently lamenting for the poor souls stuck in corporate positions when the option of being a pok��mon trainer exists. He shudders and silently thanks his past self for disregarding his father''s advice and taking zoology over business. "Why do you want to learn?"

    "Take a look at Corvisquire," Brendan points at the black and blue bird, who turns and gives him the stink eye. "He was a pretty normal height when you caught him, but now he''s pushing three feet tall and some change. It''s normal for pokemon to grow a bit before they evolve, but that''s a lot of growth."

    Lee meets Corvisquire''s eyes and notes with some surprise that the Crow Pok��mon is indeed tall enough to peer over Lee''s beltline, and at exactly six feet tall with his boots off, Lee isn''t short. ''I could''ve sworn he came up to my thigh just a few weeks ago.'' He thinks, silently frustrated that Corvi''s reluctance for a physical has prevented any proper recordkeeping on his pok��mon. ''I''ll need to make good on Corvi''s promise to cooperate for a physical sometime soon. It shouldn''t be terribly hard to schedule a time.''

    Looking again, Lee can see the budding signs of evolution on Corvisquire now that Brendan has pointed them out. The crow''s blue plumage is darkening to a metallic ink-blue. The bottom half of his beak is slowly turning black while the top half is on its way to the same ink-blue, almost purple as his plumage. A helmet-like ridge has been becoming more and more prominent over his eyes in the last few days, making his scowl even more striking.

    While Brendan and Zinnia''s aces are clearly their strongest pok��mon, it''s hard to put a label of ''strongest'' on any of Lee''s. ''Vulpix isn''t a battle prodigy like Grovyle, and isn''t concentrated piss and vinegar like Corvisquire, but her raw power, adaptability, and telepathy with me present enormous hurdles for anyone to overcome.''

    ''Grovyle, meanwhile, is a savant destined to be a Legend. His supernatural awareness of his own body, instincts sharper than any razor, and hyper competency that he applies to all of his techniques puts him on even footing with Vulpix and Corvisquire despite suffering a type disadvantage against them both.''

    ''And Corvisquire��'' Lee pauses. ''Corvisquire puts so much passion and emotion into his training and fighting that he''s a veritable force of nature. Add in his natural intelligence, and you got a scary pokemon. If he''s only got weeks until he evolves, then I think he''ll undoubtedly be my most powerful pokemon afterward.''

    It''s a strange thought to consider, as Lee thought that the mantle would always rest with Vulpix. ''Again, this isn''t some anime, Lee. Your first isn''t always your best, though there''s nothing wrong with that.''

    Lee mentally touches the tiny psychic line tethering him to Vulpix, almost visualizing a thread as thin as a fishing line leading into the city. This is the furthest he''s ever been away from her��

    He gets a tiny tug of acknowledgment back from the distant fox.

    ��That''s okay, though. She''s still there.

    "I guess you''re right," Lee answers Brendan after a moment. "Corvi is beefing up. I''m not sure how much of it is my work and how much of it is his impending evolution. Regardless, I''ll be happy to teach you, Brendan." Lee raises a hand before the grinning boy can celebrate. "There is a lot that goes into the study of nutrition, so be prepared for that. There''s a lot of math, learning how to cook, learning how to identify the best ingredients and foodstuffs for your pok��mon, intimate study on the biology of your pokemon, monitoring what goes in, monitoring what gets burned, and monitoring�� What comes out. Yes, I do mean that in a gross way."

    Brendan cringes. "Oh."

    "Oh," Lee nods knowingly. "Think on it for a bit before giving me a final answer."

    ''I still haven''t figured out what I''m going to use to feed Corvi when he becomes a Corviknight. That''s a lot of pokemon to keep fed. If worse comes to worst, I might have to send him hunting on his own as I figure something out.''

    In his pocket, Lee''s phone begins to ring, making anxiety suddenly boil in his gut. Taking it out, he glances at the screen and bites his lip.

    Incoming call

    Prof. Birch

    Accept / Deny

    "I''ve got to take this. Sorry, Brendan." Lee taps ''accept'' with his thumb and lowers the call volume down to almost nothing so Brendan can''t unintentionally eavesdrop. Raising the phone to his ear, he lets out an uneasy breath. "Hello. Professor."

    "Hey, Lee. Is now a good time to talk?"

    "Yeah, that''s fine," He looks over to Brendan, silently telling the boy to keep going as he slows his own pace. Looking around, Lee spots several office workers loitering around outside of their office buildings and notes the depressing lack of pok��mon out and about. None of them are close enough to overhear as he walks towards central Mauville through the corporate park.

    Brendan smiles and nods, keeping his pace going and letting Lee fall behind.

    "Good." Lee can almost hear Nigel''s smile. "So, I''ve got in contact with a group of specialists who specifically treat patients who hold sensitive intelligence. They are accredited by the Johto League and approved by the Hoenn League to practice here. They really are the best of the best, as they treated the soldiers in the Kanto-Johto skirmishes years back."

    "Really?" Lee ponders aloud, wondering if the not-war was really so violent as to require specialists of such caliber. Pokewiki said there were few casualties and the whole conflict was over and done in just a few months. "Are they bound by some sort of oath to not repeat what they''ve heard? Or an NDA like you talked about?"

    "An oath? Paperwork? Try something a little more potent." Nigel murmurs, a strange weight to his words. "They aren''t bound by just an oath, but a psychic compulsion. These therapists have submitted themselves to the implanting of mental blocks made by powerful Psychic-types specifically so what they learn can''t get out. They can''t speak it on accident, on purpose, or even if forced because the compulsion will stop them in their tracks."

    The hairs on the back of Lee''s neck stand up as an icy unease spreads throughout him. "That''s��" He stops, at a loss for words. "I��" He stops again. In the back of his mind, Lee knows that the existence of Psychic-types means that there''s more than just lifting things and tossing them with your brain. There are plenty of more subtle, unsettling things a psychic can accomplish.

    If a mental compulsion can stop something like involuntary speech�� Then what else can it do?

    "It''s some heavy stuff, I agree." Lee can hear the sound of Nigel shifting around in his chair. "But I felt that going all out is warranted here, both for your privacy and, well, there are some things that the world doesn''t need to know."

    Lee nods along, running his tongue over his dry mouth. "Yeah, I one-hundred percent agree there. What''s the damage for the bill?"

    "Don''t worry about that. The League is splitting the bill with your insurance." Nigel verbally waves him off. "You''ll be seeing Miss Mable Lane and her Xatu, both of whom have the blocks and are fully accredited. They''ll be Teleporting to meet you for sessions. She''s available tomorrow if you''d like to start then."

    Instantly, Lee considers pushing it off. This is too much to dump on someone. He''s proven that he''s not a danger to himself or his Pok��mon, so he can deal with it himself. Maybe he can-

    Then a sharp pain to his knee makes Lee hiss and look down. What he sees makes him stop.

    Corvisquire pulls his beak away from Lee''s leg, looking up at him with equal parts disgust and disappointment. Disgust is a common enough emotion to see on the avian, but the disappointment stings something fierce.

    ''He can probably hear everything despite the volume being so low, and when he saw the doubt on my face�� Man up, Lee.'' Lee gulps and steels himself before raising his phone back to his ear. "Professor? How early can this therapist show up?"

    "How does 10 AM sound? She''ll be in one of the Pokemon Center meeting rooms. I''ll get you the details in an email once I have them."

    "I''ll be there. Is there anything else?" Lee doesn''t look back down at Corvisquire, half-fearing that he''ll find yet another judgmental expression.

    "Nothing else that can''t be an email. Thanks for agreeing to this, Lee. It takes someone brave to admit they have problems that need to be fixed." Nigel''s voice is gentle. "You''re doing the right thing, don''t doubt that. I know your pokemon in particular will be happy to see you well and whole. Have a nice rest of your day, okay?"

    "Same to you, Professor," Lee says goodbye and hangs up. Finally looking back down at his side, Corvisquire looks back up at him with something resembling neutrality. "Thanks for not letting me be a pussy, Corvi. I don''t know what I would do without you and the rest of the team."

    The crow just huffs and bounds along as Lee jogs to catch up to Brendan.

 Omake: Bigger and Badder

    Clair Blackthorn sighs and checks the clock on the wall of her office once more, annoyance and doubt beginning to simmer inside her.

    Dragon Tamers are a rare breed of trainer as few have the nerve, the knowledge, and the determination to raise arguably the most volatile pokemon type in the world. Dragons are synonymous with power, prestige, and in the worst cases, terrible ruin. Not just anyone can be a Dragon Tamer, as the Dragon-types themselves would never respect a weak trainer. Ha! Humans in their entirety are a speedbump for dragons. Only the most worthy can command them.

    That''s why when her cousin Lance called her all in a tizzy about some trainer with "The most magnificent dragon I''ve ever seen!", Clair was a bit skeptical.

    Some Hoenn-native named Lee Henson apparently owns some undiscovered Dragon-type, and impressed Drake of Hoenn''s Elite 4 so much that he contacted Lance. Lance, the red-headed goofball, was beside himself and called Claire asking if she could take the time to meet this Lee Henson and discuss his dragon. If not for some Champion conference in Unova, Lance would have done it himself, he said.

    Humoring her cousin, Clair sent Lee an email asking if he could spare the time to meet her. Lee proved to be rather pleasant in personality if technology illiterate. After several attempts to send a video of his dragon, he gave up and sheepishly asked if he could just fly to Blackthorn City and show her.

    The Blackthorn Gym Leader jiggles the mouse of her computer and opens the last email from Lee, cheerfully saying "I''m on my way!"

    He''s over an hour late.

    Knock knock knock!

    Clair looks up sharply to her office door. "Come in!"

    The door is cracked open and one of her newer Gym trainers pokes his head in. Clair tries to recall his name, as her assistant normally deals with the gym trainers, but comes up with nothing. "Ma''am?" He asks with nerves unbecoming of a Dragon Tamer. "I think your 3 o''clock is circling overhead. He''s starting to alarm the townspeople��"

    The blue-headed Gym Leader stands and palms her Dragonair''s pokeball from her belt. "Thank you, Kyle. I''ll take care of it. Back to what you were doing," she orders as she steps around her desk and past him with long strides.

    "Erm, it''s Carter, ma''am��" the young man corrects, going ignored.

    Clair walks through her Gym and throws open the front doors imperiously. Shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand, she uses the other to press the button on Dragonair''s pokeball as she scans the skies.

    Snap-hiss!

    Dragonair, her blue serpentine Dragon-type materializes on a flash of light next to her, and Dragonair needs no prompting to inspect the blue expanse above her like her trainer.

    There!

    "I see them," Clair squints at a black, vaguely reptilian shape circling above the town. The silhouette certainly looks like a dragon. "Dragonair, be a dear and tell them to land before they really earn a piece of my mind."

    Dragonair is up into the air in a flash, flying through the wind in graceful a serpentine S like an Ekans might swim through water. She soars up to the figure flying around, circles it�� then turns and dive bombs back at the ground so fast Clair swears she sees the beginnings of a sonic cone.

    With a squeak of utter terror, Dragonair wraps herself around Clair and tries to pull her trainer back inside the Gym.

    "Dragonair?! What''s gotten into you?!" Clair plants her heels into the earth and resists her ace''s incredible strength as long as she can. She grits her teeth. "Did they do something to you? Answer me!"

    The serpentine dragon just shakes her head frantically, making her wing-like ears flap, but she goes deathly still when a huge shadow passes overhead. An odd, unpleasant feeling begins to niggle in the back of Clair''s brain, jabbing at her atrophied human instincts.

    Something is wrong.

    Several people in the street gasp.

    A baby begins to cry from a home across the street.

    A Tyranatar walking past with his trainer begins to visibly sweat.

    THUD!

    The entire city block rattles as something lands behind her. Slowly, Clair turns around, and all at once, she understands why Lance freaked out.

    Standing just a few yards away from her is the living spawn of needles and hate.

    Yellow, slitted eyes above a short muzzle of lipless jaws bristling with teeth regard her coldly, looking down at her despite the beast''s hunched posture. She''s just barely tall enough that the top of her head would touch its spiny chin. On its head are white horns of ridiculous size and girth, looking more like battering rams than tools to gore, and beyond its head��

    Thorns, thorns, and yet more thorns.

    The upper sides of its forelegs, its wings, its back, its tail, and the upper side of its hindlegs are covered in black, curved spikes that gleam in the sun. They''re as large as her fist at the base and taper to a razor-sharp point, ending about as long as her whole arm, and those are the medium-sized ones. The larger ones are thicker and longer than her legs. The only place where there aren''t spikes is the dragon''s underbelly, which is a medley of orange and purple scales. Without spikes on the underbelly, it gives Clair a perfect view of just how hilariously built this pokemon is. Its skin almost seems too small for all of its rippling muscles. Standing thirteen feet high easily and probably fifty feet from muzzle to tail, this dragon must weigh literal tons.

    "Oh, draco ancestors above��" Clair gulps. Still coiled around her, Dragonair whimpers. Then in a cowardly move Clair would have never seen coming from any pokemon she''s raised, Dragonair recalls herself to her ball in a flash of red light, leaving her trainer alone.

    "Heya down there! Don''t let Nergi-chan''s glare get to ya! She''s a real sweetheart under the spines, I promise!"

    The cheery voice is so out of place that it breaks the Dragon Tamer out of her spiraling thoughts and forces her to look up.

    Sitting on ''Nergi-chan''s'' back in a gap between the forest of black spikes, a visage marred by a trio of claw-mark scars smiles back down at her. "Lee''s the name! You must be Clair Blackthorn?"

    Numbly, Clair nods back. Then she composes herself and clears her throat. "Yes. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me."

    The man on the back of the spiny pokemon rises and clambers down, using spikes as hand and footholds to dismount off the dragon''s side. Halfway down, Nergi (Because Clair refuses to add -chan to this beast''s name like she is a Jigglypuff or something) raises a foreleg and turns one of her massive hand-like paws to the sky, letting Lee step off of it and drop the last few feet to the grass.

    The man before her is rough, in a word. His sleeveless shirt exposes his muscular arms crisscrossed with scars, and his unkempt hair is pulled back in ponyta-tail. His pants are worn with patches on the knees, and his work boots are covered in scuffs. At the small of his back and hooked onto his belt, a large knife in a leather sheath sits. On the right of his belt, six pokeballs hang, clipped on via magnets.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    He certainly has the Dragon Tamer look.

    Lee smiles and waves a hand. "Pleasure to meet you, ma''am. Always nice to meet someone who appreciates the finer things in life... Like big lizards."

    Clair sucks in a breath and turns her eyes to Lee''s dragon.

    Rather than turn Lee into a stain on the ground for the blatant disrespect, the massive dragon huffs, buffeting the pair of humans with hot air as she gives Lee a dry look.

    Not even Lance would dare openly slight his pokemon�� Doing so is asking for trouble.

    "So, I understand that you and your pals are curious about Nergi-chan, here," He reaches out and rubs his hand over Nergi''s muzzle, making the massive dragon rumble and lean into the touch. The dry scales rasp against his calloused hand. "Lance, was it? He offered me quite a bit in a bid to trade for Nergi-chan, but I had to turn him down. We did agree to a little lesson and an egg if Nergi-chan ever finds a mate with the grit to handle her. How about the basics then we can get into the scientific stuff you pawn off on apprentices, yeah?"

    Without waiting for a reply, Lee clears his throat and begins. "So! Nergi-chan here is a Nergigante, a dragon so rare to my homeland that she''s more or less unique here. In my youth, I happened upon a nest with mama clearly out of the picture, so I took Nergi''s egg before the cold could claim her. I hatched her and raised her as my own, and man oh man how did those ten years fly." The man smiles fondly and moves his hand under Nergi''s chin, scratching at the scales there. "So let''s start off with morphology."

    He pulls away and walks to one of Nergigante''s tree-trunk-like forelegs. "The spines on her body are striking, no? They''re both an incredible offense and defense, and work in tandem with her high-speed regeneration to make her a flying tank. They''re hard enough to stop slashing attacks and springy enough to deflect blunt strikes that aren''t bearing down on the point. With enough force, they can come free and are in fact designed to come free. Watch."

    Lee grips a spike on Nergi''s leg and tugs with all his might. He grunts as his arms strain, but after a second the spine pops out. He takes a moment to admire the shiny thorn before holding it up. "Nergigante fling these spines with enough force to pierce dragon-hide, and micro-barbs on the shaft of the spine prevent easy removal. You want them out? It''s gonna hurt. Now, take a look at this!" He taps the spot he just took a spine from, and Clair can''t help but blink in astonishment.

    A new, white-colored spine is growing in so fast that she can see the progress!

    "With their high-speed regeneration, a Nergigante can shed their spines in an attack, either by ramming prey or ramming themselves into the ground to force the spines to explode off everywhere, and be no worse for wear!" Lee beams. "The spines contain a special chemical that forms a hard enamel when exposed to oxygen, making the black color you see on grown spines. With her powerful limbs��" Lee drops the spine in his hand and ducks under the Nergigante''s left foreleg. He takes the smooth underside of her leg on his shoulders and lifts it up. It takes a moment for Clair to realize that the dragon isn''t leaning to the side to help Lee lift the limb, he''s just shifting her entire bulk alone. "She''s got enough power to drive her foreleg into the ground like an impact driver, letting all her spines sheer off and nail everything around her. Nifty, eh?" He says as if he didn''t just lift a fourth of a multi-ton dragon. He lets the limb drop back to the ground and moves toward Nergigante''s face.

    "Her horns actually evolved to let her batter prey with defenses like her own. They''re heavy, continually growing, and are great sacrificial weapons for volatile armor solutions like spikes or superheavy rocky armor that needs blunt force above all else. In the wild, a Nergigante will shave them on rock formations or the bark of ironwood trees by rubbing, but I take care of Nergi-chan beautification," Lee almost glows with pride as he runs a hand over the dragon''s horns.

    Nergi actually rolls her eyes.

    "What about her teeth, Mister Lee? They look specialized too."

    Clair slowly turns her head, keeping the huge dragon in her peripheral vision as she looks to see who asked the question.

    On her right, a few of her gym trainers are nervously sending Nergi looks, but they hold notebooks in their hands. The one who found her in her office, Conner(?) steps back after speaking.

    When did they get here?

    "Good observation!" Lee points to the boy with a wide smile. "Next, the mouth!" He slides up Nergi''s side and fearlessly opens her jaws, not minding the razor teeth as thick as his wrist.

    Again, the dragon just appears bored and lets her trainer molest her with impunity.

    "Nergigante, being mono-Dragon, aren''t ones for breath attacks. It''s not that they can''t learn, they just don''t need them." He opens the dragon''s maw wide, easily enough to snap him in half. "Look at her cheeks and notice the jaw muscles. Nergigante can exert a whopping sixty-thousand PSI worth of bite force! She can crunch through steel and barely feel it. When she''s taken down her prey, this lets her chow down through thick hide and pry off armor easily. The short muzzle on a Nergigante means that biting isn''t a go-to attack, but with how wide they can open their jaws��"

    Clair feels her mouth drop open and hears her trainers gasp when Lee opens Nergi''s jaws nearly a hundred-and-ten degrees, then lays himself in her mouth back first!

    "Take a look at that!" The madman has the nerve to raise his head and smirk at them. "She can get her mouth open wide enough to bite down on six men at once. Isn''t that something?"

    One of the gym trainers, a younger girl in her teens, begins to look green in the face at the thought.

    Lee pulls himself from the dragon''s mouth, and she shuts her jaws with a click before leveling her trainer with an impatient look. "Aw, I know you don''t like being gaped at, honey. Lemme show them one more thing, okay?"

    Nergigante growls. Her jaws shiver, and out comes a sound that would be right at home coming from a creature that popped out of a nightmare, not a pokemon.

    Someone squeaks.

    "Please?" Lee laces his fingers together and gives the Dragon-type a piteous, begging look.

    ''This is it.'' Clair thinks, preparing herself to be coated in gore. ''This time he messed up. Showing that much weakness to a dragon?''

    Nergi''s caustic yellow eyes finally look away after a long minute, then the monstrous reptile lets out a sound like a booming groan before raising a foreleg, giving them a view of her underbelly.

    Lee''s grin is blinding. "You all are in for a rare treat! Take a peek at this!" He steps under Nergi, almost not needing to duck his head, then he stops and looks back at them. "Well? C''mon. My baby girl is very patient, but it has limits. Don''t make her wait all day," he says beckoning them to join him under the hulk of scales and agony.

    For a second, Clair and her trainers are frozen, wondering just what the hell is wrong with this man, then Nergi growls again and shocks them into moving. As a group, they shuffle under Nergi and duck their heads despite having plenty of clearance.

    ''What am I doing?'' Clair wonders to herself, slowly feeling her nerves fray. ''What the fuck am I doing?!''

    "Notice the beauuuutiful sunset-colored scales on her belly. I know I should start on something academic, but by the Star Sapphire..." Lee runs a hand on Nergi''s smooth underside. "These scales are why ancient people thought Nergigante were agents of ruin and renewal. These fantastic colors reminded them of the setting sun, then thus the end of an era when seen from the ground. Considering the preferred prey of these gorgeous dragons, I totally understand." The wildman reaches up and stands on the tips of his toes, pressing his face and arms to the orange and red scaly belly with a look of contentment. Clair has to still her heart when Nergi jumps from the unexpected hug.

    "While the belly is the least armored part, it can still shrug off anything short of full-power rifle rounds. Not that it matters much, considering the whole regeneration thing. Males have harder scales and even a few spines under here, but females?" Lee sighs dreamily. "Nergigante don''t do anything by half, motherhood included. These scales are soft enough to cradle an egg and kept at a constant temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit, or 38.8 celsius to insure good incubation. Lifemated pairs of Nergigante will sleep cuddled belly-to-belly, both for bonding and to keep an egg warm in a subpar nest. Touching these scales is a privilege few ever get in their lives, and cuddling a Nergigante is unheard of in most parts." He pulls away from his dragon and points up. "Go ahead and give them a feel. You may not ever get the chance again."

    No one moves.

    Finally, Clair grits her teeth and refuses to let fear of a dragon, her specialty, stop her before one of her trainees proves themselves braver than her. She pulls the glove off of her left hand and raises it, slowly touching��

    ...The softest scales she''s ever felt. Oh Arceus above, it''s not right for a creature this fierce to be this incredible to touch. The warmth is divine. Not too hot, but just enough to set her nerves at ease. For a moment, she envies the man before her for having this all to himself whenever he wants.

    ''Draco ancestors��'' She gulps. ''What enraptured Lance? This dragon''s power, or feeling this?''

    "Erm, Mister Lee?"

    Clair reluctantly pulls her hand away from Nergigante, turning to see�� Kenny was his name? Kenny raise his hand as if he was in a classroom. "I noticed that you keep referencing Nergi''s prey, but one thing seems odd," He looks down at the notebook in his hand.

    "Go on?" Lee nods.

    "What do Nergigante hunt if they need so many overwhelming attack methods?"

    "Ah? I didn''t say?" Lee blinks. "Nergigante are consummate carnivores. They can eat just about any other creature, but in the wild?" His smile is deceptively gentle. "They hunt other dragons."

    Clair feels her frayed nerves unravel in one fell swoop. "Damn it all, Lance��"

 Act 1: Chapter 25

    For what feels like the thousandth time, Lee raises his hand with his knuckles poised to rap upon the door before him, one leading to meeting room number three in the Mauville pokemon center. Then his nerve flees him and he lowers his hand again. On his shoulder, Vulpix sits quietly, neither encouraging nor discouraging him to move forward.

    Earlier that morning, Professor Birch did as he said he would, sending an email with all the details for the meeting. He would meet Mable Lane, the League-sanctioned therapist, in meeting room number three at 10 AM. The meeting would last only an hour and Lee would be free to end it at any point he likes.

    But dammit all to hell, why can''t he just knock on the door?

    ''It''s not for you, Lee. It''s for your friends. It''s for Vulpix, Shinx, Grovyle, Corvi, Brendan, and Zinnia. You owe it to all of them to get better, your pokemon especially.'' The man sighs to himself and glances at a clock in the center hallway, seeing that he''s already two minutes late.

    Vulpix presses her muzzle to his cheek in silent support. Her wet nose and hot breath serving as a reminder that he isn''t alone.

    Mustering his nerve one final time, Lee raises his hand and gives the door two sharp knocks.

    "Coming!" The voice of a woman says from inside. There''s the muffled sound of chair legs moving across carpet, and after only another second of waiting, the door clicks and swings open.

    Standing in the doorway with a kindly smile on her aging face, the woman who has to be Mable greets them. "Ah, Mister Henson and Miss Vulpix. My name is Mable, but you knew that. Come right in and make yourself comfortable! I''m glad to see you today."

    "Thank you," Lee inwardly chastises himself with how weak his voice comes out before stepping in after the therapist.

    Looking around, the meeting room is just like one that can be found in any corporate office. The walls are a simple eggshell white, the same as the tiles that make up the ceiling. The table and chairs he expected are absent, instead replaced with a single cushioned chair, a soft-looking couch of similar style, and a glass coffee table between them. Was this room set up specifically for them, or is this particular meeting room always arranged like this?

    As he seats himself on the couch, Lee takes the time to inspect his new therapist.

    Mable is a woman steadily making her way out of middle age and into her elder years. The professional black bun her hair is pulled back into sports threads of gray, and although the wrinkles and laugh lines on her face are somewhat hidden by her dusky skin, they can still be seen with some effort. Her hazel eyes sparkle with a youthful energy, sharply contrasting her aged and somewhat rotund form. On her left hand is a simple gold wedding band, and on the opposite wrist is a bracelet filled with charms. Her appearance is complete by a white blouse overlaid by a purple jacket, one that shares its hue with her skirt and high heels.

    Mable settles in the chair and folds her hands in her lap, smile still in place. "So, Lee. Can I call you Lee? How are you doing today?"

    The man rubs the back of his head as he shifts on the couch. "Fine. A little nervous, truthfully."

    Mable nods like she expected that answer. "And that''s just fine. It''s plenty okay to be nervous when doing something new, especially when that thing is talking to a stranger. No need to call me ma''am if you don''t want to, either. Mable is just as good as any."

    Vulpix slides down off of Lee''s shoulder and drapes herself across his lap, letting Lee lean back into the couch to try to make himself comfortable. "Sure thing, ma''-Mable." Lee trips over himself for a moment and clears his throat to try and cover it. "If it''s okay with you, I have a few questions before we really dig into things."

    The therapist smiles. "Of course. Go right ahead and I''ll be happy to answer!"

    "Have you been told the��" The zoologist struggles to find a word. "Magnitude of the events that led me to you?"

    The woman hums knowingly. "You''re worried about the consequences if the information gets out?" She raises her hand and taps the side of her head with a single finger. "Well, you don''t have to worry about that at all, hun. Old Mable has an XY-grade psychic block in this noggin. That may not mean much to you, but I can''t speak a word at all about what we talk about here. My bosses could scream and yell, villains could do some bad things to try and make me talk, or someone really nefarious could have a pokemon try and take it by force. You can''t really beat an XY, because they rooted it good and deep." Mable''s smile is nothing but confidence despite her next sentence. "They want to get past it? They''ll have to break a lot to get there, but then it doesn''t matter because a dead woman tells no tales."

    The hairs along Lee''s neck stand up. In the back of his mind, he can feel Vulpix''s uneasy surprise as well. "You''re really serious about your profession, huh?"

    "Helping people is my passion, Lee. Sometimes, one has to make some sacrifices to pursue a passion." Mable''s eyes shine with pride. "But it''s all worth it in the end."

    Despite himself, Lee actually begins to feel himself relax. "Yeah, I can understand that," he replies, stroking Vulpix across the back and enjoying the warmth seeping into his legs. So far, this isn''t the stressful interrogation he envisioned.

    "I bet you do," Mable looks at Vulpix with obvious admiration. "I''m no expert in pokemon health, Lee, but Vulpix here is positively glowing! Just look at her! Through her, I see that drive, that passion you have."

    Lee smiles back. "I can''t take all the credit for that. She works just as hard as I do."

    The therapist shakes her head with exaggerated exasperation. "No no, truly! Look at her and take her in! See your own passion reflected through her."

    Humoring the woman, Lee looks down at the vixen in his lap, who in turn looks up at him.

    Vulpix is just as beautiful as she''s always been. With her burnt orange coat, six lustrous tails, and curly head tuft of sunset orange, creme underbelly, and her paws covered in ''socks'' of earthy brown fur, she''s visually striking. Her fur is as soft as a plush toy''s, and the fluffy tuft of fur on her breast is a delight to the hands. Deep, brown eyes that glimmer with intelligence draws one''s gaze after her shiny coat and fan of tails get their due admiration. On the back of her ear is the only irregularity, that being a splotch of white fur in the shape of a heart, the same marking he gave her in the game before this whole adventure started. Under the surface is another beauty, the beauty of function. Her body is a bundle of trained muscle, enough to easily overpower a grown man. With a leap, she can bound over a building, and with a breath, she can summon an inferno. With her in his lap, he can feel the fire in her core, so composed and under control. Th-

    Lee''s thoughts are cut off when Vulpix suddenly turns her head away. From her, he feels a pulse of both pride and embarrassment. At the same time, the insides of her ears darken in a blush.

    "Just the look I expected." Mable''s face is drawn into a grin. "That expression of awe on your face. Miss Vulpix is a spectacular pokemon, Lee, but she didn''t get there alone. Remember that."

    Lee schools his expression sheepishly.

    "Now," Mable threads her fingers together and crosses one leg over the other. She takes on a more serious air, but the friendly smile remains. "Let''s get started, shall we? What can I help you with today?"

    A twinge of nervousness returns, but the zoologist pushes it away and clears his thoughts. "I''m not well, Mable. I''m not getting better, either. I�� don''t really know where to begin."

    On his belt, Lee feels Grovyle''s ball wiggle. Corvisquire''s is still, but Lee has no doubt that the bird is focusing on the conversation. Shinx''s ball is absent, left in Brendan''s care.

    "Begin with what makes sense to you," Mable firmly insists. "You can take as much time as you want, I won''t count it against our hour here today."

    Lee gulps and looks down to Vulpix. ''Should I?''

    The fox''s reply is quick as if she expected the question. ''Yes. I don''* fe*l as if s*e''s lyi*g.'' Vulpix meets his gaze with her soulful eyes. ''I want you to be okay.''

    With a shaky sigh, Lee begins. "What if I told you that I''m not native to this world? Or even this dimension?" He asks, bracing for the worst.

    Mable''s reaction is�� nothing. Her face doesn''t even twitch. "Not the strangest thing I''ve ever heard, Lee," she says with a smile. "Not even in the top ten. This world of ours is rife with mysteries, so that''s not terribly hard to believe. What was your home like? Can you tell me?"

    The sheer lack of disbelief throws the scarred man and even Vulpix for a loop. "Uh. What do you want to know?"

    "How about we start with what you want," she says, once more handing the reins over. "Maybe your job? Your hobbies?"

    I want you to be okay.

    ''I see what she''s doing.'' Lee thinks to himself, wrapping Vulpix in a loose hug. The vixen looks up at him, but doesn''t move. ''She wants to take this slow, build trust and all that. Do I have that kind of time, though?''

    I want you to be okay.

    "I''d�� I''d like to jump into the main matters, if that''s okay with you." Lee eventually says.

    Mable''s eyes widen just a smidgen. "That''s very brave, but you don''t need to if you aren''t ready. Don''t feel like you''re being pressured here, because we do things at the pace best for you, no one else."

    "If we don''t, I might lose the nerve, so I want to start there." Lee replies, preparing himself for yet another long explanation. He draws in a deep breath and holds Vulpix a little tighter. "That home dimension I talked about? I worked as a zookeeper caring for animals. You know, pokemon but less intelligent, more mundane?"

    "Mm-hmm," Mable nods along. "Tell me about it, the zoo."

    "The place, the Columbus Zoo, was pretty famous and one of the largest in the nation, about five-hundred acres," Lee recalls many a day trekking across the paved walkways, and how he''d duck into the cool aquarium section on hot summer days. "Seven thousand animals called it home."

    Mable lets out a quiet gasp. "That''s a lot of creatures. Did you tend to all of them or just a few?"

    Lee mulls the question over. "My mentor and I ran the dayshift lion exhibit, but I got called away often to help with others. Usually, it was big cats or other carnivores."

    Seemingly picking her words with care, Mable quietly asks; "Did you like the lions?"

    "Loved them." Lee feels his chest become tight and dares not think of any names or faces. "I raised several by hand, learned their personalities, and became part of their lives. They became part of mine, too."

    "You loved them a lot, didn''t you?" The therapist asks, voice still gentle.

    "Still do."

    The conversation falls into a lull for a minute, letting Lee reminisce on days now long gone. ''It feels like a lifetime ago already.'' He turns his eyes to the little white lines on the side of his wrist, the same one the lion cubs made when setting a paw there as he fed them. Now Shinx is the one adding to it, as the crisscrossing lines have a few fresh pink additions from Shinx'' tiny claws.

    "Do you want to keep going? We can pause here if you like and move on to something else." Mable''s voice pulls him from his reverie.

    "No. No, let''s just get this out of the way�� It was a pretty normal day at the Zoo," Lee leans back into the couch, feeling himself return to the day. Only the feeling of warm fur in his hand keeps him tethered to reality. "I had just finished feeding the animals in the exhibit and was on my way to lunch. Funny thing was while pokemon didn''t exist back home, they were a popular media franchise that I was a fan of. It probably comes off as a little childish, but I had a pokemon game on my phone that I played during breaks sometimes."

    Mable clicks her tongue. "That''s not childish at all, hun. If it makes you happy, then why not?"

    Lee lets out an amused huff. "Sure. Right. Anyway, I was on my way to lunch and I had just sat down to eat, fiddling with that pokemon game as I did so. Then every electronic thing in the break room went off at once, blaring an EAS alarm."

    "EAS?"

    "Emergency alert system," Lee suppresses a tremble. Just thinking of the noise makes him feel ill, and it still pops up in his dreams. "Someone, I don''t know who or why, decided ''to hell with it'' and launched a missile barrage on my home. These missiles were carrying nuclear warheads, bombs powerful enough to turn a city into glass and poison the land around for years. They gave us a list of known targets, and we were right in one of them." He feels Vulpix press herself to his stomach, again reminding him that he''s here and not there. "No one was sure what to do. There were no bomb-proof locations in a zoo of all places, and the panicking guests clogged the parking lot, so running was a no-go. We just�� Had to sit there and wait."

    "Lee," Mable tries to cut in. "We can-"

    He pushes on. "The pressure was too much. People were cracking. The guard on duty wanted to go out painlessly and shot himself there in front of everyone." The words keep pouring out before he can rein them in. "One of the interns took the dead guard''s gun and followed him. That�� It shocked everyone so badly that the panicking stopped. Everyone just huddled and waited." In his mind, he can feel Vulpix try to worm her way in and bleed off the memory, but he shuts her out. This pain is his, not hers.

    "Lee!"

    His heart thunders in his own ears, drowning anything else out. "I�� I thought about shooting myself too, but I chickened out. I just sat down and tried to distract myself with the pokemon game on my phone. In no time at all, it happened." His scars burn. "The bomb hit. Just the light coming through the blinds burned and disfigured my face, then the shockwave ripped the building apart, throwing glass everywhere, then the fireball reached us and-!"

    "Stop!"

    A hand takes him on the shoulder and shakes him out of the memory.

    "Easy now," Mable is sitting next to him, her face isn''t shocked or frightened, but soothingly placid as she rubs his shoulder. He didn''t even notice her move. "Just take it nice and slow, okay? You had a flashback, so take a deep breath and come back down."

    Lee does as she asks, sucking in a breath free of fire and ash. As she stills the shaking in his limbs, he looks down to Vulpix.

    Her ears are pinned back and her tails are drawn in. Those chocolate eyes stare back up with such hurt that his chest throbs as if stabbed.

    "Are you feeling better?" Mable asks, her concern plain.

    Lee nods silently, stroking Vulpix across her neck with the backs of his fingers. ''Sorry, love. I didn''t mean to worry you.''

    The wave of forgiveness that washes over his brain soothes him.

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Mable slowly rises and returns to her seat before sitting heavily. She crosses one leg over the other and steeples her fingers in her lap. "Lee, before we go further, I want to establish one ground rule. Just one."

    "And that is?" Lee fights the burnout of his episode to pay attention. His eyelids feel like they''re made of lead and a bone-deep weariness grips him despite the early hour.

    "We will do things at the pace best for you." She stresses ''the pace best for you''. "You rushed headfirst into your trauma before you were ready, and all that does is hurt you. It''s normal to feel a little uncomfortable talking about unpleasant events, and it''s normal to want to get better as fast as you can, but you shouldn''t rush in."

    "My best pace is an expedient one," Lee counters. "The one best for my friends and pokemon."

    "No."

    For the first time, Mable''s smile drops. "Lee, we''re doing this at the pace best for you. No one else''s. Please don''t misunderstand that." She leans back in her chair, regarding him intensely. "I''ve met many a man like yourself; the type who thinks of others first. There are few people in this world better than them, but there comes a day they have to learn a lesson, one that they always view harshly and cringe away from. Do you know what that lesson is?"

    Numbly, Lee shakes his head.

    "That they matter just as much as everyone else."

    "What?" He blinks incredulously, hardly believing what he''s hearing. "You think that I see myself like that? I know what I''m worth."

    Mable''s mouth draws itself into a thin line. "I don''t think it, hun. I know it. Your love for your pokemon says a lot of good things about you, but when was the last time you did something for yourself?"

    "I��" Lee draws a blank. "Well, I�� Like what?"

    "Like sitting down and enjoying a movie, or reading a book for fun, maybe taking a walk at sunset, or buying yourself something nice or getting yourself a little extra at dinnertime because you thought to yourself ''I deserve this''. Anything, really." Mable explains. "Something that you did for yourself because you wanted it."

    "Erm��" Lee struggles, looking away and at the corner of the room. "I was in Slateport just a week ago."

    "Mm-hmm," Mable smiles encouragingly.

    "We visited the market there, and I��" Lee hesitates again. Should he say that he adopted Shinx? Was that selfish? "...I picked up some quality grooming supplies for my pokemon."

    The purple-clan woman''s smile doesn''t fall, but it sure seems that way to Lee. "And that was something to make you happy? Not your pokemon?"

    He almost lies and says Yes, but remains silent.

    "Try another one," Mable waves her hand in a go on gesture. "Dig deep. When did you do something just for yourself?"

    ''Well, maybe..? No, I would have felt bad not using that Battle Tent ticket that Zinnia spent her own money on.''

    ''My Eevee hunt? That''s sort of work related��''

    ''I didn''t really pay much attention to those movies in Slateport.''

    The more and more Lee digs, the less he can find. He gulps as one selfish memory surfaces. "I caught an extraordinarily powerful Treecko in the Petalburg Woods. I knew about him beforehand and wanted him for how strong he was." Even with Grovyle aware of the full story, admitting it still hurts.

    On his belt, Grovyle''s ball remains static.

    Mable hums to herself. "But you feel guilty about it."

    "How did-?!" Lee clams up after accidentally outing himself. Wait. Did he out himself? He''s not guilty over that! He''s over it!

    "It''s all over your face, hun." Mable gently replies. "Why would a wonderful trainer like you feel guilty for catching a strong pokemon?" She pauses, and when Lee doesn''t answer, she continues. "Do you feel guilty because you feel as if you aren''t good enough for your pokemon?"

    Lee hisses and opens his mouth to refute her. However, the words refuse to leave the tip of his tongue.

    Mable leans back, easing off. "The first lesson men who care too much must learn," she begins slowly, "is to value and forgive themselves. You are your own worst critic, Lee. I can see you tear yourself down even as we talk."

    "No, I''m not." He shoots back reflexively. "I do criticize myself, and it''s a realistic amount, same as anyone else."

    In his lap, Vulpix shifts uncomfortably.

    The therapist regards Vulpix, then looks to Lee with open doubt. "You''re certain?"

    The refute makes doubt begin to slowly take root in Lee. "Yes?"

    Mable nods. "Let me put this in a perspective a trainer might appreciate, then. Let''s say you and another trainer battle. The other trainer''s pokemon follows instructions to the letter, and yours decides not to listen. Because of that, you lose the battle. Who is at fault?"

    "The obvious answer is the pokemon, but it''s not that simple." Lee crosses his arms. "A trainer has to own up to their pokemon''s failings, and the pokemon can''t be rightly blamed if trained incorrectly or in a manner that fosters resentment. In this hypothetical, the fault is with me, the trainer."

    "But that''s not a factor in the case here. Who is at fault?" Mable patiently asks.

    ''Why else would a pokemon just decide to throw a match?'' Lee frowns. ''If they''re treated well, trained in a correct and engaging way, and like the trainer, then that wouldn''t happen. There would have to be-''

    "Right there, pause this exercise." Mable points a finger forward, the action making her bracelet jingle. "You''re trying to rationalize the situation to come to a conclusion that doesn''t exist, one that lets you take the blame." She puts her hand down. "Let''s circle back around for a moment. Do you think you matter?"

    "I do." He answers without hesitation

    "As much as your friends and pokemon?"

    "...Yes." He has to think about it for a split second.

    Hazel eyes bore into him with their disapproval. "Lee, was that what you believe, or what you think I want to hear? Be honest with me."

    "How could I say that and believe it?" Lee sighs and raises his arms in exasperation. He misses Vulpix''s spike of shock. "Here I am in what may as well be a wonderland, doing my childhood dream-job after everything I know got turned into nuclear ash. What did I do to deserve that? I''m not some extraordinary person or a genius, I''m not virtuous, I''m not anything! Shit, I didn''t even go say goodbye to my animals one last time when I could, I just stayed huddled on the floor moping and waiting to die! Why didn''t my teacher Aasir end up here? He would have been a champion pokemon trainer easily! Damn near anyone from the zoo would do better than I, raise Vulpix and the others better than I! Or my parents? Mom would have settled and livened up a community, and I''m sure dad would have gotten his foot in the door at Devon and made them rivals to Silph in no time with his business tricks alone." Lee''s voice grows louder and louder, and he feels his face flush and fists clench when everything bottled up for months simply explodes. "Why me?! That''s all I want to know! Why?! Why put me here?! Why bring Vulpix to me?! Why did everyone but me die?! I never wanted to be here!" He''s sure his voice is penetrating the walls, but he doesn''t care in the slightest. "Fuck!"

    Spent and panting, Lee falls heavily back to the couch, not realizing that he stood as he vented his vitriol-laced angst. Tears sting his eyes, and to try and hide them, he drops his face into his hands and plants his elbows on his knees.

    ''Why? That''s all I want to know.'' The tears don''t stop and his breath hitches, but he forces down a sob that tries to break free, determined to keep some dignity.

    He feels a small paw slowly, tentatively touching his leg. Then another. Then Vulpix slowly crawls back into his lap, pressing herself to him as much as she can.

    ''I want you to be okay.''

    The dam breaks.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee isn''t sure how long he embarrassingly bawled like a child, but when the last of his tears run out, he''s just left�� tired.

    Tired of feeling the way he does.

    Tired of the dread always lurking under the surface.

    Tired of always emotionally leaning on Vulpix.

    Just�� tired in general.

    "Lee?"

    With his eyes irritated and bloodshot, Lee glances up at Mable.

    In her hands is a notebook he didn''t see earlier, and on her face is a thin, but triumphant smile. "That was a lot to let out. Are you feeling better?"

    The zoologist takes a deep breath and clutches the vixen in his lap, who refuses to meet his gaze. Does he feel better?

    After months putting it off and moving forward, months of pretending that it didn''t happen broken by moments of weakness, finally speaking his thoughts and bringing them into the light for both himself and someone else feels�� His chest feels lighter. He breathes a little easier for the first time in what feels like years.

    It''s good.

    "Yeah," Lee croaks, realizing that he''s utterly parched. "A bit better."

    "I''m glad." The therapist''s smile is as genuine as it is wide before it returns to something slightly more somber. "What you''re feeling about the matter is called survivor''s guilt. You''re upset that others died when you lived, and you feel like someone else would have done better in your place, right?"

    Lee nods slowly, turning his eyes to the floor.

    "Here''s the fact of the matter, Lee." Mable''s bracelet jingles as she laces her fingers again over top her notebook. "It''s okay to mourn. I''d be more worried if you weren''t upset, but don''t play the ''what if'' game with yourself. Do you think your friends would be happy that you lived?"

    "Yes," he murmurs.

    "And your family?"

    "Yes," his voice picks up a bit more strength.

    "Do you think they would approve of how you''ve done so far?" Mable looks down at her notebook.

    "I hope so��" Lee inhales through his nose and leans his head back to stare at the sterile white ceiling.

    "Then turn that ''I hope so'' into a ''certainly'' by living your life to the fullest." Mable fingers the wedding band on her left hand in a way that looks almost wistful. Lee watches her stare down at the innocent ring, already guessing the story behind it.

    ��But the woman looks upon it with content, quiet joy. Nothing in her expression is melancholic or even bittersweet.

    "You owe it not just to all of your old friends, but to all your new friends as well to look up and face the day with a smile, a real one. The first step to that," her eyes sparkle with a learned wisdom. "Is to realize that Lee Henson''s wants and needs matter just like everyone else''s. The last thing any friend wants is their friend beating themselves up and thinking they''re worthless."

    ''Is she right?'' Lee wonders, still staring at the ceiling, then to one of the buzzing fluorescent lights. ''I don''t�� I''m not too hard on myself, am I? Do I have some kind of stupid complex? I don''t think I do. Am I hurting everyone by not realizing this?''

    ''You are.''

    With a start, Lee looks down at Vulpix, who is still cuddled to his stomach. In the back of his brain, he can feel a slight tingle from her concentration. ''You are my world. Grovyle''s world. Corvisquire''s world, Shinx'' world. You are priceless. Please realize.''She looks up at him, raising a warm paw and pressing it against his chest.

    Lee''s eyes become scratchy, and he struggles to not choke up once more. From the vixen, a tidal wave of love pours forth from her mind into him, where it seeps into his body, into his mind, then into something deeper. The love touches something primal, something beyond words, and at once he realizes.

    ''I do owe it to them.''

    "Mable," the therapist perks up when Lee near-silently addresses her. "I don''t think I fully understand how to learn all of this, but I''ll give it everything I have."

    Her smile is utterly radiant. "There is the resolve I knew you had. You''re a hardy man, Lee. You''ve endured great change and terrible tragedy, yet here you are bravely facing your problems. That brave, caring attitude will carry you far in life, you just need to make time for your own care and remember that not everything is your fault, most of all things out of your control. Once you have that well-deserved belief in yourself, then you can stand tall and better address the other issues in your life. We''ll work on those as we go." Mable looks up at the clock on the wall. "Goodness, that hour went by quickly. I imagine that you''re exhausted and in need of a good pick-me-up. Can I recommend the confection shop down on Fifth Avenue? Their red velvet is to die for!"

    Lee notices the clock himself and blinks incredulously when he sees it only two minutes until eleven. ''Was that really an hour?'' Outwardly, he swallows through the dryness still plaguing his mouth. "I''ll take a look at the place. Are we�� going to be meeting again?"

    "Yes indeed," Mable nods assuringly. "We''ll meet once a week as often as your schedule allows. I know the life of a traveling trainer is a busy one, but Mable Lane does not stop until her patients are ready to face every day with confidence. Here," she reaches inside of her jacket and pulls a business card from a hidden pocket before setting it on the glass table between them. "If you ever need to, you can call me or email me. We''re getting through all of this together!"

    With a weary smile, Lee takes the card and stuffs it into his pocket. "Yeah, that sounds good. Thank you again for today," he says with an incline of his head. After letting Vulpix take her usual spot on his shoulder, Lee begins to rise but pauses halfway. "Mable? Before I go, I have just one thing I want to run by you��"

    "Go right ahead!" She smiles as she stands as well and flips her notebook closed.

    "When my Corvisquire evolves, he agreed to fly me down to Littleroot so I can make a little grave for everyone. You know, for some closure." Lee stands and envisions it in his mind. It would be a little out-of-the-way spot on Professor Birch''s pasture, where he would plant a small slab inlaid with the names of everyone left behind. "Is that... you know? A good idea?"

    "A wonderful one," She smiles. "A very thoughtful one, too. It''s good to lay those who are mourned to rest, but don''t call it a grave." She waggles a finger. "It''s a memorial, one where you remember the good times as well, got it?"

    Lee smiles as well, finding hers infectious. "Got it." He opens the meeting room door and holds it for her. "Thank you."

    "Any time, Lee. Any time. Bye-bye." She gives him a nod and a little wave as she passes, then she turns and heads deeper into the pokemon center, her high-heels making a click-clack-click as she walks and turns a corner.

    Lee and Vulpix watch her go. As they stand there, Lee replays the meeting in his mind and feels himself falter when he remembers one line in particular.

    I never wanted to be here!

    "Love?" He whispers to Vulpix aloud. "Some of the things I said��"

    She cuts him off with an exasperated huff and licks the side of his nose. ''I under*tand.''

    The man reaches up and pulls her into a short, but tight one-armed hug.

    With a newfound resolve, Lee takes Corvi and Grovyle''s balls from his belt and trots back to the front of the pokemon center and into the common area. Off to the side of the main greeting room are a few couches arranged in a U shape, and seated on one of them are Brendon, Zinnia, and Marshtomp, the last of whom has several bandages wrapped around his left arm. When Zinnia looks up from a magazine held in her hands, she smiles and waves at Lee and Vulpix.

    "So, how was your supersecret meeting?" Brendan asks as Lee seats himself on the couch opposite of him and Zinnia. "I know we said we would be cool with waiting, but some jerk with a Maractus wanted to talk trash on Water-types, so we battled him real quick."

    Marshtomp holds up his injured hand with a pleased croak.

    "I take it you won?" Lee smiles.

    "Of course!"

    "Good to hear." Lee mirrors Brendan''s grin, then sobers himself up slightly. "So, that ''supersecret'' meeting is something I actually want to talk to everyone about." He expands Grovyle and Corvi''s pokeballs, one in each hand, and pops both open. In twin flashes of white light, the lizard and crow pokemon appear before the group. "I take it both of you were listening in?"

    Grovyle nods and places a scaly paw on Lee''s knee. Corvisquire merely rolls his eyes, the unspoken ''duh'' obvious.

    "Seems like something awful serious, Dolittle," Zinnia closes her magazine, some sort of gossip rag with Claire Blackthorne front and center, and tosses it aside. She levels Lee with a serious look twinged with nervousness. "You don''t have to tell us if you don''t want to."

    "For my own sake, I really should," Lee''s words seem to surprise both of his friends. "This meeting wasn''t anything crazy like secret research or elite cabal nonsense. Today was��" He steels himself and looks to Vulpix, who gives him a small, vulpine smile filled with encouragement. ''Zinnia is sharp enough to suspect what''s going on, and Brendan is plenty mature enough to handle the news.'' Lee closes his eyes and forces the words out. "Today was a session with a therapist, probably the first of many."

    Brendan blinks as if he doesn''t understand. "A therapist?"

    Beside the boy, Marshtomp looks between Lee, his Pok��mon, then back to Lee, focusing on the scars on the man''s face. After two cycles, understanding dawns in his beady eyes.

    Zinnia says nothing, merely letting her mouth thin into a straight line.

    "Yeah," Lee opens his eyes and nods absently. "I won''t bore you with the details, but��" He glances around, finding no one within earshot. The chatter of a large group by the reception desk drowns out nearly everything else. "My home? It''s gone."

    "Gone?" Zinnia asks sharply, her eyes narrowing. "Do you mean..?"

    "Gone. Completely burned to the ground. As far as I know, I''m the only survivor. I don''t know who did it, or why, but I do know that the superweapons used means going back is pointless." The explanation is short and not so sweet, but he distances himself from the memories and gets it out with a grimace. "It''s where the burns on my face came from. When I wandered into Littleroot and met you, Brendan, that was right after I came to in the middle of nowhere and met Vulpix."

    The boy leans back, expression slightly dazed. "Oh jeez, Lee��"

    Zinnia looks away. In her clenched hand, her cloak is balled up.

    "She said I''ve got PTSD and survivor''s guilt." He pushes above the feelings of embarrassment to admit it. "I''m not saying everything, but those details are a conversation for another time." The zoologist pulls at the collar of his shirt, just now realizing how much sweat is soaked into his undershirt with some exasperation. "About what I talked to that therapist about today; do I seem overly critical of myself to you two?"

    "I mean, yeah, kinda." Brendan seems uncomfortable, seemingly unsure where to keep his hands, so he fidgets. "Sometimes you seem like you get upset out of nowhere, and after that battle with that guy Tyson��" The Birch heir trails off.

    Zinnia, however, is much blunter. "Yes. A hundred-times yes," she crosses her arms. "Do you want my opinion?"

    Lee reluctantly nods.

    "Kiddo is right on the money. Whenever I see that statue-like mug of yours shift without anything going on, you go from thoughtful, to upset, to resigned. You do it all the time and I know it''s because you''re criticizing yourself, probably too hard." Zinnia''s words form a crude mirror of Mable''s observations. "Seriously, you take things too harshly. You''re a good trainer and a decent guy, so why bash yourself?"

    Lee looks down at Grovyle and Corvisquire, silently asking for their input.

    The Grass-type reluctantly nods while Corvi caws out a careless agreement.

    "Okay��" Lee bites his lip. ''Is it really so obvious?'' He considers his next question. "Does it upset you that I think like that?"

    Zinnia''s narrow-eyed, dropped jaw expression can easily be summarized as ''are you serious?''.

    Brendan is much more explosive "Of course!" The boy almost jumps to his feet in his outrage. "I haven''t said anything because after Slateport�� I figured��" He deflates. "I didn''t want to get yelled at��" He says in a small voice.

    "Good fucking god, Lee, way to-" Lee forcefully cuts off his self-deprecative muttering and clears his throat. "Okay! Look, that stops here. I hate to ask you guys for help, but I think I have to. Whenever any of you-" he quickly sweeps his eyes over Brendan, Zinnia, Corvi, Grovyle, and Vulpix �C "think that I''m having a pity party, please tell me to suck it up and get over it. I''m going to do my best to do it on my own because that''s what the therapist said I need to do as a first step to getting better, but I might need help if I slip. Is that okay?"

    Zinnia openly grins. "Wow, you''re actually asking for help rather than stubbornly doing it on your own. Well, you weren''t going to get rid of me either way, Dolittle, so count me in!" She then quietly adds; "If you feel like it, you can talk to us about whatever you want. You don''t have to carry burdens like that by yourself. Right, kiddo?"

    "Never!" Brendan grins and stands with renewed vigor. "We''ve got your back a hundred-and-ten percent! It''s what friends do!"

    Lee smiles, feeling his chest swell. "That��" He snorts then throws his head back in an open laugh. "That''s so corny, but I don''t think I could have it any other way. Thank you two."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As the trio of trainers debate where to go for an early lunch, a debate where Lee voices his choice just as much as the other two, Vulpix looks down from her trainer''s shoulder to her pair of teammates.

    Grovyle smirks and crosses his arms. To any who know him, they would notice how pleased he is.

    Corvisquire just harumphs and turns away, but it lacks his usual spiteful bite.

    Vulpix herself smiles and breathes out a quiet sigh. With the exhale, a weight seems to lift from her shoulders.

    Her human is finally walking the road to recovery.

 Act 1: Chapter 26

    Gazing at his own concentrated face in the bathroom mirror of his and Brendan��s hotel room, Lee drags his razor up his neck and through the last line of shaving gel on his face. He runs his thumb through the now-smooth spot as he rinses his razor in the running faucet, smiling as he does so.

    It��s been a few days since his first session with Mable, and he��s been feeling�� good. Lighter. Just, happier in general. Getting everything off his chest and letting Brendan and Zinnia in on how he��s truly feeling takes just a bit off his shoulders. The days have been spent training in preparation for the battle with Wattson, while the evening hours have been spent with his pokemon simply relaxing or enjoying exploring Mauville with Brendan and Zinnia.

    In regards to training, Vulpix effortlessly learned Flamethrower from Zinnia''s Shelgon after watching closely, though her efforts to learn Iron Tail have been�� less than fruitful, to put it nicely. Grovyle''s first custom move is now in the works, being a modification of Bullet Seed that instead fires a wide shotgun blast. Once more, Grovyle''s savantesque battle abilities showed themselves. After only a few days, their efforts to deconstruct Bullet Seed and rebuild it with a higher projectile count are already showing results. Meanwhile, Corvisquire has been busy mastering Pursuers with an almost concerning fervor between bouts of physical training.

    ��Today is going to be a full one,�� Lee muses as runs his hands under the faucet and scrubs his face clean. More than once he has to pause to wipe the steam from his recent shower off of the mirror. ��Corvisquire��s physical, Brendan��s match with Wattson, my match with Wattson, a trip to the Mauville mall, and a proof of concept meeting with that Silph rep. Jeez.��

    His time since learning just how TMs were created wasn��t spent idle. After a few nights of research, he made a phone-call to the Silph branch in Mauville to pitch a potential run of powerful and custom moves copied to TMs. Initially, the rep on the phone wasn��t interested, forcing Lee to reluctantly wave his clout as a Lab Trainer around, enticing the rep into arranging a demo. If all goes well, Silph Co will hold a spot for him and sell copies of his team��s moves once he has something exciting to copy.

    Vulpix��s Convergence and Corvi��s Pursuers were off the table, but that doesn��t mean he can��t use them as examples.

    Lee looks at the left side of his face in the mirror, rubbing a finger over the smooth burn scars. If there was any silver lining to them, then it''d be the less time spent shaving. He traces the one cutting from his hairline through part of his eyebrow and eyelid, then the one from his temple to the corner of his mouth, thanking his lucky stars that he wasn��t blinded.

    Stowing his razor in the open toiletry bag on the corner of the sink, Lee looks down to make sure he��s presentable, finding that his jeans and black undershirt haven''t vanished, then tosses the bathroom door open, letting the steamy air escape into the cool hotel room.

    As he steps out, Grovyle and Corvisquire, who stand by the window quietly conversing, pause to look at their trainer.

    Up on Lee��s bed, Shinx is too busy playing with Vulpix to acknowledge Lee. The kitten hunkers low, wiggling her rear and kneading the covers with her claws as she keeps her large yellow eyes on the fox just a few feet away.

    Vulpix stands still, waiting for Shinx to strike with a patience that the kitten simply can''t match. Her aloof, unruffled appearance invites a challenge. She even raises a leg to scratch her ear in open dismissal.

    Shinx tenses, then leaps across the bed in one bound, tackling Vulpix and sending both tumbling in a tangle of limbs. With flailing paws and gnashing teeth, the two scuffle for only a moment before Vulpix gets the upper hand and positions herself over Shinx. Shinx makes the mistake of trying to flail and worm away when Vulpix pins the kitten��s lower body with a straddle, so when she exposes her neck, Vulpix dives in.

    The Electric-type freezes as Vulpix��s teeth just barely touch the fur of her throat. ��Merow?��

    The vixen holds her stance for a moment, then releases Shinx, letting the kitten scramble to her paws and get ready to pounce again.

    As silently as he can, Lee creeps up to the bed and lays his hand across Shinx�� back, making her jump and zap his hand with a few static-like pops. She looks over her shoulder and arches her back into his hand as her trainer gently scratches her, purring lovingly all the while.

    ��Having fun?�� He smiles when Shinx answers by standing on her tippy-toes to get more contact with his hand. ��Ach! I��ve only had you for two and a half weeks and already you��re getting so big. You used to fit in my hands when I put them together.�� He turns his gaze to Vulpix. ��Thanks for playing with her, love. I know you��re not normally one for roughhousing.��

    Vulpix shakes her head and smiles. ��I��ve n* issu*s pl*ying *ith Shinx. A gro*ing cub needs sti*ul*tion, aft*r all.�� She says. ��*ou��re t*king Corvi**ire fo* his physica*?��

    Lee nods as he takes his jacket from its place hanging off the bed and shrugs it on, then he glances over to the raven pokemon, who stiffens. ��Ready, Corvi?��

    With palpable reluctance and a grimace so intense that Lee fears Corvisquire might crack his beak, the bird pokemon nods his head.

    ��Hold down the fort, m��kay?�� Lee nods to Vulpix and beckons to Corvisquire with his hand as he shoulders his backpack. ��Let''s head on out.��

    Corvisquire hesitates for a split second, then bounds along after Lee.

    Together, they leave the hotel room and take a silent elevator ride down to the lobby, then scoot past the groups of people and pokemon checking in and out. From there, they take a straight path from the city proper out to an outskirts training field that looks to have seen better days, avoiding distractions all the while. The walk is silent, almost uncomfortably so. Corvisquire doesn��t even take the time to look around condescendingly or sneer at anyone they pass. When they find themselves in a small, sun-lit training field overrun by foliage, they both stop.

    ��Looks like as good a place as any, yeah?�� Lee smiles down at Corvisquire. ��Do you want-��

    Corvisquire spreads his wings and lifts off with one single flap, quickly taking to the air and vanishing over the treeline.

    ��-to set up here?�� Lee blinks. ��What? Is he checking the area? It looked plenty-abandoned.��

    Lee leans his back against a tree and taps his foot, waiting for Corvisquire to return. ��I guess that makes sense. He��s been real cagey about his physical. Whatever he has to hide must be big.�� Lee frowns in worry. ��I hope he��s alright����

    One minute turns into five, and five turns into fifteen. The zoologist checks his phone to see the time nervously. ��Corvi? How far are you checking?��

    Fifteen minutes turns into thirty, so he sits down and rests his back against the trunk of the tree behind him. An hour passes, then two. Lee��s phone rings, but he dismisses the call without looking, not wanting to spook Corvisquire.

    At the three-hour mark, his phone is ringing so incessantly that he finally looks, finding Zinnia��s number flashing on the screen. Reluctantly, he answers and holds the phone up to his ear. ��Hello?��

    ��Lee, where are you?�� Is her first terse question. In the background he can hear the dull roar of people packed in a tight space. ��Brendan and I came back to your hotel room and didn��t find you. Brendan is battling Wattson now and your match is right after! If you don��t show up, then you��ll get skipped! Where are you?��

    ��I��m out in the woods waiting for�� waiting for���� Lee grits his teeth as the unpleasant reality sets in. ��Corvisquire ran away.��

    ��What?��

    ��Corvisquire ran away!�� He almost yells. Betrayal crushes the light feeling in his chest, simply leaving him frustrated. ��He wanted his physical to be away from prying eyes, and when we got out to the middle of nowhere, he took off! I��ve been waiting for three hours!��

    Zinnia is quiet for a moment. ��Shit, Lee. I���� She sighs. ��Look, I can��t say a cynical part of me didn��t kind-of expect this, because that bird was trouble from day one. Sometimes it doesn��t matter how well you treat a pokemon, they��re ungrateful. They��re just as flawed as people, you know.��

    ��That''s not-!�� Lee stops himself short of a tirade and takes a deep breath. He stands and begins to pace. ��I know Corvi. Whatever secret he must have must be terrifying for him to share. I know that feeling well. He��ll come back.�� Even with the rationalization, doubt still digs its fingers into him. ��He��ll come back. I know it. I have faith in him���� Lee clenches his hand into a tight fist.

    Zinnia sighs. ��And that��s fine, but circling back around to the other issue at hand here. Your match is soon and unless you want to wait around for���� Lee hears her pull her phone away from her face and tap a few buttons. ��...Eight days for a rematch, then you need to get over here. I brought your pokemon with me.��

    Lee looks up at the sky, hoping to see a blue and black shape overhead, but he finds nothing to his dismay. ��I��m on my way����

    Slowly, he trudges his way from the training field back to Mauville proper. Several times he looks back to the field, and then up to the sky, but Corvisquire is nowhere to be found. ��He��ll be back.��

    Deep in his heart, Lee knows this was always a possibility, but what possessed Corvisquire to flee like that? Fear of the physical? Fear of Lee discovering something during the physical? Was this all premeditated? What could it be? All the bird had to do was ask to be freed, and no matter how reluctant Lee felt, he would oblige. Confusion and hurt swirl inside him as he passes people on the street heading towards the Gym. He looks up at the Mauville Gym as it comes into view.

    The building is the same standardized Gym design as the Rustboro and Dewford Gyms, being a high-walled and likely reinforced dome. He doesn��t give it much more thought and pushes open the doors, walking into the reception area. Just as he walks in, he can hear a buzzer in the arena rattle the walls.

    ��Manectric is down! Brendan Birch and Marshtomp did it! The Challenger is the winner!�� The muffled voice of the announcer rolls through the walls, followed by thunderous applause.

    Despite the day so far, Lee smiles, happy that Brendan pulled a win and earned his 3rd badge.

    At the front desk are two receptionists, one a teenage girl, and the other a scraggly teen boy sending shy looks to his co-worker. The girl perks up and stows her phone away as Lee approaches. ��Hello, sir!�� She greets politely. ��Are you here as a spectator or a challenger?��

    ��Challenger,�� Lee says absentmindedly, still pondering over the situation with Corvisquire. ��Lee Henson is the name. I should be next. I just need to get my pokemon from a friend watching the last match.��

    The receptionist nods and looks down at her computer screen before smiling. ��Sure thing! The arena will be letting out for clean-up here shortly, so just hang tight for your match!��

    With a nod, Lee turns and finds a seat in one of the chairs along the wall, silently mulling. He gives the psychic thread to Vulpix a tug, only to find it muted behind the walls of her pokeball.

    ��What could Corvi have to hide?�� Lee rubs one of his eyes with the heel of his hand. ��He��s an ornery thing, and probably had a previous trainer, I know that. He��s proud, too. I��ve never seen him strike someone who won��t fight back no matter how pissed he is, and never has he shied away from a challenge. I��ve given him ample opportunity to run away before, so why now? Was it�� something I did? Or did the thought of the physical really spook him that much?�� Lee looks up and out at the window towards the clear blue sky. ��Corvi����

    Over the next few minutes, the arena spectators file out from the large double doors against the back wall leading to the battlefield, all of them chattering excitedly about Brendan��s match. A Mudkip in the arms of a little girl still looks utterly enthralled by what he��s seen, meaning Marshtomp likely gained a new fan.

    Finally, Brendan and Zinnia walk out. On Brendan��s face is a megawatt grin, one wholly justified by the Dynamo Badge he��s rolling between his fingers. They��re stopped once or twice by people from the crowd offering congratulations or wanting pictures with the Birch heir, but they make their way to Lee as soon as they spot him.

    ��Lee, you missed it!�� Brendan groans. ��That was one of the closest matches we��ve ever had! Wattson doesn��t mess around. You figure a guy who has like, three jobs wouldn��t have time to train his pokemon, but his Manectric nearly smoked Marshtomp even with a bad type match-up!�� The boy rubs his eyes. ��If I ever see the move Flash again, it��ll be too soon.��

    ��Yeah, sorry about that,�� Lee runs a hand through his hair, silently noting that he��s due for a cut. ��I took Corvi out for his physical this morning and�� he ran away.��

    ��Wha?�� Brendan blinks. ��He ran away? Why?��

    ��That''s a question I��m still asking myself,�� Lee leans back and stares up at the ceiling, hurt and confusion still twisting around in his gut. ��I don��t know. We got to the field, I asked if he was ready, and he flew away. Zinnia, you said you have my pokemon?��

    Wordlessly, she reaches into her bag and withdraws three shrunken pokeballs and drops them into Lee��s waiting hand.

    He clips Shinx�� ball back into his belt and enlarges Vulpix�� and Grovyle��s balls before popping both open. With the usual flash of light, the fox and the gecko take form in front of him.

    Vulpix immediately reaches her mind out to his like she usually does after an absence, and Lee feeds her everything. Her eyes widen in shock, then narrow in the same cold fury that she previously reserved only for Zinnia.

    Grovyle looks at Vulpix with some alarm, not even needing words to feel the hostility rolling off of her.

    ��Love, calm down,�� Lee reaches a hand out and runs it through the tuft on Vulpix��s head, pausing her dark thoughts. ��I��m sure he had some reason�� And who knows? Maybe it was just never meant to be.�� Admitting such a thing stings Lee��s pride as a trainer and makes him feel foolish for pouring his heart out to the corvid pokemon. He looks over to Grovyle, who looks between them with confusion. ��Corvisquire ran away, Grovyle. I��m not sure that he��s coming back.��

    The wood gecko at first appears befuddled, but then he hisses as his face twists itself to a hateful mask. He clenches his fists, tightens his jaw around his twig, and the leaves along his wrists hum dangerously, glowing just the slightest green.

    Lee rests his other hand on Grovyle��s head like he does Vulpix when he sees a few of the people milling about in the Gym reception room eye Grovyle nervously. ��Easy, Grovyle,�� Lee murmurs. ��No need for that.��

    With obvious reluctance, Grovyle takes a deep breath and crosses his arms, letting the half-realized Leaf Blade power down. His face still retains a stormy expression, however.

    Vulpix looks up at Zinnia expectantly, as if waiting for something.

    ��What''s with the look?�� Zinnia frowns down at the fox. ��No, I��m not going to dress Lee down when this clearly wasn��t his fault. Stop it!��

    The vixen sniffs and turns her head away.

    ��You��re not taking this as something that��s your fault, right?�� Brendan asks Lee unsurely. He rubs the face of his new badge with his thumb. ��I knew Corvisquire was a grump, but maybe it went even deeper than that? I don��t see how he could be upset with you.��

    Lee says nothing for a moment, gathering his thoughts. ��I�� No, you��re right.�� He shifts in his chair, suddenly uncomfortable. ��I treated him as well as I could. If this is how it ends, then I suppose there��s nothing else to be said.�� The words are bitter on his tongue, and part of him still wants Corvisquire to return, but he stands up and smoothes the wrinkles in his jacket in a half-hearted distraction. ��I hope he��ll come back.��

    By now, a new crowd is beginning to flow in from the front door and into the spectator seating for the next match. The receptionist who greeted Lee waves him over as her partner, the scraggly boy, frantically checks and scans the tickets of everyone else.

    ��Let''s take it from the top, okay?�� Lee tells his diminished team. He briefly reaches into his bag, pulling out the neckerchief with Grovyle��s Miracle Seed sewn into it and passes it to the reptile pokemon, who ties it around his neck. After, Lee raises Grovyle��s ball in his hand. ��Ready?��

    Both Vulpix and Grovyle nod, but before he can recall the wood gecko, Vulpix asks him a question laced with worry. ��Are y*u okay?��

    He smiles. ��Fine,�� he lies. ��Return.��

    Grovyle dissolves into red light and is pulled back into his ball. Vulpix, meanwhile, hops onto his shoulders. From her, Lee is fed worry for himself between the waves of borderline hate aimed at Corvisquire for his betrayal.

    With such an intimate view into Vulpix��s mind, he knows she��s barely stopped to ponder why her once-teammate fled. To her, it''s something that can��t and won��t be forgiven anyway, so it��s little use to dwell upon it.

    ��Please just hold your judgment, love,�� he urges. ��We don��t know everything. Maybe he��ll come back and explain.��

    Vulpix huffs. No words are needed to relay her doubt, but she dials back on her open contempt regardless.

    ��Good luck, Lee!�� Brendan grins. ��Wattson usually opens with a Magnemite or a Magneton, so be ready!��

    ��Don��t think too hard about everything, Dolittle,�� Zinnia smiles and pats his arm, giving it a short squeeze before letting go. ��Whip some ass. The kid and I will be rooting for you all.��

    Lee returns their well-wishes with a small smile of his own. ��Thanks you two.��

    The Birch heir and the dragon tamer both get in line to get seats while Lee and Vulpix follow the receptionist.

    The Gym receptionist quickly takes them back into the holding room between the reception area and the arena. The little room is barren other than a watercooler, a chair, and a table where several lapel microphones sit charging on docks.

    ��Here you are!�� The cheery girl takes one of the mics and hands it to Lee. ��Do you need any help?��

    ��I think I��ve got it, thanks,�� Lee dryly replies, clipping the mic to the collar of his shirt and stuffing the receiver in his pocket. He fingers the wire running between them. ��Wattson is a busy guy, yeah?��

    The girl nods, making her curly hair bounce. ��Yep.��

    ��You know if he��s got an email or some time to talk? I��ve got a prematurely born Shinx, and some expert insight on Electric-types would be nice.��

    ��A Shinx?!�� The girl��s eyes light up. ��Oh! Do you have any pictures? I��ve always wanted a Shinx!�� She freezes, then lets out a nervous laugh. ��S-Sorry, that''s not very professional of me, is it? I can get you one of Mister Wattson��s cards if you like.��

    Lee smiles in amusement and pulls his phone from his pocket. ��I��ve got a few pictures.�� The small talk doesn��t do much for his nerves, but yet another distraction is welcome. ��Here, if you��d like to look, I don��t mind.��

    The zoologist lets the girl gush over how tiny and adorable Shinx is for several minutes until the PA system in the arena crackles. ��The next match is another heavy-hitter, everyone! Today, Wattson will battle rising star Lee Henson, Professor Birch��s other Lab Trainer!��

    The roar of the crowd passes through the wall easily.

    ��Henson has won over Rustboro��s Roxanne and Dewford��s Brawly going all out, can he keep it going with Wattson? Only one way to find out! Please give a warm welcome to Lee Henson!��

    ��That��s our cue,�� Lee says, locking his phone and dropping it in his pocket.

    ��Good luck, Mister Henson!�� The receptionist girl cheers before leaving to return back to her post.

    With a sigh to stay his nerves, Lee pushes the double doors to the arena open and steps out.

    The crowd cheers and applauds as he steps up to the trainer box at the edge of the rectangular arena. Across the way stands Wattson, the Gym Leader.

    The man is in his older years, with a balding head and a full beard of white. Under the beard is a wide smile, and his eyes are framed by laugh-lines. His rotund form is covered by a yellow jumpsuit, the top half of which is covered with a brown jacket.

    ��So, you��re Lee Henson?�� Wattson asks, his voice carrying over the loudspeakers. ��Hahaha! Another big up-and-comer here to challenge me, and so soon!�� He grasps his belly as he laughs. ��Ah! There��s that Vulpix who is already putting Fire-types three times her size to shame! This is going to be an electrifying battle!��

    ��You know of her?�� Lee asks as he steps into the center of the marked-off trainer box, his own voice echoing over the crowd. On his shoulder, he can feel Vulpix��s surprise at being called out.

    ��Of course I do, son!�� Wattson��s smile becomes knowing. ��We Gym Leaders talk, you know! You and young Brendan were the first ones on our radar!��

    The people watching Ohh and Ahh over the unexpected revelation, but Lee forces himself to not focus on them, delegating the crowd to just be background noise.

    ��Really?�� Lee mulls. ��Interesting.��

    The referee standing off to the side of the battleground, a man wearing the classic black and white striped referee uniform, finally steps up and clears his throat, silencing everyone. ��This official Gym challenge is between challenger Lee Henson from Littleroot and Gym Leader Wattson of Mauville.�� He begins, gesturing to each trainer as he introduces them. ��This match will be a two-on-two single battle, and only the challenger may substitute. This match will be over when all pokemon on one side are unable to continue. Trainers!�� He looks between Lee and Wattson. ��Select your first pokemon!��

    Lee grasps Grovyle��s ball and enlarges it as Wattson reaches in his jacket and withdraws a worn Great Ball.

    ��Your friend Brendan eked a win out over my longtime partner, Manetric.�� Wattson comments with an approving nod. ��I wanted him to battle you, but my poor boy is just a little too banged up. Luckily, his wife is just as good!�� Wattson draws his hand back and tosses the blue pokeball in his hand. ��Let''s show ��em, Jolteon!��

    The Great Ball bursts open, dumping a mass of light on the ground that quickly takes a spiky shape. As the light fades, it leaves behind a blinking Jolteon.

    Jolteon, one of the many forms of Eevee, scents the air and shakes herself with a curious Murr? Her yellow fur and the white tuft circling her neck stand up in long spikes that crackle with an electric charge. Her black eyes shine with experience that she gazes upon Lee with no wariness, yet no dismissal.

    ��Jolteon, one of the fastest pokemon in the world. Our only saving grace here is how frail they are. Grovyle should be able to put her down with just a few solid attacks.�� Lee licks his lips and whips his own pokeball up into the air without any announcement.

    High up, the ball pops open and releases Grovyle, who lands in a crouch in the arena. He stands in one smooth motion and crosses his arms, locking eyes with Jolteon.

    The barriers around the arena shimmer to life, locking the pair of pokemon in.

    ��First match! Jolteon versus Grovyle,�� the ref raises his arm and chops down. ��Begin!��

    ��Quick Attack!/Quick Attack!�� Both Lee and Wattson call at the same time.

    Both pokemon become blurs instantly, crashing into each other in the center of the arena only to bound away and re-engage a split second later in another part of the battleground, creating a staccato of thuds and whacks. It takes only a second, and Lee barely sees it, but Jolteon moves just a bit faster and slams her head into Grovyle��s stomach, driving the breath from his lungs and forcing him to jump back to Lee��s side of the field. He grimaces and clutches his stomach.

    ��Pin Missile, Joltie!�� Wattson presses the advantage.

    The spikes of fur on Jolteon glow a brilliant white, then she crouches low and shakes herself. A split second later, a barrage of needles shoot out of her spiky coat, each one whistling as it cuts through the air in homes and on Grovyle with agonizing intent.

    ��Detect!�� Lee orders, already feeling himself beginning to sweat. ��Leaf Blade to deflect the rest!��

    Grovyle��s eyes shine yellow, and like a dancer he weaves around the white needles intent on turning him into a pincushion. He ducks, dips, dives, and contorts his body into shapes that would break the limbs of a lesser pokemon. His wrist leaves hum and grow rigid, then he starts slicing through every needle heading his way with supernatural precision as Detect slowly begins to fail. His eyes twitch, desperate to blink, but he resists the urge lest he lose Detect entirely.

    Jolteon��s eyes narrow in concentration as she continues the seemingly endless tide of needles. Before Grovyle��s Detect and Leaf Blade can run dry, the glow in her fur fades.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ��Bullet Seed!�� Lee orders as soon as he sees the last needle shatter against Leaf Blade.

    Grovyle��s mouth opens, and out comes a volley of near super-sonic seeds that scream towards Jolteon.

    The Electric-type needs no order to dodge, instantly moving and dodging around the shots with furious footwork. She jukes left and right, stopping on a dime and redirecting herself every time Grovyle��s aim catches up and begins leading the shots again.

    ��Not bad at all!�� Wattson laughs and cheers. ��Okay, Joltie. Let��s get serious!��

    ��Well fuck.��

    ��Shock Wave!��

    Jolteon��s fur crackles once more, showering the area around her in sparks. Then with a cry, a lightning bolt as thick as a man��s wrist jumps from the electrified aura around her body and strikes Grovyle instantly, making the gecko cringe as the volts run through his body. Unlike the odd, physics-defying lightning of other pokemon moves, Shock Wave is quite literally instant, hitting Grovyle before Lee or himself could think of retaliating.

    ��Give ��em the old hit-n-run!�� Wattson pumps his fist.

    If Jolteon was fast before, then she��s easily twice as quick now, jumping all over the arena as a blur of yellow so fast that her features all simply meld together. She stays in a single spot for just a scant second each time, just long enough to fire another Shock Wave with a growling cry and practically teleport to a new angle.

    It��s all Grovyle can do to shield his head with his arms and grit his teeth each time he��s zapped. The bolts are by no means weak, and the damage is rapidly adding up even with his Grass typing cutting the damage from the Electric attacks.

    ��Fuck! Jolteon must be even faster than Andre��s Absol!�� Lee grits his own teeth right along with his pokemon just remembering the monster of a pokemon. ��Use�� Use Feint Attack! Move!��

    A sickly aura of purple-black diffuses from between Grovyle��s electric burn-spattered scales, then he simply vanishes from view. A second later, a Shock Wave scorches the ground where he was standing.

    ��Huh? Feint Attack? I didn��t realize that a Grovyle could learn that.�� Wattson hums. ��Stay wary, Joltie. Oh! And don��t let him touch you!��

    Jolteon bounces lightly on her paws, keeping her head on a swivel and turning her ears every which way, waiting for Grovyle to reappear. All the while, she keeps her coat circulating with electricity, making little arks rise up between the points of her spikes.

    ��He should be close enough�� Please work.�� Lee breathes out a tense sigh. ��Seed Blast!��

    Just several arms lengths away, Grovyle reappears on Jolteon��s right with his mouth wide open. His throat bulges as his mouth glows a yellow-green, then with the thunderous report of a shotgun, he shoots a wide net of seeds like buckshot.

    Jolteon��s eyes widen and she��s in motion before the first seeds are even fired, but the sheer wall of projectiles means that a number of them still clip her leg, one even lodging itself in her flank and drawing blood. She springs away, but lands awkwardly and keeps her weight off of her wounded side.

    ��Nice!�� Lee grins as the match finally begins to turn around. ��Good luck running circles around us with a lame leg.��

    ��Uh oh���� Worry crosses Wattson��s aged features. ��Looks like we can��t dally. Joltie! Agility!��

    Jolteon sways on her paws, a pink haze materializing from nowhere and sinking into her skin.

    ��Grovyle, Qui-!��

    ��Baton Pass, Joltie!��

    ��-ck Attack!��

    Grovyle flies forward like a meteor wreathed in an aura of white, but before he can reach Jolteon, she��s sucked back into her pokeball through the barrier. At the same time, another pokeball in Wattson��s jacket levitates on its own and pops open, once again completely bypassing the battlefield barrier to drop another pokemon into the exact spot where Jolteon was.

    Thwack!

    Grovyle recoils and clutches his bleeding skull when he runs face-first into a levitating Magneton. He wipes away the blood running down into his eye and hisses as he gazes up at his opponent.

    The new pokemon in Jolteon��s place is far more object than animal, being three steel balls seemingly welded together in a triangle pattern. Each ��body�� sports a single large eye, two phillips head screws protruding without a visible hole except for the top body, which has an additional screw on the top of its head. Most notably are the two U shaped magnets on each body, which twist and turn as the pokemon hovers.

    Occupying the same spot where Jolteon once was, Magneton soaks up the remaining pink residue of Agility in the air. The pokemon buzzes and hums threateningly, jittering from the sudden speed boost.

    Suddenly, things seem to have taken a turn for the worst.

    ��Is that even legal?�� Lee questions, looking at the ref. ��That doesn��t count as a substitution?��

    The man simply nods. ��Baton Pass is a legal move in the Hoenn Gym Circuit. It does not violate bans on substitutions.��

    ��Hoho! Let��s see how you get out of this one!�� Wattson chortles. ��Magneton! Take Down!��

    The Steel and Electric-type shudders in place, then zips at Grovyle with devilish speed, aimed to crash into him like a speeding train.

    ��Detect!�� Lee quickly orders, mentally telling himself to not panic. ��Move!��

    Grovyle��s eyes shine, and he ducks just in time, letting Magneton sail overhead and crash into the ground, throwing up a plume of dirt and dust.

    ��Get ��em again, Magneton!�� Wattson calls. ��Slow ��em down with Metal Sound if you have to!��

    Magneton shoots up out of the cloud of dust and hovers ominously over the battlefield. It convulses, seemingly trying to pull the different units of his body apart, then from the pokemon comes a positively ear rending sound akin to metal being twisted.

    Lee grimaces and covers Vulpix��s ears for her, making her relay a grateful flash of emotion even as her eyes twitch from the god-awful noise.

    Grovyle clutches his ears, but refuses to open his mouth in a scream that would go unheard anyway. His eyes glow again as Magneton rockets down at him, but he blinks as blood seeps from the gash in his head and runs down into his eyes once more.

    Magneton smashes into Grovyle like a runaway truck, and even with the slight ringing in his ears, Lee hears the telltale crunch of shattered bones.

    The gecko pokemon flops along the ground like a ragdoll, before coming to a stop on the ground, unmoving. He coughs, staining the dirt under his mouth red.

    Off to the side of the field, the referee shakes his head and waves an arm before the buzzer overhead sounds. ��Grovyle is unable to battle. Wattson and Magneton are the winners of round one!��

    The crowd erupts into cheers. In the nosebleed section of the right side, Lee can see the shocked faces of Brendan and Zinnia. The tribeswoman realizes that Lee is looking at them rather quickly and elbows Brendan, forcing the boy to school his face into one of encouragement.

    Lee quickly holds Grovyle��s ball out and shoots the return beam in the instant the barrier around the field goes down. In a flash of red, his pokemon is returned to the safety of his ball. The last son of Earth clenches his eyes shut in directionless irritation, easing only when Vulpix noses his cheek with a quiet, encouraging murmur.

    ��Phew!�� The old Gym Leader wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. ��We really had to pull out some tricks there. You and your pokemon are really something, Lee!��

    The praise eases some of the sting of the loss, but only some. ��Thank you,�� Lee mutters. He rases Grovyle��s ball to his mouth, quietly whispering; ��And thank you, Grovyle. I��m proud of you for giving your all.�� He replaces the ball on his belt.

    ��Challenger Lee, please select the second and final pokemon from your team!�� The referee calls.

    ��I��ve only got one to pick���� Lee thinks to himself. ��Alrighty, love. Time to take names.�� He points his arm out and lets Vulpix springboard herself from it and into the arena. Once her paws touch the packed dirt floor, the protective barriers rise again behind her.

    The vixen eyeballs the floating Magneton with open hostility, eager to burn off the frustration from the vexing day.

    ��We��re going to need to go hard and fast,�� Lee sends his thoughts to Vulpix. ��Magneton is still completely undamaged, and although hurt, Jolteon is still ambulatory and thus dangerous. We��re going to attack, use every dirty trick we can, and only sneak in status moves when we can, all right?��

    Vulpix physically nods, flaring her tails and lowering herself into a ready stance. The sunlight pouring through the windows begins to intensify, growing into angry rays that heat the arena up with Fire energy.

    Lee feels a tickle in his head and behind his eyes. After a second to focus, he widens his end of their connection, letting their senses overlap. The nausea and slowly growing ache in his skull from processing a body and a half worth of input is ignored, tempered by an angry sort of determination that both man and pokemon share.

    ��Match two, Vulpix versus Magneton!�� The ref chops his hand down again. ��Begin!��

    ��Flamethrower.��

    A gout of flame bursts from Vulpix��s lips before Wattson can even complete the first syllable of his order. Even rocking a speed high from Jolteon��s Agility, the Flamethrower is just too sudden to avoid for Magneton, who screeches and instinctually swerves away when the fire.

    ��Whoa, nelly!�� Wattson exclaims, his eyes widening. ��Magneton, use-��

    ��Flamethrower again.��

    Vulpix breathes in, and out comes fire fueled by fury.

    Another Flamethrower with zero warning engulfs Magneton, who once again zips out of the way, only to let out another metallic screech as the fire instead bends sharply at Vulpix��s will to follow.

    ��Magneton! Listen to my voice! Use Sonic Boom and blow the fire out!�� Wattson��s voice begins to grow dire as genuine confusion and distress blooms in his face.

    For a moment, Lee falters, feeling as if this is cheating. A mental tug from Vulpix pulls him back into focus.

    ��The poi*t of the*e Gym batt*es is to overc*me them w*th whatever r*sources we h*ve. We��re being t*sted.�� Vulpix sends to him. With their minds so close that the border between man and pokemon is beginning to become blurred, her ��voice�� is crisp and audible. ��If Baton Pass i*n��t cheating, th*n our bond isn��t che*ting eit*er.��

    ��Maybe you��re right���� Lee steels himself and pours his focus back into the battle. ��Fine then. Sorry, Magneton, but we��re taking that badge.��

    Magneton shivers, and for a split second his body pulls itself into three pieces before the magnetism between them pulls them back together. The reunion of the three bodies is so violent that a shockwave of air rockets towards the snaking flame still pursuing Magneton.

    Vulpix and Lee both grasp the flames as one, and together split it into six separate streams that scatter around the Sonic Boom attack, which misses entirely and hits the ground with a violent bang.

    The broken Flamethrower then reforms into a pillar of burning orange that engulfs Magneton once more.

    After taking three super-effective attacks in a row and now glowing a dangerous, superheated red, Magneton warbles and falls to the ground with a loud clatter, it��s eyes becoming unfocused and it��s magnets going limp.

    Wattson doesn��t seem to believe what he��s seeing and runs a hand along his mostly bald head.

    The referee seems unsure of what to do after witnessing the stomp of a battle, but eventually he clears his throat and raises his arm, making the buzzer overhead sound for the second time in the battle. ��Magneton is unable to battle! Vulpix and Lee are the winners of round two!��

    The onlookers go ballistic.

    People give standing ovations, and more than one cell phone is raised and taking pictures. High up in the stands, Brendan is one of the most enthusiastic, standing with both arms raised and yelling even if his voice is drowned out.

    The battlefield barrier goes down, and Wattson absently recalls his cooling and unconscious Magneton. ��Well,�� he works his jaw, seemingly trying to find words as he puts the ball away and pulls Jolteon��s ball out again. ��Those are some new tricks if I��ve ever seen any. And that anger you��ve got on your face! Sorry if I struck a nerve, but the last thing I want to do is make this as easy as falling off a log. I��ve got a duty as Gym Leader to make sure that youngsters who take up the mantle of pokemon trainer end up strong.��

    Lee sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose with a thumb and forefinger, feeling the headache from delving so deep into Vulpix��s psyche slowly grow worse. ��It��s not you, Mister Wattson. Today has just been a crummy day is all.��

    The old man laughs. ��Here��s hoping a good round three will make your day a bit better. Okay, Joltie! Back in ya go!�� The ball leaves his hand and pops open, dropping Jolteon back into the field.

    Jolteon still stands without any weight on her right hind leg as she inspects the arena, her eyes moving to the craters that Magneton created, then to Vulpix.

    ��Round three! Vulpix versus Jolteon!�� The referee announces. ��Begin!��

    ��Baby-Doll Eyes, then Ember in a wide net.��

    Once again, Wattson can��t even call an attack before Vulpix��s offensive is already flying. The vixen��s eyes glow a cloying pink, and Jolteon yelps as her legs suddenly begin to shake with weakness.

    Vulpix then spits out a fireball that erupts into Embers the instant that Baby-Doll Eyes strikes. The Embers all spread out, guided by Vulpix��s pyrokinesis, then descend on Jolteon like a swarm of furious insects.

    ��Discharge!�� Wattson is much faster to catch on this round. ��Blow ��em away!��

    Jolteon howls as electricity explodes out of her in a wide dome of radiant yellow. When the Embers hit Discharge, they explode brilliantly.

    When Discharge doesn��t halt, Vulpix zooms to the side with Quick Attack at Lee��s behest, rushing for the corner of the arena the furthest away from Jolteon. By the time Discharge makes it to Vulpix, it��s lost a significant amount of power and merely stings rather than incapacitate. Vulpix barely winces, but Lee twitches from the phantom sensation of essentially being tased.

    ��Quick Attack, go!�� Wattson points a finger as he orders Jolteon. Gone is his jovial expression, instead replaced with one of focus. ��Don��t let her stay at range!��

    Even with a lame leg, Jolteon blitzes across the arena with such speed that she leaves a trail of dust in her wake, aiming to smash her skull into Vulpix.

    ��Hold.��

    Vulpix��s eyes narrow, then using Lee��s eyes to double check everything from another perspective, she takes a deep breath and a ring of fire around her paws begins to burn.

    ��Now!��

    A barely withheld Fire Spin churns to life around the vixen, then bursts up into a whirlwind of fire that Jolteon barely aborts running into. The eeveelution still has enough traction on three paws to near-instantly stop and bound away to the center of the arena before Fire Spin consumes her. After the miss, Vulpix drops Fire Spin and lets it fade into hot air and embers, disgruntled.

    ��Isn��t this a pickle�� Can��t get too close, can��t be too far,�� The Gym Leader grunts. ��Joltie! Lightscreen!��

    A protective barrier of pink energy covers Jolteon from head to toe, and Lee silently curses himself for not having Vulpix interrupt it. ��Fucking swell. If that works like it does in the game, it''s going to cut a huge amount of damage out of special attacks.��

    ��Sorry to do this when you have a bum leg, girl, but hit-n-run with Extremesp-��

    Alarm surges through Vulpix and into Lee. ��Fuck no! Flamethrower! Give it everything you have!��

    Vulpix��s mouth opens and out pours a pillar of bright orange flames. With the frantic pace of their collective thoughts, time itself seems to slow down for Lee and Vulpix, revealing a disheartening fact.

    Flamethrower isn��t going to make it in time. Jolteon is already tensing and glowing with a bright, almost blinding corona of white. Her face is set in a grimace as she coils all of her muscles, her injured leg included. Even if Flamethrower were to land, Lightscreen might bleed off enough damage for her to simply keep pelting the much slower Vulpix with attacks.

    For all her pyrokinetic control, Vulpix has never once caught a speeding Corvisquire when he was using Extremespeed, barring saturating an entire area in hellfire. Trying to catch a Jolteon? It simply isn��t happening,

    In a less frazzled, less distracted state of mind, Lee might have simply had Vulpix use Feint Attack as Grovyle did, then try to attack Jolteon from an unexpected angle, but now...

    He tries desperately to think of something to let them win this. He can��t use items, he has no substitutes, he has no special gimmicks to use�� or?

    With his bond to Vulpix deepening by the day, Lee has found himself strangely aware of things he couldn��t even conceptualize before being a trainer. Things like his own senses and how they truly all tied together, or how a language might work without words, or even the enigmatic thing known as a soul. With his eyes just barely cracked open, possibilities already present themselves to him.

    So when he mentally seizes Vulpix��s connection to him and drags it deep inside himself, passing his mind and instead tapping into the body, he��s only half surprised when it works.

    The blazing Flamethrower, now empowered by two bodies worth of stamina, surges like a jet and burns so hot that the innermost core of the flame blazes a brilliant blue. It crosses the arena like a beam, engulfing Jolteon only milliseconds before she jumps and splashing against the rear barrier in a wave of bright orange and blue.

    Several people in the crowd scream as the heat bleeds through, raising the temperature in the room several degrees.

    After only a second, Vulpix shuts her jaws, ending Flamethrower.

    Standing shivering and coated in burns in the midst of a charred trench in the floor, Wattson��s Jolteon lets out a piteous groan and collapses to her side. Swaths of her spikey fur are burned away, leaving reddened, blistered skin that would surely be worse if not for her Lightscreen.

    ��Holy moley���� Wattson mutters as he wipes his sweating brow. ��That was�� quite something.��

    Above, the buzzer sounds.

    ��That��s it! Jolteon is unable to battle! Challengers Lee and Vulpix are the winners!�� The referee waves his arms over his head.

    Like they did last time, the crowd goes absolutely wild. Camera flashes light up the spectator seats and people stand to cheer.

    Lee groans as he slowly pulls his mind away from Vulpix��s. As her senses vanish, suddenly only being able to see in a single direction feels confining, and he feels dull without her ears or nose to pick up everything he misses.

    As the invisible walls around the battlefield drop, Wattson recalls his injured Jolteon and begins the walk to the center of the field, still appearing mystified by the outcome of the battle.

    Lee slowly trudges out to meet him, feeling the effects of something so rash as using his own body to fuel Vulpix��s attack. His limbs feel as if they weigh a hundred pounds each, and he��s beset by the same weariness one might feel after running a marathon. ��Yeah, we��re going to save that move for emergencies.��

    ��You h*d bet*er,�� Vulpix huffs, pressing herself to one of his legs to help steady him. ��Th*t wa* reck*ess. Did you e*en *n*w w*at was g**ng to hap**n?�� Her telepathy is choppier than usual in her displeasure, and between the reduced quality and the lethargy gripping his brain, it takes a bit longer for Lee to decipher what she says.

    ��I had an idea, and it worked out. You said we need to use everything at our disposal, right?��

    ��Yes, e***ything *e c*rr*ntly h*ve at ou* disp*sal, not unt*ste* t*chniques t*at risk y*u.��

    ��Mister Lee, I gotta say you really surprised me there,�� Wattson says as they finally meet in the middle of the now scarred and pockmarked battleground. He looks around at the myriad of divots and burns. ��You really are one to keep track of. As proof of your victory over the Mauville Gym, I��m happy to present the Dynamo Badge to you!�� The man grins and holds out the little golden badge between his fingers.

    Lee takes it and smiles tiredly. ��Thank you.��

    ��Haha! It��s my pleasure!�� Wattson��s jovial tone returns full force. ��Now, go get some rest after you see the front desk about your prize money and a Shock Wave TM. You��re pale as a ghost!��

    <hr>

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    Topic: Newcomers to lookout for this year (Pinned)

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Ever Grande Conference

    RunThatBack (Mod) (Original Poster)

    Posted On July 5th 20XX:

    Hey guys, it''s that time of the year again. New blood is coming to Hoenn in record numbers. There are hundreds of new trainers this year and a ton of trainers from abroad, so lots of new teams to see and compete with. Last year was underwhelming considering the EGC winner Tanya Willis could barely stand up to E4 Sidney and got wiped, but this year already has tons of potential and the year has only been open for about a month and a half. Keep fanboy/girling to a minimum and if you really have to start a thread for individual trainers in Boards ? Hoenn ? Indiv Trainers. Rules are the same as last year for the Big Watch list. If you think you should be on the list and aren��t, that sucks. Go make waves then complain. Note that this is for Newcomers to the EGC, so if you don''t see your favorite here and they��ve competed before, check the Veterans thread. ANYONE CAUGHT ASTROTURFING THEMSELVES WITH A SOCKPUPPET ACCOUNT WILL BE BANNED.

    EDIT #1: So far, our list in no particular order is:

    <ul>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Val Forrest (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Clark White (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Ash Ketchum (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Brendan Birch (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Katie Huffman (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Tyson Rhyn (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Lee Henson (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Kai Morrison (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Andre *no surname* (link)</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Gavin Freed (link)</li>

    </ul>

    The links will take you to their respective profiles. Opening the thread for replies and debate.

    (Showing page 1 of 98)

    ?G_Freed (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    10th place? C��mon, I think I��m better than that! I toasted Norman Maple EZ!

    ?BaldQuillfish

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @G_Freed - Lol. Beating Norman Maple��s kiddie team with a Machoke isn��t impressive. Also nice reading comprehension.

    ?G_Freed (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    [Deleted]

    ?RunThatBack (Mod) (Original Poster)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @G_Freed - Cool it

    ?UNDERMAN!

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Katie is taking it this year, no doubt. I live in Lilycove and I��ve seen her battle firsthand. It��s game over.

    ?LuvMachineMKIV

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    YES KATIE IS FINALLY TAKING THE CHALLENGE AAAAAA MY QUEEN.

    ?Umbreon778

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Gavin going for the get deleted any% lol.

    ?KLMK

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Birch has huge ups on this. His dad probably trained him and gave him a monster-ass starter Mudkip. It��s already a Marshtomp.

    ?chatot_radio

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Who is andre

    ?Umbreon778

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @Chatot_Radio - A Dark-type trainer who has been in Dewford for years. He beat Brawly��s RT like 3 days ago with a type disadvantage.

    (Showing page 2 of 98)

    ?V_Marlo (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @KLMK - Yeah I��ve watched this kid��s battles. He��s got like a 90% win rate. Insanity. I guess you can get huge numbers with the power of nepotism.

    ?BurningRightHand

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @V_Marlo - It''s not really nepotism. He��s good at battling. Even strong pokemon fail with a bad trainer. He��s unique�� Unlike you.

    ?UNDERMAN!

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @V_Marlo - Thats nothing. You want to see suspicious numbers? Go look at Lee Henson��s win-rate. It��s hovering right around 95%. Methinks he��s a ringer the League hired to spice up this year after how awful last year was.

    ?V_Marlo (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @BurningRightHand - [deleted]

    ?RunThatBack (Mod) (Original Poster)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @V_Marlo Global Rule 3. Stop it.

    ?BaldQuillfish

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Has the League done that before? Sounds like a juicy conspiracy.

    ?Brik-e-brack

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    No Underman is just having vivid dreams again.

    ?UNDERMAN!

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Bruh the man is a ghost. He came out of nowhere got hired by the regional lab got a roster of rare mons and started sweeping. Does that not sound suspect? (Now that I��ve said this his handlers monitoring the thread are going to tell him to take a dive)

    ?KazuoKandy

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @UNDERMAN! - Have you seen that vulpix? Thats not a pokemon you get from some league breeder, she looks like she was hand-raised.

    ?BaldQuillfish

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @KazuoKandy - Missed the point of what he said, airhead. No one said he got his pokemon from the League.

    (Showing page 3 of 98)

    ?L_Blackthorn (Verified Trainer) (Kanto Champion) (Johto Champion)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Be ready for Ash Ketchum.

    ?SunnyBun

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    OMFG LANCE IS HERE

    ?Brik-e-brack

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @L_Blackthorn Senpai please notice me

    ?Umbreon778

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Ketchum confirmed for OP

    ?G_Freed (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    DUDE

    ?V_Marlo (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    @L_Blackthorn - Marry me

    ?I_Sora (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    Yooo I looked at Ash Ketchum��s battles. This kid has had a ton of hype moments and his Pikachu smoked Andre��s Absol in one hit. @L_Blackthorn do you know this kid?

    ?DukeOfJuke

    Replied On July 5th 20XX:

    POSTING IN CHAMP THREAD POSTING IN CHAMP THREAD POSTING IN CHAMP THREAD ASH KETCHUM IS TAKING THE GOLD

    ...And it derailed from there for a solid seven pages, which suits Lee just fine because he��s already stopped caring. He sets his phone down and looks around the hotel room.

    Brendan is sitting huddled with Marshtomp, Breloom, and Mawile on his bed. Marshtomp is still sporting cuts and abrasions upon his body from his battle earlier today, but in his usual fashion looks wholly unbothered. Breloom looks as tired as Lee feels, and he wholly understands considering the mushroom pokemon is missing part of his left claw, which is sure to be an uncomfortable healing process. His other claw has a number of cracks sealed with shiny medical glue. Mawile, meanwhile, is unharmed, as she didn��t participate in the Gym battle today. Together, the four idly flip through the channels on the TV, pretending the awkward atmosphere in the room isn��t there.

    In the chair beside the window, Zinnia sits with Swablu in her lap, busying herself with silently helping the cotton-bird pokemon preen her wings. Both the dragon tamer and bird are too absorbed in their tasks to pay much mind to anything else. Alongside the chair sits Shelgon with his eyes closed, either asleep or meditating.

    At the foot of Lee��s bed, Shinx soundly sleeps alongside Goomy after her afternoon meal. The kitten could feel the tension in the room when she was let out of her pokeball and needed to be rocked to sleep after her meal, as she was simply too restless otherwise. Even then, she needed her friend Goomy by her side to truly find restful sleep.

    Vulpix is laid across Lee��s lap, silent comfort radiating from her warm body into his with something more active just a word away.

    After leaving the Mauville Gym and dropping Grovyle off for an overnight stay at the Pokemon Center, Lee powered through his exhaustion to walk back to where Corvisquire ran off so he could wait for a bit longer.

    Corvisquire never showed up.

    The rep with Silph Co was given a call and agreed to a rescheduling, leaving Lee the rest of the night to himself, though his friends seemed determined to not leave him alone.

    With a sigh, he lifts his phone again.

    <hr>

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    Topic: Lost: Corvisquire

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Sightings, Trades, Lost/Found

    L_Henson (Verified Trainer) (Original Poster)

    Posted On July 9th 20XX:

    Lost: Corvisquire. Roughly 3��3�� tall. Surly disposition and very battle competent. No distinguishing marks or nickname. Last seen near Mauville today. If seen, please ask him to return to his trainer in Mauville. Potentially violent, so do not engage. Still in my care, just lost.

    <hr>

    ��You did everything right.��

    Lee sets his phone down and looks over to Zinnia, who stares back at him with her serious red eyes. ��Did what right?��

    ��Everything with Corvisquire,�� she drums her fingers on the arm of her chair. ��You did everything right. When it comes to being a loveable goody-goody and caring for pokemon? Dolittle, you��re second to none. Don��t sit there and mope over an ungrateful bird when today was a huge win in the Gym.��

    Lee dips his hand into his pocket and withdraws his Dynamo Badge. He raises it to the light, watching it glint beautifully.

    Today doesn��t feel like a win.

 Act 1: Chapter 27

    "Just remember, Lee," Mable firmly says as both rise from their spots in the Pokemon Center meeting room. "Life can be challenging sometimes, but don''t ever let unpleasant times control you, okay?"

    "Right��" Lee sighs as he stretches his arms above his head, taking care to not push Vulpix off of his shoulder. "Thank you again, Mable."

    The therapist smiles kindly and steps up to his side, placing a hand on the shoulder Vulpix isn''t occupying. "I know your Corvisquire has you down, Lee. Just take heart in your other pokemon and know that someone like yourself will pull through stronger than ever."

    Lee smiles back, though his smile is little more than a slight upturn of his lips. "Will do," he says, turning and leaving the meeting room. Like last time, he heads left down the hall back to the lobby of the Pokemon Center.

    After Corvisquire''s sudden abandonment and Lee''s victory at the Mauville Gym, he, Brendan, and Zinnia stuck around Mauville for several days in an unspoken agreement to wait and see if Corvisquire would return.

    So far, nothing.

    Lee''s post on Battlenet garnered little in the way of useful replies, though one young trainer provided a humorous five-post adventure of him tracking down what he thought was the rogue pokemon, only to discover it was a Honchcrow. One person suggested contacting the Pokemon Rangers, and Lee did so, but other than the confirmation email saying they''re looking, the Rangers have been silent.

    The team hasn''t been idle during their time waiting, as Grovyle began to throw himself into his training with fervor. His loss in the Mauville Gym stung him, that much was obvious, and Lee didn''t need Vulpix''s translation to understand the wood gecko''s intentions.

    Grovyle, against Lee''s wishes, is trying to single-handedly cover the loss of firepower that Corvisquire''s departure created.

    Seed Blast was mastered in less than two days, and already the Grass-type can utterly saturate an area in a hellish barrage of near-sonic seeds. Grovyle''s next custom move was a simple reversal of Seed Blast, being a single, accurate super-sonic seed to pierce defenses Leaf Blade can''t safely carve through. Seed Sniper is the somewhat uninspired name, and after just a day Grovyle has mastered it enough to use in a battle.

    Vulpix pushed herself as well, but not to the same level as Grovyle. Her physical growth is slowly beginning to stagnate, as her weight gain began to taper off and the recorded feats in Lee''s notes show less and less improvement as time goes on. It''s no big surprise or a problem, as Vulpix is a special attacker first and foremost, but Vulpix herself seems irked that Grovyle is beginning to pull away from her in physical ability. Her pyrokinesis continues to grow as expected. The shapes she can create with flames grow more and more complex, and directing them in different directions is becoming easier. With her telepathy so honed and Psychic energy so familiar to her, Lee decided it was time to begin training the physical side of her psychic talents. So far��

    Well, the empty soda can they were practicing with last night wiggled a little bit.

    So far it''s been a frustrating experience for the vixen. Controlling fire came to her so easily that telekinesis has been a rude awakening.

    Stepping into the crowded midday lobby, Lee and Vulpix are just in time to see Brendan get his pokeballs back from one of Nurse Joy''s white-coat-clad assistants before the boy turns to them, a smile on his face. "Hey, you guys!" The Birch heir greets as he clips his pokeballs to his belt and walks closer. "Ready for your demo with the Silph guy?"

    "As ready as we''ll ever be," Lee nods. "Grovyle has his moves, and Vulpix is going to show off Convergence, so I hope that''ll be enough for a TM deal. Grovyle isn''t super attached to Seed Blast and Seed Sniper, so we''re planning on offering them up if Silph wants something right away."

    "Pssh," Brendan waves a hand with a grin. "I betcha Silph will sign you on instantly after seeing just one."

    Lee smiles. "I appreciate the optimism," he says, glancing around. "Where did Zinnia go?"

    "Right here. I ran to the post office real quick."

    Lee, Brendan, and Vulpix turn, finding the missing dragon tamer walking up with a beaming smile on her face. She stops before them and puts her hands on her hips with a satisfied sigh. "Guess who just sent her Tyrunt fossil off to be revived?"

    Brendan''s jaw drops. "What? How? Fossil revival is stupid expensive if you''re not some bigshot!"

    ''Stupid expensive?'' Lee wonders. "How expensive is ''stupid expensive''?"

    "Hundreds of thousands of credits for just one revival��" Brendan''s reply shocks Lee to his core. "Hell, if you don''t put a huge deposit down, most labs don''t even reply back."

    ''Ouch,'' Lee winces. ''I thought an Eevee was asking too much, but just one fossil can set you back the price of a nice house. Wait��'' Lee turns to Zinnia with a sinking feeling in his gut. "Zinnia, you didn''t just put yourself in debt to get yourself a dinosaur, did you?"

    She scoffs. "Have some faith in me, Dolittle. I had to pull some strings, burn some favors, and make a few calls, but I didn''t pay anything other than my time. It''ll take a bit, but I''ll have my Tyrunt in a month or so."

    Brendan still seems unconvinced. "Right��"

    "Good for you, Zinnia," Lee steps in before she and Brendan can argue. "I''m glad to see this working out for you. I take it you''re excited for your new pokemon?"

    Zinnia beams. "Hehe! Of course I am!" She wiggles in place. "Ah! Every little girl''s dream; her own dinosaur!" She sobers up and clears her throat. "Erm, anyway, how did your time with your shrink go, Dolittle?"

    "It�� went," Lee crosses his arms and shifts on his feet, unsure what to say. Vulpix nuzzles his cheek, and from her comes a soothing reassurance. "Last week was kind of heavy, so she suggested taking it easy this week, just talking about life and whatnot."

    The tanned woman smiles and nods, not pressing. Brendan looks as if he wants to inquire further, but he bites his lip.

    Vulpix paws Lee''s neck, a silent reminder of the time poking his brain a second later. "Oh! I need to get to that demo for Silph! Are you guys coming?"

    Brendan grins. "You know it!"

    "Mmm-hmm," Zinnia agrees.

    As a group, Lee, Vulpix, Brendan, and Zinnia leave the pokemon center and head deeper into Mauville through the throngs of people flooding the streets. Lee spares a look around as they walk, taking in the sights.

    Wattson''s popularity as the Gym Leader is apparent from how many Electric-types are out and about with their trainers. In just a few minutes, Lee spots a Pikachu riding in a girl''s handbag, a Raichu jogging along with his college-age trainer, an impatient Electrike tugging at his leash, a Mareep with a giggling little girl on her back, and a Galvantula clinging to the underside of a lamp post enjoying a berry snack. Some of the smaller businesses they pass are made to cater to Electric-type pokemon only, many offering services like ''discharge therapy'' or ''electro cycling'', which sound like the same thing to Lee. Others are stocked with tools and insulated toys for raising younger pokemon.

    ''Almost like a miniature New York,'' Lee hums as he peers up at the tall buildings of Mauville. ''Largest city in Hoenn, yet only five-hundred thousand people live here. I wonder if the census counts pokemon? Hard to say�� Idly, Lee wonders what Nigel would think of Earth''s population of eight billion when the entire pokemon world doesn''t even boast an eighth of that number. ''Then again, pokemon outnumber humans so that figure might be a bit skewed�� and Earth''s population probably isn''t that high anymore��''

    A nip on his ear from Vulpix pulls him away from such morbid thoughts.

    "So do these guys have a place set-up for the demo, or are you just going to trash one of their offices?" Zinnia asks with a smirk. "I gotta admit, that would be funny."

    "The address they gave me leads to one of their offices," Lee says, pulling out his phone as they stop at a crosswalk with a red light. He flips through his emails back to the one from the Silph Co rep. "Yeah, one of their offices," He looks up in time to see an old truck roll by with a panting Rockruff hanging out of the passenger window. A second later, the crosswalk light turns green and lets them continue on. "I imagine they have a test site or some indoor range with a pokemon that can make force fields on-hand. I warned them that these moves are no joke."

    Another thirty minutes of walking leads them to a four-story building in its own small corporate park near the outer eastern part of the city. The grass is cut short, the shrubs are all trimmed square, and the windows of the building are all sparkly and clean. At the top of the building is a large sign clearly spelling out "Silph Co" in stylized letters.

    Lee double checks his phone one final time before nodding. "This is the place. Let''s go."

    Stepping inside, the trio of trainers and single pokemon push past the revolving door and take in the lavish lobby of the Silph Co building. Lee in particular looks down at himself afterward, now very conscious of the wear on his clothes and the dirt on his boots in the face of the immaculate room.

    "Do you feel a little underdressed too?" Lee hears Brendan whisper to Zinnia as they make their way to the reception desk in the middle of the lobby.

    Zinnia scoffs. "No. Why would I care about what some office jockeys think?"

    As they approach, the smartly-dressed woman manning the reception desk looks up from her computer screen with a smile. That smile shrinks when the first thing she sees is Vulpix. "I''m sorry, but Silph Corporation has a no loose pokemon policy on the premises. I''ll have to ask you to..!-" She trails off with a look of vague fright when her eyes shift to Lee''s face. "E-Erm��"

    The zoologist smiles disarmingly, or at least tries. ''Was I doing the scary no-expression thing again?'' He clears his throat. "Good afternoon. My name is Lee Henson and I have a 12:30 meeting with Mister Aarons?"

    When Zinnia snickers, the poor young woman seems to regain her wits. "O-Oh, of course, Mister Henson. One moment��" She returns her eyes to her computer and quickly types in a string of words, her painted nails and the large ring on her left hand flashing in the sunlight. She pauses, then types something else. "Alec Aarons will be seeing you in just a moment, Mister Henson. Will your guests be joining you?"

    "If it''s all the same," Lee responds kindly.

    She nods and smiles back unsurely.

    It takes only a moment of waiting for one of the elevators near the back of the lobby to chime and open, letting out a smiling man in a black suit who beelines for Lee''s group. "Mister Henson! Alec Aarons is the name, and thank you for coming out here today!"

    Lee scans the approaching businessman with an appraising eye.

    Aarons is a handsome man in that difficult-to-place age range of late twenties to mid-thirties. The skin of his angular face is flawless, and his platinum blond hair is slicked back and shiny in the bright fluorescent lights of the office. There isn''t a single wrinkle on his three-piece suit, and his perfectly white teeth almost glint through the narrow gap in his lips made by his easy-going smile. There''s an aura about the man, one that would charm most anyone with his smooth voice and attractive face.

    In the back of his mind, Lee can''t help but draw a comparison to Patrick Bateman from the old movie American Psycho.

    "And thank you for taking the time to talk to me, Mister Aarons," Lee reaches out and clasps the man''s hand with his own in a brisk shake. "I know you must be busy around here."

    Aarons lets out a single short laugh and lets his smile widen just a smidgen. "Please, call me Alec, and for one of Hoenn''s rising stars? I can make time." He withdraws his hand and gestures to Vulpix before letting it fall to his side. "Congrats to you and Miss Vulpix on your Dynamo Badge. Wattson is a superb trainer even if his other duties means he doesn''t have as much time for his pokemon anymore. To go toe-to-toe with his personal pokemon and win speaks volumes about you." He looks past Lee to Brendan with an appraising look. "And Mister Birch''s match was just as thrilling. Watching Manectric get pushed and actually lose is a rare event."

    Brendan chuckles bashfully. "Ah, we were working with a type advantage, and even then Wattson''s pokemon were tough. He nearly had us."

    "Regardless, it was an excellent showing," Aarons inclines his head and turns to Zinnia. "And I''m afraid I never caught your name, miss��"

    "Zinnia," the dragon tamer supplies simply. She looks over Aarons with a critical eye, then relaxes. "Dragon Tamer. Nice to meet ya."

    "The pleasure is all mine." The blonde man smiles back. "Let''s take this to my office, shall we?"

    Lee and co follow Aarons back to the elevator, where the businessman takes them up to the 3rd floor and to a wooden door labeled "Tech Machine Dept" guarded by a keypad lock, one that Aarons swiftly enters the code for. As they enter and make the trip to Aarons'' office, Lee glances at the open-floor office and glass dividers taking up much of the floor space, each desk occupied by a well-dressed worker, many of whom look up to see himself, his friends, and Aarons. The air is filled with the sounds of shuffling paper, the ringing of desk phones, and muffled conversation.

    On Lee''s shoulder, Vulpix''s ears turn as she takes in sounds human hearing would miss, then she widens the psychic channel to her trainer and wordlessly offers her hearing to him.

    "-Aarons doing bringing someone up here? He should have taken them to the demo site not-"

    "-ing to show off his new client? That''s bold, breaking the no pokemon rule and walking right by Nasir''s office."

    "I thought Joan was working on the new Henson account?"

    Lee reaches up and gently scratches under Vulpix''s chin, making her shut her eyes in satisfaction. ''Thank you, Vulpix. Seems like Aarons is quite the opportunist to say the least.''

    Along the outer perimeter of the large room are a number of private offices behind closed doors, several of which they pass, then they come to a stop by one labeled "A. Aarons - Sr Licensing Rep."

    The four people and single shoulder-riding fox step inside, finding a tidy, modern office with little in the way of personal effects, though Lee is surprised to find three guest chairs before the desk. He seats himself in the middle one with Zinnia and Brendan flanking him.

    Aarons sits lightly behind his desk and folds his hands over one another. "Can I get you all anything? Water? Coffee?"

    "Thank you, Alec, but I think we''re fine," Lee speaks for everyone. "I understand there is a demo process before any ink touches paper, so forgive me if this comes off as a little rude, but why bring us up here?"

    Aarons smiles once more. "Mister Henson, I think we both know that for a trainer of your caliber, the demo is just a formality. Grass TMs are especially in vogue right now, so your personal takes on Bullet Seed will most assuredly sell out quickly."

    "Really?" Lee raises an eyebrow and leans back in his chair as Vulpix slides down into his lap. "Why do you say that?"

    The businessman''s eyes seemingly twinkle. "Ah, that''s a little secret of mine, but I can give a bit away I suppose. A great way to tell how well a TM run will do is to look at the Gym Leaders of the region, and the usual route aspiring challengers take between them. Grass is so popular right now because of the average starting and ending point of most trainers taking the circuit."

    "Roxanne is the weakest Gym Leader�� and Wallace is the strongest��" Brendan''s eyes widen when it hits him. "Both of their specialties are weak to Grass!"

    Aarons'' smile turns into a small grin. "Right on the money! The data doesn''t lie, and trainers want everything they can get when they first begin and are about to end a journey. In the middle, there is quite a bit of drop-off since everyone has a good idea of their own power in relation to the Gyms, but the last Gym is always intimidating. There are other factors at play of course, such as TM rarity, the cost per unit, who the TM is being copied from, and media attention given to specialists of the same type." The blonde man laces his fingers and sets his elbows on the desk. "With Grass being the answer to both the weakest and strongest Gyms, and the unexpected defeat of Fortree''s Winona to the rising Grass specialist Valorie Forrest, Grass is hot. A limited run of brand new Grass moves will sell out from preorders alone."

    ''Huh, I never thought about it like that,'' Lee silently muses. ''With the price tags on TMs, it must be a lucrative business.'' Aarons'' enthusiasm makes more sense. ''Ah, if he''s the one doing all the behind-the-scenes work, then he probably gets a nice cut.''

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    "Understandable," Lee nods along. "So, how does the process work here?"

    "First," Aarons holds up a finger. "We''d establish an outline of the technique you intend to propose to Silph Co. I''ve already done so here if you''d like to review it," he says, opening a drawer on his desk and taking out a packet of paper. He drops it to his desk and slides it over. "Pending the demo, Silph Co can then choose to move forward with the process or decide to not take the proposal, and if denied you won''t be able to submit your move again for a full year. No need to worry about that one I think," he smiles. "Upon choosing to move forward, Silph Co will have you sign a number of forms giving us exclusive rights to be your TM manufacturer and distributor, along with a few more giving us the right to use your name and likeness as marketing material. Once complete, we''ll have the boys in the lab copy the move from your pokemon and send it off for TM transcribing. When the disks hit the shelves, you can start collecting your royalties."

    "Name and likeness, huh?" Zinnia crosses her arms and taps her foot. "And how long do you get to use it afterward?"

    ''That''s a good question,'' Lee focuses on Aarons for an answer.

    "Just for the TM run," he cooly replies. "Once the last batch of disks leaves the warehouse, the contract is over. Typically a standard limited run is two-hundred and fifty units."

    "Does Silph retain the rights to the move itself at all?" Lee asks as Aarons'' answer isn''t enough for him.

    In his lap, Vulpix shifts and thinks. ''Ask if t*ey ar* allowe* to make more c*pies. Be sp*cific.''

    "As in, can Silph Co just decide to make more copies of the TM after the contract is over and cut us out of the equation entirely?" Lee amends, watching carefully for Aarons'' reaction.

    If Aarons is perturbed by the line of questioning, he hides it masterfully. "We do reserve the right to create copies of unpatented moves without the input of the trainer who submitted the move for copying." He admits. He opens another drawer on his desk and takes out another packet of paper, setting before Lee. "Silph Co can submit the move for patenting on your behalf for a fee which will be deducted from your royalties until paid in full. If you''d like to read over the forms for yourself, then please go ahead. Now, your royalty rate does drop two percent if you decide to patent, keep that in mind."

    With the beginnings of a frown, Lee takes the paper offered to him and holds it so Vulpix can read along with him. At his sides, Zinnia and Brendan lean in to see it as well.

    ''Fee of 11,500 for the patent app, followed by losing fifty percent of my four percent of the royalties until paid back. If a basic TM is roughly 2000 credits, and assuming my specialty TM would be worth a bit more at 3000 credits�� '' Lee crunches the numbers in his head. ''That''s 37,000 credits for both runs after the fees. Holy shit��'' He blinks in surprise. ''That''s a lot of money even with Silph chunking me for not giving up the rights to it�� Or I could get 90,000 credits from the six percent and no fees just by letting them have the moves. Hell, they might price the TM even higher than 3000 and push that payment into six-figures��''

    Lee looks away from the form in his hands, feeling slightly lightheaded. It might take weeks for the TMs to sell, but that''s still a dizzying amount of money. If these are the sort of figures high-level trainers play with, then Lee suddenly understands how they afford to care for their rare and powerful pokemon. ''Pay to win? No. It''s just free to lose.'' He shakes his head and looks down at Vulpix. ''What say you, love? Do we play the long game and hope they want to make more afterward, or get a bigger windfall?''

    As Vulpix mulls her answer over, Lee looks between Brendan and Zinnia. "Any opinions?"

    Brendan finishes reading the form with a hum and scratches his chin. "Yeah, patent ''em. Better to keep your rights for later, or that''s what Dad told me. The fee is a little steep, but I guess you''re paying for the convenience."

    "I dunno��" Zinnia fingers the edge of her cloak as she thinks. "On one hand, keeping the moves sounds good, but on the other��" She trails off. "That''s a lot of moolah, Dolittle. I can''t decide, so I''m not going to say anything else."

    Vulpix snuffles and kneads Lee''s leg with her dull claws. ''Keep th*m.''

    Mind made up, Lee sets the form back on Aarons'' desk. "I''m going to patent them. Now, any other details?

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Out behind the Silph Co building and in the middle of the testfire range Silph created for demos just like this one, Lee impatiently fingers Grovyle''s pokeball. At his side, Grovyle cooly waits with his arms crossed.

    The testfire range looks much like a gun range back on earth. A long stretch of barren land roughly one hundred yards leads back into a tall dirt berm to act as a backstop. The range is pockmarked with craters and burns, likely from other tests. Off to the side and leaning over the range from high above, a structure of metal beams like a leaning power pylon looms over the range. On the point of the pylon, a camera-like dome shines in the sunlight.

    Behind Lee and Grovyle, Aarons, Zinnia, Brendan, Vulpix, and several Silph techs holding tablet computers stand behind a screen of ballistic glass. Zinnia taps her foot while Brendan simply sways on his feet, looking eager. At his feet, Vulpix sits calmly.

    Aarons turns his eyes to the techs. "Gents, are we ready?"

    One of the three men, a tall, gangly man with limp brown hair nods his head. "Beginning sim. Standby."

    ''Sim?''

    Above Lee and Grovyle, the dome-like apparatus on the point of the leaning pylon glows a dull blue, and down on the ground, a hazy shape standing a head taller than a man and thrice as wide begins to take form.

    Startled, Lee takes a step back as Grovyle narrows his eyes and takes up a defensive stance before his trainer.

    The mass crackles like TV static and coalesces into a shape with two thick legs, equally thick arms ending in claws, a long muscular tail, and a wide head with a shovel-like plate along its skull.

    ''A Kangaskhan?'' Lee wonders as the pixel-like details fill in on the pokemon like a loading video game. In just a second, the details sharpen to a life-like level, and there stands a Kangaskhan minus a youngling in its pouch. ''Some kind of hologram?''

    The fake Kangaskhan grunts and slams its tail into the ground, making a tremor run under the feet of everyone in the field. Its eyes are flat and lusterless, but they focus on Grovyle with a disturbingly life-like gaze.

    ''Not a hologram.''

    "Whenever you''re ready, Mister Henson!" One of the Silph techs call. "Have your Grovyle attack the Kangaskhan construct with Seed Blast!"

    ''Construct? Like hard light?'' The technology doesn''t seem too far-fetched considering the consumer-grade non-euclidean bag on his back. "You heard them, bud," Lee points a finger at the Kangaskhan. "Seed Blast!"

    Grovyle hisses and draws his head back, his throat bulging as seeds manifest from pure Grass energy and travel up to his mouth. He trains his eyes on the Kangaskhan''s center mass and works his jaw. Then with a flourish, he throws his head forward and spits a shotgun blast of seeds with an ear-ringing bang!

    The seeds fly in a tight cone trailing with yellow light, spreading only to the size of a volleyball in the twenty yards they fly. Then Seed Blast crashes into the Kangaskhan''s thick hide with a series of loud cracks, throwing bits of the Kangaskhan''s rock-like armor that dissolve into static before they hit the ground. Several seeds stay lodged in the armor, sizzling with unburnt Grass energy.

    The Kangaskhan reels back with a realistic gasp, holding its cracked stomach armor with a paw. It retreats with several lumbering steps, watching Grovyle warily. Above the Kangaskhan, a green HP bar of all things appears and drops to roughly 70%.

    "Not bad at all��" One of the Silph techs murmurs as he taps away at his tablet. "One direct hit dealt considerable damage to a mid-level construct." He taps a button on his tablet and the damage on the fake Kangaskhan vanishes as its lifebar refills to 100. "Again, please."

    Grovyle looks up towards Lee, who nods back. "Give her another one. Everything you''ve got. We don''t need to worry about pacing ourselves here."

    The Grass-type turns to the Kangaskhan and charges Seed Blast once more, drawing up even more seeds than before. The muscles of his jaws quiver as he struggles to keep the attack contained, and once he can hold it no more, he snaps his mouth open and fires a wide-spanning blast with a bang like thunder.

    This time, the seeds spread out rapidly, but since there is a veritable storm of them, the Kangaskhan is struck over nearly its whole chest and head. The fake pokemon cries out and stumbles back, a number of seeds buried in its flesh. It covers its head and ducks, avoiding several botanical bullets that whizz by. The wounds on the fake pokemon don''t bleed, instead leaving behind simple holes that glow a faint blue. The HP bar above Kangaskhan''s head jumps down to 45%, the green color changing to yellow.

    "O-Oh wow��" Lee looks back when he hears one of the techs gulp. The middle tech glances down at his tablet and clears his throat. "Well, I uh, think we have enough data to work with on that one. Let''s move on, shall we? I believe the next one is called Seed Sniper?"

    Once again, the Kangaskhan stands straight, its wounds vanishing and its expression returning to uncanny neutrality.

    This time, Grovyle needs no prompting and leans his head back, taking a deep, lung filling breath. Like with Seed Blast, he stands still for several seconds, letting the power behind the attack build before spitting a single hyper-sonic seed the size of a marble. The air cracks sharply as the seed breaks the sound barrier and crosses the distance as little more than a streak of light.

    Grovyle''s aim is off even at the short distance, as rather than the center of Kangaskhan''s chest, it hits her left shoulder, pushing in deep enough that the bones of a normal pokemon would be pulverized by the impact. The seed then explodes into shrapnel, shards digging into skin and making a ghastly wound. The fake Kangaskhan goes pale and grasps the hole with its opposite paw. Above its head, its HP drops all the way to 30%, which flashes red in warning.

    Lee turns back to the spectators, taking in their reactions.

    Zinnia and Brendan both sport grins, and at Brendan''s feet, Vulpix smiles slightly.

    The Silph techs look between their tablets and the hard-light Kangaskhan with dropped jaws.

    Aarons?

    Aarons just smiles. "Mister Henson?" He calls over the ballistic barrier. "Fantastic showing. I believe you have one more?"

    "We do," Lee nods. Then an idea hits him, one that he pauses and mulls over. "Say, Alec? Is there any wiggle room on that royalty percent if we show something really impressive?"

    A look crosses Aarons'' face, one that stands at the midpoint of predatory and hungry, then it vanishes and is replaced with his pleasant resting smile a split-second later. "I�� could be convinced to argue such a case to upper management for a better payout. What do you have in mind?"

    "While we''re not going to let this move be released for copying, it''s proof that we have a lot to bring to the table." As Lee speaks, Vulpix is already briskly trotting around the ballistic glass. "Convergence is Vulpix''s strongest technique, one that could be argued to be on-par with Fire Blast."

    Is it on par? Lee isn''t sure, but a bigger payment opening the route to rare breeders and better equipment for his team is worth embellishing for, he thinks.

    Aarons rubs his chin. "Fire Blast, hmm? I admit, when I saw it on the demo list, I went and researched the move. Imagine my surprise when the only hints I could find were cell phone videos on the internet." He folds his arms behind his back and gives Vulpix a searching look as she and Grovyle trade places, the wood gecko walking back and standing by Zinnia. "Fire Blast is a move only the mightiest and most esteemed of Fire-types can learn, Mister Henson. If Convergence is that powerful��" He trails off and glances at one of the labcoat-clad techs beside him sharply.

    The lanky tech jumps and nearly drops his tablet and Aarons'' eyes bore into him. "R-Right!" He types a command into his tablet.

    The panting and injured Kangaskhan straightens back up as its wounds vanish, leaving it whole once more. Above it''s head, the HP bar returns back to 100%.

    Lee takes a deep breath, stilling the thrill of eager nervousness that wants to make his limbs shake. "Alrighty, love," the trainer slips his hands into his pockets so as to not fidget. "Convergence."

    Vulpix widens her stance and flares her tails, her eyes blazing a hellish orange.

    All around the Kangaskhan, orbs of flame the size of tennis balls burst to life with a cacophony of fwooshes, casting a harsh light even as the noon sun overhead grows brighter and brighter, coaxed by Vulpix''s Drought.

    The fake Kangaskhan raises an arm to shade its eyes, looking around at the fireballs with confusion.

    The motes of fire all shudder and bulge like disturbed liquid, growing larger and larger with a frightening haste, as if they were cancerous growths set alight. The humid Hoenn air around them begins to dry, and what little grass still alive on the ground of the range begins to blacken and smoke.

    Lee blinks his eyes and turns away, the sheer heat and light swiftly becoming overwhelming even from twenty yards away. On his face, his burns tingle unpleasantly. He breathes the hot air slowly, silently assuring himself that Vulpix would never harm him.

    The fireballs continue to swell, turning into hissing, miniature suns just as they did in the fight with Absol. Their growth begins to stall out around the size of beach balls, and Lee can feel Vulpix''s stamina slowly flagging as her most powerful attack greedily sucks down energy.

    Just like he did in their Gym battle, Lee opens his bond to his starter wider and takes the psychic tether deeper into himself, tapping into his own body.

    The fireballs roar and grow another size, making the dirt below them dry up and crackle from the sheer heat. Lee cuts the feed from his own body as his head begins to feel light, already prepared to get a scolding from Vulpix later. The vixen looks back at him, and Lee covers his ears.

    Vulpix''s eyes flash, and the fireballs scream towards Kangaskhan.

    Heat. Light. Force.

    A power without discrimination.

    One Vulpix commands.

    KRABOOM!

    Lee cracks open an eye to watch, calm taking hold even as he feels the explosion wash over him and nearly take him off his feet.

    The explosion is deafening. Even with his ears covered, Lee feels them nearly pop, and the shockwave is like a kick to the chest. Dust rushes past, dirtying his clothes and forcing him to close his eyes. The sheer, burning heat is present only for a moment, but it warms his skin to an uncomfortable level. Through the trees and off the building behind them, the echoes of the explosion roll through Mauville, rousing countless frightened bird pokemon from their perches and into the air.

    As the dust settles, Lee rubs the dirt from his eyes and opens them to take in the destruction.

    Where the Kangaskhan was, there is now just a limp green wireframe in the vague shape of a pokemon, as if the fake pokemon had its hide blown clean off. Under it is a smoldering crater nearly a foot deep and fifteen feet wide, and the dirt within hisses as it cools from red-hot back to a burnt black.

    Above the crater is Kangaskhan''s HP bar. There is no number, just a flashing warning saying "ERROR".

    ''Th*t wa* unn*cessary, Lee.'' The vixen at Lee''s feet huffs, turning and jabbing his leg with a paw. ''I c*n fuel *y own mo*es.''

    Lee smiles and bends down, taking Vulpix into his arms without a fight and rising again. He wraps his arms around her middle with her back to his chest, letting her hindpaws and tails dangle. When he leans down just enough to kiss her scalp behind her head-tuft, the fox''s ire cools considerably. "How about that?" He turns on his heel to the spectators.

    The trio of Silph Co techs are struck dumb, all three of them glued to the tablets in their hands, all of them emiting a warning chime.

    "Jeez��" Brendan breathes, a hint of awe on his face. "I didn''t realize it was that strong��" He looks down to his belt, where Marshtomp''s ball wiggles restlessly.

    The grin on Zinnia''s face can only be described as savage. She clenches and unclenches her fists under her cloak as she effortlessly catches Lee''s eyes, telling him that he''s got a battle with her coming in the near future.

    Finally��

    Aarons works his jaw, seemingly speechless. His eyes look between the crater, then to Vulpix, then up to Lee. After a long moment, he smiles and combs his hands through his hair, brushing away debris that flew over the ballistic glass screen. "Oooh yes," he purrs. "We can work with this."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As the chilled night of the city begins to roll in, Corvisquire curses himself for the millionth time.

    It''s been four days since he liberated himself, and he feels�� Hungry. His stomach gnaws at itself, demanding a meal more substantial than a stolen pizza slice or a bush of berries.

    Perched high on a fire-escape on the side of an apartment building, he peers down at the multitude of people and pokemon walking by the alleyway, his powerful eyesight taking in faces, hair, clothes, and stances.

    Few of them look up at him, and none are Lee, and for that he''s grateful�� Or��?

    The corvid growls under his breath and shakes the traitorous thought away. He doesn''t want to go back. He doesn''t want a trainer. He doesn''t�� Doesn''t��

    "Thank you for going above and beyond, Corvi."

    Corvisquire''s talons grip his railing perch tightly.

    "I know you''d do the same for me, even if you won''t admit it."

    Corvisquire hisses to himself, screwing his eyes shut.

    "Can you fly me to Littleroot? I want to make a grave for them, just a little one, so they''re not forgotten."

    The hollow metal railing groans under his talons. "I didn''t verbally agree to anything, so I broke no promises��"

    Lee settles on the dingy couch, Shinx crawling up into his chest. He turns to Corvisquire with a small grin. "It feels good to get everything off my chest. You guys are my family and I felt like I was lying to you by not explaining."

    Lee''s mutilated face fills Corvisquire''s mind, and the ugly human''s kind smile fixes everything in the worst way. The crow grimaces so hard he feels his beak almost crack. Then another face, one from years ago takes Lee''s place.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The boy looks down at Rookidee, surprise on his face. The surprise is traded for delight a moment later. "Wow��"

    "Bred and born just for you," the other human who keeps his parents says, but Rookiedee is too focused on his young master to pay the man any mind. "He''s the best of the best."

    Gentle hands lift Rookidee, and he snuggles into them.

    The bird pokemon was just one of many offspring to his parents. It''s simply nature to not invest too much into many chicks who are bound to go, so when his little master picks him up?

    Rookidee knows love for the first time, and he needs more.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The flitter of air-light wings and the tip-tap smaller talon touching down on the rail pull Corvisquire from the memory making him see red. He snaps his head to the side, half-ready to eviscerate the offender with Steel Wing.

    Next to him is Swablu, the dragon woman''s Swablu. She looks up at him with unreadable black eyes.

    "How did you find me? Speak or else." Corvisquire demands darkly.

    "Does that really matter?" Swablu''s voice is just as airy as her wings with a slight trill as if she might start singing. She blinks. "I won''t tell if that''s what you''re worried about."

    "Tch," the larger bird clicks his tongue. "Really now? Why come down here?"

    "Just to talk," she answers easily. "I just want to know why?"

    "Why?"

    Swablu nods. "Why leave like that? Do you know how much you saddened Lee? Or how angry your teammates are?"

    Something in Corvisquire''s chest clenches when he thinks of the scarred man, but he scoffs at Swablu. "And I care, why?"

    The smaller avian scooches closer, gently running her beak through Corvisquire''s wing and preening several out-of-place feathers that Corvisquire didn''t notice. When did that happen? "Well," Swablu pauses her preening. "Why stick around so long just to turn around and leave?"

    "I simply needed food and shelter until it stopped being convenient." the crow sniffs.

    Again, Swablu pauses, looking up at Corvisquire with surprise. "Are you assuming that the rest of us don''t talk amongst ourselves?"

    ''What?'' The larger of the two frowns. "What do you mean?"

    "You may not talk to your team, but Marshtomp''s team and my team do," the cotton-bird looks up at Corvisquire accusingly. "You agreed to let Lee give you a physical only to run away. Why?"

    Frazzled, Corvisquire barks out the first deflection that comes to mind. "I don''t like being touched. It was his fault for pressuring me."

    "You only needed to refuse and the worst Lee would have done is ask again. He does so out of care, not maliciousness." Swablu says dryly. "And you claim to not like being touched, but let me preen you without issue."

    Corvisquire jumps to the side as if burned, putting a foot between him and Swablu and turning to her with a glare.

    "Is it only an issue when humans touch you?"

    Corvisquire''s wings darken into a steel-gray and take on a metallic luster, humming with thinly veiled danger, yet Swablu presses on. "Are you afraid to be loved?"

    Swablu leaps and spreads her wings, only narrowly avoiding the Steel Wing that screeches through the fire-escape railing in a sloppy, rage-fueled cut.

    "Don''t speak about things of which you have no knowledge!" Corvisquire screams at the hovering Swablu, red leaking into the edges of his vision. "Don''t you dare!"

    Carefully, the other bird settles back on the railing a wary distance away. She peers up at the starry sky as she folds her wings. "You''re not the only one who hurts, Corvisquire," she murmurs. "Zinnia has hurts, Lee has hurts, Vulpix has hurts, everyone does. You know this, especially about Lee." She gives him a hard stare. "You leaving has left him worse off."

    The crow ignores the stab of pain in his heart.

    "I know you care for Lee at least, so why won''t you let him return the favor?" Swablu asks. When she gets no answer, she continues on. "One only needs to open themselves up to the love of others to heal." She spreads her wings. "If humans like Lee and Zinnia can move past the pain in their lives, if they can bravely open themselves to others after the things they suffered, why can''t a strong pokemon like yourself?"

    ''I''m not brave, you fool.''

    As she takes off into the night sky, Corvisquire watches her go, suddenly feeling lost. He spreads his wings and flies in the opposite direction, feeling how smoothly his preened wing cuts through the air, and how much the other one drags.

    "Can you fly me to Littleroot? I want to make a grave for them, just a little one, so they''re not forgotten."

    "I need to evolve, I need the armor of a Corviknight," he mutters. "Then I''ll go back, if only to fulfill that promise I stupidly made."

    That night, he slept fitfully in a breezy tree, alone.

 Act 1: Chapter 28

    "Merow?" Shinx mewls, twitching her ears as the metal probes in Lee''s hands touch her cheeks.

    "Okay, baby girl," Lee glances down to the multimeter in the grass beside him. From the meter are a pair of red and black wires, each leading to a probe in the trainer''s hand. "Give it all you got."

    Shinx scrunches her face up in concentration, her claws kneading the dirt in her focus. Golden sparks jump across her fur, and the multimeter beeps shrilly. Even through the thick rubber insulation on the probes, Lee feels them grow warm in his hands.

    "Very good!" Lee smiles and pulls the probes away. He hides a wince when Shinx, not yet fully powered down, nuzzles his leg with a pleased purr and sends an unpleasant shock up his body. Turning his attention to the multimeter and the notebook sitting next to it, he opens the notebook and thumbs his way over to the section dedicated to Shinx.

    "Let''s see��" He takes the pen from the spiral binding and clicks it open, writing down what the meter says. "Six thousand volts at roughly��" He presses a few buttons on the meter''s display, changing the reading. "Two milliamps," Lee jots down the numbers, noting the day-by-day increase by small, but noticeable increments. "You''re growing like a weed, you know that?" He says, reaching out and scratching her back. "Heh. Didn''t think I would need to start down the path of an electrician to be a pokemon trainer. Maybe you''ll be big enough to battle Winona when we make it to Fortree in a few months, eh? Could you zap all those birds out of the sky for me?"

    Shinx purrs louder and arches her back into Lee''s touch, but otherwise doesn''t reply.

    It''s been just three days since the TM demo for Silph Co. Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia decided to linger in Mauville for a while longer, taking in the luxury of the city before setting out on the daunting path to Lavaridge town for the next gym. With differing plans, everyone scattered for the day. Zinnia went to thrash a small local tournament for the prize money while Brendan decided to go to the annual Mauville Trick House event to try and win a year of free pokeblocks.

    Lee debated on entering the tournament, loitering around a battlefield for a battle or two, or even going to the Mauville Game Corner to gamble a bit, but after the last week or so?

    A calm day in the woods with his team is what he really needed.

    The previous night, Brendan pointed out that the League tournament is still ten months away, and they''ve taken three of the eight gyms in only six weeks, so a slowdown wouldn''t hurt. Lee honestly didn''t realize just how urgent a pace he was setting until it was pointed out. The conscious realization that he has no deadlines, time clocks, or anything else breathing down his neck lifted yet another weight from the man''s shoulders.

    Nearly a year to just�� wander around and have fun, getting paid to do research that he was going to do anyway. Then he can take a shot at fame and fortune in the Ever Grande Conference. After that, he has a spot in academia waiting for him.

    With a long-term roadmap laid bare to him, things just seem like they''re going to work themselves out. It''s no wonder the life of a professional trainer is the dream of countless people all over the world.

    ''Still need to keep an eye out for Magma and Aqua��'' Lee leans back into the tree he and Shinx are sitting under. ''Hopefully, Ash can deal with them,'' He glances to the left, where Vulpix sits.

    The vixen sits silently with her eyes closed, her face a picture of focus. Arranged from smallest to largest at her paws are several rocks gathered from around the forest, the smallest barely a pebble while the largest is the size of a bowling ball. A stone from the middle, maybe a pound in weight, hovers several inches off of the ground, suspended by a solid aura of pink. Slowly, the stone lowers to the ground, jerking unsteadily a few times. It lands with a muted thump, and the pink aura vanishes.

    Vulpix sucks in a harsh breath, and although his bond to her is pinched nearly closed, so as to not disturb her, Lee can feel the fox''s slowly mounting fatigue.

    Her telekinesis is nowhere near powerful enough to be listed as the Psychic move Extrasensory in Lee''s pokedex, a move high-level members of the Vulpix line can learn. The telekinesis isn''t even strong enough to be recognized as Confusion, but much to Lee''s pride, Vulpix takes a deep breath and centers herself, closing her eyes once more. Slowly, almost unsurely, the next largest stone at Vulpix''s paws begins to rise in stark defiance of gravity.

    Already grand ideas and fantasies swim in Lee''s head as Vulpix hones her newest power. He idly flips back to her section in his notebook and looks down at the next move he wants to create for her.

    Name: Psychobellows (Better name pending?) (Ver 0 Prototype)

    -Psychic type

    Description: User creates a spherical (shape subject to change after testing) psychic barrier with the intent to trap air, then compresses the barrier while creating a small opening (add nozzle?), dumping air into ongoing Fire attack to increase intensity.

    Notes: Still in the conceptual stage. Vulpix needs to better master her psychic abilities to utilize. Requires focus as this needs to be used in tandem with another attack, ideally Flamethrower/Fire Blast

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Name: Forbidden Sun (Better name pending?) (Ver 0 Prototype)

    -Psychic/Fire type?

    Description: User generates an extreme amount of fire contained in a psychic shell and sends it towards foe at high speed. Upon reaching foe, the shell breaks and unleashes the fire inside as a terrific explosion.

    Notes: Still in the conceptual stage. Intended to be an offset of Convergence with a low cast- time and alarming speed. The psychic shell should take out the necessity of carefully shaping the attack (Early versions of Convergence lost cohesion if charged hastily. See notes on pg 87) as the edge of the shell keeps everything contained. Will likely be unique to Vulpix since pyrokinesis is needed to maintain the fire in the limited-air shell. With both pyrokinesis and psychokinesis giving Vulpix two degrees of control, she should be able to move the attack at high speed. (Testing needed. Unknown if there will be any conflict between the Fire and Psychic energy.)

    Addendum: Fair and Balanced.

    Lee nods to himself and shuts his notebook. ''It''ll take some time, but if anyone can make wild techniques like these a reality, it''s Vulpix.'' Lee looks to his last pokemon.

    Under another tree several yards away, Grovyle stands with his arms held in a ready stance, the leaves on his wrists glowing a verdant green with Leaf Blade. All around his feet are leaves from the tree above him, each one cut down the middle.

    Grovyle lets out a short exhale, then turns and kicks the tree with a harsh Whack! Despite only being a little over three and a half feet tall, Grovyle''s thigh muscles, the same ones that give him his explosive speed, let him kick with bone-shattering (or tree-shaking) force.

    A shock runs up the tree, and from the branches falls a number of loose leaves that slowly flutter to the ground.

    Grovyle''s eyes narrow and his Leaf Blades hum. Around his body, a thin outline of white, just barely noticeable, begins to glow. His legs tense, then��

    Whoosh!

    He rockets upward, moving so quickly that the air whistles shrilly around his Leaf Blades. The grass around his feet is blown flat from the rushing air, and he rises so fast it looks as if he''s going to fly up into the branches of the tree.

    Grovyle grunts, Quick Attack flaring around him�� Then he stops mid-air, his momentum gone and his speed halting on a dime. Before gravity can take hold of him, Grovyle''s arm blurs, his blade slicing one of the falling tree leaves clean down the middle. Quick Attack flares again, and this time the Grass-type zooms down towards the lowest leaf, only five feet from touching the ground.

    Once more, his white aura flares and arrests his momentum, giving him just a split second to cut the leaf in twain, then he''s gone again, this time flying up to slice a leaf that strayed from the others.

    As a flicker of green, Grovyle zips from one point to the next, never letting any of the falling leaves touch the ground before he can cut them in half, each one split down the middle and only down the middle.

    ''He''s getting so fast��'' Lee watches with no small amount of awe as the second-stage pokemon cuts every leaf like some sort of samurai. Well, if samurai could tell gravity to shove it, that is. ''Grovyle''s movement is becoming so fast that he has to be approaching the speed of Andre''s Absol. He''s really taken Quick Attack and pushed it to its absolute limits. He''s done nothing but focus on it for days now. I knew Quick Attack could be used to change directions even mid-air, but full-on never-touch-the-ground propulsion?''

    The last leaf is carved down the middle, so Grovyle lets himself fall back to the earth, twisting mid-air to land on his feet in a silent crouch. He lets his Leaf Blades power down and shifts his chewing twig around in his mouth, inspecting his handiwork on the forest floor with a neutral expression. Despite his cool appearance, Lee still sees the barely suppressed tremors running up and down Grovyle''s limbs.

    ''I hope he''s not doing this to make up for losing Corvi��'' Lee bites his lip and runs his hand through Shinx''s coat, making the little kitten climb into his lap. ''Not having a flyer sucks, but you don''t need to try and fill a role you weren''t made for. I know that technique is putting a lot of stress on your body.'' For a moment, he considers not voicing his concerns, then he shakes his head. "Grovyle?"

    Grovyle turns at hearing his name, stepping closer with a short, inquiring hiss.

    "Careful not to overwork yourself��" Lee pauses, trying to find words that won''t wound Grovyle''s pride, which has been especially sore since the Mauville Gym battle. "Until we fill our roster out some more, I need you in top shape now more than ever."

    Grovyle rolls his twig around in his mouth and nods. He seats himself across from Lee, crossing his legs and folding his two-fingered paws in his lap. Grovyle gives the empty pokeballs on his trainer''s hip a pointed look.

    "Wanting to know who I''m planning on catching?" Lee asks, idly stroking Shinx. When Grovyle nods, Lee lifts his notebook again and turns to a page filled with names. "We haven''t had a team meeting in a while, have we? I guess now is as good a time as any. It''s about time for lunch as well." He looks over to Vulpix. "Hey, love? How about a break as we talk about plans for the future?"

    Vulpix lets out a slow breath and lowers the rock in her telekinetic grip to the ground, only jerking it once. Opening her eyes, she re-opens her side of her connection to Lee, letting him feel her lethargy.

    Lee smiles at her. ''I think lunch will fix that.''

    The fox stands and shakes herself before trotting up and sitting heavily beside Lee.

    In short order, Lee pulls a pair of covered bowls from his backpack and peels the plastic lids off, letting the aroma of the food inside fill the clearing.

    Both Vulpix and Grovyle perk up as Lee lays the food out for them.

    Vulpix''s bowl is much the same as it was months ago when Lee found a satisfactory mix for her. A medley of lean beef, rice, eggs, veggies, slices of Oran, and a small amount of crushed-up vitamins mixed into a thin, savory sauce to round out what was missed.

    Grovyle''s lunch is much greener. Inside are collard greens, turnip greens, shredded cauliflower and broccoli, lentils, mushrooms, thin slices of various peppers, and slices of Oran. The vegetarian mix is only lightly cooked to prevent the precious water-soluble nutrients inside from escaping.

    Mixed into both meals however, is something Lee has been using for only a week, and already he''s lamenting how quickly it''s running out.

    In both bowls are paper-thin slivers of Sitrus berry, mixed in so thoroughly that they''re unseen.

    After discovering the miracle properties of the Sitrus berry, Lee knew he needed to have one. Not to use as a held item for a fight, no, but to use as a long-term additive to his pokemon''s food. A smaller than average but high-grade example of the nearly-magic fruit drained two thousand credits from his wallet. To his utter relief, Sitrus didn''t lose much potency when added to a mix. A test run with a salad for lunch several days ago with bits of Sitrus left him feeling peppy the entire day.

    ''Regular food to provide energy, nutrients, and minerals, Oran to promote proper digestion and body homogeneity, and a tiny bit of Sitrus for that utterly miraculous cellular regeneration,'' Lee muses. ''Everyone definitely seems to be holding info about the higher-end berries close to their chest. A grand total of no one has documented info on how to promote a gradual release of the enzymes responsible for the regen.'' Already, plans begin to formulate in his head. ''The Oran has already done wonders for them, so here''s hoping the Sitrus takes it a step further. The better my team grows before they reach their final stages, the better�� Maybe I can find a mix that better promotes Vulpix''s psychic growth?''

    As Lee withdraws a baby bottle of Miltank milk from his bag and uncaps it for Shinx, the thought of his pokemon team''s growth flows into another. ''I''ll let everyone eat first. The conversation can wait.''

    Vulpix and Grovyle both down their lunches with a contained gusto, as neither wants to appear gluttonous. Shinx, however, has no issue sucking down her bottle like she''s starved, and twice Lee has to remind her to slow down lest she ends up ill.

    As everyone rests with full bellies, Lee clears his throat, getting Vulpix and Grovyle''s attention. Shinx, however, lays dead to the world in his lap, lulled to sleep after her meal.

    "So, I figure now is as good a time as any to discuss team matters," Lee begins, looking between his pokemon. "Grovyle wanted to know who is on my radar as a new team member, and honestly? I''m a little unsure."

    Vulpix flicks her fan of tails, and her mind feeds Lee an image of an Eevee.

    "Yes, Eevee is still very high on my list of wants," Lee nods along. "Preferably an Eevee partial to becoming a Vaporeon. Really, any good Water-type would be nice to have since the next Gym is a Fire specialist."

    It''s minute, but Grovyle''s lips twitch downward.

    Lee can''t quite hide his wince. "I know, Grovyle. I know. Remember that I''ll need you for the strongest gyms in Hoenn. I won''t let your skill and hard work go to waste, I promise."

    The gecko pokemon mulls Lee''s word over, then reluctantly nods.

    "Vulpix," Lee looks her way. "We''ve yet to actually fight another Fire-type seriously, as I assume most people think your ability is Flash Fire. I''m confident in your ability to no-sell fire attacks, but I think it would be a bad idea to rely so heavily on a single trick, hence wanting a Water-type."

    The vixen nods her head easily, accepting the reasoning without any fuss.

    "Hoenn''s native water pokemon are��" Lee waves a hand in a ''so-so'' gesture. "I''ve nothing against them, but after seeing that Vaporeon back on the Dewford boatride casually shapeshift, it''s going to take something pretty impressive to upstage that." Lee sighs and crosses his arms. "I don''t want to take in another teammate just for them to realize they were a second pick, a silver medal, and be stuck with that hanging over them, you know?"

    Vulpix openly scoffs. ''Yo*r h*art''s too b*g. You co*ld no* make t*em feel u*loved even if you tri*d.''

    Grovyle warbles in his throat, leaning back as he reflects on Lee''s words, then nods in agreement. His golden eyes fall to Lee''s notebook, and Lee himself takes notice.

    "There are a few besides Vaporeon��" Lee carefully takes Shinx''s ball from his hip and recalls the sleeping kitten in a flash of light. After putting the ball back, he thumbs open his notebook to his ''wanted list'', which has grown since he last reported to Nigel. "Squirtle and Totodile are easy picks. Both evolve into bulky, physically powerful tanks, a role we''re lacking on the team. Too bad both are a pain to find in the wild and well-bred ones cost an arm and a leg��" He moves his finger down the page, tracing names as he goes. "A Gyarados would fill a powerhouse role well, but the Magikarp state is such a huge hurdle. Same thing with Milotic. Politoed is another tanky ''mon with a decent movepool, but a King''s Rock to trigger the proper evolution is not an easy find��"

    Both Vulpix and Grovyle look more and more unsure as more names keep getting tossed. The fox turns to the gecko, a quiet inquiry passing through her lips. Grovyle just shakes his head in a negative.

    Lee frowns. His own desire to avoid pokemon with unfamiliar biology or situational utility is cutting his prospects down much more harshly than expected. "Piplup is a decent choice I suppose. Many have attitude problems and they''re cheap to adopt for it, but�� eh. Marrill is common enough, but they suffer from an early evolution and little time to hone their fundamentals. Octillery, maybe? They''re slow, but they hit like trucks and learn a ton of moves. A Primarina would provide fantastic power and coverage with their dual Water and Fairy typing, but they''re never seen outside of Alola." He sighs and closes his notebook. "I dunno guy and gal. It''s a hard choice and we might be better off just praying for a Suicune to drop in my lap." He closes his eyes and crosses his arms.

    ��

    After several seconds, he cracks open an eye and glances around, finding no free legendary pokemon. "Damn. I thought that would work."

    Vulpix lets out a scratchy, vulpine chortle while Grovyle smiles slightly.

    "Rock is also a choice, along with Ground," Lee turns a page in his notebook. "Rockruff is cheap to import and adopt, and they''re much faster than other Rock-types. Trapinch is slow to grow, but a Flygon would make a great addition. A Nidoking or Nidoqueen would be nice, even if they''re heavy investments given the moonstone needed."

    Lee closes the notebook and stretches his arms over his head, a yawn escaping him.

    "Well, it''s not something we need to solve right now." Lee reaches out and takes Grovyle''s empty bowl, then pauses with a faint smile when Vulpix''s bowl shakily hovers into his hand on it''s own. "You two are some of the best pokemon a trainer could want. You''re walking blessings, really. I know you can pull us through just about anything."

    Grovyle crosses his arms and looks away, vainly pretending he doesn''t care when he has to fight to keep his smile from growing.

    Vulpix''s expression melts into one of open adoration, her tails wagging slowly. She widens her end of their bond, and through it comes a gentle river of love that makes Lee''s eyes sting just a little.

    The zoologist smiles back and pushes forth his own mental affection, slipping it around Vulpix and tightening it like one might a hug. After a moment, he lets go and returns his attention outward towards the bowls still in his hands. He replaces the lids on each one and slips them into his bag. "Before I forget," Lee looks to Vulpix. "What are your thoughts on evolving, love? For Shinx and Grovyle, it''s only a matter of time and they can''t really choose unless they want to lug around an everstone, but you can."

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    The fox suddenly looks uncomfortable, the love she''s telepathically feeding to Lee halting abruptly.

    The feeling makes Lee flinch. "Vulpix?"

    Vulpix turns to her teammate and murmurs something almost too quiet to hear, and Grovyle''s reply is a short, crisp nod. The wood gecko swiftly reaches an arm out but pauses an inch away from tapping the button on his pokeball. He hisses out a sharp comment that makes Vulpix visibly wince, then hits the pokeball button. Grovyle is then sucked inside the ball as a flash of red, leaving Vulpix and Lee alone.

    "Love?" Lee begins, his worry building. "What''s wrong?"

    Vulpix trots her way to Lee and hops into his lap, standing on her hind paws and planting her forepaws on Lee''s shoulders for support. Then she presses her forehead to his, filling his vision with her brown eyes. With their heads touching, Vulpix opens the telepathic bond wide, and by doing so she can''t hide the smidgen of dread that hangs on to her.

    ''Lee��'' Her ''voice'' is crisp and clear. ''How l*ng does a Vulpix li*e?''

    ''How long?'' He recalls his studies back in the lab. ''Around sixty years.''

    ''And how long d*es a Nin*tales live?''

    ''Several hundred, sometimes a thous - oh.''

    Vulpix''s apprehension makes much more sense.

    ''I want to e*olve, to become more *owerful for you.'' Vulpix blinks her large eyes. ''But�� Y*u''re everything I k*ow and love. I''m *ot sure I can stand watching you *row old when I''ll�� just stay young.'' A short whine makes it out of her mouth. ''I''m not sure what to do.''

    With their minds so close, Lee can feel the turmoil inside her even as she tries to hide it, so he wraps her in a tight hug. Her soft, furry body warms him to the core. ''You don''t have to evolve if you don''t want to. It''s your choice.'' He tells her. ''If the legends are true,'' He exhales sharply through his nose in a half-hearted laugh. ''Then maybe you can evolve, then I can grab one of your tails and curse myself with a thousand-year lifespan, fixing everything.''

    Vulpix growls at the jest. ''Th*t''s not funny.''

    ''Maybe not, but if you really wanted me to, you just need to say.''''

    The fox pulls her head back and nips her trainer on the tip of his nose, making him cringe.

    ''No.'' Vulpix growls once more. ''No cu*ses, especially not a*y from me.''

    "Understood," Lee mutters aloud, rubbing a finger across his smarting nose. "Just think on it, Vulpix. If you want to evolve, then I''ll get you the highest grade firestone there is. If not, then I won''t breathe another word of it."

    She nods her head, thoughts still scattered and distracted. ''Lee..?''

    ''Yes?''

    ''I''ve been mea*ing to��'' The vixen stops herself short and lets her forepaws fall, dropping into Lee''s lap. ''No, never*ind.''

    Why am I?

    The confusing question Lee gleaned from Vulpix''s sleeping mind several weeks ago comes to him once more, but he just reaches a hand up and strokes the fox''s chin. "If you ever need to talk about anything, just let me know and I''ll make time."

    She huffs with a small smile, seeming terribly amused. ''Of cou*se.''

    For a time, Lee and Vulpix simply sit together under that shady tree, the tension of the uncomfortable conversation washing away in the breeze.

    Lee and Vulpix relax in the woods for some time, no words needing to be exchanged as they enjoy the simple pleasure of just being together. As the noon sun begins to flow into the afternoon, they decide to rise to wander through the forestry. Grovyle is let back out of his ball as well, and the three aimlessly walk about, Vulpix and Grovyle flanking their trainer. They encounter a bush of Oran along the way, which Lee picks to replenish his perpetually low stock.

    It was around this time that Lee''s phone beeps, making the man glance down at his pocket. "Hmm?" He wonders aloud, wiping a bit of Oran juice on his pant leg before pulling the device out. "An email?"

    Hello Mr. Henson.

    Alec here. I''m reaching out to you about your spectacular demo with us at Silph Co. Upon seeing the footage and data readouts from our testing, the TM Committee was quite impressed! They''ve expressed an interest in one run of both Seed Blast and Seed Sniper as a trial with the possibility of future runs. They, unfortunately, decided to hold fast in regards to your cut of 4%...

    Lee frowns.

    ��But seeing Convergence in action has intrigued not only the TM Committee, but a few Hoenn branch board of director members as well, which I think will open up future opportunities.

    Lee shakes his head with a sigh. "Should have seen that coming I guess."

    The TM Committee has hashed out the numbers with our finance and marketing departments, and they''ve decided to price your TMs at 3,500 credits with you receiving a 4% royalty for each one. Please swing by my office at your earliest convenience and we can get the paperwork rolling and have the moves copied.

    Your friend and new Silph account manager.

    Alec Aarons.

    Senior Licensing Representative.

    SILPH CO HOENN

    5800 Junction Lane

    (9790)-9856-1771

    The numbers are run through his head, and Lee lets out a breath. "Holy shit, that''s almost fifty thousand credits once all is said and done."

    "Gro?" Grovyle raises one of his ridged eyebrows, looking at the phone in Lee''s hand.

    "Yeah, it was that slimeball Aarons," Lee nods absently. "Looks like all the red tape has cleared and they want the moves. We''re about to have a lot more money in the coming weeks." He flips his phone between his fingers and looks between his pokemon. "Let''s get going, then."

    Vulpix hops to her favorite spot on Lee''s shoulder and partially wraps around his neck. Meanwhile, Grovyle nods and falls in step.

    During the walk back into Mauville and towards the Silph Co office, Lee browses his phone, flitting between websites belonging to professional breeders, to pokemon equipment manufacturers, to Silph and Devon, to berry farmers, evo stone sellers, and everything in-between.

    Lee closes his browser and logs into his bank account, skipping past the cheerful Porygon icon reminding him his password is expiring in a week to look at the number inside.

    Preferred PKMN Trainer Account ending in 4873

    Checking: 10,982.25 credits

    Savings: 5,200.00 credits

    IRA: 2,000.00 credits (Learn more about your retirement account, yearly deposit limits, and annual returns by clicking here)

    ''Even after years of working at the zoo, I can''t recall a time when I had more than several thousand dollars saved. After spending thousands on pokemon care, supplies, transport, food, lodging, savings, retirement, and other things all while being taxed on top of it, I still have ten-thousand credits ready to spend after just two months of a low-level trainer career.'' Lee flips back to his browser. ''With just a few years of being a frugal trainer hunting for paid battles, I could buy a two-hundred grand house outright with money left over. No mortgage, no loans, just a single money wire and the deed would be in my hands.''

    But the price of a house is utter chump change compared to the amount real pros throw around to make sure their pokemon are treated like kings and in top form. Full belt of Luxury Balls? Easily sixty thousand credits. Name brand food made for your pokemon''s particular genus and type? Several hundred for a twenty-pound bag that any decently sized pokemon would gobble in just a few days. A full berry case? Lee already feels that multi-hundred credit-drain every week. Tailor-made training equipment? Land for your pokemon to live on? High-grade potions? TMs? Evolution stones? The costs soar into the hundreds of thousands.

    Nothing is stopping a young trainer from keeping a few pokemon as pets or for low-level competition, but for the ones who dream of the gym circuit and beyond?

    Pokemon training is not a casual sport. If you have no money, you''ve got to be resourceful and ready to hustle, otherwise, you''re as good as sunk. The forty-seven thousand credits only weeks away from Lee''s pocket will surely end up spent.

    The walk to the Silph Co office takes almost an hour from the outskirts of Mauville, and Lee spends the time idly chatting with his pokemon, looking at an intriguing breeder site advertising rare "Hisuian" breeds in Sinnoh, and reading a news article about the Global Pokemon League considering full membership for the Ferrum region despite their unusual battle style.

    ''The use of augmented reality headsets and brainwave-sync tech that Ferrum is so fond of sounds interesting. Kind of like a heavily nerfed, bastardized version of telepathy.'' Lee puts his phone away and pushes through the revolving door to the Silph office. ''Maybe we can go to Ferrum after graduating from Rustboro TS and show them what a real synced pair can do, eh, Vulpix?''

    The fox yawns.

    The receptionist at the front desk looks up as Lee, Vulpix, and Grovyle approach, not even bothering to try and enforce the ''no loose pokemon'' rule she stated last time. "Hello, Mister Henson. I''ll let Mister Aarons know you''re here," she smiles, typing away at her computer.

    Lee smiles back. "Thank you."

    The wait isn''t long, as Aarons steps through the elevator and whisks Lee and his pokemon away with a smile and a handshake, leading them up the elevator and to his office.

    As Lee sits down in one of the guest chairs in the office, Grovyle opts to stand beside him while Vulpix just lazily remains on Lee''s shoulders. All three watch Aarons seat himself behind his desk with a pleased sigh.

    "Lee, thanks for coming by so quickly," Aarons smooths a non-existent wrinkle in his suit and laces his fingers together. "How are you doing today?"

    "Well enough," Lee answers, scanning the walls of Aarons'' office briefly. On the left wall is a trophy case and a framed diploma. Although the glittering trophies are too far away to read, the diploma, a degree in business awarded by the ''Castelia University of Commerce'', is just close enough to be legible. "We were using today as a sort of ''unwind'' day. Nothing planned until you emailed us."

    Aarons nods pleasantly. "I see. Even experts need a day off every now and then. It''s important to not burn out." His chair squeaks just the slightest bit as he leans back into it. "If you don''t mind me asking, Lee, what did you do before becoming a pokemon trainer?"

    Both Vulpix and Grovyle become guarded, something Aarons watches with a raised brow, but a little wave from Lee makes both pokemon calm.

    "I was an animal handler," Lee begins slowly, picking his phrases with care at Vulpix''s silent behest. "I worked with large carnivores in a zoo."

    Confusion flits across Aarons'' face but is gone again in an instant. "Sounds like an interesting profession," he smiles disarmingly and waves at someone behind Lee in the office doorway. "Why an animal handler, though?"

    ''What are you digging for?'' As sorely tempted as Lee is to ask what the point of the small talk is, he resists. "It''s rewarding work. Pokemon are filled with logical and emotional intelligence akin to and sometimes surpassing humans, so being an entry-level trainer is as easy as being friendly. Animals, though, force you to think differently, they change how you see the world." Lee smiles, a bittersweet note growing in his voice. "You can''t find success unless you''re willing to respect, understand, and grow. Without knowledge of their mindset and the ability to shift yours to match, I think you''d find even teaching a mundane canine how to sit on command maddening."

    Aarons eyes narrow slightly as he nods and looks over at his trophy case, seemingly reflecting on Lee''s words. "Interesting��" He mutters.

    Vulpix''s ears flick, making Lee turn to the office doorway just as an attractive young woman in a black dress suit walks in, a pair of steaming paper cups in hand. "For you and your guest, Mister Aarons," she says cooly.

    Aarons openly grins. "You''re a doll, Jill. They don''t pay you enough." After a moment, he adds; "That dress new? Black looks good on you."

    The woman smiles thinly. "Thank you." She says nothing else, simply setting the cups down before Lee and Aarons before leaving.

    Aarons'' reins in his expression and lifts his cup, taking a silent sip from it. "Ah, unknowable is the mind of the fairer sex, eh? I don''t suppose knowing how to train animals gives you some kind of special insight, does it?"

    Vulpix''s body temperature rises in her offense, making her unpleasantly warm, so Lee soothes her ire by letting his own discomfort bleed through to her. Outwardly, he simply replies; "No."

    A small smile rises on the blonde man''s lips. "Are you sure? Your lady friend Zinnia was awful-quick to speak on your behalf during your last visit." He shrugs his shoulders minutely. "Keep your secrets, then."

    Lee frowns as he raises his own paper cup and sips the coffee inside. ''Not bad. Rather good, actually. No way the guys in the cubicles outside are getting anything quality like this.'' He sets the cup back down. "Well, what did you do before Silph Co, Alec?"

    "I practiced law," Aarons'' smile slips when Lee smirks, and Aarons realizes he seems to have lost some game of wit. He quickly recomposes himself and continues on. "I worked under Nooj, Pauling, and Sons in Jubilife city, specializing in fraud, but that''s a boring story for another day. Let''s get on to the real reason you''re here, hmm?"

    Relieved, Lee nods and watches as Aarons withdraws a number of forms from his desk.

    "Let me tell you," Aarons extends his pointer finger at Lee. "The committee was blown away by your demo, dropped jaws in the whole room. Usually, these demos are nothing worth talking about, just a kid showing off a move their pokemon mastered to an unusual level. They get a percent or two and are sent on their way after copying, but Seed Blast and Seed Sniper?" Aaron''s smile is all too pleased. "Very much worth the investment."

    Lee raises an eyebrow. "You take move copies from�� anyone?"

    Aarons lets his smile dim, though only slightly. "We do. I''m not at liberty to say much, but the storage media used to hold the move data degrades over time, necessitating fresh copies from time to time. Silph Co is happy to offer a bit of money to young trainers for good copies. Now, for brand new moves we can be much more generous."

    "I see��" Lee nods slowly. "And you''re saying these moves developed by my team are worth only four percent?"

    The businessman''s face drops into one of regret. "I know, you should be entitled to much, much more, but even after arguing with our financial director, I couldn''t secure anything greater than four percent. If we had more to give them��"

    ''Absolutely not.'' Lee shakes his head with a sigh. "Convergence is off the table, I''m afraid. It''s a move developed exclusively for Vulpix''s use."

    "Well, you mentioned a Dark-type move you wished to show a week ago. Another demo might change some minds." Aarons offers, his smile returning. If not for the slightly amused twitch of his lips that Vulpix keys Lee in on, he might have missed the condescending air of Aaron''s smile. "When will that move be ready to be shown?"

    Grovyle''s eyes narrow, and on his shoulder, Lee feels Vulpix''s hackles rise.

    ''You motherfucker.'' Lee openly scowls. "The pokemon who knows that move is currently away," The scarred zoologist grounds out, trying vainly to put Corvisquire out of his mind for now. "He won''t be back in a reasonable timeframe."

    Aarons shrugs. "I understand, Lee. I can''t do much else without more from you. The process of TM creation is one where both parties need to bring an equal amount to the table."

    "Very well," Lee stands, drawing a raised brow from the other man. "I apologize for wasting your time."

    "You aren''t going to sign?" Aarons'' confusion becoming plain as understanding dawns on his face. "Mister Henson, I assure you that this deal is a fantastic step towards lucrative contracts with Silph Co in the future. I understand this negotiated amount isn''t exactly what you want, but-"

    ''Back to ''Mister'', and not Lee, hmm?''

    "But nothing," Lee cuts in, annoyed. "This is not just my work you''re trying to buy, but my pokemon''s work as well. Every single one of my team members is worth their weight in gold, and their efforts will be properly compensated. If you can''t offer a proper payment, then perhaps Devon can."

    Aarons'' face twitches, like he''s not sure if he wants to snarl or smile. "Mister Henson, I totally understand. I saw your matches with Roxanne, Brawly, and Wattson, and I was beyond impressed. You''re one of Hoenn''s rising stars, and you do deserve more, but my hands are tied."

    Grovyle hisses.

    Lee snorts. "Bull. I can do math, Alec. I know Silph stands to gain nearly two-million credits from the TM sales." He turns towards the door. "If we can''t get a proper share, then Devon might like the moves."

    "Yes, but!" Aarons raises a finger, making Lee pause and look back. "You need to factor things like labor, making the copies, quality assurance, shipping them to our distributors, things like that. It''s not instant-profit for Silph Co!"

    "Ok, how much of it is profit?"

    When Aarons hesitates, Lee starts walking.

    "Wait!"

    The zoologist stops and turns once more, not hiding his irritation.

    Aarons takes a deep breath and smooths out his suit once more. "If we frame this the correct way to the people upstairs��" He begins carefully. "Then perhaps I have some wiggle room."

    Lee meets Vulpix''s narrowed eyes, then Grovyle''s apathetic golds. With a sigh, he returns to his seat and sits heavily. "Don''t jerk us around on this, Aarons. The psychic fox on my shoulder can sniff out lies easily."

    Aarons finally lets a grimace cross his visage.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Brendan Birch looks between all the people around him, wondering just how he got into this mess.

    Earlier today he entered the Mauville Trick House contest hoping to win the year''s supply of pokeblocks. Even if he didn''t win, the trick house sounded like fun anyway. Or it would have been fun if a bunch of jerks didn''t cheat and sabotage all the obstacles...

    The maze was easy enough. No one said you can''t use pokemon to help you, so Marshtomp''s air-flow-sensing fins and ability to feel vibrations in the ground lead them to an exit.

    The next obstacle, several rolling logs leading through an indoor waterfall and over a pool of water was more tricky. The slick logs needed careful balance, but a woman with ridiculous red hair stood at the end laughing to herself as she rolled the logs by hand, sending a few kids into the drink below. Brendan even saw Ash Ketchum, May Maple, Max Maple, and Brock there. All of them took a spill.

    Fed up, Brendan let out Breloom, and the mushroom pokemon leaped across the entire pool of water to hold a log steady for Brendan, making the redheaded woman freak out and flee.

    The next challenges were much the same. The redheaded woman, a man with blue, shoulder-length hair, and a talking Meowth made themselves into giant pains by getting past every challenge first and fouling up everyone else.

    Each time, Brendan borrowed his pokemon''s abilities to even the odds.

    In the last room, where he burst in at the same time as Ash and his friends, a pair of trick house employees, a man and a woman, were there with a jump rope. The pair said they, the contestants, just needed to skip rope ten times to advance.

    Something seemed fishy to Brendan, so he hid Marshtomp''s small, travel-sized ball in his palm and played along. Quick as a flash, though, the pair holding the jump rope moved and tied everyone into one giant bundle. Before Ash''s Pikachu could retaliate, he was stuffed into an apparently insulated bag now held over the employee woman''s shoulder. After a few zaps failed, Pikachu resorted to fruitless struggling.

    "Let us go!" Ash struggles harder than anyone else, and Brendan winces as an elbow is driven into his side. "Just what do you think you two are doing!?"

    "Take it easy, Ash," Brock says tersely. "You''re just making the rope tighter."

    May and Max don''t chime in, but they don''t need to speak for Brendan to know how frightened they are.

    Brendan, meanwhile, remains silent. Rather than struggle, he wiggles his hand up from its place caught in the cocoon of rope, slowly working Marshtomp''s ball free. Once the mudfish pokemon is free, he can clobber these crooks and untie the rope.

    The pair smirk, and from the rafters above them, a beige form hops down.

    "Meowth!" The beige shape stands up, showing off the same Meowth helping the troublemakers from earlier. "Boy, you twerps really aren''t da brightest bulbs around, are yas?" Meowth raises a paw with a smirk.

    Recognition lights up on the faces of Ash and his friends before all four scowl.

    The pair behind Meowth both laugh. "It was almost too easy," the man exclaims in a smooth voice. "I almost feel bad, right Jessie?"

    "Indeed it was, James," The woman replies, one hand reaching down to grab the hem of her shirt and the belt of her pants. Her other hand reaches for the shades on her face and the bangs of her brown hair.

    In a dramatic flourish, both ''Jessie'' and ''James'' pull their disguises off and throw the extra clothes and wigs into the air, showing off a shared white uniform emblazoned with a red R underneath.

    "Team Rocket!" Ash yells accusingly.

    Brendan stiffens. "Team Rocket?"

    The Birch heir knows about the old crime syndicate, one Kanto police still struggle with to this day. Pokemon theft and trafficking, smuggling, money laundering, anything they could do, they did. Rumors of their leader, a shadowy man said to be an Elite level trainer, grow larger every time they''re told.

    What makes Brendan so wary of the Rockets however is not this scheme or the stories he''s heard��

    ��It''s how Lee speaks of them with open hatred.

    Team Rocket only came up in conversation on the road twice before, but Lee''s distaste for the criminals is so powerful that his Vulpix had to calm him lest he devolve into a tirade. Knowing the man after weeks of traveling together, Brendan had no idea Lee even had the capacity to hate. He spits the name Team Rocket like the words coat his mouth with poison, calling them pathetic thieves, terrorists, cowards who break up families for profit.

    "These three have a fascination with Pikachu," Brock explains to Brendan, his brow furrowing. "They''re slippery too. No matter how many times we send them packing, they find us again."

    Brendan blinks. "This is a regular thing?''"

    "Ha!" Meowth laughs. "Yous makin'' me blush, twerp. Ain''t no jailhouse that can hold Team Rocket!"

    Brendan scowls. "I won''t let you get away," he wiggles Marshtomp''s ball with more urgency. "All three of you are as good as busted once we get out of here. As a Hoenn Lab Trainer, I''m not letting you go!"

    "Aren''t you just adorable," Jessie comments dryly. "It''s been fun, truly," Jessie titters haughtily with her hand held in front of her mouth. "But the time for tricks is over, and the time for us to get this treat to the Boss is now!" She shakes the bag with Pikachu in it, making the mouse pokemon cry out and squirm.

    "Ta-ta, twerps," James smirks. "Someone will find you here before long!" The three turn towards the door leading to the exit of the Trick House, leisurely strolling away as the trainers left in the rope bindings struggle.

    Brendan grunts and tries to push Marshtomp''s ball out faster. "C''mon��"

    "...You''re not going anywhere." A cold voice says.

    Team Rocket all yelp as one and jump back when a plume of lava smashes into the top of the doorframe they were just about to walk through. The lava hisses and bubbles, dribbling down until it covers the whole doorway in glowing, cooling rock.

    Brendan whips his head around.

    There, standing in the doorway from the last obstacle is a woman beside an enormous pokemon.

    The pokemon, a Camerupt, resembles a ''camel'' that Lee told Brendan about with its humps replaced by miniature, rocky volcanoes giving it a height of six and a half feet tall. Both volcanoes gurgle with molten rock and plumes of smoke. The pokemon''s shaggy hide is a rusty red in color, covering everything but its brown muzzle and large, cloven hooves. Its body is built more like an elephant than a camel, with a large body and short, muscular legs. The pokemon snorts, releasing wisps of black smoke from its nostrils.

    To the Fire camel''s side is a young woman, one who draws Brendan''s attention more than the Camerupt.

    The woman is youthful, in the same nebulous teen to young adult age that Zinnia is, but her stoic expression would be right at home on someone thrice her age. She''s clad in a red, pullover hoodie with a small flame decal in the middle of her chest, and a black-and-red skirt that comes down to her thighs. On her feet are simple black and white high-top sneakers. Her magenta eyes, the same color as her neck-length hair, are dull and bored, observing Team Rocket like one might an interesting bug from the shade of her large hood.

    Just looking at her makes the hairs on Brendan''s neck stand up. It''s the same feeling he gets when Zinnia breaks out into a feral, violent grin, or when Lee''s face darkens.

    This woman is dangerous.

    "J-Just who might you be?!" Jessie pulls a pokeball from her belt nervously, voicing the unspoken question from the equally unsettled James and Meowth.

    The mystery woman tilts her head back, looking down at them. "...Courtney is my name. Don''t worry about that, though." She raises a hand and Camerupt snorts another plume of acrid, black smoke. "Do you surrender?"

    Jessie grits her teeth. "Seviper, go!" She lets the ball in her hand fly.

    "You too, Cacnea!" James pulls a pokeball from his pocket and tosses it.

    In a pair of flashes, the snake and cactus pokemon materialize before the Rocket members.

    Seviper hisses menacingly, mouth open to show off his huge, poison-dripping fangs as he brandishes his bladed tail.

    Cacnea, being much smaller, looks at the massive Fire-type across the room with fear in his beady eyes. Nevertheless, he holds up his spiny arms threateningly.

    Courtney expresses no disappointment, fear, or even eagerness. There''s nothing. "You''ve chosen poorly," she mutters, letting her hand fall.

    Camerupt bellows and charges, thundering the whole way.

 Act 1: Logs 4

    Nigel Birch settles into his office chair, wiping sweat from his brow. It''s been a hot one today under the Hoenn sun, and helping his aides with a young Magby in the middle of a temper tantrum certainly didn''t help things.

    The regional professor ignores the stack of paperwork on his desk and jiggles the mouse of his computer, waking the machine up. Just as he does so, he sees that there is a new email waiting in his inbox.

    New mail from: [email protected]</a>

    "Ha, it''s about time." Birch grins and opens the email, finding several audio and document files attached. He clicks on the first audio log and leans back into his chair.

    <hr>

    "Log seventeen, day seventy."

    "The last few days have been a whirlwind of ups and downs. Just as you wanted, professor, I spoke to that therapist, Mable, yesterday. She''s good at what she does. I won''t go into detail because I know that''s not what these logs are for, but I think things will work out with her help�� Thank you for pushing me, Nigel. I don''t think I would have voluntarily gone myself."

    There''s a pause in the recording, followed by a sigh.

    "The most important bit I think is�� my Corvisquire ran away."

    Nigel blinks. ''What?''

    "I came clean about everything to my pokemon sans Shinx. Grovyle accepted what I said and swore to take the secrets to his grave. I''m still thanking my lucky stars for that. Corvisquire eventually followed suit, saying he would keep everything to himself as well. He even gave me permission to give him a proper physical so long as it was just he and I in a secluded location. Why he wanted this, I can make several guesses, many too ghastly to say. I know I shouldn''t be assuming the worst, but��"

    "After making it to Mauville, he and I went out into the woods for his physical and he took off without any warning. I figured that he was simply scouting the area to make sure there were no prying eyes, but seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours, and he was nowhere to be found."

    "I''ve�� I''ve contacted the Rangers and put up a notice online to try and find him, but Corvi is smart. He won''t be found unless he wants to be found. I don''t really understand it. I''m sure he knows that he only needs to ask, and I would release him. He was approaching evolution, only weeks away. Is that why? Were we only a means to an end?"

    Nigel pauses the recording. In the faint reflection of his computer monitor, he can see that his own face is troubled. A pokemon that knows is loose. A pokemon intelligent and determined enough to find a way to communicate one-to-one with humans should he wish.

    Before going any further, Nigel writes a reminder on a sticky note in all capital letters and sticks it to his desk phone.

    ''CALL RANGERS ASAP TO UPGRADE LEE CORVI CASE''

    Note written, he returns back to his computer.

    "Grovyle and Vulpix netted us a win against Wattson. His Jolteon, a beautiful example of her species, was obviously on her way to her elder years, but she put up a monstrous fight. Jolteon was by far the fastest combatant we''ve ever had to face, beating out the Absol we faced in Dewford. Not only was she fast, but she could also turn on a dime as well, instantly halting her momentum and then accelerating back to top speed in a single step. I can''t imagine the sort of strain it must''ve put on her ankles. If not for one of Grovyle''s new moves, Seed Blast, injuring one of her legs, I think we would''ve been up shit creek."

    "I�� may have lost my temper slightly when Wattson pulled a Baton Pass trick with Jolteon, swapping in his Magneton, who then got the Agility stat-boost Jolteon cast a moment ago. Magneton took out Grovyle, and it stung. I sent Vulpix in and we wasted no time pulling out all the stops. After two or three Flamethrower attacks, Magneton was down for the count. Even with an injured leg, however, Jolteon proved to be just a little too fast to nail, so I pulled out another trick."

    "I fueled Vulpix''s attack with my own stamina."

    Nigel sighs and leans back into his cozy office chair, becoming resigned to the fact that every time he views these logs from his lab trainer, there''s going to be something worthy of a migraine.

    "The little connection between Vulpix and I, I seized it and pulled it deeper within myself, deeper than it''s ever been before. I can''t accurately describe the sensation of doing so, as I think there just aren''t words for it, but I took that little psychic line from Vulpix and jacked it directly into my own stamina. The resulting flamethrower was unreal. It was more like an orange-white beam than a stream of flames, and it was so fast that Jolteon was taken out before she could dodge, winning the challenge and landing us a Dynamo badge."

    "It felt like I''d run a marathon in the span of two seconds after that little stunt. The sensation was so strange, as every part of me was equally tired, not just my arms or legs. Vulpix was furious that I took the risk, but after the day we had, I wasn''t about to leave the gym empty-handed."

    "I have more, but to be perfectly honest, I''m exhausted. I''m recording this in the bathroom of our hotel room in the middle of the night so I don''t disturb Brendan or the pokemon. Lee, out."

    <hr>

    "Log eighteen, day seventy-three."

    "I meant to put this out on day seventy-one, but I was knee-deep in research, perhaps to distract myself."

    "Anyway, onto my team. Shinx weighs a little more every day, and for that, I''m so thankful. She''s also growing up as well as out, which is precisely what I wanted in this critical stage of her development. With any luck, she''ll be healthy and of normal size by the time her evolution rolls around, however long it takes. For now, her formula mix remains unchanged since it''s doing exactly what I intended."

    "I''ve continued with the various corrective measures I mentioned in my last log, including helping Shinx stretch her limbs and massaging various muscle groups, but it looks like I won''t have to do that for much longer. She''s graduated from stumbling around it to being able to sprint like a professional runner even if it leaves her tuckered out. Her playfulness is an encouraging sign and I''ve been taking the time between work and training to play with her when I can."

    "Her milk teeth are growing in, so she''s been eager to gnaw anything and everything. Although this has resulted in some hotel chair legs being chewed up, I''m still happy to see it as it gives me a roadmap for weaning her off of her bottle. As the teeth continue growing in, I''ll be monitoring her to determine a proper path going forward. The weaning process will likely begin in the next few weeks."

    "Finally, I''ve begun testing her electrical output. Shinx is slowly beginning to grasp English, and being the smart girl she is, quickly learned how to output electricity on command. Her total output at the time of this recording is a few notches below a stun gun. Startling and rather painful, but nothing that would incapacitate someone let alone another pokemon. Her battling days, assuming she wants to battle, are still some weeks if not months off."

    "Not much to say regarding Grovyle. He''s pushing himself as hard as he ever was and continues to grow at a prodigious rate. His strength, speed, stamina, control, and sheer instinct for combat are rising with no ceiling in sight."

    "He''s mastered his two new moves, Seed Sniper and Seed Blast, to such an incredible extent that I felt confident enough to present them to Sliph Co. as demo material for TMs. I''ll be sure to include notes on his moves along with other conceptual techniques with these logs. Anyway, he wowed the demo team and I think we''ve cinched it. Call me greedy, but I''m going to try and wheedle out a bit more payment from Silph for the TMs should they take it. I think the hard work of my pokemon deserves a proper payment. Just 4% before the patenting fees? Kiss my ass."

    "Vulpix is in much the same boat as Grovyle. She''s growing at a steady rate. Her pyrokinesis is growing more and more complex and I don''t think it will be much longer before some of the more outlandish techniques still in the conceptual phase for her begin to become a reality. Physically, her growth is slowly beginning to plateau. I''m certain it''s of no fault of her own, but rather she''s just beginning to approach the physical limits of her small body. Not to say that she is a pushover by any means. As I noted in some previous logs, she''s strong enough to pull me right off of my feet and she can probably drag me as dead weight without much of an issue. This is a very rough guesstimate so they don''t have the appropriate tools on hand, but I wouldn''t be surprised if she could drag a thousand plus pounds of dead weight."

    "On the more mental side of things, her telepathy is now to a level that''s rather clear. I haven''t any idea if this is proficiency in identifying underlying emotions on my end, but the ''tone'' in her ''words'' is getting easier to identify without her having to manually include a burst of emotion. Something curious I''ve noted is how her clarity increases the closer in proximity our heads are. If she''s sitting on my shoulder with our heads almost touching, she is clear enough that I need only a moment to decipher the garbled parts of what she is trying to say. If she''s on the other side of the room, then her meaning is a bit more unclear."

    "After a bit of testing, I can safely conclude that the range and clarity of the telepathy are dependent on distance and materials between her and I. Telepathic communication across a field of say, fifty feet, is easier than telepathy through a several-inch-thick stone wall with only twenty or so feet of total distance. This leads me to believe that this psychic connection does exist in the physical plane rather than somewhere more esoteric. I''ll have to research that a little bit more."

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    "That''s about it for this one. Lee, out."

    <hr>

    "Log nineteen, day eighty."

    "I met with Mable again a few days ago. My last session with her was�� Emotionally charged, to say the least. I poured a lot of things out, and she offered advice. This time it was much more sedate. She said not to let unpleasant times control me, and I''m doing my best to follow that advice. Corvisquire�� He''s still not back, and as I expected, no one has seen hide nor hair of him. Rather than focus on him, I''ve been trying my best to put my time towards the things that are productive. Brendan and Zinnia have been helpful in that regard. Ah, I didn''t mention it in my last log, but I did tell both of them that I am seeing an expert. I didn''t mention any sensitive details, just that I''ve been going through some things."

    "At first, I didn''t want to burden Brendan with the knowledge that an adult in his life is mentally unwell, but now I don''t regret it. I have to say, Nigel, you really hit a homerun with a son like Brendan. He doesn''t pry, he doesn''t joke, he just supports. He''s definitely more emotionally mature than I was at twelve years old. If I ever have kids, I hope they turn out like him."

    A smile warms the face of Professor Birch.

    "Zinnia and I still butt heads every so often, and I think that we''re always going to. It''s just part of who she is to be abrasive, but she''s been very understanding regarding this situation so far. I can''t help but get the feeling that she and I are more alike than expected, even if our pasts are so different. I''m curious, but she ceased digging into my past after I revealed it was sensitive and I''ll extend the same courtesy to her."

    "There have been no significant breakthroughs with my team, it''s just been business as usual. Train, rest, play. We''ve been in Mauville a bit longer than usual waiting for�� Well, I think you know what we are waiting for, but so far nothing. I think we''ll be moving on before long. In this lull, I''ve been taking the time to research a couple of various projects and whatnot."

    "I''ve modified the diets of my team a bit. While the general mixture is much the same, I''ve taken to adding paper-thin slices of Sitrus Berry to each meal. Thankfully, it looks like the enzymes in the berry responsible for their absolutely miraculous cellular rejuvenation don''t degrade when mixed with other food. I still maintain that these berries are some sort of literal godsend, Nigel. I wasn''t joking when I said Oran would be a miracle food back home. Now, Sitrus? People would start wars over Sitrus, and I can say that with zero exaggeration."

    "Either way, I''m using these properties to encourage rapid rejuvenation of muscle fibers and bones damaged during training for enhanced natural growth. If the few studies I was able to find on the subject are correct, then Sitrus should also facilitate the repair of damaged neural synapses and encourage the formation of new synapses in response to new skills and experiences. Sitrus is commonly seen as a restorative simply because of how rapid the effects of eating a single fruit are, so this approach should promote an even, gradual release of the super enzyme in my team. I''m hoping that by playing a long, conservative game here while my team are still in their formative years, we can min-max and push the ceiling of their powers to the highest that can be reasonably attained."

    "That''s not a bad idea at all��" Birch murmurs, rubbing his chin. "Huh. That gives me an idea for a study of my own. Now, where to find places with pokemon around natural Sitrus groves? I might have to see about a permit to enter a reserve."

    "I''ve also taken the time to meditate on what exactly I''m wanting to do after this run of the Hoenn gym circuit. The Rustboro Trainer School accepted me into their university-level courses and I''ll begin my attendance next year. There, I plan on majoring in either pokemon nutrition or psychology. After that, I''ll probably take up a position with the League, buy a house with a plot of land for my pokemon, and who knows from there? Hard to say. None of this is set in concrete yet, so maybe I''ll take a different major or go on another journey. I heard Sinnoh in winter is beautiful, and although I''m getting used to the tropical weather of Hoenn, life in the U.S. north-east made me accustomed to mild weather year-round."

    "Now that I think about it, maybe I''ll take nutrition or psychology as a minor study rather than a major. I''ve been digging deep into the topic of Infinity Energy here recently."

    The Hoenn Professor leans forward.

    "I''m not sure if RTS offers any courses relating to Infinity Energy, but the more I learn the more fascinated I become. I guess Devon Corp coined the term, but it''s also known as aura in some small religious circles and just pokemon ''lifeforce'' or ''stamina'' to the layperson, aka the fuel for pokemon moves."

    "In my efforts to build a diverse arsenal of moves for my team, I keep having to research different ways for pokemon to build and mold different types of Type Energy, and all the sources I keep finding can''t seem to agree on how Type Energy, or TE is generated. The most common theory seems to be that pokemon generate ''stamina'' or Infinity Energy in some sort of poorly understood biological process, then the IE is then consumed by the cells of the pokemon which then spit out Type Energy. At first, I wanted to scoff at this, because every single study explicitly stated that the Infinity Energy is consumed and destroyed in its entirety by the cells of the pokemon, then the overblown mitochondria of the pokemon produce the TE."

    "Then I remembered pokeballs."

    "So obviously you know how pokeballs have been used for centuries, right? To the average person, it just looks like the pokemon shrinks and is sucked inside the ball, and they really don''t give it any more thought than that. They really don''t need to if it works, right? Professor Laventon, a Galarian researcher known for his work in Sinnoh well over a century ago, accidentally perpetuated that myth. To me, though, that makes no sense. Where does the extra mass of the pokemon go if that is the case? Why doesn''t a pokeball containing a Wailord weigh countless tons?"

    "How early apricorn pokeballs, which for all intents and purposes were colorful coconuts, accomplished the absolutely mind-bending feat of converting matter to energy, and vice versa, I have no idea. I''m not even going to get into the storage and encoding of information into pure energy. That can wait for another day."

    "I guess to people used to living with pokemon, that''s kind of mundane in comparison. To me, though? I�� guess I always knew that was the case in a peripheral sort of sense, but seeing one-to-one matter to energy conversion being casually glossed over in official academic texts really just�� I don''t know. It just messed with me. I could rant and rave about the seemingly inconsistent development of tech over the years, but I''ll spare you that."

    "Back home, there are a pair of ironclad rules in science. Normally it''s laughable to call anything in science ''ironclad'', but these rules have stood the test of time. There are some exceptions, but by ''exception'', I mean theoreticals that require the energy output of the sun in order to create a small handful of useful matter. These two rules are known as the law of conservation of mass and law of conservation of energy. I know I''m going on a tangent here, just humor me."

    "Both of these rules state that in a closed system, both energy and mass cannot be created or lost, they can only change their respective forms. Pokeballs just laugh in the face of this."

    "The conversion of a full flesh and blood creature into a collection of pure massless energy that can be stored inside of a capsule the size of a baseball, only then to be restored back to matter again absolutely would not work in the model of science I was raised on. I did check. The weight of a pokeball doesn''t change regardless of the presence of a pokemon inside of it or not."

    "Then I ran into a few other things that made me think. According to most official sources, the generation of Type Energy is a process tied to the biology of the pokemon in question. It''s dependent on the mitochondria within the cells to create the energy, which then is transformed into the pokemon move. It''s again here that we can observe the energy-to-matter effect, as some moves create matter, like Watergun or Rock Tomb."

    "Where are you going with this, Lee?" Birch wonders aloud. Nonetheless, he pays rapt attention.

    "I''m of the opinion that the generation of TE is not a process locked to biology. It''s well-known that a pokemon can learn moves outside of its usual repertoire with the aid of a parent''s genes, and this is used to explain why a pokemon might know a move that they shouldn''t. I have a theory, though, based on my observations of past studies. All the different sources and reference material I can find regarding Infinity Energy insist that it is, in fact, an energy. What if it''s not? In this world, physics allows conversion of energy to matter and vice versa with an efficiency I would normally call impossible, so we already have proof of that, so what if IE is a matter produced by the bodies of pokemon that emulates the nebulous nature of TE? Or what if IE is an undefined substance existing between the states of matter and energy? Shit, anything is possible."

    "I began pondering this after realizing that Grovyle shouldn''t be able to learn Feint Attack. According to the current model, the Treecko line should have little to no ability to learn Dark moves. They can sometimes learn Pursuit naturally if they have a Dark-Typed grandparent, and a Treecko knowing Crunch as an egg move is rare, but not unheard of, but Feint Attack is not in the roster of even the most trained Sceptile. Yet, Vulpix taught the technique to Grovyle even if it took weeks�� None of us even knew that limitation existed. According to the current model, what we did was impossible."

    "So, I don''t think the generation of Type Energy is constrained by biology at all, and that all TE might be available to any pokemon who learns how to properly shape their IE. I did look at the studies, and while different pokemon of the same type share genetic markers indicating a predisposition for a move type in the mitochondria of their cells, I think this has resulted in a false correlation and thus the setting of artificial limits on pokemon."

    "Again, just a theory of mine, but I''m going to be studying it. I think Infinity Energy itself is not a fuel totally different from TE, but rather the starting state of the TE. Perhaps IE and its relation to TE is more akin to chemistry, where the pokemon induces a purposeful instability in the IE, which is the universal starting point, and the resulting TE is a useful decay product. The TE might even decay further, directed by the pokemon into an excited, volatile state for an energy attack, or converted into mass for a physical one. Considering the TE can end up being either mass or energy, it lends a little bit of credit to IE being it''s own ''in between'' state, I think. I''m hoping the more I learn of IE, TE, and the relationship between them, the better I can understand things like Vulpix''s pyrokinesis and telepathy. Surely she must be creating and manipulating Fire and Psychic TE for both."

    "I''m just scratching the surface here, so I don''t expect any of this to be right, but I hope it''s a step in the right direction. I''ve already got some tests in mind, but�� Man, I know this is going to require a lot of expensive equipment�� I''ll be researching here and there, but I doubt I''ll begin in earnest until I begin university. That''s all for this one. Lee, out."

    <hr>

    As the last audio file ends, Birch doesn''t bother to look at the attached documents right away. Instead, he stands and slowly paces around his office, mind abuzz with the musings of his lab trainer. Mass and energy can be created, it can change shape, and it can be annihilated by both pokemon and modern technology. How strange that on Lee''s bizarro earth, some of the tech people enjoy, pokeballs chief among them, just�� wouldn''t work. The ideas presented in the last log are messy, but novel, and they make a startling amount of sense for being pure speculation.

    ''Once more, the perspective of an outsider is worth its weight in gold.'' Birch bites his lip and glances back to his PC. ''If Lee''s theory is even the least bit true�� This''ll be a massive upset to the scientific community.'' The professor sits back down and moves the logs to an encrypted file squirreled away deep in his computer. ''Sense sharing, stamina sharing, missing pokemon, alien theorems on Infinity Energy, this is getting to be too much. These things Lee is getting up to�� He''s going to cause a paradigm shift before long, and all I can do is hope the world is ready��''

 Act 1: Finale

    "Seviper, Poison Tail!" The red-headed Rocket, Jesse orders. Her face locks into a determined scowl. "Make it hurt!"

    "Use Growth, Cacnea!" James'' expression is one of caution, and maybe even worry to Brendan.

    Brendan analyzes the opening moves Jessie and James use as a counter to the Camerupt charging at them like a runaway truck. It''s a smart two-on-one opening, having the mightier of the pair attack while the weaker one buffs up. With his Grass-typing, Cacnea will need all the strength he can muster to face a fully-evolved Fire-type like Camerupt, and any time Seviper can buy is precious.

    With a deep hiss and menacing brandish of his bladed tail, Team Rocket''s Seviper coils like a spring-loaded trap and waits for the charging Camerupt to get in range. The vicious red edge on the end of his tail shivers with pent-up violence.

    Cacnea, meanwhile, bounces behind his snake comrade on his short, stubby legs. Once out of harm''s way, the cactus pokemon glows a faint green as he draws on the dormant Grass energy in his body to strengthen himself.

    Camerupt''s eyes narrow, but the huge Fire/Ground hybrid continues his charge. Just as Camerupt comes within range of Seviper, Brendan notices it.

    Camerupt was already moving to dodge the instant an attack was called. The camel pokemon adjusted his steps as soon as Seviper bared his tail, now charging at the space just to the right of the snake.

    Seviper hisses and brings down his tail like the hammer of a gun, going from poised to striking in nary a second.

    In reply, Camerupt just leans to his right the slightest amount and the tail passes by with only an inch to spare, slamming into the ground like a guillotine. A few red hairs from Camerupt''s hide flutter down to the floor, shorn off by Poison Tail. The sheer economy of movement that such a large pokemon can bring to bear leaves Brendan stunned for a moment.

    Brendan isn''t the only one surprised by Seviper''s miss. The snake pokemon''s trainer, Jesse, seems just as dumbfounded that a giant target like Camerupt dodged a point-blank strike.

    On the other end of the impromptu battleground, Courtney''s face remains neutral, as if the outcome of the first strike was never in doubt. "Headbutt."

    Now beside the wide-eyed Seviper, Camerupt stomps to a stop and rams his head into Seviper with devilish speed, the sort a beast his size shouldn''t have, making a wince-inducing crack as their skulls meet.

    Seviper is thrown across the room from the force of the blow, flying through the air as limp as a wet noodle. Droplets of blood trail his new head wound, then they splatter as Seviper hits the ground and rolls, landing in a tangled, unconscious heap.

    "Seviper?!" Jesse''s voice is shrill in alarm. "Seviper! Get up!"

    The snake lets out a low, groaning hiss, but remains down.

    "Wha?" Ash blinks, drawing Brendan''s attention. "Camerupt beat Seviper in just one hit?"

    "Is it really that surprising?" Brendan asks, wiggling the fingers holding Mashtomp''s ball under the rope binding still holding himself, Ash, and Ash''s friends in place. With just one push, Marshtomp could be released to back up the mysterious woman and her Camerupt, but he holds off to see where the battle will go. "I doubt pokemon belonging to criminals are going to be in top shape."

    "Jesse and James aren''t the best trainers," Ash concedes, "But they and their pokemon aren''t pushovers either. They''ve nearly had us more times than I care to count."

    Beside him, May groans. "I''m starting to rethink this whole ''pokemon journey'' thing."

    Ash just grins sheepishly.

    Back in the battle, the other Rocket, James, seems to realize how dire things are becoming. He looks at Camerupt with something akin to fear, his face paling. "Cacnea! Stay on Camerupt''s side and use Poison Sting!"

    Cacnea bounds into action, circling the Fire/Ground-type that just floored his ally. The cactus pokemon raises his thorny arms, the spines lining the limbs glowing brightly. Then from the spines shoots a wave of sickly purple needles, all flying at Camerupt''s wide flank.

    Once more, neither Courtney nor Camerupt seem concerned by the attack. The red-clad woman leans her head back slightly, almost as if she''s looking down on the Rockets. "Heatwave."

    Camerupt''s volcano humps boil and churn with molten rock, and all at once, the entire room becomes unbearably warm, slowly drying out Brendan''s eyes and throat. The air around Camerupt wavers and hisses, the pokemon within looking like a mirage to the naked eye.

    As Cacnea''s Poison Sting needles fly through the scorching hot air at Camerupt, they simply burst into flames and disintegrate, falling short of peppering their target by a mere foot. As the last needle turns to ash, the temperature drops back down, the room now noticeably drier.

    Again, Brendan finds himself astounded. ''Camerupt didn''t need any extra instructions to use Heatwave as a defensive move, and he measured the energy needed for Heatwave perfectly. How did Courtney do it? Some kind of gesture I didn''t see? Did they plan a maneuver like that out in advance?''

    Cacnea''s brow creases in worry and he looks back to a stunned James for instructions. A fatal mistake that both Courtney and Camerupt ruthlessly jump upon.

    "Flamethrower."

    The camel pokemon draws in a deep breath, then from his mouth pours a tight gout of blazing orange flames.

    The Flamethrower crosses the distance to Cacnea so fast the poor Grass-type has no time to even raise his arms in defense, even if such a defense would be worth nothing. The fire splashes around Cacnea''s small, round form with such intensity that James hops backward with a yelp, nearly brushed by the attack.

    As Flamethrower ends, Cacnea reels back, covered in blackened, savage burns. He sways and falls to the ground, unconscious and overloaded from pain.

    "Both Seviper and Cacnea went down in just one attack," Brendan hears Max remark with surprise.

    Looking between the downed Cacnea and Seviper, then to the shocked Jesse and James, Meowth audibly gulps. "Uh, guys?" He looks up at his human partners. "Gettin'' zapped is one ting, but I don''t think I wanna get char-broiled by Camerupt here��"

    "Me neither��" James quietly agrees.

    "Same here��" Jesse tightens her hold over the sack holding Pikachu, who has since gone still at the sound of fighting. As one, Jesse and James recall their pokemon into their pokeballs and stand tensely. Meowth turns and looks at the door they were going to use as an escape, finding Camerupt''s lava has cooled into solid, smoking rock.

    So now the only exit is behind the trainer of the mammoth Camerupt.

    Camerupt snorts, blowing twin plumes of black smoke from his nostrils as he impatiently taps a hoof on the ground, making the Team Rocket trio cringe and take a collective step back.

    Behind Camerupt, Courtney regards the trio with the same dead expression she''s worn for the entire short fight. Her eyes turn to the bag over Jesse''s shoulder. "Put the Pikachu down�� And surrender. You can''t win." She finally says, her voice halting and oddly cadenced.

    Jesse''s trepidation is traded for a red face of indignant anger, but her partner is quick to place a hand on her shoulder and frantically shake his head no. With a sigh, Jesse slowly begins to lower the bag holding Pikachu��

    But Brendan notices James reaching into his back pocket for something, and rather than let the Rocket get away with whatever he has planned, Brendan pushes Marshtomp''s ball free.

    The pokeball pops out between Brendan''s body and the ropes and splits open in a flash of light as it hits the ground, letting a furious Marshtomp out. The mudfish pokemon opens his mouth and unleashes an enraged bellow, one so loud that all three Rockets jump, startled. The bag holding Pikachu slips from Jesse''s fingers in her surprise.

    "Marshtomp!" Brendan barks. "Stop the blue-haired one! He''s reaching for something!"

    Marshtomp needs no other instruction and rushes forward like a wild-eyed, speeding train, his footsteps thundering on the concrete floor.

    James stiffens and goes ghost-white as he yanks a small black orb from his pocket. "These Rockets aren''t blasting off today, thank you!" He says, throwing the orb against the ground with a crack.

    Thick black smoke erupts from the apparent smoke bomb, quickly filling the room with an acrid haze and drowning everyone''s sight in darkness.

    Brendan, Ash, May, Max, and Brock all break out into a coughing fit, having no way to cover their mouths and noses with their limbs still bound. After a minute of teary-eyed choking, the smoke begins to dissipate.

    Blinking through his red, irritated eyes, Brendan looks around and curses under his breath when he sees no Team Rocket. ''Aw man. I can''t believe I let them get away. I should have let Marshtomp out earlier��'' He watches his pokemon grumble, probably thinking the same thing. Marshtomp isn''t bothered for long as he walks up to the bag where Pikachu is contained. Rather than untie it, Marshtomp just rips off the knot holding the bag closed with a loud tearing sound, letting Pikachu pop his head out.

    The electric mouse looks around, his ears folding back. "Pika��" Ash''s pokemon says dejectedly.

    Marshtomp just waves off whatever Pikachu said with an uncaring don''t worry about it croak.

    "Got away again��" Ash frowns slightly, unintentionally mirroring Brendan. "Team Rocket is such a pain sometimes."

    Brock nods. "They''ve been getting craftier too."

    "This ropeburn I''m getting is an even bigger pain than those clowns," May complains with a groan, theatrically struggling as she does so. "Pikachu? Marshtomp? Please let us out."

    Pikachu and Marshtomp share a look, then smile. As a pair, they start towards their trainers.

    "Here. Let me."

    The bundle of tied-up trainers all look up as one as the mysterious woman, Courtney, leisurely walks her way up to them with her Camerupt at her side.

    With the fighting now over, Camerupt''s humps have stopped smoking, and his sharp, alert eyes have fallen into an aloof sort of dullness. It''s the same look most people would find on a Numel or a Camerupt, but after seeing the pokemon in action, Brendan already knows it''s an act.

    Courtney reaches out and gives the knot holding the rope together around the group a pull, slowly shimmying one length of rope past another and loosening the binds. As she works, she turns her half-lidded eyes to Ash. "Those three��" She begins. "You''ve fought them before?"

    Ash nods and hangs his head with obvious frustration. "Yeah, they''re a bunch of pokemon thieves! Pikachu beat them once and they''ve been obsessed with him ever since."

    From his place atop Marshtomp''s head, Pikachu sighs and slumps his shoulders right along with his trainer.

    "Hmm��" Courtney hums to herself, then she turns her eyes to Brendan.

    Unable to squirm in discomfort with the ropes still around him, all the Birch heir can do is stare back as the woman''s piercing eyes cut into him like scalpels. Thankfully, it ends as quickly as it started, as the magenta-haired woman pulls the final part of the knot free, letting the ropes around the group go limp and fall to the floor. As one, everyone steps away from each other into a loose circle, some rubbing chaffed arms.

    Max fixes his lopsided glasses and looks at Courtney. "Thanks for the save, miss. Team Rocket would have gotten away with Pikachu if you didn''t come in."

    Courtney''s stony face finally breaks and reveals a tiny, almost nonexistent smile. "No thanks needed. But��" She once more looks at Brendan. "Brendan had�� his Marshtomp ready. He would have saved you if we didn''t."

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Camerupt snorts.

    Brendan can''t help but blink in surprise ''She noticed? And she knows my name?'' He clears his throat. "Well, that doesn''t change the fact you and your Camerupt sent those creeps packing, so thanks anyway."

    Courtney''s smile grows a little more. "I''ve actually been looking for you, Brendan Birch."

    "Me?" Brendan spares a glance down at Marshtomp as the mudfish pokemon takes the spot to his trainer''s right. "Why''s that?"

    "You''re one of Hoenn''s rising stars, and son of the man who could have been champion." Courtney nods. "You''re going to go far in this world, Brendan, and I have something I want to ask of you��"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "The guy was a lawyer?" Zinnia smirks, weaving around a slower pedestrian in the dense foot traffic of downtown Mauville. "That makes way too much sense."

    "Exactly what I was thinking," Lee nods. "After a lot of back and forth, we finally got him to agree to five percent and to file both of the patent applications as just one rather than separately, so we only have one fee."

    After fearsome debate with his new account manager within Silph Co, one Alec Aarons, Lee finally compromised on a number that left neither him nor Aarons happy. The negotiations took the better part of an hour and resulted in more than one patent form crumpled up and tossed in the trash. The shell that is Aarons'' pleasant demeanor was beginning to wear thin near the end, this Lee is sure of. The businessman let a single lock of his slicked blonde hair slip free, and although his smile remained nearly unflappable, Aarons'' eyes would flit between something violent and a plea to give up.

    Lee gave no quarter. The work of his team would be rewarded properly.

    Once ink was set to paper, they went down to the lab portion of the building to copy the move and left. Grovyle returned himself to his ball shortly afterward, leaving Lee and Vulpix to wander to a street corner ice cream stand. The frozen treat did quite a bit to soothe the former zoo keeper''s fouled mood. Vulpix''s delight at trying and subsequently loving a peach-flavored scoop fixed his day in a hurry after that.

    ''Maybe Mable was onto something with this whole ''treat yourself sometimes'' thing.''

    The dragon tamer fixes her crimson eyes on Lee, bemused. "They can do that and just choose not to?" She asks, sounding vaguely disgusted. "That''s thousands of credits out of the patent holder''s pocket though."

    Lee shrugs, lifting the placid fox on his shoulders up and down. "I don''t know if it''s somehow less work filing the patents separately or if they have to eat some kind of cost now, but it''s some kind of corporate nonsense."

    Zinnia rolls her eyes. "So what happened after that? How did they actually copy the moves off of lizardman?"

    "In the basement of the building, they had this��" Lee pauses. ''I don''t actually know how to describe it,'' he thinks, recalling the wall-sized machine not unlike the vintage supercomputers of yesteryear back on earth. "Gigantic computer-looking thing taking up an entire wall. All they needed Grovyle to do was wear this headband with electrodes in it connected to the machine and just think about the moves. Five minutes later, we were on our way out."

    "That''s kinda boring," Zinnia muses, unknowingly using the same words Lee did as he left the Silph Co office.

    "A bit, yeah��" Lee nods along. "How did your tournament go?"

    Zinnia sighs. "Barely a challenge. Swablu handled the bulk of them and Goomy got a few battles in. Shelgon swept the semis and finals, netting me a neat three-thousand."

    "See any interesting pokemon?"

    The draconid tribeswoman taps her chin with a finger. "There were a few. The guy I fought in the semis had a Scolipede."

    Lee feels his eyes widen. "A fully evolved three-stage pokemon in a small local tourney?" He tries to picture the massive centipede pokemon in its eight-foot-tall glory, but the image in his head doesn''t seem to do it justice.

    "Yep!" Zinnia pops the p in yep. "He was a one trick Ponyta, though, only using Poison Sting into Venoshock. He gave everyone else a one-two punch knockout, but Scolipede dropped like a sack of rocks after Shelgon hit him with Rollout and followed up with Flamethrower." Zinnia slumps. "The money is nice, but I wish someone had put up more of a fight."

    "Erm��" Lee awkwardly puts a hand on her shoulder. "You always have mine and Brendan''s teams to spar against."

    "I guess��" She grumbles before straightening up, making Lee withdraw his hand. "So, we''re heading north tomorrow, huh? Which route are we taking?"

    "I wanted to discuss that with you and Brendan, actually."

    Zinnia nods, her expression firming up. "The northernmost part of Hoenn is pretty treacherous. The closer you get to Mount Chimney, the harsher it is to navigate. I think we should really plan this out and prepare, maybe even stop by a store for more gear. We''ve had it nice and easy with the flat plains and forests so far."

    Lee looks at her, and he can feel Vulpix''s curiosity as well. "Is it really that bad?"

    The tanned woman nods seriously. "The Draconid Tribe have strongholds throughout northern Hoenn, and that''s where I grew up. Trust me when I say we need to be ready for this, because it could take weeks to get to Lavaridge Town, and both routes have their own dangers. This leg of the journey is really going to test you and Brendan, Lee."

    Lee notes how Zinnia referred to him and Brendan by their real names, and not any dumb nicknames. "Right��" He hums. "We''ll start planning tonight then."

    Zinnia nods, sending him a sidelong glance. "You don''t want to wait any longer?"

    "If Corvi comes back, then he comes back and I''ll be overjoyed," Lee replies, forcing his tone to be neutral. Nearly two weeks after Corvisquire ran away, it still stings. "If not, then that''s his choice."

    Vulpix shifts, nosing his cheek in a silent display of comfort.

    Zinnia says nothing more on the topic. "When did shrimpy say he was heading this way?"

    "Just a few minutes ago," Lee pulls his phone from his jacket pocket before unlocking it and taking another gander at his recent texts.

    Brendan: (2:22pm) Trick house was a bust some other kid won and some cheaters threw everything out of wack. Coming back with a new friend. We''re gunna stop (HERE) if you want to meet us.

    "Said he''s bringing a friend too."

    "Does he mean a pokemon or another person?" Zinnia asks, then she smirks once more. "Oh, what if shrimpy is bringing a girl? You better hope Birch gave his kid the talk or that might fall to you~!" She giggles and pokes Lee''s ribs.

    "Yeah, nah. The professor will be down a lab trainer if he puts that evil on me," Lee shoots back. "Doesn''t say if it''s a new pokemon or not," Lee drops the phone back in his pocket. "We''ll see."

    The pair of trainers and single pokemon continue their walk for several minutes, slowly leaving the bustling, skyscraper-boasting downtown to a more sedate urban market area. Rounding a corner, they find a colorful corner store where Brendan asked them to meet at.

    Stepping through the automatic glass doors with Zinnia only a half-step behind, Lee perks up as he hears a familiar voice.

    "Man it''s hot outside��" Brendan complains from two aisles over by a soda fountain. The rows of junk food obscure the boy, but the voice is unmistakable. "I think a slushie would hit the spot. Do you want one?"

    Another voice replies, this one quiet and female. "No thank you," says the soft voice of a woman.

    Lee can feel Zinnia''s amused smile without even turning. "Not a word."

    "I didn''t say anything~" Zinnia almost laughs.

    They circle around the aisle, both Lee and Zinnia pausing for a second to take in Brendan''s new friend.

    Standing a few inches taller than the young Birch is a woman in her late teens. Her large red hoodie covers much of her form, and her hands are resting in the hoodie''s pockets, hiding them from view. Her hood is pulled up, but the zoologist and dragon tamer can still make out a gentle, placid face with pink hair and eyes of the same color. A red shoulder bag rests slung across her body, and her skirt and shoes are unremarkable, but��

    ''I''m getting the weirdest feeling I''ve seen this girl before��'' Lee blinks. That thought is immediately followed by; ''Brendan why are you letting a strange woman follow you around? If you need either a stranger danger talk or the talk I swear to God I''m going to have a stroke.''

    The unknown woman takes notice of Lee and Zinnia first, watching them with a raised brow as Brendan finishes filling a soft drink cup with his slushie.

    Brendan caps his treat and sticks a straw in with a smile. His smile grows as he turns and spies Lee and Zinnia. "Hey! About time you got here." He pauses to take a sip from the cup in his hand and looks over at his new ''friend''. "Guys, meet Courtney," he says, raising a hand to the now named Courtney, who just nods politely. "I met May Maple and her friends at the Trick House, and apparently they were being stalked by a pair of Team Rocket thugs."

    Lee feels his breath hitch, not questioning why the name Courtney seems familiar right now. "And you got involved?" He asks sharply.

    Smile falling, Brendan laughs nervously. "Ah, maybe? It''s fine, though! Courtney and her Camerupt sent them running like the babies they are!"

    "Camerupt, huh?" Zinnia gives Courtney an appraising look, and Courtney returns the stare coolly. "You a trainer then?"

    The red-clad woman nods. "I am."

    When she doesn''t elaborate further, Zinnia pushes more. "Really? What kind of pokemon have you got, and what''s your motivation? Looking to hit the gyms?"

    "Zinnia��" Brendan frowns. "You''re being nosy again."

    "It''s okay Brendan��" Courtney raises a hand to halt him. She looks back to Zinnia. "I have Camerupt, Swellow, and Mightyena. My motivations?" She glances away, the barest hints of a smile on her face. "We just need to be strong for someone precious to me."

    "That''s a more noble reason to be a trainer than most," Lee smiles, hoping to smooth over Zinnia''s less-than-stellar first impression. "Three fully evolved pokemon, huh?" Lee wonders aloud. "You must be a talented trainer."

    The pink-headed woman shakes her head. "My pokemon and I are formidable to any who care to judge, but we''ve a lot to learn. That''s actually why I am here." As she speaks at length, odd halts make themselves apparent in her speech, as if she''s not used to speaking more than a few words at a time.

    Yet another thing that is so strangely familiar, but Lee can''t put his finger on just who this woman is.

    "If you are Zinnia," Courtney glances over to the frowning draconid. "Then you must be Lee, the leader of the group," she finishes, turning to Lee.

    The scarred man blinks. ''Leader?''

    ''Yo* fit t*e part,'' Vulpix''s dull amusement bleeds over to Lee.

    ''Hardly,'' He inwardly scoffs. "I''m not really the leader, the other two are just too lazy to make decisions."

    Courtney shrugs. "You''re still the one in charge then." She then politely bows at the waist towards him. "I''ve heard of you and Brendan being expert trainers, and I would like to know if you would permit me to travel with you."

    "Huh?" Is Lee''s intelligent reply.

    The pink-eyed woman raises her head, looking at him intensely. "I would like to travel with you as a learning experience, if you''ll let me. I have the funds and skill to pull my weight, and I''m willing to see hardship through."

    "C''mon Lee!" Brendan vouches with a grin. "You shoulda seen her Camerupt in action! I''m sure there''s tons we can learn from each other on the road. The more the merrier, right?"

    "Not necessarily��" Zinnia gives Courtney a stare that borders on accusatory. "We don''t know anything about this chick. You could be anyone for all we know."

    ''A good point��'' Lee looks at Courtney to see how she''ll respond.

    The woman shakes her head. "I''m not a danger to you. To another group, maybe, but I''m aware of the talent around me. I know my team and I would lose should we come to blows."

    "Didn''t you kinda force your way into mine and Lee''s group anyway, Zinnia?" Brendan asks with a raised brow. "At least she''s asking, and politely at that."

    Zinnia opens her mouth to respond, a finger raised to make a point, but after several seconds, she withdraws her hand and glowers at Brendan. Then she sniffs and looks away. "Fine. Do what you want."

    ''She gave up rather easily.''

    Brendan also seems bewildered by the dragon tamer''s refusal to argue further, but he shakes it off. "So, what do you say, Lee?" He asks, smiling.

    ''I say. "I want to know where I''ve seen this woman before"��'' He looks over to the vixen resting across his shoulders. ''Thoughts, love?''

    Vulpix mulls to herself. ''We''re m*ving into d*ngerous terr*tory come tomor*ow. More ha*ds and eyes c*uld be useful.'' Then she adds; ''I w**ld not trust in*tantly, howeve*.''

    ''Same thing with Zinnia then. Does the protection offered justify the risk of letting a powerful unknown hang around? She did save Brendan from the Rockets, which is a talk we are definitely having later,'' Lee sighs. He turns his attention to the eager grin on Brendan''s face, and despite some part of him warning him this is a bad idea, Lee says; "If you would like to come, Courtney, then we''ll have you as long as there''s no funny business."

    Courtney smiles thinly once more and inclines her head. "Thank you."

    The young Birch laughs, a joyful sound. "Told ya Lee is a cool guy," he says, looking up at Courtney.

    "We''re starting our trek north towards Lavaridge tomorrow, though, and the road isn''t a fun one," Lee begins, leveling the red-wearing woman with an even stare. "Are you prepared for that?"

    She just nods. "I''m acquainted with routes 111 and 122."

    "Well��" Lee scratches the back of his head. "Nothing left to do but get ready for tomorrow then."

    Beside him, Zinnia nods, her temper now apparently cooled off. "Hey, shrimpy. Take your girlfriend and pay for your drink. Lee and I got something to discuss."

    As Brendan blusters out a denial with his cheeks pink, Zinnia turns and heads for the front of the store, stopping only to turn her head and urge Lee to follow with her narrowed eyes.

    Outside the store, the draconid tribeswoman grabs Lee''s collar and drags him down roughly to whisper in his ear so no one passing by can hear. "Whatever you do, don''t freak out." she begins, slow and serious. "That woman, Courtney? She''s a Magma affiliate."

    That''s why her name and face are so familiar. The swiftly fading memories of the Pokemon Ruby remake slams back into Lee''s brain like a strike from a hammer, and he just screws his eyes shut as a headache forms. Lee isn''t sure if the thrill of alarm he feels is from himself or Vulpix, and frankly he doesn''t care.

    ''I wish I was still back in the forest getting zapped by Shinx.''

    "Dare I ask how you know that?" Lee grimaces, keeping his voice down.

    Zinnia''s face screws itself up into a snarl. "I think Magma and Aqua are up to no good, no good on a scale that might endanger my tribe, so I was going to sneak in to see what they were up to. A few payments to the right brokers, and I had dossiers on some key members. That bitch is one of Magma''s admins."

    With a long-suffering sigh, Lee can already guess where this is going. "You quit putting up a fight over her joining for a reason, didn''t you?"

    Zinnia blinks in surprise. "Er, yeah." She shakes it off. "I think this is a perfect opportunity to slowly pump one of these admins for info. I have no idea what she wants or why she decided to seek us out and play innocent, but I know an opportunity when I see one." She looks around Lee''s frame back into the store, what she''s looking at, he''s unsure. "We could nip all this in the bud from the Magma side."

    "And why, pray tell, can''t we just lead her to the police?" Lee asks with a sigh. "We keep doing this shit over and over where we risk our lives when there are professionals to handle things. I''m getting tired of it."

    The tanned woman shakes her head. "Lee, the police would be stupidly outgunned by an admin of a criminal syndicate smart enough to lay this low for this long. You can''t just talk the talk in the criminal world, you have to be able to walk the walk too, so her pokemon have to be strong with a capital S. If she gets violent, then that''s a big problem in a populated area like Mauville."

    "And so the alternative here is?"

    "Keep your friends close��" Zinnia''s face darkens. "And keep your enemies closer. If she''s here with us, then she''s not helping Magma or causing trouble."

    "Damn it��" Lee growls, frustration mounting. "Damn it!"

    Zinnia lets go of his collar, letting Lee stand straight and cross his arms. "I know, Dolittle��" her voice is quiet in sympathy. She reaches out to pat him on the arm. "But either three capable trainers handle this��"

    "...Or it gets passed off to someone else who can''t��" Lee hisses through his teeth. "I don''t like it."

    "I don''t either, Dolittle," Zinnia murmurs. "I don''t either. People with power have gotta do the right thing though, and with our pokemon, we are those people."

    Lee sighs once more, silently hating how much sense Zinnia is making.

    On his shoulder, Vulpix finally speaks up after having been silent for the entire conversation. ''Lee,'' she begins, pressing her head into the crook of his neck. The curly tuft of fur on her head tickles his cheek, and reassurance ''Do wh*t you f*el is rig*t. Grovyle and I w*ll follow.''

    Lee reaches up and gently strokes Vulpix''s head. "Fine. I guess we''re playing babysitter for a criminal."

    END ACT 1

 Act 2: Chapter 1

    Rookidee bounces across the lavish sitting room table impatiently, waiting for his master to ready himself for the day. They''ll be exploring the mansion grounds to find pokemon to battle, and after so many weeks of solo training, Rookidee is ready to pit himself against another in glorious combat in the name of his master.

    �� Well, sort of. His master''s father, The Lord of the Manor, is coordinating a grand event in the background. The ''wild'' pokemon are actually all in the care of the manor''s servants, and each pokemon has been given instructions to provide only a light challenge for the young master and Rookidee. If one were being entirely truthful, this is more a confidence-building exercise than a glorious gauntlet that the Galarian nobility of old would traverse as a coming-of-age.

    Not that Rookidee minds, however. Any period spent with the young master is time well spent.

    A sound like a great, harrumphing cough pauses Rookidee''s pacing. The raven chick bounds over to the side of the table and peers down.

    There, gazing up at him with droopy eyes is Stoutland, the Lord of the Manor''s First and Most Faithful. The eyes of the great dog pokemon are just as droopy as the blonde fur upon his chops, which forms a long and majestic mustache.

    Perhaps "majestic" isn''t quite the correct word, but it''s the one Stoutland insists upon, so Rookidee will acquiesce. His respect for the prestigious station Stoutland holds as Lord of the Manor''s First and Most Faithful demands it.

    "Pace not upon furniture within this parlor," Stoutland''s tone is sharp and criticizing despite his rug-like countenance. "It would do you well to not mar the table with razor claws and impatience when there exists a perfectly fine floor below you."

    "I assure you that mine talons will only tear into those who would challenge the young master," Rookidee''s tone is even, but he bows his head and turns his eyes away...surreptitiously checking to see if his claws had indeed left any marks in the richly colored wood.

    Stoutland harrumphs once more, a deep sound that reverberates across the painting-adorned walls. "Then perhaps learn patience. The young master shan''t be long."

    Rookidee bows his head again, not replying and thus not inviting retort.

    It takes ten and five minutes more, but the doors to the sitting room slowly swing inward on soundless, oiled hinges. From the entrance steps the young master and his father, Lord of the Manor. The young master is still dressed smartly in his school uniform, though his tie is loosened.

    Without much of a thought, Rookidee flutters from the table to his master''s shoulder. Leaning down, he takes the tie in his beak and gives it a short tug, returning it to a proper, pristine noblesse.

    "Oh, Rook, must you?" The young master complains. The sparkle in his eyes is all humor, however. A thin, fair hand rises so a finger can stroke Rookidee across the bottom of his beak, and the raven chick savors the contact. "The tie is perhaps the worst bit of the academy attire. I feel as if whoever conceived this uniform must have been a hangman in a life prior."

    The Lord of the Manor allows a thin smile to grace his angular features as he watches. "Come now, my son. It is the duty of the First and Most Faithful to care for their master. Spurn not his dedication, even in jest," he says, putting a hand on the boy''s unoccupied shoulder.

    Rookidee can''t help but puff up in pride at the words of his Lord.

    He would see to the young master''s every need without fail! That''s what a human''s First and Most Faithful does.

    ...Nay, that''s what any good pokemon does.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    With a start, Corvisquire awakens. He blinks his blurry eyes and takes the sight of the foliage around him. With a glance down, he confirms where he is, finding rough bark instead of finely polished wood, or the scratchy shoulder of an academy uniform.

    Mauville Central Park, perched high in a tree and hidden from prying eyes.

    With a beak-cracking yawn, the raven stretches his wings, working out kinks and warding away the pins and needles of sleeping in the wild. For a moment, he debates scavenging a breakfast for himself, but his stomach still feels full from the night prior. With nothing to do, he takes flight and lands on the edge of a building overlooking the streets closest to the park.

    Standing high above the land-bound crawlers below on his perch of brick and mortar, Corvisquire surveys the city of Mauville with a narrow eye, taking in the people and pokemon below. He recognizes none of them, and for that, he''s thankful. He''s been blessedly alone since Swablu''s singular visit.

    ''I''ve lingered here long enough,'' he muses to himself, thinking of the prior night''s dinner of greasy, stolen stromboli that still sits heavily in his stomach. The more human garbage he stuffs down his gullet, the less appealing it becomes. ''Greener pastures are quite literally green in this case.''

    He goes to spread his wings but hesitates. Again he looks down, and again he spies no one of note. With a huff, his wings shoot out before he springs into the air with a mighty flap. Beneath him, the ground falls away at a pace anyone else would find alarming, but to a Flying-type such as he, it''s practically leisurely.

    As he levels off high in the sky, he banks to the west, lazily riding a thermal of warm air rising from the city below up to the edge of the clouds. When his thermal putters out, he glides back down until he reaches yet another thermal, where he starts the cycle anew, flying slowly with barely a single flap of his wings.

    Hours pass as the land below slowly passes him by and the sun gradually climbs to beat down upon Hoenn relentlessly. With his metallic feathers hot and his stomach growling, Corvisquire looks down, spying a human town much smaller than Mauville. The greenery surrounding the artificial oasis is encroaching on the edges, unlike the conquering city of Mauville.

    ''Verdanturf town?'' Corvisquire wonders to himself, recalling the map L - the human would show everyone before they hit the wild trails. ''A town renowned for its clean air and integration with nature. The wind patterns keep it clear of ash despite its proximity to Mt. Chimney. Or so the map blurb said.'' The avian shrugs to himself. ''Not important. If it''s so clean, then perhaps I might finally stumble upon something lacking the taste of grease to eat.''

    His mind made up, Corvisquire partially tucks his wings and descends in a sharply angled glide.

    The town below is even more quaint than expected, with the largest building being the tall, four-story pokemon center. The people and pokemon milling about below are ignored, however, as Corvisquire banks to the south and soars mere feet above the treetops. Peering downward, he looks for bright colors in the rushing sea of green, a telltale sign of fruit to enjoy.

    There! A succulent purple!

    Corvisquire folds his wings to his sides and dives down, nimbly twisting around several tree limbs before snapping his metallic blue wings open a foot away from the ground, halting his descent. He smiles at what he finds.

    A large, full bush of Bluk berries. The beautifully purple sweets gently wobble in the breeze on their branches, almost begging to be eaten.

    "Well well, don''t mind if I do," Corvisquire purrs, hopping forward and snagging a berry in his beak. The force breaks the skin of the delicate fruit, dribbling sweet violet juice down the raven''s throat. Wasting no more time, he bites down and savors the flavor dancing across his tongue.

    "Ahem!"

    The sweetness coating his mouth stays Corvisquire''s anger at being rudely interrupted, so rather than snarl, he turns with a grunt. "Ah, rabble. Wonderful..." He sighs.

    On the branches of the trees around Corvisquire are perched countless Taillow, all of whom glare down at him with no small amount of displeasure. At their center a puffed-up male sucks in a breath that makes his breast feathers swell even further. "This grove belongs to our flock and has been our territory for generations. You best get going before something bad happens, outsider," he spits.

    Corvisquire sneers back, his own feathers ruffling in agitation. "Such bravado for such a thin-feathered, runty fledgling. Tell me, were you the last to hatch amongst your brood? You certainly sound like you were oxygen-starved as a chick. Or perhaps your oaf mother cracked your shell with her fat rear and let an infection permanently addle your already small brain? Begone and waste someone else''s time, dullard."

    The young Taillow reels back at the vitriol, then grits his beak as he flushes so red in anger that the color bleeds through his feathers. "Y-You! You stupid thief! I''ll make you regret that!" He says nothing else, diving at Corvisquire with his talons bared and murder in his eyes.

    ''How dreadfully slow,'' Corvisquire watches Taillow close the distance between them without alarm. ''If Queen Furball and the Treehugger were good for anything, at least they were decent sparring partners.''

    At the last second, Corvisquire powers up a Steel Wing and holds it before him like a broad shield, digging his talons into the dirt to steady himself. A moment later, Taillow crashes into the raven''s wing and painfully rebounds with a sound like a gong.

    Taillow flops to the ground with a wheezing gasp, winded. Before the tiny bird can stand, Corvisquire swings his wing around like a battering ram and slams it into Taillow, making the smaller bird breathlessly cry out in pain as he''s thrown tumbling through the air towards a distant tree with almost no arc to his flight. With a thud that makes the surrounding flock flinch, the young Taillow smacks his skull on the unforgiving tree trunk and falls once more to the dirt, dead to the world.

    Chuckling deep in his throat, Corvisquire haughtily stares up into the infuriated flock, drinking in their uncertainty and slowly mounting dread like one might a fine wine. "Just a single strike and the mouthy brat falls. Truly, an outstanding display of defense for an ancestral feeding ground," he mocks. "Do I have any other challengers? I''ve nowhere to be other than this bush enjoying a meal. And I do so enjoy working up a proper appetite before eating."

    The countless glowers sent his way bother Corvisquire none. He answers them with a malicious smile, openly inviting them to try where their friend failed.

    From the leaves above, a large form zips down and lands before Corvisquire with a flutter of sleek wings.

    Corvisquire takes in the newcomer with a raised brow. "Oh? A Swellow?"

    Standing before the raven is a larger bird pokemon than the nervous, agitated Taillow up in the trees. She shares the same coloration with the Taillow, with a red face and breast, white underbelly, and dark blue back, wings, and tail. The Swellow differs from her fellows only in size, being two feet tall to the one of the various Taillow, and possessing a backswept fringe of feathers on her head. Corvisquire might have found her fetching if her unmarred coat of feathers didn''t announce her weakness like a wailing siren.

    "Matriarch Swellow is here!" One Taillow hollers in excitement, hopping in place. "She''s going to put this thief in his place!" The rest of the flock needs no other encouragement and breaks out into cheers, broken only by jeers hurled at Corvisquire.

    Swellow raises her head higher, and at some unseen signal, the noisy flock quiets into total silence. Swellow then levels Corvisquire with an even stare. "This land is the territory of my flock." Her voice is hard, yet matronly. "Why are you here?"

    "Why am I here?" Corvisquire guffaws. "A flock of fools picks a blind leader. The jokes write themselves these days. Why else would I be here?"

    Corvisquire smiles nastily. "I''m taking this grove."

    Swellow''s eyes narrow. "It belongs to us."

    "Duly noted and disregarded." The raven steps closer, looming over Swellow. He''s easily a foot taller than she is, perhaps a little more. "What sort of stratagem do you have for me? Will you meet me one-on-one? Pile upon me with the bodies of your compatriots? It matters not, but please, do try your best."

    Despite Corvisquire being well above her weight class, Swellow''s stare remains unimpressed. After a long moment, she says; "I know your sort. You''re too large, too groomed to be wild. You belong to a trainer."

    Corvisquire sees red.

    Swellow doesn''t flinch when Corvisquire''s beak snaps shut scant inches from her eye with a sharp clack!

    "You''re playing a dangerous game, Swellow," the raven hisses in her ear, his hateful red eye boring into Swellow''s calm hazel. "I will warn you no more on that matter."

    Undaunted, Swellow continues. "You stand three heads taller than I and felled one of our own with a single blow," she says, looking up at him boldly. "I will not posture when the conclusion is already foregone. This is our home and we love it, so I will ask you to leave us in peace."

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Corvisquire hacks out a harsh laugh and draws his head back. "Ask? Ask? You would presume to ask me?" He turns his back on Swellow, strutting up to the Bluk bush and plucking off another berry. He twirls on his foot and eats the berry in one slow, taunting bite.

    To his annoyance, Swellow is unruffled by his disrespect.

    "Yes, yes I would," she declares, stepping closer until she and Corvisquire are nearly abreast once more. "This grove and the ones adjacent feed my flock. We''ve lived here for generations and cared for this land as if it were family. You may eat your fill, but then please be gone."

    Corvisquire chuckles. "My my, today has been a humorous one. You go from asking me to leave to bargaining that quickly? And what is this may nonsense? You can only broker from a position of power, you ignorant little Pidgey. No, either you have the power to defend what you claim to love, or you will forfeit it. That is how this world works. Now..." The raven steps closer, calling upon the latent power within him and pushing.

    With a hiss of writhing, caustic Dark, a wreath of five Pursuers is born over his head like a cadre of spirits. Each black orb shivers in barely restrained violence, and several of the surrounding Taillow tense.

    "Let''s see how much you love this grove of yours," Corvisquire grins as his heart begins to race in anticipation of the impending fight. "Step forward so I can break you."

    Swellow narrows her eyes and spreads her wings...

    ...Then flies up to a high branch, no combat stance to be seen.

    Befuddled, Corvisquire furrows his brow and waits.

    "Everyone..." Swellow''s voice is quiet and apologetic. "We''re leaving."

    Protests erupt from every Taillow, falling together into a nonsensical din that makes a headache bloom in Corvisquire''s skull. The raven is too dumbstruck to shout above the noise, however.

    ''Leaving? What? What does she mean by that?''

    Swellow opens her beak and releases a single, authoritative screech, silencing the grove. "I will have no arguments on this matter..." She cranes her head from one side to the other slowly, taking the time to meet each and every set of eyes on her. "Verdanturf well and truly earned the ''verdant'' in its name. I and the prior Patriarch knew such a day would come, so we prepared. A new home awaits us."

    "But Matriarch..." A young female Taillow asks from nearby, her face heartbroken. "T-this is where I was hatched. This is where most of the flock were hatched! We''re just going to give it up to some bully without a fight?!" The Taillow asks, anguished.

    Swellow turns her eyes away. "The safety of the flock is paramount..." she forces out. "I will not send you all into, what is the human term? I will not send any of you into the meat grinder that is a trained pokemon in a foolhardy attempt to preserve our pride or bushes of food." She raises her head again, voice stern and commanding. "We will gather in Verdanturf, then I will take everyone to our new home. Scouts! Gather the wider flock. Everyone else, go. Now."

    For a moment, none of the Taillow seem to believe their ears, but then one reluctantly spreads his wings and flies away. Then another. Soon the trees are empty and the sound of many pairs of wings beating the air fades, leaving Corvisquire and Swellow alone.

    Corvisquire stares at Swellow, slowly processing what happened. "Wha..." He blinks as his Pursuers fizzle out into swirls of dark mist. "That''s it? You''re going to run away?" He asks, a terrible, hot sensation blooming in his breast. "You''re just going to run away!?" He screeches.

    Swellow peers down at Corvisquire coolly. "You wish to take the grove, and I agreed to give it," she clicks her tongue. "You''re upset that you have what you want?"

    "You''re supposed to fight for it!" Corvisquire roars, the rage inside of him growing to volcanic proportions in an instant. His breath is fast, his head is hot, and he sees red bleeding into the corners of his vision. "You''re supposed to fight me, you damned Pidgey, not run away! You''re the worst sort! You''re a coward! A coward who can''t do anything because you''re too weak! Did you even bother trying to grow stronger when you know you have such things on the line?!" He spreads his wings and tries to form another volley of Pursuers, but with this focus so scrambled, he can only spark impotently with crackles of violet energy.

    Swellow''s composure finally cracks as she leans back, a disturbed expression crossing her face. "I know two things for certain, you sad thing: I know my limits, and I know nothing can last forever."

    Corvisquire''s answer is a cackle, one that makes Swellow''s skin crawl. "So you admit it? You''re a coward and a weakling." He glares up at the smaller avian with pure HATE.

    Swellow spreads her wings, but before she takes off, she mutters one last reply. "Sometimes, nothing can be done. Like all who wish to live without regret, I''ve come to peace with that."

    Corvisquire freezes, not pursuing as Swellow grows smaller and smaller in the sky. His eyes follow her, but he''s looking past her.

    "The medication isn''t working. Nothing can be done."

    "The proper technology just isn''t there yet. Nothing can be done."

    "I''m sorry. Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "You can''t do anything."

    Corvisquire screams.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    When the haze of inarticulate anger finally begins to drain, leaving Corvisquire weary and aching, the sun is past noon and on its way into the evening. In his first conscious decision the whole afternoon, he pauses and surveys the grove.

    Or what''s left of it.

    In his rage, multiple trees have been felled as if a twister blew through the area. Not a single trunk isn''t covered in burns, rends, cuts, and drill marks. The places he unleashed Pursuers are obvious, as the greenery is dead and decaying, leaves reduced to withered brown husks. The delicious bush of Bluk berries is gone, and in its place is a crater wide enough for Crovisquire to lay beak-to-tailfeather. The ground is little more than blackened and turned dirt.

    With a huff, Corvisquire turns to the afternoon sun. "A whole day gone by, and only two bites of Bluk for my troubles," he grumbles in tandem with his stomach, which is now a yawning void in his middle. From hunger or something else, he isn''t sure anymore.

    He raises his head when he hears bushes shaking in the distance. A scowl returns to his face and his sour mood grips him with even more might.

    Only a human would walk towards such bedlam.

    Sure enough, a young boy unsurely emerges from the brush only to stop and gape at the destruction around him. "Wha...?" He begins, looking around with open fright.

    The boy is a skinny waif of a child. With his gangly limbs, pale skin, and unkempt green hair, he looks as delicate as a sheet of wet paper. His eyes, a plain gray, finally land on Corvisquire.

    The raven frowns. "What are you looking at, boy?"

    Corvisquire''s harsh tone makes the child flinch and recoil. "A-Ah? Did you do all this?" He asks, looking around at the carnage with wide, disbelieving eyes.

    Rather than answer, Corvisquire draws back a shining wing, readying a path for his Swift that will nearly brush the boy and hopefully scare him off.

    The boy''s eyes widen so far that it''s a wonder they don''t pop out of his head, and Corvisquire can pinpoint the moment the green-headed child''s life starts to flash before his eyes.

    "Wally! Wwwaallllly! Wait for me!"

    Corvisquire holds his attack, turning his red eyes to the bush behind the child.

    From the underbrush bursts a tiny Ralts, trundling along on his short legs, legs far too short to keep pace with a human. Ralts gasps, looking at Corvisquire and the leveled clearing with no small amount of fear. "W-What happened here?" He asks, covering his mouth with his hands.

    "What is it with everyone''s fixation with obvious, asinine questions today?" Corvisquire''s patience hits its limit, so he modifies Swift''s flight path in his head to strike Ralts and sweeps his wing with a grunt, shooting five weak Swift stars no larger than coins.

    The boy, Wally, reaches out with one hand as the other clutches his chest. "R-Ralts! Block it with Confusion!" He gasps out.

    The panicking Ralts holds his hands up and screws his eyes shut, a thin semi-circle of pink telekinetic force blinking into being just in time to block the first Swift star. Another strike, and Ralts grits his teeth. Another and his Confusion falters. The final two stars smash through his defense and explode against Ralts with bone-rattling pops, throwing him to the ground where he lays prone, wisps of smoke rising from his battered form.

    Wally wheezes. "R-Ralts..." He gasps again, making Corvisquire raise an eyebrow. "Ralts... Please get up," he pleads, sucking down another desperate breath as his already pale face loses what little color it has. "W-We need to run... Uncle was r-right, it''s not safe outside of t-town."

    With a moan of pain, Ralts slowly gets back to his feet, standing with a heavy wobble and unfocused eyes.

    Corvisquire sighs. "Today really is an exercise in frustration," he murmurs, raising a shining golden wing again. "Begone, I have no interest in a pair of weaklings like yourse-"

    Before he can finish his sentence, Wally falters, then falls to the ground in a heap on his back, clutching at something in his breast pocket with clumsy, nerveless fingers. His chest is heaving so quickly that it''s almost like-

    Corvisquire banishes the thought before it can form.

    "Wally!" Ralts forgets all about the battle and the Swift burns adorning his chest as he rushes to his trainer''s side. "Wally?! What''s wrong?! Oh no, oh no!" Ralts frets, his voice warbling and eyes glistening. He turns to Corvisquire, face pleading. "Please! I need your help! I-I need to get him back to town! I don''t know what''s wrong with him!"

    Corvisquire tilts his head, hardening his heart. "Are you listening to yourself, you little fool?" He mocks. "You''re asking a pokemon you were fighting but ten seconds ago for help. In what world does that make sense to you?"

    "Please! I''ll do anything! Anything!" Ralts begs, tears beginning to pour down his cheeks. "Wally is my trainer and I love him! I don''t want him to die!"

    "I love him."

    "I don''t want him to die."

    "I love him."

    "I don''t want him to die."

    "I love him."

    "I don''t want him to die."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "There must have been something I could''ve done!"

    Images flash by Corvisquire''s eyes, and as though in a trance, he marches up to Ralts'' side. "His condition. What''s it called?"

    Ralts'' teary face snaps to look up at Corvisquire. "W-What?"

    "The boy''s ailment, fool!" The raven barks, making Ralts flinch. "What is it? What''s the name?"

    "I-I-I don''t know!" Ralts cries and flinches away when Corvisquire glares down at him with barely-contained fury. "Wally came to Verdanturf because his lungs are bad, and living in the city was making him sick. I don''t know what it''s called!"

    With a click of his tongue, Corvisquire pushes away his disgust at touching a human for just a second and grasps the boy''s wrist with a set of talons. The instant Corvisquire confirms his suspicions, he steps back as if burned. "Tachycardia with a regular rhythm, shallow hyperventilation..." He looks at Wally''s pale face, noting the boy''s wide eyes looking at him without really realizing what he''s looking at. A glance at the boy''s lips confirms that they''re gradually turning a worrying blue. "Oxygen isn''t getting to where it should be. This looks like a stress-induced asthma attack." He looks over to Ralts. "Does he carry some sort of medication? Like an inhaler?"

    "I-Inhaler?"

    Corvisquire growls. "Are you the boy''s pokemon or not?!" He demands, once more making Ralts cringe and bow his head. "You should know these things! I''m talking about a small, plastic apparatus with an aerosol canister sized to fit in a hand."

    "His shirt pocket!" Ralts answers instantly. "Wally keeps that thing in his shirt pocket!"

    With no finesse, the raven bites the breast pocket on the child''s shirt and rips it open without regard for the button keeping it closed. Sure enough, inside is an inhaler. He takes it in his beak and tosses it to Ralts, who fumbles and nearly drops it. "Take the cap off the end and hold it to his mouth. Press down on the aerosol canister as he''s breathing in to administer the medicine. Quickly, now!"

    Ralts wastes no time in doing as ordered, rushing to Wally''s side. "Don''t worry Wally, j-just hang on!" He pleads, shakily holding the inhaler to the boy''s mouth and depressing the canister. A puff of white gas is shot down Wally''s throat and almost immediately the green-headed boy breathes a bit deeper.

    In his confusion, Wally tries to weakly resist with a distressed gasp, but Corvisquire clasps the young trainer''s wrist in his talons once more, this time pinning him to the ground. The raven looks over to Ralts. "Again."

    The Psychic-type obeys immediately, puffing another dose into Wally''s mouth as he breathes in again. After a tense ten or so seconds, Wally''s breaths begin to deepen and color starts to return to his face.

    Corvisquire watches silently, tracking Wally''s eyes as the glazed look in them begins to fade. "Fool."

    Ralts turns to look at the raven, rubbing at his puffy, teary eyes as he does so.

    "Stay with the boy. He''ll recover over the next few minutes." Corvisquire spreads his wings. "Cherish what you have while you can. That naive happiness of yours will run out soon, mark my words."

    Without looking back, Corvisquire rises up and into the sky, his thoughts in disarray.

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "There must have been something I could''ve done!"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "So this Courtney lady is no good?"

    "Try and keep your voice down," Grovyle hisses to Marshtomp. The Gecko pokemon looks over his shoulder to the trio of nearby trainers, each one looking down at a picnic table with a paper map spread across it. Brendan and Zinnia argue animatedly over differing routes while a stoic Courtney watches the bickering.

    Lee, along with Vulpix, are away for a last-minute, early-morning meeting with Doctor Lanes. Considering the harsh route and probable two-to-three-week walk ahead of the group, Grovyle can''t help but applaud his master''s initiative, though anything that speeds Lee''s recovery is something Grovyle will support.

    His thoughts return to the matter at hand as he lets his yellow-eyed gaze wander, taking in the small groups everyone''s various teams have divided up into. The hotel grounds where everyone stayed their final night in Mauville is a regular circus of pokemon, one passersby can''t help but slow down to observe. With so much attention fixed on the more boisterous of Grovyle''s fellows, no one noticed him quietly gather Marshtomp and Shelgon for a private conversation.

    One far away from Courtney and her pokemon.

    "Zinnia hasn''t told me much." Shelgon''s voice has a metallic timbre inside his shell. The encased dragon looks between Marshtomp and Grovyle. "We did room with Courtney last night, however, so Zinnia was likely being cautious. Considering her hotheaded nature..."

    Marshtomp laughs. "A Dragon calling someone else a hothead? You see somethin'' new every day," he grins widely, then sobers up. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense that your girl is treating this so seriously. Don''t wanna tip your hand early, or that''s how Brendan phrases it." He gives Grovyle a sidelong glance and crosses his muscular arms, drumming his thick fingers on his bicep. "Did Lee call my boy''s dad about this yet?"

    Grovyle nods, shifting his twig in his mouth; he''s going to need a new one soon, at this rate. "Last night. Professor Birch was understandably cagy when details came to light but understood in the end. We have only my master and Zinnia''s word on Courtney''s true allegiances, and while we know they can be trusted on word alone..."

    "The Pokemon League will want ''proof.''" Shelgon finishes with an annoyed grunt. He paws the grass in irritation. "Stupid humans and their stupid rules. This would be so much simpler if humans would trust their instincts properly. None of this bureaucratic nonsense is needed, you just dispose of bad eggs before they ruin the clutch."

    Marshtomp shrugs. "Would you not have trusted her from the get-go? I mean, she seems kinda creepy, but not bad to me," he asks, playing devil''s advocate.

    Shelgon snorts. "That''s because your sort can barely tell mud and water apart."

    The mudfish scowls, a vein bulging in his forehead. "What is that supposed to mean?"

    "Enough, please. Let''s return to important matters here." Grovyle sighs and raises his claws between Marshtomp and Shelgon before they can level the area over a disagreement. "We need to be wary and ready to act at the first sign of foul play. According to my master, Courtney presents a very real and significant threat due to her status within Magma and the prowess of her team. Zinnia and my master are going to try and pump her for information during our travels, and in a best-case scenario, convince her that Magma''s mission is demented. Until she is gone or neutralized, we need to be ready at all times." Grovyle pauses to rub the Miracle Seed woven into his neckerchief, feeling the vibrant life energy within. His master insists the Grass-boosting trinket should be kept close at hand from now on. "Are we in agreement?"

    Shelgon rumbles in thought. "I''ll not be passing this information to Goomy." He declares. "He has enough on his plate. Zinnia''s upcoming acquisition will also be kept in the dark until properly vetted."

    "Um..." Marshtomp rubs his chin when the other ''mons look his way. "I''m pretty sure both Breloom and Mawile can handle the info. If my boy gets any new teammates, I''ll make sure they''re trustworthy first."

    Grovyle nods. "Vulpix already knows. Understandably, I will refrain from informing young Shinx for some time. Hopefully, this is all wrapped up before she can begin to comprehend things like subterfuge."

    Marshtomp grins at his friends. "Man, what a journey this is turning out to be, huh?"

    "I''m certain some could do without the drama," Grovyle''s retort is as dry as the desert they''ll be braving in the coming days.

 Act 2: Chapter 2

    "I don''t recommend it," Courtney shakes her head, her magenta locks bouncing under the red hood of her jacket. "The Valley of Steel... holds many powerful wild pokemon. Steven Stone trains there. The desert... is unpleasant, and the path is longer, but safer."

    To the side, Zinnia groans. "It''ll be fine. I''ve made it through the valley several times without anything bad happening." She waltzes up and throws an arm around Courtney''s shoulders. "You''re worrying too much, sister. Don''t encourage Dolittle''s worrywart streak. We''re strong enough to fend off most anything."

    Bemused, Lee raises an eyebrow as he watches the spectacle. "Didn''t you say the trip to northern Hoenn would be a challenge that we should be careful of?"

    Zinnia promptly ignores him.

    The incognito Magma admin sighs, gently shrugging off the other woman''s arm. "Keyword: ''most''. One trainer might slip by, but... a group will invite both curiosity and challenge from natives. Are you certain?"

    Brendan looks between the two women, visibly biting back the retort that is undoubtedly in Courtney''s favor. In his eyes, Lee can see the desire for the challenge a Champion''s playground would present.

    As one, all three of them look to Lee, much to his chagrin.

    "Well?" Zinnia asks, an eyebrow raised. "Which way are we taking? 122 is faster and not through a miserable desert; just sayin''."

    Courtney doesn''t protest any further and stares at the zoologist as well.

    Rather than lament the leadership position being foisted on him yet again, Lee looks down at the paper map held in his hands, then back up at the fork in the road he and his friends have come to after a three-day hike out of Mauville. The trees in the forest path have waned, revealing a flat, verdant grassland and giving everyone a breathtaking view of the ever-looming Mt. Chimney and the rocky plateaus guarding its base. Lazy wisps of smoke rise from the maw of Chimney''s volcano top, mingling with the sparse clouds.

    Lee lets his eyes turn to the left path. The worn, dirt road of route 122 snakes into the distant rock formations, vanishing into a narrow, shadowed valley. Over on the right path, route 111 extends far into the distance, vanishing into the horizon, but beyond that, Lee knows the grassland will eventually run out, and even further beyond that, the harsh Hoenn desert awaits. Both paths lead into Hoenn''s northern regions, with the desert route of 111 being the longer, safer option that curves around the valley and its tough-as-nails pokemon.

    ''Where to go?'' Lee mulls. ''I need to seriously look into a new teammate, preferably one who can deal with Fire-types. Trapinch would do. Sandshrew would also be nice, but the Valley isn''t home to only Steel-types. There are a plethora of Rock and Ground-types too. Powerful ones." Lee frowns, making his scars tug unpleasantly. ''It''s risky, but Corvi''s departure really put a dent in our ability to battle. We''ve only just been scraping by in the battles that really matter, and with Magma and Aqua on the move, we need the firepower.''

    Laying across his shoulders, a dozing Vulpix perks up an ear. ''Gro*yle and I p*ssess typ* adv**tages agai*st m*st of the denizens ** the Va*ley, it sounds like. If i* is the route you wi*h to take, th*n we will su*port you.'' After a second, she opens her eyes with a huff. ''Perh*p* this hyp**hetical ne* member will k*ow what l**alty is.'' Her telepathy garbles slightly from the spike of agitation.

    Lee smiles and leans his cheek into hers, soaking in her warmth for a moment before returning his attention to his less-furry friends.

    "We already prepared for the desert..." Lee muses aloud. He shifts his shoulders, but the water and travel cloak bought three days prior in his backpack add no noticeable weight. "But at the same time, the Valley is home to many rare and interesting pokemon..." He looks at Courtney. "Courtney? I won''t force anyone into anything they don''t want, but..." Lee frowns and looks at the placid vixen on his shoulder, who stares back. "Vulpix and Grovyle are my only combat-ready pokemon. I have faith in them, but it would place an unfair burden on them if the Lavaridge Gym demands a three-on-three match. Zinnia and Brendan want to traverse the valley, and I''m tentatively in agreement if only to recruit a new pokemon with enough strength to stand up to a Gym. Is route 122 a hard ''no'' for you?"

    Courtney''s face remains frustratingly unreadable, but she shakes her head after a second. "No. I was merely advising against it. If you are confident... then I will follow."

    Nodding, Lee turns to an eager Brendan and surprised Zinnia. "Anything to add?"

    Both shake their heads no, so the group forms back up and begins down the road to the Valley of Steel. As they walk, Lee and Zinnia lag behind a little bit, letting Brendan excitedly chatter into Courtney''s ear.

    "You''ve been through the Valley before, Courtney?" Brendan smiles radiantly up at the disguised Magma admin like a Growlithe puppy might. "What''s it like? How strong are the pokemon there?"

    The magenta-haired woman breaks her stoic mask to smile faintly back. "Rocky. The valley is rich in iron ore... so the pokemon there eat it, making their steel armor strong."

    Beside Lee, Zinnia snickers under her breath as she watches. "Ah, kiddo is crushing hard."

    ''Maybe a little too hard for my liking��'' Lee inwardly frowns. ''Both because of who he''s crushing on, and how he keeps getting defensive when Zinnia tries to get Courtney to talk. He and Zinnia have been at each other''s throats for days now.'' How to turn Brendan away from the Magma admin without hurting him, though, is a question Lee hasn''t found an answer to yet.

    Zinnia''s giggles dry up as she sobers. "You know we''ll have to tell him at some point, right?"

    Lee doesn''t answer for a moment, gathering many thoughts that buzz in his head like a swarm of Beedrill. ''Love? Scan her again?''

    On Lee''s shoulder, Vulpix shuts her eyes and pretends to doze, hiding the purple glow in her gaze.

    Although invisible to the naked eye, Lee can feel the tendril of psychic energy reach out from Vulpix and snake its way to the petite woman ahead. With a feather-light touch, Vulpix makes contact.

    Both man and fox focus on the faint emotions sifting by, taking each one in and carefully gauging them.

    Intense curiosity.

    Enjoyment.

    Contentment.

    Devotion. Overwhelming devotion to a tall man in red attire, slicked crimson hair, and glasses with a curious stone sent into the frame. Devotion so powerful that his image can''t be divorced from it.

    ''That unhealthy obsession with her leader again, but nothing malicious.'' Lee breathes, shaking off the nervousness and revulsion of invading Courtney''s privacy so grievously once more.

    If anyone knew that Vulpix has been psychically interacting with a human beyond simple lie detecting, Lee would most assuredly have his trainer license shredded. If they knew that he purposely ordered her to do emotional scans and has been doing it for days, he would enjoy living in a prison cell for quite some time, but...

    If it means keeping his friends safe, then lines will have to be crossed. Though to his concern, Vulpix had no issue with the order and skimmed Courtney''s emotions without any delay the first night.

    On his shoulder, Vulpix picks up on Lee''s mixed feelings and pokes his cheek with her nose. ''I do*''t s*e the bi* deal. She''s an e*emy in o*r midst. We sho*ld use all the a*vantages we ha*e.''

    What a... human thing of Vulpix to say.

    Lee bites his lip, staring into Courtney''s back as he does so. ''Vulpix, I think your perspective might be a bit skewed. We''ve been linked together every day since this adventure began, ever since your...'' He almost thinks ''creation''. ''Birth. There is a good reason the League cracks down on rogue psychics so hard. People don''t want other people in their thoughts seeing their dirty or shameful moments. The mind is meant to be a sacred place.''

    Vulpix mulls the explanation over. ''But I kn*w all of your sham*ful moments. A*d you kn*w all of mine. I... und*rstand, but a* the same ti*e, I don''t. The M*gma admin is in*olved in a plot t*at thr*atens to reshape the w*rld...'' The six-tailed fox sighs a hot breath. ''I think she forf*its a*y moral protec*ion after throwi*g in her lot with M*gma.''

    ''What we have isn''t the norm,'' He patiently responds. ''I don''t think anyone has what we have. We should be careful to not overstep our bounds more than necessary. Not only is that a dangerous road of thought to tread, the League will not agree in the slightest. We''re only going as far as we already have because lives might be at risk.''

    "Hello? Hoenn to Dolittle?"

    ''We''ll talk more on that later,'' Lee finishes with Vulpix and returns his attention to Zinnia. "Sorry, Zinnia. I had a quick exchange with Vulpix," he clears his throat and lowers his voice a little more. "I don''t think Courtney is bad per se, but maybe misguided. She hasn''t given off any hostile vibes at least. I''m hoping to build some trust, maybe even a friendship, then confront her and convince her that Magma''s scheme is insanity."

    Zinnia''s eyes narrow, and her crimson eyes almost seem alight in the shadow cast by her bangs. "That could backfire big time, Lee. Do you think Magma and Aqua can be reasoned with? They pick up crazies and people with no morals on purpose, because what sane person wants to be an eco-terrorist? I''ll trust your judgment on this chick not being malicious��" she gives a pointed look at Vulpix, who bristles slightly. "��but that means she''s on the other side of that spectrum; the crazy side. You can''t reason with people like that. Don''t do yourself dirty and get attached when we''re going to come to blows with her one day, probably sooner rather than later."

    ''Why does she have to be so damn perceptive?'' Lee breathes in and exhales. "Zinnia, I understand where you''re coming from, but let''s at least try the non-violent approach, okay? I think this can work."

    The dragon tamer gives him a sidelong glance as they both pick up the pace to catch up with Brendan and Courtney. "That''s awfully hopeful of you."

    Lee lets a sardonic smirk lift the unmarred side of his face. "Hope is something I''m good at."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The walk to the valley is spent with idle chatter, a single stop for lunch and a break, and a pause to watch two wild Linoone dart at each other in a high-speed battle that forces the smaller loser to scamper away. The winner preens pridefully under the eyes of his audience, especially so with an amazed Shinx, before zooming away into the grassland.

    Finally, as the sun begins to shift into the late afternoon, nearly on the cusp of the evening, Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, and Courtney reach the mouth of the valley.

    Lee cranes his head nearly all the way back with Vulpix following suit, taking in the imposing rock faces above. Now on the threshold of the valley, the high, jagged cliffs are so much more imposing. The rocks are all a rusty brown in color, and the scent of iron is so thick in the air that Lee doesn''t need to borrow Vulpix''s nose to smell it. The path into the valley looks as if it were a tiny crack from a distance, but now that they''re standing before it, Lee realizes a jumbo jet could fly through the opening without worry of clipping its wings on the towering valley walls.

    ''The Valley of Steel is a shortcut? This place is huge!''

    "If not for all of the powerful pokemon living here..." Courtney begins suddenly. "This place would have been turned into a giant iron mine." She turns to everyone else, eyeing Zinnia first. "Zinnia. You''ve traversed the valley before?"

    The tribeswoman nods resolutely. "Yep. More than once."

    "Do you know the routes?"

    Again, Zinnia nods.

    Courtney then withdraws a pokeball from her hoodie pocket and leisurely taps the button, popping it open in her hand. In a flash of light, her Camerupt is beside her and the area grows several degrees warmer.

    "Camerupt..." Courtney lays her hand across Camerupt''s snout, making the camel grumble and focus his droopy eyes on her. "We''re navigating the Valley of Steel. Please be vigilant."

    Camerupt''s eyes sharpen for a moment.

    Courtney then turns her eyes to Brendan and Zinnia. "I recommend having a pokemon on hand. Things might go sour quickly."

    Without needing another word, Brendan snags Marshtomp''s ball from his belt and hits the ball''s button. With another flash of light, the mudfish pokemon materializes at his trainer''s side, already in a dutiful salute with a croak. Rubbing a hand across his pokemon''s head, Brendan grins. "I don''t even need to ask, do I? You''re the best, pal."

    Marshtomp beams.

    Zinnia is last, taking Shelgon''s ball and popping it open. After the light of Shelgon''s materialization fades, she gives his metallic shell a poke. "Into the valley again. You know the drill, right bud?"

    The encased dragon says nothing, only stepping a little closer to his trainer.

    Together, the team of four trainers and four pokemon step into the maw of the valley, eyes scanning every which way. The first several hundred feet are empty, devoid of any other people or pokemon on the snaking path further into the heart of the valley. The cliff walls form a twisting corridor that they follow until the throat of the passage truly opens up, spitting them out into the valley proper.

    Lee, Vulpix, Marshtomp, and Brendan all peer around at the high, flat-topped plateaus that all share a rusty red color while Courtney, Zinnia, and their pokemon only give the area a cursory once-over with their eyes. Zinnia then steps forward, Shelgon on her heels. "I''ll take it from here. I know a few good stopping points for the night. Keep an eye peeled for aggressive pokemon, they really aren''t fond of outsiders here." She digs out a folded-up bit of paper from her hip pouch and opens it, turning and showing everyone a hand-drawn map. "Stay close. We''ve got to navigate with only the basics here. The iron in everything throws off compasses and cell signals."

    On a whim, Lee pulls both this phone and pokedex out, and sure enough, neither device has any service. "That''s concerning... What if you run into an emergency out here?"

    Zinnia snorts. "You''re on your own. Don''t give me that look, we''d be on our own in the desert, too. We''re not going back now."

    The draconid tribeswoman leads them down from the entrance of the valley and through a trodden path marked with cairns and arrows scored into the rocks of the plateaus. Along the way, they finally begin to spot pokemon.

    Above, a trio of Magnemite peers down at the group curiously. In the sun, their shiny bodies cast harsh glints that make them difficult to look at. They idle high in the sky for only a moment before floating away.

    Some minutes later, in the lower part of the valley where several hardy trees grow, they find a Scizor scoring the bark of a tree with his pincers and drinking the sap that flows out. The Bug and Steel-type watches them warily but doesn''t attack. Inside Lee burns the boyish desire to challenge the Scizor to a battle if only for the cool factor of having a Scizor on the team, but the practical side of him shies away from the idea of a fight with a fully-evolved pokemon; type advantage be damned, the Scizor must be a monster if it''s living in Hoenn''s answer to Mt. Silver.

    Above the tree and hanging on a rocky outcropping, a Ferrothorn glares down at the group and shivers its iron spines threateningly, so they make haste to continue on.

    A screech rends the air, forcing everyone to stop. Finally, the first challenger presents himself.

    Swooping dangerously close overhead, a Skarmory twists midair and pulls a high-G turn that would have knocked out any human pilot. The armored bird touches down on the rocky ground with an ungraceful slam of his feet and stands with his beak held high.

    The huge bird pokemon easily stands five feet tall and is coated in silvery, metallic armor. His wings, resembling a folded fan of blades, lay tucked against his sides, and his thin neck leads to an angular head with a sharpened beak. Glaring at them for a moment, the Skarmory suddenly spreads his wings and lets out another piercing shriek, eagerly spoiling for a fight. He hops forward one step, the action making his wing blades rattle.

    Camerupt snorts and steps forward, the humps on his back boiling with magma and spewing smoke. Vulpix takes that as her cue to jump from Lee''s shoulder and leap into position next to Camerupt. Her stance is low with her hackles raised and flames licking the edge of her mouth.

    The avian Steel-type looks between the two defenders before him, yellow eyes narrowing with the realization that he''s facing not one, but two Fire-types. After a tense standoff, Skarmory scoffs and spreads his wings, rising into the air and zipping away.

    Vulpix and Camerupt stand ready for another minute, then share a glance before slowly returning back to Lee and Courtney''s sides.

    Courtney turns her pink eyes to Vulpix appraisingly. "Perhaps this will be easier than expected. The natives... won''t want to tangle with two Fire-types at once."

    Lee nods, a bead of sweat unrelated to the sun rolling down his face. "Here''s hoping."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Zinnia expertly leads the team through several paths crisscrossing the valley, pointing out useful landmarks along the way. Twice more they''re accosted by denizens of the valley, a Mawile and several Durants, and twice more the armor-slagging danger presented by Vulpix and Camerupt drives the aggressors away.

    Lee tries his hardest to pay attention to Zinnia''s crash course on advanced land navigation, but he can''t help but lose focus as he takes in the details of a biosphere that houses almost exclusively Steel-types. Working with pokemon and their fascinating biology in controlled environments is one thing, but never on earth has raw iron ore of all things been needed for any conventional animal''s health. Seeing one such habitat with natives doing as they do is too much to pass up. His notebook quickly finds its way out of his bag and into his hands, much to Vulpix''s amusement.

    ''Even after months here, months into a... new life, I still understand so little.'' The thought is humbling, and the furious pace of Lee''s pen slows a little. ''Vulpix, Grovyle, and Shinx have vast biological differences from animals, but they''re still in the ballpark of what I know. Maybe... Maybe I need to step out of my comfort zone a bit more, expand my wanted list and try new stuff even if it seems dumb.'' He muses to himself, finishing his rough sketch of a Lairon gnawing on a large lump of ore.

    Draped across his shoulders, Vulpix raises her head and smiles. Lee almost stumbles when he feels Vulpix''s pride for him piped directly into his brain.

    ''I''m glad you''re getting better.''

    The zoologist isn''t stunned for long. With a small smile of his own, he leans his head into Vulpix''s and returns her affection, making a telepathic loop of adoration.

    "It''s starting to get dark," Zinnia''s announcement breaks up the man and fox''s shared thoughts. With a dramatic flair of her cloak, Zinnia turns to the group and taps her map with a finger. "There is a little nook in the plateau east of us that most Steel-type pokemon avoid because of its bad habit of being damp. It should be a safe place to stay tonight."

    "Aww... do we have to use a damp cave?" Brendan whines. "My sleeping bag isn''t waterproof. I''ll wake up soaked!"

    Zinnia shrugs. "It''s a cave or out in the open. Do you know what''s out here, in the open? Pokemon that aren''t happy that we''re here." She levels Brendan with an amused smirk. "If you wanna rough it outside, be my guest." She reaches a finger out and pokes the younger trainer in the cheek. The boy glowers at her for a moment, before Courtney clears her throat

    "Camerupt can dry the cave out... with Heatwave," she offers on her pokemon''s behalf. She looks at Camerupt, who nods once.

    Brendan grins. "You''re the best, Courtney."

    She smiles a tiny smile. In his peripheral vision, Lee catches Zinnia rolling her eyes.

    The trip to the cave takes only a moment, and as promised, Camerupt steps in first, the volcanos on his back churning. The camel pokemon focuses, and Lee can see the air distort with heat as a warm gale blasts out of the cave, battering everyone with sticky, moist air that rapidly dries out. It takes only a few seconds, then the heat cuts out and Camerupt placidly returns himself to Courtney''s side.

    Lee steps in after everyone else, dragging a finger along the now warm and dry walls. "Dry as a bone but not actually hot at all. Camerupt has some expert control over his Fire powers, huh?"

    Courtney takes the compliment in stride. "Yes. We''ve worked on being efficient," she says, setting her shoulder bag down. She pulls her bedroll from inside the non-euclidean bag that seems to be a staple of all traveling trainers and unrolls it.

    ''So you can use that efficiency to dry up the ocean.'' The scarred man shakes away the thought as he sets his bag down as well, opening it and withdrawing a lantern before the last bit of sunlight fades. From his shoulder, Vulpix slides down to the cave floor. "Any reason why you focused on efficiency so much?"

    In the corner of his eye, Lee notices Zinnia slow down the prep of her own bedroll to listen in.

    Courtney shrugs. "I believe in doing the best with what you have. Improving. Not settling."

    With a thoughtful hum, Lee turns back to his lantern. "What did you do before deciding to be a trainer, if you don''t mind me asking?" He flicks on the gas of his lantern and clicks the igniter, only to frown when there''s no spark. Two more tries, and two more ineffective clicks. ''Love? Can you help?''

    At his feet, Vulpix opens her maw and lets a single flitting ember corkscrew its way to the lantern. The ember flies up into one of the small vents in the lantern, and the gas catches fire, casting a warm glow around the cave.

    With a raised brow, Courtney watches Vulpix sniff and eye her handiwork. "I worked as an intern researcher for Devon. Worked with their geology labs." She withdraws her other two pokeballs and pops them open, depositing her Mightyena and Swellow down beside Camerupt. Other than their good health, Lee can''t find any real difference between Mightyena and Swellow and any other member of their line. "I can talk more... once we''ve settled," concludes Courtney.

    Lee gives her a smile and a nod.

    In short order, everyone''s pokemon are released for a cozy dinner. The chill of the cave is kept at bay thanks to Camerupt''s toasty presence, and the floor even begins to heat up pleasantly as the giant camel pokemon settles to the ground with a weary sigh. Grovyle and Mightyena finish their dinner quickly, and in some unspoken agreement, both stoically take watch at the entrance of the cave. With the sun going down, the pair strike dramatic silhouettes.

    "So, Courtney," Lee shifts on his bedroll. He, Brendan, Zinnia, and Courtney arranged their sleeping bags in a rough circle with the lantern between them. With little else to do, the four settled in to talk a bit before bed. "You were saying?"

    "I worked with Devon''s geology lab," Courtney states once more. "In Rustboro. Corporate life... didn''t agree with me. I decided to be a trainer after that. Been a trainer since my teen years." Before any more questions can be asked of her, she pins Lee with a cutting stare. "What did you do... before being a trainer? Not often an adult decides to change lifestyles." She shakes her head. "Transition... is too harsh for most. Many quit, too discouraged by competing with children and veterans."

    "Erm..." Lee flounders, not expecting the questioning to round back onto him. "I worked with carnivores in an animal sanctuary. Considering the training needed to handle and care for them safely, it wasn''t too hard of a changeover." In his lap, Shinx purrs contentedly as his fingers comb through her fur. ''Should she even know when I started as a trainer? I guess it''s probably on my Battlenet profile and I doubt a Magma admin would be dumb enough to pull... whatever this stunt is without researching her marks.''

    Pressed against his side, Vulpix widens her side of their link, her lightning-fast mind already generating contradiction-free answers that offer little to nothing for any questions that Courtney might have.

    ''Love, remember what Zinnia said? I need to think for myself. I can''t have you feed me everything.''

    The fox is quick to reply. ''What we h*ve is uniq*e, you said so y*urself. The dr*gon *oman has no fra*e of ref*rence, and t*us no aut*ority to tell us how to do t*ings.'' After a split second, she adds; ''The Mag*a admin is *n enemy... cur**ntly. You s*ould use all the r*sources y*u have to ensure this g*mbit works. I am one such re*ource.''

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Before Lee can chastise Vulpix for calling herself a resource, a magenta eyebrow rises on Courtney''s face. "Why quit?"

    Lee takes one of Vulpix''s answers. ''That''s another thing we''ll be talking about later.'' Outwardly, he clears his throat. "The facility isn''t in business anymore."

    Zinnia tags herself into the conversation during the seconds long silence after Lee''s answer. "What did you do with Devon?" she asks, leaning forward with her twiddling fingers in her lap. "In the geology lab, I mean."

    Courtney turns her attention to Zinnia. "Energy storage. Devon was researching the use of crystalline structures as a method of energy storage and release."

    "Really?" Lee doesn''t need to feign his interest. "I''m aware of the natural formation of evo stones and the incredible concentration of Type Energy they hold, but no one seems to be able to artificially enrich one. Was Devon looking into artificial evo stones?"

    She shakes her head. "I don''t know. Was only an intern at the time. I think... they were trying to store Infinity Energy, not Type Energy."

    ''Infinity Energy? What could they be doing with �� oh.'' Lee instantly recalls the gimmick introduced in the games prior to Omega Ruby. ''Mega Stones?''

    Zinnia catches on at the same time and hones in on Courtney''s words, this time with an intensity that she can''t hide behind a facade. Zinnia''s red eyes stare into Courtney''s cool pinks. "Infinity Energy storage in stones, eh?" Her tone is casual, but her face is anything but. "That''s... interesting. They get anywhere? What were they trying to make after that?"

    Courtney''s mouth slowly dips into a frown, and behind her, Camerupt raises his head and cracks an eye, taking notice of his trainer''s displeasure.

    "Zinnia, can you quit being a nosy weirdo for a single day?" Brendan snaps, barging into the exchange. He actually glares at the dragon tamer, making her pull back, stricken. "You don''t need to interrogate everyone about everything! I get that you''re from some dumb, insular tribe and new things are scary, but cool it!"

    Zinnia stares at Brendan, hurt plastered across her face. She opens and shuts her mouth, but no words come out.

    All around, the pokemon watch the unfolding scene with differing, but tense expressions. Shelgon and Swablu, who is perched on Shelgon, stare daggers at Brendan. Goomy doesn''t seem to believe what he heard.

    Marshtomp slides in behind Brendan with a reluctant Breloom following. Both keep their eyes locked on Shelgon and Swablu, uneasy. Mawile, however, slowly creeps into Shelgon and Swablu''s blindspot, letting her jaws crack open soundlessly.

    A mewl from Lee''s lap snaps the zoologist out of his own shock, and looking down, he takes in the frightened yellow eyes of Shinx, who tries to dig into his shirt to escape the sudden, hostile atmosphere that hangs over the cave.

    Finally, Zinnia seems to come to her senses, and with her recovery comes face-reddening anger. Already Lee can see the verbal venom pooling in her mouth. "You little bastard..." she grounds out past gritted teeth. "Who do you think you are, talking to me like that!?"

    "I think I''m someone talking to someone else who doesn''t know when to leave well enough alone!" Brendan yells back, a scowl forming. "You have to know everything about everyone, and no one likes it! Heck, you had to force yourself into mine and Lee''s group! That should tell you something!"

    "I''ve got a mission from my tribe, you little jerk! One to improve myself anyway I can, and being around talent is how I do that!" Zinnia shoots back just as quickly. "And you act like I''ve never done anything or pulled my weight! I pay my share despite not getting a nice government paycheck! I clean up my part of camp! I cook when it''s my turn! I book hotels and look for events we can do! I teach you guys things I know and give feedback in training! Quit with the high and mighty shit, mister Professor''s kid!"

    Brendan erupts. "I wish you''d get swallowed by a volcano or something!" He screams.

    ''Oh fuck no. We are not doing this here in the middle of nowhere,'' Lee clutches his tiny Shinx and gently covers her ears. ''Especially not when I have a baby in my lap.''

    "Enough!" Lee''s rarely raised voice booms across the cave walls, drawing flinches from nearly everyone. He rakes his narrowed eyes over everyone, satisfied when no one challenges him. Now that he has everyone''s attention, he uncovers a nervous Shinx''s ears. "Zinnia," Lee locks onto the dragon tamer, making her stiffen. "Calm down. Let''s not dig into anyone tonight, okay?"

    She grits her teeth once and nods stiffly, obviously not trusting her mouth. She bows her head, her hair covering her eyes.

    "And Brendan," Lee turns to Brendan, who looks like a Deerling in the headlights. "You''re way out of line flinging personal insults like that. I had better not hear anything like that again, got it?"

    White in the face and shrinking in on himself, Brendan nods rapidly. "Okay..." He agrees, his voice small.

    Lee then sweeps his head around, stopping on Zinnia and Brendan''s teams. "There will be no fighting in our group, understood?"

    Taking an order from someone other than his trainer makes Marshtomp look as if he bit into a lemon, but he lowers his fists at a glacial pace. Breloom, on the other hand, sighs in relief and sits himself down next to Brendan. Behind Shelgon, Mawile quickly makes herself scarce.

    Goomy and Swablu are both cowed by Lee''s words, but Shelgon''s eyes are alight with terrible wrath. It''s then that Lee realizes he not only made a demand of a dragon, he made a demand of a dragon that isn''t his.

    A demand to not defend his trainer''s honor.

    ''Love, you really are spoiling me. I''m looking at pokemon as if they were human more and more.'' Lee tenses and prepares to spring away, shielding Shinx with his arms. ''Get Confuse Ray ready.''

    Vulpix takes a stance in front of her trainer, eyes cold.

    "Stand down, Shelgon."

    Shelgon''s eyes widen.

    Zinnia raises her head, and Lee can''t help but be a bit startled by just how weary she looks. She turns her gaze to her disbelieving dragon. "It''s not worth it."

    The Dragon-type visibly seethes for a moment before turning away and laying himself down. The action is so sudden it almost throws a flailing Swablu off of him.

    "Let''s get some sleep, everyone. Today has been a long day, and we''ve got several more ahead of us," Lee murmurs. "Cool off and all that."

    Zinnia needs no more prompting, throwing her sleeping bag open and settling inside, facing away from everyone else.

    Courtney catches Lee''s eyes, and he''s surprised to see her appear apologetic. He shrugs helplessly in return.

    "Hey, uh. Lee?"

    The man turns back to Brendan, who nervously twiddles his fingers. "You don''t, uh... You don''t want to stop those pokemon nutrition lessons you were giving me over this, do you?" He asks, giving Lee a hopeful look.

    Lee shakes his head. "No. C''mon, if you''re wanting to keep going, we''ll head a little further back in the cave so the girls aren''t disturbed by our chatter." He roots around in his bag and withdraws both his notebook and a large textbook personally recommended by Roxanne on the subject. He gently lifts the now sleepy Shinx from his lap and sets her in the warm divot he was sitting in, with Vulpix dutifully moving in and curling around the kitten.

    The Birch heir smiles wanly and stands to follow, dragging his bedroll along.

    In the back of the now low-hanging cave and seated on Brendan''s bedroll with the boy just beside him, Lee opens the textbook and drapes it across both his and Brendan''s laps. With his other hand, he withdraws a small penlight from his pocket, turning it on and reaching behind his ear to give them a reading light. "Now, where were we again?" He glances at his notebook. "Ah, amphibian pokemon metabolic rates. That''ll be important as Marshtomp matures. Amphibians are marked by their different dietary needs through different stages of their life. One needs to know much to feed them, and the rates they can digest and absorb the different components in their food. For example, a Mudkip''s metabolism should follow..."

    Brendan listens raptly, eyes never leaving Lee.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Hey, Lee?" Brendan asks during a lull in their lesson.

    "Hmm?" Lee jots a note down in his notebook, drawing out a meal plan for Shinx and a timeline to wean her. It''ll only be a few weeks.

    "I''m sorry about tonight. I didn''t mean to blow up," Brendan looks down at the book in his lap, shamefaced.

    Lee pauses, then after a moment he clicks his pen and shuts his notebook. "It''s not me you should be apologizing to." He begins. "I know Zinnia and you don''t always see eye to eye, and she''s a hothead who... is sometimes nosy and misguided, or how... she sometimes doesn''t know what she''s talking about." He recalls Vulpix''s words, her critique of Zinnia''s opinions on his and Vulpix''s relationship. The more he thinks of the fox''s take on the Draconid Lorekeeper deciding he should do everything himself, the more he wonders if maybe he was too quick to take everything she said to heart. Does Zinnia know how deep their connection goes? Maybe what works for Zinnia and her team isn''t the best for him and his pokemon. He shakes the thoughts away and keeps speaking to Brendan. "But she''s not malicious. Do you see her as a friend? Real talk."

    Brendan looks down at his hands, folding them in the open textbook, right over a cutaway diagram of a Wooper. "Yes."

    "Then I can guarantee she considers you a friend in return," he nods resolutely. "Insulting her, then her tribe hurt her something fierce, and it''s made even worse coming from you. You two have some back and forth banter, but I think this was the first time it was actually angry. I get that you made fast friends with Courtney and that Zinnia overstepped herself by getting pushy, but that doesn''t excuse personal attacks and yelling. You were solidly in the wrong too, Brendan."

    As Lee talks, Brendan sinks lower and lower into himself, becoming more puddle than boy. He clenches his fists as his breath hitches. With his head hung, Lee can''t see the young trainer''s face, but the shuddering tempo of his breathing is clue enough that tears are on the way.

    ''Oh jeez, Brendan. So willing to rush into a burning building or fight terrorists, but a dressing down makes you teary?'' Lee slides an arm over Brendan''s shoulders. "I''m not trying to make you feel bad or anything, Brendan, but I think you should reflect on what you said and apologize not only to Zinnia but her pokemon too when you''re ready. She''s probably just as upset as you are, and her pokemon were really rankled by you insulting her."

    Brendan silently nods, not lifting his head.

    "C''mon, let''s head to bed. We''ve got a long day tomorrow." Lee shuts the book in Brendan''s lap and takes it under his arm.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Another three days are spent traversing the valley in tense silence. Each day ends with everyone and their respective pokemon teams by themselves, trying to relax, doing light training, or exploring the locale as best as could be done without getting lost. Brendan and Zinnia''s moods are so foul the entire time that neither says a word to each other. Along the way, several pokemon approach the team each day, and without fail, their demeanor is aggressive. Most are turned away by the firepower presented by the defenders, and either through fortune or something else, none of the fully evolved natives see the group as worth their time. To Lee''s consternation, he finds a grand total of zero pokemon he felt interested in trying to capture.

    On the fourth day though, as they trek between a pair of low plateaus...

    Brendan slows down to peer upward when a glint stabs at his eye, nearly making Lee plow into him. Shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, Brendan blinks. "What are the Magnemite all doing?"

    His statement brings the group to a halt as everyone follows his lead and looks up.

    Lee blinks in confusion right along with Brendan. "Huh, what are they doing?"

    High above, countless Magnemite zoom back and forth, forming long metallic chains in orderly lines. They criss-cross each other, somehow not colliding despite their speed and the fact that not all of them are facing forward. In fact, most seem to have a random orientation. Each one buzzes and crackles with an electric charge, arcs of electricity jumping between them with pops muted by the distance.

    Then all at once, the horde of Magnemite begin to buzz even louder, their single-file lines breaking as they erratically fly like a swarm of Beedrill. A deafening crack of thunder rends the air, and beyond the plateau ahead of the group, the sky lights up a brilliant gold despite the sun being high in the sky.

    "I''m no expert on Magnemite or anything," Zinnia grumbles, rubbing her still-smarting eyes from the flash. "But whatever the hell that was is probably bugging them."

    Another crack of thunder rolls through the valley, picking up and throwing dust as another flash melts away all the shadows for a moment. Then another, and another.

    "Can''t be natural..." Courtney murmurs, holding up a hand to keep from being blinded by the relentless lighting. She squints into another flash, then lets her mouth drop into a tiny ''o'' in surprise. "That''s... not one pokemon. Two are clashing with Thunderbolt."

    Lee forces himself to watch yet another flash, and sure enough, there isn''t a single bolt of lightning flying into the sky or crashing down onto the earth, but two bolts meeting. For the split second they''re visible, it''s as if the bolts are jagged streams of liquid meeting and deflecting off of each other. As the latest flash fades, Lee can see the attacker hanging above.

    Hovering menacingly above one of the plateaus is a Magnezone, the final form of the diminutive Magnemite. The Steel-type pokemon superficially resembles a UFO, with a disk-like body of shiny steel, a gold antenna with a bulbous tip jutting from its body at the top, and a trio of horseshoe magnets seemingly welded to the underside of its body. In the center of its disk-like abdomen, a large, red eye stares down at something they can''t see from the angle. Even for how alien the pokemon is, the anger in its eye is perfectly recognizable.

    Magnezone lights up in a crackling corona of gold once more, and a split second later, a bolt of pure electricity lances down at the plateau like a vengeful arrow of Arceus.

    This time, however, there is no answer to Magnezone''s attack, and the bolt strikes the rocky plate, kicking up an explosion of rock and dirt that rises into the sky like a cloud.

    Lee, along with everyone else, covers their faces with raised arms as dirt and loose rocks tumble down the high cliff and pelt them. ''Good god. I haven''t seen an electric attack that powerful since Ash''s Pikachu went ballistic in Littleroot. What could have pissed off Magnezone so much?''

    The answer comes swiftly bounding down the side of the plateau.

    Hopping between outcroppings on the rockface with supernatural speed and grace is a simply gigantic Manectric, one easily standing tall enough to look a grown man in the eyes without needing to move its neck. Held limply by its neck scruff in the Manectric''s jaws in an equally large Electrike. The smaller of the two must be three and a half feet tall at least, big enough to bowl over a human should it get a running start.

    ''Wait...'' Realization strikes Lee like one of Magnezone''s lighting bolts. His eyes shoot open, and beside him, he feels Vulpix''s flash of recognition. ''That''s the mama Manectric from Oldale! What''s she doing all the way out here?'' He focuses on the Electrike again. ''Is that the youngling from the egg?''

    Manectric and her fragile cargo touch down on the ground, and after setting her shaking pup down and giving him a nuzzle and a once over, Manectric raises her head and locks her eyes directly onto Lee.

    ''She came here on purpose. For me. Why?'' His attention is drawn back to the agitated Magnemite and furious Magnezone above. ''Did a powerful Electric-type invading the Valley set off the Magnemite? They''re crazy sensitive to changes in atmospheric charge if I recall. Manectric probably zapped another pokemon and every Magnemite in the valley likely felt it.''

    Above them all, the dust of Magnezone''s attack finally clears enough that the UFO pokemon can see Manectric''s new position. Magnezone lets out a seething burst of chirping and buzzing, not unlike a computer pushed to its limit, then it divebombs down right at Manectric. Its body begins to glow with the telltale signs of an attack.

    Manectric retakes her pup''s scruff and tenses.

    "Flamethrower!"

    Vulpix is in motion before the command is even spoken, reading Lee''s intent instantly. Leaping high in the air, she sucks in a breath before loosing a stream of fire at the charging Steel-type.

    Magnezone reverses its thrust near-instantly, coming to a dead halt long before Flamethrower reaches it, but when the gout of flames suddenly bends in an unnatural turn, Magnezone can only screech in distress as it almost instantly begins to glow red hot. With haste borne of agony, Magnezone strafes to the side and screeches once more.

    Cra-cra-crackle!

    ''Love, get out of there! Quick Attack!'' Lee silently urges.

    Magnezone crackles gold, then another bolt of lightning shoots down right at Vulpix with terrible wrath behind it. The attack comes out so quickly that Vulpix simply can''t charge Quick Attack in time. All she can do is watch with wide eyes as the lighting races towards her.

    ''Too fast!''

    Courtney''s Camerupt skids to a stop between Vulpix and the Thunderbolt, almost overshooting himself. The Electric attack hits Camerupt dead center, and the camel takes it with barely a wince, his Ground-typing negating nearly all of the electric damage.

    Lee''s head shoots to the side, and he finds Courtney standing there, her face a perfect visage of calm. She turns her head just enough to give him a short nod. "A friend?" She asks, tilting her head toward Manectric.

    Lee nods absently.

    ''Okay, well, miss Magma doesn''t hesitate to earn her keep.''

    "Marshtomp! Mud Bomb!" / "Flamethrower, Shelgon!" Both Brendan and Zinnia order their pokemon to jump into the fray at once. For the first time in days, neither is glaring at the other.

    Marshtomp''s mouth swells, then out of it shoots a cannonball of mud. Beside him, Shelgon''s barely visible mouth opens and fires a billowing burst of flame.

    Magnezone rises out of the way of Shelgon''s fiery breath, but Mashtomp''s dense ball of mud strikes its flank, denting its armor and forcing the UFO pokemon to spin in a full circle. When it stops and looks back down, Magnezone''s red eye narrows to a sinister, glowing slit as the magnets on his body vibrate with a bright violet haze.

    Lee coughs and falls to his knees as gravity seems to increase threefold around him. He can''t even keep his torso straight and is forced down onto his hands, but even then his arms begin to shake from the effort of holding his body up. ''Gravity. Magnezone used Gravity on us.'' Once upon a time, Lee thought the move to be situational at best, but here, where its effects are very real? It''s all he can do to keep breathing. With herculean effort, he turns his head and looks at his friends.

    Vulpix stands, but her stance is wide and her teeth gritted. Her tails are pulled to the ground by gravity, and her head tuft lays flat on her skull. Her legs shake, but she''s still upright.

    Caught flat-footed, Marshtomp is down on his back and straining to rise. His muscles and veins rise against his skin, and slowly he turns himself over so he can push himself up, but the effort leaves him red in the face.

    Poor Shelgon is in a crater, helpless with his shell bottomed out. His short legs push at the ground, but all he can do is accidentally pulverize the rock under him and growl in fury.

    Manectric is standing, but her limbs are shaking. Under her, her pup lays wild-eyed and gasping for breath on his side.

    Brendan and Courtney are in the same boat as Lee, on their hands and knees, stuck from the invisible hands of gravity pushing down on them relentlessly. Brendan''s eyes are wide and perhaps even frightened, and Courtney''s brows twitch, but she keeps her aloof mask on even as sweat drips from her brow.

    "Shit!" Zinnia, the only trainer standing, slips under a patch of sandy ground and falls prone to her stomach with an explosive exhale. Winded, she wheezes and tries to stand, but she can''t even get her hands underneath her.

    Crunch!

    The rocky ground under Camerupt gives way to his super-weighted bulk, and with an alarmed bellow, the camel pokemon falls to his side, making the ground shudder and sending the gallons of magma in his humps spilling out. The molten rock creeps along the ground...

    ...Right at Zinnia, who was standing just feet behind Camerupt as Gravity hit.

    The dragon tamer''s eyes bug out as the sputtering and spitting lava inches toward her, and for the first time since he''s met her, Lee watches Zinnia''s expression twist in terror. "No. No!" She tries to scramble away, but she''s pinned to the dirt. Every second that passes, the lava crawls closer.

    Shelgon roars and digs at his crater with even greater desperation, but he can''t move. His rage quickly turns to open fear, his eyes trained on his prone human.

    ''Shit shit shit!'' Lee frantically thinks. ''Vulpix, Confuse Ray on Magnezone! Get him to release Gravity!''

    Vulpix huffs and raises her head, staring evilly at the Steel-type above them. Her eyes glow with sinister Ghost-energy.

    After a second of travel, the invisible ray strikes home and Magnezone wavers in the air, his eye growing hazy. The Gravity lightens, slowly but surely, but...

    ''It''s not going to be fast enough,'' Lee''s heart sinks. He pushes himself as hard as he can to get up but he just isn''t strong enough. ''Ember! We need him to drop Gravity now!''

    Tiny motes of fire manifest around Vulpix and fly at Magnezone like a swarm of insects, but even confused, the fully-evolved pokemon has enough mindfulness to twist out of the way.

    Vulpix growls and redirects the Embers with her pyrokinesis, tugging each one along an invisible, mental string, but with her focus split so heavily, the turns are wide and sluggish. Many of the Embers extinguish themselves mid-flight. Many others miss, and the few that land splash across Magnezone''s armor, not doing enough damage to kick him out of his attack, not even close.

    Zinnia''s struggles grow more frantic, but being prone on the ground makes the effort of getting back up so much more difficult. She starts to hyperventilate and screws her eyes shut, the lava hardly a foot away and crawling towards her at an agonizing pace.

    "Zinnia!" Brendan, against all odds and to Lee''s silent awe, slowly pushes his way to his feet. The boy huffs and forces himself to shuffle across the ground, lifting his feet less than an inch each time. "Hang on!"

    Back hunched and arms like lead weights, Brendan forces himself toward the dragon tamer, his face red and the veins in his neck bulging. Sweat pours down his face in a river as he comes to a stop next to Zinnia. Arms shaking, he reaches down and takes fistfuls of her cloak before sharply tugging.

    Zinnia gasps as she''s yanked a single inch away from the superheated rock only seconds away from disfiguring her.

    The lava grows closer another inch, so Brendan grunts with inhuman strain and yanks the cloak again, pulling Zinnia further away.

    ''Vulpix, we need to drive off Magnezone ASAP! I have no idea how long Brendan''s going to last!'' Lee takes as deep a breath as he can, and after brushing off hesitation from Vulpix, begins transferring his own stamina to her. ''Convergence!''

    The fox''s eyes blaze with the color of brimstone, desperation and two bodies worth of fuel empowering her.

    All around Magnezone, swelling balls of deep orange flames with white cores manifest from nothing and grow rapidly. From basketballs to beach balls, to the size of grown men. Magnezone, still dazed, tries to shy away from the heat, but every direction he tries to fly backs him into another miniature sun, forcing him to recoil away in a short, endless dance.

    ''Do it.''

    Vulpix yowls.

    The fireballs all bear down on Magnezone and explode with a horrible, vengeful fury. Behind the Steel-type, part of the cliff is blown away in a burst of rock and smoke, obscuring part of the sky.

    All at once, gravity is returned to normal and Lee sucks in a gasping breath before shooting to his feet. He gets back up so quickly and breathes so deeply that his head swims for a moment. An instant later, Vulpix is at his side, pressed against his legs. Her brown eyes meet his, and the concern pouring from her doesn''t need words.

    "I''m fine, Vulpix, I''m fine," Lee kneels down and strokes the vixen across her back, hiding his wince from how his muscles everywhere sting and pinch. The encroaching exhaustion of helping Vulpix power up Convergence is ignored for now. If Lee''s hurting, he doesn''t even want to think about- "Shit!" He raises his head, alarmed. "Brendan!"

    A ways away, Brendan stands, supported by an unusually tender Zinnia and a fretting Marshtomp. The boy hangs almost limply in Zinnia and Marshtomp''s arms, panting. "Ohh..." He groans. "Everything hurts..."

    "Gee, I wonder why?!" Zinnia snarks in his face, looking as if she''s one word away from throttling the Birch heir. "You only stood up with several Gs trying to flatten you! What the hell were you thinking!?"

    "I''m sorry for what I said."

    Zinnia stops, stunned.

    Brendan looks up at the dragon tamer, a regretful air hanging over him. "I didn''t mean to blow up at you a few nights ago. And I didn''t actually wish you''d get swallowed by a volcano." He chuckles listlessly. "Especially not since it actually almost happened today. I''m sorry."

    The wind fallsout of Zinnia''s sails, leaving her looking exhausted, but a smile remains on her face. "You little shit," she begins, voice warm despite her words. "I thought you hated me for the better part of a week. If you weren''t so messed up right now, I''d suplex you right into the dirt. I''m��" she lets out a long-suffering sigh. "I''m sorry too. That wasn''t cool of me to get angry at you and start screaming."

    Brendan''s lips lift into a bright smile. "Forgiven."

    A buzz disrupts the moment and draws everyone''s attention back skyward.

    "No way..." Brendan mutters, slumping in Zinnia''s arms as the smoke around Magnezone clears. "That guy took Vulpix''s super move and can still fight?"

    The smoke clears, revealing an ugly sight.

    Magnezone hovers above them, his steel armor partially slagged and blackened. Cracks run along his magnets, and his eye is lucid again. The red eye stares down at them with utter hate. Between his front two magnets, a brightly glowing mote of white and red begins to form. The mote balloons and swirls, forming a hauntingly familiar attack. The ball before Magnezone grows larger and larger before beginning to lengthen out into the beginnings of...

    "Hyper Beam!" Zinnia calls, her face pale. "Shelgon, get over here and use Pro-"

    Before Zinnia can finish the order, Mama Manectric rejoins the fight, zooming in front of the group as a flicker of yellow. With a howl that echoes off of the surrounding cliffs, Manectric lights up in a corona of sparks before shooting a mammoth bolt of lighting up at Magnezone, striking not the pokemon, but its charging Hyper Beam.

    With a sound like a bomb going off, the nearly complete Hyper Beam detonates in Magnazone''s face, consuming him in a bright flash and an earthshaking explosion.

    Lee clamps his eyes shut, breathing deeply and counting backward from ten as the unexpected noise and shock wave washes over him. The fox curling around one of his legs helps keep him grounded and remembering where he is.

    Once the smoke clears, Lee''s jaw drops.

    Magnezone is still hovering above. Even more of its armor is warped and melted, and it shivers midair, seemingly having trouble keeping altitude, but the monster of a pokemon is still conscious. Once more the red eye is trained on them.

    Then Magnezone turns and begins to slowly fly away, the cloud of Magnemite above it following suit. As they leave, the tooth-rattling buzz the horde emits vanishes with them.

    The four humans and teams of pokemon, both wild and trained, stand and wait for the other shoe to drop. When nothing else comes, they hastily gather themselves and limp away, Manectric and her pup following a cautious distance behind.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "It looks like you pulled pretty much every muscle in your back and legs," Lee and Vulpix sit down next to a shirtless Brendan, who is laid out on his stomach on his bedroll. Shrugging off his backpack, Lee reaches in, pulling out his canteen and a bottle of over-the-counter pain pills. He offers both to Brendan.

    After their hasty retreat, one where Camerupt had to cool his volcano humps down to carry Brendan, everyone regrouped further into the valley, in a small copse of hardy trees against a cliff. All the pokemon were released and spread out to form an impressive honor guard for the battered trainers, and so far not a single wild pokemon has approached their agitated phalanx of defenders. The only wild pokemon that even dared get close were Mama Manectric and her timid pup. Even then, they sit a respectful distance away under another tree.

    In the cool shade of the valley tree, Brendan groans and opens both the canteen and the painkillers. Popping two pills in his mouth, the boy washes them down with a swig of water. "Ohh..." he groans after swallowing, of all things, pains him. "Will I have any cool scars afterward?"

    Lee glances at Brendan''s back, which sports a number of ugly, bruised splotches. "No. And riding out of here on Camerupt is going to suck."

    The boy groans again.

    "You can''t get all marked up, Hero."

    Zinnia and Courtney both sit a short distance away in the sparse grass on the other side of Brendan, Courtney with her legs folded under her, and Zinnia cross-legged. In the latter''s lap, both Goomy and Shinx lay in a purring, cuddly pile.

    Zinnia rests her chin in her propped-up palm and continues. "It''ll mess up the dynamic we have going, you know?"

    With a frown, Brendan asks; "Dynamic?"

    "Yeah!" the tanned woman grins. "You''re the young peppy Hero, Dolittle is the grizzled old guy, I''m the crouching Torracat, hidden Dragonite, and Courtney here is the love interest."

    ''Hidden Dragonite? Zinnia, you are the furthest thing from subtle.''

    Both Lee and Courtney roll their eyes, but Brendan flushes red. "Great. A new dumb nickname..." he grumbles under his breath.

    "I can go back to Shrimpy if you want."

    "A new nickname is fine!" Brendan hastily amends.

    Lee smiles then turns his eyes to Manectric and her pup.

    Manectric apparently takes that as a signal to approach, because she stands and begins slowly walking over. As she walks, her pup is right on her heels, constantly looking up at her for reassurance.

    About twenty feet away, Manectric and Electrike pause.

    Lee turns to them and rises to his feet, determined to meet Manectric on equal terms this time. "You''re here for a reason."

    Manectric snorts. Leaning down, she nudges her pup with her snout, urging him forward. The not-so-little Elecktrike looks up at her pleadingly, but his mother''s face remains stern. With a tremble, Electrike slowly pads his way to Lee.

    ''What is going on?'' He blinks, but nonetheless, Lee lowers himself to his knees as slowly and non-threateningly as he can. He can feel everyone''s curious eyes on his back, but doesn''t let it bother him for now. "Hey little guy..." he murmurs as if the Electrike isn''t large enough to look him in the eye while he''s crouched. "You and your mom came a long way, huh?" He asks, presenting an upturned hand.

    Elecktrike shivers and looks at the hand nervously, but doesn''t pull away when Lee reaches out to gently scratch his chin. It''s slight, but a tiny bit of tension flows out of Electrike''s shoulders. Other than his nervous demeanor and large size, nothing seems out of place with Electrike. He''s alert, fit, and well-groomed. ''Mama takes good care of him.''

    Manectric then steps closer, coming so close that Lee could reach out and touch her if he so felt like it. She leans down with a light growl in her throat, nuzzling Electrike again. The pup whines when his mother pulls away... then doesn''t follow when Manectric turns and begins to trot away. The pup''s suddenly needy eyes bore into Lee.

    "Hold on..." Lee''s words halt Manectric, who looks back. "Are you..." The picture starts to make sense. "Are you leaving this pup with me?"

    The giant Electric canine raises her head imperiously, as if daring Lee to challenge her decision.

    ''I didn''t make that big of an impact in Oldale, did I? Tracking us down in the Valley of Steel to drop off your pup is a lot of dedication.'' Lee gulps, and for just a moment, he looks away back at a surprised Zinnia, or more actually, to the tiny, purring Shinx wholly focused on cuddling her squishy friend. ''I suppose I can see Manectric''s logic. With how special Electrike''s Giant Gene makes him, he''s going to be hunted by trainers long after his mother can''t care for him anymore. Why take the risk of her son landing a bad trainer when she already knows a decent one?''

    "Manectric..." Lee begins, licking his lips. "I''ve got a little one of my own to care for, you understand, don''t you?" Then an idea suddenly strikes him. One perfect yet harebrained at the same time. "But I know someone else who would be perfect for the job."

    The mother pokemon raises her head a little further, as if to say ''go on.''

    "Brendan," the boy jumps a little when Lee turns to him. "What do you say to raising a Giant Gene Electrike?"

    Brendan''s mouth opens soundlessly, and it takes him a second to find his voice. "Wha?" He asks, slowly and carefully sitting up. "I mean, I would love to... but why me?" He asks. "Lee, you''re passing off the chance to have a natural giant just like that?"

    Lee turns back to Manectric. "My friend here, Brendan, is the son of a man who can go toe-to-toe with champions, and he''s got one of the biggest hearts around. He''s got grit, intelligence, the nerve to admit when he''s wrong, and the resolve to make things right. You saw it today, didn''t you?" Lee waves a hand back toward the battleground they vacated barely an hour ago. "Brendan can care for your pup just as well as I could, if not better. He''s the kind of guy who goes above and beyond when everything is on the line."

    Manectric stares down at Lee for a long moment, then she returns back to her pup''s side.

    She leans down and nudges Electrike towards Brendan.

 Act 2: Chapter 3

    BANG-NG-NG!

    The echo of yet another gunshot races down the valley, forcing Lee to look up from his notebook for what feels like the tenth time in the last hour alone. ''I wonder. Is it a bad sign that I find the noise more annoying than concerning, even if it''s not by much?'' He looks to his side, where Grovyle, his escort for today, is frowning past his chewing twig. Both Shinx and Vulpix are napping in their pokeballs, leaving the wood gecko as Lee''s sole defender for now. Each bang breaks Grovyle''s meditative state, forcing him to restart with a growl.

    Several days after the run-in with Magnezone and Elecktrike''s addition to Brendan''s team, the group ventured out of the heart of the valley towards the northern exit. Despite being a mess of aches and pains, Brendan put on a smile and gladly showered Elecktrike in affection, easing the not-so-little pup''s obviously raw nerves. Anyone can see that the poor thing was shaken by Magnezone and latched onto the Birch heir. Mama Manectric''s departure was as sudden as her arrival, and she vanished only minutes after urging her unsure son into Brendan''s arms, bounding up the side of a plateau and disappearing like a specter.

    Silently, Lee is glad that the boy and Electric-type are taking to each other so well. Though he would have been overjoyed to raise Electrike, Shinx requires too much time. It''ll be weeks before the kitten breaks into a truly healthy weight range and weeks more before he feels comfortable easing her out of her physical therapy.

    Now only a single day outside of Lavaridge, everyone is enjoying a break in one of the oases dotting the north end of the valley, a pleasant change from the endless rock and shrub.

    By the edge of the water on a beach towel, Zinnia lays facing the noon sun with sunglasses shielding her eyes. Her cloak and usual sleeveless top have been put away, traded for a bikini to "tan up" as she said. Lee isn''t sure why, as he''s never seen the hue of her golden-brown skin fade at all. Beside her, Swablu sits in the soft grass, carefully preening her cloud-like wings.

    Courtney is further out under a tree, leaning back into it as she quietly enjoys a book. Camerupt is resting in his ball, and in the camel''s place is Mightyena, who has her head laid out in Courtney''s lap. The hand not holding a book is tenderly petting the content-looking wolf pokemon.

    Finally, Brendan lays in the sparse grass feet away from Lee, dozing. The boy, still horribly stiff from their run-in with Magnezone, has been resting whenever possible, mostly at Lee''s insistence. At Brendan''s side are Mawile and Electrike. Electrike is still a bundle of nerves and trying to relax, but Mawile...

    "Mawwwww!" Mawile holds an uncomfortable-looking Electrike, her tiny hands on his cheeks. Mawile''s eyes sparkle, devoid of her usual mischief. It''s an almost comical sight considering Electrike is nearly a foot taller than Mawile. Just what about Electrike fascinates the Fairy-type so, Lee can only guess.

    Despite the calm, though, Lee has yet to find a 3rd combatant for his team in the valley despite the trek taking over a week, and honestly? His nerves are beginning to fray over it.

    Several days back, the group made a short detour to watch a herd of Rhyhorn, squat Rock-type pokemon with a resemblance to rhinos. Lee and Grovyle approached them, stopping at what the zoologist felt was a respectful distance with a pokeball rolling between his fingers, making the duo''s intentions clear to the herd of Rhyhorn.

    All of the pokemon watched the pair carefully, but none rose to the challenge. After a ten-minute-long standoff, the herd made their discontent apparent. Snorting, pawing at the sparse grass, a few of the large males took aggressive stances, their heads low and horns poised to gore. None were interested in being captured and the males were surely approaching without a fair fight in mind.

    Lee just bowed his head and withdrew. Grovyle was disgruntled but followed after only a second of delay. Several more times through the week did Lee approach wild pokemon with Grovyle or Vulpix flanking him, and each time he walked away without a new pokemon.

    There are plenty of oblivious Magikarp in the many oases and rivers they passed, but the hurdles involved with their growth and the logistics of feeding and caring for a Gyrados stopped Lee from tossing a pokeball in the water and inevitably hitting one. In the Valley of Steel, low-level pokemon are absent, so the other oasis candidates ended up being Poliwhirl, Lombre, and even a Buizel. Alas, though, all of them were so timid that they fled into the water when confronted. ''Even with a type advantage over many of the Valley natives, all of the Water-types here are ready to book it at a moment''s notice... sans Magikarp. Is the power gap truly that vast?'' Lee frowns and thinks of all of the other small bodies of water they passed.

    The oases proved to be superb breeding grounds for many types of flora, but for some odd reason, many of them were deserted with no Water pokemon to be found. They happened upon one such empty pond, and the only pokemon there was a lone Lairon drinking deeply. ''How odd.''

    The Steel-types are a dime a dozen but are also the most aggressive by a long shot. The Magnemite swiftly became pests, drawn in by the uncontrolled atmospheric charge produced by Electrike. They''d swoop and try to latch on to the oversized pup to drain him like a living battery, and by Arceus did the pooch make a panicked racket when the first one touched him. Vulpix has been pulling double-duty during night watches pelting the living magnets with Embers until they buzz off.

    The Aron and Lairon roam in large herds, often led by a weathered Aggron, each one even larger than the disgruntled Alpha the group met in the Granite Cave back in Dewford. Lee couldn''t even get close to one herd before the lead Aggron looked him dead in the eye and began charging a Hyper Beam in his maw. The beam, in a clear warning shot, turned a giant boulder of iron ore fifty feet to Lee''s left into a puddle of molten slag. That boulder was roughly the size of a small house.

    Vulpix was the pokemon escorting Lee that day, and try as she might, she can''t quite hide her creeping anxiety at the thought of facing a pokemon like that Aggron. Enough bled over that Lee could imagine her face going pale under her fur.

    The displaced man didn''t try to approach any Lairon herd again.

    ''Good fuckin'' God,'' A realization strikes Lee as he ruminates over the last week. ''Steven Stone comes here for fun.''

    BANG-NG-NG!

    Lee winces.

    "Okay, what the hell is that noise!?" Zinnia shoots up into a sitting position, nearly throwing her sunglasses off. A scowl on her face, she stands and throws her usual sleeveless black top over her bikini. "Once or twice is whatever, but it''s been like an hour! Give me a break!"

    BANG-NG-NG!

    "Whoever that was is mocking me now..." She glowers. The dragon tamer rolls up her towel and stuffs it away in her small, space-bending bag. Her cloak is thrown back over her shoulders as she slips into her sandals again.

    "You''re not going to go towards the obvious gunshots, are you?" Lee asks Zinnia wearily, already knowing the answer. "Common sense should dictate that you go the other way."

    ''Why am I even arguing?''

    The tanned woman sniffs and holds out her arm, letting Swablu flutter up and perch upon the offered limb. "I''ve got my pokemon," is her simple answer.

    Lee sighs and stands, closing his notebook and holding it under his arm. By his side, Grovyle rises in one seamless motion. "I maintain that this is a bad idea, but Grovyle and I are coming along to make sure you aren''t killed. I don''t want to have to explain that one to the professor."

    "Aw, Dolittle~!" Zinnia''s grin is as cheeky as it is flirtatious. She raises her hands to her face like a bashful schoolgirl might, hiding cheeks that aren''t actually blushing. "You do care!"

    Ignoring her, Lee turns to regard Brendan, Courtney, and their pokemon. "Anyone else coming?"

    Brendan makes to stand up but winces as the motion pulls at his back. Gingerly, he lays back down. "Ah... Maybe I''ll skip this one..." He says, sullen.

    Mawile stops her doting on Electrike long enough to pat her trainer on the arm... then she turns and opens her larger, croc-like mouth to give Brendan a wet, affectionate lick across his face with a tongue as large as a man''s arm.

    The grimacing boy wipes at his saliva-coated face and flicks his hand, sending the (thankfully) clear goop off into the grass. "Thanks, Mawile..."

    With a small grin on his face, Lee turns to Courtney. "Courtney?"

    The Magma Admin shakes her head and snaps her book shut. "I''ll stay here. Dangerous to split the group unevenly." As she speaks, the woman''s Mightyena reluctantly pulls herself out of her trainer''s lap and stands dutifully at attention.

    With a nod, Lee is suddenly struck with the realization that he''ll be leaving Brendan alone with the Magma Admin. One part of him wants to stay to keep any potential foul play at bay, but the other doesn''t wish for Zinnia to wander away alone. He trusts Brendan''s capable team with keeping the young trainer safe, but...

    ''Ah, duh.''

    Taking Vulpix''s ball from his belt, Lee taps the button and pops the ball open in his hand. With a flash of light, a sleepy, irritated Vulpix is at his feet. She looks up at him, silently questioning why she was awakened.

    Wordlessly, Lee offers her his thoughts, and the vixen jolts to alertness. ''Love, stay here and keep an eye on things, please? Let me know if there is anything amiss and we''ll come right back. Make some sort of physical signal to cover our telepathy, okay?''

    Vulpix''s eyes shine, and she preemptively widens the mental pipe between them, enough for thoughts to come and go without effort, but just short of their senses overlapping. ''Of co*rse.''

    Lee shakes off the short headrush that usually follows him and Vulpix melding closely. After so many times, it only takes a second for the dizziness to pass. "I''ll leave Vulpix here as some extra firepower," Lee''s eyes shift between the curious Brendan and ever-blank Courtney. "She''ll send a signal flare up if you all need backup. Zinnia and I will come running if we see it."

    Courtney nods, accepting Vulpix''s presence easily, but Brendan frowns.

    "Lee, Vulpix and Grovyle are your only battlers right now..." The young Birch slowly sits up, aided by Mawile gently pulling one of his arms. "Do you really want to leave her behind?"

    "Grovyle is more than enough," the zoologist responds quickly, hoping Brendan''s words don''t bruise Grovyle''s already tender ego. "Plus we have Shelgon, Swablu, and Goomy. Zinnia and I are not lacking in battle capability at all," he says, casting a look down at the wood gecko beside him.

    Besides an ever-so-slight narrowing of his eyes, Grovyle doesn''t react to Brendan''s unintentional slight.

    "M''kay," Brendan flops back down with a low groan.

    Vulpix leisurely trots to Brendan''s side and sits, catching Lee''s eyes with her own. ''Be c*reful,'' she sends to him, tilting her head when Brendan idly reaches up to scratch her ear.

    ''We will,'' Lee''s promise is silent to all but Vulpix. He looks down to Grovyle, then to Zinnia and Swablu. "Ready?"

    Swablu trills on Zinnia''s shoulder while Zinnia herself smiles confidently. "Ready."

    Grovyle''s answer is a crisp nod.

    Together, the four set off away from the oasis, leaving Brendan and Courtney under Vulpix''s watchful eye. The loud bangs continue to rupture the air, and after pausing to gauge the echoes bouncing off the plateau walls, the impromptu scouting party adjusts their route and ventures towards the racket. After taking a turn that leads through a dried riverbed flanked by jagged faces of rock, Zinnia turns her head to Lee.

    "Good thinking, leaving ''Pix with them," the dragon tamer smiles.

    Lee doesn''t reply right away. "I still think Courtney isn''t as twisted as we might think," he eventually says. "Somehow, I doubt she would do anything to Brendan, and even if she tried, he''s got his team. I left Vulpix behind more for peace of mind than real protection."

    On Zinnia''s shoulder, an amused trill flits out of Swablu''s beak, and Zinnia herself rolls her eyes. "Ever so dutiful," Zinnia begins, voice mockingly dull. "Ever so worried."

    "Weren''t you just concerned about Brendan being left alone?" Lee crosses his arms.

    "I can praise initiative and make fun of you for being a worrywart at once," Zinnia grins. "Say, how far can you and Vulpix talk anyway? Uh, if you want to answer, that is." She asks, hastily amending her question afterward.

    The words, don''t worry about it spring to mind instantly, but Lee hesitates. ''She and Brendan are my friends. I should be more open with them.'' After the self-aimed reminder, he answers; "We haven''t tested exact distances, but after a few miles or so, the connection thins to almost nothing. It doesn''t seem to weaken any further after that, however. I could still feel her after you took all of the girls to that spa in Mauville."

    Zinnia blinks. "Wow... Really? So far?"

    On her shoulder, Swablu seems equally astounded, her beady eyes widening.

    Even Grovyle is surprised somewhat, glancing up at Lee with a scaly eyebrow ridge raised.

    The slowly rising self-consciousness in Lee''s gut is squashed. "Is that strange?"

    "I''m not all that sure..." The dragon tamer admits. "I don''t know much about psychic stuff." After a beat, she asks another question. "Is it always on? The telepathy?"

    Lee nods, finding himself more and more comfortable opening up about the topic. "Yeah, Vulpix and I have maintained a connection for months now. It''s been a while since we''ve disconnected."

    Idly, he focuses on the line of thoughts leading back to Vulpix. With the growing distance and the landscape between the man and fox, the psychic thread is thin. Not as thin as it can go, but thin enough that all he receives is flickers of foreign emotion. If he so wished, he can ''tug'' on the line to get her attention.

    Lee has read studies into mindscapes and other tricks psychics use to organize their thoughts, but without any talent in the art himself, rough imagination is all he has to go off of. Regardless, though, he''s always likened his connection to Vulpix as a complicated plug fitted to an equally convoluted socket.

    Months ago, telepathy with Vulpix was clunky and awkward. Feelings, urges, and images were distorted and he could only draw a human analog to her most primal emotions. It was as if some of the ''prongs'' on the connection she offered weren''t where they should be, and most didn''t even seem to reach anything at all. Research on Psychic-types and even a bit on Ghost-types to better the process revealed precious little, as even in the modern era telepathy is still a rare thing.

    So, Lee shifted his own expectations and interpretations just as he might in the zoo, no longer trying to make sense of what Vulpix offered as a human would. His ''socket'' changed in response, morphing into something Vulpix could more easily grasp and connect to. More prongs sank into his mind, and so his understanding of her grew. Weeks upon weeks of daily refinement later, and the psychic plug and socket sit neatly flush.

    ''Wait... Where is it? Where did the seam go?''

    Through his musing, Lee blindly gropes at the spot where his and Vulpix''s minds touch, or at least as well as a non-psychic can. He feels along the whole connection, trying to find the nexus where he, Lee the human ends, and Vulpix the pokemon begins.

    ''It''s gone?'' His brows furrow. ''Where did it go?''

    "Lee?"

    With a start, Lee blinks his eyes rapidly. He turns to Zinnia, who looks up at him with concern in her red eyes.

    "You okay?" Zinnia asks, reaching a hand out to lay on his arm. "You spaced out way harder than you usually do. Is something going on at camp?"

    Lee shakes his head and takes a deep breath, clearing his thoughts. "I''m fine, and nothing is going on at camp. I just ran into something I should probably talk to Vulpix about."

    Zinnia gives Lee''s arm a short, comforting squeeze before letting go.

    There is a subtle nudge against Lee''s hip, so without moving his head, he turns his eyes down to Grovyle.

    The Grass-type cooly regards him with a raised brow as if to ask are you actually okay?

    Lee nods. The motion is stiff but certain.

    Grovyle, ever dutiful, drops the matter and returns his yellow eyes forward.

    The group weaves between plateaus and around another oasis where a pair of Azumarill watch them warily, following the sound of gunshots the entire way. As they go, Lee spends the time feeling along his connection back to Vulpix, not finding the seam between them as he expected. There is a side where Vulpix resides, and one where he resides, but the middle is... He doesn''t have words for it. Blurry? Blurry is close, but not right. ''When was the last time Vulpix and I disconnected? I don''t remember. Slateport? No, she shut me out most of the way, but there was still a thin line.''

    As they walk through a blind corner around a rock and several shrubs, they find themselves on the outskirts of yet another verdant oasis.

    BANG-NG-NG!

    Lee, Zinnia, and Swablu all wince while Grovyle hisses.

    Above the oasis, a Skarmory flies in tight, swirling circles, twisting and juking past speeding projectiles with a rictus of loathing carved into his face. Below him is no gunman, however.

    BANG-NG-NG!

    Skarmory banks hard to the side, just barely dodging a bolt of pure black.

    Down on the shore of the oasis is no man with a gun, but a narrow-eyed Octillery. The Water pokemon resembles a large octopus, with off-red skin, eight tentacles with undersides covered in pale yellow suckers, and a bulbous head fitted with two large eyes. The glaring thing separating it from its animal cousin is the narrow mouth shaped like the point of a funnel, giving the octopus pokemon the appearance of having perfectly round, puckered lips from a distance.

    "An Octillery?" Zinnia questions aloud. "I thought they were ocean pokemon?"

    "Some Remoraid are known to swim inland and navigate rivers. They can live in freshwater as well as saltwater." Lee recites a study he was reading several weeks prior almost without thinking. "It''s only natural that some would evolve into Octillery. The nearest river is several miles back, though, so I wonder what this guy is doing here?"

    The Octillery narrows its eyes more at the Skarmory circling above, sucking in a gurgling breath as he does so. Its mouth quivers, then;

    BANG-NG-NG!

    A bolt of liquid ink leaves Octillery''s mouth with the force of a rifle shot, breaking the sound barrier with an explosive crack. If not for its pure black color against the blue sky, Lee would have missed the attack''s travel entirely.

    Skarmory rolls to the side, but is a hair too slow as the ink bolt tears into his side armor with the horrendous screech of ripping metal. Blood quickly begins to mix with the splattered ink, and Skarmory looks down at the wound in disbelief.

    ''Was that Octazooka?'' Lee wonders to himself. ''I...I don''t recall how strong Octillery''s signature move is supposed to be.''

    Still flying high above, Skarmory''s disbelief swiftly transforms into shock as the pain of his wound visibly sets in. He shivers, and the flaps of the wing on his wounded side are ginger.

    Down in the water, Octillery gurgles and swells, another attack building.

    Skarmory''s eyes widen as he watches, and with a harsh maneuver that surely tugs at his wound, the avian Steel-type finally abandons whatever his objective is and speeds away. He trails droplets of blood and ink as he soars over a plateau and down into the safety of a valley beyond Octillery''s view.

    The red octopus watches his foe vanish, seemingly disgruntled if the further narrowing of his eyes is any indicator. Those eyes then turn to Lee, Grovyle, Zinnia, and Swablu. It''s then that Lee notices something off about the Water-type.

    ''His eyes are unfocused,'' Lee backs up a step as Grovyle takes a defensive stance in front of him, wrist leaves bared and ready to form Leaf Blades. ''This guy isn''t comprehending what he''s looking at.''

    A few other things begin to paint a picture of something not quite right. ''Octillery''s skin color is off. It should be a vibrant red, but he''s got this odd gray tint discoloring him. And his tentacles...'' Lee watches the appendages move in jerky, almost uncontrolled flails. The two tentacles oriented at his front are longer than the others, marking the Water-type as a male. ''That movement doesn''t look wholly voluntary, or even pleasant. What''s going on with this guy?''

    The Octillery burbles and scowls as best as his anatomy allows, raising his primary tentacles and letting the webbing between them stretch out in a clear threat display. He then brings the tentacles down harshly over and over, slapping the muddy shore and making a great racket that flings mud around.

    ''There''s no other pokemon around either. Did Octillery scare them away?''

    "Dolittle..." Zinnia whispers, getting Lee''s attention. "I always thought these guys were chill pokemon," she nods her head towards the off-red octopus as her Swablu puffs up, ready to fight. "Why is this one so hyped up?"

    Lee is silent. When he does speak, he keeps his voice low, hoping to avoid triggering the aggressive Water-type a dozen yards away. "He looks ill. His eyes aren''t focused, his movements are erratic, and he''s discolored. That''s probably why he''s so aggressive."

    Zinnia shifts. "Any idea what he might be sick with?"

    "I''m trying to figure it out..." Lee fingers the Pokedex in his pocket, trying to find the volume wheel and turn it down before he pulls the device out. His thumb finds the volume control and turns it down to nothing, so he slowly withdraws the ''dex and flips it open. "The aggression, unfocused eyes, and involuntary movement could point to something neurological, but I have no idea if the skin discoloration is related or not. Honestly, I''ve never worked with cephalopods at length. Lemme think for a moment..."

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    ''Some kind of infection? If Octillery has a wound that went septic, the infection could spread... but pokemon are intelligent enough to treat injuries, and a smart pokemon like an Octillery would know to keep a wound clean. A traditional infection or pathogen would likewise be self-diagnosed and treated in all but the most severe of cases. It has to be something Octillery wouldn''t have noticed right away or something he couldn''t escape...'' Lee frowns and thumbs through the pokemon native to the Valley on his Pokedex, wondering if any entries might shed clues as to what the angry cephalopod is afflicted with. ''Incorrect diet, maybe? Or... something in the water?''

    He stops on the entry for the Aron, specifically on their diet, when several lines catch his eye.

    While omnivorous, The Aron family also requires a significant intake of iron or other ferric materials to facilitate the growth of their armor. Dietary iron does not strictly need to be pure iron (Fe), as Aron and later evolutions utilize special enzymes located in the gastrointestinal tract to separate iron from composite materials. Solids like iron oxide (Fe2O3 aka common rust) and iron sulfate (FeSO4) along with materials diffused in water (ferrous salts) provide less for the pokemon than ores or pure iron, but are acceptable substitutes.

    Lee shuts his Pokedex and slips it back into his pocket, mindful of Octillery''s heated gaze. He looks past the addled pokemon to the water he rests in. The pond is cloudy and clearly filled with some sort of contaminant. "I''m not a hundred percent sure, but I think this Octillery has secondary hemochromatosis."

    "Homo-Chrono what?" Zinnia wrinkles her brow. "That''s that movie where a guy and a Celebi go back in time and the guy falls for himself because he''s a narcissist, right?"

    "Hemo. Chromatosis," Lee corrects with an exasperated sigh. "That, or some other heavy metal poisoning. What kind of movies are you watching?"

    Zinnia crosses her arms with an exaggerated huff. "Hey, I didn''t get to pick the films, okay? Whatever my home village could get their hands on is what we watched..."

    "Well, what I''m talking about is a medical condition. Iron poisoning, essentially." Lee shares a look with Grovyle, whose eyes are half-lidded in disinterest. "Heavy metal build-up in the body can cause a myriad of issues. Brain damage, organ failure, or cancer just to name a few. If acute poisoning isn''t treated promptly, then your death isn''t going to be pleasant." The more Lee thinks about it, the more his theory on Octillery makes sense. "Remember all those ponds we went past that were deserted?" He asks Zinnia.

    She nods her head. "Yeah, do you think��?"

    "They must have a toxic amount of iron salts or some other soluble metal compound in them, making them useless other than as drinking holes for Steel-types." Lee grimly finishes. "It also explains the gray color of Octillery''s skin. Excessive iron build-up can cause the skin to pale or turn gray."

    ''I thought octopi used a copper-based protein rather than iron for oxygen transport in the blood, but I guess that''s not the case with pokemon... Or maybe they do, and that just makes them more prone to iron building up in the body?'' Lee tries to recall past conversations with his zoo''s aquarium keeper, a bubbly older woman with a love of all things that swim. None of the half-remembered exchanges involved octopi and what happens when they get metal poisoning of all things. ''I''m pretty sure a mundane octopus would go into toxic shock and die before showing symptoms.''

    "Hmm..." Zinnia hums, leveling the Octillery with a wary eye. "Do you think he was chased here and forced to hide out on the dirty water? Maybe he had no idea until it was too late?"

    Lee nods, his hand falling to one of the empty pokeballs on his belt. "I could see both happening. The Steel-types certainly live at the top of the hierarchy here, and a pure Water-type would be easily bullied by the roving Magnemite and Magneton. One thing is for certain, though." He unclips the shrunken pokeball his fingers are brushing and taps the button, expanding it with a dull whine. "If he stays here, he''s going to die. We need to get him out of that water and to a pokemon center."

    Zinnia looks at the pokeball in Lee''s hand with some surprise. "Do you intend to keep him?"

    "We''ll see..." Lee takes a deep breath and uses the moment to survey the field. ''Wind is dead. Most of the area is water with a loamy shore. Octillery has the home-field advantage here, he can just dive to avoid Grovyle if things look dicey, and we have no idea what his other moves are. I don''t want to bank on his impairment to help us, but I think that''s all I can realistically hope for... We could have Grovyle drive Octillery out of the water...'' For a moment, Lee imagines Grovyle using his mastery of Quick Attack to dance across the water, not giving Octillery an inch. Before ordering Grovyle to engage, though, he calls out to the octopus.

    "Octillery!" Lee raises his voice, trying to find a volume that catches attention but doesn''t seem challenging. "You look sick and we want to help you! Can you come out of the water, please?"

    Octillery gurgles and blinks his eyes, seemingly confused. He pauses his ''look at how big I am'' display and sets his webbed tentacles down. The cephalopod pokemon regards the scarred trainer with care, or as much care as he can in his befuddled state. Just as Lee begins to hope Octillery might see reason, the irrational anger returns to Octillery''s cloudy eyes and he raises his tentacles even higher.

    "I was afraid of that..." Lee sighs. "Ready, Grovyle?"

    The Grass-type''s eyes sharpen and he lowers his stance.

    "Swablu, Zinnia, be ready to jump in if needed," Lee turns to the pair.

    Zinnia smirks and Swablu tweets an affirmative note. "Hogging the glory?" Zinnia teases.

    Lee rolls his eyes. "Grovyle, feel him out. Circle and Bullet Seed!"

    In a blur of green, Grovyle rushes out along the right perimeter of the pond, his clawed feet tearing at the loose soil. He opens his mouth, his throat glowing a bright green before a burst of nearly-sonic seeds erupts from his maw with a loud ratatatatatatatatat!

    Octillery jukes away from the shore and ducks back unto the water as expected, letting the Bullet Seeds ineffectively hit the water and throw bursts of muddy mist up.

    Grovyle skids to a stop, watching the water his foe vanished under carefully.

    Several air bubbles rise to the surface as the muddy water churns, and the instant a bulbous head begins to rise out of the murk, Lee barks a new order.

    "Detect! Then Seed Sniper!"

    Octillery''s head pokes up, mouth puckered.

    BANG-NG-NG!

    Grovyle sidesteps a supersonic bolt of ink that pulverizes a boulder behind him, eyes aglow. Several rock fragments bounce off of his back, but that distracts him none. His mouth snaps open again, this time launching a single large seed back at the octopus.

    BANG-NG-NG!

    Octillery is far too slow to dodge and the super-effective attack drills him in the forehead, tearing at his skin and knocking his head back as if punched by a Machamp. His soft, water-filled body goes limp for a moment, and Lee''s breath hitches, wondering if the attack was too much. A moment later, the octopus burbles in pain and paws at the seed with his tentacles, dislodging it and dropping it into the water with a plop. A second later, he retreats under the rippling surface, leaving a cloudy splotch of blood on the surface of the water.

    Huh. His blood is red like a mammal''s. I guess he uses iron-based blood then.''

    Grovyle stands tense as the surface bubbles again.

    "Grovyle, try to herd him out of the water! Bullet Seed just to his left!" Lee nervously fingers the pokeball in his hand, hoping both a concussion and metal poisoning keeps Octillery from realizing the plan.

    Grovyle''s jaw snaps open. Ratatatat!

    Bullet Seeds violently impact the water just to the left of the bubbles, and Lee can almost imagine Octillery''s distressed flailing as the bubbles move away from the attack, closer to the shore.

    Once more, Grovyle fires off a bombardment of hard-shelled seeds from his mouth, sweeping his fire along the still submerged Octillery''s flank and startling the octopus into moving inland. Twice Grovyle needs to pause for a moment to catch his breath, but it''s never long enough to let Octillery form a plan. Finally in the shallows, the red octopus has no choice but to surface and scuttle to the shore with nearly limp tentacles.

    Lee winces as he beholds the Water-type.

    Octillery''s entire forehead is an ugly bruise with a twisted patch of missing skin in the center. The pokemon''s eyes roll in their sockets, panning around in open panic. Octillery gurgles as if to charge up an Octazooka, but all that comes out of his mouth is a dribble of ink and saliva.

    "We just want to help you, bud!" Lee calls, guilt for harming an obviously unwell pokemon prompting the words. "Just come on out and let us treat you!"

    Octillery pays Lee no mind, but when a final burst of Bullet Seeds splatters sandy mud just inches away, Octillery flinches and rushes back to the water.

    "Head him off!" Lee''s words fly nary a second into the water pokemon''s flight.

    Still on the right side of the oasis, Grovyle''s maw opens once more, and out pour seeds glowing yellow like tracer bullets. Ratatat!

    This time, Octillery braves the barrage, being struck several times with painful smacks. His watery flesh sizzles as the Bullet Seeds dump volatile Grass energy into him, but the octopus ignores them to dive into the water and vanish with a splash. There are no bubbles or movement under the water, even after waiting a full minute.

    Lee sighs and rubs his forehead. "Damn it..." He looks up at the harsh Hoenn sun, now aware that he''s been sweating even more than usual in the excitement of the battle. Part of him wishes Vulpix was here to dull the hot sunlight with Drought.

    Grovyle slowly walks back to Lee''s side, keeping his eyes trained on the water. Once he''s returned to Lee, the wood gecko pokemon bows his head in apology.

    "It''s not your fault, pal," Lee reaches down to rub Grovyle''s head, feeling the cool, smooth scales rasp against his calloused fingers. "We had no idea Octillery would be willing to walk right through a super-effective attack."

    Grovyle still rolls the twig in his mouth around, visibly discontent.

    Lee turns his eyes to Zinnia and Swablu. "Any ideas?"

    Swablu shrugs her little wings as Zinnia rubs her chin. "Maybe you could..." she trails off, looking at the water with bewilderment. "What the hell?"

    Lee and Grovyle follow her eyes, watching a blue glow beginning to light up the heart of the oasis. Lee''s heartbeat pounds in his ears as he feels his heart jump. "Grovyle!" He snaps "Be ready!"

    Grovyle growls, his eyes already glowing yellow with Detect.

    The blue glow brightens, then without any warning, the surface of the oasis slowly turns into muddy slush, then freezes solid with a noisy CRACK!

    Under the ice, the blue glow fades down to nothing.

    For a moment, the oasis is silent, then Lee lets his jaw drop as an ice-chilled breeze wisps over his sweaty body. "Really? This guy knows an Ice move and pulled it out to trap himself in a toxic pond?"

    Grovyle tentatively steps closer to the ice, one of his wrist leaves lengthening and glowing with the power of Leaf Blade. His arm blurs and chops at the ice, only for his blade to barely sink several inches in. With a frown, he yanks his blade free as he clenches his jaw, then with an echoing BANG, he shoots the ice with a Seed Blast.

    Bits of ice chip away, but most of the seeds are stopped dead with several ricocheting and skipping across the surface of the frozen oasis. One bounces far enough to land just inches away from Lee''s boot.

    Kneeling, Lee picks up and rolls the perfectly smooth orb composed of nothing but seed shell in his hand, trying to think of some way out of the new predicament. "Well, shit," he mutters, dropping the seed. "As much as I don''t want to, I think I''m going to have to call Vulpix for this one. Even then, it''s going to take some time to melt all of this."

    "Hold on!"

    Zinnia steps forward, drawing an inquisitive trill from the bird pokemon on her shoulder and a raised eyebrow from Lee. She gives Lee a cheeky grin. "Rather than openly advertise your telepathy to miss Magma, let''s have Swablu shatter the ice with Hyper Voice," she says, her grin growing. "I''ve always wanted to try this!"

    "Lemme guess, you saw it in a movie?" Lee''s voice is dry, but inwardly he''s somewhat curious if such a thing would work.

    "Fearow Flotilla vs Pidgeyman 2!" She giggles. "Okay, cover your ears, everyone! Swablu! Get to the center and use Hyper Voice, point blank!" Her hands fly to her ears.

    Lee plugs his ears with his fingers as Grovyle walks back to his side, reptilian paws already pressed against his earholes. Lee catches his pokemon''s eyes and drops a hand to tap the gecko''s pokeball, but Grovyle declines the unspoken offer with a shake of his head.

    Swablu flutters from Zinnia''s shoulder and lands daintily on the center of the pond''s icy cap. She taps a spot with her beak, then takes a deep breath that puffs her tiny body up.

    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

    Out of Swablu''s beak comes a screech of such horrendous volume that the ground rumbles, making pebbles dance at everyone''s feet.

    Even with his ears covered, Lee winces. The noise does more than hurt his ears, he can feel it in his bones, but his wince is for Grovyle, who has his eyes screwed shut as his sensitive ears take a headache-inducing beating. ''Stubborn lizard...''

    Swablu holds the note for three seconds before the ice begins to groan. At five seconds, there is an audible crack, one just barely heard over the terrible screech of Hyper Voice. Then at ten seconds, just as Swablu''s voice begins to give out, there is a great cra-cra-cra-crack!

    The solid cap of ice shatters like glass, breaking into several large, cloudy floes with smaller shards dispersed in between. Swablu takes to the air with an alarmed chirp as the spot she was standing on crumbles away, falling into the warmer water below and melting.

    Lee lets his hands fall and watches the ice bob in the oasis. "Huh," he begins. "I half expected that to not work."

    "Fearow Flotilla vs Pidgeyman 2 had a total budget of like twenty-thousand credits. They did all their stunts and stuff with no special effects," Zinnia quips. "So of course it would work!"

    Before Lee can comment on how bad an idea it is to pull tactics from B movies, the water between two ice flows begins to bubble, making everyone snap to attention.

    Slowly, almost lethargically, Octillery crawls out of the water and into a sheet of ice, settling into a rather pathetic-looking pile. The octopus is still slowly bleeding from the skinless, bruised patch on his head, and he looks as if he can barely focus on anything going on around him. His eyes flutter, passing over Swablu, who is hovering overhead. He tries to raise his head and aim his mouth, but when the effort is too much, he goes limp.

    "Oh, man..." Zinnia frowns. "Either Hyper Voice shook the fight out of him, or Octillery was already on his last legs when we got here."

    "Maybe both..." Lee sighs and readies his empty pokeball. "At least he surfaced." Without any fanfare, he taps the button on the ball in his hand, feeling it vibrate and confirming the auto-return feature is enabled. "C''mon, Octillery. Let''s get you some help." Lee winds up his throw and lets the ball fly towards the limp Water pokemon.

    The lobbed ball flies in a gentle arc, hitting Octillery and snapping open as it rebounds off of the octopus''s springy body. Octillery''s whole form is engulfed in red light before the pokemon is sucked inside as a wriggling mass of energy. The pokeball then falls to the ice, weakly shaking as the barely-conscious Octillery inside fights. A few tense seconds pass, but the ball clicks and goes still. Then as if picked up and thrown by an unseen hand, the pokeball rises and shoots back towards Lee.

    The zoologist plucks the ball out of the air before immediately pointing it at the ground and tapping the button, making the ball snap open. "Grovyle, stand by in case he needs to be restrained." Lee orders as Octillery takes form at his feet. Lee doesn''t bother looking, already knowing his gecko is in position as he kneels and shrugs his backpack off.

    Octillery cracks open his eyes, taking in the human above him before reaching up and wrapping a tentacle around Lee''s wrist. Even so weakened, Octillery''s grip is still akin to a grown man squeezing with intent to harm.

    "Just take it easy, okay?" Lee murmurs gently, ignoring the slimy tentacle trying to crush his wrist. With his free hand, Lee unzips his backpack and digs inside, silently thanking Silph Co for adding a sorting feature to their already miraculous bottomless bag. Through the clutter inside, Lee''s berry case rises to the top. He wastes no time popping it open and withdrawing his last Sitrus berry. "Here, this''ll make you feel a bit better."

    Octillery''s grip lessens at the sight of the yellow fruit, but his foggy eyes are still distrustful.

    Smiling calmly, Lee slowly sets the berry down. "All yours. Eat up. I bet you''re exhausted huh?"

    Lee can see the thoughts running through Octillery''s swimming head, and as the sickly octopus lets his wrist go, Lee backs up to give him space.

    For a long moment, Octillery just stares at the fruit, then with visible effort, he raises his head and reaches a tentacle out, snatches the Sitrus, and brings it to his mouth. His conical ''mouth'' opens a bit wider, and Lee can''t help but be surprised to see an octopus beak hidden within. Still casting doubtful looks all around, Octillery nibbles the berry, then begins scarfing it down in great bites, letting yellow pulp and juice run down his front. Before he''s even halfway done with the food, the bruise on his head begins to shrink and the patch of missing skin begins to heal over.

    As Octillery finishes the last bite, Lee clears his throat.

    Octillery''s eyes snap back to him, but the pokemon still sways unsteadily.

    "You''re sick, pal," Lee raises Octillery''s ball. "We''re going to get you to a place to help you, okay? After that, you''re free to go if you want. Just hang tight. Return."

    Before Octillery can protest or retaliate, he''s drawn back into the pokeball as a flash of red. Standing up, Lee gives the button of the pokeball a long press, locking it so the delirious pokemon inside can''t let himself out. The ball buzzes once in confirmation, so Lee shrinks it and clips it back to his belt.

    "Thanks for the help, everyone," the zoologist smiles at Grovyle, Zinnia, and Swablu, who has settled on Zinnia''s shoulder again.

    Grovyle crosses his arms and nods once, but Lee can see his lips rise a little from the praise.

    "No prob at all, Dolittle," Zinnia grins as Swablu beams happily. "Here''s hoping that floppy sea spider is grateful enough to stick around. I know that kinda messes up your plans of a Vaporeon, but..."

    Lee waves her off and shoulders his closed backpack once more. "I can live with two Water-types. Water is a good type, all things considered. Let''s worry about that later, though. I''ve got a sick pokemon to deal with."

    As they all get ready to march off, Lee pauses, then shrugs off his bag once more. From inside of it he pulls a bottle of water that he uncaps. He offers the bottle to Grovyle, who gratefully pours half of the contents down his throat before returning it to Lee, who then drinks the remainder and silently curses the Hoenn sun under his breath. Ignoring Zinnia''s raised eyebrow, he jogs over to the thawing oasis and dips the now empty bottle in, collecting some of the water inside before capping it.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The trip back to the temporary camp is quick and devoid of any stops. One roving Graveler spoiling for a brawl tries to stop the group, but a Leaf Blade from Grovyle carving into the wild Rock-type''s armor forces a hasty retreat from the aggressor. Once Vulpix is in range for clear communication, Lee reaches out to her and feeds her a replay of the last hour and some change.

    As they step back into camp, Lee wastes no time with any niceties. "Brendan! Courtney!" He calls, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Recall any pokemon who aren''t escorting you and pack up! We''ve got a pokemon in bad shape and we''re double-timing it to Lavaridge!"

    Courtney stands as if bitten by something, her placid face hardening at Lee''s tone. In a flash, she recalls her Mightyena with a pokeball in one hand and releases Camerupt from a ball in her other hand. As the great camel materializes, he shares his trainer''s severe expression. Without needing to be told, he begins to trot over to Brendan to carry the still injured boy.

    Brendan, however, blinks and slowly sits up, aided by his Mawile holding his arm. "A pokemon is hurt that bad?" He looks between Grovyle and Swablu with confusion. "What happened? You got enough stuff back in Mauville that you could be a walking pokemon center."

    Lee grimaces, remembering how his conscience nagged him into buying nearly a thousand credits worth of supplies before they set off into the Valley. The only thing they''ve used is water, painkillers for Brendan, sunscreen, and MREs on nights where firewood was sparse. "That gunshot noise?" Lee begins. "It was an Octillery. The poor guy was trapped in a toxic pond and wasting his energy taking potshots at other pokemon. I''m ninety percent sure he''s got some sort of heavy metal poisoning which is not something I can treat in the field. I fed him a Sitrus which should keep him stable for now, but I want to get him to a real pokemon center, one that can run an analysis on the water sample I have and get a more certain diagnosis." He crosses his arms, mirroring Grovyle as Vulpix trots over and leaps up to rest along his shoulders. "Sorry for the rush, but I want to get Octillery treated before he suffers some sort of permanent condition."

    ''For all I know, it''s already too late and he''s going to have some sort of complication��

    The grim thought prompts a mental shushing from Vulpix, who touches her cool nose to one of Lee''s scars. ''Don''t dw*ll on what *ou can''t contr*l,'' she sniffs.

    The news plants a determined frown on Brendan''s face that looks comical considering his youth. With a grunt, he stands on wobbly legs and clambers up on Camerupt''s back, between the volcanos. Brendan then paws at his belt and takes Mawile and Electrike''s pokeballs in his hands. "Return! Erm..." He stops short and looks at his backpack that''s still on the ground. "Electrike? Could you get my bag, first? My back is killing me and I really don''t wanna get down again..."

    The green and yellow pup looks down at the ground, spying Brendan''s one-strap backpack. Gingerly, almost unsurely, he picks it up in his teeth and walks to Camerupt''s side, timidly meeting eyes with the larger pokemon for only a moment. With a tremble, he rises on his hind legs, planting his front paws on Camerupt''s side as he offers Brendan the backpack.

    Brendan''s grin is almost blinding in how bright it is. "Thanks, Electrike. You''re the best!" He says, bending down just enough to take the offered backpack and stroke the large pup across his head.

    Elecktrike''s stubby tail wags slowly. Behind him, Mawile holds her cheeks with her hands and giggles, gushing over something. Both pokemon are swiftly recalled into their balls after that.

    Lee readies Grovyle''s ball and looks down at the Grass pokemon. "Take a rest, Grovyle. We need you in top shape in case things go sour. We''ve been setting a nice and easy pace until now, so if a local gets upset about us making a quick march through their turf..."

    Grovyle''s eyes harden as he too imagines what could happen.

    "Yeah, that''s why I want a rested Grass-type on hand," Lee nods. "Return."

    Grovyle is recalled in a flash of red.

    Lee looks around at everyone.

    Courtney hasn''t said a word. She just stands ready by Camerupt and Brendan. Her narrowed eyes tell Lee just how seriously she''s taking the situation.

    Brendan himself gives Lee a thumbs up and a wide smile. "Let''s go!"

    Zinnia hooks the thumb of her left hand into her belt and taps a foot. In her right hand, her hand-drawn map is already bared. "Ready when you are." On her shoulder, Swablu tweets in agreement.

    Finally, Lee shares a short look with Vulpix. In a tenth of a second, a full conversation passes. "Right," Lee begins. "Zinnia, take point. Vulpix will psychically scan ahead and forewarn us of anything amiss. Let''s be in Lavaridge by morning."

    As he rapid-fire trades thoughts with his starter, Lee privately wonders if he should bring up the strange lack of a termination point between his psyche and Vulpix''s. After a moment, he discards the thought. ''It can wait until we''re out of the Valley.''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Verdanturf, Covisquire decides, might be his favorite human settlement... In Hoenn, at least. Nothing quite compares with the artistry of Olde Galarian. Castles built to repel invaders and still bearing the scars of glory long past have always fascinated the corvid pokemon. Each mark tells a story of struggle, a story of a time the field of honor was littered with more than broken dreams.

    Inside these grand forts and citadels hid luxury and finery without equal. Art, in Corvisquire''s mind, can take many forms. The art of battle is of course the greatest. There exists no greater beauty than when two foes with everything to lose pit their skills against one another in honorable combat. Some might frown on Corvisquire''s understanding of honor, but if his life has taught him anything, the version of honor venerated in fables and tales long past is outdated. Modern combat requires modern tactics.

    ''Chivalry is for the old and the dead...'' Corvisquire muses from atop his street light perch. ''And I intend to be young forever.''

    And art can take more traditional forms. The magnificent painted ceiling in the Hammerlocke Cathedral back in beautiful Galar left him speechless as a chick. How many hours did the artist spend, and how long did he hone his skills to see such a moving piece borne? The divine visage of Arceus was captured to such a degree that only seeing Him in person could be better.

    ...Modern art, however, is just plain mystifying. How is a mangled bit of car frame painted green ''art''? Putting junk on a pedestal and giving it a confusing name like Tired Sunkerns Aren''t Fireproof doesn''t make it art, it''s just stupid.

    His Steel Wing rent the offensive sculpture in the town park down to bits one night a week ago, and the city council is still in a great hubbub about finding the culprit. Most blamed "no good teenagers."

    Now minus the stupid eyesore, Verdanturf is Corvisquire''s favorite town in Hoenn. The humans live with nature rather than on top of it, the buildings are quaint but tasteful, and the land is rich with food and fresh air. Here during the twilight hours when everyone is heading home, the town is pleasant to behold.

    ''Though, I could do with a proper contender to fight...'' Corvisquire clicks his beak in annoyance. ''Like a sword left in the rain, I feel the rust forming on my skills, and I''m so close to evolution, too.'' He grips the streetlamp in his talons roughly in his irritation, making the paint chip and the metal below squeak. ''None of the weaklings around me can give me the push I need. I need only fly that fool trainer back to Littleroot then my obligations will be over and I can wash my talons of him.''

    "Wally, there he is!" a squeaky voice calls below, breaking Corvisquire from his brooding. Looking down, he bites back a sigh.

    Below him are a diminutive Ralts and a green-haired brat of a human child. The Ralts is pointing up at him as the child gapes like a moron.

    ''These two again...'' Corvisquire''s eyes narrow as he remembers the pair stumbling upon him a week prior, and how he had to exercise his mercy to save the stupid boy from his own traitorous body.

    "Wow... that''s a big bird..." Wally, the child mutters.

    Corvisquire narrows his eyes even further, and Wally seems to realize he''s already on thin ice as he gulps.

    "M-Mister Corvisquire?" Wally calls up to him, gray eyes nervous. "Can we talk to you?"

    For a moment, Corvisquire debates his options. He could just leave. He could hurl an insult and tell the pair to begone, or he could-

    "We brought you a present, a-as thanks for saving me!" The boy calls up, raising a wicker basket in his hands that escaped Corvisquire''s notice until now.

    Inside the basket is an assortment of berries. Some are of the mundane variety, but he spies some he enjoys like Cheri, Oran, Persm, Mago, and even his favorite; succulent, mouthwatering Pecha berries.

    ''Perhaps I can bear them for a few minutes.''

    Corvisquire flutters down from his perch, landing on the street with a click of his talons, and the boy seems taken about by his stature. The green-headed brat is only a foot taller than Corvisquire.

    "O-Oh..." Wally looks down at the now meager-looking basket. "If I had known you were this big, I would have brought more..."

    Corvisquire rolls his eyes and looks to Ralts. "What do you want?"

    Ralts twiddles his fingers. "Oh... We just wanted to thank you. Wally..." Ralts tears up slightly.

    ''Oh, here we go...''

    "Wally almost died because I wasn''t a good pokemon for him. You were so calm and knew what to do and...and...!" Tears run down Ralts'' face now.

    ''And I wanted to turn you into pulp. You seem to forget that, fool.''

    "Ralts, is something the matter?" Wally sets the basket down and drops to a knee, setting a hand on Ralts'' head. "What''s wrong? Are you hurt?" He reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a handkerchief, dabbing at his pokemon''s tears. "Please tell me, Ralts..."

    "I know I can''t make you do anything, but I know you''re a good pokemon, s-so can you teach me to be a good pokemon too?" Ralts hugs Wally''s arm as he asks. "Please?"

    The first thing Corvisquire wants to do is laugh. Laugh until he''s hoarse. The request is just so absurd and the little idiot''s assumptions are so wrong that it''s pure comedy.

    "I..." Ralts hiccups as he forces his emotions down. He looks up at his trainer, eyes red and puffy. "I want to be a good pokemon for you, Wally, but I don''t know how."

    Wally smiles. "You''re already a good pokemon, though..." Wally murmurs.

    Corvisquire stops, his mirth gone as he hears the trainer clearly and directly reply to Ralts. "Fool," Corvisquire drills his eyes into Ralts, who freezes. "Do you know how to use telepathy?"

    Ralts seems to debate hiding behind Wally but stops. "I''m not very good at it," he admits quietly.

    ''Telepathy is not just a skill, it''s a hallmark of potential...'' The raven pokemon looks between the boy and the tiny Psychic-type, an idea hatching. ''Never have I met a telepath without the finesse for greater skills, greater heights.'' Unbidden, he recalls the past telepaths he''s clashed with.

    ''That blasted Mr. Rime serving as the First and most Faithful of Dusan Durrinshire, dashing foes across jagged, invisible walls with a smile on his stupid face.''

    ''Espeon, that damned, smug banshee of House Mourn. Psychic screaming is no proper technique. How I would love to give you another scar so your left ear matches the right.''

    ''And finally... '' The final image is the most vivid, and in his mind''s eye, Corvisquire sees a pair of brown, burning eyes, smoldering with hate for a perceived betrayal. No matter how damning the imagined eyes are, Corvisquire stomps upon the guilt that wants to bubble in his chest. Of all his foes, Vulpix remains one he''s yet to beat, and her powers aren''t even matured.

    The brown eyes change, morphing into red gems that shine with a hellish, vengeful hue. The fur framing them transforms from dull orange to radiant gold.

    Never would Corvisquire admit that under the guilt, there was a thrill of fear at the image.

    "Hmm..." The raven hums to disguise his thoughts, and like a favored chick, his idea hatches into something magnificent. ''None of the weaklings of Verdanturf can challenge me, can push me to evolve, but I care not for leaving this town quite yet. So, rather than finding a worthwhile foe... What if I manufacture one?''

    "You wish to learn from me?" Corvisquire purrs, relaxing.

    The sudden shift, one even the human perceives, catches both the boy and pokemon off guard.

    Corvisquire struts up to the basket, plucking a delectable Pecha from the top. He tilts his head back and bites down, savoring the sweet pulp and juice. With another bite, the Pecha is in his gullet. "If mentorship is what you want, I can be convinced..." the raven smiles nastily.

 Act 2: Chapter 4

    "Well, Mister Henson," Nurse Joy''s smile instantly soothes Lee''s nerves. "I''m glad to say your Octillery will make a full recovery."

    Lee sighs and leans against the wall outside of the Lavaridge Pokemon Center''s aquatic ward. He turns slightly as he rests on the wall so as to not accidentally pin Vulpix, who is in her usual spot upon his shoulder. "Thank goodness," he murmurs, peering through the observation window into the ward.

    It truly seems like every Pokemon Center has everything needed to treat any sort of pokemon, evidenced by the multiple wards even the small Lavaridge center has. Through the glass, Lee runs his eyes over all the different tanks and enclosures. Only one is occupied right now, and it''s a large, closed-top rectangular tank of glass holding Octillery.

    After only several hours in the center''s care, the octopus pokemon is already beginning to look more lively. The sickly pallor of his skin has receded somewhat, and his sleep isn''t wracked by tremors or spasms.

    "We ran an analysis of the water sample you gave us, and it did indeed have a worrying amount of metallic contaminants in it," Nurse Joy peers down at the tablet computer held in her hand. "Thank you for bringing it in. Having a sample cut down our diagnosis time quite a bit."

    Lee returns his attention to the iconic nurse. "Will he have any complications while recovering? And what are you doing to treat him, if you don''t mind indulging my curiosity?"

    Joy smiles. "We don''t expect any complications, but if he experiences any symptoms like unusual fatigue or unprompted confusion, please bring him to the nearest Pokemon Center. As for his treatment��" She glances down at her tablet and swipes the page up, reading it briefly. "The filtration system in your Octillery''s tank is being treated with chelating agents that bind to the heavy metals in his body. These help him expel the contaminants through his urine. Every few hours, we''re also returning him to his ball and giving him a short session in an Omnitrauma unit to repair the damage caused by his heavy metal poisoning. He''s been responding to everything quite well!"

    ''Maybe I could intern at the Rustboro Pokemon Center when I start my classes. The fact that a tiny town like Lavaridge has a center with all of this specialized equipment and these treatment methods blows me away. What could I learn in a high-traffic center?'' Lee wonders with a touch of awe.

    Lee files the thought away for later and offers Nurse Joy a bright smile. "Thank you, nurse. Really. I was certain he would have some kind of chronic ailment after god-knows how long in that toxic puddle."

    "It''s our pleasure to help, Mister Henson." The red-headed nurse matches his smile easily. "Now, perhaps you should get some rest. You look quite exhausted."

    ''Do I?'' Lee runs a hand down his face. After thinking about it, his eyelids are rather heavy and his legs ache a bit�� ''We did kinda march through the night��''

    Upon arriving in Lavaridge and regaining cell service earlier that very morning, Courtney called ahead and secured a pair of rooms in one of the modest town''s small inns. While Lee went straight to the Pokemon Center, Zinnia, Brendan, and even the usually unflappable Courtney agreed that a nap was warranted and ventured to the hotel to sleep.

    "Yeah, a rest sounds nice��" Lee agrees with Joy. He turns his eyes to Octillery once more. "Any idea how long until Octillery is recovered?"

    "We''re expecting his discharge to be in ten to fourteen days."

    ''Two weeks to treat heavy metal poisoning so bad that Octillery was half-dead�� That''s nothing short of incredible.'' Lee shakes his head with a smile. "Sounds good. Please give me a call if anything comes up."

    "We will, Mister Henson," Joy nods.

    Nurse Joy escorts Lee and Vulpix out of the deeper part of the Pokemon Center, passing a few doctors, regular nurses, and a number of Chansey on the way back to the lobby. As they walk, Lee''s tired brain flits between several subjects at once, going from how in the world Octillery can blow through steel with water and ink, to wondering how the Joy family got involved with the Pokemon Center business in the first place. Once past the doors leading to the wards in the heart of the building, Nurse Joy bids them a kind farewell and returns back to her seat behind the front desk.

    As Lee and Vulpix exit the center out into the still-morning sun, Lee looks around the town while he stretches his arms over his head with a yawn. The town of Lavaridge is small, densely packed, and rife with Kanto''s Japan-esque culture and architecture with almost no empty space. If space isn''t used by an artistic nihon kenchiku-styled building or dense foliage grown from the fertile, volcanic-ash-strewn soil, then it''s a street or walkway. The largest buildings are the Gym and the Pokemon Center, and over the rooftops, Lee spots Hoenn''s fire-themed Gym sitting on a hill against the foot of the mountain. "Love," he pauses to yawn once more. "Is there anything we needed to do today? I want to get it out of the way."

    Vulpix mulls the question over, flicking her tails. ''Re*ister at the g*m.''

    "Ah, right," Lee frowns, annoyed. "Why the hell would a Gym website not have a check-in? That''s the one thing literally every trainer uses."

    ''It''s not st*ndardi*ed? The we*sites f*r the Gyms, I *ean.'' Vulpix asks as Lee begins a slow walk towards the Gym.

    "You''d think they would��" With so few people out and about in the early hour, Lee doesn''t think much of verbally replying. The path leads him and his fox west down Lavaridge''s main street, and looking to the north, Mt. Chimney''s imposing image cuts into the blue sky like a stony, smoking knife. For a second, Lee ponders the wisdom of building a town at the foot of a volcano. "But the Gym Leaders apparently get carte blanche for everything. So long as they don''t abuse their power, I think the League will let them do whatever they want."

    ''While not as hot a vacation spot as Dewford, Lavaridge still seems to thrive on tourism. What was the big thing here again? The hot springs and tours on the volcano, right?'' Lee spies a not-inconsiderable number of novelty stores, gift shops, and themed restaurants just beginning to open on the way to the Gym. Many offer mass-produced knick-knacks like mugs, hats, and shirts bearing some sort of logo or slogan related to Lavaridge, but a few have more unique pieces on display. One such shop has a sign saying ''Volcanic Ash Glass Sculptures. No two are the same!'' In the window sits a handful of pokemon statues made from glittering black glass, each one ranging from several inches large for a Spinarak to three feet tall for a boastful-looking Grumpig.

    ''I wonder if they do commissions��'' Lee wonders, conjuring a hazy image of each of his pokemon, their details captured as shiny statues.

    The path to the Gym leads them out of the business sector of the town and down a wide, tree-flanked path that snakes to the north, up a hill, and to the foot of Mt. Chimney. As the Gym comes into view, Lee can''t help but whistle.

    The Gym is styled after an old Kanto manor, with several levels and walls of white stone. The red, slanted roof is covered in tile, and the whole complex is surrounded by a stone wall capped by a tiled red overhang. Built into the wall is an open wooden gate, painted the same red as the roof welcoming them in. It''s a far cry from the utilitarian domes used back in Rustboro, Dewford, and Mauville.

    Walking past the gate and up to the glass double doors of the gym, Lee checks the posted hours from a sheet of paper taped to the inside of the glass, then he pulls his phone from his pocket, checking the time.

    "Nine-o-seven," he comments more to himself than Vulpix. "They''re open."

    The door is pulled open, and the pair walk inside.

    While the exterior of the Gym is traditional and pleasing to the eye, the lobby is somewhat uninspired by comparison. Some chairs pushed off to the side, a wooden reception desk with an ancient-looking computer sitting behind the raised edge of the desk, a water cooler in the corner, and a set of double doors on either side of the desk. It looks so much like any other generic business lobby that Lee''s tired brain doesn''t bother dedicating any of it to memory. Instead, he simply walks up to the empty reception desk and gives the bell sitting upon it a ring.

    Ding-ding!

    The noise echoes in the large room, and after a moment, footsteps can be heard beyond the right set of doors. "Coming!" Calls the voice of a young woman.

    "Jeez, the Gym has only been open for ten minutes��" The unseen woman grumbles as she pushes the doors open. "Who in the world-" The doors are thrown wide, and red eyes widen as the owner sees Lee.

    Standing in the doorway is the heir to the Lavaridge Gym, Flannery.

    The woman is striking, to say the least. Her long, crimson hair is pulled back into a high, wild Ponyta tail with her bangs left free to hang over the side of her angular face. A tight, midriff exposing t-shirt and well-fitting jeans accentuate her attractive figure and expose a fair amount of clear, smooth skin without being risque. On her red belt, a trio of pokeballs hang. It''s clear to Lee why she''s enjoyed so much popularity online following the announcement of her upcoming appointment as Gym Leader.

    "Good morning." Lee smiles. "I was hoping to register for the next available Gym battle. I tried to book it online, but the website��"

    "...Doesn''t work? Looks like it was made back when Aerodactyl were still flying around?" Flannery finishes for him with a sheepish chuckle. "We get that a lot. Here, I''ll get you put in the system."

    Flannery slips in behind the front desk and seats herself at the dinosaur of a computer with obvious familiarity and wiggles the mouse to wake the old machine, which it does with the whine of a spinning drive. "We''ve got a fifteen-day wait. Is that cool?"

    "That''s fine," Lee nods, withdrawing his wallet and sliding his license across the desk to the redhead. "Fifteen days, huh? Hitting peak season?"

    "Something like that," Flannery gives him a small, seemingly unsure smile and taking the plastic card, glancing between it and the computer screen as she types. More than once, she slows to steal a quick look up at Lee''s face or at Vulpix. It''s often enough that Vulpix pokes Lee''s brain over it.

    "Something wrong?"

    Lee''s words startle the Gym heir, who jumps in her seat and almost drops Lee''s license. "N-No, nothing''s wrong." She says with a hasty smile. "It''s just�� My grandpa, the current Leader, has been having me take over more and more of the challengers lately, and he might want me to battle you. I thought I would have more time to prepare for you, is all."

    "Prepare for us?" Lee shares a look with Vulpix, who stares back with the mental equivalent of a raised eyebrow.

    ''Gym Le*ders talk a*ongst *hemselves, rememb*r?'' Vulpix supplies. ''We''ve d*feated three G*m Leaders *t their full *ower. Ot*ers might *e nervous.''

    ''Ahh��'' Lee crosses his arms. "We''re not that scary, are we?" He directs his spoken question to Flannery.

    She shakes her head, making her Ponyta tail bounce. "Not scary, I''m excited about it�� but also a teeny bit anxious, too." Flannery admits, face flushing pink as she averts her eyes. "I''m still new to this whole Gym Leader thing, you know?"

    "I understand," Lee nods slowly. His memories fly back to his first days on the road as a trainer, and before that, his first days back in his Zoo. In both instances, uncertainty followed, nipping at his heels. "New job jitters and all that. It''s twice as bad for an important position like a Gym Leader, yeah?"

    Flannery''s smile slowly returns, and she seems pleased by the sympathy. "Yeah�� I''ve got my loaner pokemon, but I think you''ll be the first trainer I''ll have to go all-out on." She types a few last lines into her computer and hands Lee back his trainer license. "We''ve got you in for the Tuesday after the next at Five PM. Expect a two-on-two or a three-on-three."

    Lee smiles back and slips his license into his pocket. "Thanks. I''ll see you then." As he turns to leave, another voice comes echoing down the hallway from deeper in the Gym.

    "Flannery, dear! Do you know where I left that half-used inkwell? That calligraphy set I ordered came in and I don''t want to uncap any new ink if I don''t have to!" The weathered voice of an older man calls. Footsteps head towards the lobby where Lee, Vulpix, and Flannery stand, then from the same set of doors Flannery used comes an elderly man. The man stops, regarding Lee and Vulpix with surprise.

    In a pink, Kanto-styled robe, socks with straw sandals, and a pair of thin, wire glasses, the older gentleman could easily pass as a village elder in a less developed region. "Goodness," he begins, running a hand through his curly white hair as a smile lifts his gently aged face. "Mister Henson. I wasn''t expecting you for weeks to come. You''ve certainly set quite a pace, haven''t you?"

    Lee chuckles and turns back around to face the man. "I suppose we have. My group and I debated on taking the desert route here, but ultimately we decided to cut through the Valley of Steel-"

    Behind the elder, Flannery inhales sharply.

    "-which probably saved a week or more."

    The elderly man rubs his chin and nods. "Ah, that would explain it." Then a realization seems to strike him, as he reaches up and taps his own forehead with a sigh. "D''oh, where are my manners this morning!?" He holds a hand out with a smile. "Mura Moore, Lavaridge Gym Leader for another month or so. It''s nice to meet you in person!"

    Lee returns the smile and clasps Moore''s hand, giving it a shake. He inwardly grumbles about how the niceties are keeping him from returning to his hotel and passing out, but pushes on. "Lee Henson. It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mister Moore."

    Moore releases Lee''s hand. "I take it you''ve already met my lovely granddaughter, Flannery?" He asks, giving said granddaughter a bright grin that forces her to look away in embarrassment.

    "I have. We were discussing the jitters that come with new jobs just before you arrived."

    "Ha!" Moore''s grin lowers into a knowing smile. "Nothing will do that quite like taking the mantle of Gym Leader. Heck, I was part of the Elite Four before taking over the Lavaridge Gym. Imagine my surprise when being a Leader turned out to be the harder job." He clears his throat. "Since you''re here, Lee, could I interest you and Miss Vulpix in some tea over a conversation? I''ve been watching your progress and just how far you''ve come in only a few months is almost unbelievable."

    Once more, annoyance at being denied the rest his body is aching for gnaws on Lee.

    ''Cons*der the off*r,'' Vulpix makes her vulpine not-purr deep in her chest. As she does so, Lee feels her tug his mind to a tender embrace, siphoning away his aches and pushing away his exhaustion by pouring her own stamina into him. The sensation is like soothingly warm water running through his veins, and the odd feeling almost makes him shiver. ''Relatio*s with M*ore mi**t be v*luable.''

    "I can spare some time," Lee nods after considering Vulpix''s words, drawing another smile from the old man.

    <hr>

    "Here, it''s a personal blend of mine," Moore smiles and sets down two steaming cups on the low table before taking the spot opposite of Lee.

    ''I hope I''m not causing offense by sitting cross-legged,'' Lee watches Moore seat himself seiza style, sitting on his feet with his legs folded under him. ''I don''t think I can do that even with my boots off.''

    After an assurance from Flannery that she would handle the morning challengers, Moore leads Lee and Vulpix deeper into the Gym to a very Japanese-looking sitting room, showing the man and fox that the Kanto styling of the building goes deeper than just surface aesthetics. The Gym Leader certainly seemed pleased when Lee took his boots off before stepping on the straw-mat floor of the rather spartan sitting room.

    Lee raises the cup to his mouth and takes a short sip, finding that he doesn''t particularly care for the tea inside. "It''s good."

    Moore smiles and raises his own cup, taking a long drink. "Ahh, like mother used to make," he sets the cup down with a clack. "So, Lee. What made you choose Vulpix as your first pokemon?"

    "Hmm��" Lee gives his tea a swirl, watching his reflection ripple in the dark liquid as he thinks. ''I wonder where Moore heard that. More chatter between the Gym Leaders?'' He does not dwell upon it too much. "It''s more that she chose me. I used to be an animal handler, you see, and the facility I worked at�� closed under less-than-ideal circumstances and sort of left me adrift��" He sighs and sets the cup down. "Vulpix happened upon me when I was hitting my lowest point, and being the sweetheart she is, decided to stick with me."

    The vixen presses her head to Lee''s cheek. ''Y*u''re ge*ting better at *alking ab*ut it.'' Her pride is as warm as the fur tickling him.

    Without taking his eyes off of Moore, Lee smiles and raises a hand to scratch the fox gently along her jaw, drawing a content sigh from her. "Needless to say," the younger trainer continues, letting his hand fall again. "I''d be lost without her."

    Moore''s smile becomes fond as he watches. "Ah, we''re not too different then," he says wistfully, crossing his arms and leaning his head back. He stares up at the ceiling, taking in something only he can see. "Ty, my Typhlosion, that is, he and I were exactly the same when we were young. This was back in the day when you didn''t get a starter pokemon, the League wouldn''t start doing that for another ten years, you see. I was a boy with a pokeball in hand and the determination to become a trainer. I thought I would meet a grand Fire pokemon head-on and catch him with bravery and guile, but for days I found nothing. Not a single Fire-type.I started losing heart and sat down to wallow, frustrated. Who stumbled upon me not a minute later?" He laughs, deep and hearty. "A mellow little Cyndaquil who came right up without a single fuss, all curious as to why a sad boy was grumbling up a storm just outside his den. The rest is history."

    Lee smiles politely at the tale. "Sometimes that''s just how the best of friendships are formed. There''s no rhyme or reason to it, but it lasts."

    "And how!" Moore agrees. After another chuckle, he takes another sip from his tea before setting the empty cup down. "Lee, I can see you''re worn out from the road so I''ll spare you the old stories. I was wondering if you''d be interested in a trade?"

    Vulpix tenses up, and Moore notices instantly. "Not a pokemon trade! Don''t worry your little head, Miss Vulpix!" He raises his hands, palms up in surrender. "I don''t think I could get Lee here to agree anyway."

    "What sort of trade?" Lee asks, confused. He combs through a mental list of the inventory in his bag, but can''t think of anything Moore might want.

    "I heard that you''ve been heavily focused on a number of research subjects in your travels, one being move creation and modification," Moore''s smile takes on a more professional air, straddling the line between diplomatic and grandfatherly. "As Gym Leader, it''s both my duty and pleasure to support the newest generation of trainers, and in that regard, I''d like to make use of your talents in that capacity as a Hoenn Gym Leader."

    Lee struggles to keep his frown from showing, realizing he''s just stepped into a political arena by total accident. ''And I did it while running on three hours of sleep, too.'' Taking a sip of his tea to stall and think of an answer, he reaches out to Vulpix. ''Love, help me out here, please.''

    The vixen''s eyes narrow, and from her mind, a number of answers rocket to the forefront of Lee''s brain. None are in true words, answers that Vulpix formulates for him never are. They''re complex impressions that will pull words from his lexicon and form a sentence before leaving his mouth. How Vulpix figured out how to do this is beyond him.

    Rather than take an agreeable one and essentially let Vulpix use him as a mouthpiece, Lee scans over the replies, picks one he likes, and allows the words to arrange themselves in his head�� Then he edits several words and returns the answer to the fox on his shoulder for review.

    Vulpix''s surprise is plain to him, even if her face remains neutral. There isn''t enough time to converse, so Lee just transmits his intentions.

    Can''t have you think for me. Team effort instead.

    The fox''s lips twitch in a ghost of a smile as she amends the answer with her own edits and sends it back to Lee.

    Twice more the collective reply is cycled between trainer and pokemon at the speed of thought. They can''t be too dismissive considering Moore''s position of prestige, but neither can they seem eager to bend, as that invites the possibility of unfair compensation for whatever this trade might be. The Gym is also something to account for. No doubt Moore will observe a more traditional and respectful method of negotiation considering his adherence to Kanto culture so far. A nice middle-ground is what they find.

    The whole exchange lasts just a few seconds, long enough for Lee to sip his drink and set it back down. "That''s an interesting direction to take the conversation, Gym Leader Moore." Lee folds his hands in his lap, staring at Moore''s faintly smiling visage with his own neutral mask. "I would be happy to assist you during my stay in Lavaridge, but opening with a trade offer has the implication that this is no small matter. May I ask what it is you require from me?"

    Moore nods slowly. "Of course, forgive this old man for not starting with that. As you are no doubt aware, my granddaughter''s appointment as Gym Leader is upon us, mere weeks away, in fact. Her debut will be another "changing of the guard," if you will. Roxanne and Brawly both took their places from predecessors boasting a long and rich tenure, drawing skepticism and worry about Hoenn''s place in this ever-more competitive world. When the two kept their Gyms rising to reach ever greater heights, the naysayers grew quiet, and a hopeful optimism began to bloom throughout our region." Moore''s smile grows just a tiny bit. "Liza and Tate took control of Mossdeep City''s Gym only two years ago after soundly thrashing their former master, who was an expert trainer, albeit a rough, arrogant character of a man. The twins are true once-in-a-generation prodigies, having taken control of a Gym at the tender age of ten years, and through their stellar efforts as trainers, Mossdeep has risen to become one of the most daunting Gyms in Hoenn, perhaps even in the world. Roxanne and Brawly paved the way for Liza and Tate to transform the view of elder Leaders retiring. Now rather than lament the loss of a learned elder, the people look forward to seeing new and ever more grand talent."

    Lee blinks, not expecting the sudden history lesson. "I see��"

    "It''s because of this��" Moore''s smile falls. "Expectations weigh heavily on Flannery''s shoulders. People expect her to be so many things all at the same time. Her opening day, her debut, will be critical. Gone are the days when the title of Gym Leader alone demanded respect; now we must all bow to the eternal Rattata-race that is popularity." Moore chews on the word ''popularity'' bitterly. "The masses expect her to wow them out of the gate, and if she doesn''t? Then the crying and complaining will start. People will feel cheated that my granddaughter isn''t all they dreamed, and who is it that notices those complaints?" Moore sighs, almost aging before Lee''s eyes. "The bean-counters holed up in the Pokemon League HQ, that''s who. They only look at approval ratings to decide if they want to hassle you or not. Suddenly something as simple as ordering office supplies needs two weeks of waiting and ten batches of forms because some algorithm says that you, a low-ranked Gym Leader, don''t need extra pens."

    With a sigh, Lee closes his eyes in thought. "Roxanne said something along similar lines, that the League heavily limits the strength of pokemon used in educational settings despite her best efforts to change that." He pauses. "I didn''t realize the League was so rife with bureaucratic woes."

    Moore''s smile returns, small and sardonic. "Some advice from one trainer to another: get used to it. Red tape is the perfect trap for ambitious men, and someone like you, Lee, will be seeing more of it before long."

    ''Well, that''s not ominous or anything.''

    "I intend to give Flannery every advantage I can," the Fire-type master continues. "This, my friend, is where you come into the equation," Moore levels Lee with an even stare. "I wish to commission a custom Fire-type TM from you."

    Several things quickly jump out as wrong to Vulpix, who shifts slightly. She''s quick to point them out to Lee. Once more, she shortens her telepathy back to wordless urges and sensations so Lee isn''t silent for too long, and another several rounds of phrase crafting jump between her and Lee. After only three seconds, they come to an agreement on what to say.

    "Am I correct to assume that the intention of this hypothetical technique is to be an edge for Flannery?" At Moore''s nod, Lee continues. "While I''m not rejecting the project, I have to wonder, why ask me? Surely your pokemon have a plethora of expert Fire attacks that would benefit Flannery''s team far better than anything we have to offer. It''s my understanding that moves within TMs come with the knowledge of how the original owner used them, including tweaks and whatnot. Perhaps you even have a custom move of your own to offer her?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

    "You are correct on all accounts," Moore smiles and reaches for the teapot between them, filling his empty cup until white steam gently floats from the rim. He takes a drink before answering further. "But a brand new move will have a public impact that one of Ty''s moves can''t hope to replicate, powerful or not."

    "Truly?" Lee hums. Vulpix slides from his shoulder to settle in his lap, resting her chin on the table as she does so. "If you say so��"

    Moore adjusts his glasses, pushing them a little further up his nose. "Truly. I think you underestimate the ripples new techniques have on the state of the competitive battling world. If you were to engage a common pokemon, let''s say a Roselia, you would know roughly what to expect, yes?"

    Lee nods once.

    "You formulate a plan, and decide to close the gap, owing to Roselia''s poor close combat abilities. When your pokemon draws close��" Moore raises a hand and snaps his finger sharply, making Vulpix''s heart-marked ear twitch. "Suddenly, the Roselia fires off a devastating close-range move that you''ve never seen before, and your plan has gone up in smoke as your pokemon is critically injured due to a mistake you had no idea you were making. Now you have to scrounge up a new plan, manage your injured pokemon, and while you''re doing so, now you''re wondering if there is another unpleasant surprise waiting for you." Moore levels Lee with a serious expression that makes the younger trainer sit straighter. "Knowing is half the battle, but what happens when you can''t trust what you know?"

    "I imagine that you battle with half-effectiveness��"

    "Oh, it''s worse than that," Moore chuckles. "Trainers, real serious ones, study their opponents for days or sometimes weeks. What do you do when you can''t prepare for what your foe has? No one can account for everything that might go wrong in a battle, and one unexpected move can turn the whole tide of battle. One can certainly account for unusual tactics and novel applications of existing attacks, but facing something undocumented?" The old man crosses his arms and leans back on his heels a bit more. "Once we''re done here, take a look on the confuser. Trainers competing in Hoenn are starting to get awfully nervous of you."

    ''Confuser?'' It takes a moment for Lee to realize he means ''computer.'' "I apologize for the ignorance, but are new moves really that big a deal?"

    "Let me put this in perspective," Moore holds a hand up at chest height, palm up. "I''ve been a trainer for nearly sixty years now. I''ve been both an Elite Four member and a Gym Leader for much of that time, and many recognize me as a Fire-type master. Do you know how many new techniques I''ve created with this time and skill? And I don''t mean little changes to existing attacks, but full, real attacks made from the ground up."

    Lee looks down at Vulpix, who leans her head back to meet his eyes. "Twenty?"

    Moore openly laughs. "Less."

    "Fifteen?"

    "Less."

    "Erm. Ten?"

    "Nope. Less."

    "Five?"

    "Four," Moore finally reveals. "Ty and I bashed our heads into the wall for years to make just four moves. Flame Terrain, Burning Ash, Dry Out, and Crashdown. Each one was made to cover a weakness or fill a niche he was missing. More than once, the clever use of one of our home-baked specialties snatched victory in a critical match out of the jaws of defeat. Only Ty, his offspring, and Flannery''s pokemon know them. To this day, the moves keep challengers wary because there are no documents, no explanation on how they work, no nothing. I imagine a few of Ty''s kiddies that were released to the wild have made families of their own by now, so the moves are out there, but it''s going to be generations before they''re anywhere close to common. You''ve made how many moves?"

    Lee mentally debates revealing the info with Vulpix, and after another rapid-fire round of phrase crafting, he answers. "Four."

    "It''s taken you three months to do what took us six decades," Moore doesn''t seem upset at the admission. No, he actually smiles. "Now do you understand why I''m asking? Flannery knows our four, but one of her own to unveil during her debut would be perfect for cementing her status as a Gym Leader."

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    "..." Lee mulls over Moore''s words. This time, rather than ask Vulpix for a suggestion on what to say, he forms the reply in his mind and shows it to her. He feels the vixen scan the message intently, then alter several words.

    "What you''re asking for is a tall order, Gym Leader Moore��" The zoologist begins. "You''re asking me to essentially halt my own team''s training to begin the development of a move that might be used against us, and you''re imposing a deadline of a month or less. With that time, we could train, conjure up something for our own roster, or just relax after the ordeal that was traversing the Valley of Steel. May I ask what you''re offering to trade?" He says, reaching out to take his teacup once more. ''Better drink it before it gets cold.''

    Moore smiles. "Both as payment and for ease of your commission, I have a Fire Stone I''m willing to part with."

    Lee hums into his sip of tea and sets his cup down, drumming his fingers on the ceramic. Just saying Fire Stone means very little, considering the purity and concentration of Type Energy in the stones are the biggest deciding factor of their worth. The better the stone''s grade and purity, the smoother the evolution would go, and the greater the ceiling for the newly evolved pokemon''s power would be. ''Or so they say.''

    The best ones Lee can find online semi-regularly seem to be grade-4, which is quite a lot of contained TE, and purity-3, meaning the stone only has minor blemishes that won''t inhibit the energy transfer much, though the common examples seem to hover around grade-5 or 6, purity-4. Anything below a grade or purity 8 regardless of the other stat seems to only be fit to be a glowing paperweight.

    He saw a grade-2, purity-2 Water Stone on an internet auction house once. There were still three days left to bid, and the highest bid was already at eighty-thousand credits.

    "Vulpix and I are still discussing the merits of evolution," Lee says diplomatically, letting his free hand idly stroke the fox in his lap and soothing the creeping worry he feels inside of her. "To go from a Vulpix to a Ninetales is a huge leap. It''s not like the natural evolution of other pokemon."

    Moore nods, his shoulders dipping somberly. "Yes, I can understand that caution. Ninetales are some of the most venerated pokemon around, and for good reason. They''re powerful, dangerous pokemon. A Vulpix will go from flesh and blood to�� something not wholly mortal. Something not easily controlled."

    A frown finds its way to Lee''s face even if Moore''s words chill him. "I''m not worried about her harming me."

    "I never said it was you who would be in danger."

    The conversation comes to an awkward lull, or at least it feels awkward to Lee.

    "Buuut for a trainer like you, Lee, I doubt that would be an issue anyway." Moore hastily tacks on. "Ah!" Moore exclaims, reaching up to tap his forehead once more. "I almost forgot. The Fire Stone? Ty and I dug it from Mt. Chimney not a week ago. It''s quite the pretty thing��" Moore smiles like a Meowth who caught a fat Pidgey. "A grade-1, purity-1. I haven''t seen one in years."

    The teacup in Lee''s grip shatters.

    <hr>

    The next six days are spent agonizing over Mura Moore''s words. The elderly Gym Leader didn''t mind them leaving to think over the offer, even going as far as to say he expected it. He told them if they want to accept, come back, as he would keep the stone until he got an answer or until Flannery''s debut in one month, whichever came first.

    During the day, the rest of the group is relaxing, or training, or off seeing the sights of Lavaridge. Brendan went to schedule his Gym Battle and landed a spot only a day after Lee.

    Lee, however, spends every bit of his time buried in study. The subject?

    Ninetales.

    Of course, as a trainer to a Vulpix, Lee did some minor research on Ninetales back in the Hoenn Lab. His searching lasted only one day, as he didn''t expect to have a Ninetales for years, if ever. Most of what he found were folk tales, and they were entertaining enough to occupy the day.

    Now, with the best possible stone dangled in front of him and Vulpix still up in the air about evolving?

    To his dismay, concrete information on the rare fox pokemon just doesn''t exist. There are peripheral scientific articles mentioning Ninetales in passing, one news article of a Ninetales in Unova who apparently inherited a chateau or something, but the old fox declined to reach back out to the news channel. There is plenty of Kanto folklore almost deifying the fox pokemon, saying they can control minds, cast illusions, and are agents of trickery, purity, evil, divinity, and everything in between. One article claims that there are only around a thousand Ninetales alive at any given time, citing that there are less than two hundred registered to known trainers.

    Less than two hundred. That''s not just for Hoenn, but the entire world.

    His pokedex proves equally useless, as the gadget barely has a page worth of info, and much of it comes with disclaimers that the data might be inaccurate or outdated. There is a list of moves that Ninetales have doubtless been seen using, a rough weight and height range, a diet that may or may not be correct, and a map of their usual nesting grounds that of course shows nothing.

    ''Maybe I should shoot Nigel an email asking about this.''

    By comparison, Vulpix is as common as the humble Caterpie. There are thousands of registered Vulpix around the world, and there are likely just as many unregistered foxes kept as pets. Yet Vulpix is still considered to be a rare and coveted pokemon. No single study can seem to figure out the disparity. Some blame the cost of Fire Stones, which price out casual trainers, while others say evolution anxiety is common in the Vulpix population for all sorts of reasons. Every study comes to a different conclusion.

    One click-bait site ranking pokemon by rarity got one thing right for certain: Ninetales is borderline legendary.

    He dared not ask Vulpix a thing, however. Much like him, she''s been in deep thought for days. Sometimes, when she thinks she''s hiding her emotions well, Lee will feel flashes from her. Flashes of apprehension, dread, or even guilt for some unfathomable reason. Those soulful brown eyes would stare at him full of conflict, and it tears at him.

    Between multi-hour bouts of study, Lee cares for his team, visits the Pokemon Center to see the nearly-comatose Octillery, and on day six, he sits outside the hotel, preparing to go and see Mable for the first time in several weeks.

    Lee leans back into the beam supporting the overhang just outside his and Brendan''s hotel room door, watching people and pokemon walk by. The hotel is situated on a flat stretch in the middle of a steep hill, making the road a chore to climb but a breeze to descend. More than once a kid on a bike has zipped by, barrelling downhill with a holler. A large, balloon-like pokemon called Drifblim lazily follows the girl and her bike from overhead. The same kid is then carried back to the top of the hill in the arms of her Drifblim friend, bike and all, where the cycle restarts. The antics are a pleasant distraction.

    At Lee''s feet, Vulpix stares up at the sky, her face blank and her mind whirling so quickly that Lee can''t make heads or tails of her thoughts.

    ''Another ten minutes or so and we should be off.'' Lee withdraws his phone and checks the time, finding it to be 9:30am. ''The Pokemon Center is roughly twenty minutes out?'' He looks down at Vulpix.

    The vixen doesn''t acknowledge the telepathic question, still staring off into space.

    Lee sighs and crosses his arms as he leans back again, following his pokemon''s eyes up to the cloud she''s locked onto.

    It looks like a lion, so he tears his eyes away after only a second.

    Behind them, a door opens and shuts quietly. During the short period it''s open, Lee catches the sound of light snores.

    "Still thinking about the offer the Gym Leader made?"

    Looking to his side, Lee spies Courtney there, looking up at him from the shadow of her red jacket''s hood.

    "I am." Lee nods. He saw no harm in telling the Magma Admin, so she was included in the little huddle about Lee''s day nearly a week ago. "Zinnia''s snoring wake you up?"

    The purple-haired woman shakes her head. "No. I''m usually up much earlier."

    The two fall into a silence that isn''t awkward, but neither is it comfortable. Perhaps it''s only Lee who finds it unnerving, knowing Courtney''s true allegiance. Either way, Lee clears his throat. "Courtney, you worked with Devon''s geology labs, I recall? Do you know how much of a difference evolution stone grades and purities make?

    Courtney folds her hands into her hoodie''s pockets. "Big difference. The stone is the catalyst�� and also the fuel. The more energy a pokemon gets from a stone, the less their body needs to provide to make up the difference. Anything left over doubles back, making the pokemon more powerful and adding more potential." She shrugs. "Simplifying things, skipping over some bits for the sake of time, but a better stone means better pokemon."

    Her words seem to snap Vulpix out of her funk, as she looks up at the Magma Admin with searching eyes.

    Courtney stares back, unflinching.

    "If you want to do it��" The woman breaks off her staring contest with the fox at Lee''s feet to look back at Lee. "Don''t wait. Fire Stones degrade with time. Energy leaks out and cracks form. High-grade stones destabilize faster."

    ''I kinda guessed that. The glow that some stones have means there has to be some kind of radiation.'' Lee nods wearily. "Thanks for indulging me, Courtney."

    Another few minutes pass in silence, then Lee glances at his phone once more. "C''mon, love." He gives Vulpix a nudge with his boot, pulling her from her thoughts again. "We''ve got a schedule to keep." He then looks over to Courtney. "We''ve got a meeting to get to and we''ll be back in a bit. See you then."

    The hoodie-clad woman simply nods, accepting his words. "Until then."

    As Lee and Vulpix slowly trod to the Pokemon Center, Lee can''t help but let his mind wander. ''If a Ninetales is such a powerful pokemon, why was Courtney so candid? Surely she knows that if we get tangled up in Magma''s business, that means we''ll come to blows and things will just be harder for her. I thought she would have gone down the cautious or concerned route and discouraged any strength building��''

    Lee ponders the question all the way to the Pokemon Center.

    <hr>

    "Ah, there you two are!" Mable Lanes'' voice is as rich and soothing as ever, and Vulpix can see the tension drain out of Lee''s shoulders as they step into the rented meeting room with her.

    The room is the same as it always is. The same eggshell white walls, the same cushy sofa, the same chair Mable always sits in. To herself, Vulpix can''t help but wonder if all Pokemon Centers have this exact room, or if Mable and Xatu go to the trouble of hauling the same set of furniture around.

    The door closes behind them as Lee seats himself, and Vulpix is quick to hop up on the sofa with him, settling into his lap. As per usual, her trainer leans forward a little bit, wrapping his arms loosely around her.

    Vulpix gladly presses herself to the arms.

    "It''s been a while, Lee," Mable smiles. "I heard you took a daring path to Lavaridge. Why don''t you tell me about that? Seems like a thrilling journey!"

    "Well," Lee shifts, and Vulpix is heartened by how safe and comfortable he feels. "There were a few reasons for it. First off��"

    Then on the edge of Vulpix''s 6th sense, she feels it.

    Xatu, Mable''s Xatu, doesn''t abruptly appear in her 3rd eye as if he teleported. A mind blinking into existence would draw the attention of anyone with psychic talent. No, Xatu fades into the material world like a ghost, and if she weren''t already experienced in feeling him out, the wizened bird would have escaped her notice entirely.

    Just outside the door leading to the room, Xatu stands and maintains a silent vigil. Then with a flicker of thought from Xatu, reality itself seems to hiccup.

    All at once, everything Vulpix can hear and feel beyond the borders of the meeting room just vanishes, as if the room jumped into a dimension all its own. Her fur stands up on end.

    The vixen yawns, playing off her discomfort as a stretch.

    What sort of power Xatu holds, Vulpix isn''t sure, and she isn''t sure she even wants to know.

    For some time, Vulpix sits, listening to Lee recount the last several weeks to Mable, who pauses the story for a question here and there. Then with an inward sigh, Vulpix reaches a thin tendril of isolated thought out into the ether, waiting.

    Scarcely a second later, something reaches back out.

    If her psychic probe is a tendril as thick as a human pinky finger, then the newcomer is barely more than a Spinarak web strand - so minuscule and thin that Vulpix''s 3rd eye doesn''t even see it. Yet when the strand touches her tendril, a shock runs down her spine.

    ''Hello, Xatu.''

    ''Good morn, Miss Vulpix.''

    Vulpix suppresses a shiver as the elder pokemon''s words run through her body and touch her core as if her mental defenses don''t exist. The thin strand can snake its way through anything, it seems.

    During the first session, Xatu reached out and introduced himself, saying he offered his services to her just as Mable does for Lee, but Vulpix was too concerned with comforting her trainer and ignored the Psychic bird.

    The second, Vulpix tentatively reached out, then withdrew out of hesitation before Xatu could actually communicate with her.

    On their third meeting, the fox and bird finally had their first true conversation. Xatu was unoffended by being spurned twice in a row, and finally having a willing ear that wouldn''t be burdened by hearing her, Vulpix spilled and told him everything.

    Her fears of the future.

    The nightmares of Lee''s final moments.

    The terrible, unknowable blackness that awaits at The End.

    And the maddening question of why she was born.

    Xatu listened and listened well. The Psychic-type did not judge, nor did he pity or patronize her, and for that, Vulpix was grateful.

    Then came his roundabout answers to her questions, and Vulpix was less grateful.

    ''Have your nightmares abated?'' If Vulpix had to put a word to the way Xatu ''spoke,'' it would have to be smoky. Each word blazed in her mind, but at the same time, they were paradoxically ephemeral.

    ''They have,'' Vulpix answers. ''I''ve been meditating before bed as you instructed. I�� don''t believe I''ve found answers to my questions inside myself, but putting my thoughts in order has helped.''

    ''I am gladdened to hear that.'' She can almost imagine Xatu bobbing his head in a nod, for his Spinarak strand conveys almost zero emotion. ''What troubles you today?''

    The fox hesitates, shifting a bit in Lee''s lap. As she thinks of what to say, she flicks her ear and returns her attention to Lee and Mable for a moment.

    "-A little frustrated that Moore sprung this on us so suddenly��" Vulpix catches the tail end of Lee''s grumbles. "Vulpix has concerns about her evolution, and it''s a take-it-or-leave-it kind of thing. We can''t really keep it with us, because a stone that strong might trigger evolution even with no contact."

    "Have you talked to Vulpix on this?" Mable asks, and Vulpix is suddenly aware that both Lee and Mable are staring at her.

    "I have," Lee''s words herald an outpouring of love that flows into Vulpix, who silently curses and realizes she''s been letting her worry bleed over again. Nevertheless, the warm tide of her trainer''s affection washes away both the worry and self-aimed frustration. "I told her it''s her decision, and no matter what she picks, I''ll support it," his hand combs through Vulpix''s tuft of breast fur, and as always the cool fingers relax her.

    ''You want to accept, but you''re hesitating.'' Xatu''s ''voice'' pulls Vulpix back into their conversation.

    ''It''s a complicated matter.''

    ''Then explain, and I will assist as best I can.''

    Vulpix tries to be upset at how blunt Xatu is being, but the hand still stroking the cream-colored fur of her chest makes it a chore. ''I''m afraid, Xatu,'' she finally admits. ''I know trouble is on the horizon, and I want to be stronger for Lee, stronger for my team, strong enough that I can shield them from everything that might hurt them, but��'' She draws in a breath. ''Evolution�� is going to change me. Change me in ways I don''t want. I don''t want to live for a thousand years, I don''t want to outlive Lee, Grovyle, or Shinx. Sixty, seventy, eighty years from now, any one of them might be�� The word ''gone'' simply refuses to come out. Her whole being screams at the thought of being alone. She would sooner throw herself to the primordial void awaiting at The End.''Then I''ll have hundreds of years to live after that. What would I do with myself? Other pokemon know what to expect when they evolve, but I don''t. There are so few Ninetales that Lee can find almost nothing.'' Once more, Moore''s words play out in her head.

    A Vulpix will go from flesh and blood to�� something not wholly mortal.

    ''I''m scared, Xatu.''

    Xatu remains silent for a second. Then; ''There is no folly in fear. It exists for a reason. There is folly, however, in letting fear paralyze you. Take care that you do not let yourself fall into that trap.'' Vulpix gets the impression that he pauses to adjust his wings or somesuch. ''You wish to be strong for the ones you love, yet not to change. You''ll find this to be an impossible task, Miss Vulpix, one that will drive you mad. We change every day. I am not the same Xatu from the last time we spoke, just as you are not the same Vulpix. We all change as time goes on, both in ways we can and cannot control. You will find that a force as mighty as love will often force change upon you.''

    Vulpix frowns. ''You''re saying I should evolve?''

    ''No,'' Xatu''s reply is curt. ''There is an expression for what is occurring here. You wish to have your cake-''

    ''-And eat it, too. Yes, I''m aware of common human proverbs.''

    If Xatu is annoyed by the interruption, it doesn''t show. ''Quite. You will find that with changes to life and person, there is rarely an event that is all positive or negative. It is up to the one facing the change to make it into what they wish as best they can��'' Xatu pauses once more. ''Let me tell you of my ilk, Vulpix. The greatest of Xatu are blessed, or cursed, with an ability most terrific. One needs only to gaze into the sun, the eye of Arceus, and the secrets of the past and future will play out before them. Many are overwhelmed, frozen in place. They see the mistakes of the past and the horror of the future. Countless stand in the same place, upon the same cliffs and mountains, staring forward, motionless. They dare not move, for fear of making their visions of what is yet to come even worse.''

    Vulpix swallows thickly. Lee likes to chatter idly when they''re alone, and the supposed prophetic powers of Xatu came up once. She found herself skeptical, but now��

    ''Paralyzed by fear, these Xatu waste away and die on their feet, almost never venturing out to try and correct what they see. The fear of change roots them, and many never even think to do anything. The despair of ''what if'' is their death knell, for it''s only natural to stare into the dark and assume the worst.'' Xatu''s Spinarak strand wavers. ''They focus so intently on the negative that they never see the other side of the coin, the visions where horror is replaced by shining utopia, for the future is always in flux. The few who break the spell, the very, very strongest, leave so they might bring about their utopia. They know what might await them, but they make choices, embrace changes, and move forward fearlessly. Heed these words, Vulpix:

    ''Time will change you one day. Will you rage and resist, or will you step bravely forward?''

    ''Love will change you one day. Will you live in your own world, or will you open your eyes and see?''

    ''Loss will change you one day. Will you weep over gravestones, or will you live?''

    ''Reach for your utopia, Vulpix, or you will never have it.''

    The vixen goes stiff in Lee''s arms, each and every prophetic word slamming into her with the force of a hammer blow. It takes everything she has to not tremble.

    ''Do you��'' Vulpix needs to stop to breathe and gather her thoughts. ''Do you speak from experience?''

    For a second, it seems like Xatu isn''t going to answer the overly-personal question. ''I do. Your path is your own, Vulpix, but never should you walk it with doubt.'' Xatu''s strand of thought begins to withdraw. ''We are nearing the hour mark for our visit. Remember; change is what you make of it.''

    ''I''ll remember.''

    ''Good. Meditate further on your other questions. I am aware that you do not wish for Lee to be aware of your personal woes, but I think you will find him to be more capable of comforting you than I. Consider telling him what worries you.''

    ''I''ll think about it,'' she lies.

    Xatu withdraws, and the minds and sounds beyond the door return.

    <hr>

    An hour passes, and Vulpix realizes she''s been inside her own head the whole time, much to her annoyance.

    Xatu''s words�� She keeps replaying them in her head. It''s the most the damn bird has ever said in a conversation with her. Normally he would keep quiet, let her vent, then make suggestions. All of her quandaries are of an introspective sort, and Xatu took that as "I''ll help you but I''m not answering any direct questions."

    ''Reach for your utopia, Vulpix, or you will never have it.''

    What does that mean? What is utopia supposed to represent? A happy life with her team and trainer? She''s already reaching for that.

    ''Time will change you one day. Will you rage and resist, or will you step bravely forward?''

    What else can she do? No one can stop time.

    ''Love will change you one day. Will you live in your own world, or will you open your eyes and see?''

    Vulpix isn''t even sure how to interpret that one.

    ''Loss will change you one day. Will you weep over gravestones, or will you live?''

    Vulpix bites back a growl and returns her attention outward.

    They''re out wandering the town of Lavaridge. Vulpix is in her usual spot, draped across her trainer''s shoulders whilst baby Shinx is held in his arms. At Lee''s side, Grovyle walks along with his arms crossed, dutifully watching for danger as Lee peers into the window display of a storefront.

    Tentatively, she reaches her thoughts out to Lee, and to her relief, he wears his high spirits on his mental sleeves. She dares not incriminate herself by asking for his memories of his session with Mable and is content with the knowledge that he left better than he went in.

    Then she reaches an isolated mental probe out to Grovyle.

    ''Grovyle?''

    The Grass-type doesn''t even flinch. ''Vulpix. Are you well?''

    Of course, Grovyle would notice. Nothing ever seems to escape him. ''I''m not. I have�� a dilemma, I suppose, and I would like your opinion.''

    ''Regarding evolution?'' He asks, falling back into step with Lee when the latter loses interest in the electronics in the store window.

    ''I thought I was the mind reader here��'' Vulpix wearily jokes. She huffs out a hot breath, making Lee reach up and rub the now warm part of his neck. ''I want to evolve, Grovyle, I do, but I don''t want to outlive everyone.'' Her heart pangs painfully at the final thought. ''What would you do if evolution meant outliving the ones you know and love?''

    Grovyle rolls his twig around in his mouth. ''I would still evolve.'' Vulpix''s surprise must bleed over, as he continues after a short delay. ''I''ve already outlived my home, but I don''t let the loss itself be the focus of my memory. I remember the times spent with my colony and growing up fondly. It would feel like spitting on the Old Tree''s memory if I let my spirits fall every time I thought of it. Evolution means more power, and it means I can protect what I love until things I can''t fight, such as time, are the only concerns.''

    Of course, Grovyle would have such a refreshingly simple yet noble view, and through his inexperience with telepathy, his honesty lights up each of his words like a beacon.

    ''Does that alleviate your concerns some?'' Grovyle asks.

    ''...Earlier, Xatu said I had to ''reach for my utopia or I would never have it.'' Does that make sense to you?''

    ''Flowery, but I understand. If you want a pleasant future, it''s up to you to do what you can to create it.''

    Vulpix licks her chops, trying and failing to keep the Butterfree in her stomach still. ''That was my takeaway as well. Thank you, Grovyle.''

    ''Anytime.''

    Vulpix withdraws from Grovyle and reaches her mind back out to Lee. ''Lee?'' The word comes across clearly.

    Her trainer looks her way, blue eyes bright and a hint of a smile on his lips. ''Yes, love?''

    Vulpix widens the psychic channel between them, both so her words are clear and to embolden herself with the everpresent undercurrent of love inside of Lee. ''I''ve decided. I want to evolve.'' She drops the bomb on him.

    His surprise is as sharp as it is sudden, and she almost flinches. ''Vulpix��'' He begins seriously. ''Are you sure? That''s a huge decision to make, and this isn''t the only opportunity that we''ll get. I''m sure we can find another stone if you have any second thoughts.'' As he ''speaks'', he carries both her and Shinx to a nearby bench and sits heavily.

    Grovyle follows afterward and sits to Lee''s right. Vulpix is acutely aware of his yellow eyes on her.

    ''I''m certain!'' Vulpix insists. She narrows her eyes and banishes the fluttering in her stomach. ''I want to be powerful, powerful for you and everyone else. If this stone is as powerful as it''s made out to be, then this is an opportunity I have to take.'' She can feel several of her words garble as she forces her meaning into rigid human language, but Lee''s eyes still shine with comprehension. ''I''m ready.''

    Baby Shinx, so sensitive, apparently feels the shift in the atmosphere, as she squirms and whines in Lee''s arms, pawing at him with distress.

    Lee shifts gears in only a second and shushes the little kitten. "Don''t worry, babygirl," his soft murmurs take the burgeoning tempest out of Shinx''s sails, and the Electric-type slowly ceases her struggles. For a moment, the man whispers quietly to her and gently strokes her across the back. "Here, take a nap for now, okay? We''ll have lunch when you wake up."

    A few passers-by stop to smile or gawk at the scene of a large, scar-marked man baby-talking a tiny Shinx, but to Vulpix''s pride, Lee is unbothered.

    Slowly, Shinx is soothed into a drowsy bundle of blue and black fur, and after her eyes close, Lee returns her to her ball in a flash of red before giving Vulpix his undivided attention. ''Sorry, love. Anyway,'' He leans back into the bench. ''Are you sure about your decision? I don''t want you to feel pressured just because I researched Ninetales, either. I went into that knowing full well the call is yours and yours alone. Also, when we last talked about this��'' He bites his lip. ''You were�� concerned about outliving me.''

    Doubt tries to bubble up in Vulpix, but she ruthlessly crushes it. ''I was��'' she shakes her head. ''I still am a little afraid of that. One thing has become apparent to me, though. Changing is okay, and I should worry about the here and the now before concerning myself with what happens decades later. I''m not going to be afraid of growing, not when I have you at my side. When you��'' She still can''t bring herself to say it. ''I won''t cry because it''s over, I''ll smile because it happened.'' She turns her eyes to Grovyle and smiles as best as her vulpine lips allow her.

    Lee sags on the bench with a sigh. After a moment of thought behind a private curtain in his mind, he smiles faintly. From him into Vulpix flows a trickle of resignation, more than a little giddiness, and a torrent of pride for her. ''You''re one brave fox, you know that?''

    ''I learned it from you,'' Vulpix presses her face into his neck, relishing in both his affection and contact. The Fire-type feels so light that if she were to leap, she fears she might not ever come down.

    "Well��" Lee says aloud, standing with a smile. "Let''s go to the Gym and let Moore know that we accept."

    The walk to the Gym seems to pass by in a flash for Vulpix, who can''t help but shiver in anticipation. So distracted is she, that she almost doesn''t notice Lee pull his phone from his pocket and send a message to Zinnia, Brendan, and Courtney telling them to meet them at the Gym. One moment they''re in the heart of Lavaridge, and the next, they''re in the lobby of the Gym, greeting an elated Mura Moore.

    "Lee, I''m so happy you decided to accept!" The human elder''s smile is blinding as he shakes Lee''s hand. "Come with me to the courtyard! I''ll have one of my trainers fetch the stone and gather everyone else so they can witness this!"

    Lee''s face is much more collected than the buzzing thoughts in his head, Vulpix muses to herself. "You know this means you''re making Vulpix into a giant problem for your own match against us in a week, right?" He asks with a smirk.

    Moore waves him off. "Bah. Small price to pay to receive a brand new move and witness the birth of a Ninetales." After a beat, Moore adds, "In some Kanto legends, they say witnessing a Vulpix evolve into a Ninetales is said to grant a divine sort of luck upon all who watch. Did you know that?"

    "I do now," Lee quips.

    As they sweep through the halls of the Gym to the central courtyard, Moore stops one of his assistant trainers and hands the boy a key from his robe, telling him to get ''the box'' and to spread the word to meet in the courtyard. The boy bows with a "Yes, Leader Moore!" and takes off as if a Houndoom was on his heels.

    A few turns later, she, Lee, Moore, and Grovyle emerge into the courtyard behind the Gym. Vulpix hops down from her trainer''s shoulder and peers around, finding the courtyard to just be packed dirt with several lanterns on posts in the corners. In the dirt are faded chalk lines outlining a battleground.

    Over several minutes, a trickle of murmuring trainers all dressed in robes similar to Moore trickle in and gather off to the edge of the ground, away from the center where Vulpix, her trainer, Grovyle and Moore all stand. Some of the trainers are accompanied by Fire pokemon, and one teen trainer even has a surly-looking Combusken at his side.

    The last to come through is Flannery, who runs out into the courtyard out of breath before taking a moment to compose herself. "Sorry for being late, Grandpa! I had a challenger I was finishing up with!" She peers around at everyone curiously. "I heard someone yelling that you called a meeting. What''s going on?"

    Moore smiles brightly. "Flannery, we''re about to see something that might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We''re just waiting for Kay to get back here with the stone."

    Lee keeps his face carefully schooled into neutrality, but Vulpix can feel his embarrassment as the process gets turned into a big ceremony. Silently, she wraps him in a quick, mental hug.

    The embarrassment transforms into a grumble.

    Flannery looks at Vulpix when the stone is mentioned, then the Gym heir''s eyes widen. "Whoa�� I didn''t think he''d accept��" Her attention turns to Lee.

    Vulpix''s awkward human plays off his nerves with a shrug.

    As they wait, Brendan, Zinnia, and Courtney slip into the courtyard as well, apparently, led in by a straggling Gym trainer. The trio chatter quietly to themselves, going to stand in their own group a few yard away from the milling Gym trainers. Both Brendan and Zinnia''s faces are locked into excited smiles, while Courtney looks on in open curiosity.

    Moore hums and rubs his chin. "Friends of yours?" He asks Lee.

    "I told them to come here if they wanted to watch," Lee confirms.

    At long last, the Gym trainer who must be Kay returns, a lacquered wooden box held in his hands. "Leader Moore," he trots up to the human elder and hands the box off.

    Moore runs a thumb across the lid of the box, maybe taking in some inscription that Vulpix can''t see from her vantage point. Slowly, almost reverently, he opens the lid and pulls from the box a beautiful, shining stone.

    Even in the daylight, the Fire Stone casts shifting rays of orange light that brighten the courtyard, and Vulpix struggles to not let her jaw drop at the sheer, raging hellstorm she feels contained in the fist-sized crystal. Her pyrokinetic sense is going haywire just being within twenty feet of the Fire Stone, for the extra sense tells her that the stone contains more power within it than herself several times over.

    "It''s a good thing you came when you did, Lee," Moore hands the stone to Lee, who takes it gingerly. "It has a day at most before it cracks."

    "It''s warm��" Lee''s voice is too quiet for anyone but Vulpix to hear.

    "Silence, silence!" Moore hushes the chattering of his trainees with a harsh wave of his arm. "Now, back away and watch. You may never get to see this again." Moore steps off to the side with his gym trainers and beckons Grovyle along.

    The Grass-type and Lee share a single look, then both nod as one. In a blur of motion, Grovyle vanishes and reappears with his arms crossed between Moore and Flannery, the latter of whom jumps with a stifled yelp.

    Lee smiles and then turns back to Vulpix, who feels her heart begin to race. Slowly, he kneels down to one knee, rolling the Fire Stone between his fingers.

    "Has it really only been three months?" Lee wonders aloud, eyes fixed on the stone. "Three months since you came into my life and saved it, love, yet it feels like I''ve known you for years, or even my whole life."

    Vulpix smiles, calm overtaking her. Her jitters vanish, the Butterfree in her stomach stop, and the doubts of the day seem so terribly small now. ''I have known you for my entire life, and I''m looking forward to every day, week, month, and year we have together.''

    Lee huffs out a laugh. ''Don''t spread that line around. People might get funny ideas.''

    ''Let them,'' she sniffs.

    Lee rolls his eyes good-naturedly, then slowly, almost hesitantly, he holds the stone out.

    Vulpix pads closer, conscious of every step she takes, and how the distance shrinks. Her heart begins to thunder again.

    Before her is a turning point in her life, and once she starts down that path, she can never turn back. What is done may never be undone.

    She comes to a halt less than a foot away from the bared stone, the orange glow dominating her sight. So close is she, that she almost feels as if she were set aflame. The light warms her fur. It makes her head swim, and her breaths shallow.

    The world is a dangerous place, and her human, her dear Lee, needs a team of pokemon who can stand against the tide. The Powers That Be, for she knows them to be out there, are not stirring yet, but it''s only a matter of time. She can''t hide, she can''t shy away. There is time before the world begins to rumble, and she can use that time to grow.

    She can be the best pokemon she can be just by touching this stone. Grander heights are all hers.

    All it costs is the burden of burying the one she loves one distant day.

    Vulpix gulps, but finds her mouth dry. ''Lee. He''s going to die one day. He''s going to go off to The End again.''

    ''Reach for your utopia, Vulpix, or you will never have it.''

    ''But he will die old and fulfilled. I will see it no other way.''

    Her paw falls upon the Fire Stone.

    A grand white glow blinds Vulpix, and she feels her veins filled with rushing inferno.

    Power.

    Unfathomable power fills her entire body and soul. The wellspring of fire deep inside of her balloons, growing twice, thrice, four times, and more until it pushes against the boundaries of her body painfully. The fire keeps spreading without end, so her body breaks and morphs before she bursts into uncontrollable flames. She feels her limbs, her neck, her muzzle, and her tails lengthen. Bones shift without pain and from her spine, three entirely new tails sprout. They bud and grow like plants between their sisters as if they were always meant to be there. The tails unravel, each one waving slowly in its own unseen and unfelt wind.

    Her fur transforms in the heat, brightening to a radiant, shimmering gold. Under her pelt, she feels fire wash over her bones and muscles, burning away weakness and tempering them like steel.

    But inside her head, something else takes place.

    A blinder comes off.

    Had her body not been engulfed in searing heat that would turn tears to steam, she might have cried.

    Like a blind man suddenly shown color, she can see. Her third eye, now wide and unblinking, takes in the entire town and the surrounding landscape. Gone is her puny dozen-meter range and the strain of focus. She can see everything. Deeper in her psyche, all the difficulties she faced with her more esoteric powers seem so silly now. Her mind, now properly equipped to handle the skills she practiced before, neatly snaps everything into place.

    Then there is the fire. Her fire.

    Before, it required prodding and intense focus to command the flames. Moving her attacks, tracking foes, pouring more energy in, it all fought her on some level. Now? Now she feels the fire thrumming under her skin, eager and waiting for a command like a Growlithe. She dares not even errantly flick a tail lest she set some poor bystander alight.

    The might that''s been gifted to her�� She feels as if there is nothing she cannot beat. It''s euphoric. It''s right. She hasn''t any idea if the lightness in her limbs is from newfound strength, the relief that nothing seems to be amiss with herself, or if it''s just the rapturous sensation of the sheer power she holds.

    The raw, unfettered Fire rushing into her from the stone begins to abate, then drops to a trickle. After what seems like an eternity, the white aura of evolution fades and all that''s left of the stone is a clear, inert crystal.

    Vulpix watches the hand holding the crystal go limp, letting it drop to the ground. The same hand reaches up to her still raised, golden-furred paw and takes it in a gentle grip.

    She raises her head almost shyly, taking in her trainer''s face.

    He stares at her, face drawn into picture-perfect awe. "Vulpix?" He breathes, little more than a whisper. In Lee''s eyes, she sees something that drives a spike into her heart and kills the high of her evolution.

    Doubt. Doubt about who she is.

    With only a flicker of thought, she wraps her entire mind around his, weaving a psychic tapestry filled with love and reassurance.

    ''Ninetales is my name now, Lee.'' She smiles, finding her new lips much better at the task. ''I''m going to miss riding on your shoulder.'' The words are smooth and utterly clear, she knows it.

    She''s not sure if what comes out of Lee is a laugh or a sob, but he steps closer and drops to his knees to pull her into a tight hug, his emotions an utter mess. With her sensitive new skin and fur, Ninetales delights in the hug, but she still takes the time to wrap her psychic blanket a little tighter around her human''s psyche. After a second of thought, she curls her tails forward, wrapping Lee in a physical blanket of affection too. ''Goodness,'' she smiles and presses her thin muzzle into the crook of her trainer''s neck. ''I was the one who had the life-changing ordeal. One would think you''re the one getting used to a new body with that reaction.''

    Lee chuckles into her neck. ''When I had that little thought back in Mauville''s Battle Tent, about a Ninetales being beautiful enough to make a grown man cry? I didn''t realize my joke wasn''t a joke.''

    Ninetales purrs deep in her throat at the compliment, noting with some surprise that the noise is actually rather close to what a feline would make.

    There, fresh after her evolution and with her trainer in her hold, love flowing in both directions through their telepathic channel, Ninetales makes a decision.

    ''I must have been born for a reason, but I don''t care what that reason is any longer,'' She declares to herself. ''I have my own reason. I exist here��'' She tightens the hug around her human ever so slightly.

    ''I exist here to love and be loved, and there is no better life than that.''

 Act 2: Interlude 1

    Seated in his cozy office, Nigel Birch sighs and leans back in his chair, enjoying one of the rare afternoons where everything seems to be caught up. No meetings, no aides or researchers absent, and no pin-headed prodding from the League Academic Board over what he''s up to.

    Just earlier he submitted an approval request to the Pokemon Rangers to run a research expedition in a protected area outside Verdanturf, one where a wild Sitrus grove supposedly exists. If Lee''s theories on long-term consumption of the berries are correct, then the pokemon living in the area should make for an interesting study. With any luck, the Rangers will get back to him before the week is out.

    ''It''s been so long since I''ve had time to myself.'' Nigel realizes. ''If I wasn''t working, I was showing the ropes to Brendan, and if I wasn''t with him, I was jumping through hoops for the Academic Board.'' The man sighs wistfully. ''It seems like only yesterday Brendan was a knee-high hellion demanding daddy teach him about pokemon. Now, look at him! Out in the world and making a name for himself.''

    The thought of his son makes Nigel smile. ''I didn''t start my journey until fifteen, and my first Gym battle was a solid defeat. Brendan, though?'' He allows his smile to take on a smug air, though it only holds for a few scant seconds before something melancholic takes its place. ''My son is growing up��'' Nigel shakes his head gently, dispelling the thought.

    After a brief phone call to order some delivery for lunch, Nigel jiggles the mouse of his computer and checks his email once more. Finding nothing urgent, he smiles and allows himself to goof off for a bit. Naturally, the first site he visits is BattleNet.

    Welcome to Battlenet! The Pokemon Battle Authority!

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    The first newest topics are nothing special. Gossip about Elites, bogus Legendary sightings, popularity contests between teen girl trainers, conspiracy theories about world leaders being lizard pokemon, nothing unusual. One post pinned to the front page does jump out at Nigel, however.

    Topic: Paldea re-opens borders

    In: Boards ? International ? World News & Events

    AllBite_NoBark (Original Poster)

    Posted On June Xth 20XX:

    After two decades of silence, Paldea is apparently going to throw open their borders after their civil government underwent a regime change following the illness and death of Marco "El Presidente" Juno. The geezers online might remember how they Clamperl''d up but here is a history lesson for the kiddies.

    Back in the day, Paldea was considered to be one of the strongest regions in the world owing to the fact that all of their trainers stomped in any tournament hosted in Paldea. Seriously, a non-native has never won a single Paldean League tournament, and that''s something no other region can boast. A few weaker regions formed lopsided trade agreements with them in return for defense pacts, including some non-League regions, and Paldea raked in the cash for it. This usually kept the other fighty non-League localities in line and reluctant to eat their weaker neighbors. As you probably know, Johto and Kanto got into a dispute over the ownership of Mt Silver and the surrounding areas around this time, and it got violent. It was a huge shock when the civil government of Paldea refused to honor the mutual defense agreement between Paldea and Johto during the Kanto-Johto skirmishes.

    Marco Juno, who entered the office of President that same year after a landslide victory, immediately dissolved the agreement, more or less telling Johto "You''re f*cked. Have fun." Some people think this was a move to protect Paldea from Kanto, and thus from Interim Champion Samuel Oak, while others think Marco Juno had an alternate reason. Reportedly, the Paldea Pokemon League and the civ gov butted heads over the issue and hit political gridlock. The Paldea PL said Marco had no authority to annul military agreements, and the civ gov said the agreement was entirely defensive, then accused Johto of being the aggressor which annuls the agreement anyway. No one was really sure what the wording of the agreement was since it was drafted behind closed doors. Considering the funny dragon honor Clan Blackthorn has and how loudly they decried Paldea''s declaration, I think we all know Kanto threw the first punch.

    Paldea was already very prickly over international travelers, and using fear over the possibility of Samuel Oak burning the region to the ground, Marco Juno convinced the Paldea Senate to grant him emergency powers using a supermajority vote. Normally a Pokemon League could overturn even a supermajority, but the worldwide unrest convinced a number of League officials to side with Marco, and the countervote fell short. With his emergency powers, Marco suspended his term limits, deported every foreigner in Paldea, recalled all his trainers, revoked every passport and travel visa, then closed the borders and enforced an information blackout.

    But there is probably a bigger reason why Marco wanted to close off Paldea. Get this: according to the source article there is some sort of geological phenomenon in Paldea that allows a pokemon to change their Type. It''s been known to a few native Paldean ethnic groups (one of which Marco Juno belonged to) since before modern days, and globalization was making the secret harder and harder to keep. The problem with this is that the type-change thing only works on Paldean soil, which explains why native Paldean trainers and pokemon were such incredible sh!tkickers but never liked leaving home. So while Paldea would 110% suck to invade, they never had any real force projection. Rather than help Johto and risk the ruse, Marco Juno took his ball, went home, and locked the door.

    Following Marco''s death, the civil gov is supposedly in disarray and the Paldea PL is cleaning up the mess. You can already see some of the ripples hitting the market as Paldean pokemon breeders ballsy enough to dip their toes in the international market this early are making bank selling pokemon not ever seen outside of their region. Former Paldea PL Official and now Regional Professor Sada, a rallying figure for younger native Paldeans, says they hope to officially re-open the borders in the coming months, and that they''ll be burying the shame Marco brought upon the region along with his body.

    Wack.

    Source: PNN (link).

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    After re-reading the post and opening the article to read the official source, Nigel blinks and scratches his chin. "Full-on type changes?" He wonders aloud, pondering how such a thing could happen as a result of something geological. Dispersed TE concentrations in the soil? Maybe�� "Well then," he grins, not hiding his excitement for such an interesting study being dangled before him. "I guess Lee and I are taking a research expedition to Paldea once this League year is out. That''ll be right up his alley."

    The comments in the thread aren''t really anything constructive, so Nigel skips them to keep flitting between posts that catch his fancy. Out of curiosity, he searches his son''s name and pulls up the profile on Brendan the site maintains.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    TRAINER TRACKER: BIRCH, BRENDAN

    Currently participating in: Ever Grande Conference Challenge

    Badges: 3/8 (R Stone, R Knuckle, R Dynamo)

    Last seen in: Lavaridge

    TRAINER INFO

    Username: B_Birch

    Age: 12

    Years Active: 0.2

    Home Region: Hoenn

    Official Trainer: Yes

    Trainer Class: Lab Trainer (Hoenn)

    Trainer ID: [Hidden]

    STATISTICS

    Winrate (W/L/D): 71/7/0

    Average Match Time Per Pokemon: 2.1 minutes

    Total Badges Collected: 3

    Tournaments Entered: 0

    Tournaments Won: 0

    Pokemon Owned (Past Evos Included): 6

    Most used pokemon: Marshtomp

    POKEMON

    Ace Pokemon: Marshtomp

    Known Team: Marshtomp (m), Breloom (m), Mawile (f), Elecktrike (m)

    Known Reserves: N/A

    POKEMON NOTES

    Marshtomp

    Ability: Torrent

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: Bide, Watergun, Take Down, Mud Shot, Seismic Toss, Rock Throw, Foresight, Growl, Mega Punch

    Notes: Birch''s first pokemon. Evolved from Mudkip. Superior physical strength and resilience. Deceptively fast. Boasts impressive tolerance to Grass attacks. Torrent was observed activating in several battles. Obedient and quick to execute orders, even when visibly upset.

    Unofficial BattleNet Power Rankings? for Brendan''s Marshtomp

    Physical Atk: S-

    Ranged Atk: A-

    Status Atk: E

    Phys Resist: A+

    Energy Resist: A

    Status Resist: B+

    Agility: B+

    Reactions: A

    Stamina: S

    Pain Tolerance: S

    Overall Species Ranking: (A+ Tier) See analyst feat and performance breakdown here (link)

    Breloom

    Ability: Effect Spore

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: Tackle, Stun Spore, Poison Powder, Leech Seed, Mega Drain, Headbutt, Mach Punch, Counter.

    Notes: Acquired via capture. Evolved from Shroomish. Evasive. Skilled with hit-and-run tactics but capable of sustaining and winning slug outs due to Effect Spore. Above-average abilities are magnified under Birch''s command. Obedient and quick to execute orders.

    Unofficial BattleNet Power Rankings? for Brendan''s Breloom

    Physical Atk: B

    Ranged Atk: B

    Status Atk: A

    Phys Resist: C

    Energy Resist: C-

    Status Resist: C

    Agility: B+

    Reactions: B+

    Stamina: C

    Pain Tolerance: B+

    Overall Species ranking: (B+ Tier) See analyst feat and performance breakdown here (link)

    Mawile

    Ability: Intimidate

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: Crunch, Attract, False Tears, Fairy Wind, Iron Defense, Baton Pass, Sucker Punch

    Notes: Acquired via capture. Dirty fighter and a skilled actor. An unusually high amount of teeth in her second mouth offer high-powered bite attacks. Obedient and quickly executes orders.

    Unofficial BattleNet Power Rankings? for Brendan''s Mawile

    Physical Atk: A+

    Ranged Atk: D

    Status Atk: B

    Phys Resist: C+

    Energy Resist: C-

    Status Resist: B

    Agility: C

    Reactions: C

    Stamina: C+

    Pain Tolerance: B

    Overall Species Ranking: (B- Tier) See analyst feat and performance breakdown here (link)

    Electrike

    Ability: ?

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: N/A

    Notes: Unnaturally large. Might be Giant or Alpha variation. Not yet seen used in battle.

    Species ranking: (N/A)

    STRATAGEMS, STYLES, & BATTLENET ESTIMATIONS

    Birch takes battles slow and steady, pacing the fight to keep his pokemon fresh. Fond of baiting and punishing overextension, though tactics shift between different pokemon. Pokemon seem to execute pre-planned movements and maneuvers mid-battle with non-verbal signals (hand movements, head movements, etc) and situational cues. Site helpers and analysts have proposed that Birch also uses voice tone and vocabulary changes to relay info to pokemon. Birch has superior battlefield awareness and will direct pokemon to opportunistically capitalize on prime positioning. In the absence of prime positioning, Birch may direct pokemon to alter the terrain to better suit his plans. Birch has presumably been tutored by his father, Prof Nigel Birch, and may bring additional tactics to the field if pushed.

    Birch is currently projected to collect 8 Hoenn badges and likely participate in the Ever Grande Conference with a team of 6 pokemon.

    MISC

    Known Sponsors & Affiliates: Hoenn Regional Pokemon Lab

    Recent Activity: See (link) for full video archive.

    Page last updated by P_Jeimai (BattleNet Analyst) 3 days ago.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Nigel smiles with pride as he reads the pages and pages of worried comments from other trainers on his son''s dossier. His boy is making waves and the competition is rightfully nervous. Even the finicky and egotistical staff on BattleNet think highly of him.

    Naturally, Nigel types in the name of his other trainer and scans through what he finds.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    TRAINER TRACKER: HENSON, LEE

    Currently participating in: Ever Grande Conference Challenge

    Badges: 3/8 (R Stone, R Knuckle, R Dynamo)

    Last seen in: Lavaridge

    TRAINER INFO

    Username: L_Henson

    Age: 24

    Years Active: 0.2

    Home Region: Hoenn

    Official Trainer: Yes

    Trainer Class: Lab Trainer (Hoenn)

    Trainer ID: [Hidden]

    STATISTICS

    Winrate (W/L/D): 65/3/1

    Average Match Time Per Pokemon: 2.5 minutes

    Total Badges Collected: 3

    Tournaments Entered: 1

    Tournaments Won: 1

    Pokemon Owned (Past Evos Included): 7

    Most used Pokemon: Ninetales

    POKEMON

    Ace Pokemon: Ninetales

    Current Team: Ninetales (f), Grovyle (m), Corvisquire (m), Shinx (f), Octillery (?)

    Known Reserves: N/A

    POKEMON NOTES *

    Ninetales

    Special Ability: ?

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: Confuse Ray, Quick Attack, Payback, Baby-Doll Eyes, Hex, Feint Attack, Flamethrower(?), Ember(?), Fire Spin(?), Will-o-Wisp(?), Unknown Fire Move #1, Unknown Fire Move #2, Unknown Fire Move #3, Others (?)

    Notes: Henson''s first pokemon(?). Evolved from Vulpix using G1P1 Fire Stone (citation needed). Capabilities are unknown. Observed using undocumented moves as a Vulpix on multiple occasions. Capabilities as a Vulpix noted to be in excess of previously known upper limits of species. Total number of moves is unknown. Type spread of moves is unknown.

    Unofficial BattleNet Power Rankings? for Lee''s Ninetales

    Physical Atk: ?

    Ranged Atk: ?

    Status Atk: ?

    Phys Resist: ?

    Energy Resist: ?

    Status Resist: ?

    Agility: ?

    Reactions: ?

    Stamina: ?

    Pain Tolerance: ?

    Overall Species Ranking: (? Tier) Pokemon cannot be accurately categorized at this time. See legacy feat and performance breakdown here (link)

    Grovyle

    Special Ability: Overgrow

    Typical Held Item: Miracle Seed

    Known Moves: Pound, Absorb, Leaf Blade, Detect, Quick Attack, Bullet Seed, X-Scissor, Feint Attack(?), Unknown Grass Move #1, Unknown Grass Move #2, Others (?)

    Notes: Acquired via capture. Evolved from Treecko.Superior combat abilities across the board. Highly mobile and strikes opportunistically even when not ordered. Leaf Blade attack presents a serious danger of OHKO to any pokemon with a Grass weakness. Total number of moves is unknown. Type spread of moves is unknown.

    Unofficial BattleNet Power Rankings? for Lee''s Grovyle

    Physical Atk: ?

    Ranged Atk: ?

    Status Atk: ?

    Physical Resist: C-

    Energy Resist: C

    Status Resist: ?

    Agility: S

    Reactions: SS-

    Stamina: B

    Pain Tolerance: A

    Overall Species Ranking: (? Tier) Pokemon cannot be accurately categorized at this time. See legacy feat and performance breakdown here (link)

    Corvisquire

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Ability: ?

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: Pluck, Drill Peck, Scary Face, Taunt, Swift, Steel Wing, Extremespeed(?), Hone Claws, Power Trip, Unknown Dark Move, Others (?)

    Notes: Acquired via capture.Superior combat abilities across the board. Extremely quick, violently aggressive, and willing to battle even with debilitating injuries. Total number of moves is unknown. Type spread of moves is unknown. Not seen in use recently.

    Unofficial BattleNet Power Rankings? for Lee''s Corvisquire

    Physical Atk: ?

    Ranged Atk: ?

    Status Atk: ?

    Physical Resist: B

    Energy Resist: B

    Status Resist: ?

    Agility: A

    Reactions: B+

    Stamina: S

    Pain Tolerance: S+

    Overall Species ranking: (? Tier) Pokemon cannot be accurately categorized at this time. See legacy feat and performance breakdown here (link)

    Octillery

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: N/A

    Notes: Not yet seen used in battle.

    Species ranking: (N/A)

    Shinx

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: N/A

    Notes: Not yet seen used in battle.

    Species ranking: (N/A)

    STRATAGEMS, STYLES, & BATTLENET ESTIMATIONS *

    Analysis of Henson''s preferred tactics are inconclusive. Henson''s pokemon possess unnaturally varied skill sets, with some of his pokemon knowing techniques previously thought impossible to use for their lines. Henson''s Ninetales sometimes carries out complex attacks or maneuvers without visible instructions. Analysts cannot pinpoint the cue for these attacks. Henson is collaborating with Silph Co to bring TMs of entirely new pokemon moves to market. For this reason, it can be assumed that all of Henson''s pokemon are in possession of other undocumented attacks.

    Henson is currently projected to collect 8 Hoenn badges and participate in the Ever Grande Conference with a team of 6 pokemon as a Top 8 finalist.

    * NOTICE: BattleNet Administration acknowledges that the listed information in these sections might be unreliable due to unusual circumstances.

    MISC

    Known Sponsors & Affiliates: Hoenn Regional Pokemon Lab, Rustboro Trainer School, Silph Co, Lavaridge Gym.

    Recent Activity: See (link) for full video archive.

    Page last updated by SITE_ADMIN#4 58 minutes ago.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Nigel blinks. "Huh. They''re really not playing around with Lee. He''s really kicked the Beedrill''s nest with��" The professor pauses, several of the lines he just read suddenly jumping out at him as the realization hits home like a runaway bus. Slowly, his eyes grow wide.

    Unknown Fire Move #1, Unknown Fire Move #2, Unknown Fire Move #3, Others (?)

    Unknown Grass Move #1, Unknown Grass Move #2.

    Unknown Dark Move.

    G1P1 Fire Stone

    Ninetales.

    "Wha��? What the actual hell?" Nigel re-reads the page, realizing he didn''t read it wrong.

    Lee''s efforts to create new moves have apparently been moving along much faster than expected. Nigel knew Lee planned on selling some move variations to Silph, but the professor was expecting that to be something months down the line, not weeks after Lee just got done creating Convergence.

    Even more shockingly, Vulpix evolved �C and she evolved with the highest grade stone possible. The evolution anxiety that plagues stone-evolvers is well documented, and the Vulpix line is the best example of that anxiety. When the doubts and fears pass, however��

    There are plenty of good reasons why Ninetales is still worshiped in some parts of Kanto.

    ''I knew Lee''s Vulpix was made of sterner stuff than most and might evolve, but I wasn''t expecting this for years��'' Nigel gulps and silently ponders the implications of one of his trainers owning a pokemon considered to be mythical by some. ''I know the Academic Board is going to want a meeting over this. Those old coots are going to be clamoring to study the youngest Ninetales in the world,'' he groans aloud at the thought. ''The only way this could have made a bigger splash is if he caught an actual legendary pokemon.''

    Scrolling the page back up, Nigel looks over all the question marks and uncertain info littering the dossier on Lee and his team. The information age has changed pokemon battling as a sport in just a few years, and accurate information on foes to form countermeasures from is the new great equalizer. ''Knowing is half the battle'' has never been more accurate.

    For that reason, each and every question mark sprinkled on Lee''s dossier is another black bell toll for the trainers who are going to flock to the page in the coming days.

    Wondering if the fox has been used in battle yet, Nigel opens Lee''s Recent Activity link and takes a look at the newest video with his trainer tagged in it.

    #OnceInALifetime Vulpix Evolution.

    ''Nevermind, this is even better than a battle,'' Nigel smiles and clicks ''play''.

    The video starts out shaky and unfocused from the perspective of a cell phone being withdrawn from a pocket. After a moment the camera focuses, and right in the center is Lee kneeling down with a positively radiant Fire Stone in hand.

    In front of Lee, Vulpix slowly walks forward, as if second-guessing herself. She stops just short and raises a paw, once more hesitating.

    It happens almost too quickly to notice. In fact, if Nigel wasn''t personally acquainted with Vulpix, he might have missed it. Her ears flick back, her tails frazzle, and she pulls her lips back into a grimace for a split second. Then all at once, the fox''s nerves vanish and her brown eyes quite literally glow with resolve.

    Her paw falls on the stone, and in a great flash of light, she transforms into a Ninetales so golden that her fur shimmers like liquid metal in the sun. The video captures everything in stunning detail for just being a phone cam.

    Everyone in the video waits with bated breath. The other trainers around the cameraman, Gym Leader Moore, Nigel''s son, the Draconid, the disguised terrorist, all of them are struck dumb by what they witnessed.

    The inert Fire Stone drops from Lee''s hand with a ''thud,'' and with that hand, he takes Ninetales'' still-raised paw. "Vulpix?" He whispers as if he doesn''t believe his eyes. His voice is almost lost in the wind.

    Ninetales smiles, her ruby-like eyes shining.

    With a choked, joyful laugh, Lee abandons any decorum and pulls the gold fox into a tight hug, one she returns with all nine of her tails. Each long tail wraps around Lee''s back without any overlap, covering him in a protective mantle of shiny fur. Ninetales then sets her head on Lee''s shoulder, curling her neck around the back of his with a content smile.

    The video cuts to black and ends.

    Birch blows out a slow breath and looks at the stats of the video. "Lee, why do you do this to me?"

    Uploaded: 4 hours ago

    Views: 532,029

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Welcome to Battlenet! The Pokemon Battle Authority!

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    ? Ten posts per page

    Topic: Official Lee Henson Megathread

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Indiv Trainers ? Lee Henson

    PequsuaCustoms (Original Poster)

    Posted On June 6th 20XX:

    Congrats to L_Henson for taking spot #4 in the unofficial "fastest time to get a megathread" competition and thanks RunThatBack (Mod) for perms to make a mega. I''ll add edits as info comes in.

    Lee Henson is a trainer in his 20s serving as a lab trainer to Prof Birch in Hoenn. Other than his recorded Gym battles, a brief media appearance during the Brawl on the Beach in Dewford, and some crusty cellphone videos of his battles, not a whole lot is known about him. He hasn''t published his research yet, his social media straight-up doesn''t exist, and his one post on BattleNet was about a lost pokemon and that thread is dead. We do know that he''s a scary-looking mfer and carrying around pokemon way stronger than they should be.

    A few guys thinking he was some kind of League hitman or ringer went digging and pulled some public records to find that Lee actually is new to the pokemon battling scene. (links below). His license is less than a year old with no renewals on record. It''s not that weird for a grown man to change careers and become a trainer, but it is weird just how successful he is without any formal education on record. At the time of his post, his win rate has never fallen below 90%. We went in deeper.

    This is where things get bad for people competing in Hoenn this year.

    Earlier today his Ace, Vulpix, evolved. (link)

    That''s big. That''s REALLY big. Ninetales is a monster of a pokemon and loonies all over the world still call them spirits and gods and whatnot. Of the 191 (now 192) Ninetales registered to trainers, only 30 or so are actually active competitively, and most of those 30 belong to Elites, Gym Leaders, Master Breeders, Top Coordinators, etc you get the idea. If you have a Ninetales, the logic says you''re a badass.

    But it gets worse!

    The scaling on stone evolutions is all kinds of fucky. You can think of Vulpix (and Growlithe too) as pokemon that should have three stages, but they don''t have a middle one, so when they evolve, they go from 0 to 100 real hard. Henson''s Vulpix was already strong enough to fuck-up Gym Leader personal ''mons, so that evolution has probably turned her into a death sentence for anything that isn''t fire retardant.

    But it gets even worse!

    That Fire Stone? That was most likely a G1P1 dug out of Mt Chimney. We did a bit of looking around, and we saw the Lavaridge Gym put up a new batch of Fire Stones for auction. A G1P1 was put up by mistake and withdrawn. It was only up for four minutes, but we found a cached version of the auction house page. Now, who would benefit a lot from an entire volcano''s worth of stored power? An Ace Vulpix already strong enough to down Gym Leaders, that''s who.

    It doesn''t end there!

    Me and some boys have been reviewing Lee Henson''s battles, and we saw a few moves that we''ve never seen before. One of the other helpers recalled seeing an email with Lee''s name on it for some reason and dug through his spam folder. He found some promo from Silph about two brand-spanking new Grass TMs, and Henson was credited as the creator of both. That very suddenly explained why Lee''s Corvisquire knows Extremespeed and has these dark ball things he can whip around (link). His Grovyle also doubles as a shotgun and knows Feint Attack (link). Finally, his Vulpix seems to have a new homing technique to pull out of her ass every other battle. (link)(link)(link)

    Lee Henson knows how to make new pokemon moves, and he can make them fast.

    Something else we noticed was how Vulpix would just do things without being told. She would react, attack, defend, dodge, and generally fight pretty well without Lee''s mouth so much as opening. Other times he''s saying just one or two words, and she''d pull some insane stunt out of nowhere. We looked hard at the videos over and over, and we could not find any meaningful non-verbal signals. The only answer we could come up with? Telepathy. Either Henson or his Vulpix can use telepathy and they''re good enough at it to use it mid-battle. Telepathy is rare, but we''re already talking about a Vulpix that''s now a Ninetales, so really can we discount anything? We entertained the idea that there was some 1000 IQ 5D chess planning going on, but that seems even more unbelievable considering some of the issues they''ve run into mid-battle.

    His other pokemon aren''t slouches either. His Grovyle often takes wins with zero damage unless it''s a battle against the likes of a Gym Leader, then he busts out wild shit like the new moves and hyper-speed (link). Corvisquire is a cruise missile made out of hate, and only tricks like Destiny Bond or dropping a mountain on him will slow him down (link). We still have no idea what Lee''s Shinx or his Octillery (that he didn''t have until he got out of the Valley of Steel) do. I have no idea what Henson is doing to his pokemon, but it''s working.

    So to reiterate, Henson has a Ninetales who is in the running for strongest of her already broken species, a quadruple action machine gun/shotgun/sniper/sword Grovyle, an unbreakable Corvisquire, a pair of pokemon that no one knows anything about, and they all have deep movepools with zero documentation. Oh, and it''s a coin flip if you get a verbal cue for an attack.

    I''m not trying to sound like a fanboy or a hypebeast or anything, but good luck to everyone else. When the bookies open up for the Ever Grande Conference, I''m putting money on Henson taking the gold.

    (Showing page 1 of 22)

    ?V_Marlo (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    You know what? I''m done. I give up. I''m going to Unova. I f*cking hate Hoenn.

    ?UNDERMAN!

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    There is no universe where you convince me that this guy is anything but a league plant. Katie Huffman is going to win the EGC regardless.

    ?KazuoKandy

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    ...Holy shit that''s scuffed. How are you supposed to fight back?

    ?L_Orvert (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    UNDERMAN! Bro what. Katie is good but not ''fight a super ninetales and win'' kind of good.

    ?F_Aulmais

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Welp. Looks like someone is gonna give Ash Ketchum a run for his money, even with that overpowered Pikachu of his.

    ?Glasses_Man

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    I''m looking forward to seeing how well Ninetails fights now that it naturally has some psychic abilities: If we suspected telepathy as a Vulpix, they might outright be able to talk now.

    ?Pok��name_Bot

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Glasses_Man Ninetails is spelled Ninetales. It''s a play on words, as the nine-tailed Pok��mon is the subject of many fairy tales.

    ?Glasses_Man

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    And that''s what I get for not looking over with spellcheck. Lovely.

    ?I3Wynaut

    Replied on June 6th 20XX:

    I don''t care how strong Lee''s team is! My super team of Wobuffet will take everything they can dish out and return it twice as hard! We''re gonna win the Hoenn League this year, just you wait!

    ?LoPwny99

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    I call Tauroshit on that Grovyle. Damn lizard is probably coked out of its mind on something illegal. No way it moves that fast naturally.

    (Showing page 2 of 22)

    ?Banh Bao

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    TOUCH FLUFFFY TAILLLL SO MUCH FLUFF I WANT A HUG LIKE THAT

    ?LilyDancer

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Banh Bao I know right! I heard that Ninetale''s fur is soft as a cloud!

    Totally gonna be at Evergrande to see if Lee would let me pet her. 3

    ?UhNOPika!

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    YEahhh I think the Unova is really looking good this time of year. Though I can''t wait to see what the Ninetales does from a distance. A FAAAR away distance

    ?DragonExpert1985

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Whelp, there is clearly only one thing left to do for the rest of us ''normals'' hoping to compete. PANIC!

    ?T_Hytinnen

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    God, OP (And commenters) really just come across as shills for Lee. If he makes it to the Ever Grande Conference, I doubt he''ll make it past preliminaries.

    He''s just one man (and a new trainer at that). He''s not some god figure or ace trainer.

    I''d bet my money on Ketchum. At least he has experience under his belt.

    ?I3Wynaut

    Replied on June 6th 20XX:

    Ketchum, that talentless hack. He just gets lucky each season. My all-star Wobbuffet team will wreck his face!

    ?Not_Sus

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    UNDERMAN! I3Wynaut Talking about experience, what did Henson DO before ? If he''s a league plant, he should appear somewhere to lessen suspicion. He might be a plant, but not from the league. At least Ketchum has a clear league track record.

    ?T_Hytinnen

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Talentless hack? I''d like to see you try to get to the league with your team.(Oh wait, you haven''t made it to the league conference before now have you?)

    Wobbuffet isn''t even that great of a Pokemon anyways as a single member of a team, let alone an entire team. Its whole shtick requires opponents to hit it first, which isn''t exactly a competitive strategy. The best purpose for Wobbuffet is a dedicated Destiny Bond user, and even then, other users can at least use other valuable moves.

    Besides, your point doesn''t even stand with Ketchum. Kid''s made it to the league twice. Top 16 and Top 8. If that doesn''t show improvement, I don''t know what will.

    ?S_Melody

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Ash is the best! My family and I are rooting for him! His Pikachu will beat Henson''s Ninetales no problem!

    ?I3Wynaut

    Replied on June 6th 20XX:

    Ha! My team has just been taking our time to grow and learn. We''ll be in the conference this year, you''ll see. That''s because we have the determination to win! We can take any move and send it right back at twice the power, it''s the ultimate strategy. It can''t be beat. You''ll see that when were named league champion. You''ll all see how great Wobbuffet is! Just you wait!

    (Showing page 3 of 22)

    ?J3ackson

    Replied on June 6th 20XX:

    l3Wynaut I got roped into cleaning up after Ash''s Pikachu when he had a battle on the Dewford beach. Getting all that glass out of the sand was a right pain. Your Wobbuffet''s gonna get torched.

    ?T_Hytinnen

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    [deleted]

    ?Leafeon_L0ver

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Dang that team is looking better and better! Stevens a steel specialist, right? If what you guys are saying about ninetales and firestones are right, that type advantage could be a massive help to him. If he makes it that far, of course.

    ?Miasmate

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Devilishly good investment on Prof. Birches'' part here. Two months is completely insane.

    ?Kabu (Verified Trainer) (Galar Gym Leader)

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    L_Henson Look at your PMs.

    ?SomeAnon

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    He''s running on luck, it''ll run out eventually.

    ?platinumGuy009

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    Interesting, with Henson''s Corvisquire having not been seen recently and his post about said pokemon being missing implies something happened there. Did it run away, get lost, have a scandalous affair with a local Noctowl? This Henson fellow seems to be a fairly talented trainer, maybe that bird proved too much to handle? Who knows.

    BTW that Ninetales is so darn plush and majestic, I''m even more envious now that I know he has a baby shinx too! THEYRE SOO CUUTEEE! aaaaahAAAAAHHHHH *dies of cute*

    ?Leafeon_L0ver

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    platinumGuy009 Maybe the training just got too rough for his corvisquire? Or maybe the stupidly OP vulpix (now Ninetales) scared it off? Maybe having that much firepower got to the steel type? Who knows? Plus that lost and found thread is dead, he might have found the bird and put it in timeout for running away for a bit. Arceus knows I''m not a top tier trainer, I don''t know the proper dicipline for a runaway powerhouse.

    ?Lopunny_Pancakes

    Replied On June 6th 20XX:

    OH! MY! ARCEUS! That was THE MOST AMAZING Evo-vid I have EVER SEEN! Seriously, I think I''m actually tearing up a bit over here!

    I know I''ve asked this before but I think it got buried last time over the other crazy stuff Henson and his team were pulling at the time, but did we ever get an answer on what kind of care routine he is doing with his pokemon? Because I swear to all I hold dear, I don''t think I''ve ever seen coats/scales/plumages THAT gorgeous on pokemon outside of the Pro-Contest circuit, and they are on a dedicated BATTLE TEAM of all things! ESPECIALLY on his Vulpix-Turned-Ninetales! If I could pet that fluff for just a minute, I would die happy even if I keeled over right then and there!

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Nigel stands with a mighty stretch. His spine pops once, twice, three times, drawing a pleased sigh from the professor. Looking to the side, he sees the sun beginning to set through his office window and grumbles to himself.

    Four hours were spent keeping his eyes glued to his computer monitor so he could run damage control if things got out of hand online. Thankfully, nothing untoward popped up that required him to step in, either by posting himself or by swinging his weight as Regional Professor around and forcing the hand of the site admins. His wife isn''t going to be happy about him returning home late, though��

    "You better be grateful, Lee��" He mumbles, throwing his lab coat over his shoulders. Before shutting his lab PC off for the night and leaving, Nigel pauses and opens the video of Vulpix''s evolution once more.

    #OnceInALifetime Vulpix Evolution.

    Uploaded: 8 hours ago

    Views: 1,070,921

    With a sigh, Nigel rubs his forehead. "Celeb life is going to be a shocker for him��"

 Act 2: Chapter 5

    Lee hums as he looks over to the faded, digital alarm clock on the hotel nightstand between his and Brendan''s beds. ''We''ll need to finish up here soon if we want to go out to test Ninetales'' new capabilities and check up on Octillery before dinner.'' He nods more to himself than anyone else.

    Several hours prior, after Lee composed himself and reluctantly pulled himself from his freshly evolved Ninetales, the pair, along with Grovyle, bid Moore and his trainers adieu. They didn''t need to talk to decide that retiring back to their hotel room for some private discussion was warranted. After a promise to return and discuss Moore''s commission, they left. Brendan, Zinnia, and Courtney didn''t need any hints that Lee wished to be alone with his pokemon for a bit, and all three tactfully left to find their own entertainment in Lavaridge. Grovyle and Ninetales exchanged a few short words when they and Lee arrived back at the hotel, and the Grass-type excused himself by returning to his ball.

    Of course, the first thing Lee wanted to do upon acquiring a new pokemon?

    Give her a physical. The fox rolled her eyes with a smile and didn''t fight it.

    "Okay, one more time. All the way in and out..."

    Ninetales slowly inhales through her nose, making the great golden tuft of fur on her breast swell and tickle the hand beneath it. Those glittering, ruby-like eyes of hers regard Lee with an amused sort of exasperation.

    For a few short seconds, Lee keeps his hand on Ninetales'' sternum, measuring both her heartbeat and the clarity of her breath. When she can breathe in no more, she slowly exhales.

    "Resting heart rate of thirty-eight beats-per-minute, lungs perfectly clear��" Lee smiles and jots everything down in his notebook with his free hand. The too-soft hotel bed under the notebook forces him to write slowly lest he push his pen too hard and slip, but he finishes in just a moment. "Thirty-eight seems rather low, but we''re more or less breaking new ground here, so��"

    Ninetales physical #0 Initial Baseline

    June 6th 3:34 PM 20XX:

    Weight: 61.1 lbs

    Height: 3''11" (Discounting ears)

    Muscle formation even and consistent. Fur growth even and consistent. Temperature at 110 F. Free of illness/parasites. Ninetales alert during the whole process.

    Mouth/Teeth: OK

    Ears: OK

    Eyes: OK

    Lungs: OK

    Heart: OK

    Stomach: OK

    Further inspections are required for an accurate baseline. Working from scratch.

    "That''ll do for now." Lee nods and shuts his notebook, only to feel a frown tug at his lips when he notices just how lopsided the spiral-bound book is. Only a thin sliver of pages remain. "Did I burn through three hundred pages already? I could have sworn I was barely at the half-way point."

    Lee flips the book back open to a random page near the middle, finding an anatomical sketch of Brendan''s Mawile, several scribbled calculations of her jaw strength, and theories on Steel TE naturally flowing in the Steel/Fairy pokemon. The page is dated over a month back, coinciding with their time in Dewford, and after reading a few lines, Lee remembers wondering how Mawile was able to wield her extra jaws without snapping the thin, delicate-looking termination point on the back of her head. Some sort of passive Steel TE reinforcement was the only thing he could think of.

    "Huh, I thought I had more pages left��" Lee mutters.

    ''You put your thoughts to paper more often than you think, beloved. I''m glad for it, for your head seems to be filled to bursting so often that I need to repeat myself sometimes.''

    The words are quiet yet attention-commanding at the same time, and hearing them sends a goosebump-inducing shiver down Lee''s spine. He slowly raises his head back to Ninetales, who offers a small, vulpine smile.

    ''I don''t want to cut your studies short, but you''re not the only one excited to learn what I can do now,'' the golden fox''s tails flick as one, though each tail goes in a different direction. ''Also if you wish to pet me, you don''t need an excuse to do so,'' she looks down at the hand still submerged into her tuft of breast fur with amusement coloring her words.

    Lee withdraws his hand quickly, his face growing warm in embarrassment. "Sorry��"

    Offense flashes in Ninetales'' eyes, so she stands on the bed and takes a single long stride towards Lee. She slips her head under his chin and drapes her forelegs across his lap as she lays down, pressing her warm, silken coat to him. Around his back, Lee feels those nine long tails curl around him, and the warmth makes him want to lay back and sleep, to push off the rest of what he wanted to do today.

    ''You''ve nothing to be sorry for, so please don''t say that,'' she ''says'', her ''voice'' firm.

    Almost without meaning to, Lee wraps his arms around her and melts into the affection woven into each of her words.

    Ever since her evolution just a few hours prior, the number of changes Ninetales went through has left Lee with a light head, and part of him still feels like he stepped into a vivid dream that might end any second. His ace pokemon''s transformation from a cute, fire-breathing fox to a majestic kitsune of legend had so many effects, but none more profound than what changed inside her head.

    The most striking is her telepathy, the words she speaks. Before, the words had meaning and Lee got the gist of what Vulpix said by meeting her understanding of human words and concepts halfway. These words were only raw meaning fed into his brain, usually accompanied by some abstract thought or emotions for context. For these reasons, Vulpix always kept her sentences short and to the point. If Lee was feeling fanciful, he might have even imagined a voice in his head when conversing with her.

    Ninetales, however, exists on a totally different plane of telepathic expertise. Lee hears what she says near exactly how she intends to say it. It''s like every depiction of telepathy in popular media, a reverberation of her speech inside of his skull, only so much more. Each word is honeyed with woven emotion and intent, and like a man savoring a delectable morsel, his brain eagerly takes in every single word and just knows what she means. A rich, feminine voice seems to accompany every transmission, and although Lee can''t describe the voice in words alone, it''s distinctly Ninetales.

    Lee''s ''heard'' more from Ninetales in the past three hours than he has in the last week as well, for her mind is an open book to him and she delights in reaching out to him in turn. Each thought, each sentence, is interlaced with love and emotion so pure and unmistakable that Lee wonders if he ever misread Ninetales before her evolution. If he did, he silently ponders how often it happened.

    Ninetales doesn''t shy away from reveling in the newfound insight between them, either. The demure and quiet shell of Vulpix has split open, revealing a more outspoken, more prideful vixen with all the tender love and firm spirit of her prior form.

    She''s changed so much��

    "God, you''re soft��" Lee murmurs into the tuft between Ninetales'' ears.

    One of her ears flicks, and Lee''s eyes are drawn to the snow-white heart mark still on the back of her ear. Against the golden fur, it''s a chore to pick out under fluorescent lights, but the mark remains.

    She''s changed so much, yet so little.

    ''I think I have you to thank for that,'' Ninetales makes that warm, familiar purr deep in her throat. ''Without a trainer to spoil me with homemade meals and all the grooming I could ever want, this envy-inducing coat would be beyond me.''

    Lee smiles but sobers a moment later. ''Ninetales?'' He begins mentally. ''How do you feel?''

    The vixen shifts in Lee''s arms, raising her head enough to peer at him with a ruby eye. ''How do I feel? What do you mean?'' The question genuinely confuses her.

    ''Just�� in general, I suppose.'' Lee struggles to put his concerns into words, and after a moment, just opens up his raw worries to Ninetales, hoping she''ll understand.

    The fox takes the invitation wordlessly, reaching across the short but wide psychic channel between them to touch the deeper parts of his mind directly. Like a balm, her presence instantly soothes his nerves and returns him to relaxation.

    ''Oh?'' Ninetales blinks, then smiles gently. ''I feel fine, beloved. Better than fine, in fact. I feel good, complete. Perhaps I was upset with Moore for springing a proposal with such a damning time limit upon us, but in retrospect, I find myself thankful.'' She pauses to corral a tail Lee feels moving on its own, covering the cold spot it left on his back. ''These tails seem to have a mind of their own, sometimes��'' She muses before returning to her other train of thought. ''If not for such a time limit, I might have hesitated for months, maybe years. I could feel my skills beginning to reach their limits as a Vulpix, and before long I would have begun to fall behind. I could not let that happen.'' Her brows furrow and Lee finds himself surprised by the range of motion her face has. ''While you have been conversing with Mable��'' The golden fox hesitates. ''I have been speaking to her Xatu regarding my own demons.''

    "Your own demons?" Lee doesn''t recall ever actually meeting the aforementioned Xatu, but that takes the backseat to the pit he feels opening up in his stomach. "Ninetales? You said a while back that you wanted to wait until your telepathy was better before explaining why you''ve been losing so much sleep. I can understand you pretty well now, so��"

    Ninetales is silent for a full minute. Then she breathes out a short sigh. ''I''m still not sure I want to say,'' she sends after some time, and the naked uncertainty in her voice prompts Lee to hold her a little tighter. ''I don''t want to burden you with my concerns when you''ve yourself to worry about.''

    "Knowing you have ''concerns'' that warrant speaking with a therapist is already enough for me to worry over," Lee mutters. "I won''t push you, but I wish you''d tell me."

    The great fox''s tails all quiver before settling, sending a rippling sensation down Lee''s back. ''There were a few things, but now, I think I can put them to bed.'' Ninetales sets her head against Lee''s chest, an ear pressed flat over his heart. ''The first was my birth.''

    ''Your birth?''

    ''Yes,'' she physically nods. ''I''ve spent weeks pondering it. How was I born? Why was I born? I know I''m flesh and blood, so I''m no Porygon, yet my appearance at your side happened just as your little game lost bits of data and ceased functioning.'' She blinks her luminous reds. ''The memories of the time before we truly met are long gone, faded into a mess of alien sensations devoid of meaning. For all intents and purposes, I did not exist until you opened my ball.''

    Goosebumps break out across Lee''s skin despite the warm cocoon of fur around him. He barely even considered where Vulpix was before she was dropped into his lap. Was she suffering an existential crisis while he never noticed?!

    ''Shush, I''m the one who kept my woes hidden,'' Ninetales growls and raises her head to nip the tip of Lee''s nose, halting his spiraling thoughts. ''Besides, after all my sleepless nights spent looking for answers, I came to one of my own just moments before evolving.''

    ''One of your own?'' Lee rubs his smarting nose. ''What do you mean?''

    Ninetales'' smile returns. It''s a tender expression, one that fills the zoologist with contentment, both his own and hers. ''I decided that the hows and whys don''t matter,'' she declares. ''I refused to leave your side after you endured such a horrific ordeal those months ago, and you repaid my loyalty thricefold with your dedication to me. You, Lee, give me purpose in this world. Goodness deserves goodness, and love deserves love, this I know to be fact. If a greater power was involved in my birth for a reason of their own, then I spurn their designs.''

    She raises her head, ruby eyes quite literally glowing. ''I exist to be here with you, to love and be loved, because that is what I have decided, and that is a choice all my own.''

    Between them, Lee can almost see the psychic channel widen to a degree they''ve never been able to accomplish before, becoming a vast gulf. Ninetales reaches out to him, and rather than transmit whatever it is she wants, she instead reels his mind towards hers.

    The distance grows shorter and shorter, until finally the channel is needed no longer.

    Lee and Ninetales touch.

    A flood of rapturous sensations overwhelms the man''s senses near instantly. His vision swims with a kaleidoscope of colors that he can''t name, his nerves thrum, his ears are filled with the sound of a waterfall, and everything but the pokemon holding him ceases to be. The world around them falls away, shattering like glass, leaving behind a strange and new place where words fail.

    He feels Ninetales. He feels her for who she truly is, and he knows every bit of raw ardor she holds within her.

    All of it is for him.

    Unfettered thoughts and urges flow freely between man and fox, and all is laid bare without shame or judgment. A small, lucid part of Lee laughs at a stray memory where they both claimed to know everything about each other. Hyperbole at its finest.

    Lee lays down all his worries, fears, insecurities, and laments. Worries for the future, fear of failing her and everyone else, insecurity over his disfigured visage, and the lament of the burned world left behind. Like weights, they all seek to drag him to somewhere low.

    Ninetales bears her own hurts. The dread of losing her trainer and teammates, the gnawing disquiet of peering into The End, the nightmares of seeing the end of a world, and the lingering doubt of her evolution and how Lee might perceive her. They all pull her in different directions, stretching her sanity until tears begin to form.

    Then, pokemon and trainer entwine themselves around one another, quashing what plagues them simply by being together. Hand in hand, they stand tall and invulnerable, their individual troubles seeming so laughably easy to manage. It leaves them free to lay in a bubbling basin of shared adoration for a well-deserved break from the world.

    For the first time in many months, everything is okay.

    <hr>

    Lee isn''t sure how long he and Ninetales are wherever they are, for time seems like a foreign concept there, in that blissful nexus where he and his truest partner meet. Slowly, though, sensation returns to his body and the colors without names draw back as Ninetales pulls her mind away from his with great reluctance. Part of Lee wishes to reach out and stubbornly grasp her once more, but he knows just as well as she does that they can''t sit here all day. He still takes a greedy sort of solace in keeping his arms around Ninetales tightly, however.

    After a long moment, the golden fox chuffs out a short laugh. ''While I have no issues sitting here and cuddling all night, we should be going. We''ve much to do.''

    "I guess��" Lee grumbles, letting her go. He watches his pokemon stand with a stretch, then a full-body shake, making her shiny coat ripple. "Ninetales?"

    The fox turns her head to him after hopping from the bed to the floor, regarding him with a smile. ''Yes?''

    The zoologist smiles back. All at once, a pleasant, tingling lightness of spirit that he hasn''t truly felt for months fills his chest, and his smile becomes a genuine, happy grin. "Thank you for telling me what was bothering you."

    ''You deserved to know,'' she sniffs. ''We''re partners, now and forever,'' she says simply.

    Lee stands and raises his arms in a pleasant, back-popping stretch. He watches in amusement as Ninetales arches her back for a second in response, feeling the pop secondhand. "Partners now and forever, eh? I like it, but that''s another line we''ll want to keep between us, lest people get ideas," he steps into his boots and laces them.

    Ninetales rolls her eyes. ''Goodness me, inconsequential strangers might have inconsequential opinions. How terrible��''

    Lee lets out a short laugh and steps closer, laying a hand on her head and rubbing his thumb over the heart mark on her ear. The white fur is somehow even softer than the rest of her coat. "No more secrets between us?"

    ''Never,'' she shakes her head. ''Now, let''s be off.''

    Ninetales noses Lee''s hand towards the door leaving the room. Her ruby eyes take on a violet hue, and a telekinetic corona of the same color covers the doorknob. Then with a twist and a pull��

    ��The sturdy metal door comes right out of its frame with a jerk so violent that it shakes dust from the ceiling. The hinges make a tortured, metallic squeal before the threading of their screws gives way, letting the hinges pop free with a sound like a gunshot and leaving the door floating lopsided in Ninetales'' telekinesis.

    Lee and Ninetales stand motionless, both still processing what just happened.

    Across the hall, the door opposite of Lee and Ninetales'' opens up, and a grumpy Loudred stands with a scowl on his face. He draws in a chest-filling breath and opens his mouth, a hundred-decibel tirade likely ready, but the sound pokemon takes notice of the dislodged door. His eyes then move to Lee, then finally down to the still-surprised Ninetales.

    Slowly, carefully, and with his breath hissing out through his nostrils, the Loudred steps back inside and shuts the door, the lock clicking afterward.

    Ninetales hangs her head and sets the door down against the wall with painstaking slowness before letting her telekinesis fade. Even if Lee can''t see it, he knows she''s blushing beet red in embarrassment under her coat.

    "Ahhh don''t worry, I''m sure you can get the hang of it after a few hours," Lee does his best to keep his smile from being awkward and rubs Ninetales between her shoulders, though he doesn''t feel her mood improve much. "Look on the bright side. You went from being able to levitate maybe twenty pounds to-" He eyeballs the door. "-to however much that door weighs and then some."

    ''And I just caused several hundred credits worth of damage that you''re going to have to pay for��'' She remarks sullenly, finally raising her head and frowning mightily.

    With a sigh, Lee shrugs. "Shinx has chewed on chair legs and Grovyle accidentally carved up a lamp after he evolved." His thumb rubs a circle between the dejected fox''s shoulder blades. "You were going to join the club eventually."

    <hr>

    The visit to the hotel''s front desk is less painful than expected. After confirming the damage was an accident, the young woman tending to the lobby only requires a flat 250 credit fee and a signature on an insurance form. Yet again, Lee finds himself surprised when he knows he shouldn''t be, as it only makes sense for lodgings catering to pokemon trainers to hedge themselves against pokemon-related damage. The last few times (mostly from poor Shinx teething on anything she could), the damage was so minor that Lee just paid it out of pocket and insurance was never involved.

    After a text message to Brendan, Courtney, and Zinnia, Lee and Ninetales begin the trek over to the Pokemon Center to both meet up with the rest of their traveling party and visit Octillery.

    As they walk through Lavaridge, Lee can''t help but smile with a childish sort of satisfaction as more than a few people and pokemon marvel at Ninetales as they pass.

    Back in Slateport, something similar happened and they got to play witness to it. A man, obviously a pro-trainer from the medley of Greatballs and single Ultraball on his belt, strolled through town with a Haxorus at his side.

    The Haxorus was a stunning pokemon to behold. Nearly seven feet tall and oozing menace with each step. He would slowly crane his head around, taking in the gaping people all around without truly acknowledging them, like they were beneath him. With each movement of his head, no matter the speed, the crimson axe blades lining his jaw would make a quiet whistle as they sliced the air with their fine edge. The prized Dragon commanded the attention of everyone who could see him like a king, and his subjects rewarded him with the flash of cameras and awed exclamations of admiration. The world of pokemon revolves around power at its core, after all, and few things so boldly declare power like a Dragon few have seen in person.

    If Haxorus was admired for his plainly visible might and rugged aesthetic, then much the same is happening to Ninetales for the mysticism and beauty her kind exudes.

    ''Well, the beauty part I already knew, but I don''t think a rare pokemon would get this kind of reaction.'' Lee tries to keep his face straight, but no matter the effort, a smile remains on his lips. He sweeps his eyes around, watching as people slow down to stare at both himself and Ninetales. More than one cell phone and PokeNav is raised to take pictures along with a number of pointed fingers and murmurs, but even the annoyance of their last vestiges of anonymity being stripped away bit by bit doesn''t make the zoologist''s face fall.

    Ninetales pays the people in the streets no mind. She walks with her head held high and prowls across the ground on silent, dainty paws. Her long tails trail behind her, each one slowly waving and flowing through its own invisible air current, but never touching the ground. In the waning sunlight, her eyes glow with a vivid, inner light, and her fur shines with a glorious luster. She cuts so magnificent and dignified a figure, no one would ever guess she clumsily ripped a door down not twenty minutes prior.

    The nine-tailed fox twitches. ''I''m going to be hearing about that for a while, aren''t I?''

    ''It''s not often I get something to tease you about, love.'' Lee smirks.

    The annoyance radiating from Ninetales is quickly soothed when Lee reaches down and runs his fingers through the tuft of fur along her head, ending with a gentle scratch behind an ear.

    They arrive at the Pokemon Center with time to spare, owing to the fact that the crowded streets parted before them without so much of a word of fuss. Walking inside, Lee and Ninetales approach the reception desk, finding Lavaridge''s Nurse Joy in her usual seat diligently typing away at her computer.

    Joy looks up, then smiles when she notices the pair. To Lee''s admiration, she doesn''t even blink at seeing Ninetales. ''She''s probably seen crazier things.''

    "Good afternoon Mister Henson, Miss Ninetales," Nurse Joy stands and folds her hands in front of her. "Are you here to see Octillery?"

    Having seen this particular nurse several times in the last week, Lee can finally pick out the differences between her and the Nurse Joy in Littleroot, the only other Joy Lee can say he''s well acquainted with. Littleroot''s Joy is a bit shorter, and her voice higher. The resemblance the Joy family''s women all share is still astounding, though. The genes governing their appearance must be truly overwhelming.

    "That we are," Lee nods. "How is he doing?"

    Joy''s smile widens a touch. "Very well. Octillery''s recovery is moving along smoothly, and he''s remained both conscious and lucid the entire day today. After he passed some cognitive tests, we informed him of your timely rescue. He seems quite curious to meet you. Just one moment please��" Joy touches a button on an electronic badge hanging from her breast pocket, prompting the gadget to play a little jingle. "Rita? I have Lee Henson to visit patient Octillery in the aquatic ward. Can you send a technician to the front to escort him, please? He''ll be accompanied by his Ninetales."

    The badge crackles. "Yes, Nurse Joy. Kim is on her way."

    "Thank you!" Nurse Joy sing-songs before releasing the button. "You may find a seat if you like, Mister Henson. One of our intern nurses will be with you shortly."

    "Thank you, nurse," Lee smiles.

    The Pokemon Center of Lavaridge is set up like most of the centers they''ve visited before it in that there are plenty of seats arranged in columns and aisles for pokemon owners and their pokemon without emergency ailments. In the corners are larger, more open areas with wrap-around couches along the wall forming lounges of sorts. Although Lee can''t be sure if it was intentional, the different seating types are used by different sorts of people. The regular seating is dominated by average people and the pokemon in their lives, while the more comfortable corners are held by camps of road-beaten trainers.

    Venturing over to one of the less occupied corners, Lee seats himself at a respectable distance away from the other three trainers there. At his feet, Ninetales sits regally and wraps her tails around her legs�� Or most of her tails. One errant tail escapes and lays itself across Lee''s lap, wiggling like a snake.

    Idly, the scarred trainer lets his fingers run through the soft fur of the appendage, but he takes care to not fully wrap his hand around it. ''Is the curse real, I wonder? Can its activation be controlled if it''s real? There''s more folklore than scientific data on Ninetales as a species, so we have so much to do.''

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ''You''re thinking rather loudly, beloved,'' Ninetales angles her head to look back at Lee with a smile. ''And don''t worry about any curses. I think I would know if I suddenly possessed such an ability,'' she says, wrapping the tail in his lap around his hand with surprising dexterity.

    ''Your tails are prehensile, too. There''s a lot we could do with that,'' Lee feels her tail squeeze his hand lightly. Silky fur doesn''t provide the best grip, but�� ''Maybe we should begin working on Iron Tail again.''

    ''It would certainly work better now,'' Ninetales comments dryly.

    As he and Ninetales wordlessly communicate, Lee takes notice of the conversation happening on the other bend of the L-shaped couch from the corner of his eye. Or rather, he takes notice of how quiet the three other trainers have become. Two of them are teen boys in travel-worn clothes, and sitting between them is a teen girl maybe a year older with sun-bleached blonde hair. In the girl''s lap is a small Teddiursa who suckles on one of his forepaws and peers at Ninetales with open apprehension. All three trainers sport healing sunburns, but they don''t let any discomfort keep them from leaning toward one another to exchange whispers. One boy steals a glance at Ninetales, then Lee.

    Lee doesn''t even need to ask, as Ninetales feeds him what her much sharper ears pick up.

    "If you''re gonna ask, now is the time," One of the teen boys whispers to their female companion. "He doesn''t look like the Contest type, though."

    "Maybe, but look at that Ninetales!" She hisses back. "That fur is practically glowing even in artificial light! How do you do that? That alone could be big points if you get the lighting right in a Contest!"

    "Okay, so ask Mugsy over there for hair-care tips and see what he has to say," The second boy smirks.

    "..." The teen girl looks at Lee. Without even directly looking at them, Lee can tell the trio, or at least the girl, are intimidated.

    ''Mugsy?'' Lee frowns and resists the urge to rub his burn scars.

    ''Perhaps say something?'' Ninetales prompts Lee with a yawn. ''There were an impressive number of cameras following us here, and a drop of kindness in the sea of gossip will make bigger waves than most might expect.'' She lets her eyes scan the lobby of the Center, and through them, Lee can see that more than a few conversations have petered out as people notice them.

    ''When did you get so people-savvy?''

    ''One of us has to be,'' the fox teases.

    Lee grumbles to himself about cheeky vulpines before speaking. "You three seem like you have something on your mind," he says, finally turning his head to face the other trainers.

    All of the younger trainers jump, visibly spooked. They all exchange hasty looks, then the girl speaks up. "Yeah, uh, hi! I''m just wondering what kind of grooming routine you use for your Ninetales? I''m trying for the Grand Festival this year, which is a big pokemon coordinator thing, but uh, you probably knew that haha," her words rapidly spill out past her nervous smile, and in her lap, her Teddiursa shifts in discomfort. "The judges get real picky in the festival about a lot of things, and I heard rumors that one judge is on this fur obsession kinda thing recently, and the conditioner I''ve been using on Teddy hasn''t done much, so I was hoping for a hint if it''s not stepping on your toes or anything?" She says all in one breath.

    "Is that all?" Lee blinks. "I''m not sure how well my advice will work for you, but I can share a bit before we have to go."

    The girl hugs her Teddiursa close and leans forward in open interest, nerves forgotten. Even her more battle-oriented friends seem focused on Lee.

    "Ninetales'' grooming routine is nothing special, all things considered," Lee begins, reaching out and stroking his ace pokemon across her neck. She leans into the touch with a smile.

    "I only brush her coat once a week or after a battle, whichever comes first. One pass with a slicker brush, then another with a pin brush. This''ll remove dirt, loose hair, and fluff up pokemon who have medium to long overcoats with an undercoat. Pokemon are hardy creatures, so you don''t need to brush them often." Lee leans forward and digs his hands into the fur on Ninetales'' shoulders, giving the skin underneath a rub that makes the fox pokemon visibly relax. "There''s nothing wrong with fancy shampoo and whatnot, but take care to not bathe your pokemon too often. Too many baths will wash out the natural oils in a mammal pokemon''s coat, which are produced by the skin. Conditioner, shampoo, or whatever else can dry out the skin as well, and there is no healthy fur without healthy skin, so ensure you''re not using products that are too harsh. It might be tempting to use the latest and greatest pokemon beautification product, but it pays big time to do your due diligence and scrutinize just what exactly you''re using."

    Seeing all of the kids, Teddiursa included, paying close attention, Lee smiles. "Diet plays a large role as well."

    "Diet? Like what a pokemon eats?" One boy on the left asks.

    "Exactly," Lee nods. "Regular Pokemart brand chow is fine�� I guess��" He can''t quite keep his distaste for the pre-packaged food and their lack of ingredient transparency hidden. "But every pokemon has different nutritional and caloric needs that will fluctuate based on their activity level. If you''re wanting to ensure a healthy, shiny coat in mammals, then you''ll want to be sure their food has an appropriate amount of protein, vitamins A, C, and E, dietary copper, dietary zinc, Omega-3, Omega-6, and other fatty acids," he lists each one off on his fingers. "Don''t neglect other vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to try and overcorrect any sort of deficiency, though, as that''ll only cause more damage. Deficiencies should be handled with marginal and supplemental increases of the lacking nutrients. Never whiplash back or forth, or your pokemon''s health will take a nosedive."

    The boy on the left is beginning to look lost, but the other two kids still pay rapt attention. The girl even pulls out her phone to quickly jot down what he''s saying, though she has to hold her arm out quite a ways so Teddiursa''s curious paws don''t claw at the screen.

    "I take it you''re using your Teddiursa in your contests?" Lee asks.

    The girl nods absently, still typing his words with rapid-fire thumbstrokes. "Yeah, I''m training my baby Teddy here for the contest up in Fallarbor."

    Slowly, Lee rises and steps closer to the pair, making both the girl and Teddy go still until Lee bends down to one knee and catches the bear cub''s eyes with his own.

    "Do you mind if I touch you, Teddy?" Lee keeps his voice quiet and presents his hand, showing it to be empty.

    The young Normal-type pokemon gazes down at the offered hand, then up to his trainer as if asking for support.

    "It''ll be fine, Teddy. He seems like a nice man," the blonde girl smiles and hugs her pokemon a little tighter.

    Assurance in hand, Teddy returns his attention to Lee and offers a single meek nod.

    With a smile of his own, Lee reaches the rest of the way out and gently strokes the cub across his crescent-moon-marked forehead up to the top of his scalp and between his ears. Once, twice, three times he runs his fingers through the cub''s fur, feeling both the hair and the skin underneath.

    Despite his earlier apprehension, Teddy relaxes under the touch. When Lee pulls away and stands, the cub even whines.

    ''So much easier than trying to pet a real bear.''

    Ninetales holds back a foxy chortle as she watches that college memory from the back seat.

    "While I haven''t worked with ursids extensively, Teddy''s skin and fur feel a bit dry. Otherwise, it looks like he''s in excellent health." The former zookeeper comments with a grin. "Well done. That can be tricky for traveling trainers. I suggest double-checking whatever bathing products you''re using to see if they''re suitable for younger pokemon or pokemon with sensitive skin. If they are, then remember to not over bathe. I know it doesn''t make sense that water can cause dry skin, but the shampoo is the real culprit."

    "Mister Henson? Your Octillery is ready for visitors."

    Lee looks to the side, finding a nurse in blue scrubs standing and waiting for him. Under the electronic badge similar to the one Nurse Joy is wearing is a nametag with Kim scrawled on it.

    "I''ve got to get going. It''s been a pleasure talking to you kids." Lee smiles at the trio of trainers one more time.

    The boy on the left, the one who grew lost during Lee''s miniature lecture, grins in return. His other male friend crosses his arms and nods, schooling his face into something neutral. Their friend in the middle though��

    The blonde girl stares up at Lee with her lips twitching, as if she can''t decide on her expression. Her slowly reddening cheeks give away her thoughts, however.

    ''Wonderful, another May��'' Lee doesn''t roll his eyes even if he''s sorely tempted.

    Ninetales'' amusement is almost palpable as she rises and falls into step with Lee, following the nurse leading them to the rear of the Pokemon Center. ''You did well with those three,'' she sends. ''The tension in the lobby lessened considerably when you spoke up.''

    ''Did it?'' Lee wonders as they turn down a hallway leading to the different Center wards. ''I didn''t even notice.''

    ''You were rather engrossed with your short lesson.'' A tail flicks and Ninetales blinks. ''I was keeping watch, though. Your display of kindness and knowledge will go far, and people will remember it.''

    Lee moves to the side of the hall along with the nurse and Ninetales, letting a Chansey escorting a hobbling and grumpy-looking Croconaw pass by. ''Not only people-savvy, but looking that far ahead? If we ever get famous for some reason, I might leave all the PR stuff to you.''

    ''I''m certain some nosy reporter who won''t take no for an answer will appreciate me once fireballs are involved,'' Ninetales wryly states.

    The Pokemon Center nurse, Kim, leads Lee and Ninetales back to the Water-type ward and leads them inside. The hum of pumps and the hiss of filters are familiar by now, but Lee is glad to see none of them are for Octillery.

    Sitting on a low, metal table in a shallow, rubber-lined bowl of water the size of a kiddie pool, Octillery perks up and uncoils his tentacles as Lee, Ninetales, and the nurse approach.

    "Hi sweetheart," the nurse greets the octopus with a practiced smile. "Your trainer is here to visit you. I''ll give you guys some privacy, okay? I''ll be right outside the ward, so just let me know if you need anything."

    "Thanks, nurse," Lee thanks the woman, who nods politely before heading to the ward''s exit.

    Octillery''s sharp eyes scan Ninetales intently, obviously sizing her up. When the fox returns his gaze unflinchingly, the octopus allows himself to focus on Lee. Octillery waves a tentacle at them and gurgles deep in his throat, ending the sound with a distinctly inquisitive lilt.

    "It''s nice to meet you properly, Octillery," Lee offers his hand for the red octopus to inspect, and Octillery wastes no time raising a curious tentacle to meet the hand halfway. The tentacle wrapping around his hand and between his fingers is a bit cold, soaking wet, and frankly a little unpleasant, but Lee soldiers on. "You were in quite a bit of peril when we first met, and I''m happy you''re looking so much better now."

    Octillery''s tentacle slows in its inspection of Lee''s hand, and the cephalopod gives a pointed look to the pokeballs on the man''s belt.

    "I did have to catch you to safely move you, yes," Lee admits without any shame. "I don''t know if you realized it or not, but the pond you were��" He almost says ''hiding in'', but decides against it just in case Octillery turns out to be prideful "...laying claim to turned out to be toxic. It addled your mind and body something fierce, and we had to bring you here to be treated because I didn''t have the tools needed to help in the field."

    The red octopus''s other tentacles coil and uncoil in what seems to be self-directed irritation if how he looks down with narrowed eyes are any worthwhile tell. Before that irritation can be directed somewhere else, namely the wrist Octillery is still grasping, Lee makes his offer.

    "I know you didn''t really get to consent on this," Lee calmly continues. "So that''s why I want to make you an offer."

    Octillery''s eyes narrow further in suspicion.

    "You''re a powerful pokemon, Octillery, and my team would really benefit from your companionship," Lee struggles to not fidget when the octopus'' hold on him tightens slightly. "If you want to stay and battle with us, then I promise to care for you and see you become the best you can be. If not, then say the word and I''ll take you back to the Valley and let you go."

    The warning grip on Lee''s wrist slackens, and Octillery makes no effort to hide his confusion. He tilts his head to the side with another gurgle, and Lee feels one of the tentacle''s suckers grip the underside of his wrist intently for some reason. Once more, Octillery makes the same inquisitive burble, staring directly into Lee''s eyes.

    "I mean every word," the scarred man promises.

    For a minute, Octillery looks down, lost in thought. Then he turns his attention to Ninetales, burbling a question.

    The vixen responds with a gentle smile, and from her mouth comes a rich, rolling growl that tapers off into a warm purr. Her eyes shine, and Lee feels her affection for him bubble for a second.

    The octopus''s eyes widen, almost bugging out before he composes himself. Gently, he pulls his tentacle away from Lee and settles back in his pool of water. He stares off at nothing, tentacles stilling in thought. He remains so for almost ten minutes, and just as Lee begins to wonder what is troubling the Water-type, Octillery snaps out of his little trance. He smiles as best as he can with his nozzle-like mouth before giving Lee a cheery nod of his large head.

    "You want to stay?" Lee asks hopefully.

    Octillery nods once more, actively reaching a tentacle out to the pokeballs on the man''s belt.

    "I''m glad to hear it," Lee intercepts the tentacle with a grin. "But the Center is wanting you to stay a few more days, and I''m in agreement. You were in serious danger of death or some permanent condition when we found you, and if there is anything I don''t want, it''s you suffering some sort of complication from being checked out early."

    Octillery scowls and the tentacle in Lee''s hand waves its tip in annoyance.

    "I know it''s boring in here," Lee soothes his newest pokemon as best he can with a sympathetic smile. "We''ll visit every day until you''re ready to go, okay? I''d introduce you to the rest of the team here, but the nurses might be a little irate if more pokemon popped in out of nowhere."

    Octillery lets out a gurgling, long-suffering sigh, one that inflates and deflates his body from the breath, but he draws his tentacle back and sinks into his pool.

    "Tomorrow''s visit will be longer. We''d stay longer today, but there is a lot on our to-do list tonight," Lee steps a bit closer and lays his hand on Octillery''s head, making the octopus look back up at him. "Hang tight, okay?"

    The Water-type waves a tentacle in farewell as Lee and Ninetales step back and turn to leave.

    Walking back to the front of the Pokemon Center, Lee reaches his mind out to Ninetales. ''Hey, love? What did Octillery ask you?''

    ''He wanted my opinion on you. I told him exactly what I thought.'' She says simply.

    <hr>

    Stepping outside the Pokemon Center, Lee and Ninetales come face-to-face with Brendan, Zinnia, and Courtney just as the trio is approaching.

    "Hey, you two!" Brendan greets with a large grin. "You got here fast."

    "Or maybe you all were just slow," Lee jokes. "Well, I''m happy to report that Octillery is on the home stretch of his recovery, and after talking with him, he agreed to stay on the team."

    "Alright!" Brendan cheers. "It''s about time you join the ranks of the best type!" Then he looks at Ninetales'' narrowed eyes and amends himself. "Er, no offense, Ninetales."

    Lee chuckles to himself. "Is now a good time to tell you that Ninetales can learn Solarbeam?"

    Brendan''s face goes white at Ninetales'' smirk. Behind him, Zinnia holds her stomach and openly guffaws.

    Beside Zinnia, Courtney blinks. "Can they actually learn Solarbeam?"

    Lee realizes he misspoke a second later. In video games, Ninetales can learn Solarbeam no problem from a TM, but here where her kind are almost mythical? Knowing such a thing is going to look suspect.

    "I have a few theorems on the subject of near-dual-type moves like Solarbeam that point to why other Fire-types like Charizard can learn it," Lee doesn''t fumble for an answer on that one since he actually does have a few pages of thoughts on Solarbeam. "Ninetales is officially a Fire-type, but she can flex pretty well into Ghost and Psychic as well, so I see Solarbeam as perfectly possible."

    ''Remind me to not blab too much on your species, love. We need to wait a few weeks before I can pretend I know what I''m talking about.''

    ''By then you''ll actually know what you''re talking about, but I''ll remember regardless,'' she answers with a snuffle.

    Lee inwardly scoffs even if her genuine confidence in him makes his chest warm. "Anyway," he returns back to talking with the others. "Ninetales and I were going to go test out her new abilities before dinner. My Pokedex says she learned Double Team and Extrasensory upon evolving-"

    ''Along with a wealth of "Unknown" moves. We''ll test those in private.''

    "-So I was hoping to practice them along with her other moves to see if anything has changed."

    Zinnia grins a savage grin at his words and steps closer. "Testing everything out, huh?" The purr of her voice is grossly out-of-place with her expression. "Why not try everything out in a battle?"

    Lee''s brows furrow. "A battle with a totally untested roster of techniques?" He crosses his arms. "I''m not sure about that. It took Grovyle a week to get back up to his rigorous standards after his evolution. I imagine Ninetales will be much the same."

    "Sometimes it''s better to learn how to run before you walk, and you''ve got a Gym battle here in about a week," Zinnia points a finger at Lee, and in the hand pointing the finger is a shrunken pokeball. "Don''t tell me you aren''t eager to find out how well Ninetales fights."

    "I do want to know what she''s capable of, but I want to do so in a controlled manner," with his arms still crossed, Lee drums his fingers along his arms in thought. "Zinnia," he starts carefully. "I''m not throwing shade at you or your pokemon, but I genuinely don''t know how strong Ninetales is. She might injure another pokemon more than she intends to unless we know what we''re working with."

    "You''re worried about a Dragon getting beat up by a Fire-type? Really?" When Lee doesn''t budge, Zinnia slumps her shoulders. "Dolittle, you''re such a stick in the mud sometimes," she moans, throwing her head back. "C''mon. Just a one-on-one, Shelgon versus Ninetales?"

    ''It''s high time I repay Shelgon for the loss in Oldale, so I''ve no objections.'' Ninetales supplies to Lee. ''I''ll take care to start slow, and if you decide the match is over for any reason, I''ll bow out.''

    ''Are you still upset over that?'' Lee wonders. He''s already put the event long behind him.

    ''Perhaps a little.''

    With both Ninetales and Zinnia''s desires in mind, Lee mulls everything over once more. "If you insist, Zinnia��" Lee reluctantly agrees. "But we''re going to take it slow from the start, and if it gets out of hand then the battle is over, okay?"

    "Lee��" Zinnia puts her hands on her hips and levels him with a harsh glare.

    Lee sighs and raises his hands in surrender. "Fine, we''ll do as best as we reasonably can."

    <hr>

    Zinnia can''t help but shiver under her cloak. Not from the cool evening air, but from the sheer anticipation of what might be her and Shelgon''s toughest battle to date.

    She knew Lee would become something special, and here he is proving her correct. The crazy man got his hands on a million-credit Fire Stone and sent the potential of his ace pokemon into the stratosphere. To think they''re only going to go up from here is both humbling and excitement-inducing. How kind of him to aid her on the endless quest of Lorekeeper power consolidation, even if it''s by accident.

    Battling with Lee and Brendan nearly every day for months has done more for Zinnia''s pokemon than years of wandering have. Swablu''s evolution can''t be more than a month away, Goomy is finally coming into his own as a Dragon, and Shelgon��

    Shelgon has never been more determined in his life. He''s thrown himself into each spar, and his place as the strongest pokemon of the group has been under attack by Vulpix and Marshtomp every single day. The pressure to remain at the top has magnified his growth to such a level that Zinnia finds herself awed by him sometimes. It''s still far too early to tell, but Zinnia''s instincts whisper in her ear, pointing out patterns and reminding her of just who Shelgon is.

    The dragon blood rushing through her veins tells her that Shelgon could be a Yearling, a Dragon that sees his third evolution from the first in less than a year. All he needs to do is go just a little faster. The only thing that could motivate him more is being knocked from his place as the mightiest of their traveling band of misfits.

    Ninetales�� she might be the one to do it.

    Across from her, Lee stands with his hands held in his pockets and his face masked with neutrality. Zinnia knows the dork is probably nervous under his torn-up mug and his hands are out of sight so he doesn''t twiddle his fingers.

    She can see why he''s nervous. Off to the side with Brendan, Courtney, and the rest of the group''s pokemon are more than a few onlookers from Lavaridge who followed along. Watching a group of obvious trainers and a gaggle of rare pokemon strolling through town towards a battleground gathered a small crowd of twenty or so people to watch. Lee, being so polite it straddles the line of being awkward, refused to tell anyone to buzz off.

    On Lee''s side of the rocky battlefield, Ninetales mirrors her trainer''s faux-cool perfectly. She sits, aloof and almost bored-looking with all those tails waving around her. Despite how non-threatening the fox presents herself as, Zinnia''s heart beats a bit faster, a bit harder, and those instincts in her dragon-rich blood hiss warnings into her ear with an urgency previously reserved for rampaging Dragons.

    Danger hangs around Ninetales like a cloak, and Zinnia couldn''t be more eager.

    In front of her, Shelgon stands ready to fight. Even now, the stoicism of his species refuses to break, but Zinnia still sees the slight, anxious bounce in his thick limbs. For any Shelgon, it''s akin to openly growling.

    "Everyone, move back away from the edge of the battleground. This match may get out of hand and we don''t have a Psychic to maintain a barrier!" Lee calls out to all the onlookers, swiping a hand through the air.

    Wisely, everyone heeds his words and takes a few steps backwards, Brendan and Courtney included.

    "Brendan!" Lee turns to the kid. "Ref for us?"

    The kid grins and runs up the side of the arena, his Marshtomp stomping along. He clears his throat into his fist. "This''ll be a one-on-one match! Lee and Ninetales versus Zinnia and Shelgon! The battle will go until one pokemon cannot fight any longer! Are both sides ready?"

    Zinnia''s blood is beginning to scream for the battle before her, and she shows it to everyone. "Ready!" she roars, clenching her fists as a plan takes form in her head.

    Shelgon growls.

    Lee''s nod is short. "Ready."

    Brendan raises an arm, Marshtomp mirroring him. Then as one, both chop their arms down. "Begin!"

    "Rollout!" Zinnia''s command is almost instant. ''Ninetales was always a ranged attacker as a Vulpix. Close the distance and stay relentless.''

    Shelgon goes from still into a whirling steel ball kicking up gravel in less than a second. A second later, he gets traction and shoots across the ground like a cannonball, aiming to flatten Ninetales.

    Ninetales'' eyes narrow into hateful red slits, and with a shimmer, a dozen illusionary clones surround her. Each fox rises to its paws and scatters around the arena with lightning swiftness.

    "Abort and sweep with Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia switches gears seamlessly. ''No command.'' She looks up to Lee, but he simply stands there with unfocused eyes. ''Telepathy from the gate? Lee is getting bold.'' She tries to follow his eyes to divine the real Ninetales, but he keeps his gaze locked forward.

    Shelgon throws his limbs out and stops himself cold, his claws pulverizing the ground. He opens his mouth, a tornado of dragonic blue energy forming in his throat. He spins in a tight circle, throwing the beam of Dragon Pulse in every direction.

    The beam is fast, too fast for the doppelgangers. Some try to jump away, but Dragon Pulse shreds the flimsy illusions, leaving fluttering sparkles of Normal-energy that wink out like embers.

    Zinnia grins madly when she sees the last Ninetales get enveloped by Dragon Pulse. ''First blood goes to us!''

    Then the Ninetales vanishes like tissue paper in a blender, rent down to nothing.

    ''...What?''

    Shelgon blinks in surprise as well and cuts off his attack. He whirls around on his feet, searching for his foe frantically.

    Zinnia blanks out for a moment, scanning the field intently for the fox, only to find nothing. She doesn''t notice the ever-so-slight shimmer in the air behind Shelgon until it''s too late.

    Ninetales reappears from nowhere, dropping her Feint Attack cloak directly behind Shelgon. The coat of light-bending Dark makes a slight crackle as it falls, and Shelgon whirls around so violently that he tears into the rocky ground.

    He turns just in time to stare into sinister red eyes that glow - no, beam with unnatural power.

    The encased dragon grunts as his limbs fail him and he falls to his side, helplessly seizing.

    "Shelgon, snap out of it!" Zinnia orders as loudly as her voice will allow. People on the other side of Lavaridge probably hear her, but Shelgon remains squirming like a Wurmple at Ninetales'' paws. ''Shit! Was that Confuse Ray?''

    Before Shelgon can fight back. Ninetales'' eyes glow again, this time a sickly purple. An aura of the same purple surrounds the Dragon-type as he''s levitated right off the ground, held in the air several feet above Ninetales.

    Shelgon strains against the telekinesis, but with Confuse Ray scrambling his motor functions so thoroughly, he can''t muster the strength to break free.

    "Shelgon, listen to me and break free! You have to get out of there!" Zinnia orders once more, but in her gut, she knows the battle is going downhill fast.

    With a flare of Ninetales'' eyes, Shelgon is slammed into the ground like the toy of an uncaring child, throwing shards of volcanic rock and knocking the breath out of the dragon with an explosive gasp. He''s raised up again, slowly, then driven into the ground like a volleyball being spiked again, rattling his bones and innards.

    As he rises a third time, Shelgon''s pained eyes regain their lucidity and his struggles redouble, pushing hard against the telekinesis holding him aloft.

    Ninetales growls and narrows her eyes, fighting to keep Shelgon in place.

    ''Think, Zinnia! Shelgon is out there getting stepped on!'' Zinnia grits her teeth. "Shelgon! Crunch! Disrupt the TK!"

    Motes of dark purple and black erupt from Shelgon''s throat and coat his teeth at the command. Although his mouth is too far recessed in his shell for Crunch to be worthwhile as an attack, he still bites down.

    Shelgon''s Dark-infused fangs slice through the Psychic aura like butter, the Dark-type energy easily destabilizing the telekinetic hold. The entire purple aura buzzes and shatters like glass, letting the Dragon fall to his feet and turn to Ninetales with a roar��

    ��Only to meet a pair of glowing red eyes less than a foot away.

    "Protect!" Zinnia screams, gripping Shelgon''s ball so hard her knuckles go white.

    The order comes far too late, as Shelgon chokes and seizes on his feet, giving Ninetales ample time to leap back to her side of the field in a flourish of tails and fur.

    ''...This is so fucked. How is anyone supposed to realistically fight against something like this?'' The clash of titans Zinnia was expecting isn''t playing out. Shelgon is still going to lose and find that motivation to break his limits, but��

    ��This isn''t quite how Zinnia imagined it, and that''s the most polite way she can put it. She glances at the onlookers.

    Many of the random spectators have phones and what-not out to save the battle. A bright-eyed kid with a Pichu beside him even has a little handheld game-thing with a camera recording the fight.

    Courtney, being a stoic, unflappable bitch, watches with that same flat expression she always has.

    Brendan and Marshtomp both look on with dropped jaws, seemingly not believing what they''re seeing. Marshtomp, however, stands partially in front of his trainer with his arms held at a low ready, still prepared to act if things get crazy despite his amazement.

    With the pokemon, Lee''s Grovyle watches the fight with twitching lips, as if he can''t decide if he wants to smirk or frown. It makes the twig hanging from his lips dance. Shinx isn''t with him, as Lee said something about wanting to introduce the baby to Ninetales somewhere calm.

    Swablu, being made of sterner stuff than any would expect, watches the battle neutrally. Not yet a Dragon, seeing her Flight Lead lose isn''t devastating for her.

    Zinnia''s heart sinks a little when she sees Goomy.

    Goomy, her little booger, has never seen Shelgon in a fight so one-sided. Even back as a Bagon, Shelgon always gave as good as he got and made his few losses into pyrrhic victories for the other guy. Goomy sinks into a low puddle the longer he watches, his soul seemingly sucked out.

    "Shelgon, focus on my voice and win this!" Zinnia barks at her maximum volume. "Don''t go down!"

    Shelgon''s standing seizure comes to an end at the command, leaving the Dragon panting and stumbling on his feet, the confusion not fully passed.

    Before the armored Dragon can get his bearings, Ninetales'' eyes flash orange and all of her tails whip around violently. Behind her, Lee''s face twitches before scrunching in focus.

    In front of the nine-tailed fox, two fireballs bloom to life from nothing. The fires are fueled by nothing, and they roil and writhe more like liquid than anything else.

    Then the fireballs begin to change shape.

    From each one, four downward protrusions slowly drip out like melting wax. Then from the rear and front of the orbs of flame, another protrusion begins growing from each end, coaxed out by an unseen force. The balls themselves begin to elongate, then like clay being molded, details begin to carve themselves out in the not-fireballs.

    From the front, a head adorned with a thin muzzle and pointy ears is shaped from pure fire. The muzzles split open, revealing jagged, flaming teeth and mouths with a white-hot glow.

    Under them, the four waxy drips form joints, legs, and paws.

    At the rear, a single tail with a curled tip forms an unmistakable calling card.

    Finally, on the faces, two perfectly round eyes of blazing white snap open.

    After seven seconds that feel like an eternity, Ninetales is flanked by a pair of single-tailed Vulpixes that look as if they crawled right out of hell.

    ''What the fuck kind of move is this?'' Zinnia just isn''t sure what she witnessed, and in her uncertainty, she hesitates to issue Shelgon an order.

    Both of the flaming foxes snarl and rush at Shelgon, their paws leaving hissing burn marks in the dirt as they race across the ground at an alarming pace.

    "Protect!" Zinnia calls the first move to come to mind.

    Shelgon, now shocked out of his confusion, snarls back at the foxes as a translucent dome of protective green is erected around him, shielding him from harm.

    Rather than crash into the emerald shield, the pair of foxes actually abort their charge and circle around like growling, glowing Sharpedos. Both open their muzzles wide, and from each one comes a cavalcade of Embers.

    The Embers smash into Protect like a storm of explosive bullets, each one making a tooth-ratting pop that is certainly ear-ache inducing in a tiny dome.

    The pair of faux-foxes keep running a tight circle around the protective dome, their Embers seemingly endless. With every second that passes, the Dragon trapped inside falters more and more under the barrage. The more he falters, the more Protect begins to waver.

    ''Fuck! Did evolving really make that huge of a difference?!'' Zinnia growls, frantically trying to think of something. Her eyes jump to Ninetales.

    The great fox stands perfectly still, her eyes blazing orange and twitching tails spread out. She hasn''t moved at all since firing off this insane attack.

    ''Can she not move and control the Vulpixes at once? We have to break her focus. Once Shelgon gets out we''ll use Smokescreen th-''

    Before Zinnia can finish her thought and try to form a new plan, one of the fiery foxes backs off as its sister rushes headfirst at Shelgon''s weakened Protect.

    The fox smashes into the dome and explodes with such force that Protect shatters like a glass bauble, kicking up a plume of dust and rattling the ground as if an earthquake struck for a single second. Much of the shockwave and its bone-shattering concussive force is lost breaking the luminescent green shield, but Shelgon still cries out and stumbles to the side, trying to regain his balance.

    The remaining fox jumps through the dust cloud, and before Zinnia or Shelgon can even think of countering, it rams its skull into the Dragon and explodes in a spectacular suicide attack.

    Zinnia raises an arm to cover her eyes as dust and shards of rock fly past. When the dust clears and the ringing in her ears eases, she lowers her arm.

    In the field, laying in a blackened crater and breathing in short, harsh gasps, Shelgon sits prone with deep cracks and chunks missing in his armor. His legs sport burns, and the Draconid tribeswoman can see a deep, bleeding cut on his forehead.

    Slowly, almost painfully, she looks back up to Lee and Ninetales.

    Ninetales sits there, back in her aloof starting stance without a speck of dirt on her. Behind her, Lee rubs his forehead with a frown. "Brendan?" He says quietly, and that''s when Zinnia realizes all the onlookers are stunned silent. "The call?"

    "Uh�� Oh!" Brendan finally shakes his head and comes to his senses. "Shelgon is unable to battle! The winners are Ninetales and Lee!" He declares, raising a hand high.

    One person in the crowd, a young man, works up the courage to be the first one and slowly claps. Someone else follows, then a second later there is roaring applause.

    Lee grumbles something under his breath and rubs his head again. As he does so, Ninetales turns and gives the man an apologetic smile.

    Mechanically, Zinnia raises Shelgon''s ball and recalls her injured dragon in a flash of red before cradling the ball to her chest.

    She joined her friends on their journey looking for worthwhile mountains to climb, but she didn''t expect to fall off of the newest one so spectacularly. Unbidden, a thought comes to mind and she lets the words fly.

    "That sucked."

 Act 2: Chapter 6

    With a jaw-cracking yawn, Lee lets his eyes creep open as the last vestiges of sleep drain away from him. The blanket covering him is luxuriously soft and warm, so he turns his bleary eyes away from the drab ceiling and snuggles a little deeper into the covers. Being so comfortable, it takes his sluggish brain a moment to remember where he is.

    The blanket covering him twitches a little, drawing his attention.

    ''Ah. That''s no blanket.'' He breathes a little deeper through his nose, catching a spiced, yet not too sharp scent that he knows by heart. ''Blankets definitely don''t move�� or smell like Ninetales. No wonder I slept so well.''

    Covering him neck-to-toe are golden fox tails. The actual comforter and whatnot have been pushed off to the foot of the bed. The memories of the day prior hit, and Lee smiles. ''Vulpix evolved. Vulpix evolved and she''s all the better for it.''

    Reluctantly, Lee turns away from the fluffy fox tail serving as his pillow to face Ninetales. She lays beside him cuddled into his side, her head turned and laying chin-down on her pillow as she sleeps. Ninetales'' muzzle is cracked open just the slightest amount, and in the stillness of the early morning, Lee can hear her quiet breaths. The mane-like tuft on her head is mussed from turning in bed, and when one of her ears twitches, a bit of the tuft is flicked with it.

    Slowly raising his head to look over his pokemon, Lee spies the bright red display of the nightstand alarm clock reading 9:04 AM back to him.

    ''We slept in quite a bit��'' He blinks the last bit of bleariness from his eyes. ''I hope Grovyle isn''t too upset that we''re going to get a late start on our morning training. We still need to visit Moore and Flannery, after all.''

    Beyond the nightstand and over in Brendan''s bed, he finds the boy and his jumbo Electrike both laying dead to the world in a mess of wrinkled covers. Electrike snorts in his sleep and kicks a little.

    It''s taken Brendan and his infectiously upbeat self only two weeks to break the nervous shell around the young Electric-type. After constant pleasant treatment and support from Brendan and his team, the pup quit sitting and sending mournful looks to the south, back to the valley where his mother left him with them. He shed his nervousness and jitters, even befriending Goomy and Shinx, forming a trio that makes Lee smile every time he sees them trundle off to find mischief. Thankfully, Mawile seems to have taken it upon herself to keep an eye on the three youngest pokemon when no one else was watching them, and it''s a duty she takes seriously.

    As is only natural Lee''s baby girl took the role of fearless leader of their troupe. But that seemed to make Electrike painfully conscious of how large he is compared to his much-smaller friends, and the pup treads as if he were on eggshells around the kitten and mucus-coated dragon.

    ''I didn''t realize it was Electrike''s turn to play throw-pillow. I''m glad Brendan got him to open up. I don''t think I would have the time to care for two babies.'' Lee hums to himself, idly noting that he seems to do that a lot. ''Electrike is already weaned and eating solid food without any issues, yet he can''t be any older than two months. Shinx is around the same age, but I estimate she''s still got two or three weeks before I can start taking her off her bottle. A side effect of Electrike being a Giant? Does being a Giant cause accelerated developmental growth as well? Or is it something simple like the Electrike line maturing faster as a species? I might have to see if Brendan is willing to let me borrow Electrike for an afterno-''

    ''Beloved,'' a voice not belonging to Lee starts, interrupting his mental monologue. ''You''re thinking rather loudly.''

    Ninetales cracks a red eye open, staring up at Lee with an exasperated smile.

    Lee returns her stare with a sheepish grin. ''Sorry about that. I didn''t realize I was going to wake you up.''

    ''It''s no matter. We''ve slept late and the day''s duties call to us, so now is as good a time as any to rise.'' Ninetales withdraws her namesake tails, drawing a shiver from Lee as the chill of the air-conditioned room is allowed to flow over his bare chest and the parts of his legs left uncovered by the shorts he wore to bed. The fox then stands on the bed and yawns with a mighty, full-body stretch that makes her tails stand straight like a frayed fan. ''Did you sleep well?'' She asks, finishing her stretch.

    ''Best sleep I''ve had since��'' He pauses, then wonders why he bothered hesitating when he knows Ninetales is perfectly aware of why he stopped. ''Since we came here. How about you?''

    Her answering smile is small but no less pleased for its size. ''Wonderful. I''ve not felt this rested�� ever, I believe�� Or, at least I rested well once you turned your cell phone off.''

    A small grimace flashes across Lee''s face. As they were preparing for an early rest last night, his phone started blowing up with notifications out of nowhere. After taking a look at the first few and seeing none of them were from Nigel Birch or someone else important, he simply turned it off. "I think someone signed me up for a spam service or something," Lee grumbles, leaning back into the pillow and wishing it were a fox tail. "If it''s all spam, then a Porygon who can backtrace and blow up whatever server it''s coming from is going to look like a mighty appealing teammate."

    Ninetales huffs out a vulpine laugh, and her radiant happiness bleeds over to Lee, putting a wide smile on his own face. ''Perhaps we should start our day together?''

    Together. The reminder that he''s never truly alone makes everything seem so easy. With a cheerful nod, Lee rises out of bed as Ninetales hops down to the floor.

    The room is much like any other for inns marketed towards trainers, as there is a small-ish kitchen unit that sits in the corner. After throwing on the shirt he discarded the night prior and grabbing his backpack, Lee makes his way to the kitchenette with Ninetales following along. In short order, he has a pan of water with a baby bottle of Miltank milk inside warming up on the stove, a pair of buttered skillets beginning to sizzle, and coffee beginning to brew in the small, hotel-supplied coffee pot.

    It doesn''t take long for the smell of breakfast to wake up Brendan, who mechanically sits up in his bed and yawns a jaw-popping yawn. The movement jostles Electrike enough that the electric pup blinks open his eyes and stands with a stretch not unlike how Ninetales did, and after a quick sniff of the air, sits up and sends a longing look toward the skillet Lee is placing several strips of bacon into.

    "Morning," Lee calls over his shoulder, as he starts mixing several eggs in a bowl. "What do you want in your omelet?"

    "Morning��" Brendan groggily greets back, scooting his legs over to sit on the edge of the bed. The boy takes a moment to think before answering. "Cheese, bacon, and mushrooms if you''ve got ''em."

    "Mushrooms too, eh?" Lee smirks as he pours the mixed eggs into the still-free skillet, making the mix hiss and sizzle. He looks down at Ninetales. "Look at mister refined palette over here," he says, jerking his head towards Brendan.

    The fox laughs once; It''s a short thing, just a sharp exhale through her nose.

    Brendan flushes at the unexpected ribbing and doesn''t seem to have a reply ready, so instead, he just huffs.

    Before he turns back to the stove, Lee spies the piteous look Electrike is sending to him��or rather, to the pan of bacon. With a roll of his eyes, the man lifts a strip of mostly-cooked bacon from the pan with his spatula, lets it cool for a moment, then takes it between his fingers and holds it down at waist level. "C''mon, little man. You can have one, and only one, as a treat."

    Electrike perks up, his stubby tail wagging. The wagging comes to a halt, though, as the pup looks over to Brendan for permission. Since the pup is so large, he''s actually looking down at his trainer.

    Brendan''s grin is answer enough.

    The pup jumps down from the bed and zips over, tail wagging in a blur as he takes the greasy treat from Lee''s hand and scarfs it down in three messy bites. He licks his chops to get every bit of delicious grease as he trots back to sit at Brendan''s feet.

    Smiling, Lee wipes the fat off his fingers with the hem of his shirt and returns his attention to the stove. ''Oops. Left that on too long.'' He takes Shinx''s bottle from the nearly boiling water it''s sitting in and turns off the heat. ''We''ll let that cool for a bit before I feed her.''

    For a while, everyone is content to sit in an easy silence as Lee cooks. He finishes Brendan''s breakfast, plates it, and hands it and a cup of coffee off to the smiling boy, who heads over to the small table in the other corner to eat. Electrike, meanwhile, hops back up on Brendan''s bed and makes himself comfortable, patiently waiting until he and the other pokemon are fed.

    Halfway through his morning meal and just as Lee is plating his own food, Brendan speaks up. "Lee?"

    "Hmm?" The zoologist asks, sitting down with Brendan and cutting into his omelet with the side of his fork.

    "You seem��" Brendan sets his fork and rolls his hand as he looks off to the side, trying to think of a word. "Happy?" The world comes off as more of a question than an observation, and Brendan cringes. "Happier, I mean! Uh, sorry, I don''t think that came out right��"

    Lee chuckles and takes a bite of his food. "Don''t worry about it, Brendan. I am happier," he says after swallowing.

    Brendan sends a sidelong glance to Ninetales, who dutifully sits at Lee''s side. She gazes back at Brendan cooly.

    "Hmm��" Lee twirls his silverware between his fingers. "I told you how Ninetales and I use her telepathy to communicate, right?"

    The Birch heir nods and leans forward, the last traces of sleepiness chased away from his face.

    "Well, there are some pretty profound differences between the mind of a human and a pokemon. Not only is our brain chemistry itself totally different, but so is how we interpret concepts, ideas, emotions, and views of the world. Pokemon have such a different way of approaching life that their minds are optimized to think in ways most people can barely understand, even if they readily live with humans all the time." Lee begins. ''I seem to be doing these lectures a lot.''

    ''Such is the nature of those who nurture.'' Ninetales'' reply is as quick as it is fond.

    Lee''s smile grows just a touch. "It really becomes apparent with telepathy. Now, these are just my experiences, and a data set of one should be regarded with all due skepticism, but bear with me." Seeing Brendan nod resolutely, Lee continues. "Telepathy with Vulpix was a confusing muddle at first. We were two different creatures trying to communicate with a psychic tether of sorts. Oftentimes, what I had to relay to her and vice-versa got lost in translation, as there was a near-total disconnect between our understanding of how the world worked. We started off with simple stuff, like sharing images."

    "Sharing images, huh? How does that work?" Brendan polishes off his coffee and tosses the paper cup into the distant trash can. When it hits the rim with a hollow thunk and drops to the floor, he groans and makes to rise.

    Before Brendan can get up, the cup is enveloped in an aura of purple��and crushed into an impossibly small ball of coffee-stained paper pulp. The ball then levitates itself and shoots into the trash with more force than necessary, rebounding off the side of the can with a ping!

    ''I''ve got exercises in mind to help your control, love, don''t sweat it,'' Lee sends to Ninetales as her faint embarrassment washes over him. "Yeah, sharing images," he answers Brendan, pulling the boy''s wide eyes away from the display of telekinesis. "It works just like you see in TV shows and games. One of us thinks of an image, and the other sees it in their head as if they imagined it. From there, both of us slowly began to change and morph our mindsets: mine to be more pokemon, and hers to be more human."

    At Brendan''s unsure frown, the zoologist mulls over how to best explain what he means. "This is how I visualize it��" Lee lifts another bite of his food to his mouth, eating between sentences. "Imagine taking a thousand different data cables that all have different prongs, then trying to plug these cables into a thousand ports on a big computer. The problem here is that the prongs on the cables don''t match many of the ports. Since not all the wires are connected, some of the data isn''t going to flow correctly and will be lost, right?"

    Brendan nods again, still paying rapt, if slightly unsure, attention.

    "So what we did," Lee gestures to himself and then Ninetales with a hand, "is we both shifted our mindsets around and tried to think like the other, in essence changing the ports and cables so everything connected better. Get it?"

    "I guess." Brendan leans back and folds his hands behind his head. "So by thinking differently, telepathy works better?"

    "In broad strokes, yes," Lee answers with a smile. "When Ninetales evolved, it increased all of her abilities by��" He pauses, trying to puzzle out just how large an increase all of her various attributes received, only to realize he isn''t sure. "Huh, I''m not really quite sure just how strong Ninetales is now, but the point here is that all of her abilities grew stronger, telepathy included. Before, things were sort of stilted and words were still lost in translation, but now?" Lee grins. "Ninetales and I can speak to each other even more clearly than you and I are speaking now. Her telepathy conveys exactly what she means to say perfectly, and in a way a human mind can interpret."

    If his blank look is any worthwhile signal, the younger trainer doesn''t seem to understand the significance of what he''s being told, but Lee can''t really blame him; being told and experiencing it are two wholly different beasts.

    "Ninetales and I have been meaning to have a heart-to-heart talk for a long time, and we cleared up just about everything last night thanks to her newfound talent." Lee stands, taking his and Brendan''s empty paper plates and walking them over to the trash can. "It took a lot off my mind, so yeah, I''m much happier than I was yesterday." He tosses both plates into the can and makes his way back to the backpack on his bed.

    Brendan is silent for a moment as he mulls over what he''s been told. "So��" He begins, only to cut himself off. "Are you��" He stops again. "Are you feeling better?"

    Ninetales gives the boy a sharp look of warning, and Brendan raises his hands up in surrender.

    Lee is halfway into pulling out a fresh set of day clothes from his backpack when he dissects the inflection behind better. He bites his lip and taps his bare foot on the carpeted floor. "Better? Most certainly. I''m still going to keep seeing my therapist, though. I feel like I should stick it out until she says so, not quit halfway."

    Brendan just grins. "Good."

    The ire Lee feels simmering within Ninetales drains away like a basin with its plug pulled, replaced with a gentle smile and a flare of approval��both for Lee''s decision and for Brendan''s answer.

    Lee huffs out a laugh as he sets clean clothes out for himself. "I said it to your father, Brendan, and I meant it: when I have kids one day down the line, I hope they turn out as good as you did."

    His face breaking out into an embarrassed flush, Brendan suddenly finds the floor fascinating and looks away.

    Ninetales just lets out a vulpine chortle.

    Both Lee and Brendan clean up the room, take turns showering, then one by one, release their pokemon so each team can have their own breakfast. Brendan''s bunch dominate the table the two trainers vacated, noisily chattering over their bowls of food. Or at least Marshtomp is noisily chattering, and failing to close his mouth between bites as he does so.

    Mawile, who sits across from Marshtomp, cringes as she sees flecks of half-chewed food hit the table. She levels Marshtomp with a look, then croons a sickly sweet note as her face takes on an obviously false smile.

    Marshtomp clams up, swallowing his bite with a heavy gulp. His beady eyes regard Mawile with both a bit of fright and barely hidden infatuation.

    The smile on Mawile''s face takes on a much more genuine tone, and Marshtomp practically melts in his seat with a goofy, lovestruck grin.

    By Lee''s bed on the floor, Ninetales and Grovyle eat their meals with much more reserved energy to them, conversing quietly as they do so. Whenever Ninetales isn''t looking, Grovyle scrutinizes her intently.

    Leaning against his bed, Lee rolls Shinx''s ball in his hand. Inside the pokeball, the kitten is likely still sleeping or just now beginning to awaken. ''Do you think Mawile is actually sweet on Marshtomp or is the poor guy getting played?'' He asks Ninetales.

    Raising her head from her bowl, Ninetales licks a few stray grains of rice from her lips. ''I''m uncertain. It''s my understanding that the intentions of Fairies are difficult to divine, and natural actors like Mawiles muddle most attempts at being read.''

    The ball in Lee''s hand shakes a little. It seems Shinx is awake and wants out.

    Last night, after the one-sided fight between Shelgon and Ninetales, everyone gathered in their room in a rowdy bundle to crowd around Ninetales. Not wanting to stress out Shinx with all the commotion, Lee released her outside, fed her, and kept an eye on her as she and Electrike played until she tired out. Afterward, she was returned to her ball for bed. She''s yet to actually meet Ninetales since her evolution.

    ''Shinx gets her heart from you, Lee. I don''t think she''ll react poorly to me,'' Ninetales assures, finishing her meal. Her bowl is cowled in an aura of violet before levitating over to the other dirty dishes in the sink with measured slowness. ''If you wait much longer, her milk is going to need to be reheated.'' Ninetales jumps up onto the bed and seats herself, folding her tails around her front legs. ''I''m ready when you are.''

    ''I know, I''m just being nervous over nothing. Here goes��'' The zoologist taps the button on the pokeball, letting it open with its iconic flash and snap-hiss. As the light fades, Shinx is left blinking her luminescent yellow eyes on the bed. She takes in Lee''s face and purrs in her throat. The purr grows and her claws knead the bed when she spies her bottle on the counter of the kitchenette.

    Brendan doesn''t even need to do anything, as Mawile sees what''s happening and shushes her teammates. Which is to say she shushes Marshtomp.

    Lee smiles and cups the kitten''s chin, making her nuzzle happily into his hand. "Before your breakfast, baby girl, there''s someone I want to re-introduce you to."

    Though her grasp on human speech is coming along fast enough to fill Lee with pride, Shinx tilts her head, visibly puzzled by his words.

    Rather than say anything else, Lee coaxes her to turn around with a finger that she follows without any hesitation. Upon seeing a pair of gold forelegs, Shinx tilts her head and looks up.

    Bright yellow eyes meet gentle red.

    "Vulpix evolved, baby girl. She''s a Ninetales now. Neat, eh?" Lee smiles down at the little Electric-type.

    For a worrying moment, Shinx does nothing, just blinking up at Ninetales.

    Ninetales purrs in her throat much like Shinx did a moment prior, lowering her head to better meet the kitten''s eyes.

    The blue and black cub steps closer�� Then dives headfirst into the mound of tails around Ninetales'' forelegs, purring up a storm as she snuggles into the vixen.

    Ninetales recoils and almost jumps back, but catches herself at the last moment. A laugh bubbles out of her muzzle as she leans down and noses the top of the cozy kitten''s head. Shinx raises her head and nuzzles Ninetales back without a hint of fear or discomfort.

    ''I told you that there was nothing to fear, Lee.''

    <hr>

    After everyone is fed, washed, dressed��and in Shinx''s case, reluctantly pulled out of a mound of fox tails��Brendan, Lee, and Ninetales step outside into the outdoor concourse of the hotel.

    Lee sighs and pulls at the collar of his shirt, feeling it already clinging to him in the humidity. "Ever lovely Hoenn��"

    "Aw, you know you love it here." Brendan grins and locks the hotel door behind them. He drops his key in his pocket and looks over to the door of the room adjacent to theirs. "Where are Zinnia and Courtney?"

    "Not too sure," Lee admits, pulling his phone from his pocket, only to realize it''s still turned off. He taps the power button and waits a moment for it to boot up. After watching the same over-stylized boot intro ending with a PokeGear! logo for the hundredth time��

    Ding-ding!

    Ding-ding!

    Ding-ding!

    Ding-ding!

    Ding-ding!

    Notifications pop in seemingly without end and so quickly that the phone screen begins to flash, lasting long enough for Lee to begin worrying that his phone might be broken. After a long twenty or so seconds, the flood comes to an end.

    2 Missed Calls

    3 New Text Messages

    354 New Emails

    "What��?" Lee squints and rubs his eyes, but the numbers remain unchanged. "Three��" He double-takes. "Three hundred fuckin'' emails?!"

    "Wha?" Brendan steps over to Lee''s side and tries to peer at the screen, so Lee lowers his hand so both he and Ninetales can see. "Wow��" Brendan murmurs. "That''s a lot of emails."

    ''Perhaps deal with the calls and the text messages first, Lee,'' Ninetales suggests, sitting and making herself comfortable. She pokes his side with her muzzle. ''They might be more urgent.''

    ''Right, right��'' Lee dials his voicemail and waits for it to connect. As he waits, he turns to Brendan. "If you want, you can go ahead. We need to stop by the Gym to talk to Leader Moore, then we can meet up at whatever battleground you find. I might be here for a bit��"

    "Can do." Brendan folds his arms behind his head without a care and starts walking. "I''ll send you a message when I find a place, okay?"

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    "Stay safe!" Lee answers as his phone finally connects to his voicemail box. He holds the phone up to his ear, and as he does so, he offers his hearing to Ninetales so she can listen without him putting the phone on speaker. There aren''t many people walking along the sidewalk of the road running parallel to the hotel, but the few out and about all slow down to peer at Ninetales.

    The great fox''s mind edges a bit closer to Lee''s as she listens in to the cellphone through him.

    "You have 2 unheard me-" Lee hits the button prompt he already knows is coming to skip ahead. "First unheard message, sent today, at eight-O-one AM." The phone is silent for a moment as it loads the recording.

    "Hey Lee, it''s Nigel," the cell phone begins playing. "First off, if Ninetales is listening, congrats on your evolution. That''s a huge step to be taking this early in life."

    Ninetales smiles. ''I''ll have to offer Nigel my thanks when we next see him.''

    "Someone captured her evolution on camera, though, and you two have become viral celebrities overnight. Forums and social media have been lighting up with your names since yesterday, and the Littleroot newspaper even murkrowed about you and Brendan being the best thing since the invention of the pokeball. I know you''re not the type to be active online and all, but keep an eye on things. I know you''re probably busy, so don''t worry about calling me back right away. If it gets too overwhelming, call me and I''ll have the lab''s PR guy start managing your image in the news. I''ve already got him keeping Brendan squeaky clean online�� Not that there is much work to be done there." The message is quiet for a second. "I''m not sure how long this popularity is going to last, but a Ninetales'' evolution is a huge event some people might only live to see once, and the video of that fire clone move is making the rounds this morning too. I''m not worried about your safety since your pokemon are with you, but please be wary, Lee. People might try to manipulate you."

    A scoff leaves Ninetales'' muzzle. ''Let them try.''

    "Stay safe out there." Cla-click! The recording ends.

    "..." Lee swipes down on his phone''s screen, taking a look at the emails sent to him.

    BattleNet: You were mentioned in the thread: Official Lee Henson Megathread

    BattleNet: You were mentioned in the thread: Official Lee Henson Megathread

    BattleNet: You were mentioned in the thread: Newcomers to look out for this year

    BattleNet: New PM from Kabu

    ContestCorner: Guest of Honor invitation

    BattleNet: You were mentioned in the thread: Official Lee Henson Megathread

    BattleNet: You were mentioned in the thread: Rare Pokemon and where to find them

    BattleNet: You have been invited to join the private group: Seekers of Hoenn

    Alec Aarons: Exclusivity deal.

    BattleNet: New PM from SITE_ADMIN

    BattleNet: You have been invited to join the private group: 9TT

    BattleNet: You have been invited to join the public group: FoxFriday

    "��" Lee pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand, takes a deep breath, and mentally counts backward from ten.

    ''Easy, beloved.'' Ninetales stands and presses herself into Lee''s side, curling her neck around his torso to peer up at him. The added warmth is a little much in Hoenn''s muggy heat, but Lee says nothing. ''We''ll approach this at our own pace. If the world wants our attention, they will have to learn to be patient. They dance to our tune, never the other way around.'' She licks her lips and wets her nose with her tongue. ''...Yesterday, did I push too hard to use that technique? I didn''t intend to create a larger headache for you��'' Her final few words are laced with regret.

    ''It''s fine, love.'' Lee shifts his phone to his left hand and reaches down with the right to pull Ninetales into a one-armed hug. The action earns him a flash of telepathic affection. ''I knew your evolution was going to make waves, and with Grovyle''s TMs out there branded with our names, it''s only going to be a matter of time before people figure out we''ve got more than a few tricks up our sleeves.'' Lee releases her, and the fox pulls herself back a step. A sardonic smirk pulls at Lee''s scars. ''Maybe pick something less flashy, next time? Or something that has at least hit the prototype stage first? Fox Fire jumped from mostly theory to live battle in one step and that makes me want to scream. It has critical flaws, too. If we didn''t end the match when we did, Zinnia would have figured them out.''

    Lee recalls vividly how he had to pilot one of the little flaming foxes through Ninetales, as she just couldn''t direct two at the same time. Shaping them, as crude as they were, was still an awe-inspiring display of her pyrokinetic abilities. Each clone was filled with so much Fire TE that they were practically walking C4 charges, with plenty of gas in the tank for their own attacks.

    The biggest issue is that the clones have no will of their own, needing manual direction from Ninetales. One was already nearly too much, so Lee assumed control of the other, only to realize he didn''t actually know how to make it move; it was a solid construct with actual articulating limbs and everything. Ninetales had to open her mind to some of its deepest layers and allow Lee to reference her own motor controls to make his clone move. The sheer concentration of guiding her own fiery proxy and letting Lee piggyback off of her muscle memory left her paralyzed in the field. To top it all off, the clones consume a worrying amount of energy, even with Ninetales'' new well of power, and take far too long to actually create.

    Not good. Fox Fire won''t be the viable, expendable fighting force the pair imagined for quite some time.

    ''Perhaps using two clones was asking too much for Fox Fire''s first use,'' Ninetales sniffs. ''We''ll use only one until I can control them better and refine my skill with their creation. I can then hand control to you afterward, as I''m confident I can help sustain one and fight at the same time so long as I am not the sole puppetmaster. It''ll be as if we''re battling side-by-side.'' The final thought puts a grin on her muzzle and makes her do a little, delighted wiggle.

    Unconsciously, Lee raises an eyebrow. ''That has to count as some kind of disallowed interference from me.''

    ''I read that dusty rulebook with you and I saw no such rule,'' Ninetales turns her nose up.

    ''If there isn''t one, they''ll make one when they realize how it works.'' Lee returns.

    ''Then we just won''t tell anyone.''

    ''I suppose��'' Lee puts the emails out of his mind for now, ignoring the alert as another one pops in. Swiping back over to his voicemail, he raises the phone to his ear again.

    "Second unheard message, sent today, at eight forty-one AM." There is a crackle, then the message starts. "Lee, pal. I hope I didn''t catch you at a bad time, but I''ve got some news for you about your TMs." Even if it''s a recording, each one of Aarons'' words is slick with sleazeball grease. "Sales are looking fantastic. We''ve got tons of preorders, so many that it looks like only the second batch is actually going to make it to the shelves. You''re in the money, pal. Things are looking grand, aren''t they? You''ll get your check for everything here in a few weeks. Now, I''ve also got another proposition for you. I spied a curious move on BattleNet used by a curious pokemon owned by a curious man, and I think you know what I''m talking about. The Committee? They were salivating." Once more there is that hungry purr Lee heard when Aarons saw Convergence for the first time. "I''m not at liberty to discuss numbers and terms over a voicemail, but I''ll shoot you an email with a bit more, then you can call me, okay? I''ll catch you later, friendo. Keep doing Hoenn proud out there." The recording ends with a Ca-click!

    "Right, that''ll be the last email I answer then." Lee moves on to the messages left to him.

    The first is just Courtney saying she''s going supply shopping and will be back in the afternoon. As much as Lee doesn''t want to leave the Magma admin alone to her own devices, he and Zinnia can''t follow her everywhere, or it will tip her off that something is amiss.

    The second one is from Zinnia just a few minutes before they left their room.

    Zinnia: Hey lee. heading to the poke cent to check on Shelgon. back later. The message is punctuated by a little smiley face blowing a kiss.

    Lee winces. ''Love, did you have to be so rough on Shelgon?''

    ''Shelgon is a tough pokemon. He''ll recover without issue,'' Ninetales insists.

    ''I''m less worried about his physical condition and more worried about inter-team relations following that battle.''

    ''Well, I don''t think you would have preferred him to hit me, so I put enough effort in to keep the battle on our terms,'' she huffs. ''...But if you insist, I''ll offer an olive branch and apologize. That may harm Shelgon''s pride more than the loss itself, however.''

    ''We''ll talk more on it later.'' Lee types out a reply to Zinnia.

    You: Zinnia, about yesterday. No hard feelings?

    After a moment, a trio of dots bounces in the corner of the text field, telling him the Draconid tribeswoman is formulating a reply.

    Zinnia: nah dont sweat it dolittle. i went into the battle kinda expectin to lose. didnt expect it to be a stomp but thats just more motivation for shelgon. before you ask hes recovering fine and might get to keep a rad little scar on his forehead.

    Lee frowns.

    You: Is a mentality like that healthy? I don''t think it is.

    The reply is quick.

    Zinnia: dragon thing dont worry your little mammal head over it :^)

    Lee rolls his eyes and continues to the last message.

    (3200)-2333-9586: Hi Lee! It''s Flannery at the gym. Grandpa gave me your number. He''s wanting to know when you plan on stopping over so he can clear his schedule.

    ''Flannery?'' Lee blinks, but adds the number to his contact list.

    You: I''m free all day. We can head over now if you''d like.

    Flannery must have been sitting there glued to her phone with a reply already typed up, because her response is near-instant.

    Flannery: That sounds great! C''mon over!

    Nodding to himself, Lee tucks his phone away into his pocket. "Everything else can wait until I''ve been awake for more than an hour."

    <hr>

    Once more, Lee finds himself and his ace pokemon sitting in the Lavaridge Gym. He and Ninetales, along with Moore and Flannery, are all seated in the sitting room Moore and Lee first conversed in a week prior. Rather than sit in his lap, Ninetales now has her own cushion to Lee''s right.

    "Madam Ninetales, Lee, thank you for taking the time to come in so soon." Moore clasps his hands together with a bright smile, one mostly directed at Ninetales.

    ''Madam Ninetales?'' The vixen thinks to Lee in bemusement.

    Lee smiles. ''I''m pretty sure Moore is from Johto or Kanto. Some of the smaller towns and villages there still worship your species.'' He clears his throat. "We''re delighted to be back, Gym Leader Moore. We haven''t had time to truly test out Ninetales'' upper limits, but I can already tell your Firestone has done a lot for her."

    "We saw." Moore''s eyes twinkle. "To beat a Dragon with a never-before-seen Fire technique? The town will be talking about this one for years to come." He chuckles. "Now, I was wondering how you wish to go about your side of our trade. I admit I have no experience with something as outlandish as commissioning a brand new pokemon attack."

    Lee hums to himself. "Well, first off, I''d like to do a test run to confirm that moves created by Ninetales can actually be captured by TMs, as I''ve yet to determine if her prodigious control over her Fire is something inherent to her. I''m happy to workshop the idea today, though, and return when we have a working example."

    Both Moore and Flannery blink, then understanding dawns on Moore''s face. "Ah, you''re thinking we need to go have some bozo with a big confuser to make the TMs, do you? Wait here." Moore rises and exits the sitting room, sliding the door closed behind him.

    Lee watches him go with surprise, then turns his eyes to Flannery. "You have a TM copier here?"

    The redheaded woman nods. "Yeah. It''s old, but it still works. Grandpa has had it for years to make the TMs he hands out as prizes. It''s only got enough memory to hold one move at a time and it''s kinda slow, but that''s all we really need it for."

    "Do you know how the copier works?" Lee leans forward a bit. "I thought Gym Leaders just had batches of their prize TMs made by Silph or Devon."

    Flannery crosses her arms with a scoff. "Yeah, if we wanted to pay an arm and a leg for ''em. Gyms have to be self-sufficient, and grandpa has kitted the Gym with everything Lavaridge would ever need if the League vanished overnight."

    Before Lee can ponder the politics behind a Gym being ready for government collapse, Moore returns. The elderly trainer trots in with a large, ugly machine that looks like a cross between a heavy-duty laptop of yesteryear and a briefcase, holding it by faded and cracked handles mounted to the side. He sets it down heavily upon the table and opens it. From Lee''s angle, he can see a cracked green CRT monitor flicker to life in the upper half of the case.

    "Alrighty��" Moore slowly types a command into the keyboard recessed into the case of the supposed TM copier, and upon hitting Enter, the machine shudders and whines as cooling fans spin to life. "I think the old girl is warmed up." He lifts the old, faded keyboard and pulls a headband from behind it, one with copper electrodes lining the inside and a wire leading back to the machine. "You were saying something about a trial run?"

    Lee nods, silently wondering how much a TM copier would cost. "Yeah. Ninetales has a handful of custom moves made redundant by other ones and a few that never made it out of the prototype stage. I''m wanting to copy one of these and teach them to one of Flannery''s pokemon as a proof of concept. If you can find a use for the move, then consider it on the house."

    Flannery frowns. "Lee, we agreed to one move, not two. You can''t just give us that much!" She argues.

    Lee glances over to Ninetales, silently asking for her input.

    ''Perhaps ask for help when it comes to the tests you wish to run on me,'' she offers. ''A Fire Gym must have the equipment necessary to train Fire pokemon. The TM printer is proof enough of that.''

    "Well, if being given a prototype move is too much, maybe Ninetales and I could bother you to assist us in testing her powers?" Lee speaks his pokemon''s proposal in her place. "As I said, we still don''t know what we''re working with."

    "Two custom techniques and the chance to assist Madam Ninetales in her growth? My my, Lee, keep this up and Clan Moore might have to propose a formal alliance between our families." Moore smiles, but for some reason, Lee feels as if it''s not entirely a joke.

    At Moore''s side, Flannery''s face grows a little pink and she shoots a glare at her grandfather that goes ignored.

    ''Alliance? Oh��'' Some half-remembered history lessons remind Lee what a traditional ''alliance'' usually means to old money and nobles. His face warms up slightly. ''Flannery is good-looking and all, but I hope Moore is just kidding around��'' Lee catches Flannery''s eyes, and the redheaded Gym heir just blushes a bit deeper and shrugs helplessly.

    Moore ignores the silent conversation between Lee and Flannery, either not noticing or pretending he saw nothing. He definitely ignores the smoldering look from Ninetales. Instead, he holds the headband wired to the copier out to Lee like a giddy child. "We can accept those terms. Would you like to do the honors?"

    Taking it, Lee carefully fits the headband to Ninetales, taking care to muss up as little of her head-tuft as he can. The end result�� is a little messy, as she''s forced to flex her ears to the sides so the electrodes of the stretched-out band remain in contact with her forehead. Lee silently promises the now-grumpy vixen a good brushing later.

    ''Let''s give them that Ember shotgun blast we made a few weeks ago,'' Lee relays to Ninetales. The move turned out to be a bit of a dud. It''s an emulation of Seed Blast, but it ate much more stamina than a regular Ember and was generally a worse ''get off me'' option than even a brainless Flamethrower.

    Ninetales brings the move to the forefront of her mind and closes her eyes in concentration. Through her, Lee can feel the Fire TE in her body molding in preparation for the attack. ''Ready.''

    "Okay, hit it," Lee tells Moore.

    The Gym Leader hits a key on his keyboard. The copier groans and shakes, but a progress bar begins to fill on its screen.

    "As we wait," Lee begins, resting his arms on the table. "What sort of equipment does the Gym have to train its Fire-types? I imagine you''ve got quite the array of specialty items."

    Flannery takes the lead on the question. "We''ve got the standard stuff. Thermometers and thermal cams, targets that burn at different temperatures, all that. For more general stuff, we''ve got weights, force�� sensory things," she can''t seem to quite find the name of what she''s looking for. "Targets and target throwers for accuracy training�� really, if it exists I''m pretty sure grandpa has one downstairs."

    "My dear, it never hurts to be prepared!" Moore insists, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

    The copier chooses that time to chime and shudder once more. From a thin, slit-like slot on its side, a disk with a strong resemblance to an unmarked CD is spat out.

    "Had to delete Overheat, but I''ll have Ty make a fresh copy later," Moore smiles and takes the disk, handing it to Flannery. "Let''s head to the courtyard, shall we?"

    The old copier is closed back up, then as a group, Lee, Ninetales, Moore, and Flannery walk their way through the Gym to the same courtyard where Ninetales evolved just yesterday. As they go, Lee notices they don''t pass anyone in the Gym. No trainees, no assistants, nothing.

    ''Did they clear the Gym out for this?''

    ''It would be the safest option,'' Ninetales inspects a wall tapestry depicting various Fire pokemon in a very traditional Japanese style as they pass. The centerpiece of the art is a Ninetales and Arcanine standing back to back, both peering up and away from each other. ''The implication here is that we should remain quiet about our involvement and pretend Flannery created the technique on her own.''

    ''Hmm��''

    In short order, the courtyard is upon them. Flannery steps up into the center of the courtyard with the TM in one hand, while the other hovers over the pokeballs on her belt. "I''m not really sure who to pick��" she admits, looking to Lee for guidance.

    "Your ace," Lee crosses his arms as Ninetales sits herself to his right. "If the whole point of the move is to be impressive, then I''ll want to build around your ace, and confirming they can use a pure Fire attack made by Ninetales is how we begin."

    Flannery takes a deep breath and nods. "Okay, Torkoal, here we go��" She takes a ball from her belt and slots the hole of the TM around the pokeball button. The disk shines a faint orange and spins around on a thin cushion of Fire TE, gaining speed until��

    Vvvvrrrrr crack!

    The disk spiderwebs into cracks before crumbling and falling away. The shards that hit the ground practically disintegrate into dust.

    "Back in my day," Moore grumbles, "TMs had to use this great big ugly contraption that scratched your pokeball like there was no tomorrow. Kids nowadays don''t even need a machine to read the disk and everything is all green and biodegradable��"

    Lee suppresses a smile.

    Flannery beams, tossing her pokeball high. "Torkoal, let''s see what you can do!"

    The ball pops open with a snap-hiss and drops a tortoise-shaped energy mass to the ground. As the light clears, Lee is given his first look at the ace he and Ninetales will be fighting in a week''s time.

    Standing on the grounds is a tortoise with rusty red skin, with eyes squinted almost shut, and a dark brown, nearly black shell with the same color and texture as volcanic rock. For a pokemon, Torkoal is rather tame appearance-wise until one considers the hexagonal holes in his shell, where anyone looking inside can see a blazing-hot coal base. Lee clearly recalls the video game pokedex stating Torkoal was small, maybe one-foot something, but Flannery''s pokemon is roughly three feet tall at the highest point of his shell''s hump. Flannery''s care for the pokemon is apparent in how his shell shines with a polished gleam.

    Surreptitiously, Lee withdraws his Pokedex from his jacket pocket and checks the entry for Torkoal, finding the real-world average height is closer to two and a half feet.

    Torkoal groans and expels a snort of black, ashy smoke, dutifully waiting for instruction from Flannery.

    "Okay, Torkoal," the redhead puts her hands on her hips. "I just used a TM and you should know a new move, so let''s try it out!" She pumps an eager fist and points to a boulder off to the side of the courtyard. "Use��" She pauses. "Erm�� What''s the move called, and what does it do?"

    "Ah�� We never gave this move a name," Lee looks away, embarrassed for having glossed over that. "It''s a variation of Ember. Rather than shoot a stream of fireballs, it''s a wide-spanning blast of them. The name can be whatever you want it to be, I guess."

    "Right, right," Flannery clears her throat and regains her composure. "Torkoal!" She begins dramatically. "Use your new move, Ember�� Ember�� Blast? Emburst?" She ends unsurely.

    If Flannery''s antics perturb Torkoal, he doesn''t let it show. He draws in a deep breath, his throat glowing a flickering orange, then he throws his head forward. From his maw shoots an explosive blast of Embers that fly like the pellets from a shotgun, as each one crosses the distance to the boulder Flannery is pointing out in a flash. Most of them impact with a staccato of pops, blowing holes into the face of the stone. A few fliers singe the wall behind the rock.

    "Holy crap, that was the coolest��" Flannery murmurs, looking star-struck at her Torkoal, who puffs up proudly under the praise.

    "My stars��" Moore murmurs, adjusting his glasses. "Another one right out of thin air��"

    Lee smiles. ''I guess that confirms it. Moves made with the aid of pyrokinesis can indeed be passed on. It seemed weaker than what you can do, love, but maybe Torkoal just doesn''t have the guff to use it at full power.''

    ''It passed on my experience, though.'' She flicks one of her tails. ''I could barely keep the spread contained when we first began our tests, yet Torkoal accomplished it well.''

    ''That''ll be something to keep in mind.'' Lee nods. "So," he begins aloud, drawing Flannery, Moore, and Torkoal''s attention. "I''ve got some exercises in mind for Torkoal to determine what sort of move he would benefit best from, then we can workshop some ideas. Sound good?"

    Flannery''s grin lights up the courtyard.

    <hr>

    High up and nearly at the top of Mt. Chimney, Courtney leans against the rails of the cable car steadily bringing her up the mountain, staring down at the town of Lavaridge as she does so.

    Slipping away from her traveling partners proved to be quite the chore, but the Ninetales'' evolution provided enough commotion for her to escape the careful eyes that always seem to watch her.

    On the next six cars behind her are members of Magma devoid of their uniforms, all of them forming a covert task force. With each part of the team is a crate of supplies, each crate containing a part of a machine being quietly assembled within the volcano.

    Having left the Magma science division for her administrator position before the device was unveiled to senior leadership, the workings of the machine are a bit of a mystery to her. She knows it will somehow resonate with their champion and awaken him, but little else. It doesn''t matter too much, however, as she knows the gist of what is going on and is content with that.

    Groudon, the Ancient Pokemon of Continents and Lord of all that is Earthen, slumbers somewhere deep under the crust of the planet. Groudon has vanished from all but the most obscure of tomes, and even in those rare volumes, each more precious than gold, the insights provided by the people of ancient Hoenn are as sparing as they are mind-boggling. It''s no wonder to her that the Ancient Pokemon have vanished from the minds and imaginations of the people. To most, Gods should be peaceful, benevolent things who maintain some sort of balance in the world.

    Most would find the idea of a God who can shatter the world in anger to be an unpleasant thought. The few startling texts Courtney was privy to said the same thing.

    Twas no mercy or tiding done unto thou from the Greater Blue and Greater Red. Thou live in the shadow of their ignorance and violent hate.

    The best they could glean from the ominous passage was ''Groudon and Kyogre formed the oceans and continents while trying to kill each other in an uncontrolled rage. It was only a pleasant side-effect that people got to live here afterward.''

    Ye orbs of Red and Blue, with a fell light, do they quell the Greater Blue and Greater Red. Slumber now, titans, and clash none more in this age.

    The next passage was more difficult. It clearly referenced some type of artifact, an orb of sorts. The wording suggests the blue orb controls Groudon, and the red one controls Kyogre.

    Last Courtney heard, her fellow Magma Admin, Tabitha, was keeping an ear to the ground for mention of archeological digs recovering any such artifacts. In the meantime, Magma R&D was hard at work advancing the field of Type Spectrology by years at a time. All the effort was going to locate anything giving off intense readings akin to Ground or Water Type Energy. Magma needs their orb ASAP, or at least they need to deny the dogmatic Aquas the red orb.

    It makes an ironic sort of sense that the Ancient Pokemon could be controlled by the power of their rivals.

    Courtney frowns in distaste as she thinks over Magma''s own ''rivals.'' Magma is trying to save the world, to ensure peace and growth for a hundred more generations, but Aqua seems determined to drown all life on the planet with a religious, moronic fervor. Why they want to raise the seas is something she just cannot understand. Is there even a reason? Will they try to hold the world as ransom? Or has Aqua just transformed into some insane doomsday cult?

    Bah��

    Rather than drill into the planet, a time and resource-intensive effort, Magma will use an already open pathway like the volcano of Mt. Chimney to rouse their champion pokemon. Once roused, they''ll use the blue orb to control him, and with that control, reshape the world into something that will sustain the lives of people and pokemon for thousands of years.

    Courtney''s phone rings right on time, and she expected no less. Here in a lone cable car on a mountain is the only place she feels safe speaking to him. She raises it to her ear.

    "Courtney��" The voice from the speaker is magnificent: learned, cultured, and so reassuring to hear. "How goes your pet project?"

    "Well, sir," Courtney pats herself on the back for keeping her worship out of her voice. "There are roadblocks on some objectives, but I have integrated well with the group. I�� know they are suspicious, but I suspect it''s natural rather than blown cover."

    "I see��" There is a pause. "Tell me again, Courtney, your evaluations of them. I have your reports, and as detailed as they are, they lack the touch of a personal conversation. Keep it brief if you would. I know you''re only minutes from the volcano."

    The magenta-haired woman kicks herself mentally. Was a ten-page dossier on each of her marks not enough? She''ll do better next time.

    "Sir, regarding the Draconid Tribeswoman," she begins. "The Draconid is of moderate concern. She is a talented trainer of Dragons, but she is too headstrong and violent to be of significant use to Magma. Her current roster is Shelgon, Swablu, and Goomy. She has no tactical resources I can determine. I will strive to make her a non-factor in the least violent way possible, owing to the possibility of one of her pokemon undergoing stress evolution and generating an incident if she is dealt with too harshly."

    "A Shelgon�� Well evaluated. We do not have the resources to spare to deal with a grieving Salamence. Relevant details, indeed. The next one?"

    "Regarding Brendan Birch," this one is easy. "Brendan is of low concern. He is the most talented and tactical of the three as a trainer, as well as noble in a way rarely seen. His pokemon are obedient and well-raised. His roster consists of Marshtomp, Mawile, Breloom, and an Electrike possessing the Giant''s Gene. I have rated him as a low concern due to how I intend to sway him into Magma. He is the sort of person who can aid in the governing of a new world."

    "First names? Goodness, Courtney. You sound almost fond of the boy." The voice chuckles. "Don''t forget your most important mission during your fun, however. I need you at my side if we are to safeguard the generations of the future."

    "I would never forget, Leader Maxie. Not now, not ever," she breathes.

    "I know you won''t," Maxie''s smile can almost be heard over the phone, and it fills the Magma admin with wondrous purpose. "And the last one?"

    "Regarding Henson," Courtney hesitates. "Henson is of�� significant concern. His performance as a trainer is merely above average, but he boasts a roster of powerful pokemon with varied abilities. He has demonstrated prodigious talent in creating pokemon moves, as I''ve observed a number of undocumented attacks used by his pokemon. His current roster is Grovyle, Shinx, Octillery, a Corvisquire I''ve yet to see, and�� a Ninetales."

    The line is silent at the revelation. "I see��" The answer is slow and measured. "Continue."

    "Henson is kind, perhaps foolishly so, but I believe�� he could be convinced to see things Magma''s way. At this time, I highly advise against his elimination in any form, as his Ninetales presents a serious retaliation risk," Courtney finishes.

    The way that fox stares at her sometimes��

    "Courtney, Gamma-pi-gamma-delta-beta."

    With a blink, Courtney rattles off the requested ID check code. "One, seven, nine, zero, six, six, four, three, four, one, eight."

    "Good��" The voice over the phone sighs. "You have felt no breaches on your mental blocks?"

    "None."

    "Good. If at any time you feel you''ve been mentally compromised, you are to consider yourself recalled immediately and will be intercepted for quarantine and treatment. From now on, failure to report in and defeat a security check in a timely manner is grounds for declaring you a lost asset, understood?"

    Even so close to a volcano, a cold shiver runs down Courtney''s spine. "Leader Maxie?"

    "I will not be questioned on this. Good luck with your project, Courtney. Bring pride to Magma."

    The line goes dead.

 Act 2: Chapter 7

    Lee''s pen dances across his notebook as he watches Flannery''s Torkoal struggle to keep Ninetales in his line of sight. The tortoise pokemon is obviously used to dealing with opponents who boast greater speed, as he turns his head and neck to keep a bead on Ninetales with admirable accuracy. Once the vixen is at too harsh an angle, though, Torkoal is forced to turn on his feet to follow and falls behind. The Gym courtyard is littered with blackened soil and cracked ground, though Gym Leader Moore seems unbothered by the destruction as he watches from the side of the Gym proper.

    Ninetales blurs into a spear of yellow once more and darts into Torkoal''s blind spot directly behind him. Her red eyes flash and her jaws open. From her maw comes a single bolt of flame that crosses the distance between her and the tortoise pokemon with a whistle.

    "Torkoal, behind you!" At Lee''s side, Flannery grimaces and tries to direct her pokemon as best as she can.

    The nameless fireball splashes across the back of Torkoal''s shell without doing any real damage, but it does startle Flannery''s ace into retaliating without instruction. Grunting, Torkoal shoots a cloud of hot, ember-filled ash from the holes in his shell, covering him in a burning, protective cloak.

    ''Burning Ash, one of Moore''s own moves,'' Lee eyeballs the cloud, guesstimating the circumference of the black, sooty defense. He jots the number down next to the three other numbers he observed in the spar. ''Twenty feet or so, definitely good enough to keep melee attackers at bay.''

    ''But not quite enough to deter ranged foes,'' Ninetales adds, already charging Quick Attack as Torkoal begins to turn to her. ''In all other regards, Torkoal would be a serious opponent for most, but this blind spot and his inability to cope with projectiles approaching from behind is a notable weakness, one we figured out within minutes. I feel the ideas brewing in your head, beloved. What do you have in mind?'' She charges Torkoal head-on.

    ''A few things-''

    "Torkoal, Smokescreen!" Flannery''s voice cuts off Lee''s train of thought. "Then back up and use Stone Edge!"

    The orange tortoise inhales, then spits out a rolling cloud of opaque, black smoke as he shuffles backward. Once the last puff of smoke passes his lips, his squinted eyes open ever so slightly. Torkoal raises a leg and stomps upon the ground of the Gym''s courtyard, spider-webbing the ground with cracks. A barrage of razor-sharp stones breaks free from the ground at the stomp, quiver mid-air for a moment, then scream through the smoke at Ninetales.

    Lee''s eyes tickle, and he feels his fox drawing upon his clearer point of view, focusing on a spot behind Torkoal.

    Ninetales leaps over the entire Smokescreen, easily clearing the distance as Stone Edge flies harmlessly under her. She twists midair, tails billowing like a cloak, then fires another nameless bolt of flames at her foe.

    Neck craning back as far as it can, Torkoal tries to line up another Stone Edge, but the fire bolt tags him in the rear of his shell once more, drawing an annoyed grumble from him.

    Ninetales lands neatly on her paws behind Torkoal without much of a crouch, but the shock that runs through her paws and up her legs doesn''t bother her.

    "I think that''ll be enough for now, Flannery," Lee gives the redhead beside him a smile. "Thank you for allowing Torkoal to spar with Ninetales. We''ve got an idea of what would work best for you two now."

    The Gym heir sighs and wipes her forehead with the back of her hand, seemingly relieved that the practice match is over. "No prob. Torkoal! C''mon back, honey!" She raises her hand and beckons her pokemon over. "Not even one hit��" She mumbles.

    Lee does his best to not let his smile become awkward. "Ah, it was just a practice round is all, and a bad matchup at that. If Stone Edge had hit, that might have ended the fight��" He observes the far wall surrounding the courtyard.

    The rocks hurled by Torkoal''s Stone Edge are embedded into the wall like steel knives driven into soft wood. The Stone Edge projectiles must have been charged with an impressive amount of Rock TE, as a brown sort of ''rot'' radiates an inch or so from each razor-stone, causing the rotted bits of the wall to crumble like loosely-packed dirt.

    ''Torkoal is not a pushover despite his weaknesses. Honestly, I think Flannery''s fears about not being able to fill Moore''s shoes are unfounded.''

    As Torkoal leisurely lumbers back to Flannery with Ninetales padding along beside him, Flannery turns to Lee. "So I''m going to guess you already figured out Torkoal''s biggest issue?" She asks glumly. "My Magcargo and Numel are both in the same boat."

    "It''s certainly no fault of you or your pokemon, and I''ve got a few ideas on how to fix that," Lee smiles back. "Lemme collect my thoughts here for a moment before we move on."

    Flannery returns the smile with one of her own.

    Ninetales returns to Lee''s side and sits, looking up at him. ''You were saying?''

    ''Ah, right.'' Lee flips back to the previous page in his notes, one filled with observational notes and a sketch of Torkoal. ''If I''m being honest, the most pragmatic answer here is to teach Flannery''s pokemon Protect and drill them until they can instinctually guard their rear. I think Torkoal learns Protect naturally anyway.''

    ''I had similar thoughts,'' Ninetales blinks and turns her eyes skyward, peering up at the clouds. ''Though that doesn''t fill the commission very well.''

    ''It doesn''t.'' Lee agrees. ''I was thinking of something else. At first, I wanted to go for something fancy, like a loitering munition set to float behind Torkoal that attacks enemies that purposefully try to go for his rear, but��''

    ''But weaving such advanced instructions into a move is beyond me,'' Ninetales huffs in self-aimed annoyance.

    ''We''ll figure it out,'' Lee soothes. ''We just need to crack the secrets behind complex moves. Normal TE has no built-in homing, so moves like Swift are doing something in the background. Corvi and his efforts with Swift prove there is underlying ''programming'' to moves and that we can alter said programming. With your expertise, I know we can figure it out.''

    Ninetales'' ire rises briefly at the mention of the still-missing raven pokemon, but she pushes it aside. ''More like your expertise. My feats might look impressive, but they would have never come to be if you didn''t figure out that my Fire isn''t truly tied to biological cues.''

    ''It was a fluke, really.''

    ''Some discoveries require luck just as some require skill, but it''s a discovery all the same,'' Ninetales refutes him. She looks away from the sky and back up to Lee, curiosity apparent. ''Your mind is whirling again. Credit for your thoughts?''

    ''Just thinking on what Corvi did to alter Swift''s target mid-flight.'' Lee raises his pen to his mouth and taps it against his lip as he stares at his notes. ''When we were working on it, he had no progress, then suddenly began to demonstrate the properties we wanted with slow but measurable improvement. Maybe it''s like muscle memory? The repetition might train a pokemon''s brain to mold their TE differently, changing the programming of the move? I know you can freely mold Fire TE into almost any form you want now, so I''m wondering if this commission is going to be as simple as dreaming up a new move, then repeating it until the molding steps cement themselves in your subconscious enough that you don''t need to think about it anymore. With enough training, we might even be able to make Fox Fire fully autonomous or make something even more outlandish. Honestly, love, you open so many doors that I almost don''t know where to start.''

    Ninetales is silent for a moment, pondering Lee''s words. ''The idea certainly has merit. I myself cannot rightly explain just how I know a move is a move, but��'' Inside of her, Lee feels raw Fire TE churning, running up and down her limbs like the blood in her veins. ''My Fire jumps to my command much faster when you call a move for me to use. It must be some form of instinctual, predetermined molding. Back to our commission, however��''

    Lee turns the page in his notebook back to the one he was previously writing on where there are a number of ideas, some crossed out for being too complex or ridiculous. ''Right. If it needs to be flashy, cover the shared weakness between Torkoal, Numel, and Marcargo, and needs to work within current limits, then my plan is to go with something that simply attacks in every direction at once. Do you think you can manage a sort of air-burst fireball that rains down on the field?''

    The fox at his side smirks. ''Not exactly elegant, but it''ll do for the first of what will be many commissions. If it is only two uncomplicated steps, then I believe we can have this whole deal wrapped up in a single afternoon.''

    ''That''s assuming Flannery accepts our proposal. Do you think we''ll get more? Commissions, I mean.''

    ''Beloved, you''re going to need to put a price tag on even talking to you.''

    With an unsure smile, Lee clears his throat and turns to a hopeful-looking Flannery with her Torkoal at her side. "So after some thought," Lee begins, "Torkoal''s biggest weakness is the spot behind him where ranged attacks can get him before he can turn. We know powering up Flame Wheel takes too long to be a viable dodging technique, so in lieu of that, my thought here is to keep it simple and provide Torkoal with an attack that can strike all parts of the field simultaneously."

    "All parts of the field simultaneously?" Flannery parrots with a confused blink. At her side, Torkoal tilts his head.

    Lee nods. "Yep. Our proposal is this; an airburst fireball that saturates the ground with multiple smaller projectiles. After some tweaking from Ninetales, your team should be able to cast this move and cover large parts of the field in flames." As he speaks, he can feel Ninetales idly twiddling her Fire TE as she follows the image playing out in his brain. "Torkoal could either cast it directly upward to nail most of the field, or behind him to punish anyone trying to exploit his blindspot. It''ll probably take practice to get it just right, but I think with some time to prepare, you and Torkoal will have a new and viable move ready for your appointment as Gym leader."

    As he talks, Flannery''s eyes grow wider and gain a mystified sort of shine to them. "A new move just like that? That fast?"

    "Ehhh��" Lee closes his notebook and stows away his pen in the spiral binding. "As I said, it''s going to take us some time to really prototype your move, test it, work the bugs out, then present a working copy to you. Having it ready before you take your place as Gym Leader is the only thing we can really promise. It could be ready tomorrow, it could be ready a day before the turnover. Do you have any input on what you want? This proposal is just our suggestion, and you''re free to ask for something else."

    Flannery crosses her arms and tilts her head back, looking up at the sky in thought. "I mean�� I''m not really sure what to ask for. I never really considered the possibility of a move of my own just popping up out of thin air like that. You said your idea is, like, a bunch of falling fireballs that hit the whole field?" At Lee''s nod, she continues. "It sounds cool to me. What''s the next step?"

    "Next, we should��" Lee pauses. "Hrm��"

    ''Perhaps we should baseline just how much stamina Torkoal has?'' Ninetales silently suggests. ''Energy consumption is an important factor to consider.''

    ''Not a bad idea at all, love. I think I know just how to do it, too.'' Lee nods. "Next," he addresses Flannery out loud. "Let''s get an idea of Torkoal''s total Fire output and try to gauge how much we''re wanting this new move to cost him. If we make it so powerful that Torkoal can only cast it once, that''s time you''ll have to waste learning how to modulate the power. In a worst-case scenario, the move might not even work under a certain threshold if it''s made with too high a predetermined level of power."

    Flannery smiles. "Gotcha. So what do we do?"

    Lee leads Flannery, Torkoal, and Ninetales to a boulder sitting at the edge of the field as he explains. "How many times do you think Torkoal can use Flamethrower going full-tilt in a match before he exhausts himself?"

    The Gym heir and her pokemon lock eyes for a second. "All out? Ten or eleven times I think," she replies, turning back to Lee.

    "Alrighty," Lee reopens his notebook and readies his pen as the group comes to a stop. "Have Torkoal use Flamethrower on the boulder there," he gestures with his pen, "and Ninetales is going to match him as best she can. That''ll tell us how much energy the new move can consume without being a burden."

    "You heard the man, Torkoal," Flannery smiles and dramatically points a finger at their rocky target. "Flamethrower, and give it all you''ve got!"

    Torkoal takes a deep breath, the coalbed in his shell blazing orange and making Lee uncomfortably warm as he does so, then from the tortoise pokemon''s mouth comes a spiraling pillar of near-white flames. The heat is so intense that Lee is forced to blink as his eyes dry out.

    The Flamethrower strikes the distant boulder almost like a physical object, throwing chips of rock away. The face of the stone rapidly heats to red-hot, and parts of the boulder pop and explode away as it heats unevenly.

    ''Torkoal was certainly raised by a Fire-type master��'' Lee grimaces and ignores the discomfort of open flames not under Ninetales'' careful control. His scars tingle unpleasantly before the heat. ''Does the spiraling motion of the flame do something for the attack? Added stability?'' He jots the note down. ''Alrighty, Ninetales. Match him as best you can. Start small and ratchet up until you''re on par with him.''

    Ninetales steps up beside Torkoal, wholly unbothered by the air-distorting heat the other Fire-type is putting off. She takes no breath and performs no flourish, merely opening her jaws and letting a stream of whooshing fire spill out. The new attack washes over the boulder, and the rock hisses as it starts melting into a puddle of molten stone.

    Ninetales'' Flamethrower is already the near person-engulfing size of Torkoal''s, but the flames are a searing white that hurt to look at. The heat never reaches Lee, but Flannery winces and steps back.

    The fox pokemon''s brows furrow, and slowly the intensity of her Flamethrower dials back, matching Torkoal''s near perfectly. Out of curiosity, Lee snakes his way a little deeper into Ninetales, touching that nebulous dynamo of pure, raw Infinity Energy deep inside her.

    Sustaining this Flamethrower pulls at her reserves, but the drain is lethargic, almost unnoticeable at first glance. She could melt twenty boulders like the one here in the Gym courtyard before needing a breather.

    ''Remember this level of drain, love,'' Lee orders. ''Ideally, we don''t want to go over 200% of what this Flamethrower costs. That''ll give Torkoal five or so casts of this new move.''

    ''Understood,'' is Ninetales'' short reply.

    "Okay, that''s good!" Lee''s voice is almost lost over the roar of the twin Flamethrowers, but both Ninetales and Torkoal abate their attacks, leaving the half-melted boulder to crackle and cool. "Ah, sorry about the rock. I guess I didn''t expect it to melt so easily��"

    Flannery waves the apology away. "No worries. Torkoal can put a new one there no prob," she says. "What''s next?"

    "I think that''s about it��" Lee shuts his notebook once more. "We''ll begin prototyping the move and report back with our progress. Thanks for taking the time to work with us so we could get an idea of where to go from here."

    Off to the side, in the shade of the Gym, Moore picks that time to speak up. "Well now," he rises and pushes his glasses further up his nose, slowly making his way to Lee and Flannery. "Quite the process you have there, my boy."

    "We''re just following the same steps we use for moves we intend to use for ourselves," Lee says with a shrug.

    "I see��" Moore digs in his pocket and withdraws a pokeball. "Now that you''ve completed your assessment, would you like to test Madam Ninetales'' powers now, or later?"

    Lee looks down just as Ninetales looks up, their eyes meeting and a conversation passing in less than a second. "If it''s all the same to you, may we come back in a day or two for advanced testing? I think we can get baselines on our own, and we''ve got an appointment to see my Octillery at the Pokemon Center."

    "Of course. No problem," Moore grins and puts his pokeball away. "Thanks again, my boy. I know you''ve got Flannery''s number, so give us a ring when you want to visit. We''re also looking forward to your match here soon!"

    "See you later!" Flannery smiles and offers a wave.

    Lee waves back, and after tucking his notebook under his arm, he and Ninetales make their way through the empty Gym and back through the front door.

    ''Do you think we can really finish this move in an afternoon?'' Lee asks his ace as they begin the trip back to Lavaridge.

    Ninetales flicks one of her tails as she pads along next to Lee. ''Perhaps one afternoon is hyperbole, but I don''t believe it will take long. Two or three days at most. You recall how Convergence destabilizes when I add too much power too quickly?''

    ''I do.'' Lee''s mind works as she reminds him. ''You''re intending to use a hollowed fireball with an induced instability as the delivery method for the other fireballs?''

    ''Indeed.'' Inside Ninetales, Lee feels her Fire TE stir and form up into the complex molding that would be needed.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Lee mulls over the idea. ''Perhaps add another unstable fireball in the core with the projectiles situated around it, one that explodes after the shell. It could scatter the fireballs without needing to add a more complex step to the mix.'' Like someone laying their hands upon the hands of another, Lee focuses and exerts a gentle touch on Ninetales'' control of her Fire. The great fox lets herself be guided along, and the Fire TE is shaped like warm clay between their combined wills. ''Something like that, maybe?''

    Ninetales inspects the beginnings of the still nameless attack, then she smoothes out some of Lee''s changes. ''I see what you intend to do. If we thin this part, however��'' The unseen hands move once more.

    Just a week ago, Lee would have never been able to tap into the psyche of Vulpix so deeply. It pushed their bond nearly as far as it could go, combining their wills to control attacks mid-flight. But now, as a Ninetales? Nothing about her is hidden from him, and even if the mysteries around her powers befuddle him, the borrowed instincts from Ninetales smooth over the gaps in his understanding. Ideas and refinements flow between them as if they''ve always been able to do such things.

    The new and exciting experiences only make his questions about the deeper nature of pokemon burn even more. What is the true relationship between a pokemon''s lifeforce, Infinity Energy, and the Type Energy they command? How do they make TE bend to their will? Why does TE do what it does to the world outside of a pokemon''s body? Physics as he knows them just wouldn''t work with IE and TE thrown into the mix.

    ''I guess that decides what I''m going to study in school,'' Lee rests his hands in his jacket pockets as he and Ninetales walk. ''I''ll need to get in contact with Roxanne and see if any of the Rustboro university courses offer majors in the study of IE and TE, or at least advanced pokemon biology. I can probably pull a double minor in pokemon nutrition and psychology, too.''

    ''Be careful to not stretch yourself too thin, beloved.'' Ninetales warns, still engrossed with the preliminary prototyping of their commissioned move.

    As they walk back into Lavaridge proper, Lee leaves the ponderings of their commission to Ninetales as he withdraws his phone from his pocket. Once more, the hundreds of emails stare at him, demanding attention.

    Wordlessly, he opens his mailbox and begins sorting through everything.

    The first and most prevalent is that someone made an entire thread about him in the BattleNet forums, and every time someone mentions him, it generates an email. For a moment, he debates going and reading the thread, then he looks at the page count.

    Page 1 of 89

    ''Maybe later��''

    Another thread mentioning him is one frequented by rare pokemon enthusiasts. A glance at some of their pinned posts tells him Ninetales is apparently the 27th rarest pokemon in the world, with Sylveon at spot #28 and Relicanth at spot #26. Spots 1 through 10 are dominated by legendary pokemon with a confirmed capture, and the teens are mostly fossil pokemon with a third-stage Dragon or Fairy here and there. To Lee''s relief, none of the legendary pokemon with a confirmed capture are godly, unique legendaries. The number one spot is held by Suicune, of which there is only one recorded to be in the care of a trainer.

    Apparently, a Sinnoh native named Tobias caught a Latios recently, as that section of BattleNet is aflame with intense speculation on where he found the legendary dragon. Tobias commented once, simply saying ''Latios doesn''t want me to say. Sorry.'' when pinged relentlessly on where he got the Eon Dragon.

    Someone did invite Lee to a private group of Hoenn-based rare pokemon hunters, the aptly named Seekers of Hoenn. Rather than join right away, Lee marks the invite as read and moves on.

    One email is a private message from one of BattleNet''s admins. Slightly worried, Lee opens it and reads what''s inside.

    From: SITE_ADMIN

    Hello L_Henson.

    This is official notice that you are the subject of a BattleNet megathread (link). A megathread is a sub-type of thread on our forum dedicated to any discussion of a given topic or person, such as pokemon or trainers. BattleNet prides itself on being the largest and most accurate hub of news and information for all things pokemon, so we wish to assure you that your megathread will be policed by site administration just as all other megathreads are. We have no tolerance for harassment, misinformation, or illegal activity on our website. We at BattleNet are proud advocates of free and open information, but we still draw hard lines at such inappropriate activities.

    As a trainer who is the subject of a megathread, we encourage you to interact with our community in a positive way and to offer corrections to your thread to ensure the accuracy of posts within.

    If at any point you have questions or concerns, please contact BattleNet staff and we''ll be happy to assist.

    Under the body of the email in text so small Lee has to zoom in to read it, there is something else.

    BattleNet is obligated to inform you that under the Safe-&-Sound Act of the Hoenn civil government, you are entitled to request the removal of some or all information relating to you, your family, and your pokemon if you believe yourself or your loved ones to be in bodily danger due to the public posting of said information. Upon submitting such a request through proper channels, BattleNet administration will temporarily suspend the viewing of your information to all users as we assess your complaint. A formal reply with our decision will be sent to your email on file upon the conclusion of our assessment, which will be no more than 48 hours after the submission of your complaint.

    With a worried frown, Lee opens the thread dedicated to him and scans the opening post. What he finds isn''t too outrageous, but he grumbles to himself as he realizes that being anonymous is well and truly a pipedream now. Millions of people have seen the video of Ninetales'' evolution, and the megathread screams to everyone that his team is loaded with custom moves. He and his pokemon have effectively become minor celebrities overnight. After taking a few minutes to comb some of the boards belonging to other regions, Lee is glad to say the burst of fame is mostly isolated to Hoenn.

    ''That offer from Nigel to use the lab''s PR guy is looking mighty tempting now��'' Lee sighs and moves on to the next email. For a moment, he debates asking BattleNet to take down his thread but ultimately discards the thought. ''The damage is already done and trying to hide it is just going to look bad. I can''t say I was huge on social media back home. Didn''t really make sense to me, I guess. Who would care what a nobody like me was doing? A PR guy to manage this mess is a must.''

    ''Don''t be too hasty in that regard, beloved,'' Ninetales speaks. Lee feels her mentally shelve that half-made move so she can focus on him. ''While proper public relations are important, using a proxy for everything is going to come off as sterile. A bit of fun here and there won''t harm us.''

    ''A bit of fun, eh?'' Lee hums and takes a look at the next email, yet another group invite. ''Fox Friday'' looks innocent enough, the members being simple fans of vulpine pokemon for no reason deeper than personal taste, so he accepts and joins the group. Just in time, too, as the latest topic of their little slice of forum fits Ninetales'' concerns perfectly. "Hey, Ninetales?" He points his phone at her.

    Ninetales looks up at the phone, or more specifically, the camera of the phone with a tilt of her head.

    Click!

    Lee saves the portrait shot of Ninetales and smiles, camera still raised. "I love you."

    The vixen''s ears stand up in surprise, then her surprise melts into a tender smile. The sudden return flow of love from her mind to his nearly makes Lee forget to hit the capture button.

    Click!

    Prize saved, Lee shuffles his phone into his off-hand and strokes Ninetales'' neck when she presses her head into his side. The warmth bleeding into him is more than just physical.

    Welcome to Battlenet! The Pokemon Battle Authority!

    You are currently logged in, L_Henson

    You are viewing:

    ? All Public Groups you are a member of

    ? AND all Private Groups you are a member of.

    Group Name: FoxFriday

    Topic of the day: Phriday Photo-shoot

    Today at 9:06 AM

    Zororororo: Photoshoot time! We''re going with a classic. Post a fox before and after you say something!

    Unlike the open forum style of BattleNet''s boards, the groups are structured more like chatrooms for faster and looser conversations. Lee posts the pair of pictures, releasing Ninetales as she composes herself and steps away.

    Today at 1:55 PM

    L_Henson: Before and after I said "I love you."

    (Attachment #1) (Attachment #2)

    ��Multiple people are typing��

    Then the group is promptly muted. He''ll check on it later.

    "Organic enough for you, miss PR?" Lee shows his phone screen to Ninetales, who just rolls her eyes.

    Now crossing into the limits of Lavaridge and the throngs of people who slow down to peer at Ninetales, Lee sorts through the rest of the flood of emails.

    Most of it is nothing worth looking into and, after adjusting his email preferences on his BattleNet account, the steady stream comes to a halt. One email is from the smaller, Pokemon Contest-oriented sister site of BattleNet (Which makes no sense to Lee as BN has a contest section). This sister site, Contest Corner, is inviting him to attend Pokemon Contest exhibitions as either a participant or a VIP. That''s another one he puts on hold.

    There is Aarons'' email, which goes into detail on how Silph would love to enter an exclusivity deal with him. Since the email very specifically mentions that Lee would not be allowed to produce TMs without them, the reply is a short I''ll think about it.

    A different part of BattleNet apparently took notice of Grovyle, as a small private group of Grass specialists, cheesily named Nature Warriors, invited him to join. Once more he marks the invite as read and resolves to come back later.

    Several people have directly messaged him on BattleNet, and most are just spam, but one jumps out at him.

    From: Kabu (Verified Trainer) (Galar Gym Leader)

    Hello Lee.

    Let me introduce myself. My name is Kabu, and as you''ve probably seen, I''m a gym leader here in Galar. I myself am from Hoenn, and I always keep an eye on my birth home for different news and happenings. I happened to retire for the night and check my computer at just the right time, as I saw the magnificent video of your Ninetales evolving. I''m reaching out to you for a few reasons and hope to hear back from you soon.

    First I would like to congratulate you and your Ninetales on her evolution. For many trainers, pokemon like Ninetales, Arcanine, Charizard, Typhlosion, and a small handful of others stand at the apex of Fire Types, and I am blessed with both an Arcanine and a Ninetales of my own. My Ninetales has expressed an interest in meeting yours should you ever visit Galar, and I won''t beat around the bush and say he''s strictly looking for friendship. If your Ninetales doesn''t object to the idea, I would like to discuss the possibility of breeding between her and my own Ninetales.

    Secondly, I would like to be the first to give you your dues and recognize you as a proper Fire specialist, as your Ninetales'' abilities speak volumes. The private group Fire Master is where we gather to discuss our shared pokemon and passions. As your career as a trainer progresses, you''ll find more groups like ours. We try to have meetings in person a few times a year, so if you are interested, the dates are marked on our event calendar. You will find the invitation link below.

    EDIT: While not originally planned, I''ve been asked to offer you an invitation to 9TT. 9TT is a smaller group exclusive to a few Ninetales trainers. The admin, who asked me to invite you, is a Pokemon Master as picky as she is knowledgeable on everything related to Ninetales as a species. She''s been passing out her knowledge to a selected few over the last year. If you have her notice, your collective feats are truly something to behold. I look forward to speaking with you, Lee.

    9TT: (link)

    Fire Master: (link)

    Regards,

    Kabu.

    Proud Gym Leader of Motostoke City, Defender of the Realm of Galar, and Fire Type Master.

    Lee re-reads the message twice before he begins to type up his reply. ''Awful formal for a forum message.'' He clicks his tongue, realizing the politics game is going to follow them as he and his team keep rising. ''I''m going to guess your answer to breeding proposals hasn''t changed with your evolution?''

    ''It hasn''t,'' Ninetales wrinkles her snout in distaste. ''I have entire lifetimes before I need to worry about such things.''

    With a nod, Lee pens his reply. ''Certainly not shy, is he? Or did he say that quiet part out loud to distract from something else?''

    Hello Gym Leader Kabu.

    Thank you for the congratulations, as it means a lot to both myself and Ninetales. Her evolution is a moment I will never forget. Regarding your offer, I must decline the breeding proposal at this time. Ninetales does not wish to breed for profit, and I will stand beside her in her decision. Who knows what the future holds, however? If she changes her mind, I will message you.

    Secondly, thank you for the invitations. I will join them here shortly. As I am a traveling trainer, I cannot say how active I will be, but I will attempt to add to discussions when I can. I''m certain there is much to learn from respectable peers such as yourself.

    Kindly,

    Lee Henson.

    Trainer and Pokemon Researcher of the Hoenn Regional Pokemon Laboratory.

    Once done, Lee nods to himself and silently offers his eyesight to Ninetales. ''What do you think, love?''

    Ninetales reads the draft through Lee''s eyes, approval radiating from her. ''Respectful, but still firm. It will do well,'' she says, pulling away from his senses.

    Lee''s thumb falls on the ''send'' button, and the message is off. Eyeballing the pair of invite links and resigning himself to fate, he taps the first one.

    Group Name: 9TT

    Topic of the day: N/A

    Inside, the group is somewhat barren, with the last sent message being four days ago. Scrolling up, there isn''t much there either, as it looks like whoever administrates the group deletes the message history every month or so. None of the twelve other members seem to react to the join message generated when he hit the link.

    Lee recognizes a precious few of the members. There''s Kabu, for one. Then there''s Blaine, a man regarded as one of the strongest Kanto Gym Leaders and a world-renowned Fire Specialist. Rudy rings a bell, and after a moment Lee remembers the man is an Orange Island Gym Leader. The others, he has no idea, but all of them boast impressive trainer classes like (Verified Elite), (Master Breeder) and even one (Veteran PKMN Ranger). The admin of the group, though��

    Lokoko (9TT Administrator)

    ''Where have I heard that name?'' Lee taps the edge of his phone against his chin as he thinks, but can''t seem to recall such a woman anywhere in the pokemon canon. It''s frustrating, as he can almost feel the answer tickling his brain, but he just can''t remember. ''My meta-knowledge is so out of date by this point I should probably toss most of it.'' He taps on Lokoko''s name to pull up her profile, only to frown at what he finds.

    Which is nothing. Literally.

    Lokoko''s profile has zero posts, zero comments, and is missing nearly all the info required for a profile, even the mandatory parts. No date of birth, no region, no pokemon or trainer class, nothing. It''s as if she exists in name only.

    ''How odd�� What kind of strings did she have to pull to do this? BattleNet made it pretty clear they hate taking down anything on their site. Kabu was specific in calling her a Pokemon Master, so is that it?'' Before he can ponder further, his phone pings and he taps the notification on reflex, taking him back to 9TT.

    Today at 2:04 PM

    Lokoko (Admin): Good Afternoon, Lee Henson, and thank you for joining. I''ve taken notice that you are a caring trainer for a fine young Ninetales. If you need any guidance on how best to raise her or manage your relationship with her, please do ask. I am here to help you and everyone else.

    For a reason Lee cannot place, reading the message makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Slowly, he types a reply.

    Today at 2:05 PM

    L_Henson: Thank you, Lokoko. Kabu speaks highly of you. If I have anything to ask, I''ll consult you.

    Lokoko doesn''t reply, and taking it as a dismissal, Lee goes back to Kabu''s message and clicks the other link.

    Fire Masters is much more active, boasting fifty or so members and messages from only a few moments ago. Lee reads down the member list.

    There''s Kabu, of course. Blaine again, Flannery and Moore, Flint of Sinnoh''s Elite Four, Malva of Kalos'' Elite Four, and a host of other people. Nearly all of them have some sort of professional trainer class, but one above all others takes the cake.

    Leon (Galar Champion) is typing��

    ��And he''s the first one to begin typing as soon as the welcome message is announced.

    ''Yeah, no. Fuck that.''

    Lee shoots in a message as quickly as he can, barely able to keep his spelling straight in his haste.

    Today at 2:05 PM

    L_Henson: Hello everyone and thank you Kabu for the invite. I cannot say how active I will be due to being a traveling trainer, but I''ll do my best to contribute where I can. I''m actually about to lose service now, so I hope to be back soon.''

    He closes the website and stuffs his phone in his pocket. "PR, politics, social media��" Lee''s voice is so quiet only Ninetales can hear him. Both man and fox turn down a side street, bringing the Pokemon Center into view. "When we''re done with all of this league tournament shit, we''re building a nice cabin somewhere in Sinnoh and I''m throwing my phone into a lake."

    Ninetales'' reply is a comforting set of tails wrapped around his back. ''No need to stress. You have myself, Grovyle, and everyone else with you.''

    With a cross of his arms, Lee lets his worries go. ''Sometimes I hate that you won''t let me bellyache about things.''

    ''It''s a full-time job, I assure you,'' the golden fox smirks.

    <hr>

    "Come now, fool! Angle your shields! Do you want to be struck!?"

    Below Corvisquire in the forest clearing, Ralts cries out and raises another shield of translucent psychic energy, this time angling it to the right slightly.

    Corvisquire''s latest barrage of Swift stars smash into the pink shield, which cracks like glass, but as the last star detonates with a bang, the shield barely holds. If the psychic moron had dared try to block the attack head-on, Corvisquire knows the shield would have broken.

    Mercilessly, Corvisquire swoops down, racing for the ground at a near 90-degree angle, then inches away from crashing, he pulls up and races towards Ralts so fast his sight begins to blur. The power of Steel flows into his wing, and with a tilt, he''s poised to take Ralts'' legs out from under him.

    "Ralts!" The voice of the boy, Wally, rings out from the side of the clearing. "Teleport!"

    With only a second to spare, Ralts vanishes in a flash and escapes Corvisquire''s Steel Wing.

    Clicking his beak in annoyance, Corvisquire pulls up, filling his vision with the sky. He feels a Confusion attack from Ralts try to yank at his wings and jostle him, but all it takes to break the psychic hold is to flex his wings with force.

    Leveling out in the sky and looking back down, he meets the determined eyes of the Ralts below him. Off to the side, the green-headed brat Wally does a decent job keeping his face clear of worry. The boy and the tiny psychic break their eyes away from Corvisquire to look at each other, no doubt trying to form a telepathic plan.

    ''I didn''t expect them to come this far in just a week or so,'' the raven pokemon muses to himself. Day in and day out, Wally and Ralts have come to him, bringing him tributes in return for training. The first days were pathetic, with Ralts unable to do more than run away like a Ratata before a Fearow. His attacks were weak, his defenses were laughable, and Corvisquire thought his plan of making an ideal foe to push his own evolution was going to fall flat. It made his blood boil, that this weakling dare waste his time and good faith instruction.

    Then slowly, Ralts began to get better.

    He dodged quicker, looked for openings to strike from, and started utilizing his powers in creative ways, something Corvisquire ordered him to do every single day, in every single spar.

    It was a surprise to the raven pokemon when Ralts admitted that it was Wally coming up with half the plans and ideas. "Sometimes when we go home, Wally and I will go to the backyard and practice on our own," Ralts said proudly during a break a day ago. "We want to get strong like you!"

    Wally nodded along as Ralts spoke. "We know you''ve probably got other things to do, Mister Corvisquire," the green-headed child mirrored his pokemon''s sentiments. "So we''re doing our best to catch up. I don''t want to be a burden on everyone around me!"

    Corvisquire''s stomach did not clench when the boy''s over-excited words were punctuated with a short coughing fit.

    "Hmm��" Corvisquire pulls himself out of the memory and takes his eyes off of the little fool and his child, instead looking at the falling sun. "We''re done for the day!" He caws to Ralts and Wally. "I will be busy tomorrow, and Friday next week. Do not seek me out or you''ll be wasting your time!"

    Ralts'' eyes lose their psychic glow as the foolish little pokemon allows himself to relax and rub one of the bruises dotting his form. "Okay!" He replies with obnoxious cheer. "Thank you for today, Mister Corvisquire!" Both Ralts and Wally mirror each other, smiling and waving before they turn and begin the short trip back to the town of Verdanturf.

    Corvisquire ignores them both as he dives into the trees, flying past branches and zooming along a path that''s quickly becoming familiar. In short order, he finds the right tree and pulls up, slowing to a stop before he lands on a thick limb.

    Folding his wings, Corvisquire shuffles along the branch to a small knothole in the tree, where his beak dips in. He bites down on what he''s looking for and pulls it free before setting it down on his perch.

    Sitting before him is a crumpled Devon shipping manifest, one stolen from Verdanturf''s small outskirts warehouse.

    Holding the packet of paper steady with a talon, Corvisquire bites the first page and flips it, taking in the second page with a crooked smile.

    He can''t steal something too high profile, as he already knows Pokemon Rangers are prowling around Hoenn looking for him, and every wild pokemon is a mouth that might potentially squeal. He cannot afford to add more heat to himself.

    His talon taps down the page, past bulk pokeball shipments, an entire crate of Lum berries, and past several evolution stones.

    No no, one never goes for the big-ticket items for goals such as this. What is taken has to be not worth pursuing.

    His talon stops on his mark.

    ''The fool is progressing. Once he evolves, a gift from his dear mentor will be too much to resist.''

    In a week''s time, Verdanturf will be receiving a handful of evolution stones, and among that number are six middling-grade Dawn Stones. It just so happens that Ralts will evolve into Kirlia, and Kirlia evolves into one of their two final stages with a Dawn Stone.

    Corvisquire can either wait for the little fool to evolve naturally after he hits his Kirlia stage, or outside factors can speed things up.

    Corvisquire was never the patient sort.

    ''They won''t miss one stone. I''m sure of it,'' he smirks to himself.

 Act 2: Chapter 8

    "Happy to be free of the Pokemon Center and out training?"

    At Lee''s side, Octillery bounces in place with a delighted burble, his smile obvious even if his nozzle-like mouth does not move. A few feet away, Ninetales smiles at her new teammate''s enthusiasm, while Grovyle simply nods his approval.

    Shinx could probably match Octillery''s energy like the electrified ball of fuzz that she is, but alas, Lee has reluctantly left her in Brendan''s care for today so that she won''t be dangerously underfoot during training of this level. ''Sorry, baby girl. I''ll make it up to you.''

    Four days after meeting Moore and Flannery to discuss their commissioned Fire move, Octillery is finally free of the Pokemon Center he now seems to loathe with a passion. The poor octopus pokemon seemed bored to tears until Nurse Joy came into the aquatic ward with discharge paperwork for Lee during their visit today. Octillery clung to Lee like he was some sort of savior the entire way out the door, not at all caring that they were marching into the fields outside of town to train ASAP.

    Lee smiles and places a hand on Octillery''s head. The octopus'' skin is still slick and cool despite the heat. The Water-type seems unbothered by the early morning sun in the shadeless clearing Lee found several miles outside of Lavaridge for today''s training.

    "I''m glad that you''re feeling better," Lee says with a smile as he withdraws his hand and lets it slide into his pocket with his pokedex. "I''m sorry to ask so much of you so soon after you''ve just left the Center, but are you willing to help us in the Gym battle here in a few days? We''ll be fighting Fire-types, but you might still get a bit banged up."

    Octillery blinks once, an inquisitive gurgle bubbling from his throat.

    Lee had noticed the red cephalopod lost his focus a bit when Gyms were mentioned before, and takes a guess as to where the confusion might stem from. "Never heard of a Gym before?"

    Octillery shakes his head in the negative.

    ''How odd. He''s got a solid grasp of English, but doesn''t know what Gyms are? Could Octillery have been wild the whole time?'' Lee hums. "Well, Gyms are places where pokemon trainers pit themselves and their teams against the strongest pokemon team in a given area. If you win, you''re given a badge as a token of your victory along with some prizes, and any team who beats all eight Gyms will be eligible for a tournament against other teams who''ve done the same thing. If you win the whole thing, you can challenge the Elite Four, who are trainers and pokemon of immense skill. By beating them one by one, you can then challenge the regional champion, the finest trainer partnered with the best pokemon around. Make sense?"

    ''Although, I''m not sure I actually want us to win. I know the title says ''Champion'', but since the whole sport is so deeply intertwined with politics and regional military might, ''Champion'' and ''Governor-General'' are interchangeable terms here. Honestly, I don''t think being Champ would be fun.'' Lee is reminded of the card from Steven Stone still in his wallet. The card has both an email and an office phone number, but the idea of phoning a champion for idle chit-chat isso laughable that he puts it out of his mind. ''Oh, right. I haven''t checked BattleNet in a few days�� Oh well, they can wait.''

    Octillery follows the explanation easily and nods, his tentacles waving and ready.

    "Glad to hear it." Lee grins and withdraws his pokedex. He flips it open and points it at the water-type. "First off, let''s get an idea of the moves you know and work from there. I''ve heard your kind have a talent for learning many types of attacks, and that''s going to be a huge help, not only to the team but to the research I''m conducting on Type Energy." Lee''s thumb falls on the pokedex''s confirm button.

    "Octillery, the Jet Pokemon," the mechanical voice of the pokedex drones. "The suckers on Octillery''s tentacles grip prey so tightly that few can escape. It will then daze prey with a strike from its rock-hard head before eating." Once the ''dex is done with its blurb, a slew of more helpful info is displayed on the screen.

    "Rock hard head?" Lee frowns. He looks over to his newest pokemon, a hand raised. "May I?" When Octillery nods, Lee places his hand on the octopus''s head and gently presses down, finding that Octillery''s head lacks a skull as expected and gives way. "Well then. I recall other ''dex entities also saying your species can squeeze into nooks and crannies too. I''ll have to see about getting this bogus blurb corrected, then."

    Octillery chortles in amusement, a curious sound similar to churning water. Then he seemingly sucks in a breath and��

    "Eeh!?" Lee pulls his hand away when Octillery''s head suddenly hardens under his palm and pushes out the dimple he made. "Wha? How did��?" The zoologist tentatively touches Octillery''s head again, finding it totally unyielding as if a skull manifested out of nowhere. Lee closes his pokedex, Octillery''s moves forgotten for now. "How did you do that?"

    The red octopus raises a tentacle and looks at the barren ground, his head swaying back and forth as if hemming and hawing over how to explain. An idea seems to strike him, as Octillery''s tentacle deftly moves like an inspired artist''s brush. In the dirt, he draws a rough sketch of himself with a large, balloon-like head and eight tentacles. He gives the sketch a face, then draws a thin circle around the face. Another circle is drawn around the first, this time larger and almost touching the edge of the sketch''s head.

    Lee can feel Ninetales'' curiosity, and Grovyle must be curious as well, as he and the fox step closer to watch Octillery work.

    Circles drawn, Octillery then digs his tentacle into the space between the circles, carving out a trench maybe half an inch deep. He tosses the dirt away, then leans over his drawing and lets a dribble of water flow from his mouth into the trench, filling it up. With a gurgle, he scuttles back half a step and points at the filled trench.

    Lee scratches his chin as he tries to puzzle out the cryptic explanation. ''How interesting��'' If his backpack wasn''t up against a distant tree, he would be tempted to get his notebook out and record this. ''What a remarkable way to relay information. Of course, most pokemon are smart enough to get simple points across a language barrier, but a full pictogram using abstract informational media like water is something else.'' He looks up away from the pictogram to Octillery, who stares at him expectantly.

    Ninetales'' mind works as she tries to figure out just what the octopus means, and Lee can feel it. She looks up to Octillery with a short, questioning purr rolling from her throat.

    Octillery stubbornly says nothing, putting a frown on Ninetales'' face. ''Rude.'''' The vixen mentally sniffs. ''He could at least say he does not want to answer.''

    Grovyle looks like he''s trying to figure it out as well, but the slight crinkle of his eyelids and the impatient twiddle of his twig tells Lee the gecko pokemon isn''t any closer to finding the answer.

    ''Let''s see. How could he suddenly harden his head, and how would it fit in the context of the drawing?'' Lee studies the drawing again, trying to draw on his limited knowledge of cephalopods. ''Obviously, water has something to do with it, but is this in a biological sense or a TE sense? I feel like this drawing would be more outlandish if it was strictly TE, so let''s assume it''s biological for now.'' He looks at the circles and how they''re placed between the watery trench. ''Are the circles meant to represent some kind of container? A container for the water? It''s inside the body of the sketch, so��'' Lee clicks his tongue. "Octillery, may I touch your head one more time?"

    Octillery leans in, giving the man his silent permission.

    Lee places his hand on Octillery once more, this time pressing down more firmly. There isn''t much��almost none��but there is just the barest hint of give. Lee''s fingers sink maybe a millimeter or less into the octopus'' head.

    Withdrawing his hand and rubbing his fingers together, Lee ponders the new info. ''So still not a solid skull, but so close that it wouldn''t matter much in combat.'' Looking back at the water, the circles, and how they''re arranged in the octopus sketch, the answer hits him. "I''ll be damned." Lee grins and turns to Octillery. "Is it a subdermal sac that you can pressurize with water at will?"

    Octillery''s eyes widen to a near comical degree, then he burbles happily, his front two tentacles meeting each other in wet, delighted applause.

    ''It''s one thing to use a pictogram, but another thing entirely to use said pictogram to relay advanced biological information in a manner understandable to others. Octillery is quite something.'' Lee''s grin is wide as the few doubts he has about Octillery fade away. "Now, that''s nature at its finest. Both your brain and the pressurized sac."

    The octopus nods like he expected nothing less.

    "Now I have to know what moves you know." Lee flips his pokedex open once more and points it at Octillery. "I know I told you I was a researcher during yesterday''s visit, but I didn''t go into any detail, did I? On top of pokemon biology and psychology, Type Energy and its dynamics have been endlessly fascinating to me recently. I''d love it if you''d be willing to help me with my research with your huge movepool, Octillery."

    The red octopus'' eyes light up at the thought.

    ''Definitely the brainy type.'' Lee smiles and scrolls down his ''dex to Octillery''s moves. ''No wonder he hated the Center so much. I doubt they kept him stimulated enough. I''ll have to make a note to get some puzzles and brain teasers for him so he has something to do in his downtime.''

    When he finally sees the Water-type''s movepool, Lee lets out an impressed whistle.

    Scan Complete

    Known Moves:

    Wrap

    Headbutt

    Water Gun

    Octazooka

    Psybeam

    Gunk Shot

    Rock Blast

    Charge Beam

    Aurora Beam

    Signal Beam

    Ice Beam

    Bullet Seed

    Lock-On

    ''Good God. Octillery has some insane coverage and knows how to mold nine of the eighteen different types of TE with the potential to learn more. I know for sure he can learn Dark, Steel, Flying, Fire, and Ground moves too. If he could someday learn how to use every TE��'' Lee flips his pokedex closed and returns it to his pocket. Part of him suddenly wants to capture a Kecleon to use in conjunction with Octillery to study TE, but the thought is shelved for now. ''Only having two melee moves might be an issue, though. I understand Octillery is going to end up being a ranged attacker, but Wrap and Headbutt alone aren''t going to be viable back-ups.''

    Ninetales takes the moment to chime in. ''Iron Tail, perhaps? There is no reason he cannot learn to apply the move to his tentacles.'' She tilts her head and meets Octillery''s eyes. ''If he knows Bullet Seed, then Seed Blast is also on the table.''

    ''True.'' Lee clears his throat. "So, Wrap and Headbutt are rather self-explanatory. Let''s test out your other attacks and see what kind of things we can discover. Since Octillery is the newest member here��" he looks over to Ninetales and Grovyle "��I''ll likely spend most of today with him to get a better feel for how Octillery likes to battle. We''ve already discussed our basic game plan for the gym: Grovyle goes in to wear down everyone he can, then we switch to Octillery for clean-up duty, then Ninetales if things go really south. Flannery''s team is strong, but I think we can take her for a fairly clean win."

    Grovyle smirks.

    Octillery nods along.

    And Ninetales�� frowns at being sidelined. Silent, telepathic assurance from Lee soothes her, but her frown remains. ''I understand your logic, Beloved�� I simply don''t enjoy it, is all,'' she sends back.

    Part of Lee still cringes at essentially offering Grovyle up as a buffer to make Octillery''s job easier, but being the level-headed ''mon that he is, Grovyle has taken no visible offense to the otherwise logical plan. If anything, he seems emboldened that he is being chosen as the first pick in a Fire-type gym. ''I wish I had that kind of positive outlook. I know Grovyle is getting frustrated at his lack of inclusion in Gym battles, though. He was skipped over for both Rustboro and Dewford, then went down to the Baton Pass trick in Mauville. I hope this is a good confidence booster for him and not a letdown.''

    "Right, let''s begin, everyone!" Lee points a finger at the gecko pokemon. "Grovyle, you already know what you want to work on today. Once you feel good and warmed up, come to me and we''ll give you Roxanne''s Rock Tomb TM to even the odds for the Gym match. After that, we''ll use today to get a feel for the new move and brainstorm uses for it, okay?"

    Grovyle crosses his arms and nods, not quite keeping the eager gleam out of his slitted eyes.

    "Ninetales." Lee''s finger moves to his ace and best friend. "We''re making good progress on the commissioned move. Keep that up for the first half of today, then we''ll test your upper limits to see how long we need to keep our control exercises going."

    Ninetales shifts on her paws. ''You''ve informed the Rangers of our intentions here already?'' She vocalizes her question as well with two short, inquiring yips for Grovyle and Octillery''s benefit.

    "I have," Lee nods. "I gave both the local Pokemon Ranger station and Lavaridge emergency services a call this morning to inform them that we''ll be out here and that things might get�� noisy. They said to keep environmental damage to a minimum and keep wild pokemon out of any crossfire, and they won''t have any reason to step in. Both seem reasonable to me."

    Ninetales looks around at the barren ''training ground''.

    The spot they found several miles outside of Lavaridge is sooty and devoid of life, having been subjected to a wildfire a few months ago according to a short chain of text messages with Flannery. The ground is bare dirt, the trees are husks, and there are no pokemon around. The edge of the burned area is recovering, but even then, the new trees are small and the greenery is thin.

    All in all, the perfect place for a Fire-type to go wild.

    Ninetales smiles. ''I think we can manage under the Rangers'' rules.''

    "Finally��" Lee turns to Octillery "��we''re going to run you through some exercises, move tests, and a physical to benchmark your health. I have no doubt you''ll perform well; this is more for my peace of mind than anything else."

    The octopus puts on a determined expression, clearly eager to begin.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As the day drifts into the afternoon, Lee sighs and wipes at his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. "What a day, and we''re barely halfway done."

    With the impending Gym match just three days away, all three fighters on Lee''s team have thrown everything they have into honing their skills.

    Grovyle, with his mastery of Leaf Blade and X-Scissor, has been combining his know-how of Feint Attack and cutting moves to try and recreate Night Slash and expand his coverage. Much like Feint Attack, Night Slash is not a move anyone in the Sceptile line can normally learn. The limitation shows considering how much the savant-like gecko pokemon has been struggling to reverse-engineer the move over the last two weeks. He can mold Dark TE, but the energy only sometimes holds an edge when channeled into the leaves growing from Grovyle''s wrists. It''s much the same with his claws as well. ''There must be a trick to getting the energy to hold an edge. Dark TE certainly doesn''t behave like Grass or Bug, but I guess that''s to be expected,'' Lee muses.

    Between frustrating failures, Grovyle alternates between furthering his mastery of Quick Attack and getting used to Rock Tomb. Quick Attack''s progress has begun to level off, leaving Grovyle somewhere between Andre''s Absol and Wattson''s Jolteon in speed. That''s not the most impressive part, however. No, his ability to near-totally arrest his momentum and accelerate in another direction is what''s truly impressive. Grovyle must be putting several Gs worth of stress on his body making such sharp turns or coming to abrupt stops with Quick Attack�� Or Quick Attack is somehow shielding him from the worst effects of moving at such speeds. ''If that''s the case, then I might have a newfound appreciation for the flexibility of Normal TE�� Or maybe a better term is Neutral TE? No, don''t worry about that right now. Normal TE is fine.''

    Lee takes a moment to admire Grovyle as he trains.

    Brows furrowed, the pokemon hisses and draws an arm back from his place about thirty yards away. In front of his open claws, a small rock begins to form from sand that appears from seemingly nowhere. The sand collects into a mass, forming a solid brown rock that grows larger and larger. Before three seconds have passed, a stone as large as Grovyle floats before him. Then with a grunt, he thrusts his forearm forward.

    As if thrown by a pokemon thrice Grovyle''s size, the stone quickly flies forward in a lazy arc, crashing down into the dirt with a mighty thud that can be felt in the soles of Lee''s boots.

    While the attack is a far cry from his usual blistering-fast assaults, the simple yet destructive power of hurling a large rock cannot be denied. If a pokemon were struck by the boulder, the resulting powdered bones would make for a very bad day.

    With a deep sigh, Grovyle raises his arms, the green leaves of his wrists darkening with the power of his bastardized Night Slash. Then, with a movement so fast Lee almost doesn''t see it, Grovyle races forward and slices into his newly created boulder as little more than a flicker of green.

    Schink-crack!

    The top half of the boulder slides away from the bottom to tumble on the ground, revealing a rough, uneven cut through the stone.

    Grovyle huffs and shakes his wrists, which must be smarting after powering through solid rock.

    Lee hums to himself and inspects the aftermath of Grovyle''s other Rock Tomb attacks.

    Around the field are a few other boulders, but the oldest ones have crumbled away into piles of sand. The newer ones all feature rough cuts and slices in their faces, all of which leak slow trickles of sand.

    ''I wonder�� Is it Grovyle''s inexperience with the move, or with molding Rock TE causing that? Or do all TE constructs decay rapidly? I don''t recall water produced by pokemon evaporating quickly. It feels like the more I notice, the less I understand.''

    Lee then turns to Ninetales.

    Like Grovyle, his oldest partner is flexing back and forth in her training. Between bouts of honing her skills, she''s been working on their commission for Flannery. After some back and forth over the last few days, they agreed on the move to present to Flannery and how best to create it.

    Nearly on the other side of the field, Ninetales angles her head back, a sphere of rolling fire the size of a beach ball manifesting before her open jaws with a whoosh of hot air.

    She narrows her eyes, leaning back a little more, then she lets go.

    The fireball races up into the sky, then explodes like a magnificent firework. From the burst of orange flames comes a rain of smaller, fist-sized fireballs that scream as they fall to the earth.

    Nearly all of the fireballs hit the ground behind Ninetales within a huge radius, each one exploding like a grenade and throwing blackened dirt everywhere. The staccato of explosions rolls off Mount Chimney and echoes back at the group, letting them hear it over and over until the sound finally fades. When the smoke and dirt clear, Ninetales is left standing in a field of shallow craters.

    At first, Lee wished to make something tailored for Torkoal, but then realized that to make the move in a reasonable timeframe, Ninetales would need to do most of the heavy lifting and actually make it usable for herself. The restriction left them with moves that are forced to work within the confines of Ninetales'' biology, but perhaps that''s for the best for their first time creating a move for someone else.

    The airburst fireball is what they went with. Working together, Lee and Ninetales formulated an attack that needs no ''programming'' in order to accomplish its task. The initial fireball is little more than a weak shell to hold the actual projectiles inside while the attack rises to a target height of about twenty yards up. The outside of the shell is nice and stable, but the inside needs only a forceful touch to destabilize and collapse into harmless embers.

    Inside that shell are numerous smaller fireballs not unlike the projectiles of Convergence. The tightly-wound balls are filled with dense, volatile ''liquid'' Fire TE that is only kept from going critical by their more ''solid'' shells. These smaller shells are hardier than the thin one keeping them all in a tight bundle, but a harsh enough impact, like, say, with the ground, jostles their contents enough to explode.

    In the center of the firework-inspired attack is a much less stable fireball, one that, after some trial and error, Lee and Ninetales have successfully configured to pop at the apex of the attack''s flight, bursting the outer shell and propelling the multi-ball payload to spread before gravity takes hold. The user only needs to angle the attack in the direction they want to saturate, and after flying up, everything takes care of itself.

    ��Though, maybe saying they have ''configured'' the central fireball acting as the propelling charge is too much. It''s more like they''ve figured out how to make a purposely flawed fireball fail and detonate at the most convenient time. True configuration would be learning how to put a timer on a stable fireball, something that eludes Ninetales when the move lacks her direct pyrokinetic control.

    The move failed over and over in the beginning. Sometimes the central fireball was too violent and destroyed the payload in a gigantic conflagration. Sometimes the outer shell was too solid and Ninetales had to hastily ''toss'' the ball away with her pyrokinesis before it came back down and exploded in her face. Sometimes something else happened and things went sideways. Despite all their failures, though, the move was finished in only a few days. Now all that''s left is to refine it as best they can before presenting it for copying.

    All in all, it is a functional and powerful move, even if its ''no programming'' nature means it cannot be modified much. The discovery that Fire TE can exist in multiple states like liquid and solid is a worthwhile reward for the grief, in Lee''s opinion.

    Ninetales sighs and looks at her golden pelt, which is stained with dirt and soot. ''Lee, please tell me some of our upcoming training involves the creation of psychic barriers.'' She wrinkles her snout in a display that makes Lee smile. ''Now that my fur is thicker, cleaning up at the end of the day is such a pain�� I''d prefer to just block the grime before it hits me.'' She shakes herself head to tails, dislodging only a minimal amount of dirt.

    ''I did look up methods used to train young psychics in making barriers, but��''

    ''But?''

    ''But it requires holding something flat and delicate like paper taut without ripping it as the first control exercise. That trains your brain to make stable surfaces midair.''

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Ninetales audibly growls, her gleaming eyes turning to send a sour look to a mess of broken eggshells, yolk, and paper egg cartons ripped up in frustration. The mess has since been tossed to the greenery for nature to reclaim.

    One exercise Lee has been having Ninetales work on is a simple one he read about online. Telekinetic control can be honed with simple, repetitive exercises that don''t require much force. Something simple like moving eggs between cartons without crushing them is where many psychics too strong for their own good begin.

    So far�� It''s not been terribly fruitful for Ninetales.

    ''You''ll get the hang of it, Love.'' Lee closes his eyes and pulls his fox into a mental hug, siphoning away her dissatisfaction with her progress. The channel between them shortens, and their raw minds touch as Lee wraps her in assurance. He''s careful not to touch too much of his mind to hers at once, though, lest he trigger a mind-meld like they shared shortly after her evolution.

    Telepathically, Ninetales melts into the embrace with a half-hearted huff. ''You evolved less than two weeks ago,'' Lee continues. ''Don''t let it get you down. You''ll master your powers and I''ll be there every step of the way to help.''

    Ninetales is content to bathe in Lee''s affection, then reluctantly pulls herself free to resume her training. ''Of course. I won''t let you down.''

    ''You really believe there is anything you could do to make me think you let me down?'' Lee physically chuckles.

    The fox doesn''t answer, but the surge of love that flows from her to Lee says more than words could anyway.

    Something wet taps Lee''s hand with annoying persistence, and re-opening his eyes, Lee looks down to see Octillery leveling him with a narrow-eyed stare.

    "Oops��" The zoologist gives the octopus an awkward grin. "Sorry for spacing out there, Octillery. Let''s use up the last of our targets then we''ll all break for lunch, okay?"

    Pacified, Octillery gives his tentacles a wave that Lee has learned means ''I''m ready''.

    Testing the red octopus has been nice and smooth. For the past week, Lee has been brushing up on his knowledge of cephalopods and their health, and as he expected, Octillery passed this morning''s physical with flying colors. Not that the lack of issues is surprising or anything, considering that he''s spent over a week in a Pokemon Center. It would be surprising if anything was wrong with him after that.

    Octillery''s performance lives up to Lee''s initial expectations as well. The three-foot-tall octopus is an utter terror at range, but cracks begin to show when he''s asked to perform melee feats. The poor guy is by far Lee''s slowest pokemon, as crawling about on his tentacles is the best he can do mobility-wise. With a windup, Octillery can jump a decent distance, but it''s not entirely viable as a dodge unless Octillery has already read his foe''s attack well in advance.

    ''Though, maybe reading an incoming attack and figuring out the best place to dodge to isn''t that big of an ask for him��'' Lee muses to himself.

    Lee reaches down to the cardboard box at his side, seeing only five targets left. He picks two up and flips them between his fingers.

    The targets are nothing special, being clay disks rather similar to the ones used in shotgun skeet matches. It was a surprise to learn that skeet is indeed a sport here on this alternate Earth, but like all other sports, everything pokemon related eclipses it by an absurd margin.

    It makes sense to Lee. Sports like football can be thrilling, but even a mid-level pokemon battle beats out all but the most insane football plays.

    Before Octillery can become irritated with him standing idle and not throwing targets, Lee clears his throat and winds an arm back. "Octazooka!" He lets the disks fly. One flies straight, and the other flies at an awkward angle off to the left. The left one is a bad throw, and it''s heading towards the ground fast.

    Octillery''s eyes instantly snap to the spinning disks of orange flying by. He gurgles, and just before he fires, Lee covers his own ears.

    BANG-NG-NG!

    Octillery leads the shot perfectly. The bolt of ink shatters the leftmost clay disk into a thousand pieces before it can hit the ground. His eyes then take in the easier shot, and rotating himself slightly, Octillery sucks in another breath.

    BANG-NG-NG!

    The second disk is hit dead center and vanishes in a spray of ink and clay shards.

    Lee picks up another disk and lets it fly. "Gunk Shot!"

    Lee can almost see the ballistic calculations playing themselves out in Octillery''s eyes. The octopus leans back slightly, then he puckers his mouth and spits a sickly purple orb that fills the air with the noxious scent of toxins.

    Unlike Octazooka, Gunk Shot is far slower and heavier, arcing through the air like a baseball launched from a pitching machine. Regardless of its speed or less than flat trajectory, Gunk Shot collides with the clay disk with a hiss, coating the target in a mess of noxious purple goop. The mess falls to the ground with a splat, where it bubbles. The harsh poison of Gunk Shot strips the orange paint right off the disk before it eats through the clay itself.

    Mindfully, Octillery looses a spray of water from his mouth into the poisonous puddle, diluting it into something much less harsh on the nature around it. Once the purple color is barely visible in the now larger puddle, Octillery cuts off the fire-hose of water with a satisfied gurgle.

    "Thank you, Octillery," Lee smiles and places a hand on the octopus'' head. "Even if the land here is already good and destroyed, we don''t need to make it worse."

    Octillery nods, then sends an impatient look at the remaining clay targets in the box.

    "Right, right, sorry." Lee picks two more up. "Last ones. Ice Beam!" He throws both high.

    Octillery responds near-instantly. From his mouth shoots a frigid beam of light blue energy that quickly lowers the temperature around himself and Lee. The sudden drop draws a shiver from the man despite the beating sun overhead.

    Ice Beam isn''t an instant laser, and the beam quivers as if experiencing some kind of instability, but it flies quickly and in a straight line for a hundred yards easily. In a burst of crackling ice, the first clay disk is struck and instantly shatters from the thermal shock.

    Then, rather than end Ice Beam and fire again, Octillery simply sweeps the beam over the second disk, once more leading his attack so perfectly that there is almost no wasted movement. Ice Beam washes over the second disk, and it shatters into frosty shards like the first.

    Octillery cuts off the beam and looks up to Lee expectantly.

    "Fifty out of fifty," Lee chuckles and gives the empty cardboard box at his side a kick. "A hundred percent accuracy rating. Well done, Octillery."

    The Water-type waves a tentacle uncaringly, as if saying that was nothing.

    "Well, I found it impressive, at least." Lee smiles and picks up the box, tearing it down so he can stuff it with the other bits of kindling he keeps in one of his backpack''s pockets. "I bet you''re hungry after all that, so let''s eat."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    After a late lunch and a bit more training, Lee makes the decision to call it a day. Even if both pokemon hide it, Grovyle and Octillery are tired after a long day. It''s only made more apparent when neither protest being recalled back into their pokeballs for a well-deserved rest, leaving Ninetales and Lee alone. Before they clean up and leave, Ninetales noses at Lee''s hip.

    ''Lee,'' Ninetales begins. ''We''ve been working on my finesse for the last few days. Now that we have this unused land, should we try to find my new limits?''

    ''That''s right. I nearly forgot,'' Lee responds. He snakes a mental thread into Ninetales, touching her core and realizing she''s not even winded after today. ''I guess using the same move over and over, broken up with breaks, isn''t the most taxing thing around. I''m game to stay a bit longer to help you try everything out.''

    Ninetales'' namesake appendages wave about with an eager enthusiasm to them. ''What first?''

    "First��" Lee hums and slowly turns his head, spying a mostly intact, if dead, tree close to the edge of the greenery. The tree is wide enough around that it would take two men his size hugging the hunk of wood to barely meet fingers around the trunk, and it''s easily eighty feet high. ''I''m no arborist, but I''d estimate a tree that size is at least a few tons, even if it''s totally dry. Ninetales ripped a heavy door off its hinges by total accident, so shifting a dead tree should give us an idea of where she lies power-wise.'' With a nod, Lee points to the dead tree. "Let''s give your telekinesis a try. Give that tree a telepathic once over, and if nothing is living in there, give it a pull with everything you have."

    Ninetales nods, her eyes glowing. Like a creeping stain, an aura of deep purple covers the tree, starting from the base and moving up. The distance of over a hundred feet doesn''t seem to bother her at all. The aura slows slightly when it has to envelop the rickety branches, but in a matter of moments, the entire tree is covered. Some of the burnt bark crumbles and a few branches break when the telekinetic corona tightens into an ironclad grip, but the tree remains stable for the most part. Ninetales narrows her eyes, then with an effort Lee can feel secondhand, she pulls.

    The tree groans and the ground rumbles as the dead roots fight to keep the tree in the dirt, but it''s a losing battle. Ninetales screws her eyes shut, growls, and yanks as hard as she can once more.

    With a ground-shaking bang, the tree, roots and all, comes free in a plume of dirt. The tree is dislodged so violently that Lee has to raise his arms and shield his face from flying clods of dirt that smack into him.

    In Ninetales'' ethereal grip, the dead tree hovers twenty feet over the hole its roots once lay inside, the network of gangly roots beneath the mass slowly dribbling soil back into the hole.

    Lee lowers his arms, taking in the sight with his jaw slowly dropping. "God damn��" he curses to himself. "Nine, I expected you to shift the tree around a bit, but ripping it right out of the ground?" He shakes his head. "I didn''t see that coming."

    Ninetales clears her throat and slowly sets the tree down like a child might do a large branch. ''My apologies�� I didn''t realize I could do that,'' she says, sounding faintly embarrassed.

    "No, no; it''s fine. It''s a learning experience for everyone," Lee assures with his hands raised. "Was keeping that much weight aloft hard?"

    ''Not�� hard, per se, but I don''t think I could keep something of that weight up indefinitely. Perhaps several minutes before the strain begins to cause a headache.'' Ninetales tilts her head.

    "Alrighty." Lee looks over the uprooted tree and lets out a low whistle of amazement. "Okay, as for physical strength�� We''re probably going to need something more specialized than what we can use in the field. I''ve been meaning to get a radar gun for Grovyle too, so we''ll put a number to your speed another day. For the last obvious test..." Lee looks around, finding no worthwhile or sturdy enough targets. "For your fire abilities, let''s keep it simple for now. Try out a Flamethrower with as much force as you can put behind it. Aim it straight up, as I don''t think there''s really a good target out here."

    Ninetales nods and takes a few steps away. She takes a deep breath, one that makes her tuft of breast swell, she leans her head back and-!

    Lee hisses and turns away, the sudden light blinding him. Blinking, he reopens his eyes and gapes at what he sees.

    (Credit to @OhKayArt</a> for the stellar fanart)

    From Ninetales'' maw comes no simple Flamethrower. A roaring, billowing pillar of white-hot flames races into the sky, drying the air out and making the dirt around Ninetales'' paws hiss and crack. The firestorm has enough circumference to swallow three men standing arm''s length away from each other with room to spare, and it only widens out the further it flies up.

    The Flamethrower keeps going and going, cooling into orange flames as it gets further away from Ninetales, before finally losing steam and sputtering out hundreds, maybe thousands of feet up.

    Ninetales shuts her jaws after fifteen seconds, cutting off the raging fire.

    The pillar of flame wavers, the last vestiges rising up before going out. Although the fire never actually reaches that high, Lee watches as the residual heat in the atmosphere eats away at the edges of several clouds. It''s almost like watching cotton candy being sprayed with water.

    Ninetales lowers her head and pants, the first pangs of exhaustion she''s felt since evolving hitting her like battering rams. ''Ah, overexertion, my old friend��'' she begins, sarcasm dripping from each word. ''How lovely of you to visit.''

    ''Love, if it''s any consolation, then I don''t think there are many pokemon that could take a blast like that and remain standing.'' Eyes still skyward on the lazily evaporating clouds, Lee steps over to Ninetales. The dried-out dirt crunches underfoot as he kneels next to her and pulls the golden fox into a one-armed hug. ''Stamina might have been an issue as a Vulpix, but a Flamethrower only a tenth as powerful as that would have floored anyone you''ve faced in the past.''

    The fox smiles and presses her muzzle under Lee''s chin, tickling his cheek with her ears. Then one ear quirks and she turns to look at the horizon.

    Lee follows Ninetales'' eyes.

    Coming in hot on the broad back of a smiling Togekiss is a woman garbed in the signature dress of a Pokemon Ranger. Even so far away, the irritation her tense form radiates is plain to see.

    ''I guess burning away the clouds counts as damaging the environment. Swell��''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Another three days'' worth of training sun-up to sun-down pass, and the day of Lee''s fourth Gym match finally arrives. The past days spent helping his pokemon hone their skills have left the whole team brimming with confidence for the fight ahead, and with Flannery''s custom move done and ready for copying well before the deadline nearly two weeks from now, team stress has been at a minimum the whole way.

    Zinnia and Courtney left a sleepy Brendan behind to secure a few of the Lavaridge Gym''s sparse seats, leaving Lee to rouse Brendan and Marshtomp for the trip to the Gym, which they''re on the way to now.

    "So, you nervous?" Brendan asks, looking up at Lee.

    The zoologist shakes his head. "Not really. Maybe a little anxious, but it''s not anything negative. This''ll be a fun match, I think."

    When Lee says he''s not nervous, Brendan''s eyes drift over to Ninetales, who is nodding along to Marshtomp as the mudfish pokemon adamantly croaks about something. "I guess I understand why."

    "Ninetales is impressive, but she''s not the only member of the team," Lee clicks his tongue. "Grovyle keeps on improving with no end in sight, and Octillery has more than proven himself competent. He seems to have a different beam attack for every occasion, and that''s assuming he doesn''t just put the other pokemon through a wall with a tank shell made of ink."

    Brendan grins at the imagery. "You know, you don''t actually need to tell me how your pokemon are doing. I stopped by the Lavaridge Ranger station to take a look at local migration reports and was just in time to hear a lady ranger complain about "that son of a bitch Henson and his fox forcing me to fly out again." That tells more than you ever could."

    Lee blushes and looks away in embarrassment. "They should have defined what counts as ''undue environmental destruction'' better. I had Octillery cool off any slag we made before it could start any fires."

    "Uh-huh, sure��" Brendan laughs. "So now that your super secret gym-prep training is done, when are we having a Water versus Water match? I bet Marshtomp can take Octillery!"

    Marshtomp breaks away from his conversation with Ninetales to croak in agreement.

    "Isn''t your match tomorrow?" At Brendan''s nod, Lee continues. "Let''s give it a week, then. Don''t think Flannery is a pushover or that your team will get away without injuries just because your ace is a Water-type. I''m already counting on taking a few days of recovery time for my team."

    "I know that," Brendan crosses his arms and mockingly sticks his tongue out at the older trainer. "We''ll win, though."

    The two trainers and two pokemon make their way through town. By now, Ninetales is a common enough sight around Lavaridge that not too many people stop to take pictures or immediately get out of the way, so they navigate the crowded streets a bit more slowly than usual. After a while, they turn off down the unpaved route leading to the Gym.

    On the quieter road leading to the Gym, Brendan suddenly speaks up once more. "Hey, Lee?" The boy asks. "What do you see yourself doing after the Ever Grande Conference?"

    Lee blinks. "That''s quite a bit away, so it''s hard to say. Why do you ask?" He gives Brendan his full attention.

    "Well��" Brendan rubs one of his arms with the opposite hand, seemingly unsure of what to say. "When we first started out on this journey, I kind of didn''t have a goal in mind. I always figured I''d wander around, find neat pokemon, and discover something I loved doing like my dad did with pokemon and their habitats. Dad could have been the Champion if he decided to take on the Elite Four after his Ever Grande Conference win." Brendan''s words stop as he looks down at the pokeball belonging to Marshtomp in his hands.

    Off to the side, both Ninetales and Marshtomp let their conversation die out to listen.

    "I did a lot of thinking since we got out of the Valley of Steel, and a lot of talking with my pokemon. From there, it became obvious. I''ve figured out what I want out of being a pokemon trainer." Brendan stares up at Lee with an intensity that feels out of place in the eyes of a child. "We''re aiming for the throne of Champion. We''re going to go all the way and use everything we have to get there. We''re going to take dad''s legacy and finish what he started."

    Marshtomp pumps a fist and practically roars his support for his trainer with a bellow so loud it echoes off of Mount Chimney. His beady eyes shine with the same intensity as Brendan''s, and if Lee didn''t know any better, he would have said the pair are mirroring each other''s emotions with telepathy.

    Lee almost steps back. "Jeez, Brendan��" He can''t manage any other words.

    "And the reason I''m telling you this, Lee��" Brendan''s fingers clench around Marshtomp''s ball. "I know you''re not the kind of guy who wants to be Champion no matter how strong your pokemon get. You''re like my dad in that regard, so if we don''t face off in the Ever Grande Conference, then I want a real battle with you, no holds barred. No matter how far my team gets in the Conference, or the Elite Four challenge, or even the Champion Title match, I know that once everything is said and done��" Brendan''s eyes pin Lee in place. "A real battle against you and your pokemon will be one of the hardest challenges we could ever face. It''ll be proof of how far we''ve come."

    It takes Lee a moment to find his words. When he does, he gulps. "If a battle with everything we can offer is what you want, then consider it done�� But you''re putting a lot of faith in me there, Brendan��"

    Like a flipped switch, Brendan grins and goes from frightful trainer back to happy-go-lucky boy. "Maybe, but I believe in you. You''re a tough guy and a crazy good pokemon trainer. Some rivalry is good for everyone. Also, you never answered me about what you want to do after the Conference."

    ''Rivalry is good for everyone? Bah. Nice way to justify the threat to kick my ass.'' Lee inwardly rolls his eyes."You''re right on me not wanting the Champion title. If we somehow make it to Steven Stone and eke out a win��" He looks over to Ninetales, a quick conversation passing between them. "I''d probably turn the title down. I know neither myself nor Ninetales would want to be tied down, and Grovyle is in it for the glory of beating tough pokemon, not a title. I imagine Octillery would be neutral on the matter and Shinx probably won''t care one way or another once she''s old enough to understand. Whether or not we enter the Ever Grande Conference is still up in the air, really."

    Brendan slumps and groans as they pass the open gates of the Gym and begin the final approach to the main building. "Maaaan, really? I think you should enter! It would be a huge prestige boost to the lab if we both make it!"

    "I never said we won''t, I''m just saying it depends on how the team as a whole feels about it once the time comes," Lee replies, taking the front door of the Gym and holding it open for Brendan, Marshtomp, and Ninetales. Following in after them, he nearly bumps into his fox when he finds her standing stiff with surprise in the doorway. "Ninetales? What''s up wi-..."

    Then he sees why she, Brendan, and Marshtomp were stunned into stopping.

    In the lobby being sold a last-minute ticket by a flustered Gym aide is Steven Stone, the Hoenn Champion.

    ''Are you fucking kidding me?'' The nervousness that Lee denied to Brendan suddenly rises up and digs its claws into Lee''s stomach. ''I know he and the other Gym Leaders keep an eye on my matches, but coming here in person?''

    The jingle of the bell over the door makes the Champion look over his shoulder, and when he spies the group behind him, he smiles. "If it isn''t Lee Henson and Brendan Birch!" He takes the offered ticket from the Gym aide running the front desk and tucks it into his suit''s breast pocket before stepping towards them. "You certainly took your sweet time, Lee. Your match is beginning in just a few minutes!"

    "Steven, it''s a pleasure to see you again." Lee sighs. "The streets were a bit congested, I''m sure you understand."

    "You, uh��" Brendan stutters, looking up at Steven with stars in his eyes and a grin barely contained. "Y-you know who I am, Mister Stone?" He asks as if he can scarcely believe it.

    Steven waves Brendan off. "Just Steven is fine, Brendan, and of course I know of you! You were one of the first trainers on the radar of myself and the rest of the Hoenn League this year. We''ve got high hopes for you."

    Brendan looks as if he''d just died and gone to heaven, but before he can space out too hard, Marshtomp elbows Brendan''s side and pulls him back to reality. "Oh," Brendan grins and scratches the back of his head. "Er, I''ll do my best!"

    "I know it," Steven smiles in reply.

    "What brings you to Lavaridge, Steven?" Lee asks, wondering just why a Champion would be here and hoping to God it''s not just to mess with him.

    ''I have doubts he''s here just to stress you out, Beloved,'' Ninetales sends to Lee.

    "I wanted to see your match, of course!" Steven says brightly.

    ''You were saying, love?''

    ''...''

    "Or maybe it''s more accurate to say I was in the neighborhood and happened by at an opportune time," the Devon heir corrects himself after a moment. "My pokemon and I were taking a short vacation in the Valley of Steel, and after our R-and-R, stopped by Lavaridge to refresh ourselves before heading back to Ever Grande City." Steven reaches up and rubs the Mega Keystone in the pin of his left breast pocket with a drawn-out sigh. "If I had known just how many meetings and stacks of paperwork were involved with being Champion, I might have passed on taking the office."

    Lee nods, then a thought strikes him. A risky one, but one that might save lives down the line. "Say, Steven? If you aren''t terribly busy, can you spare a bit of time to talk after my match? I''ve got a few things you might be interested in hearing. I would have sent an email or something, but you never know what email filters might catch nowadays."

    ''Translation: I don''t want anyone to know about what I have to say.''

    Steven''s smile remains on his face, but it cools into something more professional, telling Lee the man is plenty adept at reading between the lines. "I can make time, sure. I''ll be here in the lobby when you''re ready."

    Lee glances at Brendan, who still seems to be so star-struck by Steven that he missed the unspoken words. "Well, off we go. Wish us luck."

    "Good luck!" Steven smiles and ushers Brendan and Marshtomp along through the doors to the spectator seating.

    Meeting Ninetales'' eyes once more, the pair head through the doors to the arena. Already used to the routine, Lee takes a lapel microphone off of a wall-mounted rack of chargers and fits it to his collar without the young aide by the arena door needing to say anything.

    "Erm, sir? And ma''am?" The aide says after a minute of staring at Ninetales. "All pokemon need to be in their pokeballs prior to entering unless Ninetales is going first. Master Moore''s rules."

    Rolling their eyes as one, neither Ninetales nor Lee fight the rule, and Ninetales is returned to her ball in a flash of red. Where her telepathy was dulled by the pokeball before, Ninetales'' mental presence is powerful enough now that she only needs to put moderately more force into remaining connected to Lee.

    ''An asinine rule if you ask me��'' Ninetales grumbles from within her ball.

    Lee just pats the ball on his belt in sympathy.

    They only need to wait a few minutes, as the aide by the arena door raises a hand to the radio in his ear and nods. "Right, sending him in." The young man''s hand drops. "Mister Henson, you''re up. Good luck!"

    Lee gives the younger man a nod and steps through, blinking at what he finds.

    The Lavaridge arena is made of packed dirt like the other arenas in the previous Gyms, but is larger than regulation, maybe thirty percent or so larger, and at the expense of seating room to boot. There are only four rows of seats on either side of the arena and they''re utterly packed. Scanning the room, Lee finds Brendan, Courtney, and Zinnia up in one corner.

    Brendan and Zinnia smile and wave down at him, and after a moment of watching the two next to her, Courtney offers her own short wave. ''For being in the same room as the Champion��'' Lee sends a sidelong glance to the other side of the room. ''Courtney has a damn good poker face.''

    Off to the right in a prime spot front and center is Steven. The people around all gape and try their hardest to pretend they''re not staring at the Champion, and all of them fail miserably. If the Steel-type master is bothered by the attention, he hides it like a pro.

    Finally, on the other side of the arena, Flannery stands with a severe expression on her face. The way her fingers twiddle with a pokeball gives away her true thoughts, however.

    Unlike the other arenas that were always filled with chatter, Lavaridge is quiet as Lee takes his place in the challenger''s box. ''Maybe it''s from how traditional the Gym is? I wouldn''t want to look out of place by making noise in a place like this, either.''

    Off to the side, the referee, an older man in dark, striped robes steps forward and clears his throat into the microphone in his hand. "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen," The spectators go totally quiet as the ref''s voice reverberates through the overhead PA system. "Thank you for joining us for our latest match here at the Lavaridge Gym. Today, Gym Heir Flannery will be facing Lee Henson of Littleroot in a three-on-three standard battle for the Heat Badge. We''re pleased to have you all here as witnesses for fine young trainers and pokemon testing their mettle in the ring of honor." The intro is precise and without any fanfare.

    "One moment, if you would!" A loud voice followed by clinking footsteps breaks the calm.

    The double doors behind Flannery open, and out steps Moore.

    Flannery turns away from the arena, and Lee can almost imagine her confused blink. "Grandpa?"

    There, standing behind Flannery on the defender''s side of the field, is Mura Moore dressed in a full suit of polished armor fit for a samurai. Much of the armor is red, with the chest plate painted to depict rolling flames. Under his left arm is a full helm with a faceplate in the exact image of a snarling Typhlosion, and on his right hip are six full-size pokeballs held in holsters of woven straw. The elderly man''s glasses are gone, and on his face is a stern, stone-hewn visage that truly emphasizes his age.

    "Flannery, my dear," Moore allows his face to soften. "After a last-minute decision, I will be handling this battle. If you would, please?" He gestures to the space behind the defender''s box.

    Flannery, who seems too shocked to argue, nods and steps away.

    Moore smiles at her, then turns to glare at Lee as his face hardens once more. "Lee Henson!" He calls. "Know this before all else: you are recognized."

    Sweat rolls down Lee''s brow. "Recognized?"

    Moore nods once. "In you, I see vast potential. The passion and love you put into your pokemon has already taken you to new and grand heights, and you''ve still so far to go! Your passion has touched something long dormant within me, within my pokemon, and only now do I realize how I have brought shame upon this Gym."

    ''Shame?'' Ninetales questions, her ball wiggling in agitation. ''What is he talking about?''

    Lee looks over to Flannery, then to Steven.

    Both wear open surprise on their faces, so this wasn''t scripted. Steven meets Lee''s eyes for just a moment, but what Lee sees makes his blood run cold.

    Steven looks concerned. Concerned for Lee. The scarred man swallows thickly. Even through her ball, Lee swears he can feel Ninetales'' hackles rise.

    "I have allowed apathy and age to form rust upon both myself and my pokemon," Moore continues, slowly raising the helmet under his arm. "My dearest granddaughter Flannery has already surpassed me in so many ways. Once this Gym is hers, she will take it to a level of glory unseen before, and this is something I know to be true in my heart of hearts. Truly, the youth of this era are titans that we old ones can only stare up at in awe. Nevertheless, I have shamed the Lavaridge Gym by halting our own progress in favor of the dreams of the young and inspired. My team, my first pokemon, Ty�� I have done them all a grave disservice by letting their fire dim. We are old now. Twilight years are upon us, and no lamentations will allow us to do them over."

    The helmet comes to rest on Moore''s head, and slowly, he fastens the strap under his chin.

    "We will not go quietly, though," Moore''s voice reverberates hollowly through his helmet, and goosebumps break out along Lee''s skin. "It''s our time to step aside, to allow fine trainers such as Flannery and yourself to take the stage. We will not simply burn out, though. No, we will go out as true masters of the flame should! With a bang and a grand plume of fire!" Moore''s voice rises the longer he speaks. "We have fallen from the ranks of the Elite, but the world will hear us roar one last time! Lee Henson, he who stands so readily beside the mythical, accursed Ninetales, I, Mura of the house of Moore, challenge you to a three-on-three battle for the Heat Badge!" In his helmet, Moore''s eyes shine. "The full might of Gym Lavaridge beckons, Lee! Will you be found wanting?!"

    ''God damn it all with this clan and nobility shit��'' Lee mentally curses. ''I knew this deal was going to come back to bite me somehow.''

    Lee palms Grovyle''s ball in a clammy hand. "Well, I can''t really run away from this, can I? You''re on."

    Moore takes his first pokeball, holding it aloft with a toothy grin visible under his helmet. "Splendid! Most Splendid! Give me the honor of showing you what awaits!"

    Both Lee and Moore draw back their arms as one, then two pokeballs fly into the arena.

 Act 2: Chapter 9

    Lee feels a bead of sweat roll down his neck as he watches the Pokeballs fly into the arena. ''Why do we always seem to run into situations like this?''

    Grovyle''s ball flies a bit faster than Moore''s, and pops open first with a snap-hiss. In a flash of light, Grovyle stands ready on Lee''s side of the field. The gecko''s legs are tense, his arms are raised, and his yellow eyes glow faintly in the old fluorescent lights of the Gym. When he sees Moore rather than Flannery, his mouth quirks into a slight smirk.

    Moore''s pokeball pops open next, dropping a large mass of light onto the ground. The light takes a tall shape with four legs before the white glow fades, revealing a magnificent Rapidash standing tall on the field.

    Moore''s Rapidash bears a resemblance to the mundane horses Lee is familiar with in shape only. The equine pokemon is covered in pale yellow hair faded with age, broken up by scars here and there, but the rolling muscle beneath is fit for a stallion in its prime. Billowing flames of orange and red form Rapidash''s mane and tail, along with crests of fire just above his deep-blue colored hooves. Below the short unicorn''s horn on his forehead, Rapidash''s red eyes regard Grovyle with clear dismissal. The stallion snorts and throws his head, looking down upon the Grass-type before him.

    Grovyle''s smirk sours.

    Off to the side, the referee overcomes his shock and clears his throat into his microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen," his voice wavers slightly. "Our challenge today has been changed by Gym Leader Moore. Challenger Lee Henson will face Gym Leader Moore three-on-three, with no substitutions for either party. The match will begin shortly." The referee sends a severe look to one of the aides to his left.

    The nervous Gym Aide scarcely notices, as he pulls a pokeball from his belt and pops it open releasing a young Kadabra, who first looks at Grovyle with a raised brow, then to Rapidash��leaving the psychic type to stare with open, wide-eyed alarm. The Kadabra raises his hand, and around the arena, two barriers with several inches of air insulation between them flare to life. The pink walls fade into invisibility, but their low, ongoing hum tells everyone the barriers are still up.

    ''No subs? Damn.'' Lee frowns. ''That might complicate things. Give it your all, Grovyle,'' he silently wishes, staring into the pokemon''s back.

    The ref looks between Lee and Moore. "Are both sides ready?"

    "Ready��" Lee reluctantly mutters.

    "Ready!" Moore''s grins, wide and almost maniacal. "Ready!"

    The referee raises his hand and chops it down. "Begin!"

    "Flame Wheel!" Moore''s command is near-instant.

    Rapidash rears up on his hind legs as his flaming mane and tail surge into a single mantle of bright flame, then he falls forward and rolls into a giant wheel of fire that races across the large arena. The horse pokemon crosses half the space between himself and Grovyle in a flash, leaving a trail of blackened, burnt dirt in his wake.

    "Quick Attack, stay at range, and use Seed Sniper!" Lee barks. ''We can''t really get close to Rapidash while he''s covered in fire. We need to stall for right now.''

    Grovyle''s eyes narrow, and the subtle glow of Quick Attack covers his body. Then in a flash of green, he zips away off to the right side of the arena and far out of danger. He lands without so much of a skid on the ground and opens his mouth. In his throat, the bright, green-yellow light of Seed Sniper begins to build.

    Rapidash rolls out of Flame Wheel, still flying at full speed towards the invisible wall of the barrier. Then in a move that would break all the limbs of a normal equine, Rapidash flips and twists around, landing hooves-first against the barrier. The stallion''s legs bend to absorb the impact, then he springs off of the wall and rolls back into another Flame Wheel.

    BANG-NG-NG!

    The supersonic crack of Seed Sniper shakes the walls and, like a laser, the seed hurtles toward Rapidash in a streak of yellow. The intense flames of Flame Wheel set the seed alight, but before it can turn to ash, the botanical bullet clearly hits flesh with a wet ''thwack!''

    "Move!" Lee calls again, looking towards the other side of the arena.

    Grovyle follows Lee''s eyes, and with another flare of Quick Attack, the gecko pokemon is gone, missing what would have been an incapacitating blow by half a thought.

    Rapidash unrolls once more, his cloak of fire fading with an irritated snort on his part. He digs his hooves into the dirt and slows to a stop, focusing an ugly eye on Grovyle. On the Fire-type''s left shoulder is a round bullet wound. Heat-dried blood stains it while fresh blood slowly dribbles down Rapidash''s leg.

    "Well done! First blood goes to you and Grovyle, Lee!" Moore praises, his grin not faltering at all. "We cannot let your game of keep away continue though. Rapidash! Flame Terrain!"

    ''Shit!'' Lee''s eyes bug out. "Grovyle! Make a safe spot with Rock Tomb!" He orders, not waiting to see what Flame Terrain actually does. ''If it does what it says on the tin��''

    Rapidash rears up on his hind legs again, kicking out his front legs with a whinny. His hooves light up with a blinding white heat, and then he drives them into the ground like superheated hammers.

    At the same time, Grovyle leaps into the air and draws back one of his two-fingered hands. Before the hand, a rock manifests from little whirls of sand, growing to Grovyle''s size with the rumbling groan of stressed stone. He tosses the boulder to the ground with a crash and lands on it in a crouch. He digs his hind claws into the stone, ready to move at a moment''s notice.

    It quickly becomes apparent why Moore named Rapidash''s attack Flame Terrain.

    From around Rapidash''s hooves, the ground cracks and begins to glow red-hot. The cracks, spewing out sooty embers, spread like glass spider-webbing in slow motion. The ground between the rends in the dirt steams and hisses, drying to ashen clods.

    Grovyle cringes, though Lee can''t feel any of the doubtlessly oppressive heat.

    ''The whole field is going to be a no-go zone for Grovyle if he can''t touch the ground!'' Lee grits his teeth as he watches Flame Terrain consume the arena floor. "Don''t let him finish, Grovyle! Rock Tomb!"

    Grovyle draws his hands back with a hiss rolling from his lips, as a pair of craggy boulders manifest before him. Grunting, he pushes one then the other at Rapidash.

    The stones gracelessly fly through the air with a dull whoosh, one aimed at Rapidash''s legs, and the other at his head.

    "Defend! Flamethrower!" Moore calls with a pointed finger.

    Rapidash raises his head and opens his mouth. From inside of his throat and without a single moment to charge comes a tight beam of spiraling fire, barely as big around as a bottle cap. The beam splashes across the first Rock Tomb and deflects off the rock faces, sending gouts of fire large enough to engulf a man in every direction.

    The stone superheats to red-hot in less than a second, then explodes as if filled with gunpowder, throwing splatters of molten rock everywhere.

    Rapidash, still powering Flame Terrain, throws his head, sweeping the impossibly concentrated Flamethrower into the second boulder still flying at him. Following in the footsteps of its short-lived brother, it explodes into red hot chunks scattering around the arena.

    Grovyle weaves to and fro on his boulder, avoiding the molten bits of rock with a frown. He glances back at Lee as more and more of the ground is turned into a hellscape.

    Rapidash snorts and swings his head around again, drawing his Flamethrower and sweeping the blistering beam towards Grovyle.

    The gecko pokemon returns his eyes to his opponent and leaps over the Flamethrower.

    Rapidash''s eyes follow Grovyle, and he sweeps the attack up to follow, maintaining the slow creep of Flame Terrain the entire time. By now half of the field up to the barrier is hissing and sputtering, just short of being fully molten.

    "Detect!" Lee clenches his fist as his mind frantically tries to come up with a plan to deal with this nightmare scenario.

    Grovyle''s eyes glow with supernatural clarity. Contorting his body to the side and charging Quick Attack, he turns and spins away in a mid-air dodge that draws gasps from the crowd.

    Moore''s Rapidash simply keeps his Flamethrower going and chases Grovyle through the air as if trying to swat a fly with a laser beam.

    Hissing in exertion, Grovyle flares his Quick Attack and darts in another direction after another near miss from Flamethrower. He and Rapidash keep the dance going, and with each gravity-defying dodge, Grovyle is forced further and further away from Moore''s side of the field.

    Lee takes his eyes off the fight for a moment to look at the crowd.

    Steven watches the going-ons with a pokeball held idly in his hands. His steel-blue eyes remain locked on Grovyle without a single waver, and he-

    ''Dolittle, use that brain and remember mine and Brendan''s lessons! Focus on the battle, not the people!'' A tiny voice similar to Zinnia''s scolds in the back of his mind. With renewed focus, Lee pretends all the eyes on the pokemon and himself are gone.

    ''Grovyle can''t remain in the air indefinitely with Quick Attack, and using Rock Tomb to make platforms isn''t going to cut it��'' Lee eyes the boulder Grovyle used as a sanctuary with a wince.

    The air inside the field is growing so hot that it''s beginning to shimmer. Flame Terrain has already reached Grovyle''s perch and its base is melting into liquid slag. ''I can only imagine the hellish temperature Grovyle is dealing with in there.''

    Grovyle dodges the latest pass of Flamethrower, this time with only an inch to spare above his back, and Lee has to stifle a wince and a curse when he sees Grovyle clench his jaw in agony.

    Even with a total miss, a thick line of scales on Grovyle''s back is burned nearly black from sheer radiant heat. The flesh underneath the burn is dry and cracked, and Grovyle''s twisting through the air splatters the ground and barrier with droplets of blood.

    ''Lee, whatever you do, don''t let Moore drag the fight out,'' Ninetales urges from within her ball. Lee can feel her peering through his eyes and watching the fight as well. ''If you let him decide the pace, Grovyle is sure to be beaten.''

    "Damn it all��" Lee mutters, wondering just how to get out of this as Ninetales'' words bound around in his head. Trying to limit Grovyle''s mobility is a smart play on Moore''s part. ''We''re getting risky then. I wanted to practice this maneuver more, but live fire it is,'' Lee sighs. "Grovyle! Quick Attack directly at Rapidash, and charge Rock Tomb as you go!"

    "Oh?" Moore''s eyebrow rises. "Intercept, Rapidash!"

    Grovyle crosses his arms in front of him as he falls, stones beginning to form before his claws. Then with a deep breath, Grovyle flies down at Rapidash in a burst of white aura.

    The Flamethrower Rapidash is somehow still maintaining is swept into Grovyle''s path long before he reaches his foe. With less than a foot between himself and the fire, Grovyle thrusts his hands forward and uses the rapidly coalescing Rock Tomb as a shield.

    Flamethrower bites into the rock, superheating it and carving a melted trench. The second before the rock goes critical and explodes, Grovyle''s aura of Quick Attack shines white, and he flips over his stone shield to rush Rapidash as a zig-zagging blur of green.

    The horse''s eyes narrow, and like a hose nozzle being adjusted, the Flamethrower''s tight beam flares out into a wide spray of fire.

    Lee''s jaw drops at how such a simple maneuver turns his entire plan inside out. ''Lee, you idiot! Of course, Rapidash can control Flamethrower''s spread! Any good Fire-type can! Why did I order Grovyle to rush in without expecting that?!'' In the back of his mind, Lee can feel Ninetales trying to shush the self-aimed scolding.

    Grovyle is consumed by the fire with barely any time to cry out. In the blaze, his silhouette writhes and loses its momentum, beginning to drop from the sky.

    "Grovyle! Listen to me! Power through it! You have to go through to make it stop!" Lee''s heart begins to sink.

    The silhouette stiffens, then rockets forward again, curving and landing squarely on a surprised Rapidash''s back.

    Lee winces for what feels like the tenth time in the match.

    Grovyle is panting and covered in burns. Patches of his scales, particularly on his arms, are blackened and cracked. A few smaller patches are even more macabre, with scales burned away entirely, exposing cooked red flesh beneath. His head leaf is burnt to half its usual length, and the leaves on his left arm are gone. His Miracle Seed is unharmed, but the neckerchief it''s affixed to is done for, barely hanging on by an ashen thread.

    Grovyle shakes constantly and looks to be barely holding on to consciousness. The flames of Rapidash''s mane only make Grovyle''s exhaustion more apparent, as the usually unflappable lizard shies away from the fire. Its a display of weakness he would never consider doing in his right mind.

    ''Don''t dally, Lee!'' Ninetales urges.

    "Rock Tomb!" Lee orders, hoping beyond hope Grovyle isn''t too exhausted.

    "Pull free and buck him off!" Moore''s order is just as fast, and in his helmet, Lee can see the elderly man''s eyes narrow.

    With a gasp, Rapidash finally lets his Flamethrower sputter to a stop and goes to pull his hooves free of the ground. With visible effort, the stallion pulls one free with a burst of ash and molten dirt�� But the other remains stuck in the ground. With a snort, he tugs again, and slowly his hoof rises out of its molten bath. He shakes his body to try and dislodge Grovyle as best he can without breaking a leg, but Grovyle reflexively digs his hind claws into the equine pokemon''s back, drawing bloody furrows.

    Grovyle''s eyes snap into clarity at the sound of Lee''s voice, and with a vindictive hiss, he draws an arm back as a rock the size of a bowling ball quickly grows in his burnt and cracked claws. What''s left of the leaves clinging to his head and wrist glow bright green as Grovyle''s ability, Overgrow, activates in his peril.

    With all the finesse of a rampaging Ursaring, Grovyle drives the Rock Tomb right into the back of Rapidash''s head with every bit of force he can muster.

    The rock shatters across Rapidash''s skull, and blood wells up from the wound as Rapidash falters in his efforts to free himself. His eyes roll in their sockets from the stunning blow.

    "Flare your mane! Get him off!" Moore''s voice commands.

    "Get out of there and��" An idea strikes Lee. One that some people might see as cruel, but�� ''We can''t stand up to Moore''s pokemon in sheer power, so we will have to get technical in how we deal with his team. With Overgrow and the Seed active, Grovyle should have enough firepower to overcome a Fire-type''s Grass resistance, so��'' Mind made up, Lee finishes his order. "Get out of there and use Leaf Blade on Rapidash''s free front leg!"

    Moore''s eyes shoot open. "Belay last command! Retaliate with Stomp!"

    Grovyle moves first, jumping off of Rapidash and landing heavily on the cooling ground, a brilliant green blade growing from his right wrist. He draws his arm back and hacks at the bulging tendons in the back of Rapidash''s free leg.

    The Leaf Blade cuts deep and draws blood just as the dazed Rapidash raises his hoof to stomp on the gecko pokemon. He brings his leg back down like a hammer blow that Grovyle only barely stumbles out of the way from, cratering the ground and rumbling the whole building. As soon as the hoof punches through the dirt, though, Lee can hear the partially cut tendons snap. It''s a sound that makes his stomach roll.

    With a cry of pain, Rapidash''s free leg gives out and refuses to support any weight, causing the equine to stumble and fall to his side with his other front leg still trapped. The sound of Rapidash''s trapped fetlock breaking is as loud as thunder in Lee''s ears.

    Rapidash flails in both pain and anger if the hateful, wild-eyed glare that he levels towards the burnt and exhausted Grass-type before him is any proper indicator. Gritting his teeth, Rapidash slowly, painfully pulls his trapped leg free and tries to rise, but neither of his crippled front legs can support any kind of weight. He breathes raging tongues of flame impudently as he stumbles back to the ground.

    Grovyle leaps to one of the corners where the horse pokemon can''t angle his neck, watching and waiting as Rapidash struggles to move.

    Behind Rapidash, Moore watches his pokemon struggle with a deep, melancholic frown that forces guilt to settle in Lee''s gut.

    After ten seconds of fruitless efforts on Rapidash''s part, the stunned referee steps closer to the invisible barrier around the arena and raises his microphone to his mouth, seemingly unsure what to say. "It�� It appears that Gym Leader Moore''s Rapidash is unable to battle. Round one goes to Grovyle!"

    Grovyle, burned and in pain, takes a deep breath, steadies himself, and crosses his arms as if he didn''t just defeat a pokemon decades his senior with a type disadvantage.

    Rapidash lays his head down, eyes wide and mouth open as he''s declared the loser. It''s as if the thought is utterly inconceivable to him.

    A hole opens up on Moore''s Side of the barrier, and with a reluctant sigh, Moore recalls his pokemon into the worn pokeball in his hand. "I see��" Moore begins, placing Rapidash''s ball back into the woven straw holster resting against his side. "I know not if I have allowed my team to fall so far, or if the talents of the new generation outstrip me to a degree even I didn''t realize. Even ten years ago, the thought of any of my team falling in combat to a Grass-type, let alone a mid-stage Grass-type, would be laughable. Now, look at where we are��" Moore isn''t wearing a microphone, not that he needs one, as the Gym is stunned silent following Grovyle''s win.

    Lee licks his lips, feeling as if he should say something.

    ''Perhaps assuage his feelings,'' Ninetales suggests. ''All I have on the matter is your mostly forgotten history lessons, but typically noble types will remember if you help them save face.''

    ''Right. This whole mess is political as well. It has to be, somehow��'' Lee withholds a grimace and directs himself to the Gym Leader. "Gym Leader Moore, even if Rapidash takes the loss harshly, I didn''t put Grovyle forward to be insulting, I let him lead as I have faith in his abilities as a fighter. You and Rapidash battled in a way that pushed both of us to our limits. As evidenced by Rock Tomb, I''ve been specifically training him to counter his weaknesses, yet Rapidash trivialized much of what I''ve taught. Speaking of limits��" Lee looks towards the referee. "Ref? I''m retiring Grovyle from the match. He''s gone above and beyond after facing down such a powerful pokemon."

    Grovyle turns to Lee, offering him the faintest of nods.

    The referee accepts the concession with a nod of his own, raising his microphone once more. "Challenger Lee is retiring Grovyle from the match following his win. Grovyle may not be used for the remaining duration of the challenge. Both Gym Leader Moore and Challenger Lee have two pokemon remaining!"

    ''That Rapidash was a fucking monster and we won that by the skin of our teeth.'' Lee gulps. ''He landed only one direct hit and it nearly took Grovyle down. Meanwhile, he kept two attacks going for minutes on end, got shot in the shoulder, took a super-effective rock to the back of the head, got hamstrung, busted an ankle, and still wasn''t knocked out. We had to hit him with a TKO for a win.'' Lee breathes out a sigh and raises Grovyle''s pokeball in his hand. ''To think Rapidash was even better in his prime. What the hell would two elite-level pokemon clashing look like? Or even two champion pokemon?''

    ''Messy, I would presume,'' Ninetales telepaths dryly, though she can''t hide the apprehension in her voice at the thought.

    ''Regardless, Grovyle''s ability to maneuver mid-air is the only reason we won that. If he lacked the ability to tell gravity to get bent, then we would have been sunk.'' In a flash of red, Grovyle''s burned and battered form is returned to his pokeball. Raising the ball to his mouth and covering his lapel mic with one hand, Lee smiles and whispers; "Damn fine job out there, Grovyle. I can''t even put into words how proud I am of you. I mean it when I say you went above and beyond today."

    The ball in Lee''s hand shakes once, then goes still.

    Putting Grovyle''s ball on his belt, Lee takes Octillery''s ball and raises it to his mouth. "Ready?" He murmurs.

    The octopus'' ball rattles eagerly.

    On the other side of the field, Moore smiles thinly as he takes another pokeball from his holster. "Ready?"

    Lee nods, raising Octillery''s ball.

    Once more, both trainers throw their pokeballs at once.

    This time, Moore''s throw is a hair faster, and his pokeball pops open first, dropping a simply enormous mass of light onto the scorched floor.

    Octillery''s ball snaps open a moment later, and due to being smaller, the octopus materializes more quickly. Already alert, Octillery doesn''t even need to blink any stars from his eyes. He stands ready with a narrow-eyed glare and all of his tentacles raised, ready to strike.

    The mass on Moore''s side finally finishes coalescing into a pokemon, and Lee covers his mic before cursing under his breath.

    Standing at least seven feet tall and utterly rippling with muscle, Moore''s second pokemon is revealed to be an Arcanine, the ''cousin'' of Ninetales. The humongous canine is covered in rusty orange fur crisscrossed with thick black stripes. His chest and head are covered with a thick, cream-colored mane bleached nearly white with age, and the back of each of his legs sport a tuft of the same color fur. Behind him, a dense tail sporting the same cream coloration lays limp and unamused. Like Rapidash, Arcanine''s fur is marred by thin, hairless patches of scars. The pokemon cuts a majestic, regal figure, as if his very presence compels admiration and deference.

    While Growlithe, Arcanine''s prior form, is much more common than Vulpix, Arcanine is a different story. The books call the canine pokemon ''legendary'' for a reason, and it''s because Arcanine is nearly as rare as Ninetales. Though, it''s less because of how uncontrollable Arcanine is, and more due to practicality. Few people have the resources needed to feed and care for a powerful, fire-breathing dog that weighs several hundred pounds and lives a hundred years on average. Factor in the cost of the Firestone needed to evolve a Growlithe, and one is looking at seven figures of investment at minimum to raise an Arcanine over the pokemon''s entire life. Owning an Arcanine is a loud and proud symbol of prestige.

    It doesn''t hurt that they''re mighty pokemon renowned for their superb speed, stamina, and physical strength. Kanto and Johto''s old noble families keep Arcanine to this day for many reasons beyond saying "look at how wealthy I am."

    Arcanine''s hard eyes take in Octillery. He then pulls his lips back into a snarl, revealing teeth as long as a human finger that gleam a brilliant, healthy white. The canine tooth in the lower right of his jaw is missing, replaced with a titanium implant.

    The holes in the barriers close up with haste as Octillery and Arcanine size each other up.

    "Round two, A-Arcanine versus Octillery!" The referee stumbles over Arcanine''s name as if he didn''t expect the pokemon to make an appearance. "Begin!"

    "Rock Blast into Octazooka!" Lee calls.

    Strangely, or perhaps worryingly, Moore doesn''t call an attack. He simply stands with his arms crossed.

    Octillery draws back and spits a barrage of small stones from his mouth. Around each stone is an aura of red, and after several feet of flight, the aura flickers out. As soon as the red is gone, the stones expand to be the size of cannonballs as if by magic. The rocks keep all their speed despite the physics-defying trick and scream towards Arcanine''s flanks, but the ''mon still hasn''t moved. A second later, Octillery gurgles and swells, then with a supersonic crack, fires a bolt of ink in the middle of the rock barrage.

    With grace unbefitting of a beast of his size, Arcanine swerves around the Octazooka, which outraces Rock Blast, then weaves and ducks around the stones flying at him as if he''s entirely weightless on his paws. The entire time, his eyes never leave Octillery. The sound of the stones impacting the barrier behind him and shattering into thousands of pieces doesn''t rattle him either.

    Moore finally calls an attack, and it''s the last one Lee wants to hear. "Extremespeed! Then Thunderfang!"

    ''Shit!''

    "Wall yourself off!" Lee tries to counter.

    Arcanine tenses, and before Octillery can spin around and make a wall of ice with Ice Beam just as they practiced, the Fire-type moves. There is no flicker, no flash of color, no shadow, nothing. For an instant too short for Lee to appreciate, Arcanine is standing on the other side of the field, then the dirt implodes under his dinner plate-sized paws�� But Arcanine doesn''t move? The great canine simply looks hazy now.

    Lee blinks when he hears a squeal of pain, and as he blinks, Arcanine disappears from his sight. No, wait, what happened?!

    Arcanine is already upon Octillery, mauling the octopus and shaking him around like a ragdoll. Octillery twitches and writhes under the crackling, electrified fangs digging into his flesh.

    ''What the fuck?! I could''ve sworn I saw him standing still a moment ago!'' Lee''s mind whirls. Arcanine didn''t leave behind some kind of illusion, did he? No? ''Lord above, he moved so fast that he actually tricked my eyes. I just saw a real after image.'' Lee doesn''t dwell upon the revelation for long and returns his head to the fight. "Octillery! Fight it! Use Wrap around his neck and squeeze as hard as you can!"

    Octillery struggles past the electrical surges running up and down his body just enough to wrap two tentacles around Arcanine''s neck. Before the octopus can get a proper grip, Arcanine throws his head and releases his jaws, sending Octillery rolling across the dirt. The Water-type lets out a short squeal each time his savage, electrical burn-covered bite wound is dragged across the ground.

    Moore doesn''t leave his pokemon without an order for long. "Circle around and Thunder Fang again!"

    Arcanine moves in a flash of rusty orange and gleaming teeth, his paws digging furrows into the dirt from the force of his legs alone.

    ''Fuck me! First, he tries to keep Grovyle at a distance, then he knows to stay on top of Octillery! Has Moore fought pokemon like them before, or is he reading them somehow?'' Lee growls under his breath "Octillery! Use Gunk�� Shot!"

    ''Just like we planned, Octillery. Hold steady��'' Lee thinks even if only Ninetales can hear him.

    Octillery rolls to a stop, his eyes taking on a knowing gleam after hearing the pause in the command.

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    ��But Moore notices too. His eyes harden. "Arcanine, be wary!"

    Arcanine bears down on Octillery twice as fast, sparking fangs poised to shred the smaller pokemon.

    Octillery gurgles and sucks in a breath, making an obvious show of charging an attack and pointing his mouth directly at Arcanine.

    The huge canine jukes to the side at such speed it''s as if he teleports, dodging a projectile�� that Octillery hasn''t fired.

    ''And fire!''

    During the split second that Arcanine''s brow furrows in confusion, Octillery corrects his aim and spits a glob of viscous, fuming purple�� Right into Arcanine''s mouth.

    The poisonous gunk splashes across Arcanine''s lightning-infused fangs, his gums, his tongue, and the force of the shot sends some right down his throat. Some splatters across his nose, with a bit making its way into his nostrils.

    If training with Octillery has taught Lee anything, it''s just how nasty Poison is as a type. It''s as if someone took a timid child''s understanding of what poison is and distilled that fearful nightmare substance into something even worse. Poison TE is both caustic and toxic, existing as a general anathema to anything alive. Octillery isn''t even Poison-type, yet his Gunk Shot shatters rock, eats through the shards left behind, then kills plants around the impact.

    And Arcanine just took a direct hit to several mucus membranes.

    Arcanine leaps back and snorts, sending purple muck and mucus to the ground. He snorts again, and this time the mucus is flecked with blood.

    Then the pain sets in.

    Arcanine shakes, then howls and hacks in torment, whipping his head side to side and showering the ground in bloody saliva. He stops for a moment to retch, spilling blood from his bleeding gums and nose, then he vomits a torrent of steaming fluid with a worrying red and purple tint. He coughs once more, throwing up another mouthful of red and stumbling.

    "Arcanine, fight it, boy!" Moore urges. Lee can just barely make out the sight of sweat on the old man''s helmet-covered brow. "Raise your temperature and burn the toxins out! Do it now!"

    The Fire-type coughs, giving Octillery a woozy glare filled with seething anger. He takes a deep breath in, then out, flames exiting his mouth with the exhale.

    ''Of course, he has a counter for poison,'' Lee clicks his tongue, feeling foolish for pausing. "Octazooka!"

    Octillery sucks in a breath of his own, then blasts a tank shell''s worth of ink at Arcanine.

    The orange and black canine aborts the purge of poison from his body and leaps to the side, dodging the ink that hits the ground behind him and kicks up a cloud of dust.

    "Again! Don''t let him rest!" The zoologist orders. ''Poison�� What a distasteful way to win, but I don''t know what else we can do��'' Lee takes the short lull to inspect his pokemon. What he finds makes him wince.

    Octillery''s right side is one giant, ghastly bite wound surrounded by spider-webbing electrical burns. One of Octillery''s tentacles looks as if a fang went completely through it, as the limb is limp and unresponsive. Two more tentacles are being used as makeshift sutures, holding much of the bite wound closed and stemming Octillery''s bleeding as much as possible. Despite the efforts, blood is still soaking the dirt next to the octopus. If not for the impromptu field treatment, he likely would have fainted from blood loss already.

    The red cephalopod continuously blasts his signature attack at Arcanine, who dodges each supersonic bolt. Even if Octillery tries to fake him out or herd him into another shot, Arcanine still remains untouched even if his grace is waning with each passing second.

    ''Down three tentacles, tender on his entire right side, and slowly bleeding out. Even if Gunk Shot really messed up Arcanine, Octillery still got the worst of the exchange��'' Lee frowns and mentally scrolls through all the maneuvers he and Octillery worked on.

    "Enough of this!" Moore roars, his anger carrying throughout the entire building. "Have I allowed my team to fall so far? I cannot bear the shame! Arcanine! We''re done playing Meowth and Rattata! Use Facade!"

    It takes Lee a moment longer than he cares to admit to remember what Facade does. ''A Normal move that doubles in power if the user is burned, poisoned, or paralyzed. Fuck me, really?''

    Arcanine dodges one final Octozooka, then sets his muzzle in grim determination. Drawing back his lips for a bloody snarl, an aura of white wisps around his body as small billows of steam escape from between his teeth. He lowers himself, then blasts forward trailing white like a missile.

    Neither Lee nor Octillery can do anything as Arcanine drives his skull into Octillery like a supersonic wrecking ball. Lee is treated to the disheartening sight of his newest pokemon''s entire body rippling like a water balloon ready to burst, then flying off of his tentacles and smashing into the arena barrier with a bone-rattling THUD!

    Arcanine coughs once more, splattering the ground with red droplets.

    Octillery falls to the ground, unmoving and barely even breathing. His whole body goes limp like a deflated ball.

    Lee''s shoulders slump. "Damn��"

    "Octillery is unable to battle!" The referee calls the match as a hole opens up on Lee''s side of the barrier. "Arcanine is the winner of round two!"

    Applause and a handful of cheers come down from the crowd as Lee raises Octillery''s ball and recalls the unconscious Water-type. Like with Grovyle, he raises the ball to his lips and whispers. "You did incredible out there, Octillery. We''ve only been working together for a week and already you''re irreplaceable. Thank you," he murmurs quietly before clipping the pokeball back to his belt.

    "Challenger Lee! Please select your final pokemon!" The referee calls.

    The applause goes quiet at the announcement as nervous anticipation seems to fill the entire arena. All eyes are on Lee. Everyone knows who his selection is going to be.

    On the other side of the room, Moore''s grin finally returns.

    Lee takes Ninetales'' ball and enlarges it. With a deep breath, he steadies himself and readily accepts the mental embrace Ninetales pulls him into. ''Ready?''

    ''Always, Beloved,'' she says, her voice filling him with blessed confidence.

    They pull one another close, close enough that words become useless.

    Lee draws his arm back and throws the ball into the arena.

    The ball splits open, and out comes Ninetales.

    The great fox lands in a crouch, then slowly stands, unfurling each one of her tails as she does so.

    The sunlight streaming in through the window suddenly re-doubles its intensity, casting harsh rays that quickly begin to heat the room. The aging air conditioning system of the gym kicks on, but even then the large room begins to grow warm. The only one who doesn''t feel the additional warmth is Lee.

    Once Ninetales is at her full height, she snaps her red eyes open and stares down Arcanine with open, burning hostility.

    Despite being twice Ninetales'' size, the other Fire-type wheezes through his burned trachea and retreats half a step.

    "Round three, Arcanine versus Ninetales, begin!" The ref chops his hand down as the Barrier in front of Lee closes again.

    Before Moore''s mouth can even move, a command flows from Lee to Ninetales. In the time it would have taken for a regular person to say a single word, Ninetales and Lee could have an entire discussion with how closely intertwined their minds are.

    Hold. Lee''s brain fills in the silent instruction with a word, just for himself.

    Ninetales'' eyes glow, and Arcanine is seized in a purple telekinetic aura, forcing him to stiffen against his will.

    "Crunch! Break the hold and use Facade!" Moore''s voice booms as his eyes take on an intense focus.

    He noticed fast. Hex.

    Before Arcanine can power up Crunch, wispy orbs of ghostly violet swirl into being around the immobilized Arcanine, then they all converge and sink into his skin. A half second later, Arcanine shrilly yowls as arcs of charged Ghost TE rip across his body, cruelly attacking the organs most ravaged by Octillery''s poison.

    "Arcanine! Focus! Break the hold!" Moore demands.

    Extrasensory.

    Extrasensory is an extraordinarily brutal, borderline sadistic move to Lee. Ninetales learned it upon her evolution, and when they tested it on a boulder a few days ago, they were left with a pile of gravel. Some way, somehow, the psychic field creates zones of overlapping spatial fluctuations, or at least that''s what it looks like to caught inside is ripped apart. ''Nature was on its A-game when it decided only twenty or so pokemon can learn it,'' Lee muses to himself.

    Ninetales'' eyes glow brighter, and all around Arcanine, fields of overlapping Psychic bubbles form out of thin air. The bubbles all quiver as one, then each one expands and contracts rapidly, pulling at the canine''s body with rippling gravitational distortions.

    Arcanine howls as his entire body bruises, with several splits opening in his skin. Blood quickly begins to soak his fur, and when Ninetales releases him from her crushing telekinetic grip, the monstrous dog pokemon sways on his paws.

    With a snarl, Arcanine raises his head and reflexively fires a gout of white flame towards Ninetales.

    The vixen''s control of all things Fire leaps out, sinking invisible tendrils into Arcanine''s nameless attack and wresting control away from him without a struggle. Just as the fire reaches Ninetales, it parts around her as if splashing against an invisible, spherical shield, missing entirely.

    "Arcanine! Listen!" Moore is actually beginning to look unsure. "The poison has progressed too far! Use Facade or you''ll be defeated!

    Arcanine snarls, lowering himself as the same white, steamy wisps defuse from his fur and begin to surround him.

    Double Team. Feint Attack. Confuse Ray. Hex. Be ready to move. Use only non-Fire attacks to remain optimal.

    Ninetales narrows her eyes. Unnoticed by anyone other than Lee, a single Double Team illusion covers her form just as the cloak of Feint Attack renders her invisible. Slowly, she steps off to the side while her doppelganger remains standing in her place, powering up her Confuse Ray as she does so.

    In the backseat of Ninetales'' mind, Lee focuses on animating the single Double Team illusion, keeping its tails swaying and its chest rising and falling so his partner can keep concentrating on remaining unseen. He pulls the clone''s muzzle back into an infuriating smirk, hoping to remain a juicy target.

    Still cloaked, Ninetales lets her Confuse Ray fly.

    Arcanine rushes forward, Facade turning him into a missile once more, only for him to stumble halfway through and stop as he runs face-first into an unseen Confuse Ray. With a growl, he shakes his head and clears the mental fog within only a few seconds, but a few seconds is all it takes for Hex to crackle to life again and tear into his body. Once more, he howls and seizes on his feet.

    Finally, finally, Arcanine sways on his paws once more, then falls to his side with a thud, wheezing and too weak to rise. Twice he tries to get back on his paws, and twice he just falls. On his third failure, he lays down and stares at the Ninetales illusion with defeat in his eyes.

    Just like in the last matches, after ten seconds the referee steps up to the side of the arena and speaks into his microphone. "Arcanine is no longer able to battle! The winner of round three is Ninetales!"

    Abandoning Zinnia''s advice for a moment, Lee looks into the crowd.

    Behind the polite applause, a number of people seem startled by the match. In a way, Lee can understand it. To them, it must look like Ninetales won without moving a muscle. ''Something tells me it would be a different story if Arcanine was at full health.''

    Steven still watches carefully with a pokeball in his hand, looking between the downed Arcanine and Ninetales'' illusion�� Then his eyes shift and look right at the real Ninetales, who is still invisible. ''Well, that''s not creepy or concerning at all�� Is Metagross telling him where Ninetales is? I guess I shouldn''t be too surprised.''

    Up in the stands, Brendan stands and applauds louder than anyone else, his face locked into a grin so wide it must hurt. Beside him, Zinnia is standing too, clapping her hands with a grin that rivals Brendan''s. Next to her, Courtney''s applause is much more reserved, though her small smile at least makes it seem genuine.

    A hole opens in Moore''s side of the barrier, and raising Arcanine''s ball, the Gym Leader sighs and recalls his ill pokemon in a flash of light. He raises the ball and touches it to the forehead of his helmet, muttering something too quiet for Lee or Ninetales to hear. Replacing Arcanine''s ball in its holster, Moore sags. "Goodness me, goodness me��" He raises a hand and clenches it over his chest. "We''re in quite the mess with this one."

    Once more, Lee can''t help but feel compelled to say something in response. Mentally, he untangles himself from Ninetales enough that their words won''t get jumbled. "Gym Leader Moore��" Lee pauses and crosses his arms, not really sure how to phrase himself. "Maybe this battle isn''t the glorious thing you were hoping for, but it''s certainly told me something; that your pokemon and tactics are just too much for us to handle without tricks like targeting weak points or using poison. I don''t think your pokemon are weak at all, and perhaps you''re being too harsh on yourself by saying they''ve fallen. Your pokemon have clearly been raised with love and dedication, and it''s plain to see. Even a rookie trainer like myself sees it."

    Moore chuckles, then it deepens into a full belly laugh. "No no, my boy! You give me too much credit and yourself not enough, and this certainly isn''t a criticism of our battle here today! It would be foolish of me to expect anything but a battle of wits as well as might. No, in that regard you and your pokemon have more than lived up to my expectations! This is the most difficult battle we have faced in years!" His smile lessens. "My era was one before the information age, so I cannot show you just how mighty we stood in those days long past, but as we are today�� Well, my pokemon and I are merely pale imitations. Juxtaposed against yourself, it''s all the more obvious." Moore reaches into his straw holster and withdraws an old pokeball, one with nearly all of the red paint on the cap worn away. Moore rubs a thumb across the capsule lovingly. "Rapidash is far past his prime, and Arcanine''s age is beginning to show. My first partner, Ty, is nearing the end of his days as a battler. Today�� might even be his last battle before he''s just too battered to continue. I know where we stand, Lee. Today was never truly about winning."

    Moore throws the worn pokeball into the arena.

    "Today!" Moore''s roar echoes through his helmet as his eyes blaze. "Today is about that glorious final burn!"

    The weathered pokeball snaps open and deposits a pokemon in the field. As the light of the pokeball fades, Lee feels his heart leap into his throat.

    In the pokemon anime Ty, Moore''s Typhlosion, is depicted as an average member of his species. No outstanding traits, no real battles shown, just a normal pokemon.

    The pokemon before Lee and Ninetales is not normal.

    Ty stands tall, at least six and a half feet, and like his teammates, his physique is positively olympian even with his graying coat showing off his advanced age. That''s not what draws the eyes, though.

    The scars do.

    Ty''s entire chest, his stomach, his arms, his legs, parts of his neck, parts of his face, they''re all covered in overlapping scars and burns. Even the tip of his right ear is missing, and on the left side of his chest is a spiraled scar like he was shot with an artillery cannon. His entire front is a veritable tapestry of suffering, each square inch of ghastly flesh telling a story not fit for any with a weak constitution. The pokemon stands all the taller and more unbreakable for each healed wound, like a war monument brought to life.

    Lee reaches up and touches the three lines burned into his face. They�� feel almost like nothing in comparison.

    Ty turns slowly to regard Moore, showing Lee and Ninetales his back in open dismissal.

    The only scar on Ty''s back is a spiraling exit wound, a mirror to the one on his chest.

    Ninetales'' hackles rise, and she struggles to remain invisible.

    "Old friend��" Moore''s visage is soft despite Ty''s eyes boring into him. "Can I count on you here?"

    Ty says nothing. Slowly, he turns around, facing the Ninetales illusion and lowering himself into an animalistic ready stance, one fore paw braced on the ground with the other held claws out. On his back, the iconic mantle of jet-like flames Typhlosion is known for bursts to life, burning not orange, but a pearl-white with a ghostly blue center.

    "Final round��" The referee looks between the Ninetales illusion and Ty, not hiding his nervousness at all. "Begin!"

    No one moves right away.

    Ty stares down the illusion with smoldering eyes, silently daring Ninetales to make the first move.

    After a full, nerve-racking minute passes, Lee breaks first.

    Baby-Doll Eyes, Confuse Ray.

    Under her cloak, Ninetales stares hard at Ty, the glow in her eyes going unseen.

    The instant Baby-Doll Eyes is cast, the veteran pokemon takes off across the ground with devilish speed on all fours, moving and zig-zagging like he didn''t even notice the enfeebling effect of the Fairy ray. He''s on top of the illusion in an instant, his clenched fist trailing white as he swipes it through the false Ninetales'' head in a brutal, unnamed attack.

    The Double Team dissipates, leaving Ty alone.

    "I knew there was something fishy!" Moore exclaims, eyes scanning the arena. "Ty! Burning Ash!"

    Ty draws in a breath just as Ninetales'' Confuse Ray strikes, but like with Baby-Doll Eyes, Ty is seemingly unaffected. He slows for perhaps half a second, then he spews a thick cloud of ember-laden ash at the ground, making a cloud that quickly scatters in every direction.

    The hot ash doesn''t harm Ninetales... But it does stick to her, making her outline obvious through Feint Attack''s cloak.

    Ty moves like lightning, zooming toward the revealed fox with his mouth open and teeth aimed squarely at Ninetales'' neck.

    Hold him!

    A purple haze, the same color as the glow that overtakes Ninetales'' eyes as Feint Attack drops, covers Ty from head to toe and stops him cold.

    The Typhlosion growls, and without needing any instruction, he flexes his body against the blanket of telekinesis around him. His muscles stand up in sharp relief against his scarred skin, and to Lee''s horror, Ty shatters the telekinesis around him with sheer physical strength alone. The sound of the telekinesis failing is sharp and hard on the ears, like a burst of radio static played at maximum volume.

    Ninetales recoils from the backlash of having her focus broken so utterly. A headache quickly begins to bloom in her head, and Lee does his best to draw the pain off of her and into himself.

    Ty lowers himself again and runs at Ninetales, his teeth seemingly gravitating towards her neck.

    Quick Attack! Double Team!

    Ninetales jumps to the side out of the cloud of ash and out of Ty''s way, illusions trailing her and scattering as she does so. She lands on her paws some distance away with a frown.

    "Combustion!" Moore is just as fast to respond to the clones as they appear.

    ''Combustion?'' Lee wonders. ''I''ve never heard of that move.''

    Unperturbed by the missed attack, Ty stands on his hind legs and crosses his forepaws, which take on a bright orange glow. With a growl, he thrusts his arms out, the fur of his arms rubbing together and sparking with snaps and pops.

    Then a gargantuan fiery explosion, with Ty as the epicenter, rocks the entire building. Smoke fills the psychically shielded battleground, chips of rock bouncing off the transparent wall and clattering to the ground.

    Any personal woes or memories of fire are skipped by Lee as Ninetales'' pain tears through his body. With a gasp, Lee''s legs shake as he almost falls to his knees. Already, he can tell how bad the damage is.

    His ribs are on fire and the taste of blood coats his tongue, so Ninetales must have shattered a few ribs and might be bleeding internally.

    His left ear is ringing, so Ninetales is probably deaf on that side until seen at a Pokemon Center.

    A phantom limb he doesn''t own is filled with sharp, keen pain, meaning one of her tails is broken.

    The rest of his body just aches in general.

    Through Ninetales'' bleary eyes, Lee watches her get to her paws shakily.

    Gritting his teeth, Lee urges her to rise!

    Ninetales gets to her paws, ignoring the stabbing of her abused ribs. With a growl, she reaches out to Lee and pulls his mind a little closer, and to his surprise, time seems to slow as they think together.

    ''I don''t know what happened, but I''m certain Moore has more hidden moves than he originally let on,'' the vixen mentally snarls. ''Rotten bastard. I don''t care how powerful Typhlosion is, we''re tearing him to pieces!''

    The complaint comes off as a bit hypocritical to Lee, but he doesn''t voice it for now. It won''t do to rile his fox up in such a critical match. ''Easy, Love��'' Lee watches as a stone launched by Ty''s explosion falls as if dropped into molasses. His desire to study this strange time perception alteration is pushed aside for now. It takes immense effort just to move his eyes to follow the stone, and he can feel Ninetales totally ignoring her body to communicate with him. Sadly, it looks like re-creating a ''Bullet Time'' effect is off the table. ''I kind of expected that Moore was hiding something. Everyone seems to keep the best methods and discoveries to themselves to keep their competitive edge.'' His neutral face falls into a frown with painstaking slowness. ''That explosion is bad news. If Ty can attack in every direction at once, that negates much of what we can do. I can feel he''s already injured you.''

    ''...'' Ninetales says nothing, still not acknowledging that she''s been wounded.

    ''The orange glow, though�� Fire TE?''

    ''It must have been,'' Ninetales agrees. ''I felt more than a bit of heat.''

    Lee would smile if he could. ''Do you think you can pull control away from him?''

    Ninetales'' mental smirk is almost evil.

    Mentally, the man and fox pull away from each other, and sensation returns to their bodies. Time resumes its normal speed.

    Double Team. Payback.

    Doppelgangers once more flash into existence around Ninetales, Each one bounding away to surround Ty, who looks unimpressed with the stunt.

    As one, each fox snarls as bubbling Dark seeps out of her wounds, coating her in a cloak of Dark that fills her body with spite-powered strength.

    "Combustion!" Moore orders once more, his eyes narrowing in confusion as he looks at Lee.

    Lee smiles back.

    Ninetales and her clones rush Ty, each one opening their slender muzzles to bear sharp teeth.

    With a scoff, Ty crosses his arms and thrusts them out again, sparks flying from his fur.

    Now!

    Before the old Typhlosion can set off another explosion, Ninetales'' influence snakes its way into Combustion''s orange glow, seizing the reaction before it can complete. All that comes from Ty''s arms is a puff of smoke.

    Ty''s eyes narrow as Moore''s jaw drops. "What in the blazes��?"

    The half-second of surprise is just enough for Ninetales to leap up, dig her claws into Ty''s chest, and snap her jaws around Ty''s throat like a steel vice.

    With a roar of fury more than pain, Ty drives a glowing fist right into Ninetales head, making stars explode into Lee and Ninetales'' vision. The bloody split in her temple empowers Payback enough that Ninetales can bite down hard enough to cut off the veteran''s windpipe, choking him with a gasp.

    "Pull her off without hurting her, Ty! You''ll make Payback worse!" Moore''s orders quickly stop his Typhlosion from sabotaging himself.

    Ty takes Ninetales'' jaws in his hand-like paws, trying to pry the superpowered fox off.

    The golden fox growls and whips her head side to side before her burst of physical might fades, wrenching Ty''s neck and throwing his balance off, but the titan of a Fire-type simply refuses to stumble.

    Finally, just as Payback begins to wane, Ty overbalances and topples over, and Ninetales refuses to let the opportunity go to waste. Snarling once more and rebuffing the pain in her ribs, she twists her whole body and throws Ty into the ground head-first.

    The packed dirt of the arena caves in as Ty strikes it, making a crater several inches deep and drawing a wounded cry from the Typhlosion, the first one in the entire match.

    Back away!

    Ty returns to his feet with a livid roar, not letting the cut in his skull or the blood dripping into his eye stop him. He takes a wild swing at Ninetales, who ducks the blow and leaps backward.

    Hold him! Extrasensory!

    Ninetales'' eyes glow violet, and Ty freezes in place. The head wound must be slowing him down, because the elder Fire-type doesn''t escape immediately, giving Ninetales enough time to encase him in a psychic bubble.

    Ty roars again as psychic power pulls at every fiber of his body, opening up rends in his skin, making ugly bruises blossom across his body, and likely hemorrhaging something inside of him. His struggles redouble, and rather than let him overpower her again, Ninetales drops him and leaps to his left, directly out of the way of Ty''s retaliatory wild charge and the glowing fist that effortlessly punches nearly a foot into the ground.

    ''What a tough old bastard��'' Lee sweats. ''Gets hit by Baby-Doll Eyes and still has enough strength to shatter Nine''s telekinesis, shrugs off a Confuse Ray that sends other pokemon right into a seizure, took a Payback bite to the throat, made Payback worse and barely choked, gets choke slammed into the ground hard enough to leave a crater, eats a full-power Extrasensory, and he still fights like he''s more pissed than hurt. How strong was he back in the day?''

    "Heh�� Hahahaha!" Moore suddenly laughs. "I haven''t seen Ty this fired up in years! Hell, I haven''t seen him bleed in years! This is wonderful! Extraordinary! C''mon, Ty!" He urges his pokemon. "Don''t hand the youngsters a win! Show them what you can really do! Quick Attack!"

    Quick Attack! Stay a step ahead!

    Both Ninetales and Ty transform into blurs of gold and gray-blue respectively, crashing into each other and disengaging a moment later all across the battlefield. The only way Lee can tell what''s happening is by watching through Ninetales'' eyes.

    One clash and Ty leaves with a new bite wound.

    Another, and Ninetales has claw marks carved into her chest.

    The pair stop for a second, Ty dodging around a tongue of flame that leaps from Ninetales'' throat, one that chases him like a snake. Finally, he bats the fire away with a paw and launches back into Quick Attack with Ninetales following.

    For all her skill and physical strength, Ninetales begins losing more and more exchanges. Ten, twenty, over thirty pass in the span of just a few seconds broken up by short furious trades of projectiles. Ninetales'' injuries begin to pile up. For each new one, Lee has to bite his tongue and forcefully keep his face straight as every sensation Ninetales feels echoes through her into him. At the one-minute mark, Lee can barely stand and groans under his breath.

    Disengage! Ready Payback!

    Ninetales reappears on Lee''s side of the field, panting and with an uncomfortable amount of her golden coat stained red. Her limbs shake, and her left hind leg struggles to hold any weight. Through her, Lee feels her determination to win is fueling her far more than anything else.

    Ty, however, apparently has no plans to let her go and comes down at Ninetales like a roaring, furious comet.

    With a growl, Ninetales spools up Payback and lets Dark-TE practically explode from her numerous wounds, covering her in a sinister mantle of black.

    "Abort!" Moore calls, drawing a silent curse from Lee.

    Ty flares his Quick Attack, halting midair and leaping back to Moore''s side of the battleground with a single deft flip.

    While Ty won much more of the High-speed fight than his foe, he didn''t escape unscathed. A deep bite wound across his left wrist slowly drips blood on the ground, Three thin slashes run across his inner left thigh, and his right eye is bruised and blackened. Ty breathes slowly and deeply, with a nearly inaudible wheeze.

    "This is almost more than I could have hoped for��" Moore smiles. "Hehe! Hahahaha!" The joy in each laugh can''t be understated. "To push Ty to such lengths, I''m astounded! Lee, Madam Ninetales, this is everything I ever wanted!"

    ''Push him to such lengths?'' Lee almost shakes his head. ''Hardly. Typhlosion looks like he can go another ten rounds!''

    ''Perhaps on the surface��'' Ninetales pants, not taking her eyes off of Ty. ''Age�� Age hasn''t been kind to him, Lee. I can feel the Fire inside of him giving out.''

    Lee closes his eyes and allows Ninetales to gently guide him through her extra senses. Then, he ''sees'' it in a way no other person likely ever has.

    If Ninetales is a deep core of paradoxically solid fire, one producing warmth without end, then Ty is a candle without any wax left. On the end of a wick long since turned to fragile ash burns a single, stubborn flame. Blinking away the imagery, Lee looks at Ty once more, noticing the mantle of jet-like flames around his neck is slowly, reluctantly changing from white to orange.

    ''Fighting at his maximum, even for less than fifteen minutes as we have, has pushed him beyond the brink,'' Ninetales blinks, the vengeful irritation she''s been nursing for Ty and Moore begins to drain, replaced with something more melancholic. ''Ty can''t maintain this pace for long, not with the injuries I''ve inflicted upon him.''

    "Which is why it''s time to bring this match to an end," Moore continues, drawing Lee and Ninetales in with the ominous line. "I know Combustion failing was no fluke, and instinct tells me that trying Overheat will get us nowhere. Nevertheless, we have a second option that''s just as good." The Gym Leader''s grin lights up the darkness of his helmet. "Ty, it''s time to finish this. Either we fall here in an exit for the ages, or we send a pair of whelps packing!"

    Moore points a damning finger forward. "Ty! Hyper Beam! Give it everything you have!"

    Lee''s eyes bug out and Ninetales'' stomach drops.

    Typhlosion turns his eyes to Ninetales, his red irises softening in a split second of respect, then he raises his head, mouth open wide. Above his mouth, a globe of boiling golden energy begins to grow, going from the size of a fist, to the size of a beach ball, to the size of a man in the span of only four seconds. Then the ball begins to contract, shrinking down on itself until it''s a tiny marble glowing such a bright white that no one can look at it directly.

    Ty lowers his head, aiming his attack right for Ninetales, and Lee sees the sweat beginning to soak the elderly pokemon''s fur.

    Panicked and bereft of any plans for beating such a monster pokemon, Lee makes the fastest call he can. "Flamethrower! Match him!"

    Ninetales opens her jaws wide, a light deep in her throat flickering white as she prepares to spew fire to meet the Hyper Beam head-on. Her remaining energy screams within her body and beelines towards her mouth, making the white glow utterly blinding.

    In the stands, Lee sees Steven suddenly stand from the corner of his eye and throw the pokeball in his hands. "Metagross!" Steven barks. "Reinforce the shield around the arena now!"

    Lee doesn''t actually get to see Metagross be released, as the entire room lights up a horrific, calamitous white.

    Ninetales would never hurt you.

    Nausea smashes into the zoologist like a freight train, but he swallows the bile in his throat, takes a deep breath of cool air, and peers from around his arm into the arena.

    Inside, Ninetales and Ty are locked in a final battle that can only be described as cataclysmic. From Ninetales comes her strongest Flamethrower, the same white-hot pillar of flames she demonstrated a few short days ago, the one with enough power to ruin entire landscapes. Ninetales stands with her legs spread and braced in the blackened, burned dirt and her tails all splayed out, the broken one included. Her head is thrust forward, her maw open and blasting fire with every ounce of power she can muster.

    In the middle of the arena, her Flamethrower meets Ty''s Hyper Beam in a dead-even struggle. Her fire pushes against the practically solid battering ram of energy shooting from the old Typhlosion''s jaws, with smaller beams bending around the fire to smash into the cracked barrier. Ty himself is down on all fours, gripping the ground with his claws and roaring with such terrifying volume that he can actually be heard over the shrill scream of his and Ninetales'' attacks meeting. Flamethrower and Hyper Beam smash into each other like opposing rivers.

    Slowly, Ty''s beam begins to flag, and Ninetales pushes even harder, the diameter of her Flamethrower growing and pushing Hyper Beam back.

    Ty snarls, eyes wild, and with jaw-dropping effort, he somehow pushes even more strength into his beam, matching Ninetales and meeting her in a stalemate once more. Both Flamethrower and Hyper Beam glance off of each other for no longer than a second, but the errant attacks strike the shield around the battlefield.

    The first barrier shatters, and the young Kadabra off the side of the arena lets out a cry lost to the din of the clash before him.

    A horrid heat pours into the room, raising the temperature several degrees instantly and quickly rising. The few spectators scream until another barrier, one formed from nearly transparent, interlocking hexagons forms in place of the first one.

    Lee hazards a look over to Steven''s Metagross, who watches Ninetales and Ty with a shine to his red eyes.

    Flamethrower and Hyper Beam both begin to sputter as both pokemon start to lose control. From Ninetales, Lee can feel her stamina being sucked down at a rate he previously thought impossible. ''Ninetales! Keep in control! You can do this!'' Lee sockets himself into her attack, letting her consume his stamina. He can only let the fox drain him for a handful of seconds before his head becomes light and she forcefully disconnects him, but anything he can spare to keep her in the fight is worth it.

    A second before it happens, Ninetales squeezes her side of their bond down to almost nothing, freeing Lee from her aches and pains.

    Flamethrower and Hyper Beam both destabilize, detonating in an explosion that covers the entirety of the boxy shield around the pair of pokemon. Even with the explosion contained, the tremors that run through the entire building knock ceiling tiles loose, shatter windows, and burst a fire sprinkler pipe overhead, sending water raining down.

    "Ninetales!" Lee cries, his stomach tying itself into a knot.

    Moore remains quiet.

    The fifteen seconds it takes for the smoke to clear is the longest of Lee''s life, but when the dust settles, he can hardly believe his eyes.

    The battleground is entirely ruined, as most of the dirt is now ash, and in the ashy field, both Ninetales and Ty are still standing.

    Lee forces his telepathic connection to his pokemon open, ignoring the wracking, bone-deep weariness and the phantom pain of being more living injury than unmarred flesh. ''Ninetales?''

    The fox doesn''t respond. It''s all she can do to stand on her shaking legs and not fall into a dead faint. Blood is pooling under her, and swaths of her fur are burned away despite how her pelt should be fire retardant. Even now, Lee can see the darkness beginning to creep in the edge of her vision, which is focused firmly on the ground.

    ''C''mon, Love. I''m so sorry to do this to you, but hang in there for a bit longer!'' Lee opens up his stamina to her again, diverting a bit of his own essence to slow the unconsciousness creeping up on the vixen.

    Even half dead and unresponsive, she weakly snorts and finds just enough willpower to feed her trainer a morsel of telepathic love.

    Lee looks up at Ty.

    The Typhlosion is dyed red with blood, and he stands openly panting with his head bowed. Slowly, he raises his head and aims unfocused eyes at Ninetales.

    Ty takes a single, shaking step forward, dragging a lame leg behind him.

    ''There is no way��'' Awe and a touch of fear strike somewhere deep within Lee as Ty shuffles closer, step-by-step, foot by foot. ''There is no way he''s still moving after that! That explosion had to be enough to bring a skyscraper down, and he''s still able to fight?!''

    Moore''s first pokemon makes it to the halfway point in the charred battlefield, then with a hiss, he crumples to the ground. If not for his gasping breaths, Lee would swear that the pokemon fell and died.

    Silence reigns in the Gym.

    Lee licks his dry lips, looking between the still-standing Ninetales and the fallen Typhlosion. ''Did�� Did we win?''

    Moore raises his fist to his mouth. "Norbert, the call?"

    At the side of the arena, the stunned referee raises his microphone. "T-Ty is��" He stops short, blinking his eyes as if he were dreaming. "Ty is unable to battle�� The winner of the final round and today''s Gym match is Ninetales and her trainer, Challenger Lee Henson!"

    Ninetales perks an ear, and with the very last of her strength, she rears her head back and lets out a victorious howl. Immediately after, her legs finally give out and she falls to the ground, her mind going blank with a lingering note of pride that''s plain to Lee.

    The barriers around the arena fall for the last time, and both Lee and Moore recall their fallen pokemon to their pokeballs. The lack of applause or really any reaction from the onlookers places an awkward feeling upon Lee''s shoulders, but nonetheless, he walks out to meet Moore in the middle of the ruined field.

    ''Thank you, Love. You were spectacular,'' Lee smiles and returns the ball to his belt.

    In the center of the field, Moore removes his helmet, showing everyone his sweaty, exhausted face that nonetheless wears a small, content smile. He offers a hand for Lee to shake. "Lee," he begins. "I have nothing more to say that you and your pokemon''s astonishing performance here today hasn''t already said. First Roxanne, then Brawly, Liza and Tate, my dear Flannery, and now you and all of the other young men and women challenging the League this year. The future is bright, and my team and I can retire knowing the world is in good hands." He releases Lee''s hand, and from a pocket in his breastplate, the Gym Leader produces a shining badge in the shape of a plume of flame.

    With a wide smile, Lee reaches for the badge, but stops when Moore pulls his hand away.

    "Before I give you your rightfully earned Heat Badge��" Moore smiles mischievously. "Can you make a promise for an old man?"

    "That promise being?" Lee raises an eyebrow.

    Moore laughs once. "Why, return to the Lavaridge Gym in a year or two! I know a battle between you and Flannery will upstage our match today countless times over!"

    ''Ah, so that''s the political angle to this whole stunt��'' Lee returns Moore''s smile. "I can do that."

    The badge is dropped into Lee''s hand, and the silent spectators burst into deafening applause when it''s raised high in triumph.

 Act 2: Interlude 2

    The elevator door shuts behind Steven with a near-silent click as he steps into his floor-spanning office in Ever Grande City. With his mind abuzz, he barely notices sitting down behind his desk. The Champion is only pulled from his musings when something icy and alien touches his brain.

    ''Your thoughts are in disarray, Steven. Are you well?''

    Steven blinks and sits up straight. Inside his jacket, where a number of magnetic pokeball clamps are sewn, Metagross'' ball begins to grow warm, like a machine humming into high gear. ''I''m fine, Meta. Just thinking is all. How are you feeling?''

    The instant the thought hits Metagross, Steven feels the lightning-fast reply come.

    ''Teleportation from Lavaridge to Ever Grande utilized six-point-four-five percent of my total stamina reserves,'' Metagross rattles off mechanically. ''Supplementation of the Lavaridge arena barrier utilized eight-point-seven-one percent of my total stamina reserves. At this time my reserves have recovered to ninety four-point-eight-two percent and rising. I am able and ready.''

    Steven can''t help but smile to himself. ''No need to be so clinical. You could say ''I''m fine.''

    ''''I''m fine'' relays nothing of substantial value,'' Metagross sends back.

    The Champion and Devon heir doesn''t argue, knowing it''s a lost cause with his stubborn ace. Instead, he logs into his computer and clicks his tongue at the number of emails in his inbox. ''How was that eight percent divided between Ninetales and Ty?''

    Metagross takes only a second to answer, but Steven is well aware that a second to Metagross is an eternity to anyone else. Just one idle thought from the Steel-type would burn out a modern computer from the sheer processing power needed. ''Between combatants Ninetales and Typhlosion, my barrier absorbed a comparable amount of force between their attacks. Of the eight-point-seven-one percent stamina utilized, Combatant Ninetales''s Flamethrower required four-point-six percent of the aforementioned total.''

    Steven lets out a breath. ''Not a bad figure�� Not a bad figure at all.''

    With a drag of his cursor and the typing of a long, nonsensical password, Steven opens up a hidden network path on his computer, one home to a number of off-record servers under the Hoenn Pok��mon League HQ.

    Once inside, he opens up a folder labeled Archive19xx0101_JohtoKanto. Inside are a number of subfolders, and any history buff would pale upon seeing the names of each folder.

    Each folder is named for a battle fought in the Kanto-Johto skirmishes.

    Pokemon battling is the world''s most profitable sport, the go-to method for dispute resolution, and is a general way of life for many; at the dawn of the information age, every regional Pokemon League had very quickly agreed on one thing:

    War footage should not be spread for fun.

    Any unapproved graphic media that could damage the delicate relationship between pokemon, pokemon trainers, and the common person had been deemed unacceptable, and to this day, a small army of technicians and a legion of Porygon work to scrub the internet of any content the League deems uncivilized. The resilience and stubbornness of the internet cannot be understated, but the underbelly of the web, away from normal people and the scrutiny of the League, is the only place where such footage of death and carnage can survive.

    Some people cry foul at the censorship, and in a way, Steven understands, but at the same time��

    Steven''s cursor hovers over a folder, one labeled 19xx1023MtSilverRout_WildfireIncident.

    He dares not open it a second time.

    ��There''s a unique horror to seeing a pokemon, then the trainer behind him fall, both never to rise again. It''s vile; wrong.

    Moore and Ty''s might were a pillar for Johto those twenty-odd years ago, legends who stood side by side with trainers from Clan Blackthorn, Clan Hayato, and Johto Gym Leader Pryce��who is still regarded as one of the best Ice-type trainers to have ever lived.

    Moore and his Typhlosion were past their prime even then, but they commanded a terrible presence on the battlefield. Where they went, Kanto''s forces burned. Kanto''s civil army, staffed by regular people wielding small arms, refused to march anywhere that Moore and Ty might be.

    Ty was finally disabled and retired from the conflict after being impaled through the chest by the Horn Drill of a Rhydon belonging to one Giovanni of Kanto. Pryce would be forced into open retreat by Kanto''s Samuel Oak a week later. When the Blackthorn Clan Head fell in an ambush, the clan of dragon tamers was left leaderless. As tragedy and misfortune piled up and their allies proved reluctant to assist, Johto''s morale collapsed. The war came to a close with Johto''s surrender only weeks later.

    Moore returned to Hoenn bitter and defeated. Only his decades of service and the potential for public backlash had kept the League from expelling him for abandoning his post as an Elite Four member to fight in the most unpopular war in history; the black mark that branded his file still stands to this day.

    Nearly forty thousand souls went to meet Arceus in those five months, marking it as one of the most deadly conflicts in modern history, and the then-primitive internet gave everyone a front-row seat to the devastation.

    Steven logs out of the server and steeples his fingers on his desk.

    Even with age and old wounds slowing him down, Ty was still a monster of a pokemon who went undefeated for years��until today. It seems almost surreal that he was bested.

    ''As I stated previously,'' Metagross begins, interrupting Steven''s thoughts. ''Due to advances in medical and communication technology, along with greater availability of education for trainers, it is a near certainty that subsequent generations will surpass their forebears.'' The supercomputer of a pokemon doesn''t seem impressed with either Ty or Ninetales, or at least that''s how Steven sees it. Metagross'' more esoteric emotions are still a mystery to the Champion even after nearly two decades together. ''Your first meeting today is scheduled to begin in two minutes, fifteen seconds.''

    ''Ah, right. Thank you, friend.'' Steven clicks his tongue and opens his calendar, seeing the two meetings he has set for today. One is the usual, however-often meeting the Gym Leaders and Elite Four attend whenever everyone manages to find a free hour, and the one before that is one Steven scheduled on his phone before leaving Lavaridge.

    Emergency Disciplinary Hearing - 3:45 P.M.

    Turning on his camera and his microphone, Steven enters the meeting and schools his face into well-practiced diplomatic neutrality. Less than two minutes later, his computer beeps and Mura Moore''s face appears on the screen. The old man looks entirely too content for being called into a meeting such as this. Behind the elderly Gym Leader is a darkened meeting room with no one else present.

    "Mura��" Steven begins. Even after being on the throne of Hoenn''s champion for several years, it still feels a little odd to the Devon heir that he ranks above decorated veterans such as the man before him. "Do you know why I scheduled this meeting?"

    "Because you wanted to escape the curious mob that was dying to know what you and Lee talked about in that private sitting room?" Moore jokes with a hearty laugh. "Goodness me, your fans are going to have a heyday with that one. What do the girls call it? Yeow-y? I admit I''m rather curious myself. What was so important that that Lee boy had to talk to you in person?"

    Steven doesn''t humor the joke. "Don''t worry about that discussion. I called you here to discuss the dangerous stunt at the end of your match with Lee Henson," the champion''s eyes narrow. "Moore, as Gym Leader, it''s your duty to ensure the health and safety of everyone who steps foot into your Gym. You know the strength of your own pokemon better than anyone, and you knew that the average league-trained Psychic-type would not be enough to contain the after-effects of a Hyper Beam. If the second barrier had failed, we could''ve had dozens of injuries and possibly even deaths on our hands. What do you have to say in your defense?"

    Moore''s expression doesn''t shift. "I recognize that maybe I went a little overkill at the end there, but I don''t think you understand, Steven; I needed to let Ty have one last clash! One more moment to relive the good old days before Dialga''s wake forced him to fade into the twilight! Maybe you didn''t see it, but I did! When Ty was staring down Ninetales, I saw decades lift off of his shoulders! I saw the Ty from before I let him stagnate!" Moore''s voice rises until the Gym Leader stands up in an emotional crescendo. All at once, the energy seems to drain out of the Fire-type master, forcing him to sit back down heavily.

    "I betrayed him, Steven��" Moore whispers, head bowed. "I let him sit and languish, afraid of the pokemon I raised from boyhood. I went to defend my ancestral home, and what did I get in return? Years of scorn for participating and the phantom sense of blood on my fingers. Ty created so many widows, widowers, and orphans all those years ago, all of them at my order. I let him get old and fall from the Elite because I feared him, my first pokemon! I needed to give him this, Steven, I needed to show him I learned to trust him again before he dies��" Moore removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose with a deep, shuddering sigh. "Not once did he protest. Weeks, months, years at a time spent idle, growing older and weaker. Not once did my partner question me, so absolute was his trust."

    Taking a deep breath and holding it, Steven counts to ten and exhales slowly, hating how he always feels like the bad guy in exchanges like this. "I understand there was an emotional stake in this particular match, Mura," he begins calmly. "Due diligence�� still wasn''t performed, though, and that is my primary concern here. If Metagross hadn''t stepped in, there was a very real chance of the second barrier failing. I think you already know the implications of such an event upon yourself, but Flannery would have been caught up in the scandal as well."

    Moore says nothing, but from how his shoulders slump further, the point obviously gets across. "She had no part in this. Taking over the match was entirely my decision."

    "That may be, but the Lavaridge Gym is the oldest and arguably the most respected Gym in Hoenn. Flannery would have inherited a Gym with a tarnished reputation if the worst had come to pass. People don''t forget things like that nowadays." Steven leans back in his chair, remaining stern. "It''s still conduct not befitting of a Gym Leader either way."

    Moore says nothing in his defense.

    "Since no harm was done and you''re already planning to retire, I won''t be filing an official reprimand, and if the chairman or the board of directors asks, I will say the matter is already resolved." Steven''s conscience finally forces him to relent. "...How are your pokemon doing?"

    Moore raises his head and replaces his glasses, doing so with an exhausted sigh. "Rapidash has a broken fetlock on his right foreleg and severed tendons on his left. He''ll be down for a week or so with another week of limping after that, but he''s expected to make a full recovery. Arcanine will be back home in a few days, though he won''t be smelling or tasting much for a few weeks. Ty��" Moore smiles, both content and melancholic. "The Pokemon Center gave me an official notice that his days as a battler are over."

    Steven struggles not to shift in his seat. "Will he��?"

    "Ty will live, of course," Moore finally laughs once more, his spirit returning. "That fight forced him to use everything he had and aggravated a lot of his old wounds. That''s not to say Ty can''t roughhouse with his kids or send a whelp packing, but his retirement is official now. The average Typhlosion only lives to be sixty-some, and Ty is already pushing seventy. We''re a regular pair of old coots now!"

    Steven finally allows himself to smile. "I''m glad to hear everything will work out."

    Moore laughs once more. "You''re a good kid, Steven. I can''t think of anyone better to be champ!" The Fire Master composes himself and clears his throat, bumping his table with his elbow and shaking the camera a bit. "Now, onto the big meeting, right? I''ll see you there." With that, Moore drops out of the call.

    With a tired groan, the Champion leans further back into his comfortable leather chair, grumbling to himself. After spending a minute mustering the willpower to compose himself, he sits back up and clicks ''join'' on the next meeting link after turning off his camera.

    Ding!

    After buffering for a moment, the computer screen fills up with the names of all of the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four.

    "Well well, the champ himself is late," Sidney''s icon lights up, and Steven can already imagine the man''s sneer. "What took ya?"

    Glancing at the corner of his screen, Steven rolls his eyes when he sees he''s only a single minute late. "Sorry, Sidney. I was organizing some news that I''ll be sharing." Steven''s retort is as diplomatic as he can make it. "Does anyone have any important news they''d like to share before we move on to the state of the league this year?"

    There are murmurs, and after a moment, Roxanne takes the lead like she usually does. "Devon Corp suffered a break-in here in Rustboro several weeks ago, as I''m sure you''ve all heard," The academic woman''s frown can almost be heard in her voice. "I worked with the local police and Devon to try and determine who the thief was and what the possible motive might have been. A Devon representative revealed to me that the thief was after a gene sequencer intended to clone pokemon from fossils."

    "Clone pokemon from fossils?" Wattson asks with an amazed whistle. "Didn''t that lab in Kanto land in hot water over the ethical ramifications of cloning some years back?"

    "The Cinnabar Island Laboratory in Kanto pioneered the technology and faced rather severe backlash for it, yes," Roxanne confirms. "But Devon has begun prototyping their own gene sequencer. As per the representative who shared the details with me, I must request that this information does not leave this circle."

    "If this tech is so new, it must have been top-secret��" Phoebe, the Elite Four''s Ghost-type Master hums. "How did the thief know?"

    Roxanne pauses, likely to collect her thoughts. "After setting up a sting operation with the Rustboro Police Department, we captured another thief and interrogated him. He refused to reveal much, how he acquired the information on the gene sequencer included. After several fruitless days, all we ascertained is that he is loyal to the eco-activist group called Aqua."

    "Those bozos again?" Wattson grunts. "I heard they''ve been sniffing around the Slateport sub docks, too, and someone busted them before they broke into a dock holding some state-of-the-art submarine."

    "Their thugs have been seen around Lilycove as well, according to my darling niece," Wallace chimes in. The Water Gym Leader might sound as he usually does to everyone else, but years of being best friends have keyed Steven into the dangerous lilt in Wallace''s tone. "How curious��"

    "The thief refused to cooperate for a lighter sentence and was jailed with a heavy bail amount. The bail was paid�� then the thief never showed up to his court date. He''s assumed to remain at large," Roxanne clicks her tongue.

    Steven takes that time to unmute himself. "Thank you for the update, Roxanne," he says kindly. "That actually ties into my news as well. Does anyone mind if I take the floor for a moment?" After a round of negatives, Steven clears his throat. "A source I''ve deemed to be reliable has tipped me off that the eco-activist groups Aqua and Magma might be a greater danger than suspected, suggesting that their current street-gang level crimes and environmental activism are fronts for something much more sinister. The source suggests that both gangs have deep pockets, friends in high places, a slew of Elite trainers and pokemon to call upon, and goals that might result in the loss of lives or even the destabilization of Hoenn." The Champion hardens his voice. "This is an unofficial notice for all Gym Leaders and Elite Four: confirmed members of Magma and Aqua are now considered persons of interest to the Hoenn region. Suspected members are to be tracked and may be detained for questioning with probable cause. An official notice in writing will be sent to you after the Hoenn League Department of Justice finishes its final drafts. I am warning you in advance as I believe that this is a matter that shouldn''t wait. Depending on the results of further investigations, Magma and Aqua may be elevated in status from simple eco-activists to domestic terrorists."

    Stunned silence is the answer to Steven''s announcement. Really, he can''t blame them. If he didn''t get the news right from the Ponyta''s mouth, he wouldn''t really believe it either.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "That''s quite a warning��" Steven murmurs, resting his chin in his steepled fingers. ''Metagross?''

    From within his ball, Metagross is silent for almost five full seconds, long enough for a living supercomputer like himself to simulate a rocket launch, one so detailed it would go all the way down to the specks of dirt displaced by the engines. ''...After a thorough analysis of Henson''s brain waves during questioning, including a recursive analysis of the results, I have found no evidence of falsehood or deception. He believes what he is saying.''

    Steven raises his eyes back to Lee Henson''s face.

    Blue, impassive eyes, one framed by ghastly burns, stare back. "I''m aware it might be�� hard to swallow," Lee says with a nod. "And I''m sorry that I cannot reveal the source of my information for safety reasons, but I hope Metagross'' verification of my word is enough."

    Steven isn''t really sure where to begin with this. Plans to awaken ancient pokemon? Moving landmasses and oceans? Schemes upon schemes upon schemes? It almost seems like something out of a fantasy novel. Henson seemingly couldn''t stress how dangerous both groups were enough, going as far as to give detailed accounts of key members��one of which he and his dragon tamer friend are traveling with to pump for info��and their capabilities. To make things worse, Henson declined to cite where exactly he got all of this information, saying that revealing his source would put him in danger.

    When Henson said that leaders of both organizations are capable of Mega Evolution, Steven felt his brain short-circuit for a moment. Absolutely no one outside of the highest tiers of upper echelon trainers and classified circles in academia should even know what Mega Evolution is. And yet, Henson looked right at the keystone pinned to Steven''s breast pocket when he said it. The conclusion was inescapable:

    He knows.

    Did his Draconid friend tell him? No, never. The Draconids are as stubborn as the Dragons they stand beside. Not a single one would dare breathe a word of their sacred technique to an outsider. During Steven''s visits to Meteor Falls in the far north of Hoenn, not one Draconid has ever agreed to part with any information related to Mega Evolution, no matter the reward offered, and so the phenomena still remains mostly a mystery.

    Were Henson anyone else, Steven might have invoked his powers as Champion and declared this whole fiasco to be a national concern, letting Metagross mentally probe the other trainer without fear of legal repercussion. He had stopped himself short, though. The possibility of Henson realizing something is amiss mid-probe is just too high. Alienating the Hoenn Regional Laboratory, the Birch family, a Draconid, and angering a Ninetales on top of a cadre of other powerful pokemon is courting disaster, even for a regional champion.

    So here he is, in the awkward situation of being told about national threats not from an official source, but from a trainer vetted only by Metagross��

    "It''s obvious that you''re very well-informed, Lee��" Steven lets the statement hang, hoping Lee will provide more info of his own accord. When Steven gets no such thing, he continues. "However, my ability to act is limited by your refusal to disclose exactly where you''re getting your information. If someone is threatening you to keep quiet, I would be happy to provide official League protection from any persecution or retaliation."

    The unmarred side of the other trainer''s face frowns. "Thank you for the consideration, but I''m afraid I still have to decline." Henson seems to consider something as he taps a finger on the meeting room table. "Champion Stone, have you ever heard of Ash Ketchum?"

    "I''ve heard his name pop up here and there, yes. He''s competing in the Ever Grande Conference this year, I believe," Steven raises an eyebrow. "Why ask?"

    "Have you been following his��" Lee pauses, rolling a raised hand as he searches for a word. "More ''extravagant'' adventures?"

    Extravagant? "I don''t know what you mean?"

    Lee hums, staring hard at the champion. "That confirms a few things for me. I know the various Leagues keep files on different trainers, so look up Ash Ketchum when you get a chance. I think my warnings about Groudon and Kyogre will make more sense after that. Legendary pokemon, as in Legendary with a capital L, are more real than you think. Worse is that Magma and Aqua know that, too." Lee smiles, and it''s a grim thing that forces a frown onto Steven''s face. "After all, is there anything more tempting to a psycho with men and money to spare than Godly power?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    What Steven found in Ash Ketchum''s files, or rather what he didn''t find, spoke volumes. Even with his credentials as a Champion, the logs regarding the Kanto-born trainer were filled with black ink. A lot of black ink. Even the dates were redacted. It took a brainstorming session with Metagross doing the heavy lifting to build a rough timeline of all of the censored files, and each one lines up with strange happenings and legendary pokemon hearsay in Kanto and Johto. He sent an inquiry to Kanto''s chairman for more information, and his email bounced back.

    Someone is going to a lot of trouble to ensure Ash Ketchum and his friends remain unmolested in their travels, but it highlights Lee''s warnings clearly.

    Legendary pokemon, as in Legendary with a capital L, are more real than you think.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Is there anything more tempting to a psycho with men and money to spare than Godly power?

    With little else to do and honestly feeling a bit out of his depth, the Devon heir decided to trust in the warnings as they were presented to him�� and to begin his own investigation into the mystery that is Lee Henson.

    "Well��" Norman Maple of Petalburg begins unsurely, drawing the Champion''s focus back to the present. "Sure thing, Steven. We''ll keep an eye out."

    "Steven, dear," Glacia of the Elite Four begins to object, "How was this source verified?"

    "By Metagross." With that, any other protests wither on the vine. Steven clears his throat. "I apologize if I unintentionally made the atmosphere awkward. Is there anything else, before we move on to lighter topics?"

    After a round of negative murmurs, the Champion leads the group into the next topic. "Has anyone had any interesting challengers? We''ve had a record number of registrations for the Ever Grande Conference this year, so I imagine everyone''s schedule is packed."

    "Several," Roxanne begins, her cool voice restoring an air of normality to the meeting. "One Gavin Freed, a Fighting-type specialist, visited me. Due to the threat he presented, I met him with my personal Graveler and Nosepass. He did well, securing a sure, if narrow win, despite Nosepass paralyzing his Machoke early in the bout. My other opponent was a rather sour boy, maybe seventeen years of age, named Andre." Roxanne huffs. "I underestimated him at first, which proved to be a mistake as his Mightyena''s Ice Fang incapacitated my loaner Geodude in one strike. Nosepass fared better, defeating Mightyena, but lost against his Absol. That Absol was quite adept at avoiding harm." The Rustboro Gym Leader sighs. "His pokemon were powerful and his tactics without needless fluff, but the boy could do with an attitude adjustment. The gloating before and after the battle was entirely unseemly."

    Brawly groans. "That kid�� Don''t worry too much about Andre, Rox," Brawly says. "He was my last real challenger, too. The kid is a Dark-type specialist and has been throwing himself against me for years, finally winning narrowly a month ago. He''s got a case of asshole-syndrome and some sort of victim complex that I''m hoping calms down now that he''s left Dewford," the surfer grumbles. "In other news, I battled this kid, Ash. I beat him the first time, but he had his Nuzleaf pull a pretty clever trick in the rematch by attacking Hariyama''s legs. With Hari slowed down, Nuzleaf took the win." He chuckles. "I''m going to battle the Gavin guy you mentioned tomorrow, but I haven''t really faced anyone else of note."

    "My turn then?" Wattson goes next. "I''ve got four this time around. Brendan Birch, Lee Henson, Tyson Rhyn, and Ash Ketchum. Hoho, Brendan really is his father''s son!" The old Electric-type specialist laughs. "Baited me good! His Breloom smacked one of my poor Magneton silly with Counter, and his Marshtomp went toe-to-toe with Manectric for a fantastic finish! He was really cooking my brain there with his moves all planned out and such!" Wattson''s chuckles ease. "Lee Henson�� Hrm, I hope I didn''t make a bad impression on him. He came into the match distracted and was right peeved when I had to pull out the old Agility-to-Baton Pass to save Jolteon and knock out his Grovyle. All the speed in the world couldn''t save us from his Vulpix, though." The sound of Wattson scratching his beard can be heard through the microphone. "Sure as the sun rises, she went on the attack and everything she threw out curved and swerved like an angry Beedrill with barely any warning. Magneton and Joltie both went down, and that was that. Tyson and Ash��" Wattson hesitates. "I''m not sure what happened in those matches. Tyson was a terror and a half. I remember sending him packing three or so years ago, and by golly, he and all of his pokemon must''ve had their noses to the grindstone the entire time because his Donphan tore through my Jolteon and Electabuzz. We could barely do anything. It was the same story with the Ketchum boy and his Pikachu, only worse. With one attack for each, Pikachu downed both Manectric and Magneton."

    A ripple of murmurs flows through the assembled Elites and Gym Leaders, and after a second, a sigh comes from Sidney. "Someone want to put it on screen sometime today, maybe?"

    Reluctant keystrokes can be heard through Wattson''s mic, then the videos of each fight begin to play.

    Ash''s battle is just as Wattson said: the boy''s Pikachu throws utterly enormous thunderbolts at Wattson''s pokemon, so bright they almost overwhelm the cameras. With just two attacks that rattle the windows, the battle is over, leaving a shocked silence behind.

    "Arceus above��" Winona mutters.

    Tyson''s is almost worse. The Donphan the young man used is brutal. The instant Jolteon makes the mistake of coming too close, Donphan seizes her hind leg in his trunk with devilish speed before he breaks the limb like a dry twig. Before Jolteon can cry out, she''s raised high, slammed upon the ground, and then crushed beneath Donphan''s foot as Tyson calls for an Earthquake that shakes the entire building. Electabuzz is dealt with in a similar, nauseating manner.

    "I battled Tyson two days ago��" Norman breaks the usual order to chime in grimly. "I used Spinda against his Hariyama and paid for it. Spinda went down in a single blow. Slaking managed a win against Hariyama after sustaining a few injuries, but��" A sound similar to grinding teeth can be heard for a moment over Norman''s mic. "Slaking was treated like a toy by Tyson''s Metagross."

    There are several sharp inhalations when they hear another of the near-legendary Metagross is in the hands of a trainer other than the Champion, and it takes Steven a moment to realize one of them came from himself.

    "We lost, and last I heard, he was headed to Rustboro and then Dewford," Norman finishes, clearly warning Roxanne and Brawly. "Other than that, I defeated a talented Grass trainer named Valorie who is set for a rematch in about a week. I''m not sure I can win a second time."

    "It seems like Miss Forrest is moving quickly��" Winona says quietly. "To my shame, I underestimated Valorie Forrest and suffered a loss at her hands. Her Venusaur is quite a powerful pokemon with an impressively diverse array of techniques."

    "No one too strong has crossed our paths yet��" Liza of Mossdeep speaks for herself and her twin brother, Tate.

    Wallace hums under his breath. "Mister Clark White and I clashed a few weeks ago. He has quite a polished nonverbal style to conduct his pokemon with, quite literally I might add! I''ve never seen someone use an orchestra conductor''s baton to direct pokemon as he does, and it was a delightful showing. Alas, the power of his pokemon left something to be desired, as he struggled greatly for his win against my weaker pokemon even when he left me guessing as to what he would do next." After a moment, Wallace speaks again. "Mura, you''ve been silent so far. Have any interesting trainers crossed swords with you recently?"

    ''Oh Wallace, you don''t know the half of it.'' Steven thinks to himself.

    Moore chuckles. It''s a quiet, worrying sound, and it tells Steven that the Johto noble theatrics are going to come out. "Indeed. Today, I battled Lee Henson in a three-on-three match. It was quite something."

    Drake, the strongest of the elite four, finally speaks. "You mean your granddaughter battled Henson."

    "No no, I know what I said," Moore''s tone is all smiles. "Today, I pitted my Rapidash, Arcanine, and Ty against Lee''s Grovyle, Octillery, and Ninetales. We lost."

    Even with the meeting relegated to audio-only and despite it being no surprise to himself, Steven can still feel the tension ratchet up. First the revelation that a Metagross is in the hands of a challenger, and now a Ninetales?

    Without needing someone to complain, Moore taps a few keys on his end. "C''mon�� I know Flannery put the video somewhere�� Aha!"

    Moore starts the recording of the fight for everyone to watch.

    The first is Lee''s Grovyle against Rapidash, and already Steven can tell everyone''s eyes are glued to the screen. Reviewing the match from this new perspective, Steven watches as the Grass-type dips and dives with impressive midair control, avoiding what should have been nigh undodgeable attacks. Then, when Rapidash suddenly changes the spray of his Flamethrower and sears large, ugly patches of skin right off of Grovyle, there is a gasp here and there. The brutally pragmatic disabling of Rapidash draws hisses from more than one person.

    Octillery versus Arcanine is less thrilling, but no less wince-inducing. Octillery''s resolve to keep battling with his entire side torn open is admirable, but the Gunk Shot directly into Arcanine''s mouth and its horrifying effects flip any positive sentiment right around. After Arcanine''s unexpected Facade finishes off Octillery, Arcanine is left a panting, wheezing mess, with red still weeping from his gums.

    Finally, Ninetales makes her appearance.

    "Challenger Lee! Please select your final pokemon!" The referee calls.

    The applause goes quiet at the announcement as nervous anticipation seems to fill the entire arena. All eyes are on Lee - everyone knows who his selection is going to be.

    Lee takes Ninetales'' ball and enlarges it. With a deep breath, he steadies himself, draws his arm back, and throws the ball into the arena.

    The ball splits open, and out comes Ninetales.

    The great fox lands in a crouch, then slowly stands, unfurling each one of her tails as she does so. Once at her full height, she snaps her red eyes open and imperiously stares down Arcanine with open, burning hostility.

    The fox cuts a hauntingly beautiful figure, one that glows radiant gold in the intense sunshine streaming through the windows. Even through a computer screen, the weight of her presence is undiminished.

    Ninetales'' eyes glow, and everyone is treated to a front-row seat as Moore''s Arcanine is dismantled without being touched.

    When Ty, in all of his scarred glory, is finally called upon, no one makes a sound as the pair of Fire pokemon clash, ending with a Flamethrower versus Hyper Beam struggle. The resulting explosion is one that rocks the Gym so violently that the cameraman tumbles to the ground, ending the video with a loud crack and an ''OFFLINE'' error message.

    "Madam Ninetales was the final send-off Ty needed��" Moore sighs contentedly. "I feel the storm brewing over Hoenn. This year''s crop of trainers��" Moore laughs, loud and clear, "will be unforgettable!"

    Silence consumes the meeting for the next minute as mute testament to the calculation being undertaken by every other participant.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

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    Topic: Official Lee Henson Megathread

    Threadmark #1: Lee wins 4th badge at Lavaridge

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Indiv Trainers ? Lee Henson

    ?DannyDarko

    Posted On July 20th 20XX:

    Well I almost died but I''m pretty happy about it ngl. I nabbed a ticket to see Lee''s battle live at Lavaridge and flew in on my pal Fearow to see if he lives up to the hype. I definitely got my money''s worth. I got most of the battle on my phone and I''ll post that alongside the rip of the TV broadcast. Summary for anyone who cant watch rn below:

    So this was supposed to be Flannery vs Lee because she''s been fielding all the battles in Lavaridge for like the last month and some change and filtering the casuals pretty well, but Mura Moore walks in at the last minute and yoinks the match away from his granddaughter. I asked the guy next to me what was going on and he kind of shrugged.

    They start the match and Mura sends out his personal Rapidash. Like a Rapidash to fight Lee''s Grovyle. I''m sitting there like "Wtf how is this fair." Then Grovyle pulled out some insane 3D moves, shot Rapidash in the shoulder with a move I''ve never heard of and got first blood, then somehow tanks a Flamethrower to hamstring Rapidash and win the fight. (Look I know I''m bad at describing fights just watch the videos. Grovyle''s fight was good.)

    Grovyle gets retired, and Octillery comes out next to fight Mura''s Arcanine (This fuckin guy sent out an Arcanine in a gym match). Octillery gets blitzed by Arcanine and loses, but not before he does Arcanine dirty and hits him in the mouth with Gunk Shot. Arcanine is choking, bleeding, and throwing up, and finally things even up when Lee sends out Ninetales.

    Arcanine stood no chance and gets folded like wet cardboard without being touched. L.

    I can''t even put the Ninetales v Typhlosion fight into words cuz running out of post space and I can''t do it justice anyway. Just watch. Mura keeps going on and on about how his pokemon aren''t elite-tier anymore and it shows but fuck me they ain''t slouches either man cool it

    Edit: Thanks for threadmark mods

    #TVRip Lavaridge gym Lee Henson versus Mura Moore (Link)

    #LHvMM (Link)

    (Showing page 91 of 124)

    ?KazuoKandy

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    This thread is clearing 150 pages by tomorrow. Screenshot this post.

    ?LowKeyBadAtBattling

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Type specialists on suicide watch. Variety team wins again. Go look at the stats and seethe at how the top 1% of trainers almost all use variety teams.

    ?J_Augger (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    DannyDarko The fuck you mean you almost died you''re skipping over an important part.

    ?OakNuggins (Banned)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    [Deleted]

    ?RunThatBack (Mod)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    OakNuggins

    3rd strike for advertising in viral threads. You''re gone.

    ?K_Markus (PKMN Ranger)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    ��Was Steven Stone in the crowd? I swear I saw Steven Stone.

    ?#1solrock

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Ok. I know everyone is absolutely freaking out about Ninetales, but I''d like to talk about grovyle for a moment. Go back and watch (Timecode here) where Rapidash is using flamethrower and grovyle flickers around it in midair! That''s crazy! How fast is that pokemon? Can he fly?

    ?CarbinkBoi

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:77

    Ok, what the hell is he feeding his pokemon, and where can I get some?

    ?Aegi_ (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Maybe I should start betting on these matches? Henson for the title vibes anyone? Hoenn''s heating up this conference!

    ?WirelessGrasp (Psychic Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Where did that second shield come from? The gym Kadabra''s shield broke on that last attack, and there was a little bit of a shout at the end��did someone say Metagross?!

    (Showing page 92 of 127)

    ?FeFiFoFum

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Anyone else take a look at the crowd in the video? I thought I saw Steven Stone of all people there. Can someone who was actually there confirm that?

    EDIT: WirelessGrasp if the Champion was there, then that must have been his

    ?GreenPhoenix (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Why is no one talking about how Ninetales countered HYPER BEAM with flamethrower? HYPER BEAM! Sure she took some damage, but so did Ty! She is going to be a monster by time she reaches the Ever Grande tournament!

    Edit: Spelling. I make that mistake every time.

    ?F_Aulmais

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Told y''all Henson would be giving Ketchum a run for his money. This shit is wild. Next thing you know he''ll be going head-to-head with a goddamn Moltres or something.

    ?FlamingTress (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    WTF is the madlad doing to those pokemon?! Flamethrower matching a HYPERBEAM!?

    What the hell is next?! Hyperbeams that track their targets? Baby Shinx using Hydro Pump? Grass that cuts through boulders?

    ?TipsNTypes

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    You all are sleeping on Octillery. This must be Henson''s new acquisition to his battle team. They couldn''t have been together for more than a week right? And he held his own on Moore''s Personal Arcanine? Octillery has massive type spread in their movesets. Can you imagine what Henson can do with a couple months of training with him? We''ve already seen some custom moves come out from the rest of his team. The move variety could be endless!

    ?TipsNTypes

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Octillery got mentioned in the last thread update, hadn''t been seen before Lee passed through the Valley of Steel. I don''t know of any major bodies of water there though, and Lavaridge is about as far inland as you can get in Hoenn? Maybe Lee got him at the beach and has just been keeping him in his back pocket or something.

    Regardless, Octillery did surprisingly well, and displayed a breadth of move types.

    ?TwoPlusTwoIsFish

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    J_AuggerDuring Ty and Ninetales final clash, you can see the barriers fall before being reinforced, if they did actually fall I definitely would have died as well seeing as I had a front row view. Completely worth it though. Anyway, is anyone able to get some rough stats for the energy output in that clash? I want to know how close I came to being annihilated.

    Edit: the firebeam(that move has no right being called flamethrower) seems quite similar to the pillar of fire that was seen in a wild-fire clearing near Lavaridge a few days ago. Maybe they are the same? If so could that help in getting some numbers to this insanity?

    ?PoisonedFaith (Poison Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    FlamingTress Grass and leaves slicing through boulders is fairly standard for grass-types. There is a reason why Grass usually trumps Rock.

    Back on topic, thank Arceus I am not competing on the Hoenn Circuit this season. Tentacruel, Weezing, Cradily and either of my three Muk (Especially Crag) are my go-tos for dealing with fire types, but that much fire would boil them alive!

    ?Spece-Time (Pokemon Researcher)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    ARCEUS FUCKING DAMN! Just how much energy was being output by that final Hyperbeam vs Flamethrower!? Hell, how could flamethrower somehow match it? Wait, going to use a napkin for this real quick. Anyone here study Pokemon Moves?

    ?FlamingTress (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    PoisonedFaith Fair enough. Maybe grass cutting boulders was me taking leave of my senses and forgetting. But seriously though, the way things are going, that lizard will probably use Surf, and whatever move that vulpix used in Dewford, all in the same match.

    Whatever pokemon he captures next will never know what hit it.

    (Showing page 93 of 131)

    ?platinumGuy009

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Not sure if anyone else has pointed this out, but, Henson''s Ninetales was already setting records as a Vulpix, I wonder how she stands in comparison to other records of freshly evolved Ninetales now? We might just have a new record for their entire species on our hands.

    Add on the fact that Henson seems to create radical new moves every few weeks, especially for his Ninetales, and you get a trainer whose record is starting to border on the fantastical. Furthermore, he''s traveling with Birch''s son and an unknown Dragon Tamer who is not challenging gyms with them, which compounds on that fantastical factor. I''m very curious about the strength of a Dragon Tamer who travels with those prodigies.

    ?Leafeon_L0ver

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Jeez, sending a Grovyle out against a Rapidash is one helluva move. Impressive that he was able to win despite the type disadvantage and Rapidash being so stronk. Hope he''s doing ok! Plus 9T at the end? Wow, I''m partial to my grass fox, but that firefluff is DANGEROUS!

    ?Licorice&Litleo

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Does nobody else find it a bit sus that Henson is ON CAMERA at Moore''s Gym when he gives vulpix her fire stone? Moore''s even in that vid?! I''m not saying it''s all fake but come on, the man must have given Henson the stone in the first place and then muscles Flannery out of her match to use his old as dirt team. He probably just told them to make it flashy to hype him up.

    ?GyaradosUsedSplash (Water Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    licorice&litleo do u have eyes? i was in the stadium and i felt the heat from that beam struggle from the back row. no way that shits fake, im betting henson all the way to the conference

    ?JustAnotherInternetStranger

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Yo! That battle was insane and it was only his 4th badge!? What''s his 8th badge battle going to be like?

    ?FlamingTress (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    JustAnotherInternetStranger The gym will probably explode. In style. Wallace will be ecstatic.

    Speaking of style, I wonder what that battle crow of his is up to. Anyone got an update on that?

    ?Leafeon_L0ver

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Licorice&Litleo No way, That team is dangerous as hell. I''ve heard stories from family friends who took part in the fighting back then. It wasn''t pretty.�� I think I remember hearing a rumour about a glass field after a battle that took place. Nothing left to even see of the enemy.

    ?Licorice&Litleo

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Leafeon_L0ver I''m not saying Moore wasn''t a monster back in his day�� but his day was a long time ago, his typhlosion is what, pushing 65 at least? I just can''t help but wonder how a grovyle (not even sceptile) can take out a formerly elite rapidash without some foul play, but an octillery (the only member we don''t even have stats on yet) gets one lucky shot before being downed. Arcanine didn''t even try to fight back once ninetales came out.

    But the real smoking gun is in that final showdown, after that firestorm typhlosion makes it tries something else and the move fizzled, smoke and sparks like some sort of skit. And then it doesn''t pull out any more fire attacks for the match? Like at all? Has anyone ever seen an elite''s attack just go limp like that for no reason? Smoke and mirrors, has to be.

    ?Leafeon_L0ver

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Licorice&LitleoI don''t think thats the case at all. There is a REASON his team is in the elite tier, even as they have gotten older. I''ll admit that the combustion Typhlosion tried to make was kinda sus, but I don''t think that was on Typhlosion''s part. He did seem super surprised when it didn''t work. Plus he still had the energy for that hyperbeam at the end! (I am questioning why he went for hyberbeam rather than overheat, but that just may be a personal choice from Moore) Something was off about that battle, but I don''t think it was fixed. Both were giving it their all at the end.

    ?CrystalShowers (Scientist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Did anyone else notice that only Grovyle had a held item? Ninetales did all that without a type booster!? That''s insane! I''d love to examine the battle data and performance stats with and without an item of that majestic beautiful floofy fox.

    (Showing page 94 of 134)

    ?Green0Photon

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    I wish I went out to watch matches more often. That video was sick! It must have been amazing being there in person!

    Then again, that final barrier shaking attack was pretty scary��

    ?j4x3r (Ace Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Kids these days sure grow fast, my first circuit wasn''t as intense as this one and if I tried what Henson did, my pignite (at the time) would be toasted. Keep it up! Will be waiting on the big leagues!

    ?Glasses_Man

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Well, I might not have confirmation for talking, but Ninetales sure delivered hard on psychic abilities. I''m honestly shocked.

    ?WitchHatStrat

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Glasses_Man I had to rewatch from the fan cam and the official gym video a few times to realize. Did anyone else notice that Mr. Henson spoke a total of FOUR words that entire fight!? Count em FOUR and they were "Ninetales match him" and "Ninetales". I want that! The Pokemon just needs to be able to learn psychic stuff right? How do I learn to do that with my Braixen?!

    ?Glasses_Man

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    WitchHatStrat Yeah, they are obviously communicating: I was specifically wondering about whether they could TALK. With words. I know some people who have described it as vague ideas back and forth, and I think some people have said they could talk but it hasn''t been proven: This Ninetales is probably a contender for saying if it''s possible at all.

    ?Betterwhenwetter (Water Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Holy shit, that Ninetales looks AMAZING! She and Henson are so totally in sync with each other it''s just mind boggling. Makes me wonder if there''s something going on behind the scenes in their relationship. Almost makes me regret becoming a water type specialist.

    ?LoPwny99 (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    See?! I told you all he was drugging that Grovyle! How else would a stage two grass type battle an elite level fire type for longer than 20 seconds, nevermind beat it! The fact that the League hasn''t liberated the poor thing from Lee speaks volumes of the incompetence of the League. Poor lizard is drugged out of his mind. Someone save these pokemon, before someone gets hurt!

    ?FlamingTress (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    LoPwny99 Bruh, I sure would love to have some of whatever shit it is you''re smoking. Do you think none of the pokemon centers he visited would have known if he''d been drugging up his ''mon? Birch would probably have fired his ass (or worse) if there was even an inkling of something shady going on with the guy his son is traveling with, not to mention one of the Nurses Joy would''ve come down on him like the wrath of Arceus.

    Dude''s supposed to be a researcher, researching pokemon nutrition, care and movesets. That would explain much of the bullshit he seems to be pulling outta his ass on a weekly basis. Seems to me like he''s putting his money where his mouth is.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    A sudden tug at the back of his mind draws Lee from scrolling through his phone. He jolts up so suddenly his head hits the wall behind him, drawing both Brendan and Zinnia out of the conversation Lee had since tuned out.

    "Something wrong, Dolittle?" Zinnia asks, eyebrow raised. She leans back on Brendan''s bed, folding her arms behind her head. "You look like you saw a ghost."

    "I just felt Ninetales wake up is all," Lee answers, letting the relief ease the tension in his shoulders. The fox is still largely incoherent, and telepathically peering through her bleary eyes, Lee sees her glaring at the itchy cast on her fractured hind leg. A wordless complaint about the too-tight oxygen mask around her muzzle zips from her brain to Lee''s. He soothes her with a silent assurance that it''s for the best. "I don''t think she''s happy to be in the ICU."

    Brendan snorts. "She''s got Typhlosion right there with her, so it''s not like she''s going to be lonely," the boy jokes.

    "Hmm��" Lee, nearly as tired as Ninetales after the match, doesn''t put much effort into replying. He frowns though when he notices someone missing. "Where did Courtney go?"

    "Errands," Zinnia''s reply is curt, telling him that she''s suspicious as well.

    "Maybe someone should go give her a hand next time��" Lee grunts. "You guys don''t have to stay here with me if you don''t want to. I''m tuckered out, and all I have to do tonight is feed Shinx before bed."

    Brendan frowns. "Maybe�� but you don''t have any battle-ready pokemon right now. It wouldn''t feel right to just leave you here."

    At Lee''s raised brow, Zinnia rolls her eyes and explains. "It''s a�� What''s the phrase? Sort of a social faux pas to disable all of a trainer''s fighting pokemon. Once the nerds online figure out that Greenbean, Calamari, and Miss Fox were all your fighters, Moore might catch some heat for it. It''s why you never see anything more than a four-vs-four unless it''s a huge tournament with a lot of security hanging around. Kinda your fault, too, for not objecting to a three-on-three, but Moore was expected to know."

    ''Interesting cultural bit I didn''t know about��''

    "Besides, all of us being here gives me the opportunity to ask something," Zinnia continues. Sitting back up, her smile is traded for something a bit more serious. "Lee, Brendan, if it''s cool with you guys, I''d like to head north to Meteor Falls and visit my tribe." Dare Lee call the way Zinnia is holding herself nervous? "I''ve some business to attend to, and people to talk to. You know how it is, right?"

    "Why not give them a call?" Brendan tilts his head. He yelps when Zinnia reaches out and flicks his forehead.

    "You think my tribe out in the sticks has a phone?" She snorts before sobering. "I know it''s out of the way and all, and if it''s too long, I can split off and meet you guys somewhere afterward?"

    Brendan''s face brightens into a grin. "Lee, aren''t we way ahead of schedule?"

    "We''re only three months into the league year and already we''re at the halfway point," Lee idly muses, wondering what Zinnia needs to do. "I don''t see why not. We''ll have to run it by Courtney, though."

    Zinnia''s smile is rather pretty when it fully reaches her eyes, Lee thinks to himself.

 Act 2: Side Content 1

    (Showing page 95 of 139)

    ?Sakatsuki (Fairy Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    There��s quite frankly quite a lot of stuff to break down in this fight, but I think it��s very important to note that Henson-san seems to have frozen very briefly on several occasions. I certainly am not going to give my potential competition any hints on where, but it��s most notable early in the fight, and he does it a lot less later on.

    The instant Ninetales comes out, that immediately changes. I��m almost certain that some telepathy was involved, but I can��t really say for sure. All I have to go on are my own experiences with my team, after all.

    @LoPwny99 I see you have not had the honor of facing any competently trained and motivated non-evolved Pokemon. Respect those that choose not to evolve, they tend to have a reason for it. Perhaps another thread could educate you on the subject. Ketchum��s certainly would.

    ?Waffles

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Me and Smeargle were on Mt. Chimney doing a landscape a few days ago when we saw that flamethrower clear the sky of clouds. I thought that was Moore��s Typhlosion seeing how far it could push its flames, it seems that Henson was practicing for his match, insane.

    ?TogeAirtime (Verified Ranger)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @Waffles We here at the Lavaridge Ranger Station would like to wish Mr. Henson well on his journey through the rest of the Hoenn league this season. Where he and his lovely walking natural disaster fox can be someone else��s problem. Unrelated PSA: Just because Mt. Chimney is a volcano does not mean it��s alright to melt the landscape.

    ?FryThoseWater (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Holy shit, if his Grovyle, that��s weak against a fire type could tank a flamethrower and come out the winner, I can��t wait to see what his Shinx could do when they get to the water gym. I just love to see some good ole fish frying. He had that pokemon for a while didn��t he? At least longer than that Octillery if we go by how his info got updated. My electric team would love some tips from him once we see how he blasts. And the whole shinx line is just the best man.

    ?PoisonedFaith (Poison Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @Sakatsuki I know right! Were Ketchum still in Kanto I would have loved to throw down against a Pikachu that powerful.

    @FryThoseWater Shinx seems pretty young, going by what we know of it. Likely something he just hatched recently. I know there are some Pokemon species that are willing to throw down while only a few days old, but Shinx isn��t one of them. Especially not at the Elite level.

    ?FryThoseWater (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @PoisonedFaith I still know that much at least, but they still got a good while to go before the end of the gym circuit. Although Lee and his group does seem to be pushing pretty fast�� so maybe it��ll be too soon. I guess the flying gym is another good spot to showcase that baby shinx. I just want more shinx love, that Ninetales is great and all, but they are way too rare for me to even daydream about.

    ?MKUxie

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Someone tipped off Steven Stone to be there, mark my words.

    ?Bug_Catcher_Phil (Bug Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    So, having looked at a lot of the trainers for this year�� I��m staying in the forest, I��m not even letting my Volcarona be within 20 miles of the gyms this year. I swear I saw some dude with some Metagross in a gym that wasn��t Steven Stone, a Ninetales that contests with hyper beams, a PIKACHU THAT ONE SHOT WATTSON, and some dude using a conductor��s wand to direct his team. This year is a horror show of talent.

    ?Ice-cream-you-scream (Ice Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    This morning I thought the worst thing to happen would be when I tripped and spilled coffee on my snom. Needless to say, I think I��m gonna be skipping this years Ever Grande. Should��ve just been a water type specialist��

    ?In_brightest_day_in_darkest_night (Dark Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Haha fox go brrrr. Yo for real though, WTF was that?! Those are some really old Pok��mon that geezer was tossing around and they were killing it! Ignoring the super rookie who looks like he went the distance with a blender, those old Pok��mon must have been absolute monsters back in the day. I can��t tell how strong they would have been. Yeesh, sure am glad that I��m all the way in Unova. If fourth badges were that hard to get, I wouldn��t have made it to the conference my second year, let alone my first .

    (Showing page 96 of 146)

    ?Mighty_Frou (Verified Breeder)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    I know everyone is obsessed with Henson''s fights but I want to know what he''s doing in the care department. I haven��t seen pokemon in the battle circuit in such pristine condition while tramping through the wilderness before. I would love to talk to him about his care routine for his 9T. The breeding community would be remiss not to pick his brain.

    ?TheBlueTear (Verified Ranger)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Dear god, 9T and Ty would be absolute awful captures. Ty is probably in his twilight years atp, but holy shit. I heard from someone in Lavaridge that 9T''s flamethrower can melt CLOUDS! She''s an absolute beast and if she''s only just evolved, she''s gonna be even worse by the time the conference comes around. Her raw power plus Lee''s ingenuity with moves, for fucks sake. Anyone running against them has got to bring their A game

    ?Heracross4life

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Ty got fucking bodied lmao

    ?ReptileComander (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Damn, for all that Ninetails was ridiculously impressive/scary there, I can��t help but focus on Grovile��s performance. I��ve never seen one that could maneuver mid-air like that, and the fact he could even survive that fight, nevermind actually win was both nuts and inspiring to me.

    The Treecko line is one of my favorites, and I��m hoping I might be able to get one when I head to Hoen in a year or two (me and Charmelion still have work to do here in Kanto) and this has just made me even more determined to get one on my team.

    ?Ian_the_Great (Verified Student)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @Glasses_Man and @WitchHatStrat, Hey, I just want to bring up this line of talk again, cause this thread seems to be getting a TON of views. I''m trying to train my Noibat, Drummer, to talk, or in pokemon/human telepathy (I know Noibats are supposed to be psychic), or hell to read and write! But I seem to be getting nowhere. All the books I find on this sort of thing seem to contradict each other, and that one collar I bought off the internet which was supposed to translate pokemon into normal speech was a total lie and waste of money! Is anyone publishing REAL information on this?? Drummer is trying, I know she is, and she''s SUPER smart, she understands and responds to everything I say, and is really sad when she can''t seem to get it, and I''m not psychic or anything myself. What do I do??

    ?Sakatsuki (Fairy Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @Ian_the_Great Noibat aren��t psychic by traditional means, actually. They can have the ability ��Telepathy��, but it��s fairly rare and uncommon. I��d recommend asking a fellow student, a trainer with some freetime, or someone along the lines who has a Pokemon capable of telepathy to help though. It��s not exactly a well kept secret, but a lot of trainers tend to hide, conceal, or blataantly provide misinformation online. An alternative you could pursue is teaching Drummer how to spell, which can lead to some slow communication via keyboard; Noibat have the digits to slowly use one.

    ?Ian_the_Great (Verified Student)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @Sakatsuki, Thanks! I seem to have gotten a lot of misinformation, yea. Is that ability ''telepathy'' something they can learn, like via Machine or training? How do I tell whether she has that ability or not? I don''t have a lot of resources, tbh. Regardless, I wouldn''t trade her for the world! We''ve been trying to vary her vocalizations, she makes a ton of cool sounding noises, and that''s been doing well so far. I had the idea of words and letters, but I don''t really know how to teach someone who can''t say the letters or words out loud? Do I just read kid''s books to her a lot and set up a keyboard where she has access to it? I can''t imagine teaching a pokemon to read or type is the same as teaching a human child, otherwise you''d find more pokemon able to do it, right??

    ?Betterwhenwetter (Water Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    As it is, there is at least telepathy occurring , Henson only said four audible words to his Ninetales in the entire match! I think there��s more, though, something deeper. Henson was jittery at times behind his other team members, but when his Ninetales took the field he calmed right down. Wasn��t phased at all until he called that final flamethrower. Almost looked like a completely different battler. They��ve only known each other for a few months, but she��s a deeply calming influence, if that match is anything to go by. There��s not many things that can engender the kind of bond they so clearly have, and I know where my thoughts are going.

    ?Sakatsuki (Fairy Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @Ian_the_Great I��ve only seen one Pokeman that can speak a human language fluently, but we don��t know enough about that specific Meowth to really say anything. He apparently belongs to some traveling freelancers or something?

    ?DragonExpert1985 (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Well, clearly I need to have a serious sit down and rethink how I am approaching my career as a trainer if someone with no credentials or history can do this after only a few months. While I have no doubt a lot of that is talent from the trainer and both talent and breeding for the ��mons, clearly Hensen is doing something else that I have overlooked. First things first, get a monster of a pokemon. Second, evolve them. Third, ??? Fourth, profit! Or fame and a good league showing, same thing really.

    That said, which way to the betting threads? I got a cool couple hundred to drop on Hensen getting at least top four.

    Edit: YES! Finally verified status! �� And now I am sad that I am/was excited about that.

    (Showing page 97 of 151)

    ?ForestSynergy (Grass Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Several people on previous pages mentioned Ninetales had intense flamethrower in the skies near Lavaridge. Was that the reason for the Weather Institute suddenly changing the forecast for the east coast a few days ago? They mentioned it was due to Pok��mon in that region but I had assumed it was a pack of Torkoal in the Valley of Steel or something. My Bellosum was pleasantly surprised by the sunshine instead of light overcast. Surely I''m overthinking it?

    ?Rikky_RollDatDough (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    I bet! After witnessing how that flamethrower can overcome a freaking Hyper Beam, weather changing doesn''t sound that unbelievable to me. Though my Gastrodon is a little sad that it hasn''t rained these few days.

    ?KingBattler

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    Look, that Meowth talking was obviously faked. Probably has a speaker of some kind hidden on him for his real trainer to speak through.

    ?DarkSpike69

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    I don''t understand why people treat Henson as the second-coming of Arceus. His Pok��mon is strong but his battling sucks. Like, use your Corvisquire instead of your Grovyle. Yes type isn''t everything, but it''s not like Corvisquire is weak, and that Grovyle is the weakest link in the party. Particularly when Mura Moore famously loves his Fire Terrain move which doesn''t matter for flying types. Later, he didn''t use the opportunity he gained with Gunk Shot to do anything, Henson just stood there and let Arcanine recover. And with Ninetales, his only verbal order was to strike back with Flamethrower against a HYPER BEAM, which has to be one of the stupidest commands ever. Light Screen, Detect, or even just dodging would have done it. Instead, he bet against a literal war machine and only won because he has a Ninetales.

    Compare that to Birch, who actually uses more than 2 brain cells when he battles, or that random new dude who uses a conductor''s baton. Heck, he almost won with his wimpy Pok��mon. Or, like any gym leader or any one of the Elite 4. I just hate that he overshadows the actual battler talent.

    ?Rikky_RollDatDough (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @DarkSpike69 Ayo Mister Emo, that sounds like a YOU problem. Speaking like you are some big shot, but do you have the ball to back it up? We can clearly see that Ty is a freaking monster and I doubt you can follow all of your strategy so well when facing that Hyper Beam. Honestly, show the man some respect!

    ?PoisonedFaith (Poison Type Specialist)

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    So I was looking at some of the ranger maps of the valley of steel, and apparently among the acid pools and metal contaminated pools there are some pools of water in the area that are clean enough to actually be liveable. Maybe Lee got his Octillery at one of those? Hard to say because those maps tend to be more out of date than normal due to the lack of trainers strong enough to regularly cover the place. But hopefully this is the case and not because some asshole decided to release a water type into an acid pool. Still have nightmares about that time I responded to reports about this idiot releasing his Horsea into a mudpot over at Cinnabar.

    ?Glasses_Man

    Replied On July 20th 20XX:

    @Sakatsuki Honestly, I assumed that was fake. The accent, the fact that it��s so hard to find�� You��d think that they��d, you know, show that off for money.

    ��

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    OUR SERVERS ARE UNDER VERY HIGH LOAD.

 Act 2: Lees Logs 1

    "That should be everything, Professor," the smartly-dressed intern standing before Nigel Birch''s desk closes his binder. "We''ve moved Miss Jenning''s Trumbeak to aviary section five, which is the least populated. Since then, Mister Mudahar''s Staraptor and his clique have calmed down."

    Seated behind his desk, Professor Birch sighs. "That bird��" He mumbles, thinking of the aforementioned Staraptor and his foul attitude. "I''ll have Medicham, Flygon, or someone else straighten him out. Matt," He addresses the intern before him. "Make a note on Mister Mudahar''s profile. If his pokemon can''t behave, then he''s going to forfeit his place at our ranch and be forced to purchase private boarding. This is the second time one of his pokemon has acted out."

    The young intern nods rapidly. "Yes sir," he says, then his brows furrow. "Professor? Can''t you ask Lab Trainer Birch''s or Lab Trainer Henson''s pokemon to keep an eye on things? It seems like your pokemon are forced to play peacekeeper rather often��"

    Professor Birch has to suppress a grimace at Matt''s question. "I would, but Brendan and Lee are very picky with their pokemon. Neither of them has more than six yet," Nigel scratches his short beard and sighs. Oh, if only�� Nigel finally got clearance from the ever-so-finicky Pokemon Rangers to camp out and observe a natural Sitrus grove near Verdanturf, and all this nonsense is cutting into his prep time! A pokemon trained by either Lee or Brendan would quickly rise to the spot of ranch Alpha and keep the peace. He can already imagine a Swampert''s bellow and a ground-shaking thud putting an end to any drama.

    While Nigel thought of the Mudfish Pokemon, given that most of the lab is in a tizzy over the battle that aired in Lavaridge today, he knows Matt''s thoughts are probably focused on a certain golden fox.

    ''For a man scared to death of drama, you sure find yourself mixed up in it a lot, Lee.''

    As if cued in by his thoughts, Nigel''s computer bings, and glancing up at it, he sees a new Logs Update email from Lee with a number of attachments to it. .

    "Anyway, thank you for sorting everything out Matt," Nigel smiles. "Please close the door behind you."

    Smiling widely back, the aide bows out and shuts the office door as he goes.

    After waiting for a moment, Nigel opens the email �� which is devoid of any text as usual ��, then clicks the first attachment and leans back. ''I''m glad my predecessor had the office soundproofed, Nigel thinks to himself. ''Lee''s been throwing a lot of curveballs lately.''

    "Log twenty, day ninety-three." Lee''s voice begins from the first recording. In the background is the sound of distant conversation, and Lee''s voice reverberates as if he''s standing in a cave.

    "I realize these logs are probably going to arrive a bit later than usual considering that we''re currently traversing the Valley of Steel. At first, the four of us considered using the desert which would have been about two-and-a-half weeks to Lavaridge assuming no complications, but when we came to the crossroads between the desert and the valley, we decided the valley was the better option for a few reasons. One, Zinnia knows how to get through the valley in a little over a week, and two, Brendan and I want to hunt for new pokemon."

    "Brendan is doing fine considering that he has three active battlers on his team, but Vulpix and Grovyle are having to do all of the heavy lifting due to Corvi''s absence. I�� still haven''t officially released him. I want to give him more time. He''s too complex a pokemon to just leave for no reason, and I get the feeling deep down that I''ll see him again one day so that I can ask why."

    "Anyway, onto what I was originally talking about. The Valley of Steel is home to a number of powerful pokemon, many of whom would make excellent team members based on Type and what role they would fill in the team. I''m still lacking a bulky fighter, and I hope that a trip through the valley will fix that. I''ve updated my ''wanted list'' as well and I''ll attach it to the email I send with this recording."

    "During our time here, I''ve gone out and approached a number of wild pokemon while trying to be obvious with my intent to expand my roster. I made sure to keep a respectful distance away with either Vulpix or Grovyle at my side, along with an empty pokeball in my hand. So far, though�� There''ve been no takers. I did briefly consider trying to capture a monstrous Magnezone that attempted to attack us, but thought better of it after the injuries he inflicted on Brendan."

    Nigel sharply inhales and pauses the recording. "What?" He hisses to himself. The date on the recording is weeks ago, and he was never informed of this? Neither Lee nor Brendan ever said anything about being injured! Taking a deep breath and keeping his suddenly short temper in check, Nigel resumes the voice recording and crosses his arms.

    "Brendan is fine, thankfully. He pulled quite a few muscles in his legs and back lifting himself out of Magnezone''s Gravity attack to pull Zinnia to safety, and he''ll be spending the remainder of the trip being carried on poke-back. From what I can tell, he''ll make a full recovery. He said he''ll be giving you a call about the mess once we''re in Lavaridge."

    The Professor exhales slowly, letting his temper ease. Brendan did indeed call home as he usually does once or twice a week to recount their adventures, but evidently, his son left out some very critical details. "What am I going to do with that boy��"

    "During the whole fiasco, we did run into a familiar face. Do you recall the huge Manectric in my earlier logs? Her egg hatched, and apparently, she felt it prudent to track us down all the way in the valley to give her son to me." There''s a short pause in the recording. "I''m certain Brendan will give you a call about this, so I won''t bore you with details. Like his mama, Electrike is quite large, and while I would love to raise him... I''ve already got Shinx to care for. Taking care of two cubs, raising a battling team, traveling, and performing independent research all at once is quite a lot of work, so I''ve taken the liberty of giving Electrike to Brendan. I think it''ll be a good test for him, as I''ve recently begun teaching Brendan the finer points of zoology, nutrition, and... I guess not animal psychology, but non-human psychology to aid in raising his pokemon. Naturally, he''s taken to it like a Goldeen to water, and a hardy baby to raise will be the perfect opportunity to apply what he''s learning in a practical way. Of course, I''ll be on standby in case anything happens, but I doubt that Brendan will need anything more than a finger pointed in the right direction every now and then."

    "As for my team, things are progressing as normal. Due to the volatility of the valley''s pokemon, we haven''t been able to get much more than basic training in, as anything more than mild noise and lights irritates the locals. I have to say, the Valley of Steel is an exceptionally hostile place, both in terrain and wildlife. Never before have I seen pokemon so aggressive and raring to battle. More than once while out hunting for a prospective new team member, we''ve had to bow out and cut our losses when a pokemon clearly too powerful for any of us stepped forward, spoiling for a fight."

    There''s another short pause in the audio. "During these nights where there is little going on, most of our time has been spent meditating on where we want our future training to take us and how to best get there. Grovyle already has a superb mastery of Leaf Blade and X-Scissor, and both moves utilize the leaves situated on his wrists. He can also channel both moves into the claws on his hands if needed, but it''s not terribly practical unless his leaves have been sheared or burnt off mid-battle. He''s most familiar molding Grass TE, and with a bit of creative application, can even alter the size and shape of his wrist-blades. He can''t do this with X-Scissor quite yet, but he''s getting there. I considered having him attempt to channel his attacks through the long leaf on his head, but discarded the idea later as Sceptile lacks that leaf, and Grovyle is so heavily reliant on kinesthetic learning that he quickly builds habits and muscle memory. I don''t want him to get into the habit of using a feature of his body that he won''t always have. With that in mind, our focus going forward will probably be on expanding his available repertoire with new slicing attacks like Night Slash."

    "Considering the Lavaridge gym uses Fire pokemon, I''m also thinking about using a TM to round out Grovyle''s arsenal. We still haven''t used the Rock Tomb, Bulk Up, or Shockwave TMs given to us from our gym battles, and Grovyle would benefit greatly from a projectile like Rock Tomb to shut down Ice, Flying, and Fire Types. It''d also introduce him to Rock TE, opening further doors down the line."

    "Shinx is still growing like a weed, as I''ve said in past updates. Not much has changed with her. In the next few weeks, I''ll be weaning her off of her bottle and introducing her to solid food. Her introductory training is moving along with minimal hiccups, though we haven''t been able to do much with her here in the Valley due to how sensitive the local Magnemite are to atmospheric electric charge. She is getting squirmy and frustrated with being stifled, but she''s kept her acting out and mischief to a minimum."

    "Vulpix''s abilities are definitely beginning to plateau on the physical side. I don''t know where she stands in comparison to other examples of her species, but she''s been able to reliably fight middle and occasionally final evolutions looking for trouble out here. Granted, she''s fighting most of these battles with a type advantage, considering many of the wild pokemon around here are Steel-type, but I''ve watched her stumble pokemon that must weigh a ton at minimum with her Quick Attack."

    "On the non-physical side, we''re beginning to hit roadblocks there as well. Vulpix'' pyrokinetic abilities continue to improve at a steady rate, and although her firepower is superb, we''re running into issues with her focus and stamina. These two critical factors are being outpaced by her power, and although I can help out on both fronts via telepathy, the amount of stamina and mental computing power that a human can contribute to a superpowered fox is a drop in the bucket. In our efforts to mitigate the focus issue, we''ve been trying to deconstruct moves that contain inbuilt ''programming.'' As things stand, Vulpix must manually direct every part of an attack that is functioning outside of the normal parameters of an established move. Redirecting Embers doesn''t take much, but redirecting Embers and having them chase two different targets requires a noticeable increase in focus. We''ve kept this to ourselves thus far, but something as intensive as charging Convergence leaves Vulpix practically paralyzed. The more complex the move becomes, the more mental resources it takes to ensure it actually fires off without a hitch. We need to figure out what''s missing from these custom techniques, and how to integrate that innate programming that other moves seem to have. Or maybe we''re overthinking it? Is it just repetition until it becomes muscle memory? This is what we''ll be focusing on for a while."

    "Also... regarding the study you mentioned? The one regarding the telepathy between Vulpix and I? Once our group gets to a good resting point in our journey, which I imagine will be after this gym, I''ll be reaching out to you regarding your trusted contact. Over the last few weeks, I''ve been digging deep into the extant theories about telepathy and the various nuances in how a relationship develops between individuals who frequently utilize telepathy. I can''t say that my search has been particularly fruitful, as telepathy is an absolutely indispensable tool in pokemon battles for the ones capable of using it, and I suspect that much of the information that exists is not being shared in order to keep a tactical advantage over other trainers. Part of me understands it, and the other is frustrated that important studies like this are being kept private. Vulpix and I have been collectively mulling over our dynamic, particularly in regards to the advice that Zinnia gave me in Slateport."

    "According to Zinnia''s words, both the ones she said aloud and the ones she didn''t, the trainer should be the undisputed leader in the relationship between humans and pokemon. Now, I think this is colored a bit by her specialty in Dragons, as I''ve noticed that her team has a very definite pecking order to it, but part of me wonders how valid that is when it comes to the dynamic shared by myself and Vulpix. Vulpix herself is insistent that Zinnia doesn''t know what she''s talking about, and makes some valid points, though I''m worried bias might be influencing her opinions. Despite that, Vulpix has certainly stepped back and held my hand less when making critical decisions. If your contact can offer any insight, then we''ll be glad to participate in this study."

    "That''s all for this one. Lee, out."

    Nigel rubs his chin as he digests the man''s words. "Huh. Guess we''re moving that study back up��" He hesitates. "I don''t think I''ve ever really considered that telepathy would be more than speaking brain-to-brain..."

    He starts the next recording.

    "Log twenty-one, day one-hundred-one��" Lee''s voice comes through with a troubled sigh. "Please excuse any brevity, Nigel. I''ve got a lot on my mind."

    "We arrived in the town of Lavaridge yesterday after an all-night march. The day before that, we happened across an Octillery in a watering hole that I suspected was contaminated. Octillery was displaying a number of symptoms consistent with heavy metal poisoning, and after wearing him down, I captured him and everyone agreed to shorten our remaining two day trip to Lavaridge with a hellish pace so Octillery could receive proper treatment. I''m happy to report that Octillery is in the care of the Pokemon Center and is expected to make a full recovery. Once he''s lucid, I''ll be extending an offer for him to join my team. Octillery isn''t a pokemon on my wanted list, but I very much would like a Fire type counter on hand that isn''t Vulpix."

    Lee sighs once more, and in the background of the recording is the faint sound of furry paws sliding over denim.

    "All day today, and I suspect for probably a while longer, my studies have taken a detour into the psychology behind evolution anxiety and research into Ninetales." Lee hesitates again. "Yesterday, I had an impromptu meeting with Mura Moore, the Gym Leader here in Lavaridge. To make a long story short, he wants a custom Fire technique for his granddaughter''s pokemon in return for a grade one, purity one Fire Stone."

    "I never even considered the possibility of Vulpix evolving this early, let alone with the best stone possible. I''ve only done some basic searching to get an idea on evolution stones, their prices, and how much the quality actually affects the resulting pokemon. Fire stones are some of the most expensive stones due to the danger associated with their mining and how they''re in huge demand for Growlithe owners. A gee-one, pee-one demands... Hundreds of thousands of credits at a minimum. In fact, I think the only stones more expensive are Dawn Stones, which only form naturally during the nightless summers of the north pole, and only on the very tops of specific mountains at that."

    "The benefits would obviously be undeniable as Vulpix is beginning to hit limitations that we''ve been struggling to overcome, but at the same time, she''s anxious about the idea. She... doesn''t want to outlive me. Much of what I found in my initial research about Ninetales is mostly mythological lore, as the sheer rarity of Ninetales, combined with a seemingly species-wide introversion, makes getting concrete facts a nightmare. The only common report is that the average Ninetales lives for several centuries. I don''t know if the thousand-year lifespan is real or not, but I wouldn''t be surprised if it is. It''s not only me that Vulpix has to worry about outliving, either; she''s worried about everyone else as well. I know for a fact that Vulpix has become a fixture in my life, and losing her would be like losing... everything all over again. I suspect�� that might go both ways. In an effort to help her make the most informed decision possible, I''m diverting as much of my free time as I can to researching the Vulpix and Ninetales species."

    "Between that, we''ll be keeping to routine training and visiting Octillery as he recovers. I have no updates or breakthroughs to inform you of on that front currently."

    "That''s all for this one. Lee, out."

    ''An interesting look back into Vulpix, even if that was more Lee venting than anything.'' Considering he already knows the choice Vulpix makes, Nigel continues on and clicks on the next recording before leaning back into his chair.

    "Log twenty-two, day one-hundred-nine." This time, Lee sounds much more relaxed.

    "Two days ago, after much debate, soul-searching, and days upon days of research, Vulpix decided to make the leap and evolve," Lee laughs quietly. "It''s... it''s been something. I''m not even sure where to begin. I suppose first, there''s the excitement of having a pokemon evolve. I was beyond thrilled, and so proud of Grovyle when he evolved, but this feels different. I suppose that Vul- Ninetales reaching her final, mature stage has an assuring permanence to it. Of course, I took the liberty of giving her a very thorough physical and documented all of my observations. I''ll include some scans of my notebook along with this recording. Who knows, maybe the stiffs at the Hoenn Academic Board will up the lab''s funding in return for my findings?"

    Nigel grins to himself. He can''t help it. Something about his usually serious and pessimistic Lab Trainer speaking with such an upbeat tone just makes the professor want to smile. "Wishful thinking about the board, Lee..."

    "Besides that, there are also the mental changes Ninetales has undergone��" Nigel hears the ruffle of shuffling paper in the recording. "Some of what was shared between myself and Ninetales is rather personal, especially her reason for evolving, so I won''t be going into that in the recording here. The first and most profound change within her is the new crystal clarity in her telepathy. I think I described it before? If not, then telepathy with Vulpix always involved a level of guesswork, as sometimes the words she was trying to convey would get garbled or skewed with her non-human comprehension of certain concepts. Now I can hear her word for word! It''s incredible! Her telepathic power, precision, and range have increased to such a degree that she can reportedly pick out Brendan or Zinnia from across the entire town. It''s�� astounding, simply astounding."

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Nigel can almost hear the smile on Lee''s face. "Heh. We have some work to do on the physical side of her psychic abilities. We began working on refining her other telekinetic abilities back in Slateport. Since neither Vulpix or Ninetales are true Psychic-Types, it took a bit of time to get that off the ground and it''s been slow going ever since. Before her evolution, Ninetales could reliably lift about twenty pounds with telekinesis and manipulate her load with a degree of clumsy dexterity. Now? Ninetales... I don''t even know just how strong her telekinesis is, but clearly we have quite a bit of work to do with regards to control, as she accidentally ripped a door right out of its frame."

    A growl comes from somewhere nearby in the recording.

    "Love, there''s no shame in needing improvement! Knowing you, you''ll get it in no time."

    The growl tapers off into a huff.

    "Where was I? Ah... Her physical and pyrokinetic abilities have also taken a significant jump, so significant that I hesitate to put a number to the amount. As a Vulpix, I estimated she could drag around a half-ton worth of deadweight if her paws could get enough traction, and as a Ninetales that strength has probably doubled. I''ll be taking up an offer from the Lavaridge Gym to use their equipment to get exact numbers, but I''m spitballing a solid two-times increase since I can sit on her back and she barely even notices my weight. Doing so isn''t very comfortable, mind you. Muscles like steel make for a rough bareback ride."

    Again, there is a huff, but this one sounds much more amused.

    "...Love, a phrase like that can only be misconstrued if you''re looking for things to misconstrue," Lee clears his throat, sounding embarrassed. "Anyway... I don''t have a number to put to the pyrokinetic side of things, so we''ll be testing that later. Also, Nigel? That psychic expert you mentioned? After both Brendan and I secure gym badge number four, I''ll be reaching out to you for that study on telepathy. With the new clarity between Ninetales and myself, there have been a lot of personal revelations that�� are difficult to put into words. If you didn''t ask me to be perfectly candid in my audio logs, I likely would have excluded this part."

    "Ninetales and I had a heart-to-heart talk shortly after her evolution. Telepathy�� at least our telepathy, goes much deeper than just words, images, and emotions. I say this with the utmost seriousness."

    "I know Ninetales better than I know myself. Much better than I know myself. It is no exaggeration to say that I know everything there is to know about her. I know for a fact that she knows me better than she knows herself in turn."

    Nigel''s spine tingles.

    "Yesterday we had a short conversation regarding our relationship and the dynamics therein, as her evolution, the circumstances behind her choice, and the newfound ease of communication caused a shift between us. It''s difficult to explain, but something fundamentally changed. Telepathy between her and I has always been... intimate, but the bond that exists following her evolution is magnitudes deeper."

    Lee is silent for a handful of seconds.

    "I''m... aware that relationships like the one you''re likely thinking of right now exist in a... legal gray area that the Pokemon League tactfully refuses to touch or draw attention to. Our relationship is not heading in that direction and likely never will, despite what her joke a minute ago might make you think. We both agree that there would be little to gain and potentially much to lose in doing so, but then, neither is the relationship that we share completely... Well, platonic? It is platonic, but at the same time, it''s not? I don''t know how to describe what we even have." There''s a frustrated sigh. "It''s certainly not romantic. Being keyed into each other''s thoughts, emotions, and often physical sensations, is much less romantic than some trashy books might make it seem. The stories always seem to gloss over things like intrusive thoughts, involuntary reactions, and the annoying poke to the brain that occasionally wakes you up when your partner gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom."

    "This isn''t a round peg, square hole situation either. Hell, this is like replacing the peg with a tesseract in the peg and hole metaphor. There isn''t a word for what we have due to how complex all the factors are, and as such all we can really do is wing it, and promise to be understanding if someone missteps." Lee once more pauses, leaving several seconds of silence in the recording. "Ninetales isn''t overly concerned about this, but we discovered that we can''t disconnect anymore."

    "What?" Nigel''s brows raise in surprise before furrowing in renewed focus.

    "The telepathic connection between myself and Ninetales has been actively sustained for... geez, months now. I don''t have any kind of psychic talent, so this is just me describing it as best I can. See, before her evolution, Ninetales and I kept the telepathic connection going constantly and while doing so, there was a distinct termination point between myself and her. As time went on... that termination point became blurrier and blurrier. At the time of this recording, the termination point is completely gone. Somewhere in the ''middle'' is an indistinct gradient where there is no telling which side belongs to who. Now, don''t misunderstand this as some kind of problem! I certainly don''t want the connection to be broken, but I want to understand it and what it means for myself and Ninetales. It''s for that reason that I would like to move the priority of that telepathy study up."

    Nigel barely has the presence of mind to pause the recording before he slumps back in his chair. With a sigh, the professor opens up his drawer, taking out a bottle of aspirin while eyeballing the half-full glass of water on the corner of his desk. "Arceus dammit, Lee," he curses, dropping his face into his hand. "You''re going to make the lab so much money at the cost of my sanity��" He raises his head again and stares at his desk phone. "I''m going to need a better psychic specialist. And someone who knows how to manage relationships like this." Ruminating for a moment longer, he presses play once more.

    "I had more to say, but my train of thought is still a little fuzzy even two days after Nine''s evolution. Octillery is slated to get out of the Center in the coming days, then I''ll begin training with him in earnest in preparation for our Gym challenge. While Flannery isn''t an insurmountable opponent, I think it would pay to properly respect her and her pokemon''s capabilities."

    "That''s all for this one. Lee, out."

    Nigel sighs, finally uncapping the little bottle of aspirin before tossing two capsules in his mouth and grabbing the glass of water on his desk to wash them down. The water is unpleasantly warm. Once both pills have hit bottom, the professor clicks on the final recording of the email.

    "Log twenty-three, day one-hundred-nineteen."

    "Our gym battle will be bright and early tomorrow, so today we''re taking it nice and easy today so that we''re rested up. With Octillery''s release from the Pokemon Center, the wake of Ninetales'' evolution, and Grovyle mastering a new move, I''ve actually got a fair bit to report in this log. I apologize if the last one was just a long string of rambling about Ninetales."

    "Anyway, I know I said Octillery wasn''t on my shortlist and wasn''t my preferred Water-type, but he''s thoroughly changed my mind. Part of me still wants a Vaporeon, but I won''t be terribly upset if that doesn''t happen this League year. After making a thorough recovery, Octillery has proven himself to be a very competent pokemon, if one I''m still trying to figure out how to best sync with."

    "First off, I didn''t realize just how wide a variety of techniques are available to Octillery as a species. At the time of this recording, Octillery knows Wrap, Headbutt, Water Gun, Octazooka, Psybeam, Gunk Shot, Rock Blast, Charge Beam, Aurora Beam, Signal Beam, Ice Beam, Bullet Seed, Focus Energy, and Lock-On. Good Lord above it seems like he has a move for every situation. Naturally, we tested all of them, and I was surprised by a lot of the findings. Due to some preconceived notions, I expected Lock-On to work much like slapping a magic lightning rod on the enemy so that attacks would home in on them. Lock-On working like a reversed Detect is not what I expected, but I can understand it. Octillery is already an adept shot so Lock-On is unfortunately less useful than I expected. Sitting still and focusing all of your brainpower on a ballistic calculation is definitely a devastating advantage when it comes to long-range combat, especially when trying to hit an evasive or flying target, but in the range of typical pokemon battles, Lock-On is unfortunately just too situational. Ice Beam, Gunk Shot, and Octazooka open the door to some real shenanigans, and to maximize the tactical applications of Octillery''s techniques, I''ve been working with him to hammer out some subtle cues on how to apply each move. It''s... amateur stuff that won''t work on a more experienced opponent after the first time honestly, but voice inflection and delays between words combined with Octillery''s sheer variety should hopefully win the day in most cases."

    "While he is not lacking in the power department at all, Octillery''s mobility leaves something to be desired. Maybe this is just a weakness on my part, as I freely admit that I''m used to having the fastest pokemon on the field. Either way, some of the maneuvers that we have been working on are defensive in nature, like using Ice Beam to erect obstacles and walls, or using a low-power, quickly cast Signal Beam to blind the other pokemon long enough for us to make a play. I''ll still be exploring mobility options for Octillery, but in the meantime, we will make do with what we have."

    "Personality-wise, Octillery is quite the intellectual. The first day we went out to train, he astounded me by drawing a pictogram to detail part of his internal anatomy, as I was wondering why his species were considered to have "rock-hard" heads. Using that pictogram, he made it clear that he has a pressurized subdermal sack that he fills with water so that he can use his own head as a bludgeon. The intelligence neatly explains why he was so miserable in the Pokemon Center; he was sitting there bored to tears as they weren''t mentally stimulating him. I went out and got him a number of puzzles and brainteasers for him to play with in his downtime. Though... he seemed a bit indignant when I told him I didn''t get the most difficult ones. Regardless, he''s happy if he''s got something constructive to do. He''s integrated quite well with the team and enjoys the company of both Grovyle and Ninetales. Understandably, he''s a little standoffish with Shinx, what with being a Water-type and all, but he''s yet to be outright rude. Due to his innate intelligence, I was a little startled to realize that he can''t read. I guess it makes sense now that I really think about it. Ninetales can read because I can, and she knows what I know. Corvi could read... which further confirms my theory that he had a prior trainer. I never realized that Grovyle always required Ninetales to read for him if I wasn''t around, and I feel like a bit of a jackass for it. Either way, I''m rectifying that mistake by offering both Grovyle and Octillery lessons. Grovyle was... less interested than I expected, but Octillery jumped at the chance. After a few nights of tutoring, Octillery is already beginning to pick up on things."

    "Ninetales... Where do I even begin here? It''s clear to me that to actually get hard numbers on her current capabilities, I''m going to need to consult some League specialists with especially heavy-duty equipment. That''s a can of worms that we''ll open when we get there. I''d say more, but I''m afraid even naming a Fire attack around here will bring that lady ranger and her Togekiss running. It''s still too early in her evolution to know if my baselines are accurate, or if any observed growth is just residual, but I''ll be keeping an eye on everything anyway."

    "Grovyle has been spending the last week or so perfecting Rock Tomb and Night Slash. Since Rock Tomb was learned via TM, he started off at a passable level, but ''passable'' isn''t good enough for Grovyle, and he''s back to the grind. For all his grace and finesse, he can certainly hurl a boulder with the best of the brutes. We''ve also been experimenting with using Rock Tomb to alter the terrain around us into something more favorable. Since Grovyle can speed along and change direction on a dime, additional obstacles aren''t really a concern for him. Another interesting application we''ve tried testing is using the stones generated by Rock Tomb as shields of sorts. Due to his unfamiliarity with Rock TE, the stones aren''t exactly the most sturdy, so that one''s on the back burner for now, but it''s always a possibility for the future."

    "In regards to all of his other abilities, Grovyle continues to excel and push himself to newer and greater heights... I really hope I''m not making a mistake by deciding to let him participate in the upcoming Gym match, but Grovyle needs a win he can be proud of. He''s continuing to grow in response to near-daily training and his tailored diet. I believe the typical example of his species is roughly three feet tall, with Grovyle now approaching approximately three-foot-four. His muscle development continues to remain nice and even."

    "In other news, I''ve been modifying the diets and general workout routines of my team. Ninetales'' evolution and the potency increase of her psychic abilities have necessitated a drastic increase in her caloric intake. Before her evolution, Ninetales was already eating twenty-two-hundred calories in a standard day, with twenty-six to twenty-seven-hundred on days when we have intense training. Her dietary mixture has changed only a little, though going forward I''m sparing no expense in picking the best ingredients. Her brain is the focal point of her Psychic TE, and I''m taking steps to limit any sort of strain caused by her newfound abilities. Specifically, I want to be sure that Ninetales is getting enough omega-3s, magnesium, calcium, vitamins B1, B9, B12, D, E, and various neural amino acids to promote cognitive health. If Ninetales has a blood-brain barrier similar to other, more common pokemon who utilize psychic powers, then the quality, abundance, and balance of these compounds in her food are paramount... I realize that might be some biology jargon, so let me explain a little."

    "Around the brain of most creatures, there is a layer of protective, semipermeable cells that separate the brain from general blood circulation. This is called the blood-brain barrier. These cells are selective in what gets to be transported into the brain, and how much of what gets to go in at once. This is to protect the brain from pathogens and toxins in the blood. I''m simplifying things a lot, otherwise, we''d be here all day. Due to the nature of these cells and the limited amount of compounds they allow to pass at a time, the quality and balance of what is actually going into the brain can make all the difference in the world. If Ninetales wants to hang with the best psychics, then she needs a proper balance of the good stuff. With that in mind, Ninetales had been upped to thirty-three hundred calories on a standard day, and I''m not discounting the possibility of her requiring four thousand or more on an especially intensive day."

    "Grovyle''s menu has remained largely the same with a few variations for taste. Like Ninetales, his caloric intake is increasing, but it''s a slow uptick."

    "Octillery needed an especially careful amount of thought put into his diet. As I said before, mammals are where I''m most comfortable, and devising a menu for a cephalopod took some thinking. A standard dish for Octillery is looking to be roughly twenty-eight hundred calories daily spread across two meals. I''ve selected an array of fatty fish, clams, enriched seaweed, caviar, and crustacean meat served raw with added supplements, Sitrus slivers, and seasoning to taste. This was all selected to try and emulate what his species would eat in the wild, and I think I did a fairly decent job considering he digs into his food with gusto."

    "Having to make such a large amount of food each day is becoming laborious, but it''s something I do happily. On that note, though, this is going to become a problem with the addition of more team members, especially team members who might be human-sized or larger. I''ve been looking into the possibility of getting a portable pokeblock maker to produce high-density food... but the ones I actually want, the ones that use Silph space-bending tech to cook and condense high volumes of ingredients all in one go, are so damn expensive... If the check I get from Silph for our TMs bounces, Aarons is a dead man."

    "Shinx is pawing at my leg and starting to use her claws, so I better cut this short. My baby here is definitely starting to grow out of her infant phase, as I noticed that she''s been more and more interested in the food the rest of the team is eating as time goes on. Her grasp on human speech is getting better and better by the day, and to my chagrin, her emergent personality is�� Ugh. She''s turning into a troublemaker with her best pals Electrike and Goomy. Oh, baby girl�� Stay a cute kitten for a while longer, please?"

    "Merow?"

    "Ah...That''s all for this one. Lee, out."

    With the last recording over and his aspirin finally kicking in, Nigel grumbles and opens the first document on the email: Lee''s notes on Ninetales.

    After a brief moment to load, the professor is shown seven scanned pages filled to the brim with notes and anatomical sketches. Ninetales'' weight, height, the measurements of all her limbs��tails included��and countless other details are written in small, excited lettering. Lee must have burned through half a pen of ink in his haste to put every single thought in his head on these pages. He even went as far as to sketch the fox''s rough skeletal structure, noting that everything was done by hand and shouldn''t be considered accurate... then he wrote down that each of Ninetales'' tails has exactly sixty vertebrae and that he counted the bones in each tail by touch alone.

    There is practically no one else on the face of the earth that could get away with touching every single one of a Ninetales'' tails and live. The Academic Board is going to have an absolute heyday with this.

    Moving on down, Nigel opens up the updated ''wanted list''.

    No particular order. Wanted for battle/research/both

    Vaporeon

    Eevee

    Sylveon?

    Flygon

    Audino/Chansey/Blissey

    Persian

    Kecleon

    Kangaskhan

    Ursaring

    Mienshao

    Latias/Latios - Wishful thinking

    Ditto?

    Hippowdon (Maybe)

    Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales (Clear with Ninetales first)

    Zorua/Zoroark

    Miltank?

    Chatot

    Purrloin/Liepard

    Braviary

    Galvantula/Ariados

    Some were removed, some added, which was all pretty well in line with what Nigel was expecting. But at the same time�� "Really shooting for the stars there, Lee," Nigel clicks his tongue, focusing on the name ''Zoroark''. "I don''t think a wild Zoroark has been publicly seen in decades. Finding a Latios would be easier."

    Nigel glances over at his desk phone with a grimace. Reluctantly, he reaches over, picks up the receiver, and slowly dials a number he knows by heart, but sorely wishes he didn''t. Holding the phone up to his ear, it rings once, twice then��

    "Yo! If it isn''t Nigel boy himself!" A chipper voice, one forced to speak loudly through the din of what is obviously a party in the background, addresses him by name. "You never call! What''s the occasion? I''m here at the LaGoodra, a little place I had built just a stone''s throw away from the Battle Tower! Do you want in? I can arrange for an air taxi to be in Littleroot in twenty minutes! Best Salamence-sized hangover of your life!"

    "Scott, can you cut the crap for five minutes?" The professor grumbles. "I''ve got a study I should be preparing for, I can''t goof off to hang out at a sports bar you built on a whim."

    "The LaGoodra is a sophisticated establishment that happens to serve a good drink to enthusiastic clientele. It''s not a sports bar," Scott scoffs.

    ''Right. Sure��''

    "Anyway, what can I do for the esteemed Regional Pokemon Professor?" Scott asks. "You never call me for anything fun," he whines, "so what could it be?"

    Nigel grunts. "You recall that study on telepathy that I was talking about a few weeks back? The one involving Lee Henson?"

    "Sure do!" Nigel can definitely hear Scott''s grin. "What a battle he had today, eh? We played it on the big screen in here, and I bet you could hear the cheers from the other side of the Battle Frontier!"

    Ignoring Scott''s attempt to strike up a longer conversation, Nigel soldiers on. "In light of some new info I''ve been provided, I don''t think the specialists you wanted to loan me will be good enough anymore. Can I borrow Anabel?"

 Act 2: Chapter 10

    It''s frustrating sometimes, Brendan thinks to himself, the amount of politicking in the world of organized pokemon sports. Oh, he understands why, as pokemon are everything. Power, prestige, wealth? These things are ripe for the taking for any pokemon trainer willing to make pokemon training their life: their truest passion in all of Arceus'' green earth. The rest of the world follows suit, as trainers simply exist above other people in society, and it''s most evident with how much money and effort goes into catering to the needs of pokemon and the humans who raise them.

    Shops with equipment designed for pokemon? Even in the smallest towns, they can be found on every street.

    Fundraisers to sponsor trainers from less fortunate families? They almost always meet their goal.

    The latest technological advancement everyone is chatting about? The first question everyone has is how can trainers use it?

    The number of news outlets with a dedicated section on pokemon training? All of them.

    People love strength, and to be a pokemon trainer is an open declaration that you''re cultivating the greatest sort of power, one of friendship and destruction alike�� But where there is power, there is politics. In the wake of Lee''s match versus Mura Moore, Brendan''s match against Flannery has been�� well��

    ''I don''t have anything nice to say, so I''ll say nothing,'' the boy thinks to himself.

    Politics are afoot here too, for the only spectators of his match are Courtney, Zinnia, Lee, Moore, and a few of Moore''s staff. Officially, the gym is closed for repairs. But Brendan knows the real reason why his fight with Flannery isn''t being shown off.

    ''I''m too high-profile an opponent for Flannery.''

    Brendan shakes his thoughts away and returns to the Gym match afoot. "Marshtomp, Mud Bomb! Slow, douse!"

    "T-Torkoal! Deflect with Rapid Spin!" Flannery quickly counters.

    Marshtomp is so much faster than Torkoal that it''s almost unfair. Brendan''s starter repositions just as they had planned before the fight began, leaping to the left and circling to Torkoal''s flank. The Mud Fish Pokemon''s mouth opens, thick, dark mud pooling inside.

    Torkoal tenses his legs to spin in place, but before he can, Marshtomp''s Mud Bomb screams through the air and slams into his legs, tripping the tortoise pokemon and knocking his legs out from under him. Torkoal''s blazing body heat cooks the mud into a brittle ceramic in hardly a second, forcing Torkoal to waste precious moments shaking his legs free of the sharp shards of hardened earth.

    A second Mud Bomb flies right into one of the holes in Torkoal''s shell, hitting the coal base in his back with a hiss and the crackle of baking mud. Torkoal throws his head back with a distressed groan and shakes in pain, falling to his knees again.

    Flannery''s look of desperation makes Brendan''s stomach twist, but he ignores it for now; he can apologize after the badge is in his hand.

    Earlier in the match, Breloom secured a win against Magcargo with Brendan''s preferred style of high-speed hit-n-run. Stun Spore into Mach Punch is an effective, if simple, combo. Magcargo and Flannery attempted to counter with Flame Terrain, but after watching Lee struggle against the move yesterday, Brendan brainstormed a counter.

    Breloom dealt with Flame Terrain by using an unspoken Growth with a focus on the soles of his feet. Normally, Growth works by forcing the user''s body to produce a bunch of fresh, healthy cells all over the body packed with TE to boost the power of energy attacks, but with a last-minute modification, Breloom could turn the soles of his feet into thick calluses, giving the Grass-type a few moments of immunity to the burning ground.

    Magcargo fell after only landing a glancing Flamethrower on Breloom, and Brendan used his one substitution in the match to allow Breloom to rest, letting Marshtomp take the stage.

    They played it safe for the first minute, feeling Torkoal out with a few cautious attacks while dodging the retaliation. Flannery''s pokemon are powerful and have several tricks to boast; the burns littering Marshtomp are proof enough of that. Much like the elder Moore''s pokemon, though, they''re entirely too straightforward, with stratagems more suited to tackling multiple weaker foes than a strong opponent in single combat. A quirk of learning under a war vet, maybe?

    Brendan catches Marshtomp''s eyes for a split second, and the trainer sharply nods his head to the left. With a savage grin splitting his face, Marshtomp shines a bright white, then explodes towards Torkoal with a wordless Take Down.

    Neither Flannery nor Torkoal react fast enough, letting Marshtomp drive his shoulder into the side of Torkoal''s head with a brutal thwack!

    Torkoal''s head whiplashes to the side, the tortoise pokemon stumbling from the blow, one that would have thrown a car right off its tires. Bleeding profusely from the split in his skull, Torkoal shudders and lets his legs give out, falling to the ground in a heap.

    "Torkoal, c''mon baby! You can do it!" Flannery calls into the arena, her hands cupped around her mouth. "Don''t give up!"

    Groaning, Torkoal slowly, painfully forces himself back to his feet. A second later, his head wound forces him to falter and slip, falling back down.

    Flannery sighs and slumps her shoulders, signaling the referee off to the side of the arena to call the match.

    The ref, a younger man in the traditional robes Moore insists on, clears his throat. "Torkoal is unable to battle! The winners of this match and the Gym Challenge are Marshtomp and Brendan Birch!"

    The barriers around the arena fall as the few spectators rise to their feet and politely applaud. Despite how few people there are, Zinnia''s grin, Lee''s half-smile, and Courtney''s tiny smile all feel wonderful to Brendan. He catches Courtney''s pretty magenta eyes, and her smile deepens, making the boy''s stomach grow warm and wiggle. Despite trying to play off the win coolly, he grins back and feels his face become hot.

    Courtney is forgotten for a second as Marshtomp, yelling in excitement, rushes Brendan with his arms wide open. The air is driven from Brendan''s lungs with an "Oof" as he gets a back-popping hug from his starter. Man oh man, Marshtomp''s excitement is infectious! Brendan''s grin returns as he hugs the mud-fish back. "Way to go, bud! You did amazing out there!"

    Marshtomp sets Brendan down and bumps a slightly charred fist against his own chest, gurgling confidently. "Of course I did," Marshtomp practically says.

    Across the field, Flannery recalls her unconscious Torkoal, sucking the pokemon back into his ball in a flash of light. She murmurs something too quiet to hear to the pokeball, then clips it to her belt where two other pokeballs hang.

    Schooling his face into a polite smile, Brendan walks out to the middle of the battlefield, which still bears the marks of Ninetales'' and Ty''s cataclysmic duel. There, he and Marshtomp meet Flannery in the middle.

    "You really are the real deal, huh?" Flannery begins, hooking her thumbs into her belt loops. She blows out an exasperated breath that makes her hanging red bangs flutter. "Gramps wasn''t joking when he said the Birch family pumps out good trainers. I guess I''ve got a ways to go with this whole Gym Leader thing��" She sighs, but perks up and offers Brendan a closed hand with a smile. "Despite the loss, that was a fun battle! Illuminating, too. I think I now know better what I need to work on going forward."

    Flannery''s hand opens, and in her palm is a shiny Heat Badge.

    "For your victory, I award you this Heat Badge!" Flannery smiles and offers it to Brendan, who takes the badge with a small, awed smile on his face.

    Getting a new badge always feels amazing.

    "Heh��" Flannery combs her fingers through her ponytatail sheepishly. "We, uh, need Ty to rest up and make us another copy of Overheat, so it might be a few days before you can get your prize TM. We''ll have your prize money transferred over before long, though!"

    "It''s no prob." Brendan waves Flannery off and deposits his new badge in his pocket to be later added to his badge case. He grins up at the heir of the Lavaridge Gym. "We were looking to take a vacation here in Lavaridge anyway. Just gimme a ring and I''ll swing by!"

    Flannery smiles back. "Will do. If you''re looking to vacation a bit, try out the Quilavaridge Onsen on the north end of town. They''ve got some of the best natural hot springs around. Book the ''special'' and tell them I sent you. They cater to trainers and pokemon, so take everyone along," she says.

    Brendan grins. "Will do!"

    After a good-natured handshake with Flannery, the victorious trainer turns and heads back to the front of the Gym through the arena doors with Marshtomp in tow, finding that Lee, Zinnia, and Courtney are already in the lobby waiting for him.

    "Not a bad match at all, kiddo." Zinnia grins and pulls Brendan into a rough, one-armed hug that feels more like a headlock. Before Brendan can complain, Zinnia releases him and plants her hands on her hips. "You guys killed it out there."

    "Indeed you did," Lee agrees with Zinnia. "You aced both rounds. Well done. You''ll have to tell me how Breloom got around Flame Terrain, though. I didn''t see what you did."

    "Growth, just localized around Breloom''s feet," Brendan reveals. "Not how it was intended to be used, but after some last-minute tweaking, we managed to get a padding of dead skin he didn''t have to worry about burning."

    Lee blinks. "That''s smart."

    Brendan glances over to Marshtomp, who looks back knowingly. "I would have liked to have a showdown more like yours, though."

    Lee''s smile grows brittle. "You say that, but Moore is not a pushover��"

    ''That''s exactly why I would have liked to battle him.''

    "��and all of my pokemon sans Shinx are still laid up in the Pokemon Center with some of the worst injuries they''ve sustained yet." Lee sighs and crosses his arms. "Ninetales was not a happy camper after finding out she''s going to be in the Center for another few days, and on light duty for a few more afterward."

    Idly, Brendan wonders if Lee and Ninetales are talking to each other right now with telepathy. Ninetales was pretty opinionated and finicky as a Vulpix, and evolving only made her more so. Does she complain to Lee nonstop? If so, then Brendan''s friend-slash-mentor is even more patient than he thought.

    It does seem strange to see Lee without Ninetales, though��

    As a Vulpix, she would always ride on his right shoulder, and as a Ninetales, she always walks on his right when she can. Lee, as absentminded as he is sometimes, might not have noticed, but the symbolism is not lost on Brendan.

    Coming back to the present, Brendan crosses his own arms. "I think we could have managed against Mister Moore."

    "I dunno, kiddo. That heroic confidence will take you far, but Mura Moore and his pokemon are a whole other gaggle of beasts." Zinnia''s doubt stings. The dragon tamer looks through the still-open arena doors at the pock-marked arena inside. "You''d outbrain him maybe, but sometimes raw guff wins the day."

    Courtney, surprisingly, speaks up. "I think you''d win, Brendan," she says quietly, drawing all eyes to her. If the attention spooks her, she hides it perfectly. "Gym Leader Moore�� is a product of his time. He wins with power, you win with skill. Skill, when properly leveraged�� wins nearly every time." She smiles, and despite how small a quirk of the lips it is, it''s fantastically pretty.

    Brendan can''t help but turn pink under the unexpected vote of confidence. "T-Thank you, Courtney," he says with a shy smile.

    Lee and Zinnia share a short, severe look that seems to convey a whole conversation. It''s so brief that Brendan almost misses it.

    Brendan takes a moment to clear his throat. "Since we''re going to be here for a few more days��" He pauses to cross his arms behind his head and stretch, feeling his tense body loosen now that the adrenaline of a good battle has passed. "Why don''t we take a real break before we hit the road? Fallarbor is easily two weeks away or more, and Flannery told me about this place called Quilavaridge on the north side of town."

    "I was looking at that same place the other day," Zinnia chimes in with a smile and a nod. "A restaurant, onsen, and spa all in one." Her smile becomes sly, and she bumps shoulders with Courtney. "I bet they can be convinced to let our pair of celebs and their pretty friends in for cheap, don''t you think?"

    Courtney shakes her head, making her hair bounce under her hood. "That seems shameless��"

    "Thrifty, you mean," Zinnia counters. She turns to Lee and clasps her hands together. "Dolittle, you won''t leave your best gal pal hanging, will you?" she asks with a cringe-inducing simper and big, Rockruff eyes.

    Lee smirks. "Never, but I think Ninetales will get the guest of honor treatment just for showing up."

    Zinnia''s expression twists like an arrow just struck her in the heart. A tanned hand flies over her chest and dramatically claws at the fabric of her shirt. "I see how it is��" she grumbles, but her lips twitch in a barely suppressed laugh. "Well, let''s make tracks, people. We''ve got a booking to make and Brendan''s pokemon are due for a Center visit." Zinnia turns and strides toward the doors.

    Lee and Courtney turn to follow, leaving Brendan and Marshtomp to bring up the rear.

    As they walk, Brendan locks his gaze onto Lee''s back.

    Pokemon training is a game of power and politics, and that realization hit Brendan at an early age. Growing up, people never talked about his father''s discoveries as a professor and academic. No, for years they only ever wanted to gripe about how he could have been Champion, or how he could have been a part of the Battle Frontier, and how much of a disappointment he was when he declined both titles. Some regions might treat the title of Regional Professor differently, but in Hoenn? It''s a place for figureheads.

    Nigel Birch, a figurehead.

    The old newspapers in the Littleroot library had told a younger Brendan everything he needed to know about how the world reacted to his father taking the regional circuit by storm, only to quit and vanish to be with his wife and newborn son. Even now, the Pokemon League barely gives his father the time of day for the ''betrayal,'' and only now, years later, is his reputation recovering.

    As if watching history repeat itself, Brendan can see the same thing happening to Lee.

    Lee''s been kind to Brendan, even during the times he''s treated more like a child than a peer. There''s no maliciousness, just genuine concern. Lee even gives away his methodology and secrets behind his raising of pokemon, taking the time to answer every question and teach Brendan anything he asks for, even at his own expense.

    Lee�� He''s too gentle, too kind to want the office of Champion. Brendan knows the only reason the man is even tackling the gym circuit is because he''s too polite, too�� meek to protest being railroaded into it. Brendan can''t help but wonder to himself if Lee''s unwillingness to protest has to do with his past��the one Brendan knows so little about.

    Regardless, the man lives and breathes everything pokemon, never pausing or resting in his pursuit to know and understand. If he''s not giving a physical examination, measuring every facet of his pokemon, counting calories, providing physical therapy for injuries, or something else a casual or even intermediate trainer wouldn''t think to do, he has his nose in a book researching something or other. Lee Henson barely has a life outside of pokemon. With his tireless methods, his pokemon are growing into monsters that will draw the eye of every dedicated battler around.

    Heck, that''s already happening. People online are going nuts over Lee and his pokemon, and the initial ripples are going to double back in waves soon. Were he a bit younger, Brendan might have felt upset or even jealous about playing second fiddle to his friend. Instead, he finds himself fine with it, considering his goals now.

    When they first set out from Littleroot all those months ago, Brendan wasn''t really sure what he wanted out of his journey. Dad said not to worry and just have fun, as a goal would come to him eventually. Traveling Hoenn, seeing new and wonderful things, meeting strange people and stranger pokemon, all of it is an inspiration of the finest sort��

    ��but here on the battlefield, where his adrenaline rushes and his heart thunders in his ears, here in the ring of honor where mind, body, and bonds are truly tested. This is the place Brendan found his own dream.

    He will win the Ever Grande Conference, topple the Elite Four, and dethrone Steven Stone, declaring to the world that he is his father''s son, here to finish what was started twelve years ago.

    That''s not all, though. His mission is twofold.

    Before Brendan can be the Champion, he has to defeat Lee and his pokemon at the summit of the Ever Grande Conference, freeing them from the expectations of the masses. If Lee is defeated at his best, then the shackles of promises unspoken can''t close around his wrists.

    Brendan''s eyes travel over to Zinnia. He''s suddenly stricken by how little he knows of her as well. He knows Zinnia likes Dragons, is from a reclusive tribe up north, is an old movie buff, and many other surface-level things�� But who is Zinnia Draconid, really? Who is the woman who broods and rolls an empty pokeball in her hand when she thinks no one is looking?

    Well, maybe it doesn''t matter. Like Lee, she''s Brendan''s friend, and he''ll make sure he and his pokemon are strong enough for her, too.

    Brendan looks over to Marshtomp, his best friend and partner in this journey across Hoenn. Like the brother he never had, Marshtomp is simply so in-tune with Brendan that, when they lock eyes, the boy knows they''re thinking the same thing.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Dad never said it aloud, but his actions after abandoning the Ever Grande Conference are clear as day:

    Friends and family are everything.

    The young Birch''s gaze once more finds its way to Lee.

    And because of that, I will defeat you.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Alright baby girl, hit it!"

    Shinx puffs her cheeks out in concentration, her fur sparking yellow, especially around the multimeter probes touching her ears. Lee glances down at the multimeter sitting in his lap as the meter''s insulated probes quickly grow warm in his hands. "Goodness. Forty thousand volts at fifteen milliamps��" He whistles. "Okay, Shinx. That''s enough."

    Shinx cuts off her electrical current as Lee takes the probes away, setting them down next to him in the grass before taking a moment to wipe the sweat off his brow.

    "Merow?" The kitten looks up at Lee with big, sparkling eyes.

    "Wonderful work, baby girl," Lee smiles and reaches a hand out, rubbing her under the chin and earning him a heart-warming purr. "You''re getting so strong all of a sudden. I don''t know why Brendan and Zinnia are worried about me when I have you around."

    Shinx beams under the praise. Quite literally, in fact. Her luminescent yellow eyes shine with a captivating gold light that''s visible even in the bright sunlight. She presses her head into Lee''s hand, purring all the while.

    ''Forty thousand volts at fifteen milliamps. That''s enough to put a burly man on his ass, or even kill someone with a weak heart.'' Lee breathes out an amazed sigh. ''In just a few weeks, her electrical powers have gone from unpleasant static zap to totally incapacitating�� for a human, at least.''

    A week after Brendan''s gym battle finds Lee and company in one of Lavaridge''s parks. Other people are out and about, with kids and pokemon playing in the field while parents chatter by the picnic tables off to the side. A few other trainers are going about some light training of their own, and thankfully no one wants to bug him or Shinx.

    Brendan and Marshtomp are out near the center of the field, quickly endearing themselves to the local children with Marshtomp''s Water Gun playing the role of a sprinkler on this hot day. Breloom is using the distraction to leisurely dig through Brendan''s bag, munching on anything that looks edible. Electrike, meanwhile, is off to the side playing with a few other younger pokemon under Mawile''s watchful eye. The younger pokemon are simply awed by how large the electric pup is.

    Courtney is further away, engaged in a battle with a teenage trainer. It''s clear Courtney''s foe didn''t expect the reclusive-looking woman to be a challenge, but the young trainer''s Croagunk is sweating and barely keeping out of the way of Courtney''s Mightyena. Even if Courtney is being mercifully lenient, the match''s outcome is already a foregone conclusion.

    Zinnia is absent, waiting impatiently at the Pokemon Center for her Tyrunt, which is due to be delivered today. Upon acquiring Tyrunt, Zinnia will take the "rarest pokemon in the group" title from Lee and Ninetales.

    Grovyle and Octillery were released into Lee''s care just two days ago, both with light-duty advisories. Grovyle, ever dutiful, decided to rest in his ball, staying on standby with Lee when not otherwise needed. He''s recovering quickly, though his appearance remains rather lop-sided with his burned wrist-leaves still regrowing.

    Lee had once more offered to teach the gecko how to read alongside Octillery, but he hesitated, and then declined, much to Lee''s befuddlement.

    Octillery, who is driven up the wall when sitting idle, was left back at the hotel. Having tired of doing all his research and projects on his phone, Lee had splurged a little and bought a laptop for himself, which was left with Octillery today. In mere days, the octopus had grasped the basics of reading and writing enough that he began to crave something more stimulating. After a night of learning the basics of using a computer and memorizing Lee''s credentials for the Rustboro Trainer School''s online learning website, Octillery could safely be left to his own devices.

    Poor Ninetales is set to be released today, then left on light duty for an entire week, much to her chagrin. Even if they''re never truly apart, Lee had stopped in to visit her every single day. In the back of his mind, Lee can feel the great fox lightly dozing on her hospital bed.

    That has left Shinx receiving nearly all of Lee''s attention for a solid week, and seeing as he had nothing else to do and he couldn''t put off Shinx growing up forever, they finally began some light training for the little Electric-type. To Lee''s silent lamentations, her training has confirmed his worst fears.

    In just a month and a half, she''s left the clumsy kitten stage and is taking her first steps into the overly-curious juvenile stage. It''s a part of a feline''s life that Aasir back at the zoo made damn sure Lee was familiar with.

    Looking down at Shinx, Lee lets his hand wander from her chin up to her cheek and short muzzle. With his thumb, he strokes one of the tufts of fur on the side of her face.

    She''ll be the third cub he''s raised by hand.

    Something in Lee''s chest clenches painfully. They''re gone. They''re gone and they''re not coming back.

    "M-Merow?"

    Lee sucks in a sharp breath and blinks, wondering when he spaced out. Looking back down, he sees Shinx looking back up at him with worry in her big, gold eyes. With an inward sigh, Lee goes to curse at himself only to stop himself short. ''Remember what Mable said. Don''t put yourself down over things you can''t control, and talk with someone if you need to��'' Lee composes himself and smiles back down at Shinx. "Ah, I forgot how in-tune with emotions young pokemon are. Don''t mind me, Shinx. I was just thinking about some things, is all."

    Shinx says nothing in reply, but she does crawl into Lee''s lap and looks up at him, blinking once.

    Lee snorts ruefully. "Don''t worry yourself over it, baby girl. I won''t mope around you anymore."

    The kitten flicks her tail once, still staring up at him as if waiting for him to explain.

    ''Ah, to hell with it. You''ll feel better by saying something, and Shinx is so young she won''t remember this.''

    "...You weren''t my first baby, you know?" Lee strokes Shinx across her back with two fingers, talking more at her than to her. "You''re the third. You would have been the fourth if�� things had worked out for the best." The zoologist takes a deep breath in and out. "Zefu and Suburi were like you, these little cubs I helped raise. I loved them like nothing else, but they aren''t�� around anymore, making you my last."

    Lee looks down at Shinx again, who is still staring at him with her wide, innocent eyes. "You look just like them, and for a while, I wondered if I made the right choice by taking you, baby girl. Was I trying to fill the hole they left behind? I don''t know, but I do know I was worrying myself sick wondering if I would do a good job raising you, wondering if you''d get big and strong." Lee smiles and scratches Shinx near the base of her tail, making her arch her back and shut her eyes with a contented purr. "Well, here you are, doing fine. That''s probably more you than me, but I''m thankful regardless." He scratches a little harder. "I love you, baby girl."

    Shinx''s purr grows, and she nuzzles her head into Lee''s stomach.

    ''You should give yourself more credit, Beloved,'' Ninetales'' groggy ''voice'' echoes through his head. ''Shinx went from a premature waif fated to be as fragile as spun glass to just a few pounds underweight in the span of fifty days. In another fifty, no one will be able to tell she''s ever been anything but a model of picture-perfect health.''

    ''Perhaps, but I credit her for tolerating all my meddling and therapy,'' Lee sends back. ''I''m sorry if I woke you up.''

    ''If you want to apologize for doing so, you can come and check me out of the Pokemon Center,'' Ninetales says dryly. ''I''ve been ready to leave since day one.''

    Lee closes his eyes and taps a little deeper into Ninetales, gauging how she''s feeling.

    Her broken hindleg is free of its cast. Her ribs, although tender, don''t hurt. Her blown-out eardrum is as good as new, and her hearing on both sides is back to 100%. Her burns are healed, though her regrowing fur is thin in some places. Most importantly, the bone-deep weariness is gone, replaced with a pent-up energy yearning to be free of the Pokemon Center.

    ''We''re on our way.'' Lee nods and looks down at Shinx. "C''mon, girl. Let''s go pick up Ninetales."

    Shinx''s eyes light up at Ninetales'' name, and with a little wiggle, she hops up and drapes herself across Lee''s shoulders like she''d seen Vulpix do a thousand times.

    After packing up the multimeter, his new and marginally filled notebook, and a charred, cut-up poke-doll that Shinx was honing her Thundershock and Scratch attacks on, Lee shoulders his bag and stands. Rather than yell over the dull roar of the park, Lee quickly sends Brendan and Courtney a text message each saying he''s heading to the Center and starts off.

    During the walk to the Center, Lee hesitantly unlocks his phone and opens his emails.

    24 New Emails.

    Lee clicks his tongue. Weeks after Ninetales'' evolution and eight days after their dramatic win at the Gym, Lee is still getting barraged by emails. Some are obvious spam, some seem like real offers for various sponsorships that become one-sided when scrutinized, and some are just nonsense. Easily 90% of what he was sent was either ignored or politely declined, with a decent chunk of that remaining 10% being sent off to Monty for a better response than Lee could come up with.

    Monty, the Hoenn Pokemon Lab''s PR manager, is an older gentleman that Nigel has been friends with for years. He was a nice enough guy during the call that the professor had arranged so they could meet each other, and has so far proven himself to be exceptionally competent at turning away pointed questions.

    Lee had forwarded the man an email from a gossip rag that wanted to interview him, one heavily implying Lee was using stimulants of dubious legality on his pokemon. Monty shut down the entire conversation in a heartbeat, giving them a sterile, diplomatic denial with no room for misinterpretation. He ended with the implication that the League itself might be displeased with the accusation leveled at Lee.

    No article was ever published by the newsgroup.

    In light of some of the other emails he''s getting, ones with business offers, Lee bit the bullet several days back and contacted a Rustboro-based lawyer to keep on retainer. Finding a lawyer had been a surprising pain, as many declined without even speaking to him. It took a while before he realized why.

    To a lawyer, a client with a vengeful, mind-reading pokemon is a nightmare come to life.

    Amanda Keller, a young woman only a year older than Lee, finally took up the job for a modest (or at least modest for a lawyer) monthly retainer. The law firm she works for in Rustboro has a good reputation, and although Amanda herself has only been on the job for a year and some change, she''s won nearly all of her legal battles and was willing to take on a high-risk client like Lee. Keeping her on retainer is risky with his sometimes unstable income, Lee thinks, but not having a lawyer on speed dial doesn''t seem like an option anymore.

    ''Being a trainer is expensive��.''

    Lee opens his emails and begins scrolling. ''Let''s sort them now and be done with it for today.''

    Spam, spam, invite to a spammy-looking BattleNet group that he declines, a new post in Fox Friday, spam, new posts in his BattleNet mega-thread�� Really just a whole lot of nothing.

    There are a few that seem interesting. One is from a company called Junesoft Entertainment, which wants to license his and his pokemon''s names and images for what looks like a mobile gacha game in return for a decent monthly sum. Another from a company called HoD Group is asking for more or less the same thing, just for their brand of trading cards and figurines. More money can never hurt, so Lee forwards both to his lawyer to scan for any red flags.

    ''Gah. Six months ago, my biggest concern was what I was having for dinner. Now it''s navigating business deals and keeping an eye out for eco-terrorists.'' Lee grunts. ''When did life get so complicated?''

    ''Such is the burden of the extraordinary,'' Ninetales chimes in, a mental giggle punctuating her words. ''If they make video game characters of us, insist on you and I being the highest rarity there is. I won''t settle for less.'' After a moment, Ninetales continues. ''Lee, Magma may be making a move soon. We''ll be investigating Mount Chimney in accordance with ''canon'', correct?''

    Lee hesitates, turning his body so a Rhydon carrying a child on his shoulders can slip by on the sidewalk. ''We can look. If we don''t find anything, then Ash and his friends probably will when they stop by Lavaridge, and it''ll be taken care of then.''

    Ninetales'' reply is the curious sensation of a telepathic nod.

    With the Pokemon Center in sight, Lee dismisses the rest of his junk mail and glances at BattleNet, finding little of importance. Fox Friday is once more hosting a little event, asking posters to share a little-known fox fact. ''This probably isn''t well known.''

    Today at 12:50 PM

    L_Henson: Ninetales (Sample size of 1. Counted by touch. Unknown margin of error) have sixty (60) vertebrae per tail, checked and double-checked, for a total of five hundred and forty (540) when all the tails are added up.

    ��Multiple people are typing��

    Lee locks his phone and slips it into his pocket as he steps inside the Pokemon Center. With no line at the front desk, he''s free to walk up to Nurse Joy��who is busy typing away at her computer from her place seated behind the desk. "Good afternoon, Nurse Joy. I''m here to check a patient out."

    The nurse looks up, a smile on her face. "Good afternoon, Mister Henson. I''ll have someone bring Miss Ninetales out. In the meantime��" She hits a button on her keyboard, and the printer under her desk spits out several forms. Taking the forms, a pen from an assortment within a mug on her desk, and a little bacon-looking treat from a jar by the mug, Joy hands the papers and pen to Lee. "Here is Miss Ninetales'' release forms and her continued recovery plan," she says, offering the treat to a delighted Shinx, who gobbles it up and leaves crumbs on Lee''s sleeve.

    By the time Lee has signed everything and handed the papers back to Joy, a young nurse in scrubs has emerged from the doors leading deeper into the Center with a pokeball in her hands. Walking up to Lee, she presents the ball with a smile.

    "Thank you." Lee smiles and takes the proffered ball.

    "Take care, Mister Henson!" Nurse Joy says goodbye with a wave.

    Looking around the Pokemon Center, Lee quickly finds Zinnia sitting on a couch in the corner impatiently bouncing one of her legs. The Dragon Tamer glances at the clock on the wall and sighs.

    Upon making his way over, Lee sits down next to Zinnia, surprising her into looking at him. "No Tyrunt?" he asks.

    "Not yet," Zinnia scowls. "I was told ''noon'', and guess what happened?" she asks snarkily, pointing at the clock. "Still nothing."

    Lee looks up at the clock as well. The hands tell him it''s just now one o''clock in the afternoon. "Hmm. What region is your contact in?"

    "Orre��"

    "Orre''s timezone is three hours behind Hoenn."

    Zinnia groans. "Cool��" She crosses her arms and grumbles. "So I''m here way early��" She reins in her annoyance and looks at the pokeball in Lee''s hand. "How is Miss Fox?"

    In response, Lee just hits the button of Ninetales'' ball.

    With a flash of light, Ninetales materializes, sitting regally with her tails fanned out behind her before Lee, Shinx, and Zinnia�� though the effect is ruined by the places where her burned-away fur is thin and in the process of regrowing.

    Ninetales looks down at the spots where Lee''s eyes linger, a frown on her muzzle.

    ''I''ll trim your coat a bit soon, Love. It''ll cover the worst of it,'' he silently promises. ''You''re still the most beautiful pokemon around regardless.''

    Ninetales'' frown eases. It vanishes when Shinx leaps down from Lee''s shoulders to rub herself against Ninetales'' front legs lovingly.

    Zinnia nods slowly, looking up and down Ninetales'' form. "Well, it could''ve been worse. Do you think you''ve recovered enough to put a Dragon throwing a tantrum in his place?"

    The golden fox raises an eyebrow, and Lee turns to Zinnia asking Ninetales'' unspoken question. "Can we get some elaboration on that?"

    "I''ll be all too happy to fix your ignorance on the topic," Zinnia jabs with a smirk. "Do you know how dragons, capital ''D'' Dragons, run their relationships?"

    "I�� can''t say I do," Lee admits with a blink.

    Dragons, like Fairies, aren''t very well-documented. Dragon Tamers keep their secrets close to their chests to make their powerful pokemon that much harder to counter. There is more myth than fact out there.

    "Dragons crave social structure, and that structure is based on a strength-driven hierarchy," Zinnia begins, tapping Shelgon''s ball. "They want a pack, sometimes called a Flight �� or a Thunder depending on who you ask �� and a role in that Flight. Naturally, the alpha spot is the one they all want since it comes with prestige and guaranteed mating rights. A Dragon coming into a new Flight must challenge the strongest pokemon for their spot. Normally, a Dragon will fall in line after taking a harsh enough loss, but a sore loser might just try to assume control of a neighboring group as a vassal of sorts, so�� Jeez, Dolittle��" Zinnia snorts and tries to hide a smirk as she peers down at Lee''s hands. "You''re such a nerd."

    "Hmm?" Lee looks down at his notebook, unsure when he pulled it out, but Zinnia''s explanation is already written word for word there. He crosses out the unconsciously written ''Jeez, Dolittle, you''re such a nerd''. "Well, I''m not going to apologize. This is fascinating stuff! Please, keep going."

    "Right, right." Zinnia composes herself. "Anyway, vassal groups. A sore loser Dragon who can''t secure the alpha or beta spots in a Flight might take over a weaker Flight and use them as a vassal to their main Flight. A greedy alpha might even send Dragons under them to go do this on purpose. Some Dragons have made some impressive kingdoms in the past, spanning dozens of Flights and hundreds of individuals beholden to a central Emperor Flight in a big social web."

    ''Wouldn''t that kingdom inevitably fall due to infighting?'' Ninetales asks skeptically. She flicks her heart-marked ear. ''If the primary way to move up socially is with violence, it just incentivizes the hidden consolidation of personal power and a culture of backstabbing.''

    When Lee repeats Ninetales'' question, Zinnia shakes her head. "Not really. Most Dragons are just born with a concept of honor, understanding that before any other emotion, so they don''t do backstabbing. A challenge from a Dragon is unmistakable. Besides, Dragons grow fastest when put under pressure, and the pressure of keeping your underlings in line and your crown safe is immense."

    ''That paints a frightful picture��'' Lee can already imagine how Dragon-types have snowballed their way into being considered the most powerful type. If the strongest Dragons get stronger just by being strong, and they''re almost certain to find a mate, it turns into an infinite feedback loop.

    "The reason why I ask is because Tyrunts are fighty little things," Zinnia continues. "When Shelgon puts my little dino in his place, he''s not going to take that sitting down and is going to pester Ninetales and Marshtomp. When he does, make it clear he''s not going to get a foothold, okay?"

    "We can do that," Lee agrees, closing his notebook. "That''s some really interesting stuff, Zinnia. I''d like to hear more if you get time."

    Zinnia raises an eyebrow. "Huh. I thought a mammal-focused trainer like you wouldn''t be�� Ah, what am I saying, of course you''d find Dragons cool." She shakes her head with a small smile.

    "You call me a nerd and then think I wouldn''t be interested in pokemon social structures?" Lee scoffs. "That''d be like a Dragon tamer not being interested in raising an ancient reptile back from the dead."

    "Okay, okay, get off my back," Zinnia grumbles. Her red eyes scan around, then she levels Lee with a serious look. "Lee, I was tipped off that Magma might be operating in the area," she says, her voice quiet. "I��I''m not going to ask that you look with me, but I wanted to inform you that I''ll be scouting Lavaridge and Mount Chimney for them. I have no idea why they''re here, but��"

    Lee and Ninetales share a look, time seemingly slowing as they converse. ''What I want to know-'' begins Ninetales, ''-is why Zinnia is so interested in Magma. She''s never stated a reason. She''s apparently been using clandestine, perhaps even illegal, sources for information and supplies. I don''t see how it could be related to her stated goal of being the Draconid Lorekeeper.'' Ninetales'' suspicion is as plain as it is distrusting.

    ''Neither do I,'' Lee agrees. ''There must be some reason, though. Zinnia is a hothead, but when she sits and thinks things through, she can be surprisingly shrewd. I doubt this obsession with Magma is something baseless. I mean, we know for a fact they''re trying to unbalance the entire world! I think that counts towards the goal of keeping her tribe safe.''

    ''Yes, we know what Magma''s aims are because of meta-knowledge. Zinnia already implied that she knows what they''re up to, but if she knows, why wage a single-woman crusade when she has a tribe of Dragon Tamers as backup? Why not tip off League officials as you did? Something isn''t adding up,'' Ninetales insists. When Lee has no answer, Ninetales relents ever so slightly. ''Before we commit to anything, I have to insist we ask why she''s pursuing them so dogmatically.''

    The conversation passes in a tenth of a second, and Lee returns his attention to the woman next to him. "Zinnia�� What''s with this thing you have for Magma and Aqua? I get that they''re eco-terrorists and up to no good, but why are you so personally invested in this?" Lee crosses his arms. "I appreciate the warning, and I''m not going to let you wander into danger alone, but I''d like to know why you''re doing this."

    Zinnia hesitates, looking away and biting her lip. "Lee�� it''s complicated. I don''t want to say, because I don''t want you to get caught up in this."

    "It''s a little late for that now," Lee shoots back. "We''re already going to sniff around for Magma and we''ve got one of their admins under surveillance."

    "Caught up in the deeper parts, I mean," Zinnia snaps back. She takes a deep breath and calms herself, looking around to make sure no one is looking their way. "There is a lot at play beyond Magma and Aqua. I really do not want to explain, because if I do, I know you''ll get tangled up in this mess even worse, and��" She gives Lee a tired look. "I don''t want to push more onto your plate, Lee. You''ve got your own things to worry about, and I''ve got mine, okay? Some things are better left unsaid."

    "Deeper parts, deeper than what crackpot eco-terrorists are up to, hmm?" Lee frowns. "You''re not doing anything to alleviate my concern, here."

    Zinnia leans back into the couch, her face falling into something�� lost? Afraid? She takes a pokeball from her belt and rolls it in her fingers. After a minute of silence, she speaks up, quiet and unsure. "You and Brendan are the first friends I''ve had outside of my pokemon since Aster died��" Zinnia says, voice little higher than a whisper. "I don''t like keeping you in the dark, but I have to for your own good. I know your type, Lee. If I explain, you''ll invite yourself along even if you don''t want to. Even if you know it could kill you."

    Lee''s skin breaks out into goosebumps as Ninetales'' hackles rise. At Ninetales'' feet, Shinx stares up at Zinnia.

    Zinnia stares down at the pokeball in her hand and presses the button. The ball pops open, and no pokemon comes out. She closes it again with a sigh. "If you really want to know��" Zinnia''s eyes lock Lee in place. "��then think about it until we get to the Draconid stronghold outside of Fallarbor, okay?" She puts the empty ball away. "I need to work up the nerve to talk, and you need the time to consider it. If you still want to know��" Zinnia clenches her fists on her knees. "Then I''ll tell you. I promise."

    Silently, Lee nods. "My answer won''t change, but take however much time you need."

    Zinnia gives him a tired smile, then rises from her seat with a dramatic flourish of her cloak. She stretches her arms over her head. "Alrighty! Enough doom and gloom! I saw a Johto sashimi place down the road, and if my pokemon isn''t going to be here for another two hours, then lunch is in order!" She grins. "For upsetting your best gal pal, you can pay for her lunch!"

    "But Ninetales isn''t upset."

    Lee earns a slug to the arm for the comment. Apparently, Zinnia doesn''t care for being hit with the same joke twice in a week.

 Act 2: Chapter 11

    It''s a rare sort of day today, two days after Ninetales'' release from the Pokemon Center. For the first time in several weeks, Lee and Ninetales have been left to their own devices.

    Brendan asked to borrow Grovyle and Octillery for a training exercise out near the base of Mount Chimney, and both pokemon agreed. After making some plans, promising to return before dark, and double promising not to work Grovyle and Octillery too hard since both are still on light duty, Brendan took his temporarily expanded team and set out.

    Shinx, who is thankfully not fussing too much during the process of being weaned off of her bottle, is off in a deep slumber. She ate a little too much for lunch and quickly fell asleep to digest her meal. Lee returned her to her ball and placed the capsule in a pocket of his backpack, letting Shinx sleep somewhere dark, cozy, and quiet. She''ll be out for a few hours, at least.

    Zinnia and Courtney are out together for some ''girl time''. Lee is 99% sure the outing is Zinnia trying to get the Magma admin to slip up and talk about something she shouldn''t, and maybe 1% trying to get free drinks at a bar somewhere. The Dragon Tamer apparently has plans to begin their investigation into Magma''s recent activity tonight. She''s going to go out and eavesdrop in the usual dives that gangsters frequent, while Lee�� is going to study up on how far his powers as an auxiliary peace officer go. First, finding out if he can request warrants, just in case Zinnia gets stonewalled on a lead.

    None too thrilling, all things considered.

    Since today is their weekly rest day in the cycle Lee has formulated for his pokemon, Lee and Ninetales have been left with some time to relax together, as their only obligation today is to meet with Moore at the Gym and allow the still unnamed move for Flannery to be copied. That in mind, Lee and Ninetales decided to go out and enjoy themselves for a bit.

    Out on the streets of Lavaridge, man and fox cut through the crowds on the street with ease, as most part around them with excited whispers and awed smiles. Ninetales was the subject of stares before, but she''s a veritable celebrity now after defeating Ty.

    The great vixen keeps her head held high and her prowling gait regal, but she can''t quite hide the smile that pulls at the edges of her lips. Her steps are still a bit ginger and if one looks hard enough, they can see where her coat is a little thinner in places, but the fading aftermath of her bout with Ty does nothing to diminish Ninetales'' mood.

    Lee smiles. ''Enjoying yourself?''

    ''Perhaps a little,'' she admits with a sniff. ''It was somewhat unwelcome before our match with Leader Moore, but now the attention feels appropriate.''

    ''Lavaridge has a lot of immigrants from Kanto and Johto, and both regions have a long history with the Vulpix line. It makes sense that people would stare.'' Lee eyeballs a few shops as they walk, his eyes lingering on a tobacco shop advertising everything from traditionally Asian-looking pipes to fine cigars.

    Ninetales follows his eyes and draws her lips back into a thin line. ''No.''

    A frown finds its way to Lee''s face. ''I wasn''t going to get anything bad. Just a box or two of cigars for special occasions.''

    ''Lee, my Beloved,'' she begins, eyeing him with a pained look, ''you only have so long on this earth, and I want to savor every moment of it. I don''t want you to ruin your health, and I don''t think my heart could bear it if you perished before your time.'' Ninetales narrows her eyes, staring up at him seriously. ''You already quit smoking months ago, so why go back?''

    Quitting had been more involuntary than anything, considering how hectic the first few weeks of trainer life had been, but guilt still pokes a hole in his heart and Lee falters. ''Ah�� I forgot about that part�� My bad, Love.''

    The conversation falls into a lull and, although she tries to hide it, Lee can feel Ninetales'' own guilt gnawing at her. ''You may have one box of your choice,'' she begins, her tone leaving no room for argument. ''They''re to be saved only for special occasions like you said, understood?''

    ''Nine, if it upsets you so much, then I''m fine doing without.'' Lee reaches a hand out and strokes her behind her heart-marked ear as they walk. ''No skin off my nose.''

    Ninetales leans into the touch with a content sigh. ''Perhaps, but I shouldn''t have manipulated you like that. I knew what I said would make you feel guilty.''

    Mulling over her words, Lee takes a moment to reply. ''Maybe you did, but that doesn''t make your point or good intentions less valid.''

    The fox huffs. ''You''re infuriatingly kind sometimes.''

    ''If I can''t have pity parties, then you can''t either.'' Lee meets her eyes with a smile as they walk past the tobacco shop. ''I''ll pass this time. Maybe another time.''

    Ninetales leans into Lee''s side, her warmth seeping into him just as much as her telepathic adoration does.

    The pair separate and continue forward, pulled along by whims more than anything else. They browse the various merchants as they go, such as a flower shop teeming with Cutiefly, all busy pollinating the flowers within. The shop''s largest display is a colorful array of bamboo, grown by crossbreeding the plants with Berry trees. A liquor store they stop by proudly presents its locally made sake, a traditional form of rice wine. Ninetales is considerably more okay with alcohol over tobacco, so Lee buys himself some "Burning Spirit Sake," the bottle of which features Ty the Typhlosion''s scowling, stylized face on the label. The third shop is what really captures Lee''s attention, though.

    "Look at that��" Lee breathes as he and Ninetales step in through the propped-open door of Parlor Kaede.

    All around them are racks of clothes and garments. Some are obviously common wholesale fare, but quite a bit looks to be handmade, especially since the bulk of the inventory is traditional wear like robes, kimonos, haoris, and other things Lee can''t rightly name. They''re artistic and eye-catching, but that''s not what has Lee''s attention. No, what draws his eyes is deeper inside.

    Near the back of the store and behind the employee counter are a hard-working group of Spinarak, diligently overseen by an Ariados.

    The Spinarak are spider pokemon sporting a size fit to send an arachnophobe into conniptions. The spiders are green with yellow legs that easily span a foot, and both the body and legs are banded with blue-black stripes. On the spider''s head are two large eyes, a pearly white horn, and fangs colored a threatening red. Despite being commonly called spiders, the pokemon only have six legs.

    The rear wall of the shop is covered in a silken spiderweb of mammoth proportions. From the wall protrude a number of shelves off to the side, also covered in web. If a Spinarak isn''t hanging on the back wall, then they''re on the shelves, or sometimes under the shelves, parallel to the ground.

    Some of the spiders are busy working the spinnerets on their abdomens, producing a steady stream of silk that they twist and roll up into wooden spools held in their rearmost legs.

    Others are transporting full spools of pure white silk over to one of the shelves in the corner of the wall. They set the spools on upward-facing pegs before pulling the threads through a low-set bowl on the bottom of their workstation. With slow, careful tugs, they drag the white threads through the bowl, and the silk, now a brilliant color, is wound around another waiting spool.

    ''They must have little pools of dye up there,'' Lee thinks to himself.

    On an unused portion of the employee counter, a team of Spinarak are using their fangs like sewing needles, weaving spools of colored silk together to form a thick bolt of fabric. They''re even weaving a pattern into it! The current bolt they''re working on is a rich sky blue with purple flower petals.

    In the middle of all the commotion sits the Ariados, one that must eat well with its three-and-a-half-foot leg span. Like the Spinarak, it is a spider of terror-inducing proportions. Its body is red striped with black, with yellow legs striped violet, and the same violet coloring its two eyes. On its forehead is a white horn, and its similarly pale fangs are easily as long as a man''s fingers.

    The Ariados keeps a watchful eye over the efforts around it, shifting its attention around rapidly. Its legs pluck at the web every now and then, and with each pluck, some of the Spinarak heed unspoken orders and move to new phases in their work. The spiders all work together like a well-oiled machine, and Lee can''t help but stare despite the unease he feels from Ninetales.

    "Quite something, hmm?"

    Lee jumps and barely suppresses a curse when an unexpected voice speaks up next to him. He turns his head, taking in the owner of the voice.

    Next to Lee, a short, elderly woman watches the spider pokemon work with a small smile on her face. Her visage is like that of an old crone, one so on-the-nose Lee has to wonder if that was her intent. With gray hair pulled back into a high bun, a drooping, hooked nose, half-lidded eyes paired with a self-satisfied smirk, and a lit cigarette in a long, stem-like holder in her hand, she must be aiming for the appearance.

    The old woman turns her smirk up to Lee. "Captivated by my darlings, are you?" she asks, a pronounced accent most evident in how she says "dahlings". "I don''t blame you. They''re masterful in their art, so much so that I''ve little left to teach them." She chuckles and lifts her cigarette holder up, taking a long drag. Exhaling the smoke, she continues, "Ninth generation in a growing dynasty of silk-weavers, they are �� and sweethearts to boot. They barely let their old master work anymore. It makes me feel useless."

    The Ariados on the wall seems to take offense at the statement, lifting its head and clicking its fangs in obvious agitation. It stares at the old woman with a hard, challenging gaze.

    The elderly woman meets the stare with a raised brow. After just a few seconds, the Ariados concedes and looks away.

    "Hmph!" The old woman nods, then returns her eyes to Lee. "Well then, boy. Don''t be rude. Introduce yourself and your companion to me if you''re going to be in my shop taking up space."

    Ninetales gives the old shopkeep a glowing red glare for the brusque tone, but it goes unnoticed.

    Caught flat-footed, Lee blinks. "Lee Henson, ma''am. With me is Ninetales, my first pokemon and best friend."

    "Hmm��" The crone of a woman regards Lee for a moment, then Ninetales, deep in thought. Then her eyes widen just a bit, and she cackles a hair-raising cackle. "Ah! You''re the ones who toppled Mura! I remember." She calms herself. "I am Madam Kaede, and you will refer to me as such in this store, understood?" Without waiting for a reply, Kaede sends a look of disgust at Lee�� or rather, at his jacket. "What brings you into my store? Obviously not your sense of taste��" She reaches a gnarled hand out and pinches the worn elbow of Lee''s jacket. "Hoenn Civil Army camouflage? What are you hiding from? If I were in such an ugly, ineffective pattern, I''d be hiding from the mirror!"

    Lee drops a hand onto Ninetales'' head and gently pets her, silently coaxing the narrow-eyed vixen to keep a grip on her thinning patience. "We were just browsing around Lavaridge, Madam Kaede," Lee begins diplomatically. "I saw your pokemon at work through the window and my feet led me in. They really are quite a marvel."

    Kaede sniffs imperiously. "Indeed, indeed," she agrees, looking the trainer up and down. Her disdainful face remains, but at the very least, the elder sounds less hostile. "I can tell that my shop has nothing for you."

    "You might be right��" Lee glances at the different racks of clothes on display, noting a number of garments clearly intended for non-human body plans. "Ninetales and I have been thinking about entering a pokemon contest just to see how we like it, and my first thought on that was to go for a more traditional look for the performance��" Lee turns to Ninetales, who blinks her red eyes at him. "Would you like a kimono, or maybe something else, Nine?"

    ''I was under the impression that the trainer is the one that needs to dress up in a pokemon contest, not the pokemon.'' Ninetales punctuates the telepathy with a rolling growl in her throat and a snort, mostly so Lee doesn''t look insane getting answers from a mute fox.

    "Yes, but the point is to show off the pokemon, not the trainer." Lee crosses his arms. "Plenty of coordinators use accessories for their pokemon."

    Ninetales scans the racks of clothing, her mind slowly working. As she thinks, Lee can practically see what''s going through her head.

    One part of the fox is skeptical. Her natural beauty is enough, she thinks. Besides, clothes are for humans, not pokemon. She''d only wear an outfit once in a blue moon anyway, and they would take up space the rest of the time.

    Another part, one close to where their minds join, looks at the assorted robes and dresses with a measure of appreciation, imagining some of them wrapped around her. She''s also pleased by the idea of receiving a gift from Lee. The two sides clash in indecision briefly, then a winner is decided.

    ''...I suppose one won''t hurt,'' Ninetales says with a nod of her head.

    Lee smiles in reply. "I guess we''ll have a look around, then," he says, looking back down at Kaede.

    "Look around?" The elderly woman scoffs and tilts her head, peering at Lee like someone might a Slowpoke. She waves a hand around the store, occasionally stopping to point at the racks. "At this?" She shakes her head with an aggravated sigh and pinches her cigarette out between two fingers. "Darling, these are rags for tourists, barely even fit to be used as bibs for children."

    Lee raises an eyebrow and looks at the different clothes. They look great to him, with some of the more opulent robes boasting price tags of thousands of credits a pop. "Could have fooled me."

    Kaede hands her cigarette holder and the snubbed cigarette to a Spinarak who descends from the ceiling. The spider takes the wooden holder in his front legs and rises back into the rafters, vanishing from sight. "No," Kaede declares. "I will not be besmirched by letting a Ninetales wear anything but true Madam Kaede. Come! Come!" she urges, stepping around Lee and walking towards a closed door in the rear of the shop.

    Lee and Ninetales share a look, then follow.

    Kaede leads them to the door, a sliding one made of wood, and throws it open. "Lloyd!"

    Inside the room, a teenage boy with a Joltik on his shoulder jumps and nearly drops the bolt of fabric he''s carrying. "Y-Yes, Madam?" He turns, regarding the old shopkeeper nervously. The boy is young, bright-eyed, and looks like he wishes he was anywhere else but here.

    "Make yourself useful and man the front. I have a client to see to." Kaede waves the boy off.

    "Yes, Madam!" Lloyd gulps and hastily jogs to the corner of the room, placing the bolt in his arms down next to several others, then slips by Lee and Ninetales in a hurry. As he goes, the Joltik on his shoulder blinks its four shiny, curiously intelligent eyes at them, as the teen slides the door closed behind him.

    "Hmpf. Stupid boy," Kaede mutters to herself. "He''ll be in debt forever at this rate��"

    ''Quite a pleasant person, isn''t she?'' Ninetales'' words are like a concentrated stream of sarcasm right into Lee''s brain, thick and gel-like. ''How a merchant can keep operating with such an attitude is beyond me.''

    ''Perhaps her work is just that good?'' Lee spitballs. ''In my experience, good artists are either humble as can be or so far up their own ass that they look like a human donut.''

    The vixen smirks at the imagery.

    "Now, where to begin��" Kaede mutters to herself, peering around the room.

    The back room of Parlor Kaede is a tailor''s dream, with high shelves fitted with cubbies, all of which sport great rolls of fabric. One wall is dominated entirely by a pegboard filled with spools of silk arranged by color, and the opposite wall is stacked high with wooden boxes, each color-coded with a small sticker. What the colors mean is anyone''s guess. By an ancient-looking iron sewing machine are a number of mannequins, each made for a different body type. Several quadrupeds, a few human-sized ones, and even a more esoteric one that looks like it can have extra limbs slotted into its torso.

    Looking up, Lee is only amazed further.

    In the rafters are several more Spinarak, and with them are even more shelves of fabric and equipment. Seeing what the spiders are standing vigil around in the gloom of the unlit ceiling is a challenge, but the stark white web at the very top of the ceiling is plain to see.

    "Hmm��" Kaede looks up as well and snaps her fingers. "A blank 15QM4M6 if you would, my darlings."

    A Spinarak from the rafters skitters to someplace out of view, then returns and descends on a thread of spider silk. A plain white robe, a white sash, a filled pin-cushion, and a rolled-up tape measure are all held in his legs.

    "Thank you, darling." Kaede smiles and takes the garments, tape, measure, and pincushion from the spider, who chitters and rises back into the ceiling. Then she turns her attention to Ninetales. "Come here, darling. Let''s begin."

    ''I''m beginning to rethink my choice��'' Ninetales grumbles, but she does as the old woman asks and steps into the middle of the room.

    Kaede drapes the blank kimono over Ninetales'' back, holding the sleeves up so Ninetales can easily step into them. Then, reaching under the fox, Kaede pulls the kimono closed, wraps the sash around Ninetales'' middle, and tightens it in seemingly one movement. The whole dress seems to have been made from the ground up with a quadruped in mind.

    "Yes, 15QM4M6 should be about right��" the old seamstress murmurs, securing her pin cushion onto her wrist with a strap. Moving like lightning, she takes various measurements across Ninetales'' body, sometimes marking the blank kimono with pins.

    Lee leans back against the wall, content to watch.

    Kaede moves with a deftness unfit for a woman her age, quickly marking the blank kimono and adjusting it, sometimes stepping away and asking Ninetales to turn. The blank kimono is then removed and placed on the quadrupedal mannequin before the seamstress requests another from her Spinarak, this time a ''14QM4M7''. The process repeats itself several times. Throughout his waiting, Lee notices that, for all her surly confidence, Kaede avoids so much as brushing one of Nine''s namesake tails.

    With three blank kimonos marked, a Spinarak descends, providing Kaede with a color chart, one of different colored silks stretched over a wooden backing. The chart in hand, the elderly woman holds it to Ninetales'' fur coat. "Something warm and simple��" she mutters. "Yes, a red base will do��"

    "We don''t get to pick the color or anything?" Lee asks, eyebrow raised.

    Kaede openly cackles a mocking note.

    After much debate with herself, Kaede nods and smiles. "Ah, this will be a good one indeed," she says, undoing the sash around Ninetales'' middle and helping the fox step out of the latest white kimono.

    "You''re certainly thorough, Madam," Lee comments, stepping off of the wall and stretching. He pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the time. ''Geez. Half an hour flew by in a flash.''

    Kaede ignores him, instead shuffling over to the well-aged sewing machine, where an old notepad lies. Producing a pen from her pocket, she begins writing down numbers: a long, almost nonsensical string of them, and none of them seem to correspond with the measurements she''s just taken. After half the page is filled, she rips the page free, steps over to the wall, and knocks upon it sharply.

    "I don''t mean to be a bother," Lee begins, keeping his annoyance at being ignored in check. "But can we have an ETA for when the kimono will be ready? And possibly a quote before we actually commit?"

    "Hush, boy." Kaede clicks her tongue. "Your Ninetales will have her finery today. Don''t worry about money, either. I won''t gouge you like some might."

    The door to the tailoring room opens, and in walks the Ariados from earlier, scuttling up the wall and into the rafters, but not before he takes the paper in Kaede''s outstretched hand.

    "Now��" Kaede''s eyes sparkle. "Stand back and behold!"

    Ninetales retakes her place at Lee''s side, joining him in watching.

    Ariados stands upside down above them in the middle of the web. He sticks the paper in his little pedipalps to the web and, not taking his eyes off of it, begins to pluck at the web strands with his legs.

    All around the rafters, the Spinaraks suddenly move as one, skittering past one another in a frantic race to grab supplies.

    Some rappel down to take bolts of fabric in two-spider teams.

    Others take spools of individual thread.

    Another team drags one of the quadruped mannequins to the center of the room, with one spider remaining behind under the mannequin. Reaching into the dummy''s belly, the spider twists some kind of mechanism that has escaped Lee''s notice, and sections of the mannequin resize themselves with the clicks of a ratchet.

    The spiders all halt as Ariados stops plucking at the web. Then, like a conductor moving to the next movement in a symphony, the great red spider above begins his furious coordination anew. The whole time, Lee looks for the threads he knows must be connected from the web above to the working spiders, but they must be so thin that they escape the human eye.

    As the team of Spinarak descends on the mannequin, Lee can''t help but let his jaw drop.

    Fangs slice cloth like scissors and stitch like needles as a new kimono materializes from raw fabric and thread under the writhing mass of spiders. The Spinaraks seem totally erratic from the outside, but under them, a garment quickly begins to take shape on the mannequin, arrayed in reds, oranges, and white.

    The well-organized discord of yellow legs and red fangs dominates the room for a solid fifteen minutes, and the entire time, Lee is transfixed at the scene before him. Even after months in this world, he''s still stumbling upon new surprises. ''And I doubt it''ll be the last,'' he ruminates.

    Beside him, Ninetales'' spider-induced disgust is stamped down and used as a stepping-stool for her own amazement, her mouth formed into a little ''o'' at the end of her muzzle.

    Kaede just glows with pride as her pokemon work.

    Finally, the Ariados'' frantic footwork abates, and the Spinaraks all skitter away, leaving the product of all their hard work behind.

    Before Lee can really get a good look, Kaede sweeps forward and urges Ninetales along with her. "Come, Darling! Come try it on!"

    Despite her misgivings over Kaede''s attitude, Ninetales pads along behind the old woman readily. Trailing the fox, Lee can see her tails flick to and fro with excitement.

    The elderly shopkeeper stands in Lee''s way of seeing Ninetales as she helps the pokemon into the freshly made garment. As she does so, more Spinaraks descend from the ceiling, crawling over to one of the cluttered corners and dragging a sectioned, rattan divider with them. The spiders pull the divider open behind Ninetales, showing off the sunset and blooming plains painted into it.

    Another spider slowly drops from the ceiling, dropping a parcel of waxed paper into Kaede''s waiting hand. The parcel is swiftly opened, and although Lee doesn''t see what''s in it, he does hear the chime of a small bell.

    Kaede murmurs to herself as she places something around Ninetales'' neck, then something else behind her ears. "There, perfect," Kaede smiles and steps away.

    Lee can''t help the awed smile that slowly grows on his face.

    Ninetales as a species were obviously inspired by the kitsune of Japanese legend, and Ninetales'' new attire drives the point home perfectly.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Wrapped around her is a rich, red kimono the same shade as her eyes, edged in white. The rear is slitted in the back, allowing her tails freedom to fan out behind her, and on the lower section of the kimono are broad fall leaves, all expertly woven into the bold red with more subdued shades of orange and yellow. It''s all held closed with a sash of red, also edged in white, tied into a ribbon upon her back.

    The front of the kimono is open to such a degree that it would be scandalous on a woman, but here it allows Ninetales'' voluminous tuft of breast fur to be presented, where it hangs a little over the edge of the neckline. On that tuft and around her neck is a necklace of thick red cord, and dangling from the necklace is an ornate, somewhat shield-shaped charm inscribed with kanji Lee can''t hope to translate. The charm is flanked by a pair of small, round bells, and hanging from the bottom of the charm itself is a pair of tassels, one white and the other red.

    Finally, in the tuft of fur trailing down Ninetales'' head, a pair of hair sticks tipped with red gems are crossed inside. Bridged between them is a golden, fan-like ornament.

    ''...Well?'' Ninetales asks. After a moment of slightly embarrassed indecision, she sits, fluffs her tails up into a neat fan, and turns her head in a pose. ''How do I look?''

    "Holy hell��" Lee breathes. "Okay, now we have to try a contest. You''ll knock the judges dead just walking onto the stage."

    Silently, Lee offers his vision to Ninetales, who reaches across the short telepathic band to see for herself.

    The vixen smiles brightly, enjoying her new look much more than she expected, and positively loving how much Lee admires her. Her happiness only makes Lee''s own smile wider.

    Before that smile fades or Ninetales gets a chance to protest, Lee quickly withdraws his phone and snaps a picture of the scene. ''Wait ''till the nutcases on Fox Friday see this one,'' he sends to her, taking another vertical photo and setting it as his background.

    Ninetales'' ears burn red at the thought of someone other than Lee seeing her like this. ''Must you?''

    The longer he looks at the beautiful fox, the more Lee really appreciates just how much his life is looking up�� then his smile dies a horrible death when another thought hits him. ''Oh shit. How much is this going to cost?''

    Lee turns to Kaede, gulping. "So, uh, Madam Kaede? About the cost here��"

    The old woman smirks. "For a specialty such as this? I don''t even listen unless a client has a deposit of ten-thousand ready."

    Lee feels his soul leave his body. Through Ninetales'' eyes, he watches his own face go white as a sheet.

    "But��" Kaede continues, eyeballing the now-furious Ninetales. "Stop with the scowl, darling. Let an old woman have some fun," she huffs. "I will only charge you for the materials today. It''s not every day I can design for a client who actually wears my work well, and unlike some others, I will tell you to your face that this is a marketing ploy. Tell others you were here, and I will consider the time repaid."

    A sigh of relief blows past Lee''s lips. Reaching up, he rubs his forehead. "Okay, so how much?"

    "Three thousand credits." Kaede looks like she''s barely keeping herself from cackling.

    Suppressing the urge to hiss at the still steep price, Lee just nods. "I can do that," he mutters, turning back to the door leading to the front of the store.

    "Where are you going?" Kaede demands, a scowl taking over her wrinkled face. "Come here, boy! Before you go, you''re learning how to take the ensemble off of your pokemon, how to put it on, how to fold it, and how to keep it clean. If it does get dirty��" Her face grows stormy. "Dry! Clean! Only!"

    <hr>

    Under Kaede''s watchful eye, Lee, who is kneeling at Ninetales'' side, begins removing the kimono from her for what feels like the tenth time.

    ''We should probably head to the Gym once done here.'' Lee idly thinks, undoing the knot in Ninetales'' sash and folding it up. ''Once the move is in Flannery''s hands, our obligations will be done there.''

    ''We should.'' Ninetales agrees. ''I''m sorry that this ended up being so expensive,'' she then apologizes, remorse soaked into each word.

    ''It''s for you, so it''s worth it.'' Lee sends back without a moment''s delay.

    Ninetales turns her neck and licks her trainer across his scarred cheek.

    <hr>

    ''I swear this is taking much longer than before,'' Ninetales complains, crossing her red eyes to glare at an errant wire hanging in front of her nose.

    In the sitting room of the Lavaridge Gym and once more in the company of Mura Moore and Flannery, Lee and Ninetales wait as the old, briefcase-bound TM copier belonging to the Moores copies Flannery''s custom fire move from Ninetales. Just like before, the old headband fitted with pitted electrodes and disintegrating wires is just barely hanging onto Ninetales'' head, and she''s none too pleased with how it''s mussing up her head tuft.

    She was much happier outside showing off the unnamed Fire move to a starstruck Flannery.

    ''It''s copying a more complex move, Love, and this thing looks like it''s on its last legs��'' Lee eyeballs the TM copier, swearing to himself he sees thin wisps of blue smoke rising from it. From the sitting room table, Lee raises the teacup Moore poured for him as everyone was seated. Taking a sip more out of politeness than enjoyment, he sets it back down. ''I''ll fix up your fur afterward.''

    Ninetales just silently fumes in response. The new, three-thousand-credit outfit neatly folded in Lee''s backpack keeps her mood from getting too foul, however.

    ''I''ll need to get something for Grovyle and Octillery. I''d get something for Shinx, but I don''t think she''s at the age to appreciate much beyond toys and attention,'' Lee thinks. ''I love you, Ninetales, but it''s not super fair to them if I give you an expensive present and don''t give them the option too.''

    ''Well, I''m not about to be jealous,'' she scoffs. Even while focusing on the unnamed Fire move, Ninetales'' telepathy is smooth enough for her to hold a seamless conversation. ''Grovyle would want something practical, like a TM or a new host for his Miracle Seed, since his neckerchief was burned to a crisp. Octillery��'' Ninetales stops. ''Well, I can''t rightly say. I don''t know him well enough yet.''

    "-Damndest thing, don''t you agree?" Moore finishes with a rueful shake of his head.

    Lee nods along, hiding how he spaced out mid-conversation with the older trainer. "Certainly��" he agrees. "Ah, I never asked. How is Ty doing, Leader Moore?"

    Moore smiles. "He''s been recovering well. It''s taking him some time, considering his age, but he came home early this morning and is plenty happy. I did get an official advisory from the Pokemon Center that Ty should be retired from battle, lest he suffers an injury that he cannot heal from," Moore sighs, content, while Lee has to hold back a grimace. "In return for his send-off, I feel as if I owe you a tip for your next Gym. You said you intend to challenge Norman next?"

    Lee nods. "Yes. We''re taking a detour up north, then circling around to Mount Chimney''s western flank, so it likely won''t be for�� two or more months, I think."

    Moore hums and strokes his chin with a forefinger and thumb. "Hmm. That time to prepare is a double-edged sword, you know. Norman is regarded as one of the best, most balanced trainers in all of Hoenn, and youngsters always complain that he''s their biggest roadblock. Norman suffered a particularly humiliating defeat at the hands of a young trainer named Tyson recently, and that embarrassment will only compel him to prepare even more for you and young Brendan."

    ''Tyson? The same one we battled in Mauville?'' Lee wonders to himself. A thrill of apprehension runs down Lee''s spine. "Really? Surely it couldn''t have been that bad?"

    "This Tyson guy beat Norman''s Slaking with a Metagross��" Flannery answers in her grandfather''s stead.

    Ninetales raises her head sharply, and another shiver, one much colder, runs down Lee''s spine. "A Metagross?" Lee asks weakly.

    Flannery shifts uncomfortably on her cushion, perhaps thinking of facing off with Tyson herself. "And it wasn''t an even fight, either��"

    "Even Steven was surprised to hear this young Tyson fellow has a Metagross," Moore clicks his tongue. "Nasty things, Metagross. To earn the loyalty of one is an ordeal in of itself, for to a Metagross, all but the brightest humans are retarded children-"

    "Grandpa��"

    "-Slow children, I mean," Moore clears his throat. "No pokemon such as that would willingly partner itself to anyone but a trainer with true talent. The only other Metagross trainers I can think of are Steven and that girl who runs the Battle Tower, Anabel." The old Gym Leader raises his cup of tea for a sip. "Be wary, boyo. The Conference this year is going to have stiff competition."

    Lee sighs. "Wonderful��"

    Metagross is right up there with Ninetales on the "rare and dangerous" pokemon chart, as Lee discovered during his research frenzy prior to Ninetales'' evolution. Being both physical and psychic powerhouses with an IQ that can''t be accurately measured with human methods, they''re nightmarish pokemon fit only for extraordinary trainers. Their gestalt physiology only makes it worse, as Metagross are born from the union of four individual Beldum or two Metang. The fusion of different minds makes predicting the gestalt thoughts of a Metagross nigh-impossible. Not many people can cope with the weight and mind games of a pokemon who is for sure more intelligent than they are.

    "Anyway," Moore sets his teacup down with a clack. "Be ready for Norman, my boy. Family life might have slowed his growth, but it''s done nothing to weaken his pokemon. Norman and his team at their fullest will be your first real taste of an Elite. There is no surefire counter for him, and he''ll be getting his team ready for you. If he can rouse Slaking for your battle��" Moore slips his glasses off and cleans the lenses against his shirt. "Well, it''ll be a fight for the books."

    With a tired hum and the whine of an old electrical capacitor, the TM printer finally slows to a stop and spits out a TM disk from its side port. Once the printer chugs to a stop, Ninetales wastes no time shaking her head and dislodging the wired headband, which gracelessly falls to the floor.

    "Ah!" Moore smiles and takes the disk, placing his glasses back on as he does so. Turning to his now-grinning granddaughter, he hands the disk to her. "There you are, my dear. One custom pokemon technique." Moore turns back to Lee and Ninetales, bowing his head. "Lee, Madam Ninetales, I believe that concludes our deal. Thank you for taking the time to develop this technique and provide my oldest partner some closure on his career when I so rudely forced it upon you."

    Pushing thoughts of Gym battles and year''s-end tournaments away, Lee smiles back and inclines his own head. "No no, thank you, Leader Moore, for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with your Fire Stone. I''m aware of the danger associated with mining such a pure stone out of Mount Chimney, so Ninetales and I will remember this."

    Moore waves them off. "It''s no issue, my boy."

    Flannery bows her head as well after she tears her eyes away from the disk in her hands. "T-Thank you, Lee."

    "Not a problem at all," Lee returns. "Ah, a quirk of that move to be aware of; don''t modulate the power too much. It''s made very deliberately, and overloading just causes a backfire."

    "Of course, will do!" Flannery nods her head rapidly. She''s bouncing in her seat like a little girl, clearly eager to use the TM she''s holding like a treasure on one of her pokemon.

    With one final incline of his head, Lee rises with Ninetales following along. "Thanks again, and we''ll be sure to visit next time we''re in Lavaridge."

    Moore guffaws. "Glad to hear it, my boy! Glad to hear it! You''re a friend of clan Moore, so stop by any time!"

    After a final farewell, Moore and Flannery walk Lee and Ninetales to the front of the gym, leading them past the repair crews doing final checks on the building following the damage caused by Ninetales and Ty. Once outside, Lee and Ninetales start back towards the town proper.

    ''So a Metagross, huh?'' Lee frowns and kicks a rock on the dirt road as they walk. ''You know, I only just realized I haven''t really done any research on anyone in the circuit. Not even the Gym leaders.'' Now that he realizes it, it seems like a really foolish mistake. Andre nearly had them, Tyson and his Donphan didn''t even break a sweat against Grovyle, and the win against Wattson''s unexpected combo in Mauville was narrow. ''Fuck me, I feel stupid. Brendan does it all the time and I barely even pay it any mind. Does he think I''m some kind of arrogant ass for walking into battles unprepared?''

    ''Don''t put yourself down over it, Beloved,'' Ninetales says sharply. She stares up at him with hard, ruby eyes. ''This is a failure upon me as well. I should have thought of trying to predict our foes beforehand, too.''

    ''Love, I''m the trainer, and you''re pokemon; it''s not on you at all.''

    ''A typical pokemon-trainer relationship does not apply between you and I, remember?'' The kitsune raises an eyebrow. ''As a pokemon who practically lives within the mind of a human, as your partner, it''s my duty to do all I can for you. I''ve been just as foolish here to overlook such a simple thing as well. Besides, you have your own interests and studies to pursue, so I refuse to fault you. I know Grovyle doesn''t either.'' She blinks. ''I already feel your argument brewing, so shush.''

    ''Well��'' Lee flounders after being shut down. He eyes a Pachirisu enjoying an Oran in a distant tree. ''Okay, fine. What do we do then?''

    ''We simply do better. Together.''

    Lee runs his hand down the side of Ninetales'' neck. As usual, the silky fur soothes his nerves. ''We''ll do better from now on. Together.'' he agrees.

    With Lavaridge proper still being a number of minutes away on foot, Lee withdraws his phone from his pocket, sorts through his emails, then dives into BattleNet. At his side, he can feel Ninetales perk up as she, too, takes in what he reads.

    BattleNet is a true behemoth of a website, being a bastardized hybrid of a forum, wiki, chatroom index, and social media site, but even then, Lee only needs to search for his name and scroll to the earliest result to find the "Newcomers to look out for" thread in the Hoenn board. There, he finds Tyson, Andre, himself, Brendan, Ash, and a few names he doesn''t recognize. The only profiles he''s looked at in depth are his own, Brendan''s, and Ash''s.

    ��Or rather, he looked at what little was available on Ash. The young trainer''s profile, particularly his activity tracker, is sparse to the point of being useless. A number of his larger, hyped-up moments are captured for all to see, like his performance in Gyms and tournaments, but everything in-between is blank. The fact that the edit history of his profile is dominated solely by site admins is also suspect, enough to trip Lee''s finely-tuned ''internet bullshit'' detector.

    ''Considering his Legendary encounters, that''s to be expected, is it not?'' Ninetales questions despite already knowing the answer.

    ''Yes, I''m just a little exasperated that shadowy government shenanigans are a thing here, too. I should have guessed, considering the almost feudal-style laws and wobbly power structure between government and trainer.'' Rolling his eyes, Lee skims the profiles of the most notable trainers running the Hoenn Gym circuit this year, reminding himself to dive deeper later. ''At least government suits are less inclined to fuck with people this way.''

    ''With good reason,'' Ninetales giggles, blowing a little tongue of flame.

    As they pass into Lavaridge, Lee puts his phone away as a pang of hunger gnaws at his�� No, wait, that''s Ninetales'' hunger he''s feeling. His own is there, but not quite as intense. ''How about an early dinner?'' Lee eyes a few restaurants they pass. ''I saw a traditional-looking asian grill place down the road. Also, are you getting enough to eat in a day, Love? We can up your calorie count if it''s too low.''

    ''I''m fine with my current amount,'' Ninetales insists. ''I feel like a Grumpig already with how much you feed me.''

    ''Yet, you eat it all each time.''

    ''I''m not going to waste your time and effort by not,'' the fox grumbles. ''Being a bit hungry isn''t enough to warrant a diet change.''

    ''Okay, okay,'' Lee gives in. ''So, do you want to stop for an early dinner? I think we deserve a treat.''

    ''My telekinesis still needs work before I can use silverware��'' Ninetales'' unspoken ''I don''t want to look undignified by eating right off the plate'' is plain. Just as plain is the slightly bitter frustration at her lack of control.

    ''Well��'' Lee scratches his chin, fingernails rasping against his stubble. He needs to shave tonight. ''I''ll feed you, then.''

    There is a flash of surprise from the fox, then a smirk crosses her muzzle. ''Beloved, you worry over people getting the wrong idea about us, yet you take me out for a private excursion, buy me expensive clothes, then offer to take me out to dinner, and offer to hand-feed me at that. Why, you treat me better than you have any of your past girlfriends!''

    Lee doesn''t blush at the tease, merely rolling his eyes. ''Har har. Let''s skip that and just get married, then. It already feels like we''re there. Hell, I''m already at the stage where I can fall back asleep in hardly a minute when you get up to pee at two in the morning.'' He smirks back at her. ''Oh and, Love? You don''t need to crawl over me to get out of bed.''

    The comment earns him a sharp nip on his pinky finger, along with a telepathic mix of exasperation and fondness. ''Then stop taking the side closer to the bathroom.''

    Theatrically waving his ''wounded'' hand in faux indignation, Lee chuckles and pulls Ninetales into a one-armed hug. She smiles in turn and nuzzles her head into his stomach.

    "Hey, Lee! Is that you?"

    With a blink, Lee releases his fox as both turn around, facing the young-sounding voice calling from behind.

    There in the street are Ash, Pikachu, May, Max, and Brock, all of whom are smiling at him. Ash, Brock, and Pikachu''s smiles are swiftly traded for surprise when they see Ninetales.

    ''And here I thought today would be peaceful,'' Lee silently laughs at himself for ever having a hope like that. Outwardly, he clears his throat and smiles. "Hey, everyone. Long time no see. Did you just blow into town today?"

    Ash recovers the fastest, putting a bright grin on his face. "Sure did. We just came in from the Valley of Steel, and boy, what a hassle that was." On his shoulder, Pikachu nods along with Ash''s words. Ash turns his attention to Ninetales. "Wow, Vulpix evolved!" he exclaims, eyes wide and cheerful. "When did that happen?"

    "Two, almost three weeks ago," Lee says, stroking Ninetales'' head with his hand. Looking at Ash''s friends, Lee notes Brock''s hands on May and Max''s shoulders, keeping the sibling pair from getting much closer.

    "I''ve never seen a Ninetales in real life before," May gushes, seemingly not noticing Brock''s hand. She pulls out her pokedex and points it at Ninetales, who watches with a quirked brow.

    "Ninetales, the Fox Pokemon," begins the droning voice of May''s pokedex. "Intelligent and vindictive, these long-lived pokemon never forget a grudge. Legend has it that these pokemon will lay a 1000-year curse on anyone who grabs one of their tails."

    May''s smile becomes fragile. "Huh. Interesting stuff��" she laughs nervously and puts her pokedex away.

    ''Whose idea was it to put the stupid little intro on ''dex scans?'' Lee shakes his head and continues stroking Ninetales. "Don''t let the pokedex blurb scare you too much, there is a lot of misinformation out there on Ninetales as a species."

    Ash nods along. "Of course. There''s no such thing as a bad pokemon."

    ''Not the phrase I would have used, but I have to compliment the attitude.'' Lee perishes the thought and continues. "I''d say half of what you hear isn''t right. Here''s an example��" Lee takes the hand that was stroking Ninetales along her head and snatches one of her tails, letting the tip wiggle in faux distress.

    Brock inhales sharply, and both May and Max freeze in fright. Ash and Pikachu only seem a bit surprised as their eyes widen in-sync. More than one person on the street stops to watch with bated breath.

    After a moment, Lee lets the tail go, and Ninetales returns the errant tail to its fan formation with its sisters. "See?" Lee gestures at himself. "No curse. Just don''t repeat the stunt because while the curse isn''t real, the teeth and fire very much are."

    At that moment, Ninetales'' hunger makes itself aware again with a phantom pang, so Lee moves the conversation along. "Ninetales and I were actually about to find a place to eat. If you kids want to join us, you''re welcome to come along. My treat."

    Lee can already feel Ninetales mentally grumbling; having guests means no more dating jokes.

    As with many groups of children, the possibility of danger is forgotten at the mention of free food. As one, all of them perk up.

    <hr>

    "I did it��" Kirlia breathes, gasping and panting for air as he looks down at himself. "I did it!"

    Corvisquire is treated to the nauseatingly sweet sight of Wally and Ralts - now Kirlia - embracing and spinning in a circle, laughing and practically leaping for joy. In his perch in a tree just above the green-headed brat and the newly evolved Kirlia, Corvisquire sighs to himself and allows the two of them to enjoy themselves for a moment.

    For several weeks the pair have been growing like weeds in terms of skill and power. Corvisquire would suffer no weaklings under his wing, and to his grudging approval, Wally and Kirlia learned quickly. Corvisquire would throw problems their way �� usually in the form of attacks �� they adapt, then rinse and repeat. A brutal, but effective way to train.

    The boy proved himself to have something of a brain, studying the art of pokemon training in his spare time. He and Kirlia sync up well with his pokemon''s telepathic talent, now to the point that Wally only needs verbal cues for the most complex of instructions.

    Kirlia, meanwhile, has been trodding down the route of the patient opportunist. He would duck, dip, dive, block, and sometimes Teleport to keep out of harm''s way, then strike when the iron was hot. His attacks, while impressive looking, do little to Corvisquire''s steely feathers. Other pokemon are not so fortunate.

    In their time training, Corvisquire did set out to possibly find another foe, one mighty enough to trigger his evolution, but alas, no such adversary was found. His evolution is so close, too! That black armor, the sheer strength! It could be his if Verdanturf wasn''t filled with such weak pissants!

    What''s worse is that the Pokemon Rangers are becoming a nuisance. Evading their patrols is pathetically easy, as no League dog has the brains required to match him truly, but their persistence is irritating. He needed only to eavesdrop by an outdoor area of the local ranger office to overhear why they''re so doggedly insistent.

    A new bulletin went out for him, one stating that he is now a high-priority capture. At first, Corvisquire was confused. He heard the news a full day before his Dawn Stone heist. Then he was furious at the news, at the realization that the scarface''s kind facade had finally fallen and that he was pulling rank in the Pokemon League to take Corvisquire back.

    Corvisquire was mad that the illusion of choice was just that: an illusion.

    He was rancorous for over a day when another thought struck him.

    Could it be that he''s a high priority for some other reason? Maybe��

    Then it hit like a blow to the stomach.

    The death of the scarface''s whole world. He, Corvisquire, is privy to that poisoned knowledge. He knows it happened, and he knows nuclear energy can somehow be harnessed and turned into bombs. To kill a whole world, one would need to be on equal footing with Arceus.

    The illusion of scarface''s kindness returned, but another shadow was cast over Corvisquire. If he is captured by the Rangers, he will never see the light of day again, not unless he lets a Psychic root around his brain and erase whatever they please.

    The pilfered Dawn Stone hidden in his nest and the fury of the warehouse security seems like the least of his worries now.

    The raven pokemon sneered at the memory. The blindspots the warehouse left in their camera array were atrocious, and seriously, wafer locks to keep the precious stone containers secured? He got in and out with no issue and the crudest of tools.

    "Mister Corvisquire? Are you okay?"

    Corvisquire is pulled from his spiraling mood by Kirlia, who looks up at him with worried eyes.

    The little fool''s hair is shorter than normal, and his ''skirt'' is more like a waistcloth, marking him as a male of his kind, but by Almighty Arceus, the big Rockruff eyes make him an eyesore.

    "Worry about yourself," Corvisquire gruffly replies. "Go and rest. Return tomorrow, and we will begin further refinement of your powers. You''re still piss-poor at defending from overhead attacks, and that''s unacceptable." When the pair don''t move, Corvisquire raises an eyebrow. "You''ve been dismissed, idiots. Go home. That wasn''t a suggestion."

    The brat and the psychic meet eyes for a moment, then Kirlia gulps and looks back up. "B-But something is bothering you, and we want to help."

    An amused snort is Corvisquire''s answer. "How cute." He shakes his head. "Begone. You are no use exhausted, and I wish to be alone. I have things of my own to be doing and you''re cutting into that time."

    Kirlia actually has the audacity to shake his head, wincing as he does so. "No. I can feel it. Something is bothering you."

    Corvisquire''s amusement drains away in an instant, replaced with a prickling irritation. "You were ordered to leave, fool," Corvisquire clacks his beak. "The hatchling that bites the beak that feeds is a hatchling that will learn a harsh lesson. Remember that." The raven raises his beak and stares down menacingly. "Is that a lesson you''re ready for?"

    Kirlia shivers on his feet, and Wally begins to look pale, but Kirlia''s sad, simpering look seems to redouble itself and he opens his damn mouth again. "Do you miss your trainer? It wasn''t your fault. You can''t blame yourself for someone else getting sick!" Kirlia slaps his hands over his mouth, aghast at his own words and seemingly surprised that they came out at all.

    Corvisquire''s mind goes blank. In his ears, he hears a sharp keen, and at the edge of his vision, a red haze begins to form. How does he know? How does he know? How does he know?

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "You can''t do anything."

    "I do not know how you came to find that knowledge," the raven begins, his words halting and so hate-filled that each one quivers. He turns his red eyes down, staring at Wally and Kirlia like Giratina himself. "I do know one thing for certain, however."

    Both the child and pokemon openly quake. In their eyes is fear, and Corvisquire drinks it in.

    Wally palms the inhaler in his pocket, pulling it free and taking a puff. The action almost snaps the raven out of his murderous haze.

    Almost.

    "I know that thirty seconds is all I will give you," Corvisquire growls. There is a tiny pop and a flash of pain, and Corvisquire knows he chipped his beak from clenching it so hard. "Thirty seconds to run and meditate on your mistake before I teach you both about the chick who bit the beak that feeds. Go now. Time. Is. Wasting."

    Both younglings turn tail and flee through the brush of the clearing, and in his head, Corvisquire begins to count down. Just as he reaches zero, an unexpected voice rings out.

    "I don''t understand what he saw in you."

    Corvisquire gasps and immediately shoots his wings open, taking off in a flash to hover in the air.

    There, standing in a casual crouch inches away from where he was perched, is a Medicham.

    Corvisquire inspects the interloper up and down, gauging him carefully. The Medicham has certainly seen a fight or two, as his scarred physique tells a story of harsh encounters, but the stranger doesn''t trip Corivisquire''s well-honed survival instincts. ''An unlucky fool, then.''

    The Medicham looks back up at Corvisquire with a bored, bug-eyed gaze, one totally apathetic to the seething fury on Corvisquire''s visage. The Fighting-type doesn''t even raise an eyebrow at him.

    "And just who in the hell are you?" Corvisquire hisses. "You have some ner-" the raven stops himself short when he notices what''s in Medicham''s hand.

    A Dawn Stone.

    "You''re not as slick as you might think," Medicham hums, slowly standing on the branch and turning the shining stone over in his hand. The drooped, bored eyes never leave Corvisquire''s. "He would be held responsible for your theft, you know."

    "Wha-" Corvisquire shakes his head, confusion making his boiling fury even worse. "Enough with the pronoun game, moron! Who is he?"

    "Lee."

    The name makes Corvisquire falter. Why does his private business seem to be public knowledge all of a sudden?!

    "I don''t understand what he saw in you," Medicham repeats, finally breaking eye contact to look at the stone in his hand. "I''ve read his reports and listened to his audio logs. He was always fond of you, even if you caused him issues. The hurt in his voice when you abandoned him was real. Now you''re out here, menacing children and stealing baubles." Medicham takes a deep breath. "Why run?"

    Reports? Audio logs? Just who is this Medicham? Corvisquire defaults back to the one thing that''s never failed him.

    Anger.

    "Listen here, bastard!" Corvisquire shouts, the red haze returning to his vision. "What sort of mind games are you trying to pull? You don-"

    Pain explodes in his stomach so fast that he can do nothing. In fact, all Corvisquire can do is gasp as stars dance in his vision. There is a thud, and he realizes he''s tumbled out of the air and hit the ground like a falling brick. There, prostrate in the dirt, he wheezes as his brutalized lungs beg for air.

    A pair of feet touch down in the grass next to him without a sound.

    "That wasn''t an appropriate answer to my question." Corvisquire doesn''t need to look up to know it''s that damned Medicham, as the skinny bastard''s voice is still as disinterested as it was before. "Why run?"

    The raven hacks and stumbles to his feet. "That''s none of your business, nosy shi-"

    One second, Medicham is there. The next, he''s gone, and Corvisquire shrieks when a knee is driven into his back, sending him back down with a crash that''s sure to bruise. The attack is so fast, that even his Extreme Speed accustomed eyes miss any movement.

    "Civility will take you far," Medicham murmurs above Corvisquire. Oh, how he''s beginning to hate this bastard. "I have given you the courtesy of explaining yourself. Please, use it," Medicham''s knee rises, and Corvisquire''s pride demands that he rise, too.

    Standing up tenderly, Corvisquire takes as deep a breath as he can and levels the thin Fighting-type with a glare. "If it is polite conduct you desire," he hisses, "then so be it. May I have the pleasure of knowing with whom I speak?" He spits the word ''pleasure'' like it burns his beak.

    Medicham doesn''t seem amused. "I am Medicham, Ace of Nigel Birch, the Hoenn Regional Professor and direct superior of Lab Trainer Lee Henson."

    Ah. Suddenly things make more sense. Corvisquire huffs. "Very well then, Medicham, Ace of Nigel Birch, the Hoenn Regional Professor and direct superior of Lab Trainer Lee Henson��" He says it all in one breath that reeks of spite. "What, if I may ask, are you doing here?"

    "Asking you questions," Medicham answers, voice flat.

    Corvisquire waits, and when no further elaboration comes, he scowls.

    "Why run?" Medicham repeats, and despite how Corvisquire wishes to look away, he can''t seem to escape Medicham''s eyes.

    Corvisquire doesn''t answer, and after a moment, Medicham begins guessing.

    "Team dispute? Dissatisfaction with training?" Medicham''s blank bug eyes turn toward the path Wally and Kirlia escaped to. "Past hurts?"

    Corvisquire bites back a curse.

    "Your silence says a lot," Medicham muses aloud.

    "Aren''t your kind supposed to be a reflective lot that speaks in riddles and preaches zen or something?" Corvisquire growls. "So far, you''ve been as blunt as a Snorlax''s backside."

    Medicham shrugs. "There is a time and place for reflection and riddles," he says, freezing Corvisquire in place with his blank stare once more. "Why run?"

    Temper and nerves both frayed, Corvisquire raises his voice once more. "Let me answer your question with a question of my own! Tell me, O aloof one! What would you do if your entire world came crashing down!?"

    Medicham hums to himself and looks down at the stone in his hand. "I cannot say. I do know what I would not do, though."

    "Enlighten me!" the raven snarls, his feathers ruffling. "What sort of sage advice do you have for me? What would you not do?!"

    "Run."

    The tailwind is taken out from behind Corvisquire''s seething anger in an instant.

    Medicham ponders the Dawn Stone in his hand for a moment, taking in its gentle glow, then he drops it at Corvisquire''s talons. Turning on his heel, the Fighting-type begins walking away.

    "Wha�� Where are you going!?" Corvisquire caws incredulously, looking between Medicham''s back and the stone that Medicham knows is stolen.

    Medicham doesn''t break his stride or look back. "Back to Nigel."

    "After stalking me, attacking me, and interrogating me, a pokemon you know has committed crimes and is a runaway, you''re just going to leave?" The raven''s head is spinning. From his fall or this maddening pokemon''s insanity, he has no idea.

    Medicham pauses for a moment but doesn''t look back. "I won''t take more from you," he says, though a niggling feeling tells Corvisquire that the Ace pokemon isn''t talking about the discarded Dawn Stone. "Your trainer is in Lavaridge right now. He will be leaving for Fallarbor town soon. All of your choices impact more than you, far beyond the obvious consequences. Remember that." Medicham continues walking, vanishing in the brush.

    As the sun begins its descent into the evening, Corvisquire sits there in the clearing. Confused, frustrated, and with a throbbing pain in his chest that isn''t physical, he lifts his head and screams.

 Act 2: Chapter 12

    "In summary, you do have all the powers of a peace officer since Lab Trainers fall under the broad umbrella of ''Pokemon League Field Agent'', but Lee, please consult me before you take any liberties with said powers," the voice of Amanda Keller, Lee''s recently acquired lawyer, pleads from Lee''s cellphone. The little device is on speaker mode for the whole room to hear. "Your conduct is going to be scrutinized heavily by the League Department of Justice if you insist on your investigation, and we must cross every T and dot every I, do you understand?"

    "I do..." Lee sighs and rests his chin in his steepled hands. From his place at the hotel room table, he looks at his assembled pokemon.

    On the bed is Ninetales, with Shinx snuggled into the vixen''s mass of tails. On the surface, Ninetales appears to be busy entertaining the kitten by wiggling a tail tip for a delighted Shinx to bat at with her paws, but Lee knows she''s dedicating the conversation to memory. Grovyle sits beside her with his legs crossed, paying rapt attention. His sharp, yellow eyes never leave the cell phone on the table, occasionally shifting his chewing twig in his mouth when deep in thought.

    Octillery is splayed out on the other chair opposite of Lee, his tentacles hanging limply. However, his narrowed eyes tell everyone he''s dissecting each word Amanda says.

    ''I couldn''t ask for a better team.''

    "Honestly, I didn''t expect my authority as a Lab Trainer to extend that far," Lee admits to his lawyer. "I''m well aware of the emergency first responder aspect. Professor Birch checked to ensure I knew first aid and had a basic grasp on Hoenn law before we set out, but I had no idea I had full authority to conduct criminal investigations from start to finish. Brendan and I have had run-ins with criminal elements before, and I thought his declaration of arrest was him getting too excited."

    ''Nigel probably would have better prepared us if I hadn''t forgotten to tell him about Magma and Aqua like a dingus.''

    "Not at all. Lab Trainers have full authority to lawfully detain criminal suspects, as you now know." The woman on the other end of the phone pauses. "The politics within the League is�� tiresome at the best of times. According to my senior associates, much of the Pokemon League leadership, or at least the ones who hold seniority, resent the casualization of pokemon battling in recent years. To combat a shortage of ''strong'' officers and field agents in their ranks, the League effectively deputizes trainers holding special trainer classes, such as Lab Trainers, Ace Trainers, Top Coordinators, and so on. In these situations, the trainer in question undergoes a background check and personality exam unless vouched for by a trusted member of the League, then their authority is automatically granted. Due to your affiliation with Professor Birch, you fall into the latter category."

    Ninetales frowns. ''We only needed to read the League regulation book, and we weren''t even given a test or a timeline to finish it. Isn''t the training for a police officer much more stringent?''

    When Lee voices Ninetales'' questions aloud, Amanda sighs. "The municipal police forces are administered by the civil government. They''re separate from League agents, even if both operate under the same laws and charters. The Hoenn League has been criticized for having such lax requirements ripe for nepotism before. When issues do crop up, the League will either rip the extra powers away, or will softball the offender for fear of alienating them. The better the trainer, the lighter the slap on the wrist. Not that it matters much, as bean counters can easily justify a self-training, self-funding, and self-directing peacekeeping force on paper." Amanda has to stop for a moment and take a breath. "The current system only works as well as it does because the deputized trainers are often high-profile individuals beholden to their public image and personal prestige. If not for these factors, things wouldn''t work in the slightest.''

    "You don''t sound like you approve," Lee muses. "Do we need to worry about getting direct orders from the League?"

    The lawyer on the other end of the phone hesitates. "Yes�� and no. It depends on where you get the orders from. Official writs from the League Department of Justice or Department of Defense can force your hand legally, just as a direct order from the Elite Four or Champion can, but much of the PL leadership is very skittish on the subject of actually trying to order deputized trainers. You can expect more indirect methods from the PL when they need trainers to act, such as emergency bulletins promising a reward for cooperation. Otherwise, they''re hoping that deputized trainers take up the mantle of peacekeeper out of a sense of patriotism or goodwill."

    ''So like that alert we got outside of Mauville from that Pokemon Ranger.'''' Lee recalls the incident with the roving Zangoose pack. "I see, and if someone in the League gives us an order without a writ?"

    "Legally, it''s a strong suggestion, not an order. Be wary of burning bridges, though. For example, if an official in League Accounting and Finance is demanding your assistance for a non-life-threatening matter, you can disregard them. If it''s someone within your sphere, say, the League Academic Board, you may want to weigh the pros and cons before making a decision, lest they make your life more difficult. If you ever have doubts, call me right away."

    Lee sits and thinks for a moment, eyes jumping to his open laptop and the typed-out notes within. He was in the middle of brainstorming a way to mitigate Grovyle''s relative fragility in battle, and finding a way to combine Leaf Blade and Absorb for a ''life-steal'' effect seemed like the way to go. Amanda''s call interrupted the research.

    With a contemplative hum, Lee returns his eyes to his phone. "Seems like an unnecessarily mercenary system if you ask me. Are there many incidents that pop up as a consequence of the current setup?"

    "Not too many. Several a year, usually relating to white-collar crime or willful misinterpretation of the law in the line of duty. I''m still dreading the day one of those is dropped on my desk." There is the sound of a pen scratching upon paper over the speaker. "Bills have been introduced to reform the deputization system, but incident statistics, or lack thereof, give opponents of the bills too much weight. A cost-cutting argument falls flat as well, as only trainers providing extra services like Lab Trainers are afforded a paycheck."

    The more Lee hears about the inner workings of the Pokemon League, the more it seems like an unknowable, nightmarish behemoth of bureaucracy to him. Departments and officials with poorly defined duties, checks and balances all out of whack, Gym Leaders and Elites reigning like lords, authority being handed out like candy�� and that''s before factoring in the civil government that handles day-to-day municipal and mundane functions. To further complicate matters, it seems like the Pokemon League and civil government are perpetually at each other''s throats all the time.

    ''Yet, Leader Moore complains about bureaucracy constantly being a thorn in his side?'' Ninetales chimes in on his thoughts. ''I recall him stating that even ordering common office supplies through the League wasn''t worth the effort.''

    ''True�� but Moore does have a black mark on his record for ditching his post for the war. A single pencil pusher isn''t going to mess with a Gym Leader, but��'' Lee leaves the telepathic line hanging.

    ''...With a target on his back, the spineless sort would be willing to gang up on him,'' the vixen concludes with a frown and a flick of her ear. ''Attempting the same thing on a Gym Leader in good standing would be career suicide.''

    ''Petty office politics aside, poverty and crime are at lows that would have been impossible on Earth, so for all the nonsense they get up to, the Pokemon League must be doing something right.''

    "Just a few incidents a year, huh?" Lee hums, returning his head to the phone call. In the back of his mind, he idly touches the calm current of emotions running between himself and Ninetales, like dipping a finger in a warm river. The zoologist smiles, a realization baring itself to him. "While I''m not endorsing the system, I''m willing to bet the pokemon themselves also factor into the lack of incidents. I know for a fact none of my pokemon would agree to any immoral shenanigans. The League is working with closely bonded teams, not individuals, and there is a degree of internal moderation within a team like that," Lee says, looking at this pokemon.

    Grovyle nods firmly.

    Octillery''s nod is slower, and a bit more uncaring, but it''s still an affirmation.

    Shinx ceases cuddling the fox tail in her grasp, staring back at Lee with big, innocent eyes.

    Finally, Ninetales raises her nose. ''I don''t think you have a treacherous bone in your body, Beloved,'' she says. ''If the impossible day comes where you are led astray, I''ll happily guide you back.''

    Smiling, Lee turns his head back to his phone. "I don''t want to disappoint them just as they don''t want to disappoint me. Perhaps pokemon are the keystone keeping everything in place?"

    "I''m not a pokemon trainer, so maybe that''s the answer," Amanda concedes. "It''s still a legal nightmare waiting to happen, though."

    "I guess so. Anyway��" Lee glances at the clock on the wall. "I know I''ve kept you for longer than I intended. Sorry about that, Amanda. I''ll let you go for now and consult you before I engage the Lavaridge courts."

    "It''s not a problem, Lee. It''s what I''m here for. Have a nice day."

    "Same to you."

    There is a click from Lee''s phone, then the call ends.

    Taking the cellphone and slipping it back into his pocket, Lee leans back in his chair with a sigh. "Trainer, nutritionist, amateur electrician, public figure, and now private investigator," he mutters. "I get that trainers need to be flexible, but this towering pillar of hats is getting heavy."

    ''Don''t worry too much. We''re here to help each step of the way.'' Ninetales vocalizes her telepathic words for Grovyle and Octillery''s benefit. ''Right?'' she asks with a short yip, one deeper than a mundane fox could make.

    Grovyle lets out an affirmative growl deep in his throat, his yellow eyes meeting Lee''s.

    Octillery just nods once more.

    Emerging from her cozy blanket of tails, Shinx makes her support known by leaping from the bed to Lee''s lap with a somewhat clumsy bound, one that forces her to dig her claws into Lee''s leg a bit to steady herself. The kitten cuddles herself to her trainer''s stomach, purring up a storm.

    A smile rises to Lee''s face.

    A sharp knock on the door draws everyone''s eyes, and Lee glances at Ninetales.

    ''It''s Zinnia and Shelgon,'' the fox provides after reaching her mind out. ''And a pokemon I''ve not met before. Would you like me to open it?''

    ''If you could, please.''

    Ninetales narrows her eyes, a violet glow to them.

    The knob of the hotel room door is enveloped in a corona the same color as Ninetales'' eyes. Slowly, hesitantly, the knob twists seemingly of its own accord. The metal groans for a split second when Ninetales twists the knob as far as it can go, but she quickly eases her force off. The door then slowly swings open, letting Zinnia stride in. Following shortly behind her is Shelgon, and behind Shelgon is a pokemon resembling a miniaturized t-rex, standing just short of three feet tall. Its scales are brown and rocky, with orange outcroppings on its head and stubby tail. Its short forearms end in two white claws, its feet ending in three. Around its neck is a crest of white spines, just as white as the large teeth lining its jaws. Its eyes scan the room, taking in everyone and everything with suspicion.

    ''Ah, looks like Tyrunt finally arrived.''

    "Well, it certainly took that lab long enough," Lee says. Every part of him desperately wants to get up close and examine the living fossil that just strolled in, but he restrains himself just as Zinnia instructed a few days prior. "Just today?"

    "Just today," Zinnia nods. She sighs in an exasperated manner, but she can''t quite hide her excitement. "Tyrunt is a spirited little guy, that''s for sure. The lab had some trouble getting him into a ball, so I can''t really be upset that they ran behind for a few days. I had to cut today''s investigations short to pick him up, but I did get a few interesting leads."

    The entire time she''s speaking, Tyrunt eyes the various unfamiliar pokemon in the room, all of whom meet his gaze without a flinch. When he finally sees Shinx, a growl rolls out of his throat.

    The kitten stiffens in Lee''s lap, turning her spooked yellow eyes to Tyrunt.

    The dino cracks his jaws open, letting his growl grow louder. In Lee''s lap, Shinx''s hackles rise and her claws dig into his thigh.

    Hissing, Lee reaches his mind across the short, telepathic gulf to Ninetales. ''Ninetales, just as Zinnia said. Let Tyrunt know he can''t be a bully.''

    Ninetales hops off of Lee''s bed in a flurry of gold fur and hellish red eyes, standing directly before Tyrunt. Drawing her lips back and baring her teeth, a snarl fit for a beast twice her size rips through the room. Rolling tongues of flame weave between the foxes'' teeth and trail the edges of Ninetales'' mouth as she takes a step forward. Behind her, her tails ruffle and shiver like angered snakes.

    For a moment, it looks as if Tyrunt might actually rise to the challenge, baring his own teeth and lowering himself to charge.

    Sucking in a breath, Lee raises a hand and signals both Grovyle and Octillery, who both tense up. At the same time, he gets ready to jump out of the way if Tyrunt is foolish enough to try his luck.

    At the very last second, though, Tyrunt seems to rethink his stance and backs down with a bitter, defiant snap of his jaws. He steps back and glares at Ninetales, defeated but unbowed, letting Ninetales dial back her defensive posture.

    It''s right then that Shelgon whips his whole body around and smashes Tyrunt right in the nose with his forehead, sending the prehistoric pokemon to the floor with a pained screech.

    Zinnia, as casual as can be, steps over to her downed pokemon and stares down at him with disapproval. "Are you done?" She asks, voice flat.

    Any sort of protest Tyrunt has dies in his throat when Shelgon takes Zinnia''s right side. There''s no anger on the shelled dragon''s face��just apathy, as if Tyrunt isn''t worth the notice.

    Lee''s body breaks out into goosebumps as he watches. ''It''s one thing to hear Zinnia describe how Dragons operate��it''s another thing to see it.'' He gulps, his stomach rolling a bit. ''I never liked dominance struggles when they pop up in nature, and I think I like them even less here.''

    One of Ninetales'' tails reaches back, wrapping itself around one of his legs in silent comfort.

    Tyrunt rises back to his feet. His head is held low and submissive, but his eyes burn with frustration.

    "Next time, don''t be afraid to rough him up," Zinnia addresses Ninetales. "Tyrunt needs to learn his boundaries no matter how uncomfortable it makes Dolittle."

    Lee schools his face into something more neutral at being called out, while Ninetales nods coolly.

    "So, how did your end go?" Zinnia asks while seating herself on the edge of Lee''s bed. "I''ve got a few leads after asking around. It''s less than I wanted, but I''m going to count my outing as a success." Beside her, Shelgon lays down on his shell while Tyrunt submissively sits.

    Pulling his eyes away from Tyrunt, Lee chews on his lip. "Everything went well, I suppose. Both myself and Brendan have legal weight to swing around. We can acquire warrants, perform lawful arrests, and conduct investigations like any police officer can, which I think is a little fucked." Lee shakes his head and leans back in his chair, stroking Shinx''s back with a hand. "My lawyer is not fond of the idea of me being involved with anything, but she didn''t drop me as a client, so I consider that a win."

    "Ha!" Zinnia laughs. "Seems like everyone is clamoring to be your best friend except for the ones involved in law. There''s gotta be some kind of takeaway in that."

    "Yeah, that this boneheaded system wouldn''t work if the trainers and pokemon didn''t self-moderate themselves with mutual expectations of each other''s character," Lee grunts. "Supposedly, issues are few and far between. The more I think about it, though, the more I think Amanda was right in her grievances."

    Zinnia idly kicks her feet. "Maybe the League knew pokemon would be a good linchpin to ensure good behavior?" she speculates, coming to the same conclusion Lee did. "If it works, then it works."

    "I guess," Lee concedes. "What did you learn while you were out?"

    "A few things," Zinnia whips her phone out and unlocks it, opening it to a screen of shorthand notes. "Lavaridge is a hotspot for Magma, no pun intended," she grins and winks. "Usually, gangs don''t like hanging around towns with Gym Leaders for obvious reasons, but you can find Magma thugs in the usual haunts pretty easily around here. Dive bars, shitty nightclubs, generally any grimy hangout. I barely need to doll myself up and small-time gangsters are lining up to schmooze with me."

    Lee can''t keep the frown off of his face at the imagery Zinnia''s words invoke. "And you''ve been going to these places alone?"

    Zinnia rolls her red eyes. "Save the chivalry for a princess, Dolittle. I keep my pokeballs out on display and that keeps guys from getting handsy." When Lee''s dour face persists, she continues; "Lee, I''d bring you along, but I only need a change of clothes and a bit of make-up to be unrecognizable. You''re way too high-profile to do anything covert. If I take you with me, you''ll scare every Magma grunt into shutting up or just outright leaving any place we go to. Your face is��" she pauses, seemingly searching for a word. "...Distinctive."

    Lee opens his mouth to protest, only to realize he doesn''t have a good counter-argument. All he can do is rub the scars on his face and curse under his breath. ''Yet again, I''m missing being a nobody.''

    "Just leave this part to me." Zinnia''s smile is reassuring, at least. "I got some good info last night and a bit today. With any luck, we''ll have enough to act on soon."

    "...Fine," Lee grumbles, waving for Zinnia to continue. "Please, keep going."

    "Gladly!" Zinnia looks at her notes and scrolls the phone screen down with a thumb. "One guy with more ink than brain cells bragged about being a high-level grunt or something. He said he helped a Magma lieutenant move something heavy between warehouses here in Lavaridge a few weeks back, and mentioned the crates came in by ground with a bit of prodding, which narrows the list of answers for another little project of mine."

    Lee raises an eyebrow. "Maybe we should finish what we''re doing first before starting something else?"

    "It ties into everything, promise!" The dragon tamer insists. "Anyway, they''re moving things after dark and all that, and a little coincidence pops up when I look around to see if their movements line up with any kind of local events." She shifts her phone over to the browser and goes to the Lavaridge municipal website. From there, she pulls up a calendar built into the site and turns the screen to face Lee. "See anything odd?"

    Lee and Shinx both lean in, even if Shinx has no idea what she''s looking at. The rest of Lee''s team step closer or angle themselves to better see as well.

    On the calendar are a few events and notices, innocent things like local holidays and whatnot, but in red lettering are several notices saying: "Lift to Mt Chimney Out of Order." The next morning for each is another notice saying: "Lift to Mt Chimney repaired." There isn''t a hard pattern, but the lift seems to go down once every five to ten days.

    "The lift seems to be going down a lot," Lee scratches his chin. "Are these dates in-line with Magma''s movements?"

    Zinnia sighs. "I''m still trying to get exact dates, but one of these days, in particular, stands out." She taps one of the more recent occurrences on the screen with a finger. "That day we let Courtney out of our sight? The lift breaks. My gut is telling me something is off with that."

    A frown returns to Lee''s lips. Reclining back into a more comfortable position, he meets eyes with each one of his pokemon sans Shinx, who lays quietly in his lap. "That does seem suspect, but for obvious reasons, we can''t interrogate her too much on where she was or why it matters."

    "We can''t squeeze Courtney for info, but we can squeeze everyone else, and that''s where you come in, Lee." Zinnia smirks. "The Mount Chimney lift ''breaking'' so often opens a window for us, meaning you, to come knocking about concerns of criminal negligence or sabotage. If all of this is connected like I think it is and the lift breaking is a smokescreen to move things to the volcano, then they have to have someone pulling strings to let them move things up there unnoticed."

    Lee blows out a breath. "Seems like a bit of a leap to me, if I''m being honest," he says, silently feeling like a scumbag for going along with this song and dance. It would make everyone''s lives easier if he could just tell Zinnia that he knows Magma is up to no good up there.

    ''I need to replay Pokemon Emerald soon, preferably tonight.'' A sobering thought strikes Lee. ''If I don''t refresh my memory and be ready for what''s to come�� then telling everyone, or at least Zinnia, what I know might be the best move to make. We can''t protect them otherwise.''

    Ninetales, who is sitting in on her trainer''s thoughts, speaks up. ''Lee, weigh that option carefully,'' she says, wrapping a comforting, telepathic tendril of reassurance around his psyche. ''What is the saying? Once that genie is free of the bottle, it does not go back in.''

    ''I will, Nine. I will.''

    The tendril of reassurance unfolds into a thick blanket, covering Lee with a warmth that he can practically feel on his skin. The mental conversation takes a split second, so Lee is able to return his attention outward in time for Zinnia''s reply.

    "Which is why I''m going to do more sleuthing until more pieces fall into place, then we can bust ''em!" Zinnia''s smirk is traded for a full, nasty grin. "I''ve got a Magma goon a bit higher on the totem pole nice and hooked, and I''m meeting him for drinks tonight. If all goes well, he''ll sing like a Swablu, so hang tight and I''ll have more to work with tomorrow."

    ''Zinnia knows how to handle herself, don''t worry too much,'' Lee thinks to himself. The flash of jealousy from Ninetales is ignored. "Alright, and this other project involving Magma you mentioned?"

    "For a while now��" Zinnia crosses her legs. "I''ve been trying to triangulate the headquarters and ID the leaders of Magma and Aqua. Information from a few contacts and my own wandering has left me with an incomplete heatmap of their activity, and Lavaridge''s Magma presence has me thinking that they may be based out of Lavaridge or somewhere in Mount Chimney. Since they''re moving supplies by ground here, it would make sense to be in close proximity to the town."

    ''That''s actually a good observation��'' Lee blinks. Lavaridge''s awkward location in the center of Hoenn''s main landmass must mean moving long-distance freight by ground is a chore. "Sharp eye."

    "Thank you," Zinnia preens. "Moving on, Aqua has almost zero presence away from coastlines, and I''m fairly sure they''re hiding out in either Lilycove City or another coastline city to the east. I still need to confirm that one, though. Aqua has been a pain in the ass to track since they love doing their dirty business out at sea and away from prying eyes."

    "Makes sense��" Lee nods. "Sounds like we have a game plan, then. I''ll wait to hear back from you about your side. Business as usual until then?"

    "Business as usual ''till then." Zinnia smiles, and it''s a rare, genuine one that reaches all the way up to her eyes. "Thanks for all of this, Lee. I know we''ve had our rough patches, but I''m seriously glad we met. You''re a damn good friend."

    Lee smiles right back. "I could say the same about you."

    Rising back to her feet, Zinnia beckons Shelgon and the still-sullen Tyrunt to follow. "I''m gonna go find a private training field to trash with Shelgon and Tyrunt. Wanna come with?"

    "I''ve got a few things to take care of here, so maybe later."

    "Suit yourself!" Zinnia waves over her shoulder as she and her pokemon leave.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Once the door closes behind them, Lee can finally stop ignoring the buzz of Ninetales'' concentrated jealousy and give the fox a concerned stare. ''Love, what''s the matter? Your temper has been way too short here recently.''

    Ninetales cools her emotions, though Lee can easily notice how forced it is. ''It''s no matter, Beloved.''

    ''I think it is,'' Lee spins his laptop around to face Octillery. The octopus pokemon wastes no time tabbing back over to an online book he was reading before Lee commandeered the device. ''You were about ready to take May''s face off when we had dinner with her and her friends, remember?''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    After inviting Ash and his friends to join him and Ninetales for dinner, Lee led the newly expanded group to one of the many traditional Asian restaurants lining Lavaridge''s streets. After being seated at a low table using cushions as seats and ordering their food, the group settled in for idle chatter as they waited. May, Brock, and Max took one side of the table while Lee, Ninetales, and Ash, who had no qualms about being in close proximity to a ''dangerous'' pokemon, took the other. After failing to do so before, Lee decided to start things off by picking Brock''s brain, easily sparking a conversation.

    "Sodium and other minerals, huh?" Lee asks, looking away from Brock to Ash''s smiling Pikachu, who is on his trainer''s shoulder. "I think that would neatly explain it. Ketchup does have a fair bit of salt, and although I can''t speak to the tastes of rodents, I get the feeling that salt would be the tastiest of them."

    Brock nods, a smile on his face. "Mmhmm. I adjusted Pikachu''s diet a little with the inclusion of a few mineral supplements, and I think it really helped since he''s not swiping ketchup bottles from restaurants anymore."

    Both Lee and the teen look over to Pikachu once more�� who is eyeballing a half-full bottle of the red condiment on another table.

    Ash notices as well and chuckles sheepishly. "Maybe he got a taste for it, though��"

    "A little won''t hurt, but too much sodium intake might leave Pikachu dehydrated," Lee comments. "The cheap stuff also has a distasteful amount of sugar."

    Brock nods right along with the assessment, looking at Ninetales as he does so.

    It seems like opening on the subject of pokemon health was the right move, as the tanned teenager is much more at ease now, even if it leaves Ash, May, and Max out of the conversation until the topic changes.

    "I gotta say," Brock begins, crossing his arms. "We''ve encountered a few Ninetales over the years, but I''ve never been in a position to ask what goes into their care. I fostered a Vulpix for about a year, and she taught me a lot about caring for pokemon. Is there much of a difference upon evolution?"

    ''Ah, that''s right. Brock did have what''s-her-name''s Vulpix until Johto, didn''t he?'' Lee thinks, watching Brock intently scan Ninetales through his squinted eyes.

    ''He cared for her quite well, if your memories of the TV show are any indicator,'' Ninetales'' telepathic voice rings with approval, and it''s clear that Brock is her favorite of Ash''s friends by a mile. From her place beside Lee, she regards the Rock-type specialist with an appraising eye, finally taking her displeased gaze off of May.

    It seems that the young girl''s crush hasn''t faded yet, as she can''t help but shyly steal glances at Lee when she thinks no one is looking.

    ''He''s an intelligent kid with a bright future for sure.'' Lee agrees with Ninetales on Brock. ''Oh, and Nine? No need to stare daggers into May. She''s just a little girl with a crush. It''ll go away.''

    "Well, considering the rarity of her kind and the corresponding scarcity of info, I''m kind of playing things by ear right now," Lee admits, answering Brock''s question. "It has required a bit of trial and error, building on her prior routines, and a lot of communication. Honestly, it''s a lot to put into words, so if you like��" Lee reaches behind him where his backpack is sitting. Undoing the zipper and fishing his hand inside, he withdraws his first notebook. Already knowing the page by heart, he flips to Ninetales'' section and offers it to Brock. "Here are a few notes I took if you''d like to see them. These are a little out of date, but are still good."

    The notes aren''t anything too revealing: just recipes, nutritional facts on ingredients, calorie counts, a grooming schedule, the results of a few token cognitive and physical tests, anatomical notes, and other idle thoughts on paper.

    Brock reaches over the table and gingerly takes the notebook, looking down and scanning the page, his eyebrows rise almost to his hairline. "That''s thorough�� I don''t think there has ever been more information on a Ninetales in one place."

    May and Max, who are sitting at Brock''s sides, lean over to read the notes as well. Max blinks and adjusts his glasses as he reads, while May just seems lost. Regardless, the young girl levels Lee with a shy smile. "Wow, Lee! You''re even smarter than I thought!" After a moment of mustering her nerve, she continues on. "We''re going to be in Lavaridge for a while as we wait for Ash''s gym match, so is it okay if, maybe��" She twiddles her fingers together and looks at him with large, hopeful eyes. "��We train with you sometime?"

    A spike of raw hostility not his own nearly transforms Lee''s smile into a snarl, and when he stomps the emotion down, Ninetales twitches.

    "T-Thank you, May��" Lee barely keeps his smile in place. "That''s very kind of you. I''ll have to see what my schedule allows." Inwardly, another conversation furiously takes place.

    ''Ninetales, what the fuck was that?'' Lee demands. ''You were two seconds away from baring your teeth and growling right in the middle of the restaurant. What happened there?''

    ''...'' The vixen looks away, refusing to answer.

    ''Ninetales��''

    After a second, which may as well be a full minute in a telepathic exchange, Ninetales answers. ''I don''t know.''

    ''You don''t know?'' Lee blinks incredulously. Mentally, he reaches his connection deeper into the fox, trying to divine just what caused Ninetales'' anger.

    ��Only for Ninetales to rebuke his probing, telepathic touch, not unlike someone slapping his hand away. The pushback is hard enough to make a headache bloom in his skull instantly. Lee winces not from the pain, but from the realization that he overstepped his bounds. ''Love, I''m sorry about that. That wasn''t my intention.''

    ''Being jealous wasn''t my intention, either!'' Ninetales scowls and constricts her end of the telepathic channel, ending the conversation.

    "Lee? Why is Ninetales suddenly so upset?"

    Lee comes back to reality at the question, looking over Max. The young boy studies the glowering fox with a healthy dose of wariness, just as Brock does. May��

    May seems to realize that Ninetales doesn''t like her and keeps her eyes averted. The poor girl blinks away tears. If the tears are from fright or not, Lee cannot say.

    On Ninetales'' opposite side, Pikachu stands in Ash''s lap, ready to jump into action at a moment''s notice. Ash himself frowns but otherwise remains neutral.

    Blowing out a weary breath, Lee debates on what to say. "Well, since it''s all over BattleNet, I don''t see the need to hide it anymore. Ninetales can use telepathy, and we had a bit of a disagreement just now."

    "But��" Max hesitates. "Isn''t she your first pokemon?"

    Ash, surprisingly, cuts in to answer. "Just because a pokemon is your first partner doesn''t mean you can''t have arguments," he says, self-assured. "Pikachu and I didn''t always get along, and we still don''t agree on everything."

    In Ash''s lap, Pikachu nods seriously, only to smile when Ash rubs a hand along his head.

    "We''re still friends, though, and we work everything out!" The Kanto-born boy smiles, dispelling the uncertain cloud hanging over the table, and doing so seemingly without effort. "Every kind of relationship is a work-in-progress, the one between pokemon and trainer especially."

    "Very well put, Ash!" Brock smiles as well.

    "A work-in-progress, huh?" Lee murmurs, silently impressed. "That fits."

    Ninetales remains steadfastly silent.

    Despite Ash''s uplifting declaration, dinner is still a quiet and somewhat awkward affair. When the bill is paid and everyone says their goodbyes, Lee and Ninetales return to their hotel, where they don''t speak to each other for the rest of the night.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Ninetales cringes at the vivid memory.

    ''Love, I''ve been content to wait until you''re comfortable talking, but we''ve pretended nothing is wrong for days now,'' Lee rises from his seat, carrying Shinx in his arms. He sits back down on the bed next to Ninetales. ''Please, talk to me.''

    Just like the day prior, the fox refuses to reply, instead just looking away and shutting Lee out of her mind.

    "Guys?" Lee speaks up, catching both Grovyle and Octillery''s attention. "I need a private moment with Ninetales. Do you mind if��" Lee takes three pokeballs from his belt and holds them aloft.

    Grovyle barely needs to give it any thought before he nods with an affirmative trill in his throat.

    Octillery, on the other hand, lets out a long-suffering sigh and shuts the lid of Lee''s laptop, nodding slowly. With that, both he and Grovyle are returned to their balls as flashes of red.

    Looking down at his lap, Lee strokes Shinx across her head. "I''ll let you out as soon as I can, okay, baby girl?"

    The kitten gives Lee large, sad eyes that tug at his heartstrings, but she doesn''t fuss when she''s zapped by the red beam of her pokeball and returned. Lee then sets the balls on the bed and covers them with a pillow, effectively muting anything the three pokemon can hear.

    Not sure where to start, Lee wraps an arm around Ninetales'' shoulders. "Nine?"

    The fox leans into the hug, but doesn''t say anything in response.

    "Nine," Lee leans into her in-turn, resting his head on hers. "Take all the time you need, but I think we should talk about our spat. You got so upset out of nowhere that it was honestly frightening. I don''t want you to feel like that all the time," he says, gently rubbing her shoulder with his hand.

    For several minutes, Ninetales remains mute, instead looking around the room. Finally, she licks her lips and breaks her silence. ''I don''t know, and that''s the honest truth.'' Her tails wrap around Lee, returning his hug like a living, silky cape. ''I simply didn''t like the attention May was giving you. I don''t have a rational answer,'' she admits, frustrated. ''I don''t like it when anyone does.''

    ''When anyone gives me attention?'' Lee prods. ''Or just women? Flannery, Zinnia, and now May. You were amused by her crush before. What happened?'' He pauses. ''When you agreed that we don''t want our relationship to go in that direction, were you just humoring me?''

    ''No,'' Ninetales'' answer is quick and woven with reassuring honesty as she slowly reopens her mind to Lee. She peers into his blue eyes with her reds. ''Just as we discussed, I am more than happy with what we have now, and anything more just adds an unneeded layer.'' A growl rolls from her throat. ''I don''t�� I don''t know what the issue is!''

    ''Would you be okay if I tried to find out?'' Lee asks after a moment, guilt over his near-intrusion gnawing at him.

    ''Please, go ahead,'' Ninetales draws in a deep breath, pulling her end of the psychic connection wide, essentially baring her soul to him. ''I''ve nothing to hide from you.''

    Before preparing himself to dive into Ninetales'' psyche, Lee stops short for a moment. ''I''m sorry for trying to delve deeper than surface thoughts without asking, Nine. That wasn''t right of me.''

    The golden fox smiles, pulling her head back enough to lick her trainer across the side of his nose. ''That''s sweet of you, Lee, but don''t invent things to apologize for. I''m the one who should be sorry. We promised no secrets, remember?''

    Knowing arguing further is pointless, Lee shuts his eyes and reaches his mind across the short channel to Ninetales.

    Even with no talent of his own in telepathy, Ninetales'' mind is so familiar, that Lee can navigate his tendril of thought around without any sort of issue. He dives past her stream of conscious thought, down deeper into the confusing crisscross of the subconscious. It''s curious, he thinks, that a telepath cannot peer directly into their own subconscious, but that someone else can.

    ''Or it might be unique to our relationship,'' Ninetales silently provides.

    Or that.

    The phantasmal place below the sea of conscious thought can''t really be likened to anything that exists in a 3D space, but nonetheless, Lee''s brain fills in the blank with a winding web. In that web, urges and emotions are free to surge back and forth like lightning bolts.

    Close to the surface are things he can plainly understand, each one ephemeral, like a pang of hunger and a whimsical desire to satiate said hunger with something meaty and savory. Others repeat themselves over and over, like Ninetales'' pleasure at being wrapped in a hug.

    Deeper, things become more esoteric and divorced from the waking mind. Much of what goes on here is a chore to comprehend even for Lee. Ninetales, who piggybacks off of his awareness, simply cannot make sense of what goes on here and is stonewalled from diving further. There is a lingering disgust for arachnids and the desire to kill them, fears of formless dangers to come, a selfish want of fame and control, impulses of violence, an unearthly, almost blinding love for Lee, and an ugly, resigned despair of growing old alone. Lee tightens his hug, and the last thought slinks away to hide.

    Below that is a level of pitch blackness, where only the most primal of thoughts light the dark with their constant flashes. Any lower, and words will fail to describe what comes after. Here in this animalistic trench, the raw need for food, rest, comfort, sex, fulfillment, and the other driving forces of life resides. The surges of unrefined need are unspeakably ancient, and here without the insulation of the rest of Ninetales'' mind, each one twists and yanks at Lee''s being. Even so deep here, almost disconnected from his body, he still feels his stomach roll and tingle as uncomfortable emotions rise within him.

    Focusing, Lee touches a strand of the web, a vague, muddy picture of himself standing with a woman at the front of his mind. He watches, ready to chase down the spike of jealousy and find what is bothering his partner so.

    He doesn''t expect Ninetales'' entire being to light up with vehement anguish, which is quashed by fury and jealousy a moment later. It''s so startling that Lee is forced to withdraw back into his own head. He blinks away the lightheadedness of the sudden evacuation.

    ''Ninetales, calm down. It was just an image,'' Lee hugs Ninetales tightly, stilling the infuriated tremors that run up and down her frame. Slowly, the overwhelming deluge of emotion tapers off, and Ninetales is left hanging her head in Lee''s arms.

    ''I just��'' Ninetales growls. ''I don''t know! I don''t!'' Her tails leave their place around Lee and lash against the bed in frustration. With the might in the nine limbs, the bed rumbles against the floor from the blow.

    "Shhh, it''s alright," Lee holds the shuddering fox close and lowers his voice to a soothing whisper. "Whatever this is, we''ll figure it out." He switches back to telepathy. ''I believe you, Nine. I couldn''t make heads or tails of where the reaction came from.''

    ''I thought I had my affairs figured out after evolving,'' Ninetales'' telepathic voice has a bitter bite to it. ''I don''t like feeling this way.''

    ''We''ll figure it out together,'' Lee quietly insists. ''Are you afraid of being replaced? You know you''re the definition of irreplaceable, right?''

    Ninetales snorts and raises her head slightly. ''I don''t think it''s that. Maybe.''

    Lee thinks to himself, but with his head muddled by the brush with Ninetales'' inner self, he can''t quite come up with any other explanations. ''Well, let me reassure you on this,'' Lee leans his head into Ninetales'' touching his forehead to hers and staring into her ruby-like eyes. ''There is no one in the world who can take the special place you have, Ninetales. I love you more than anything in the world, and that will never change.''

    Ninetales blinks, and Lee''s entire body grows warm from the outpouring of love her mind dumps into him.

    ''We''ve got people who can help, like Nigel, Mable, Xatu, and that old Pokemon Master, Lokoko,'' Lee continues, a smile on his face. ''We''ll figure everything out. If you ever get annoyed with someone because you don''t like how they''re treating me, just smile and remember; I love you.''

    The great fox smiles back. It''s a small, delicate thing. ''And I, you, Beloved.''

    Lee feels her mind reach out and gently grasp his, reeling it in to touch hers tenderly. Just like the last time, the world turns into a haze of bliss as both man and vixen bare themselves to each other, utterly and totally.

    The pair don''t stay locked in that rolling, fantastic oasis of thought and affection for long. They''re together only for a few minutes, but it''s more than enough to quell any fears and doubts for now.

    Returning to his senses, Lee reluctantly peels himself away from his fox. It takes a second for his entirely-relaxed body to catch up, but he reaches under the pillow of his bed, grabbing the trio of pokeballs beneath. "Alrighty, ladies and gents," he stands and stretches. "Back to work."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The sun is hitting high noon in Verdanturf, and Corvisquire finds that he doesn''t care for his heated feathers distracting him from his pondering.

    Why run?

    Why run?

    Why run?

    The infuriating Medicham from several nights prior forced this introspection upon him with that stupid, repeated question, and it makes the raven want to pluck his feathers out. He flew to a Sitrus grove to heal his injuries from the one-sided fight, but that lanky bastard was there, and he looked right up at Corvisquire. Reluctantly, the raven retreated, and his slowly mending aches forced him to sit and think with little else to do.

    Day in and day out, Corvisquire sat in his favorite tree and meditated, hating each moment.

    The brat and the fool haven''t returned since that night, and it''s beginning to look as if this detour has been all for naught. Trying to manufacture a foe for his evolution has failed.

    ''Yet another thing you''ve failed at.''

    Corvisquire violently shakes his head once more, shaking the branch beneath him and dislodging the intrusive voice.

    Why run?

    Because I''m a coward.

    There is a rustle in the brush off to the eastern side of the clearing, drawing Corvisquire''s eyes instantly. When the intruder steps through, the bird pokemon blinks incredulously.

    From the greenery comes Wally and Kirlia. The boy is carrying a wicker basket laden with berries. Considering the berries are all of the sweet variety, the boy might be more observant than Corvisquire thought.

    The pair walk up when Corvisquire makes no attempt to chase them away, stopping at the foot of his tree.

    "Mister Corvisquire?" Wally begins, nervously kicking a foot along the ground. "We''re sorry if what Kirlia said to you hurt your feelings. H-He didn''t mean to! He just lost control of his telepathy when he evolved! We practiced really hard before coming back so he wouldn''t see any of your memories!"

    Any vitriol bubbling upon Corvisquire''s tongue fizzles out at the admission. He tries to muster something, but his anger just burns out, leaving him weary. "Tell no one what you saw, and I''ll consider the score settled��" He sighs. "Now go away�� And do not come back. Take your treats, too. I''m not hungry."

    "But Mister Corvisquire��" Kirlia is the one to speak next. Guilt carves hard lines into his youthful face. "We still want to help you��"

    Corvisquire sucks in a sharp breath. "If you know what you claim to know, then you''re already aware that nothing can be done. Unless you have beseeched Dialga herself to appear and turn back the clock, go away."

    Both Wally and Kirlia flinch. "T-That wasn''t your fault��" Kirlia forces out.

    The cold, nearly dead coal base where Corvisquire''s anger rests roars back to life. "Yes it was!" The raven screams back, spreading his wings to balance himself in his sudden rage. "Yes it was!"

    "No it wasn''t!" Kirlia screams right back, tears pricking his eyes. He clenches his eyes shut. "Stop pretending you''re not worth anything!"

    Coevisquire explodes.

    "What do you know, fool?!" Corvisquire''s voice echoes through the trees, and his eyes shine red in his frothing anger. "I was born and bred to be there, to be his First and Most Faithful! I failed! Then I ran away like a coward!" The raven''s cries batter the pair as he jumps down from his tree and stands before them, all rancor and ruffled feathers. "What would you do, hmm?! What would you do in my place!? Hmm?! Speak up, lowborn mongrel!"

    Wally shivers in fright, only stilling himself when Kirlia steps in front of him.

    Corvisquire hacks out a mocking laugh. "How brave. Would you continue being so brave if your trainer was ripped away from you like mine was? No! You would do nothing!"

    Why run?

    Because I''ll fail again.

    Kirlia grits his teeth and forces back tears. "Wally?" He asks quietly. "Would you love me even if I failed you? Failed you so bad, that what I failed at can''t be fixed?"

    "Of course!" Wally''s answer is so instant that Corvisquire''s laughter is cut short. "Always!"

    "If��" Kirlia gulps. "If you d-died, would you be upset if I found another trainer?"

    "Never��" The green-haired boy''s eyes soften into something tender, something achingly familiar to Corvisquire. "Would you blame yourself and call yourself worthless if something did happen?"

    Kirlia is quiet for a moment, as the very thought of Wally expiring seems to root the little psychic in place. "N-No."

    "Why?"

    "B-Because," Kirlia''s red horns quiver and hum, his psychic powers venting the sheer emotion gripping him into the air. "Because I know you would want me to be happy, and I won''t ruin your memory by wallowing in despair." He raises his head, staring directly into Corvisquire''s eyes with such noble resolve that the raven is frozen on his feet. "Even if I sometimes hurt because someone is gone, I''ll never be afraid to reach out again." Each word is like a hammer blow to Corvisquire. "Love is always worth it."

    A stabbing pain erupts in Corvisquire''s chest. He looks down, expecting a beak, a claw, or a knife coated in blood.

    He''s unmarred.

    Why run?

    I don''t deserve love.

    The world grows blurry.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    They were outside a small town on the second week of their journey when the first attack hit. The Young Master couldn''t catch his breath after a run alongside Rookidee, eager to be back in civilization. He fell to his rear, gasping along the side of the road.

    Rookidee did exactly as he was trained. Deft in both beak and talon, he opened his master''s bag, located the inhaler the Lord of the Manor insisted the Young Master carry, and pressed it into the boy''s hands.

    The Young Master''s shaking hands bring the inhaler up, and with an inhaled puff, the peril passes. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Master strokes Rookiedee along his head. "Oh, Rook. You really are the best."

    Rookidee doesn''t puff up under the praise. He''s simply doing as the First and Most Faithful should. Silently, though, he will never tire of his master''s love.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The attacks are growing more frequent in the third month of their sojourn. The Young Master led them through winding woods and fantastic new cities, but often he needed to pause to catch his breath and sometimes use his inhaler. When they returned to the civilized world, Rookidee took it upon himself to write reminders to the Young Master to refill his prescription.

    A younger, more childish Rookidee bemoaned the lessons in literacy, art, and chivalry he spent with the Young Master, but now the ability to write has never been more valuable.

    The inhaler medication is an uncommon one, one not always available in the more humble towns, so Rookidee always ensures there is enough in the Young Master''s possession.

    Despite his ailment, Young Master is so bright, so happy to be given the freedom to see beautiful Galar, and to share the experience with Rookidee. They didn''t challenge the Gyms, or the Contest Halls. No, they were content with the travel, the fun, and the companionship of each other. For a boy of such noble privilege and wealth, the Young Master''s ability to find joy in the small things left Rookidee in awe sometimes. He repaid his master''s love one day in a battle, showing off Swift, a move he practiced in private as a surprise.

    The Young Master''s delight filled Rookidee with a wondrous sense of purpose.

    With such happiness abound, why does it feel like a cloud hangs overhead?

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    It was month six.

    He collapsed, inhaler falling from limp fingers.

    Rookidee didn''t panic. He held the inhaler to the Young Master''s lips and administered the medicine himself.

    It didn''t work. They''re hours away from the nearest town.

    Rookidee tried to carry his Master, gripping the boy''s shirt with his talons, but he was too weak to fly with such a load. He cursed himself and his weakness endlessly.

    He yanked the SOS cord in the side of the Young Master''s wristwatch, and the thing made a terrible wail. The screen flashed, saying help is on the way.

    Was it hours or minutes? Hours or minutes, it didn''t matter, it all came together into a terrible blur.

    A helicopter escorted by a contingent of Corviknight landed nearby.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    ''Terminal.''

    ''Cerebral hypoxia.''

    ''Brain damage.''

    ''Nothing can be done.''

    Words and phrases he''s heard for weeks now. In the critical time it took for help to arrive, the Young Master stopped breathing for over five minutes.

    Motostoke Children''s Hospital scrambled when a young noble boy on a ventilator was rushed into their midst. Some of the brightest minds of Galar resided here, and through them Rookidee''s world shattered.

    A cancer, one that attacks specific cells in the lungs, was growing beneath the noses of everyone inside the Young Master. His lungs were losing their ability to process oxygen, and had been for years now. His childhood asthma was a gross misdiagnosis.

    For all the wonders in the world of medicine, nothing can be done if it''s too late.

    The Lady of the Manor was inconsolable, and the Lord of the Manor stood with her, hiding his agony behind a wall more stalwart than any castle.

    Day in and day out, Rookidee stood at his Master''s hospital bed, remaining at his side like the First and Most Faithful should. The Young Master''s sleeping face, once full of life, was now pale and gaunt beneath his oxygen mask, ravaged by harsh medicines. The Young Master could wither into an ugly, inert peppercorn, and it wouldn''t matter to Rookidee.

    He''ll be here, at his side.

    That is the duty of the First and Most Faithful.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    They killed him. They pulled the plug. The instant Rookidee left his side for a day, recalled to the Manor by his Lord, the order was given and the Young Master''s life support was cut.

    Nothing can be done.

    The line plagues him, clawing at his very being like a rabid Zangoose.

    Nothing can be done.

    They did it on purpose, calling him back. They wanted him away so he couldn''t stop them.

    Nothing can be done.

    On the desk of the Lord of the Manner, Rookidee stands, staring blankly into the polished wood. Everything is numb, and he feels as if he''s observing himself from the eyes of another. Stoutland and the Lord are there, and both forgive his abhorrent decorum. "I don''t want him to die." The words leave his beak almost automatically. "There must have been something I could have done..."

    "Rookidee��" The Lord of the Manor''s hand falls upon Rookidee''s head. It''s heavy and worn, totally unlike the Young Master''s hand. "You are hurt, as we all are, but you must understand��" The Lord of the Manor steels himself. "He was never going to wake up, and his illness would have taken him before long. Nothing was working, so do not blame yourself. You can''t do anything."

    Everything turns into a blur. With the snap of a pokeball''s hinge and the shatter of glass, Rookidee flies. Inside him, the love fostered by his Master turns into a Seviper and sinks its toxic red fangs into him.

    Nothing can be done.

    You can''t do anything.

    Anywhere, anywhere but here. He flies, heedless of all else but getting away.

    Nothing can be done.

    You can''t do anything.

    There is only blue ocean below now.

    Nothing can be done.

    You can''t do anything.

    Light envelopes him, and anguish breaks his body, molding it into something new mid-air. From the shell of despair, Corvisquire feels the fires of anger grow within, suffusing his limbs with new and incredible might.

    Why couldn''t this happen when his Master needed help?! Why evolve now?! Why?!

    Nothing can be done.

    You can''t do anything.

    Corvisquire screams. Below, the water passes in a supersonic blur.

    He flies, heedless of all else but getting away.

    Nothing can be done.

    You can''t do anything.

    He ran away like a coward.

    There is green below. His wings can flap no more as the ground rushes up to greet him.

    With any luck, he will die on impact.

    It''s not your fault.

    Even if I sometimes hurt because someone is gone, I''ll never be afraid to reach out again.

    "Mister Corvisquire?"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The world comes back into sharp focus with a gasp. Looking up, Corvisquire takes in Wally and Kirlia without actually seeing them.

    Kirlia steps forward, reaching a hesitant hand out. "Mister Corvisquire?"

    The confusing whirl of memories and words leaves Corvisquire''s head swimming. It takes longer than he cares to admit to steady himself. "What?" he asks, hoarse. There is no surge of rage to return him to lucidity.

    "Are��Are you okay?" Wally twiddles his fingers together. "You were screaming."

    "Was I?" Corvisquire swallows thickly. "Oh."

    Kirlia pulls his hand back, seemingly unsure if he wants to approach. "Are you okay?" He repeats Wally''s question.

    It''s not your fault.

    Even if I sometimes hurt because someone is gone, I''ll never be afraid to reach out again.

    "Do you believe what you said?" Corvisquire asks, looking at the grass.

    Both Wally and Kirlia blink.

    "Your little speech," Corvisquire cannot even ruffle his feathers. The anger simply won''t come to him. "Were you speaking from the heart?"

    Kirlia sets his shoulders and nods. "Every single word."

    "And do you thi-"

    "It''s not your fault," Kirlia cuts Corvisquire off. The psychic''s face is understanding, and the raven�� can''t bring himself to hate it.

    Mind awhirl, Corvisquire stares at the ground. A thousand thoughts plague him like biting insects, all demanding his attention. Through his mind''s eye, things come and go, but a pair of faces stand out.

    He sees the Young Master, and the boy''s smile is more radiant than the sun. It''s free of judgment. In those youthful, trusting eyes is love.

    He sees Lee Henson. The scar-laden smile speaks of pain, pain both he and Corvisquire understand. In those weary, haggard eyes is love.

    He ran away from both.

    Even if I sometimes hurt because someone is gone, I''ll never be afraid to reach out again.

    Love is always worth it.

    ''I don''t want to run anymore.''

    "Listen and listen well," Corvisquire raises his head, leveling Wally and Kirlia with as stern a stare as he can. "In a tree sixty-seven meters south, the one with equal amounts of ivy and moss on its western flank, there is a Dawn Stone hidden in the knothole of the trunk. I stole it for you."

    Both Wally and Kirlia gasp, visibly shocked. "Is that the stone Uncle was talking about? The one that the newspaper said went missing?" Wally asks Kirlia, apparently too startled to use telepathy.

    "Use it, return it, leave it for someone else, I don''t care," Corvisquire sniffs. "Your lessons with me are over. I have an obligation to return to, and I will not hear any stupid begging."

    The pair of children get over the admission of theft quickly, and to Corvisquire''s surprise, neither argue. "We understand," Kirlia smiles, and damn it, the raven wants to strangle him. "Are you going back to your new trainer?"

    Corvisquire snaps his beak. "Yes, are you happy?"

    Wally once more produces that heartache-inducing smile. "We are. Oh, Mister Corvisquire?" He calls when Corvisquire spreads his wings. "We''ll miss you."

    The Flying-type sighs. "For what it''s worth�� You two weren''t totally hopeless."

    Their childish faces light up.

    Corvisquire doesn''t stay around to hear any goodbyes or hear their reply, as he flaps his wings and rockets into the air, his heart thundering in his chest. Yawing to the side, he orients himself north, towards Mount Chimney.

    Then he flies. Resolve, and just a little hope, fills each stroke of his wings.

 Act 2: Chapter 13

    "Sorry, sir, I don''t even want to give you a quote on this." The apologetic man behind the electronic store counter slides Lee''s old, cracked smartphone back to him. "I''ve never seen the style of port on your device before. Heck, I''ve never seen this brand in my life! I''m sorry, sir, I don''t want to try because my inexperience with your brand means a risk of damage or data loss. If privacy concerns means Porygon can''t get at your device and perform a data transfer, then I don''t think I can do much. You might be better off consulting a proper electrical engineer for a proper battery swap and charging solution rebuild."

    Floating at the counter attendant''s side is a pokemon, one that looks like a simplistic, blue-and-pink duck made in a 3D modeling program. The Porygon shakes their head, letting out a series of downtrodden beeps.

    A curious pokemon, Porygon. The sapient, hard-light pokemon is one Lee briefly considered acquiring due to their intellect and ability to interface with damn-near any computer. That thought was discarded after hearing about their multi-thousand credit price tag and their tragically short lives unless frequently maintained by their owners. Something about the ever-active and self-editing AI of a Porygon accumulates read-only partitions of junk data, kernel-deep errors, and other issues that turn into a lethal cascade failure if ignored too long. Porygon2 can apparently go much longer without debugging�� Which requires the purchase of Porygon''s expensive evolution catalyst, the Upgrade. Lee hasn''t seen any mention of Porygon Z anywhere.

    Lacking the experience needed to debug a pokemon and not wanting to invest the money into keeping a specialized programmer on retainer, Porygon was relegated to the Maybe Someday part of Lee''s wanted list.

    With a sigh, Lee takes the phone back and slips it into his pocket. "I understand. Thank you for taking the time to look."

    "My pleasure!"

    A moment later, Lee and Ninetales are outside the shop and in the Lavaridge streets, slowly making their way to the only other electronics repair shop in the city.

    After his and Ninetales'' heart-to-heart in the hotel room, Lee tended to the rest of his pokemon with a meal, then dug his old phone from his bag, intent on replaying Pokemon Emerald as a memory refresher. If he recalls correctly, he had also installed another emulator, one capable of running newer games. With any luck, a copy of the Pokemon Ruby remake, the one featuring Zinnia as a character, is also there. Being able to play both would be an incredible boon.

    Upon pulling the old phone out and turning it on, Lee was met with a ''0% charge'' message. Not a problem, he thought. I''ll just charge it.

    Then the rude awakening came.

    He doesn''t have a charging cable.

    Silph Co''s omniwire-beta cable that came with Lee''s Pokegear branded smartphone doesn''t fit his old phone at all, and Lee tumbled into this world with only the things in his pockets.

    What a frustrating, vexing, and just plain dumb way to be stopped short. Idly hoping for an equally dumb solution, Lee opened his current phone and looked up ''charging phone with electric pokemon''.

    Naturally, what he got was a lot of news articles warning against doing such a thing, saying ''your precious Pikachu''s Thundershock will destroy your phone.'' The articles all referenced a fake ad campaign run by internet hooligans impersonating Silph Co with the goal of causing mischief.

    Least intelligent method eliminated, Lee and his team ventured out into town to tour the various electronics stores. Two of the locations advertised repair services, and with any luck, one of them can pull some sort of miracle and revive the alien device.

    Well, one down, one to go.

    As they walk, Lee decides to kill two birds with one stone�� Two Taillow with one Rock Throw? Eh, that doesn''t flow quite as well in his mind. Pulling out his intact pokegear phone, Lee logs into BattleNet and navigates his way around, taking in the recent news on his way to the chat group section, where Lokoko and possible answers to Ninetales'' unexpected temper might reside.

    ''Seems like our novelty is wearing off,'' Lee silently comments to Ninetales as he scans their megathread. The number of posts per day has slowed down a fair amount, leaving only a few dedicated weirdos obsessing over Lee and his team. Someone ignited a furious debate with a proposal on Ninetales'' ''stats'', but that lasted only two days. Curious, Lee zooms in on the little wall of text.

    Ninetales

    Special Ability: ?

    Typical Held Item: N/A

    Known Moves: Confuse Ray, Quick Attack, Payback, Baby-Doll Eyes, Hex, Feint Attack, Extrasensory, Double Team, Bite(?), Flamethrower(?), Ember(?), Fire Spin(?), Will-o-Wisp(?), Unknown Fire Move #1, Unknown Fire Move #2, Unknown Fire Move #3, Others (?)

    Notes: Henson''s first pokemon(?). Evolved from Vulpix using G1P1 Fire Stone (citation needed). Capabilities are unknown. Observed using undocumented moves as a Vulpix on multiple occasions. Capabilities as a Vulpix noted to be in excess of previously known upper limits of species. Total number of moves is unknown. Type spread of moves is unknown.

    At a Glance:

    Physical Atk: A+

    Ranged Atk: SS+

    Status Atk: S+

    Phys Resist: A+

    Energy Resist: S-

    Status Resist: ?

    Agility: SS

    Reactions: S+

    Stamina: S+

    Pain Tolerance: S+

    Overall Species ranking: (? Tier) Pokemon cannot be accurately categorized at this time. See legacy feat and performance breakdown here (link)

    ''Good fucking God. What kind of scaling is this? If you''re just now beginning to touch Elite territory, then the ''stats'' on a Champion ''mon must look like someone smashed their fist on their keyboard.'' Lee shakes his head.

    Most people in the thread seem surprised by Nine''s ability to take a solid hit and willingness to fight up close and personal, which isn''t surprising. From what little battle data is available about the kitsune pokemon, they all seem to be ranged attackers that are practically allergic to melee.

    While Lee''s megathread is winding down without any major events to spur discussion, Tyson Rhyn''s recently made megathread is exploding in activity after his win over Petalburg''s Gym Leader, Norman. The revelation that Tyson is the trainer of a Metagross is almost perfectly mirroring the reaction that many had upon Ninetales'' victory over Ty. Many posters have flocked to the thread to sing praises about Tyson and his rare, powerful pokemon, while others have barged in to lament about their own shots at Ever Grande becoming harder. A disgruntled few internet raiders have started arguments about how Tyson is needlessly brutal or cheating somehow, with just as many defending keyboard warriors coming to join the verbal melee. A few of them have dragged the names of other popular trainers into the debate, comparing, contrasting, and arguing about who would win in a battle. Lee sees his own name a few times.

    Tyson pops in once to thank his supporters amid the mess, then wisely goes quiet.

    The rest of the Hoenn section of the forum is much calmer, with news and discussion of much tamer subjects.

    Moving on, Lee tabs over to the various chat groups in BattleNet.

    Besides 9TT, Fire Masters, and Fox Friday, he has joined a few other ones��mostly to observe silently��but he pays them no mind. The nearly one-hundred pings in Fox Friday are ignored as Lee opens 9TT, then taps his thumb on Lokoko (9TT Administrator) to start a private message chain. In the back of his head, he feels Ninetales watching through his eyes with apprehension.

    -Beginning of private message history-

    Today at 5:33 PM

    L_Henson: Excuse me, Lokoko. Do you have some time? My Ninetales and I have a few questions. I apologize for using DMs, but this matter is potentially sensitive.

    The reply doesn''t take long. In only a minute, Lokoko sends something back.

    Today at 5:34 PM

    Lokoko: Of course, Lee. Do not worry about sending me a direct message. I understand the need for discretion. How can I be of assistance?

    ''Thank goodness,'' Lee sighs and begins typing his reply. Looking up, he sees he and Ninetales are only halfway to the next repair shop. Plenty of time for a short conversation, he thinks.

    Today at 5:34 PM

    L_Henson: Ninetales and I share a rather deep relationship, one aided by telepathy. While we''re close, we''ve agreed that we don''t want to go that far, as it adds a level of complication we don''t need. Despite that, Ninetales'' temper has been�� a bit short with other friends, women in particular. Her reactions have been involuntary as far as I can tell, and don''t trigger with other members of my pokemon team. We''re not sure where to take this and were wanting guidance.

    The thin fur of Ninetales'' inner ears flush as she follows along with the text conversation. Besides Lee, she growls, only stilling herself when Lee places a gentle hand on her head.

    ''This is humiliating��'' Ninetales laments, focusing her eyes on the ground. Inside of her burns an acrid embarrassment that Lee keenly sympathizes with. ''I feel like an animal, a lesser being for having reactions like this. I should be able to control myself.''

    ''I thought the same thing when I started seeing Mable, remember?'' Lee briefly lowers his phone and rubs a thumb along the white heart on Ninetales'' ear. ''You''re a brave one for not pushing off outside help as I did.''

    Ninetales leans into his touch, but her foul mood doesn''t abate.

    Raising his phone back up, Lee reads Lokoko''s returning message.

    Today at 5:35 PM

    Lokoko: I see. How old is Ninetales? When did you and Ninetales begin using telepathy? And to what length and level?

    An interesting question to lead with. Lee rolls his phone in his hand and takes a moment to think.

    Vulpix was a young adult biologically when she evolved, and her kind usually takes around four years to reach full maturity. Mental age is a harder answer, as Lee doesn''t want to use human standards for a pokemon. That being said, Vulpix was much more level-headed than most, so��

    Today at 5:35 PM

    L_Henson: I don''t know Ninetales'' age for certain, but I am estimating five-to-ten years.Several months back, when she was still a Vulpix,we couldn''t communicate much at first, but attained a decent level of verbal and emotional transfer before she evolved by way of constant practice. After evolving, she and I have had perfect clarity. I can understand her one-to-one.

    After a moment''s hesitation, Lee offers the mysterious Pokemon Master one more snippet. If not for her supposed specialization in Ninetales as a species, Lee doubts he would have told her half of what he already has.

    Today at 5:35 PM

    L_Henson: We can''t seem to disconnect anymore, either. I will be working with Professor Birch and possibly specialists to study that particular phenomenon.

    This time, Lokoko takes a full three nerve-wracking minutes to send something back.

    Today at 5:38 PM

    Lokoko: Interesting. I have both good news and bad news for you. The good? The temper your young Ninetales is expressing is normal. Unlike many other pokemon, where evolution is isolated to physical growth, a Ninetales undergoes a number of mental changes as well. A Ninetales is a creature of robust emotions; they must be, in order to persevere for hundreds of years. At the same time, the attachments one forms will be mighty, and so early in her evolution, a young vixen will need to relearn her control and wrest her conscious mind from the grip of her instincts, which will urge her to be tribalistic and possess her loved ones in every way she can. Both her capacity for love and hate have grown to a level she does not grasp yet. Due to the emotional root of a Ninetales'' powers, you can observe this disruption when she performs supernatural feats. Have you observed thusly?

    ''I''m�� having trouble with my telekinesis because of my emotions?'' Ninetales herself seems confused, though it''s superseded by relief and annoyance that she''s having ''growing pains'', of all things. ''I don''t see how that could be affecting my moves. My Fire is practically a muscle at this point.''

    ''Let''s humor her, Love.'' Lee types his response. ''She''s got some big names in 9TT, so she has to know something.''

    Today at 5:39 PM

    L_Henson: I have noticed that her psychic powers are a bit out of whack since her evolution, but I chalked that up to the sudden increase in their potency. Her superb control of her Fire moves hasn''t diminished, though.

    Today at 5:39 PM

    Lokoko: Do you have a phobia of fire, Lee?

    The sudden and pointed question makes both Lee and Ninetales stiffen. How does she know that? Lokoko sends another message before Lee can get his bearings.

    Today at 5:39 PM

    Lokoko: Your young Ninetales indeed has a wonderful grasp on her pyromancy. I observed your past battles on BattleNet and was pleasantly surprised by your Ninetales'' skill in molding flame before evolving. Such talent is not commonly seen. In fact, I do not recall a Vulpix in recent history who could perform to such a degree.

    Doubts about Lokoko''s skills are fleeing both Lee and Ninetales like Zubat might a cave upon nightfall. Man and fox lock spooked eyes.

    ''Is your pyrokinesis not a unique ability?'' Lee sends to his fox. ''That�� That never really crossed my mind.''

    ''Lokoko is heavily implying that it isn''t.'' Ninetales'' telepathy is capped with a twinge of uncertainty. Behind her, her tails frazzle, discontent. ''She clearly called it pyrokinesis�� or pyromancy, so��''

    ''So she''s likely a real deal Ninetales expert.'' Lee sighs and glances at a weathered, wooden bench that they pass. If they weren''t on a timetable for tonight, he would have sat down to better absorb the information being thrown at them. Thinking for a moment, Lee types once more.

    Today at 5:40 PM

    L_Henson: You''re very sharp, Ma''am. What do Ninetales'' emotions have to do with her pyrokinesis, psychic powers, and any fears I might have?

    Today at 5:41 PM

    Lokoko: Spiritual powers, not psychic. Allow me to explain this misconception many hold.

    For several minutes Lokoko types, and both Lee and Ninetales slow their walking pace, waiting.

    Today at 5:45 PM

    Lokoko: In order to explain the relationship between a Ninetales'' emotions and powers, one must first understand the inherent differences between the four ethereal pokemon types: Psychic, Ghost, Dark, and Fairy. All other types have elements that totally or partially reside in the physical world. One could make a case for Dragon being a non-material type, but we will not get into that here. As an academic, you are aware of how poorly understood these four types are, yes? So long as they are looked at from a scientific angle, they will continue to elude even the brightest of minds, for they do not work within the bounds of science. These four types exist upon a shifting spectrum with much overlap, and, as such, understanding them is beyond most.

    Psychics are the most populous of the four, and thus the type the layman thinks of when they see phenomena that do not obviously belong to another type. Psychics are rooted deeply in using cold logic and intellect to enforce one''s will upon the world around them, with almost zero emotional component. Ghost and Dark energy will disrupt Psychics for this reason, as the volatile emotions within these energies are not a quantifiable concept that a Psychic can control or calculate. Many will mistake a Ninetales for a Psychic because of the overlap between Psychics and Ghosts. A Ninetales can wield all four of these energies, yes, but they stand closest to Ghost-type, and this colors their methods of control.

    Ghosts are the opposite of Psychics. Strip away the flesh and the mind, and what are you left with? A soul, a being of pure sentiment and passion. Here, understanding becomes hazy for most. Love, hate, joy, sadness, and every emotion save raw apathy has a power that cannot be measured with the eye or instruments. Emotion is what makes a soul, what fuels it, and what drives it forward. I say this with all the certainty in the world. Some might break emotions down to something more cold and clinical, like chemical reactions within the brain. Nay, strong feelings are a power that defies and persists even beyond death, as the name Ghost-type should drive home. Within each Ninetales lies a soul of such force that it practically spills from the body. An immortal existence within a mortal shell.

    Lokoko is forced to stop and begin typing again as she hits the character limit for a single post. As Lee and Ninetales digest her words, Moore''s words days before Ninetales'' evolution ripple through them.

    A Vulpix will go from flesh and blood to�� something not wholly mortal. Something not easily controlled.

    Lee re-reads Lokoko''s post with a slowly growing sense of wonder. In all his research, there has been speculation on the nature of pokemon types and TE, but much of it is just that: speculation. Some are more studied than others, but just as Lokoko says, Psychic, Ghost, Dark, and Fairy have resisted modern science''s attempts to grasp them beyond the basics. Is it truly because these types have no way to be quantified?

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Today at 5:46 PM

    Lokoko: Dark and Fairy exist close to Psychic and Ghost, overlapping but not truly touching. Where Psychic and Ghost are the realms of intellect and emotion respectively, Dark and Fairy occupy an even muddier scale of intent along the axis of Psychic and Ghost, forming a wicked compass.

    Dark is the element of animalistic desire and violence. The want to cause harm, the want to control, the want to spread misery. That is not to say all who bear the epithet of Dark-type are monsters, but that the most personable of them are pokemon of admirable self-control. A Dark pokemon may love and hate like any other, but only the intent within will empower Dark energies. Many fail to realize this and nurture a most detestable character in the pursuit of power. The ability to sequester impulses of violence away from the rest of the mind serves to bring the users of Dark to the highest level.

    Fairy is a type I hesitate to put into words. Most would think Fairy to be the type of joy and happiness, but that''s not quite correct. There is an underlying sinister, distorted nature that I do not truly grasp, one required to bear these powers in battle with the intent to harm. I know precious little about these energies or the minds of those who wield them. The state of mind required to master Fairy-type is alien, and that is all I know for certain. I have doubts that many of the users of Fairies actually understand their pokemon.

    A pokemon may call upon these four elements, but their state of mind determines their might. An emotional Psychic is a poor one, as is a stoic Ghost.

    As I said, a Ninetales can wield all four of these aspects, but the one they align to most naturally is Ghost, and this will bleed into her other skills. As her mind becomes accustomed to this newfound depth, her temper and control will settle. You require only time.

    The Pokemon Master on the other end of the messaging app once more hits the character limit for a single message. As she begins typing again, Lee and Ninetales lock eyes once more.

    Ninetales'' relief that there isn''t something wrong with her spills into Lee, soothing his own nerves some. The vixen takes a deep breath that pushes her chest tuft out, then slowly exhales. ''That answers some questions��'' she begins, ''but if this is the ''good'' news, then what is the bad news? Much of what she says also seems like nonsense.'' Ninetales shakes her head with a huff.

    ''At first glance, yes, it seems like spiritual mumbo jumbo��'' Lee returns his eyes to his phone, waiting with bated breath for the next message. ''At the same time, though, all my academic sources can''t seem to pinpoint the cause of a lot of TE phenomena. If what Lokoko says is true, and state of mind can affect TE potency, then that gives us a place to go forward from on that front.''

    Psychics aren''t nearly as well understood as other types, but there is at least a basis for studying them. Dark is poorly defined at best. Ghost is still mostly speculation and theory, and Fairy is so new that almost no one has even begun delving into it.

    Fascinated, Lee resolves to try and pick Lokoko''s brain again later, and focuses back on the matter at hand as his phone vibrates.

    Today at 5:48 PM

    Lokoko: You asked why your young Ninetales'' pyromancy is still so refined when her control has otherwise suffered? Look upon yourself to find the answer.

    ''Look upon myself?'' Lee blinks and does so, looking down at his torso and legs, then at his arms. When he sees nothing out of place, he shrugs. ''Any ideas, Love?''

    Ninetales thinks to herself for a moment. ''I get the feeling this is intended to be some sort of introspective question, not something literal. Other than that, I have no idea. Clearly, she means you are the reason my Fire is so easy to command, but ''why'' is not explained.''

    Today at 5:49 PM

    L_Henson: I''m sorry ma''am, could you elaborate?

    Lokoko''s reply is swift, as if she expected to be asked for an explanation.

    Today at 5:49 PM

    Lokoko: As I said, a Ninetales'' powers are bound to her emotions. If you fear fire, Lee, then what would be the most appropriate response from Ninetales?

    ''To keep it under control��'' Ninetales blinks, realization settling over her.

    "To keep it under control��" Lee mirrors his fox, the words spilling out of his mouth.

    She would never hurt you.

    ''Is it really as simple as that?'' Ninetales wonders with only Lee to hear. She stares at the dirt road as they walk, her thoughts buzzing like Beedrill. From her, Lee can pick out a few fleeting feelings. Part of her is pleased with her own dedication to her trainer, while another is bitter that her talent is all subconscious and not an earned skill of her own. The bitterness of the latter grows stronger as she remembers how heavily Lokoko implied that her pyrokinesis isn''t special, either.

    Lee shuts down the negative spiral by petting Ninetales behind her ear, his thumb returning to the white heart there. ''Love, you''re special to me, and don''t you dare imply all those weeks of practice were for nothing. Maybe some hidden factors helped you along, but your hard work is what got you this far.''

    Try as she might to remain upset, Ninetales'' negativity drains like a basin with the plug pulled. She huffs theatrically and leans into Lee''s hand, grumbling to herself.

    Today at 5:50 PM

    L_Henson: That''s certainly in line with your impromptu lesson (thank you for that by the way. I hope we can converse more later on the subject of Types). You mentioned that there was bad news?

    Today at 5:51 PM

    Lokoko: Indeed. Although your Ninetales needs only time for her control to return, you''ve inadvertently complicated matters with the use of telepathy. As I said, it''s simply the nature of a Ninetales to be possessive, and I fear the narrow boundaries between you two have exacerbated the issue. I am indeed familiar with the unusual relationship that blooms between telepathic partners, and, unfortunately, this unique form of love is of little use as a buffer in this circumstance. Even if no romantic love exists between you and her, and there is no desire on either end to move forward, her instincts will snarl and gnash at the thought that there is a part of you she may not have. There are two possible ways to resolve this:

    1. Revisit your relationship with her, and put those instincts to rest by taking that last step.

    2. Set more firm boundaries with one another so Ninetales might meditate on what she can and cannot have with all of the people in her life, not just yourself. This should significantly expedite matters. This will mean limiting telepathic contact to the minimum required.

    ''That''s ridiculous!'' Ninetales physically snarls, startling a few people on the street before Lee shushes her. ''Why are those extremes the only options? There has to be something else we can do!'' She takes another deep breath, calming her boiled-over temper down to a simmer. ''If need be, I''ll tighten the leash on my emotions until this all blows over.''

    ''Easy, Nine��'' Lee bites his lip, just as troubled as he pens his response.

    Today at 5:51 PM

    L_Henson: I understand the reasoning for your solutions, but is there anything else we can do? Neither of us are keen on such drastic measures.

    Lokoko''s following message is just text, but Lee gets a distinctly exasperated feeling from the words.

    Today at 5:51 PM

    Lokoko: I had a feeling you would ask. Telepathy also increases the risk of hyper-fixation, an unfortunate condition pokemon like Ninetales can fall prey to. Tell me, outside of time spent with you, what sort of pursuits does Ninetales have?

    Lee pauses, his eyes narrowing. After such a fresh mindmeld, Ninetales'' memories are almost easier to call upon than his own. Still, he struggles to find an answer to Lokoko''s question. ''Love?''

    Like Lee, Ninetales can''t seem to muster an answer. After a minute to think, she finds something to say. ''I mind Shinx, and I assist you in your research. I also enjoy sitting and watching movies with you when a worthwhile one is on TV.''

    ''Lokoko was asking about things you do on your own, though.''

    Ninetales falls silent.

    A tingle runs down Lee''s spine. Does Ninetales really have nothing outside of him?

    Grovyle meditates and practices what looks like yoga in his spare time. Recently, he''s been trying to learn how to use a leaf as a whistle, too. Whether that''s for some kind of training or for pleasure, Lee can''t say, but the gecko pokemon does it of his own accord.

    Octillery is a voracious learning machine. The octopus more or less taught himself how to read after Lee''s first lessons, and now he devours any kind of learning media he can wrap his tentacles around. He''s also conned Grovyle and Lee into playing strategy games with him more than once, things like chess or shogi, where he usually wins handily.

    Shinx''s boundless curiosity means she''s always getting into things, and when she isn''t up to no good, she''s playing with Electrike and Goomy, or leading them into no good.

    Ninetales�� sits and waits for Lee''s attention most of the time. The realization that he overlooked something so critical makes Lee''s stomach roll.

    Looking down at his phone after it buzzes with a new message, Lee reads what he sees.

    Today at 5:53 PM

    Lokoko: I can guess the answer from the amount of time it''s taking you to reply. If you''re going to insist on not taking my offered solutions, then you''ll be forced to work things out on your own. A good starting point in either direction is pointing Ninetales'' passion into a pursuit of her own choosing, one that is not you or her training. That is not to say that you may not join in on whatever this hobby might be, but you cannot be the locus. This will point your relationship in a healthier direction, and assist in smoothing over the harsh spikes in her emotions. Learning that there is more to life than their human is the most important lesson a Ninetales can learn. If you disregard any part of what I have said today, make it not this.

    I''m afraid I have other matters to tend to and must cut our time here short. I am no expert on the subject of telepathy, let alone a case like yours, but constant contact without boundaries is something the more learned warn against, lest you venture into the uncharted waters of a gestalt. When you meet your professor-recommended expert for your study, I ask that you keep me in the loop in some capacity. They may offer instructions contrary to mine, and I would like the chance to offer amendments if required.

    Today at 5:53 PM

    L_Henson: Thank you for your time. I hope we can speak again soon.

    Locking his phone and putting it away in his pocket, Lee stares down at the road, troubled. Their walk descends into an uncomfortable silence. A lot of Lokoko''s words replay themselves over and over to both of them.

    Constant contact without boundaries is something the more learned warn against, lest you venture into the uncharted waters of a gestalt.

    Learning that there is more to life than their human is the most important lesson a Ninetales can learn.If you disregard any part of what I have said today, make it not this.

    A cold shiver wants to run down Lee''s spine as he thinks to himself, but he powers through it, reminding himself to bring the questions now nagging at him up to Nigel''s telepathy expert. ''Lokoko was right on the second one, though. I want Nine to know how to be happy after I''m gone.''

    ''Nine?'' Lee musters up his nerve and returns his stream of thought to the telepathic line between himself and Ninetales. ''You''ve been rather quiet. Are you okay?''

    A sigh escapes Ninetales'' lips. ''I don''t know.''

    Lee can feel what her words fail to relay. She doesn''t want to follow either of Lokoko''s solutions.

    ''Love, don''t be so morose. We''ll deal with all of this the same way we always do.'' Lee gives his pokemon a gentle smile. ''Together, and one step at a time. We''ll consult Mable, Xatu, and Nigel''s expert before we start putting anything into practice, okay?''

    The fox leans into his side, her frazzled nerves settling. ''I understand, Beloved.'' She pulls away and shakes her coat out, starting from her head to her tails. ''I do not like it, but I understand.''

    ''Together, and one step at a time,'' Lee repeats. ''Now, onto less gloomy subjects. What sounds like a fun hobby to you? I think that was a great suggestion.''

    Ninetales'' mind works, but she can''t seem to come up with something. Once or twice, she almost voices something, but she pauses and second-guesses herself.

    ''Nothing at all?'' Lee broaches. ''There is plenty to do here in Lavaridge. We can peruse an art store, or maybe see about something electronic at the repair shop? I know BattleNet and the rest of the internet is a good time sink.''

    The golden vixen at Lee''s side snorts. ''Perhaps something less brainless.''

    ''Well��'' The zoologist peers at a store that they''re passing, then stops with a smile. "Ah," Lee begins aloud. "Maybe here?"

    Ninetales looks up as well.

    Before the pair stands a small, two-floor shop sandwiched between two other buildings. Hanging upon a pole by the door is a swinging wooden sign saying ''Armand''s Fine Texts'' in wispy strokes of black ink, as if painted by a calligraphy brush. The building is as plain as they come, and if not for his current musings, Lee might have missed it entirely.

    ''A bookstore?'' Ninetales blinks and tilts her head. ''Beloved, you read enough for the both of us.''

    ''I read a lot, yes, but it''s mostly scientific articles and research documents nowadays,'' Lee remarks. ''If you''re wanting something stimulating to do, a good book is worth a try, I think.''

    Ninetales mulls the idea over, one of her tails escaping their neat fan to flick in thought. ''What time does that repair shop close again?''

    ''Seven. We''ve still got an hour.''

    With a shrug, Ninetales steps towards the bookstore. ''I suppose it can''t hurt.''

    Stepping inside, the pair are greeted by modest shelves of books sorted by genre along the walls, and more freestanding shelves arranged in rows along the floor. Near the back of the store is an open staircase, above which hangs a sign that says Employees only. Near the door is a lonely little desk and a cash register, and behind the desk sits a man of middle age, engrossed in an open book. The store is as unassuming on the inside as it is on the outside.

    The door shuts behind Lee and Ninetales, ringing a little bell hanging from the doorframe and drawing the attention of the proprietor, who looks up with a smile. "Welcome! Let me know if you need help finding anything!" he says, returning to his own reading shortly afterward.

    Slowly meandering around the shop, Lee and Ninetales take in the various titles on display. From fiction with fantastic, colorful covers, to solemn biographies and historical accounts of famous people and pokemon now gone, the little shop seems to have a slice of everything. A small rack of comic books and manga catches Lee''s eye.

    Front and center is a manga with a cover featuring a sleepy old man in a rustic suit, his glasses drooping along with his eyes. In the elderly man''s lap is a cheering little girl in a white sundress, and in her lap is a tiny, alarmed Sunkern. The pair are riding in a lawn chair, flying through the cloud-dotted sky with the aid of a dozen Butterfree, who are tied to the arms of the chair with lengths of string. The whimsical-looking comic is titled "Road to Belfry Zephyr - Vol #8".

    Ninetales, meanwhile, scans the bookshelves intently, trying to find something that jumps out at her, though Lee can feel her disinterest second hand. Over in the history section, she stops and takes a closer look at something near the back.

    Lee steps away from the comic rack and peers over the fox. "Find something interesting?"

    ''Perhaps��'' She hums in her throat. Her eyes glow violet for a second, then she stops and thinks better of using telekinesis, instead snaking a tail forward. The tail pulls the book free, letting the fox and man read the title on the front.

    Johto - Other Eyes

    The cover art is sparse, merely a stylized Growlithe staring out from a balcony down into a sunset-lit valley.

    Ninetales flips the book around, revealing the summary on the back.

    A historically-inspired retelling of the fall of the Johto shogunate, rebuilt from ancient archives, personal journals of the shogun and his retainers, and the testimonies of the pokemon and people descended from the original noble clans. The events of Johto - Other Eyes are told from the perspective of Shiba, sire of the shogunate''s finest force of Growlithe, along with a number of other real characters. Within, you will find a world long gone in the era of the feudal lords.

    Under the summary is a number of reviews from different sources, and they all have a common theme of praising the book for being both a thrilling read as well as historically accurate. There is even one from Mura Moore.

    "(Johto - Other Eyes) is a fantastic retelling of the shogunate''s final days, never shying away from the ugly events of the past or besmirching the moments of glory. A must-read for lovers of both history and political intrigue." ~ M. Moore, Hoenn Elite Four.

    "Is this one that you want?" Lee asks. "Looks interesting."

    Ninetales looks up at him with a smirk. ''Not true. You consider political discourse to be dry, but thank you for being supportive.'' She licks her lips. ''I''m willing to give this a try. I don''t have a history of my own, so�� I''d like to know more about my kind''s homeland.'' As she speaks, a vague sense of wistfulness fills her words, and Lee can only liken it to misplaced nostalgia. ''Maybe I''ll learn something about myself along the way. I know what I want out of life,'' her eyes drop to Lee''s boots, ''but I realize I know little else.''

    Lee''s fingers comb through the tuft atop Ninetales'' head. ''Once all is said and done here in Hoenn, we''ll go on holiday in Johto and Kanto, okay?''

    Ninetales smiles and cuddles into Lee''s side. The love she exudes washes away the day''s doubts, and Lee realizes following Lokoko''s instructions beyond this hobby-seeking is going to be difficult.

    ''That sounds lovely.'' Ninetales sighs and separates herself from her trainer. ''Let''s keep looking.''

    After another twenty minutes, Ninetales picks out three more books, all of which are historical but are of less interest than her first selection. After checking out and returning to the Lavaridge streets, Lee''s phone buzzes in his pocket.

    "Now what?" he grumbles, pulling out the device and unlocking it. On the screen is a single new message.

    Zinnia: I got everything we need.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    High upon a telephone pole and vigilantly keeping an eye on her trainer below, Swellow sighs to herself for what feels like the millionth time.

    Below, in a nearby field, Courtney smiles as she and the Birch boy sit and converse. The pair sit like young lovers upon a boulder, and at their feet, Swellow''s teammate Mightyena and the Birch boy''s Marshtomp catch their breath after a spar.

    Marshtomp is a cut above the rest for certain, and with the boy''s direction, stood up to Mightyena as an equal. Swellow sees why her trainer is so determined to bring the boy into the fold of Magma.

    Such is the nature of poisoned minds to poison others.

    Hate burns under Swellow''s feathers: hate for the man who twisted her trainer so.

    Maxie, the pompous, overinflated bastard in charge of the terrorist freakshow known as Magma, poisoned Swellow''s trainer. Promises of a new world, promises of glory as a savior, promises of his approval. Bah! Swellow would cut him down if she knew she could get away with it.

    Promises upon promises, and Swellow knows in her heart of hearts that each word is false under its sweet coating. Maxie runs his organization of misfits as a cult, and only devotion will see one rise in the ranks. The higher one goes, the more absurd his demands of them become, but the worship within the underlings makes them blind to how they are used. One such demand is the use of crude psychic safeguards, so no one in the upper echelons of Magma may be mentally probed.

    Swellow suspects more than just safeguards are put in place.

    Does the madman even know what he''s doing, Swellow wonders? He dares tamper with things better left alone, in pursuit of what? To create more land with the power of a God, to combat overpopulation? This march of madness is driven by a problem with centuries, maybe millennia of time to answer. No. There are no pure intentions here. Maxie is driven by hubris. In that hubris, he''s created monsters of his own design. Every moment, he sweet-talks another.

    In another life, Maxie could have been something else. An orator with few rivals, a leader, a pokemon Champion even.

    Instead, he seeks ruin for everyone.

    At the very least, Maxie is not the criminally insane head of Aqua. Maxie has the discretion to pretend his schemes will save lives.

    Archie, leader of Team Aqua, does not hide what the result of his victory would bring.

    Swellow''s eyes narrow.

    Courtney''s ace, Camerupt, cannot escape the trappings of his kind. Strong in body and clever in battle, Camerupt is still a dullard. He sees no issue with following these schemes, for he doesn''t understand that Courtney''s choices aren''t her own.

    Mightyena is even worse. She sees the events before her clearly, yet she turns her head away and abdicates responsibility, saying Courtney''s word is law and claiming it''s not her place as a pokemon to protest Courtney''s orders. Mightyena knows it''s wrong, Swellow can see the conflict in her eyes, but Mightyena takes the easy way out and refuses to stray from her pack instincts.

    That leaves Swellow alone to seethe over the injustice. She pushes away the anger, lest it consume her.

    Henson and Draconid have hidden their suspicion of Courtney poorly in recent days, and Swellow has tailed them, confirming Courtney''s feeling that her cover is blown. It doesn''t matter now. Upon the Lavaridge volcano, a device whose function escapes Swellow is nearly complete, and Magma will step toward its next veiled goal soon.

    Just as Courtney is stepping toward her next goal below.

    Swellow''s trainer and the Birch boy are too far away to hear, but Swellow''s powerful eyes watch their lips, reading the words that flow out.

    "Brendan?" Courtney begins with a despondent sigh. She balls her hands up in her lap. "I�� have some things to tell you. About me�� and some things Lee and Zinnia�� have been keeping from you."

    Brendan blinks curiously. "What do you mean?"

    Beside Brendan, Marshtomp''s eyes narrow, and Swellow feels herself tense, ready to swoop in if needed.

    Courtney looks away, conflicted. Swellow can''t tell if it''s genuine or an act, a distressing thought. "I''m�� more than I say I am. I''m on a mission, and�� I need your help." She meets Brendan''s eyes. "I''m part of Team Magma, and I want to explain some things to you."

    Courtney tells him about herself, about Magma''s ''mission'', about how Henson and Draconid left Brendan in the dark. As she talks, Brendan''s eyes grow wider and wider as his jaw hangs lower and lower.

    Swellow grits her beak. Upon that pole watching for interlopers, she bides her time, waiting.

    She''ll break Courtney free of this madness once the opportunity presents itself, once everything is lined up just right. In the meantime��

    Swellow can only hope the Birch boy is made of sterner stuff than her Courtney.

 Act 2: Chapter 14

    ''You''re certain you''ll be fine? One-hundred percent?''

    Ninetales'' worry distracts Lee enough that he nearly trips over a crack in the Lavaridge streets. After his stumble, he smooths his jacket and replies. ''Just fine, Love. Enjoy your day off, okay?''

    ''You''ll call me if you need me, yes?'' Ninetales'' follow-up is as quick as lightning, and, try as she might, she can''t quite hide her discontent. ''Zinnia reported that there are confirmed Magma agents in Lavaridge, and I''m loathe to leave you alone with such dangers about.''

    Ninetales'' ire compels Lee to glance to his side, where Courtney walks with him, having taken him up on the offer of morning training. He returns his eyes forward before the Magma admin can see him looking.

    ''I have both Grovyle and Octillery with me,'' Lee says soothingly. ''I doubt anything will happen, but if things look dicey, I''ll call you straight away, okay?'' After a moment, he adds, ''Also, can you keep an eye on Brendan when he wakes up? He was kind of withdrawn last night. He said he was fine, but nothing has kept him upset for this long��''

    Although her worry and twinge of irritation at being left behind don''t totally abate, Lee can feel Ninetales slowly turn her attention away from him and down to the book before her paws. Through her eyes, he sees that she''s lying on his bed, halfway through page one-forty. ''I''ll speak with Brendan if something still seems amiss,'' Ninetales promises.

    ''Thank you. I know things have taken a weird turn between us, Nine, but I still love you and always will.''

    Even across town, Lee can feel Ninetales'' annoyance melt, replaced with a fond mental grumble. ''And I, you, Beloved. Be safe.''

    ''We will.'' Lee lifts his hand and touches his cheek, stilling the ticklish sensation of a phantom fox snout nuzzling him.

    After a long minute, Ninetales'' focus shifts to the half-read chapter within her book, and Lee gently squeezes the telepathic channel between them mostly closed, slowing the throughput of emotions, shared senses, and idle thoughts.

    A shiver runs down Lee''s spine at the sudden, primal pang of loneliness, but he sighs and looks to his left.

    Grovyle, his escort for today, looks back up at him. In those cool, yellow eyes is a silent, reassuring confidence that dulls Lee''s spike of anxiety.

    Lee smiles down at the gecko pokemon, who nods back in acknowledgment. Taking a deep breath, Lee''s mind turns back to the day prior.

    Yesterday was a busy one. Their primary goal of finding someone who could repair Lee''s old cellphone, and thus salvage the treasure trove of information from the pokemon games within, failed. The first shop didn''t want to risk damaging the unfamiliar device further, and the second was a PokeGear chain store that turned Lee away instantly when they saw the phone wasn''t a supported brand of theirs. Disgruntled, Lee debated on trying to work on it himself before stopping.

    He has no idea if volts and amps are measured the same on this Earth. With that in mind, he sent an email to Lavaridge Electric, the local power supplier, to see if they have a legitimate electrical engineer who can provide some insight. So far, his email hasn''t been answered.

    During the trip from the first to the second repair shop, Lee and Ninetales had their disquieting talk with Lokoko, who insisted that Lee and Ninetales need to draw harsher boundaries in their telepathic relations, lest they "venture into the uncharted waters of a gestalt."

    Lokoko''s other suggestion, one that Ninetales needs interests outside of being Lee''s pokemon, was one Lee agreed with wholeheartedly. After a stop at a local bookstore, Ninetales picked out several books to see if reading would be a hobby she would enjoy. So far, the vixen has been engrossed with texts of historical accounts�� when she''s not brooding over Lokoko''s previous warning.

    The only other thing of note popped up when everyone was settling in after dinner, and it was a surprising one.

    Silph Co finally paid him for Grovyle''s TMs. All of Seed Sniper and Seed Blast''s pre-orders must have sold out, because in Lee''s bank account, a lump of seventy-six thousand credits appeared.

    That was only for the first run minus the patenting fee that Silph Co took out. If the second and final run of the TMs sells out, then another eighty-seven thousand might be on the way.

    After looking around online, he realized that it wasn''t a question of if the TMs would sell out, but when.

    A moderately popular BattleNet video uploader, an older, retired trainer named Haul Parrel, who is often praised for being factual and down to earth, pre-ordered a copy of both Seed Sniper and Seed Blast to review at the behest of his fans. It seems as though Silph Co pulled some strings to move preorders for high-profile trainers faster, as Parrel claims he acquired his disks several days before uploading his video. The man''s Cacturne demonstrated both moves on a variety of targets to devastating effect, and Parrel himself provided commentary on what he thinks the moves excel at and criticisms on where they could be better. The review signed off with Parrel commenting that the moves are "Steeply priced if bought as a complementary pair, but seem like they would fit well into the arsenal of a career competitor. Are they worth the price? You be the judge."

    Following the release of the video, a number of copycats with Grass pokemon are now trying to secure their own copies of the TMs to capitalize on Parrel''s wake and grow their own followings.

    If that wasn''t enough, Gardenia, Gym Leader of Eterna City all the way over in the Sinnoh region, apparently got copies as well. Her famed Roserade, a pokemon as powerful as it is beautiful, used Seed Blast on live television during an exhibition match to decimate a speedy Lycanroc.

    Lee had to sit down after that, uncomprehending for a moment. In the next month or two, he will likely be holding onto six figures worth of money. The thought�� seems so strange.

    It was mostly his pokemon''s doing, so the acclaim feels�� misplaced. People online have offered praise for the ''talent'' of being able to make moves, but none knew that his piggy-backing off of Ninetales'' senses offered him a pokemon''s perspective on how Type Energy works. Even if Ninetales can''t use most forms of TE, the first-hand insight she provides makes unraveling the unfamiliar forms of TE and instructing his pokemon how to mold it so much easier.

    Ninetales shushed him, saying there was no reason to feel guilty for capitalizing on a team effort. She did agree with him that the stylized, anime-esque art of himself and Groyvle on the box of the TM was cringe-inducing, though, joking that the eyesore wasn''t worth the money.

    The TM case accidentally nailed the early 2000s aesthetic of an earth video game case perfectly, featuring a split cut of Grovyle and Lee''s scowling faces in the middle. The top held the name of the move in bold, eye-searing font, and the corner had a bombastic "Limited Edition!" sticker. Lee didn''t bother looking at the back.

    "Gro?"

    Lee looks back down to Grovyle, who stares back up at him with a raised eyebrow, and Lee realizes his face twisted itself into a grimace. "Sorry, Grovyle," Lee waves him off. "I was thinking of the box for your TMs again."

    The gecko pokemon''s muzzle twitches in distaste. He gives Lee a narrow-eyed look and a short hiss, one that clearly says, "What do you mean by my TMs?"

    "Our TMs; my bad. I''ll take half the blame there." Lee raises his hands, exposing his palms in mock surrender. "I expected Silph to use a photo or something, not a picture that looks like it came from the bowels of BattleNet''s fan art section. We''ll be more involved in the process next time."

    Grovyle twiddles his twig in his mouth, mollified. On Lee''s opposite side, Courtney''s mouth twitches in amusement.

    Together, they venture out to one of the more secluded training grounds on the edge of Lavaridge. Zinnia returned the night prior with damning information on Magma''s movements up upon Mt Chimney, and now it''s business as usual until the next ''unexpected'' lift closure��

    <hr>

    It''s nearly 11pm, and Lee has changed out of his day clothes for a bare chest and thin shorts in preparation for bed. Anything heavier is just too hot when he and Ninetales share the covers. The overhead lights are already turned off owing to Brendan, who has turned in for the night. Lee pauses in his task of grooming Grovyle and scans the room.

    At the foot of Brendan''s bed, Electrike and Shinx sleep cuddling together. The (literal) odd bedfellows are equal parts adorable and comical since Electrike is three times the size of Shinx.

    Ninetales herself has already wound down, lying across the hotel bed on her belly as she slowly reads through the first of her stack of books. So far, Johto - Other Eyes has been such a captivating read for her that she''s said little all night, not even letting the upsetting talk with Lokoko linger in the forefront of her mind. So relaxed is she, that the vixen''s hind legs are splayed about behind her, covered by her limp tails.

    Octillery has relinquished Lee''s laptop for the night. In a rare moment of lethargy, the octopus is sitting on the couch doing nothing. Octillery watches the news on the TV, which has the volume turned down low. The local news channel of Lavaridge has little to report, it seems, as Octillery is dozing off in the glow of the screen.

    All of Brendan''s pokemon sans young Electrike are sleeping in their balls. The three were�� unusually sullen and guilty-looking, retreating into their pokeballs before they could be questioned.

    Grovyle is sitting on the bed with Lee, just beside Ninetales. The gecko pokemon doesn''t show how bashful he''s feeling (though Lee is sure the Grass-type is) as Lee gently rubs a green medicated gel intended for burned and scarred skin across patches of discolored scales. It''s the same stuff that Lee uses on his face to keep his own scars pliant.

    "Rapidash sure did a number on you, bud��" Lee murmurs, massaging Grovyle''s side. He pauses to take the bottle of gel leaning against his crossed leg and squirt a little more in his hands. "Even now, in fighting shape, you''ve still got scales coming in oriented wrong or missing their chlorophyll��" Lee continues rubbing the gecko''s side, working the gel past the scales and into the skin underneath. Idly, he has to admire Grovyle''s hard-earned musculature. It doesn''t show under his scales, but one could mistake the Grass-type for a Fighting-type if judging solely by hand. "Any stiffness or pain when stretching?"

    Grovyle shakes his head in a jerky ''no''.

    "That''s good." Lee smiles and shuffles to the side of the bed, standing up to put the scar gel back in his backpack. The gel is exchanged for a pack of wipes, which he uses to clean the remaining gel off his hands. "With any luck, the discoloration and uneven scales will fade in the next few weeks. If not, evolving should fix it right up."

    Grovyle perks up at the mention of evolution, his embarrassment at being touched forgotten.

    As Lee zips his bag back up and sits back down on the bed, his phone buzzes on the nightstand next to Ninetales.

    Without looking up from her book, one of Ninetales'' tails reaches out, wrapping dexterously around the phone and dropping it into Lee''s lap.

    "Thank you, Love," Lee says aloud, reaching out to scratch the base of Ninetales'' center-most tail.

    The fox wiggles at the pleasant, tingly sensation that runs up her spine, turning her head back to offer Lee a wordless smile.

    Lee unlocks his phone, an eyebrow rising when he sees another message from Zinnia. Unlike the vague message before, this one is asking him to meet her outside.

    "Back in a moment, everyone." Lee stands and throws on an undershirt, stepping around the bed and to the door with his team''s eyes on his back.

    ''Zinnia?'' Ninetales questions, quite literally reading his mind. ''Is she finally elaborating on her unhelpful message from earlier?''

    ''Seems like it. I''ll keep you in the loop.''

    Gently pulling the hotel room door open as not to disturb Brendan, Lee shivers as the cool night air nips at him. With the summer coming to an end, the nights are slowly getting chilly.

    Outside the door, looking down at her phone, Zinnia perks up as Lee shuts the door behind him. "We scored big, Lee!" she whispers excitedly. "I''ve got confirmation on everything!"

    "Really?" Lee crosses his arms as he looks Zinnia up and down. "Do tell."

    Zinnia''s usual outfit is absent, replaced with a too-small, midriff-exposing shirt and jacket that pushes her bust up, a dangerously short skirt, and high heels. The Dragon Tamer''s face is lightly dusted with make-up, and the faint scent of alcohol and smoke hangs around her.

    ''Arceus, she looks like a groupie.''

    Zinnia''s face takes on a teasing smirk when she sees Lee''s roaming eyes. "Dolittle, check me out later. We''ve got more important things to talk about."

    "Less checking you out, more wondering how you''re breathing with a shirt that tight," Lee shoots back, but it doesn''t stop the faint prickle of embarrassment. Thankfully, Ninetales is too distracted with her reading to catch the thought.

    "Uncomfortably, that''s how. Now hush! The faster I give you the low-down, the faster I can get out of this get-up." Zinnia''s retort is just as quick as Lee''s. Grinning, she reaches into her jacket and withdraws a small, shiny badge, presenting it to Lee.

    In Zinnia''s hands is a silver coin reminiscent of a gym badge, one emblazoned with Magma''s M-shaped logo. Taking the presented coin, Lee flips it over, seeing a faint, square-shaped QR code cut into the metal of the opposite side.

    ''A signet coin? Seems like an oversight carrying an identifier like this around��'' Lee thinks to himself, rubbing his thumb over the code.

    "As of tonight, I''m officially a Magma grunt," Zinnia says, pocketing the coin when Lee drops it back into her hand. "Swablu and I trashed some girl trying to muscle in on the knucklehead lieutenant I''ve been stringing along. I think having girls fight over him stroked his ego just right, because he gave me a sales pitch and asked me to join Magma." Zinnia grins. "He added me to their ''secret'' text group, but was smart enough to hide the previous history from me. Not that it matters too much, because if I get pinged for a job on Mt Chimney on the same day the lift next goes out��" Zinnia''s grin takes on a malicious air. "Then we know they''re up to no good."

    <hr>

    The conversation afterward just reaffirmed the plan going forward. If Zinnia is called for a job by her faux boyfriend and the cable cars going up to Mt Chimney happen to go down for "emergency maintenance" at the same time, Lee will approach the lift station and play the role of a concerned League official suspecting negligence. With any luck, they''ll be allowed up to the top of the volcano to bust Magma mid-scheme. If not, Lee will have to begin the tedious process of acquiring a warrant to investigate the lift.

    Until then, it''s business as usual. Zinnia is still sleeping off her late night last night, and Brendan didn''t get up at his usual time, so it''s just Lee and Courtney for now.

    The training ground comes into view, and this early in the morning, the person there is an elderly man on a bench with a Buneary munching on a little pastry seated next to him. The field is a simple, flat plain of green with a children''s playground off in a distant corner, out of any crossfire. Some patches of grass in the park are higher than others, the hallmark of damage repaired by a Grass pokemon.

    "So what''s the plan for today?" Courtney asks, her flat tone giving away no thoughts. Magenta eyes turn their bored, half-lidded gaze to Lee.

    "Today?" Lee begins, taking his notebook from a side pocket on his backpack and flipping it open. "I was going to begin work on a new technique for Grovyle, then work on synergy with Octillery and Shinx. Ninetales has been working herself hard lately, so she''s just relaxing for now. Afterward, I was hoping you''d be up for a spar?"

    Courtney nods, and Lee suppresses a frown at how difficult the woman is to read.

    Courtney wanders off to claim her own slice of the park for herself and her pokemon, leaving Lee and Grovyle to their own devices. With a sigh, Lee puts the Magma Admin out of his mind for now and focuses on Grovyle. "Alright, let''s get seated and go over everything."

    The trainer and pokemon make themselves comfortable under a nearby tree, and Lee lays his notebook in his lap, flipping open to a section dedicated to Grovyle. "Let''s see here��" Lee''s finger trails down the lines, stopping halfway down. "Right, so in an effort to assist you during prolonged battles, I''ve been wanting to formulate a move similar to Absorb, but lacking the wind-up time. If my research and observations are correct, then Absorb needs to be cast while still, or the effect is simply diminished too much to be useful. While I''m sure we could puzzle out Synthesis for you, it, like Absorb, is slow. This clashes with your main strengths of speed and maneuverability, so here is what I''m proposing��" Lee draws a quick sketch on the page, one of Grovyle''s arms with a Leaf Blade extended. "Other physical life-drain moves like Drain Punch and Horn Leech don''t have the stillness requirement of Absorb, so physical contact must bypass that. Using your expertise with Leaf Blade, I think we should hybridize Leaf Blade and Absorb, allowing you to sap foes with every attack. Since both use Grass TE, it should just be a matter of kinesthetic conditioning until you can move the absorption point to your wrist leaves rather than your mouth." Lee looks up from his notebook to Grovyle.

    Sitting with his legs crossed and his two-fingered hands in his lap, Grovyle nods coolly, telling Lee that he''s following along.

    ''I haven''t worked one-on-one with Grovyle in too long. I''d forgotten how refreshingly sharp and non-combative he is.'' Lee smiles and stands. "Okay, let''s get to it."

    <hr>

    From a dozen feet away, Lee watches Grovyle pull his glowing-green Leaf Blade back out of a log of green, freshly chopped wood. In the face of the log are a number of cuts, and if one were to squint, they might see the cuts appear drier than the surrounding wood.

    Taking a deep breath, Grovyle raises his Leaf Blade to his mouth, which takes on a yellow light. From the leafy edge of Grovyle''s attack, tiny motes of yellow flow into Grovyle''s mouth as the half-hearted Absorb cannibalizes the energy supplying Leaf Blade. Then Grovyle halts Absorb, scrunching his eyes shut as he dedicates the feeling of both Absorb and Leaf Blade to memory. Letting his breath out, he tenses, then lashes out.

    Leaf Blade sings through the air, slicing into the wood, and Lee witnesses Grovyle''s leaf suck a miniscule amount of moisture and near-unnoticeable dots of yellow energy from the log.

    ''Incredible��'' Lee''s pen dances across the nearly-full page of his notebook as he watches Grovyle at work. ''Not an ounce of strain maintaining Leaf Blade while using other attacks, and in just two hours, he''s already got a working grasp of��'' Lee hesitates to put a name to the prototype attack just yet. Looking down at his notebook, he crosses out the name Lifehunt Scythe. ''I''ll come back to that with something more professional later. Anyway, Grovyle''s sheer talent is something��''

    The first hour was spent with Grovyle using Absorb on a few freshly cut logs to re-familiarize himself with the move. Unlike with a pokemon, Grovyle was able to cast Absorb on the logs instantly, and the pieces of wood were quickly reduced to withered husks, something Lee noted for later. Unfortunately, it seems like Absorb takes more energy to cast than what the logs returned, making emergency refueling from trees a non-option�� Or maybe the logs have worthwhile energy, but Absorb doesn''t have the conversion efficiency needed to make use of them?

    ''Considering the extreme desiccation of the wood, Grovyle must be converting the water and nutrients within into something he can use��'' Lee mulls the phenomenon over, tapping his bottom lip with his pen. ''Now, can we boost the conversion ratio? Grovyle''s prototype attack is getting more effective with repeated use, so there is more to explore on that front. What about wasted energy? The motes generated by Absorb emit light, so we know for certain that much is wasted as radiation, at least.'' The zoologist jots down his observations. ''Questions for later.''

    During the second hour, Lee instructed Grovyle to practice Absorb while maintaining an unused Leaf Blade so he could get used to the feeling of both moves at once. When it became apparent that holding a Leaf Blade is second nature for Grovyle regardless of the task, they moved on to trying to refocus Absorb''s origin point to the edge of Grovyle''s blade. So far, having Grovyle cast Absorb on himself seems to be the way to go. Memorizing the feeling of Absorb upon his wrist leaves is definitely aiding in reverse engineering the move.

    ''It must be a purely mental thing for Absorb to be focused around the mouth. Maybe ingrained in some kind of ancestral memory? Grovyle is showcasing that it is possible to change the absorption origin point, though only time will tell if the energy conversion properties of Absorb will suffer for it.'' Lee hums. ''Energy conversion�� That might open some exciting doors. Since conservation of energy and mass aren''t rules on this Earth��'' More ideas are jotted down to be explored later. "Okay, Grovyle! Time for a breather!"

    Grovyle''s head-leaf twitches, and he powers down his Leaf Blade. He trots over to Lee, following the man back to the tree where they had their briefing.

    Sitting down, Lee pulls a pair of water bottles from his bag, along with his berry case. Taking a ripe Oran from the case and one of the bottles, he tosses them to Grovyle, who deftly catches the berry in his mouth and the bottle in his claws.

    With a relaxed sigh, Lee opens his bottle and takes a gulp of the cool water, wiping his damp forehead on his sleeve afterward. "Autumn needs to hurry up. Nothing but mild days and cool nights is something I''ve been missing."

    Grovyle snorts past a bite of his Oran. After another slow, methodical bite, he washes the snack down with his water, draining half the bottle in a single go.

    "Even after Absorbing all those logs, your thirst and hunger kept building?" Lee asks, flipping open his notebook again.

    The gecko pokemon nods, finishing the Oran berry, drinking the last of his water, and licking his lips to make sure he got everything.

    "So even with decent mastery, Absorb is consistently a waste unless used on another pokemon. Good to know��" Lee caps his pen and closes the notebook.

    Grovyle nods once more, then looks down at his empty water bottle. With a thoughtful growl in his throat, he opens his mouth, and from his glowing gullet comes a handful of brown, thickly-shelled seeds that he spits into the bottle, filling it partway before he caps it. Giving the bottle a shake, he coils his arm back, locks his eyes on a distant trashcan by some children''s swings, and throws the plastic bottle. With the heft added by the seeds, the bottle makes it all the way to the waste bin without the wind throwing it off course, and Grovyle sinks the shot without his toss so much as touching the rim.

    Lee can''t help but grin at the superb display of problem-solving, one even the most intelligent of animals would take ages to figure out. "Nice shot," he compliments, turning his attention away from Grovyle and over to Courtney.

    On the other side of the park, Courtney is locked in a battle with another woman with several onlookers scattered around. The old man with the small Buneary is off at the side of the arena, acting as the referee. Courtney''s Camerupt is facing down the other woman''s Pelipper, a pokemon resembling a white-feathered pelican, if a pelican''s head and bill made up the majority of its body.

    Pelipper dips and dives, taking care to keep out Camerupt''s melee range, all while pelting Camerupt with blasts of water courtesy of his Water Gun attack. Pelipper gurgles, then shoots yet another blast of pressurized water down at Camerupt from his mouth.

    Camerupt winces at the bruising strength of the water blast, for Pelipper''s attack has enough wallop that Lee can feel the impact rumble the ground just a little. Camerupt''s Ground and Fire typing, both being weak to Water, make it all the worse, but the camel pokemon doesn''t waver.

    Behind Camerupt, Courtney stands, her face impassive. Her eyes remain locked on Pelipper like a bird of prey, just waiting for the perfect moment.

    Then Pelipper messes up. The pelican slows down mid-air, relaxing at Camerupt''s lack of retaliation, and it''s at that moment Courtney finally issues an order.

    "Stone Edge." The Magma Admin''s voice has zero inflection, as if the battle is a bore.

    Camerupt''s eyes narrow as razor-sharp stones manifest from rings of bright white light that bloom to life around him. The shards shiver, then scream through the air at Pelipper at near-sonic speeds.

    The other woman and Pelipper can only drop their mouths open in surprise at how sudden the attack is, and by the time Pelipper flaps his wings to move out of the way, the first stones are already tearing bloody furrows into him. A second later, Pelipper falls to the grass, bleeding profusely from numerous lacerations. With a croak, the pelican lets his eyes roll back into his head, falling unconscious.

    ''One super-effective attack and Pelipper was down for the count. Meanwhile, Camerupt was shrugging off Water Gun with barely a grimace��'' Lee frowns, watching as the elderly referee calls the match in Courtney''s favor. ''That Pelipper didn''t seem like a pushover, either.''

    Turning his attention to Grovyle, who was also watching the fight, Lee clears his throat. When Grovyle snaps his head around, Lee speaks. "So�� Should we confront her? Try to sway her off of Magma''s scheme? It''s only a matter of time before the events on the volcano kick off. While I''m sure our team, working in tandem with Zinnia and Brendan''s, can handle her��" Lee watches as another challenger, this time a confident teen boy, steps up to Courtney. "...I''d much rather not fight at all."

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Grovyle crosses his thin arms, rolling his chewing twig between his lips in thought. His intelligent yellow eyes pan back over to Courtney''s back. After a moment to think, he shakes his head. He chirps in his throat, ending with a hiss as he looks between the Magma Admin and the people around the park.

    Despite not understanding all of Grovyle''s speech, Lee nods grimly at what he does understand.

    Too much potential for collateral damage.

    "You''re right, we''ll do it later��" Lee scratches the back of his sweaty head. "Okay, let''s get��" He trails off, seeing a new set of bodies wandering toward himself and Grovyle.

    Entering the park is Ash and his friends. As per usual, it''s Ash and his shoulder-mounted Pikachu leading the party with May, Max, and Brock bringing up the rear.

    May is quick to spot Lee, and with a smile and pointed finger, makes her friends all aware. The kids smile as one, and begin to make their way over.

    "Hiya, Lee!" Ash greets, raising a hand to wave at Lee and Grovyle. "You out here training?"

    "That we are." Lee smiles back. Something about Ash makes it hard not to reflect his cheer, even if the kid is a peril magnet. "Come and sit for a spell. I take it you''re here for the same reason?"

    "Yep!" Ash nods as he and his gang sit down in the shade a few paces away. "My match with Flannery is in just a few days, and my Corphish is my only solid counter, so I''ve been training my other pokemon up just in case."

    "A solid plan." Lee nods. "I faced the same issue with my Octillery. Who is on your current roster, if you don''t mind me asking?"

    Ash shakes his head. "No worries! I''ve got Tailow, Corphish, Nuzleaf, and Pikachu here," the boy says, raising his hand to pet Pikachu across his cheek.

    Pikachu nuzzles into the gloved hand with a pleased expression.

    "If you haven''t already taught him one, then Nuzleaf might benefit from a Rock-type move since Rock beats many of Grass''s weaknesses, chiefly Fire. Grovyle made use of Rock Tomb in our gym match to great effect." Lee idly fingers the shoulder strap of his backpack as he talks. "Not only are the dense rocks good at breaking bones and pinning limbs, they can also function as cover or obstacles in the field."

    "Hey, that''s a great idea!" Ash grins and slides his backpack off. Unzipping the bag, he reaches a hand inside and begins digging through the contents. "Nuzleaf knows Rollout which is Rock-type, but ever since he evolved, he''s had a lot of trouble using it�� Rock Tomb might be the answer we''re looking for!"

    Beside Ash, Brock thoughtfully rubs his chin with his finger and his thumb. "Rock Tomb is a fairly stamina-intensive attack, though," he says, his experience with Rock-type showing itself. "It takes time to manifest a rock that dense, too. I can''t imagine a non-Rock pokemon would be able to use it to make much extra terrain, especially in the heat of battle��"

    "Not without some time to master it, at least, which is why I had Grovyle practicing Rock Tomb for nearly a week beforehand. As per usual with him, the dedication showed itself in the gym match." Lee sends a proud smile Grovyle''s way, and the gecko looks away with a bashful flick of his chewing twig. "Since Nuzleaf is already familiar with Rock TE, he shouldn''t need so much prep, but it never hurts to start early."

    Max, who is sitting between May and Brock, finally speaks up. "TE? What do you mean by that?" the young boy asks.

    "TE is short for Type Energy, the energy that pokemon use for their moves," Brock supplies before Lee can. "Every Type uses its own special energy that influences how the moves work, and a pokemon''s mastery of TE can make their moves stronger or faster. That''s some really advanced theory, though." Brock turns his squinted gaze to Lee. "You sound like you''ve researched the topic, Mister Lee."

    ''I guess I shouldn''t be surprised that Brock knows about TE. He''s an aspiring pokemon breeder and a former Gym Leader, so the subject has to have come up during his tenure in the Pewter Gym.'' Lee blinks his surprise away. "Erm. That I have." He clears his throat and recovers quickly. "I''ve been researching and experimenting with Type Energy, and its counterpart, Infinity Energy, as part of a larger project centered around pokemon biology and behavior. I''m hoping by understanding TE and IE, the various mysteries of pokemon biology will begin to make more sense. I''m sure you''ve seen the inherent differences that exist across the Type boundaries of different moves? You must have some fascinating insights on Rock-type."

    "I might." Brock nods, a smile rising to his lips. "Not many people are keen to talk about it, though. When you start getting into energy-to-matter conversion and crystalline assembly versus sedimentary layering, it''s blank stares all around."

    Lee grins. ''No offense, Ash, but I think Brock is my favorite person in your little gang.'' Outwardly, he says, "I know that feeling all too well. The only person I can gab about TE to is Ninetales, and I know she is just pretending to be interested beyond a certain point."

    "Um��" May finally speaks up. When Lee turns his attention to her, the young girl flushes pink. "Where is your Ninetales, Mister Lee? I''m not sure what I did to upset her back at that restaurant, but I wanted to apologize to her..."

    Lee is taken right back to the embarrassing dinner a few nights prior, where Ninetales nearly snarled right in May''s face. Taking a deep breath, Lee gently touches the thin psychic line leading back to Ninetales to check on her. When he gets no reply, he peers in just a bit deeper and finds himself staring at a foreign scene.

    "Are you certain, Shiba?" Shiro''s words are quiet, gliding into my ears like a Noctowl riding a cold wind. My dearest brother''s weak voice is yet another reminder of the withering illness that still ravages his body. "I would join you on the field, even if I am weak. A death in battle, no matter how ignominious, is better than wasting away here." Shiro peers down at his bed of straw. "Hideki''s forces camp beyond yonder hill, almost atop us. The Shogun requires bodies to stem the flood." His head lowers. "I wish to be useful, brother. Just once in my life."

    Shiro''s coat, pale as a horned herald''s, hides his frame, which is frail as reeds, just as the hastily moved straw hides the sick that I know he expelled. Shiro, dearest Shiro, in his condition, cannot smell what even a man could. He does not know he cannot hide how dire his health is.

    "You ask me to commit a sibling''s greatest sin, Shiro��" I lower my voice, so as not to disturb the other Growlithe resting in their own beds. They will need all the rest for the morn to come. "You ask me to let you stray into danger, to let you die. I am Firstborn, and I would see myself fall before you. Why must you force this issue so?"

    Shiro''s head lowers further, nose brushing the floor. "I''m sorry."

    The scene suddenly freezes, growing blurry.

    ''Lee?'' Ninetales takes notice of him. ''Is something the matter?''

    ''Nothing wrong here, just checking up on you,'' Lee thinks back.

    A pulse of understanding comes from the vixen. ''I see. Everything is going well, then?''

    ''Yep,'' Lee confirms. ''It looks like you were really into your book, so I''m sorry for interrupting.''

    He can almost hear Ninetales scoff. ''You''re not interrupting. My legs are getting stiff, so I was due for a break, anyway.''

    ''You like your books, though?'' Lee sends back. ''I know your imagination is vivid, but it was almost like I was there when I peeked into your head.''

    Ninetales mulls her answer over. ''Other Eyes seems to have some creative liberty applied here and there, but it is quite an engaging read.'' After a moment, she continues. ''Would you be opposed to me seeking out other books? The citations Other Eyes uses are listed in the back, and I would enjoy seeing those texts.''

    ''Say the word, and our eventual house will have a library just for you.''

    Ninetales scoffs, and this time he can hear the sound, though it''s through her ears. Despite that, the fox''s loving amusement is plain to feel.

    ''Oh, and before I forget��'' Lee frowns. ''May says she apologizes if she offended you.''

    The emotions within Ninetales twist themselves into a paradoxical mess, one so warped that Lee can barely decipher what she''s feeling. Like a drop of dye creeping through white threads, though, regret bleeds through to the surface. ''Beloved, please tell her the fault lies with me. It was�� wrong of me to nearly snap at a child. There is nothing to forgive on her end.''

    ''I''ll let her know, but don''t beat yourself up over it.''

    Ninetales doesn''t reply with words, but a bright pulse of affection that washes Lee''s frown away. With that, Ninetales pulls away, reluctantly allowing the connection to narrow once more.

    ''Good to see that her conscious self can look at what her instincts do with some logic.'' Lee returns his attention outward and gives May a smile. "Sorry if I spaced out there. That''s nice of you, May, but don''t worry about it. Ninetales evolved only recently, and it''s made her temper short and somewhat random. I''m helping her get over it, and you''re not at fault."

    The brunette girl breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness��"

    "Aha!" Ash finally pulls his hand out of his backpack, and with it comes a cylindrical case filled with different TMs, and Lee struggles not to boggle at the thing. Ash must be lugging around tens of thousands of credits in TM disks. Popping open the case, Ash sifts through the disks within, humming to himself. On his shoulder, Pikachu finds Rock Tomb before Ash, and reaches his tiny hands in to pull it out. "Pika!" the iconic pokemon exclaims, presenting the TM to Ash.

    "Good eye, Pikachu," Ash compliments, taking the disk. He stows the TM case away and stands, his free hand taking a pokeball from his belt. Holding the ball aloft, Ash gives it a grin and rears his arm back. "Go, Nuzleaf!"

    The pokeball flies from Ash''s hand and snaps open with the typical ''snap-hiss'' sound, tossing a mass of light at the ground. When the light fades, a short pokemon is left behind.

    Nuzleaf blinks his eyes and stands, showing his three-foot-and-some-change height. The pokemon is obviously a Grass-type, owing to the green leaf growing from his head, and the brown, bark-like skin covering much of his humanoid body. A beige, mask-like pattern covers his eyes and nose, the latter of which is long and ends in a point. Nuzleaf''s arms are thin, ending in mitten-like hands, but his legs boast impressive muscle. All in all, the pokemon resembles a buckeye nut that has grown a body.

    "Nuzleaf, huh?" Lee comments, looking over the pokemon. "Hmm��" He hums to himself, looking at a little pouch held to Nuzleaf''s leg with a strip of leather. ''A held item? I don''t remember Ash ever using held items before.''

    "Yep!" Ash grins. "At first, I wanted a Treecko, but then I found Seedot protecting his favorite tree from a couple of Nincada bullies lead by a Ninjask, who wanted to drink it dry. We helped fight off the Nincada and Ninjask, and when Seedot went off on his own to find Oran berries to treat Ninjask afterward, I knew he was a good pokemon."

    Nuzleaf crosses his arms, nodding rapidly.

    ''Certainly sounds like an anime episode��'' Lee and Grovyle meet eyes for a moment, neither commenting on the distorted timeline.

    "So how about it, Nuzleaf?" Ash kneels down and shows the Rock Tomb TM to Nuzleaf. "Want to learn a new move?"

    Nuzleaf''s hand rises to his chin, where he hems and haws in an exaggerated show, leaning back and forth like he''s considering it. Then he smiles and gives Ash a thumbs up, complete with a nasally chuckle.

    "Great!" Ash rises back to his feet, then unexpectedly gives Lee and Grovyle an eager look. "Say, Lee? How about a battle afterward so Nuzleaf can test out Rock Tomb?"

    ''Well, that came out of nowhere��'' Lee debates the merits of a battle with the Ash Ketchum, hiding his grimace. ''Not the best idea right now, not with Magma so close to making a move. I need all my fighters in top shape and a bout with Ash will end with injuries.'' After another moment of thought, he decides the bare minimum explanation will do.

    "I would��" Lee begins carefully, "but all of my fighters are on standby right now for an investigation I''m running on behalf of the League. I can''t have them getting torn up right now."

    Max adjusts his glasses with a small frown. "What kind of investigation?"

    Lee meets Grovyle''s eyes once more, and the gecko shrugs. ''Yeah�� If I say ''don''t worry about it'', they''ll probably just keep pestering or get into trouble��''

    "One regarding the eco-terrorist groups Magma and Aqua," Lee says, unsurprised to see a flash of recognition in the eyes of the children before him. Before he continues, he peers over Brock''s shoulder.

    Courtney is in the middle of another battle, not paying the group any mind. She''s using her Camerupt again, and her Mightyena is standing by, but her Swellow is nowhere to be seen.

    "You probably didn''t get the memo since you''re not Hoenn natives, but members of Magma and Aqua are officially persons-of-interest to the Hoenn League." Lee didn''t get that memo either; it was forwarded to him by Nigel this morning, but the kids didn''t need to know that. "They''re suspected to be involved in more illicit activities and have Elite level trainers in their ranks. Ash and Brock��" Lee levels the boys with a stare that makes both stiffen. "You two are experienced pokemon trainers, more so than I, but for the sake of my own conscience and the sake of your less experienced friends��" He looks to Max and May, who both fidget, "��I have to ask you to be careful if you encounter members of their team. They''re dangerous and unpredictable."

    "You don''t need to tell us��" Ash''s smile falls. "We encountered those creeps in Rustboro, Oldale, and Dewford. They seemed like common criminals�� until Dewford. We stumbled upon them while exploring some caves on the coast, and they got into a battle so intense that it nearly brought the whole cave system down. We barely avoided being flattened."

    ''Wasn''t Nigel supposed to be with them during that adventure?'' Lee clicks his tongue and chalks the inconsistency to another timeline wrinkle. ''Nigel would have said something if he was there, I''m sure.''

    "Well, I''m glad you understand how dangerous they are��" Lee mutters before shaking his head. "I''d be glad to battle another time, Ash." When the boy''s face falls, Lee adds, "That doesn''t mean I can''t help with some training, though."

    <hr>

    "I never thought of it that way��" Brock rubs his chin as he and Lee watch Shinx sample from a pair of plates on the picnic table they have commandeered.

    Before the kitten are two plates of food, one prepared by Brock, and another by Lee. Brock''s plate consists of a number of moist, dark brown food pellets, flecked with larger bits of identifiable food matter, like meat, vegetables, and berries that weren''t totally emulsified before the mix was balled. Lee''s plate looks much more traditional, mainly being rare-cooked red meat sliced thin enough for young fangs to chew, with thin layers of pressed veggies and Sitrus slivers between the layers. The supplements within were rubbed into the meat and masked with a pinch of spice.

    "It''s a psychology thing, really," Lee begins, gesturing to the plates and Shinx, who is in the middle of tentatively nibbling one of the food pellets. "Pokemon have sharp senses of smell for certain, but sight still plays a role. If it looks like food and smells like food, then it''s probably food. Stimulating as many senses as you can helps cubs on the smaller side stay interested in eating until full. For severely premature cases, the act of eating itself might be exhausting enough to tempt them into stopping."

    Shinx, after having a nibble of Brock''s mix, licks her lips and chomps down on the rest of the pellet, purring. Lee''s plate goes ignored for now as Shinx digs into Brock''s food.

    "Factoring in taste is also very important." Lee raises his fist to his mouth and clears his throat, faintly embarrassed. "Something I''m still learning. Seems like I don''t have Shinx''s palate down yet."

    Brock''s maturity shines through, as he doesn''t have any funny or smug comments on Shinx''s choice. "Learning the tastes of others is a skill of its own. Besides��" He carefully reaches over, minding his hand''s proximity to the still-eating Shinx, and takes a strip of the rare beef Lee prepared. The young pokemon breeder pops the strip into his mouth, slowly chewing and swallowing it. After a few seconds of thought, he speaks once more. "There''s nothing wrong with what you made. I can taste the supplements a little, and a sensitive palate might disagree with it, but that''s all."

    "For a pokemon, though, an off taste can break a dish, and I''m weaning Shinx off of her bottle, so��" Lee crosses his arms. "I''d be open to suggestions."

    The tan-skinned teen looks back down at Lee''s plate. "Instead of trimming the fat down to a target percentage��" He points at the narrow line of fat along the sides of Shinx''s meat strips. "��try trimming most of it, cooking it down with a bit of butter, then basting the meat in it. It''s a little less precise in the fat-control department, but that''ll infuse the meat with flavor and help cover any unpleasant medicines or supplements that happen to be stuffed in there." Brock chuckles. "My sister has a pet Rockruff with the palate of a princess. She wouldn''t eat anything if it tasted funny, so giving her medications was a chore, but basted red meat fooled her every time."

    "Sure thing��" Lee''s notebook finds its way into his hands, and he quickly jots down the tidbit. "Can you tell that I''ve been a bachelor my entire life?" he jokes.

    Brock''s shoulders slump dramatically. "You and me both��"

    Looking away from the little station that he and Brock set up to talk about all things poke-science, Lee watches as Ash, Nuzleaf, and Grovyle train.

    "Once more, with feeling!" Ash orders with a dramatic punch to the air. The twelve-year-old trainer stands by Nuzleaf''s side, encouraging the Grass-type as he practices Rock Tomb over and over.

    Panting, Nuzleaf draws his arm back, screwing his eyes shut in focus. Just above his palm, sandy sediment swirls in, as if summoned from the aether, before coalescing into a small stone. The sand continues to build upon the stone, growing and growing into a rock roughly the size of Nuzleaf''s head. Nuzleaf grits his teeth, then throws the rock forward as hard as he can.

    The rock flies in a lazy arc, then smashes into the ground and ruptures like an egg, revealing the insides to be nothing but loose dirt. The bits of rocky shell disintegrate shortly after, turning into dirt as well. Like magic, the pile of sediment slowly grows smaller as the Rock TE decays, leaving flat but unharmed grass behind.

    Nuzleaf groans, falling to his rear in a moment of melodrama.

    "Don''t worry too hard about it, pal!" Ash claps a frustrated-looking Nuzleaf on the shoulder. "It just takes time, is all. You''ll get it for sure! Say, Grovyle," Ash looks over to the pokemon that would have been his in another life. "Can we get another example?"

    Grovyle nods. He extends his arm, sets his brow, and growls deep in his throat. Unlike with Nuzleaf, when Grovyle''s rock begins to manifest, entire pebbles appear and smash into each other as if drawn into a gravity well. Within a handful of seconds, a round boulder several feet across hovers above Grovyle''s fingers. Growling again, the gecko pokemon heaves the stone forward, and it lands on the ground with a muted thud. The exterior is cracked, but the stone otherwise remains solid.

    Nuzleaf eyes the in-tact rock with a measure of envy.

    "Rock TE really needs some ''oomf'' when called on!" Lee supplies, drawing Ash and Nuzleaf''s attention. "I don''t know how much Rollout needed when Nuzleaf was a Seedot, but put more force into it! Act like the Rock TE is an actual rock you''re trying to lift!"

    Ash grins, determination in his eyes. When Nuzleaf looks away from Lee and back to Ash, that determination bleeds over, and Nuzleaf clenches his fists before standing once more.

    Off to the side of Ash, Grovyle, and Nuzleaf, Octillery is splitting his attention between trying to teach Ice Beam to Ash''s Corphish and Brock''s Mudkip, and Flamethrower to May''s Torchic. Pikachu is there as well, not to learn, but to encourage the younger pokemon.

    Octillery lets out a gurgling sigh, looking as if he''s resisting the urge to strangle Mudkip and Corphish. Once more, he opens his conical mouth, slowly charges an Ice Beam, letting the young pokemon watch the cryo-energy form, then he shoots the ground before him with a weak beam of crackling blue, coating the long-since-ruined patch of grass in frost and lumpy ice.

    The octopus then gestures at the ice with a tentacle, telling Corphish and Mudkip to try.

    Mudkip''s beady eyes are nervous, but he opens his mouth and takes a deep breath as his throat glows an icy blue. Just as the glow begins to build, it sputters out, and Mudkip coughs a handful of snowflakes right into Octillery''s face.

    Octillery wipes his face off with another sigh, flicking the water and saliva off of his tentacle and into the dirt. He turns his half-lidded and already resigned eyes away from the apologetic Mudkip to Ash''s Corphish.

    The little lobster pokemon has held a blank look since the start of the lesson, as if he didn''t comprehend the words of anyone around him, let alone Octillery''s. Nevertheless, he clicks his claws, opens his mouth�� and shamelessly fires off the wrong attack, squirting the ground with a Water Gun that throws wet mud directly into Octillery''s face.

    Mudkip and Torchic cringe.

    Pikachu has to cover his mouth with his paws to stifle a laugh.

    Corphish pretends to blink cluelessly, but he shakes with barely suppressed laughter, telling everyone that he''s playing dumb as a joke.

    Lee winces. ''Please don''t strangle Corphish and put me on Ash''s shit list, Octillery.''

    Octillery remains ominously still for a moment, then slowly, he wipes the mud away and stares down at Corphish. With a look far too placid to be anything but full-circle fury, the octopus lays a gentle tentacle across Corphish''s back��

    ��Then throws the lobster with all his might, right up into the sky.

    The edges of Corphish''s shell whistle as the Water-type flies through the air in an arc, nearly striking a startled Taillow. At the apex of his flight, Corphish blinks and looks down, seemingly realizing he''s not on the ground anymore. The crayfish pokemon flails in alarm, coming down on the other side of the park, right into a tiny, murky pond with a splash. The water bubbles, then Corphish breaches the surface, covered head to toe in pond scum. On the lobster''s face is the expression of a kicked puppy.

    "Never a dull moment with you lot, eh?" Lee comments to no one in particular.

    Ash pulls the brim of his cap over his eyes, hiding his embarrassment.

    <hr>

    Corvisquire stares down at the hotel room door from the laundromat roof across the street, debating with himself for the thousandth time today, and cursing himself for his cowardice for the thousand and first. Behind him, the sun is beginning to set, reminding him of how long he''s been standing here.

    The flight to Lavaridge was without issue. He flew, stopped to eat and rest, then flew once more. The wind descending from Mt Chimney made for an annoying headwind, but Corvisquire didn''t let that deter him. He would run no more, and wind is the most minor of obstacles. As he flew, part of him wondered what Wally and Kirlia would do with the stone he left behind. They''ll likely return it, not because they realize the police would connect a Dawn Stone theft with a Gallade, but because they can''t stomach the thought of theft.

    Fools.

    Corvisquire staked out Lavaridge for the last day, and this morning, on pure chance, he saw Lee leave the hotel he now stares at. Seeing the man''s scarred visage, his happy visage, sowed the seeds of doubt within the raven.

    Does he have the right to come back? To intrude upon things? What has he missed? What will his estranged team say? Has Lee moved on?

    ��Should he dig his beak into a wound that might already be healed?

    Corvisquire shakes his head, cursing himself again. ''Damnation! Enough sitting here and thinking! Go down there now!''

    The raven''s body moves of its own accord, his wings spreading as he glides down to the hotel room where Lee and the team are staying. Stepping up to the door, he gives it three solid knocks with the top of his beak and waits. Beyond the door, he hears someone moving.

    ''...Perhaps I should not have been so hasty. I don''t know if Lee has returned yet,'' Corvisquire sighs, but remains where he is.

    The door latch unlocks, then the door swings open, and Corvisquire''s stomach sinks.

    In the doorway is no kindly human trainer, but a Ninetales �� a Ninetales that he recognizes the eyes of. Those eyes, once a dark brown, now red, widen in surprise.

    Then they narrow into hateful slits.

    "Ninetales?" A voice from within calls, and Corvisquire matches Brendan''s face to the words. "Who''s at that door?"

    "No one, Brendan��" Ninetales'' words are quiet, yet painted with mortal danger, and Corvisquire takes a step back. "No one��"

    Ninetales steps outside with Corvisquire, the door slamming shut behind her. Corvisquire can''t look to see what shut it, for the hellish red eyes of the fox pin him in place.

    "You have a lot of nerve coming here," Ninetales begins coolly, her lack of screaming and raging making things all the worse. "Why? Why come back now?"

    Corvisquire takes a deep breath, trying to still his heart after seeing one of his worst fears made manifest. "I see you''ve evolved. Congratulations."

    A flat, unamused stare is Ninetales'' answer. "Is now the time for small talk?"

    The raven gulps, picking his next words carefully. "I came to make amends."

    "Amends?" Ninetales raises a brow daintily, her lips rising in amusement. "You came to make amends�� Can you?" The fox asks. Her tails flit to and fro behind her, then like Seviper slithering through the air, begin to close in on him.

    "Can I?" Corvisquire parrots, uncomprehending. He tries to watch the tails, but those damnable eyes paralyze him.

    "You left." Ninetales lowers her head to whisper in his ear. Her breath is uncomfortably hot. "You left when Lee was most vulnerable, when his healing had just begun." The thin veneer of civility around Ninetales'' words begins to unravel, and the fury within bears its fangs. "You left when another loss threatened to shatter him. You know as well as I do, that this team is Lee''s family, that you were part of that family." Tails begin to wrap around Corvisquire, around his torso, his legs, his neck, and he sees his life begin to flash before his eyes as his feathers grow unbearably hot.

    "I will give you one, and only one chance, Corvisquire��" Ninetales'' tone is as frigid as the Crown Tundra, far to the north of noble Galar. The tails around him are feather-light, yet he still feels their weight. From their touch alone, he feels both the world-consuming firestorm within the kitsune, and its desire to swallow him whole. "Fly away and do not come back. Pretend you were never here."

    Corvisquire isn''t sure if the sudden fire in his chest is foolishness, courage, or just heatstroke from the tails blanketing him, but he speaks once more. "I cannot!" He insists. "I have to make amends!"

    "Can you? Can you make amends? For abandoning Lee without so much as an explanation?!" Ninetales snarls, her beautiful face twisting into hideous savagery. "I don''t think you can!"

    The tails suddenly tighten like coiling snakes, forcing a gasp from the avian''s lungs. His bones creak, and his vision begins to flash, but before his breath is robbed of him, Corvisquire blurts: "Lee would let me explain!"

    The tails halt, and Ninetales'' hate-filled stare tells Corvisquire just how narrowly he''s avoided being crushed. "You dare?" She grounds out.

    "Am I wrong?" He can''t help but snark back.

    The tails loosen just enough for the raven to breathe. "Speak," the fox demands. "If I don''t like what I hear��" She leaves her threat hanging.

    Corvisquire sucks in a breath, blinking the stars from his vision as he wonders where to begin. The explanation is on his tongue, but even with the tails threatening to end his life, the words remain stuck in his throat, as if covered in stinging barbs.

    The golden tails wrapped around his body twitch, and Ninetales growls. "I''m waiting, Corvisquire," she spits his name as if it burns her lips. "What do you have to say in your defense? Tell me, so I may finally snap you in half and return to the rest of my day." Once more, the cursed appendages holding him prisoner begin to squeeze and pain lances up his body.

    I don''t want to run anymore.

    "Lee��" Corvisquire hisses past the tail beginning to strangle him. "He was not my first trainer. There was another, a boy, my Young M-Master. I l-loved him. I still love him." The word is like bittersweet poison on his beak, and Corvisquire grimaces, forcing the words to keep flowing so the tail around his neck doesn''t cut off his windpipe. "I�� was born for him, to be his First and Most Faithful pokemon, just as you were to Lee. My earliest memory is of his hand upon my brow, and the sweet purpose he gave me. I-I��" he raven struggles to keep his composure. "He was sickly, his terminal illness misdiagnosed from an early age. For months we ventured through beautiful Galar, as his medication became less and less effective. One day��"

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "Nothing can be done."

    "He collapsed��" The raven croaks, looking at Ninetales, whose fury-laden visage begins to morph into something he can''t place. "I was too weak to carry him, and by the time medical help arrived, he had been brain-dead for several minutes." Ninetales nearly fades from his vision, but the flashback to that hospital room is pushed away. "I watched him wither in the hospital, then they pulled the plug on him, and he��".

    He can''t say it. Not even with his life on the line.

    "You can''t do anything."

    "Since then��" Corvisquire shudders. "Since then, I haven''t allowed myself to become close to a human, or let one touch me. I was�� afraid of the cycle starting again, to serve a trainer and have them ripped away. I ran away because I was afraid." The bird gulps. "I was afraid Lee''s touch would be like the Young Master''s, that it would force me to love again. I was�� I still am afraid of loss. Now?" His strength flees him in a wheezing exhale, leaving him slack in Ninetales'' grip and staring down at the ground. "I am simply tired. So tired that I can run no further."

    For a full minute, nothing is said, and Ninetales'' mercy remains unbroken. Then the tails withdraw, leaving Corvisquire ruffled but intact.

    Raising his head, Corvisquire takes in the fox who nearly tore him limb-from-limb. The neutral mask upon her face is so terribly forced that a realization hits home. "You know that fear too." He says, not asks. "For your kind, it is not a question of if, but when."

    Ninetales'' mask cracks, and under it, Corvisquire plays witness to the same ugly, wild-eyed terror he harbors within himself. The terror of being lost, listless, and devoid of reason to live. So often has he seen that same face upon himself, that he''s forgotten what his real face looks like.

    Never has he been able to relate to another pokemon so well.

    "It''s almost like looking into a distorted mirror��" Corvisquire murmurs, his thoughts scattered and in disarray.

    "I suppose it is��" Ninetales'' retort is just as quiet. She takes a deep breath through her nose, seemingly at a loss for words.

    For one minute, then two, Corvisquire and Ninetales stand there, unspeaking as everything sinks in.

    "When I evolved," the fox begins weakly, "I swore I would endure the pain of parting when the time came, but now?" She pauses, turning her eyes away. "Does it get easier as time goes by?"

    "No." Corvisquire''s answer is near instant. "You merely forget sometimes."

    "Ah��"

    Both fall silent once more, and Corvisquire can barely form a coherent thought as he replays the last few minutes in his head, wondering how he''d lived.

    The pair of pokemon are pulled from their reverie as footsteps shuffle the gravel of the hotel parking lot. Turning, Corvisquire feels his throat tighten.

    There stands Lee, wearing a stunned expression. He blinks, his surprise shifting into a smile that yanks at Corvisquire''s heart. "Corvi? Is that you?"

    Not trusting his voice, Corvisquire nods, staring up at the man he swore to cease running from.

    "I almost can''t believe it," Lee breathes, smiling so hard that even the burned side of his face rises. The light of the setting sun frames the scarred man, making it appear as if a halo of orange and gold surrounds his head.

    ''Is that you, O Arceus, sending a message to me?''

    Corvisquire gulps.

    "I was beginning to think you were gone for good." Lee''s smile lessens and the light behind him seemingly dims. "I don''t know what upset you, or if I''m the one who did it, but I''m glad you''re back."

    I''m glad you''re back. Corvisquire nearly falters.

    "Did you come to stay?" Lee''s eyes and voice are filled to the brim with hope, so much so that the raven hesitates, fearing no reply would be good enough. Instead, Corvisquire watches the cloud behind Lee move, letting the sunlight return and wreathe the man in rays once more.

    ''How could you want me back? What did I do to deserve this? Are you sure you want me?'' None of the questions Corvisquire wants to ask will rise to the surface; he won''t let them, lest he get an answer he does not want. All he can do is shudder and nod once more.

    Lee''s eyes finally travel to Ninetales, and his smile becomes strained. The raven watches a silent conversation that takes only a split second. "I understand that you and Ninetales had a disagreement a minute ago, and that you want to explain why you left?" Despite the strain of his expression, Lee''s voice never leaves its pleasant, neutral tone.

    From the corner of his eye, Corvisquire watches Ninetales lower her head, shamefaced. Was she ashamed at being caught? Or ashamed of nearly striking him down? Regardless, Corvisquire finds it difficult to lay blame upon her. Better an overzealous First and Most Faithful than a lax one.

    "I do��" Corvisquire realizes that he''s parched from the heat Ninetales forced upon him, as his voice is little more than a rasp. "Ninetales? I need you to translate, I do not want a single word missed."

    The fox''s eyes glow. "He is listening."

    Before Corvisquire can muster the energy to explain once more, Lee raises a hand</a>, halting any conversation.

    "This sounds like it''ll be a serious one," Lee''s voice is low and soothing, balming the raven''s nerves. "You don''t need to explain right now. How about you come inside for a meal, and I can listen later, when you''re rested up and in a better place, okay?" His haggard smile is so full of understanding that Corvisquire is left in disbelief. "C''mon."

    Why run?

    Because I''m a coward.

    Lee goes to step past Corvisquire and Ninetales, but the raven''s beak darts out and bites Lee''s sleeve, halting him.

    "Hmm?" Lee looks down at Corvisquire, bewildered.

    Why run?

    Because I''ll fail again.

    Throwing his fears to the wind, the bird grits his beak and shoves his head into Lee''s palm.

    Why run?

    I don''t deserve love.

    There is a gasp, then warm, callused fingers close around his head, stroking his scalp tenderly.

    Sensations long forgotten surge to life in his chest, like fuel dumped upon a waning fire. The world grows blurry in the raven''s eyes, and for the first time in his life, the tears dripping from his beak aren''t bitter.

    Happiness.

    Belonging.

    Purpose.

    Love.

    "Welcome home, Corvi."

 Act 2: Interlude 3

    Barely hiding his boredom, Octillery quashes the urge to twiddle his tentacles and looks at his ''teammates''.

    He, Ninetales, Grovyle, and the newcomer, Corvisquire, all stand in a loose circle in the moonlight streaming in from the hotel room window. In the beds just a few yards away, both Lee and Brendan are deep in slumber.

    Since Corvisquire has joined the merry band of misfits just a few hours ago, tensions have been high, only just now beginning to loosen after Ninetales quietly called for a meeting. She and Grovyle have brought the raven up to speed on what he''s missed since his abandonment weeks ago, while Octillery has been content to stand back and observe.

    As interesting an experience as being a ''trained'' pokemon is, Octillery''s team is proving tiresome, and the returning Corvisquire is no exception. The raven tersely introduced himself to Octillery, then explained the reason for his absence to the team, much to Grovyle and Ninetales'' poorly hidden sympathy. Octillery himself doesn''t understand the issue. Death happens. Why be so upset over it? Especially when one lacks control of the situation? Octillery wanted to shake his head. Had Corvisquire saved his old trainer, it sounds as if the boy would have been on borrowed time anyway. Better he have died so that time and resources aren''t wasted on him. Octillery did not voice his complaint aloud, knowing it would earn him no favor.

    His eyes turn to Ninetales and Grovyle, then over to the bed where Lee and Young Shinx lay asleep. The man and cub are utterly dead to the world, convinced of their security.

    Grovyle might be his favorite by a wide margin. The Grass-type knows the value of not opening one''s mouth when there is nothing of import to say, and when coaxed, is surprisingly shrewd when it comes to games of the mind. Octillery has, dare he say, enjoyed being around this one? Novel, but like all novelties, Octillery expects it to wear off.

    Young Shinx, he cannot say, but considering her origins and favored place in the lap of Lee, Octillery expects her to grow into something placid and spoiled. She will persist on her trainer''s good graces, regardless of her own ability. How distasteful.

    And Ninetales��

    Octillery dares not let his eyes linger on the fox, lest he attract one of her seemingly random fits of ire.

    Ninetales is dangerous. The unnatural joining of minds has addled her in Octillery''s eyes. The brain is but meat between the ears, and meat can suffocate. It can crush. It can die. Meat has limits. To ask a flesh bound pokemon to comprehend the true thoughts of a being as illogical and unsound as a human? That is a task best left unfulfilled, yet Ninetales does so daily and suffers for it.

    The fox pokemon is far from the strongest pokemon Octillery has ever seen. She is not even close, as through the years, Octillery has witnessed actual monsters in action, the sort bested only by Legends. The Valley of Steel played home to some such pokemon, ones who could reshape the landscape in their fury. Images flash before his eyes, moments of peril where only his mind and skill carried him to safety. There was no fighting back in those cases, only fleeing and plotting for a better method of engagement.

    No, Ninetales is not the strongest, but her unpredictability might make her the most dangerous he''s ever met. She is ill, so he will watch her carefully.

    His own distaste of them aside, Octillery''s teammates present an intriguing puzzle. What, exactly, drives their loyalty to Lee Henson? Octillery knows his own loyalty and theirs are not the same. Lee Henson provides him food, security, and the chance to use his hard-earned skills and honed mind, but at the cost of obeying one less intelligent than he. If not for Lee being a bit sharper than the average human with a few interesting insights, Octillery would have more heavily considered declining the membership extended to him.

    Most pokemon��keyword being most��grow their skills and might at an accelerated pace under a human''s tutelage. A human provides security and resources to hone one''s talents in a comfortable manner, one free of the vicious cycle of the wild. However, the pokemon around Octillery are not most pokemon. Be it chance or a concerted effort from Lee, the octopus pokemon''s peers are a cut above the rest.

    What defines them? What drives them? Why bend the knee?

    Corvisquire carries himself with a horrid savagery held down fast by chains of civility, and it''s plain after only a few hours of acquaintance. Under the flowery words and beak raised in superiority is a beast, one that would rend a foe down to the bone simply for the pleasure of bloodshed. A beast of decadence is he, who would slay another solely for entertainment. And yet, he bows his head low to Lee Henson, returning to his bonds freely.

    Grovyle is one who would thrive regardless of any circumstances, and one Octillery would be wary of in the wild. His skill is matched only by his drive to rise to new heights, to shed any and all weakness. His prowess is the sort wielded by alphas who sire a dynasty, filled with offspring who spread their own will with the power gifted by their sire. Every cut is clean, every movement is sure, and every iota of his being is dedicated not to himself, but to a human.

    Ninetales�� Octillery does not even know where to begin with such a wreck of a pokemon. In no world can the mind of a human overwhelm a pokemon, so what Lee has done to have such a dogmatic defender is beyond Octillery. They treat one another in the same manner mammals might their mate in the height of spring, yet they refuse to copulate. It''s such a contradictory mess that Octillery can only chalk it up to some form of cognitive damage.

    Again, he wonders. What defines them? What drives them? Why bend the knee?

    If there are truly defining moments in life, then they must be the moments of peril, Octillery thinks. When one faces their own mortality, their eyes are forced open, be they closed in ignorance or arrogance. He would know, as his earliest memories were of bloodshed. He remembers these moments vividly.

    As a common Remoraid years ago, just two weeks hatched, he and his school of fellow fish fled up the mouth of a river from the open ocean, running from a Tentacruel and his cohort of Tentacool. Primal terror compelled them up the waterway and against the current, as many were already lost to the stinging tentacles of their predators. The ones who tried to fight fell the fastest.

    This proved to be a blunder. The shallow water forced the Tentacool to abate in their pursuit, but the school swam into the territory of a river Feraligatr and her progeny.

    A score of crocodilian pokemon dove into the water at their mother''s instruction, surrounding the school. Gnashing jaws nearly claimed Octillery''s life there, but in his peril, his mind whirled, his heart hammered, and the drive to survive took hold. The panic and terror, both within himself and reflected in the eyes of the school, laid a numbing cloak over him that would never again rise, and with the numbness came beautiful clarity. At that moment, he recalled how hard he must fight against the force of any water spewed from his maw. A plan neatly clicked into place amid that moment of lucidity.

    Swimming to the surface, he aimed downward, and fired off a Water Gun, propelling him out of the churning water and onto land. He landed facing the river, treating him to the sight of the chaos within. His gills burned and stung, but he took another breath and fired Water Gun again. And again. And again. Until he heard no more splashing or snapping jaws.

    To this day, he isn''t sure how far his flight carried him, but when he flopped back into the river and took in deep breaths of blessedly clear water, he was alone. No other Remoraid had escaped, and a lone Remoraid is little more than a morsel to larger pokemon. The dire situation revealed itself to him in a flash of terrible realization, like a clap of thunder and blinding lightning.

    He was weak.

    With no fellows to cover him in the veil of the many and utterly lacking as an individual, an ignoble end awaited�� He could not outrun or overpower his foes, but the numbness once more soothed him.

    His mind had won that day, and he would need it forever more as his path became clear.

    So began his life with naught but his own ingenuity to rely upon. He tested himself and the world around him, learning its rules and limits. He observed others, learned from them, then refined their skills to fit his needs. In the early days before his evolution, he learned to speak as others did, saying precisely what potential foes wished to hear so he might pass the few willing to talk unmolested. Acting became second nature in these cases, and the cases shrank in number as he grew. Before long, he wasn''t forced to talk much, as speech and violence became tools of equal effectiveness. As time marched on, he began to crave more. More skills, more experiences, more foes, so he might learn from them, then triumph over them in defiance of nature, proving to himself his place in the world. His place as something better.

    Looking back upon that fateful day, Octillery cannot lay blame upon the mother Feraligatr, or her hatchlings, or even the Tentacool who drove his school into the river. Nature is as fair an arbiter as they come. The weak die, and the strong consume the weak. It is a cycle that only the extraordinary like himself can escape. That day was the catalyst to making him into who he is today, after all, so how can he look upon it bitterly?

    He who learns, survives.

    He who plans, prospers.

    He who dares, wins.

    And Octillery was a winner. At least until migrating into the Valley of Steel via riverway.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The foes within the Valley tested all his skills and guile to the extreme, and Octillery found his wits pushed to their limits. Such power the natives cultivated, that his only option was to engage after lengthy periods spent analyzing weaknesses, often with sleepless nights pondering how he might make use of his repertoire against his prey. Some, he sought out and hunted in week-long engagements, requiring countless hours of planning, observation, and positioning. Others, he trapped or tricked to pass through their territory or lay claim to what they owned. Numerous Aggron, Rhydon, a single Onix, an alpha Skarmory, and even an arrogant Metang were all brought low by Octillery.

    Magnezone put an end to that.

    The alpha Magnezone of the Valley of Steel was persistent and aggressive beyond measure, chasing Octillery from pond to pond for the mere offense of being spied upon, forcing Octillery to use every trick and tactic he knew to escape harm. Magnezone cast down lightning bolts of such fury that they ionized parts of the ground, and Octillery knew one direct hit would be his end.

    Growing weary after hours of unrelenting pursuit under the harsh Hoenn sun, Octillery took shelter in a pool that stung his lungs with the sharp taste of metal. The murky lagoon''s dark bottom provided reprieve from Magnezone''s bolts. Even with the contaminants aiding the conduction of Magnezone''s electricity, the waters were deep enough to avoid anything worse than an unpleasant tingle.

    For five days Magnezone remained overhead, waiting without moving an inch. Each day that passed, Octillery remained still in his shelter, even as hunger demanded he move, not at all realizing his thoughts were growing cloudy until it was too late. Then a discharge of lightning drew Magnezone away, but Octillery was too addled by the poison in his blood to realize it immediately. When his sluggish mind finally started turning again, he realized something was amiss, that he had made a mistake.

    He should have died there, he realized. If Magnezone hadn''t left, he would have perished. A rare spike of anger drove itself into him, that he would die in such a way. In his fury, he attacked anything that dared show its face, his vision growing dark in his mania.

    Instead of finding death, he had awoken in a Pokemon Center, a span of days missing from his memory. He was informed that a trainer had rescued him. He wasn''t quite sure what to think of that, as he had avoided humans fervently. He could never be better with a human holding him back.

    He waited until the humans staffing the hospital deemed him well enough to have visitors, then he met his ''saviors.'' Neither seemed like anything special, though he gave Ninetales due wariness. When he questioned Lee, Octillery was assured he was free to leave if he so wished.

    Odd. Everything Octillery knew of trainers spoke to the contrary. Once a pokemon is captured, they forfeit their independence as punishment for their weakness.

    Then he asked Ninetales her opinion on the trainer before him, not trusting a human on his word as any properly attentive pokemon should.

    "Ninetales," he begins, feigning relaxation in the shallow pool the staff of the Pokemon Center provided him. "Why does a pokemon like you follow this one? Just what is this human to you?"

    Ninetales smiles, her eyes taking on a warm glow. Merely laying eyes on such an expression stirs discomfort within Octillery; a rare feeling. Then she speaks, and a single word carries so much that he is left reeling.

    "Everything."

    One word rocked him, and the comforting numbness coating his body wavered. Never before had it done so. Is that thing Ninetales imbued within ''everything'' perhaps what compels the fox herself, Grovyle, and Corvisquire so? What is it? How does he learn it so that it might be countered?

    Octillery shakes his head, returning to the current conversation as Ninetales'' monologue about the last few weeks comes to an end.

    As the last words leave Ninetales'' mouth, Octillery watches Corvisquire''s beak turn downward in a frown. "I''ve missed much, it seems," the avian comments with a click of his tongue. "At the very least, it seems my timing is fortuitous, as additional talons make shorter work of brigands and criminals. Do we have a timeframe on when the raid will commence?"

    "Within several days," Grovyle provides quietly, his arms crossed and the claws on one hand drumming upon the opposite limb. "The volcano lift has gone without a closure for almost a week now and, if the pattern holds, it will be soon."

    "My, my�� what a situation we''ve found ourselves in��" Octillery chimes, joining the conversation. His voice and mannerisms are an exemplary act, one of a pokemon who is assured and carefree, with just a touch of concern: precisely what the others might expect. He waves a tentacle. "Has Zinnia provided any intelligence on enemy numbers, teams, or positioning upon the volcano? Or perhaps an ultimate goal? Knowing would make the formulation of a battle plan much easier."

    "Unfortunately not��" Ninetales'' muzzle is pulled downward into a frown of her own, and behind her, her tail tips all flick in different directions. "We''re still waiting on the final details from Zinnia."

    Corvisquire scoffs, his feathers ruffling in agitation. "Wonderful��" After a moment of quiet, Corvisquire sighs and looks towards Ninetales and Grovyle. His expression twists, indecision obviously gnawing at him. Finally, he begins to speak, his words quiet and remorseful. "Ninetales, Grovyle?" He lowers his head. "I have yet to do so, so I would�� ask for your forgiveness for my absence. It was not my intention to cause harm." His head lowers even further. "It never was."

    The gecko and fox share a long look, and Octillery has to wonder if there is telepathy afoot. When they return their attention forward, Grovyle is the first to speak. "You''re forgiven, Corvisquire." He flicks his twig between his teeth. "This time, and this time only, however."

    Ninetales takes more time to answer. She stares at the floor, her jaw working as if to speak. She licks her lips, then raises her head. "No��" The damning word visibly stuns both Corvisquire and Grovyle. "I will not forgive you for what you did, not now and not ever."

    The raven pokemon wilts, his shoulders falling. At the same time, Grovyle gives Ninetales a sidelong look, one of disbelief.

    Octillery, thankfully, can simply remain aloof. He hasn''t any stake here.

    "...But I''m willing to forget, to leave everything in the past where it belongs." Ninetales turns her head away, her ruby eyes closed. "Don''t rouse my memory of the subject."

    Corvisquire snorts, his surly disposition returning. "Very well then, Queen Furball. Grace me not with the gift of your forgiveness, but the ignominy of your dismissal. This humble servant treasures it either way." He sniffs. "Shall I grovel at thine paws for the privilege of standing before the royal countenance as well? Perhaps pluck mine feathers and weave a decorative train for the graceful dress of tails trailing her Highness?" Regardless of his mocking words and the impudent, sarcastic sway of his head, unmistakable relief almost seeps from between Corvisquire''s blue and black feathers.

    Ninetales doesn''t rise to the taunt, instead continuing on as if she didn''t notice. "We four are a team, yet rarely do we come together as one. When time allows, I would like to meet like this more often outside of training and meals." Ninetales scans each of them with a severe eye. "I''ve been told that I''m�� not the most approachable." She falters, her swaying tails halting for a split-second. "I wish to rectify that. As Lee''s right hand, I should be watching for the well-being of everyone just as he does, and I would like to assist where I can in that capacity. This will be a learning experience for everyone, so I ask for criticism where applicable," she says, sending a pointed look at Corvisquire.

    The raven''s red eyes widen, then he sets his face into stern neutrality and nods, no signs of tomfoolery present.

    "A sound plan. I''ll be happy to do my part." Grovyle nods his head in agreement, a hint of a smile on his face.

    All eyes turn to Octillery, and he has to suppress the urge to glare. ''Vexing.''

    He does not want more idle talk. That''s the last thing he wants. Once more he is tempted to go to his ''trainer'' and request freedom, but he crushes the whiny urge. If he leaves now, he''ll be abandoning his efforts to find out what that was when Ninetales described Lee back in the Pokemon Center. He wants to know what forced its way past the pleasant numbness, for it''s a total unknown to him.

    He who learns, survives, after all.

    A cheery grin is forced onto Octillery''s face, even if that only accounts for an upward crinkle of his eyelids. "Of course! I''d be glad to help," he agrees, not meaning a single word.

    The experience here, being a ''trained'' pokemon, is not wholly unpleasant, but his loyalty and theirs are not the same, and he wants to know why. He can tolerate more irritations for food, knowledge, and engagement in the meantime.

    Ninetales smiles. It''s a small thing. "Thank you all. I haven''t anything else to say, so-"

    The fox is interrupted by Lee''s phone buzzing on the nightstand. In the bed just feet away, Lee grumbles and stirs, but doesn''t awaken.

    Rising to her paws, Ninetales silently steps over to the nightstand, snaking a tail out to lift the phone and peer at the screen. Using her nose, she taps in the unlock code. (1138, Octillery dimly recalls. Lee''s thumb idly twitches in such a pattern sometimes.) After using her nose to swipe over to Lee''s messages, her eyes widen. "It''s from Zinnia," she says, voice hushed. "Magma will be moving in-"

    <hr>

    "-two days. The final components are arriving for assembly, and I wish for you to be there with Tabitha to ensure nothing goes awry. Tabitha will be commanding the operation, but he can be�� overzealous, and in need of a grounding element like yourself. A local lieutenant has a contingent of fodder ready as labor and foot soldiers as well."

    In a secluded Lavaridge park free of any buildings to echo off of, Courtney listens to the words of Magma Leader Maxie over her phone. High above, Swellow flies in lazy circles, her sharp eyes and ears keeping watch for any interloper or eavesdropper.

    "Understood, Leader Maxie," Courtney murmurs quietly. "I will be there."

    "Good��" Courtney can almost hear Maxie''s smile. "You are invaluable Courtney, remember that." Courtney''s stomach grows warm at the words. "How goes your pet project?"

    "I''ve made my offer to Brendan Birch," she replies. "I told him just enough to sway him, and to plant doubts about other loyalties. I plan on contacting him once the volcano operation commences, to offer him a chance to see what Magma is truly about," she says, conviction coloring each word, and her brow furrowing. "I know he will make the right choice. He and I are the same."

    "They know who I am, Brendan," she lied to him, watching as his eyes grew wider and wider. "They�� didn''t tell you. I feel as though you should know who I am, and what Magma stands for."

    Henson and Draconid haven''t found her out yet. Swellow would have warned her if they had��but the lie will drive a wedge in the group. It needs to happen if Brendan is to make the right choice.

    Brendan sat there, stunned into silence. Lying to him�� felt bad, invoking a painful twisting in her gut, but Courtney hardened her heart. It''s all for a good cause. They are alike, she and Brendan, and he''ll understand.

    "And if he doesn''t?" Maxie drawls, freezing Courtney in place and dragging her from her memory. "What will you do?"

    "I��" She hesitates. "I don''t-"

    "What. Will. You. Do?" Maxies interrupts her, and this time each word is laced with a terrible danger that makes spots bloom in the edges of Courtney''s vision.

    A shiver runs down the woman''s spine, and her eyes fall to her shoes. She dares not disobey the unspoken order. "I will do what is necessary�� for Magma." She forces the words past her lips.

    Maxie is silent for a handful of seconds. Then, "Pi-gamma-delta-delta-alpha."

    "Seven, eight, seven, one, four, three, nine, eight, zero, five, one." The answer to the cipher falls from Courtney''s lips in perfect order.

    "That is all, Courtney." Maxie sighs. "Do not make me regret granting your leave for this project."

    The line goes dead, and the phone in Courtney''s hand reboots of its own accord. When the phone turns back on, there is no log of the call that took place a moment ago.

    Courtney shudders, then looks up at her Swellow.

    High above, the bird pokemon stares back down with hard eyes.

    Difficult is the path of the righteous, it seems��

 Act 2: Chapter 15

    "Everyone ready?" Lee asks, looking between Brendan, Marshtomp, Zinnia, and Shelgon.

    In his and Brendan''s hotel room, Lee gathered everyone for the ''lift investigation'' about to take place. Just as Zinnia''s Magma lieutenant had said two days ago, the cable car leading up to Mt Chimney went out of order today so they could transport cargo up to the volcano in peace, which unfortunately means Lee had to cancel on Mable today. Lee called his lawyer, Amanda, earlier this morning, and the two rehearsed the lines of legalese Lee intends to use if the cable car station tries to stonewall their efforts. Amanda played the role of the most stubborn, law-savvy busybody around, and after an hour of rehearsal, Lee feels that he has an answer to everything short of "Come back with a warrant." As both Lee and Zinnia expected, Courtney is absent and all her belongings in the room she and Zinnia were sharing are gone.

    ''Barely got a peep out of her in the weeks she''s been with us. So much for trying to learn Magma''s secrets��'' Lee frowns.

    On a stranger note, Brendan hasn''t asked where the Magma admin is��

    A nervous thrill runs down Lee''s spine as thoughts of the upcoming conflict buzz within his head. His efforts to repair his old phone and replay the pokemon games contained within for a refresher on the events to come ended up being fruitless, as the electrical engineer he emailed never replied. ''Damn it all. Between all of us, it shouldn''t be that big of a problem, but still�� Maybe it doesn''t matter too much. Canon is already off the rails as it is, so there''s no telling what''s going to happen. Unless��''''

    ''Shush, Beloved,'' Ninetales silently soothes beside him. ''You needn''t worry. We can handle this.'' Her confidence only eases Lee''s nerves somewhat, rather than acting as the reassuring force they usually are.

    ''I hope you''re right��''

    "Ready as can be, I guess��" Brendan is the first to reply. The boy tries to meet Lee''s eyes, but can''t quite do it.

    Zinnia is much more confident, a bright grin pulling her lips upward as she answers. "Hell yeah. Let''s get going!"

    Noting Brendan''s unenthusiastic answer for later, Lee turns and slowly leads everyone to the cable car station.

    The team makes their way through Lavaridge, parting the usual crowd in the streets with little issue. Several times someone tries to stop them to speak to Lee or Brendan, but each time the person is politely rebuffed, and the walk continues without issue. Once at the cable car station, the ''closed'' sign is ignored in favor of Lee knocking on the glass door.

    Within the building, a young-ish man with curly hair behind the front counter looks up from his computer and blinks at them. Realization passes the employee''s face, and his face pinches as if he bit into a lemon, or perhaps an Aspear berry. Still, he reluctantly rises and walks to the door, pushing it open just enough to talk.

    "I''m sorry, sir��" The man behind the glass door murmurs, his eyes shifting around. "I''m afraid the lift is closed today due to unforeseen maintenance needs. Please come back another day."

    Before the door can be closed on them, Lee sticks his foot in the door sill, preventing it from closing all the way and rattling the glass when the cable car employee tries to slam it shut.

    "That''s what we''re here about, actually," Lee ignores the smarting of his toes and plasters a polite smile on his face. "I''m Lee Henson, and I''m visiting today as a Pokemon League officer, as I''ve noticed a pattern of lift closures that have a worrying connotation of negligence, so in the interest of public well-being, I''m here to see what the League can do to help with that. May I come in and talk to you? Are you the manager on duty?"

    The man''s grimace only deepens. He looks over his own shoulder at the empty lobby behind him, but what he''s looking for, Lee can only guess. Returning his attention to Lee, the man then looks down at Ninetales, who stares back impassively. Brendan, Zinnia, Shelgon, and Marshtomp are also afforded looks. "Sure��" The employee begins reluctantly. "Please come in. My manager isn''t in, but I can talk for a while."

    Holding open the door, the employee lets the group of six inside before he tersely retakes his place behind the front desk. "So uh��" the employee gulps. "What can I help you with?"

    "Just some questions for now, and we''ll see where it goes from there." Lee clears his throat and focuses on the lines Amanda drilled into him. "Mister Green, is it?" Lee asks, spying the nameplate reading "William Green" on the desk. "I want to let you know that due to the potential public welfare issues the lift''s repeated closures represent, my partner Ninetales here will be acting as a psychic lie detector during our conversation today," he says, stroking the fox''s neck with a hand.

    Green stares at Ninetales, barely able to hide his dread. Beside Lee, Zinnia snorts derisively as she watches.

    "Ninetales will not be reading your mind or looking at your memories, she will just be passively scanning any brainwaves you emit. You can decline to answer any question, but cooperation will be appreciated." Lee leaves out how silence for certain questions opens up the muddy waters of ''probable cause''.

    ''He''s already nervous,'' Ninetales narrows her eyes and carefully watches Green''s twitching face.

    ''Of course he''s nervous. We barged in and said ''hey, we''re value-brand cops loaded down with dangerous pokemon and we''re going to grill you on the obvious criminal activity here.'' That would make anyone jittery.'' Lee combs his fingers through the fur on the back of Ninetales'' neck. ''I just hope he was bullied into it rather than going along willingly. I''d be glad to argue against any charges dropped on him if that''s the case.''

    "Do you have any questions before we begin?" Lee smiles at the man running the lift.

    Green licks his lips, looking between everyone again. From the corner of his eye, Lee can see Zinnia''s knowing, borderline menacing grin, and Brendan''s professionally blank face.

    "If you get an answer you don''t like��" Green begins slowly. "What happens to me?"

    "It all depends on the context. I didn''t come here looking to arrest anyone, and I would prefer to keep it that way," Lee nods. "Honesty will go a long way. Any other questions?"

    Green shakes his head.

    "Okay then," Lee smiles once more, doing his best to seem reassuring. He takes his notebook from his bag and flips to a blank page, his pen ready. "Let''s get started."

    Ninetales'' eyes glow red, and Green lets out a sigh, his face going pale.

    <hr>

    "...And that''s everything I know��" Green looks away, hugging his arms. Shivers run up and down his body, making his curly hair bounce.

    Lee looks down to Ninetales, who lets the theatric glow of her eyes fade. ''As far as I am able to tell, he provided no falsehoods,'' she says to Lee. ''He genuinely believes his life would be in danger if he and his co-workers did not cooperate with Magma.''

    ''The manager of the place accepting bribes is probably going to land them all in court, though��'' Lee clicks his tongue as he signs his notes. "Thank you, Mister Green. One more question; is the lift actually not working? As in, is it currently unsafe to use?"

    The exhausted-looking man before them shakes his head. "No, sir. It''s working."

    "Can you take us up?" Lee closes his notebook and takes a moment to tuck it away in his backpack. "I''d like to see what exactly is going on."

    Wordlessly, Green rises from his chair and walks to the rear of the room, where a large set of doors labeled CABLE CAR ACCESS in capital letters is. Pushing one door open, he beckons Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, and the pokemon along.

    "C''mon everyone," Lee looks back to his friends and nods towards the doors.

    <hr>

    Leaning against the railing of the cable car platform and watching the next car slowly making its way down Mt. Chimney to pick them up, Brendan crosses his arms and pretends to inspect the scenery. In reality, he''s watching Lee and Zinnia from the corner of his eye as his spirit begins to sink.

    The older trainers have been standing close to each other the whole time, and Brendan''s watchful eye remains locked on Zinnia''s face. It takes him only a minute to spy uncomfortable twitches and her expression shifting for no reason. Meanwhile, Lee remains straight-faced. Beside him, Ninetales also remains stoic.

    Lee must be using Ninetales'' telepathy to talk to Zinnia privately, leaving Brendan in the dark again.

    Something in Brendan''s chest hurts at the thought. He thought they were all friends��

    They knew, Brendan�� Courtney''s phantom voice tickles his ear. They knew, and they didn''t tell you. We don''t do such things within Magma, for we all must stand together. Without unity, we are lost.

    The pain in his chest stings just a little more.

    Part of Brendan chides the rest for being upset. Lee is a worrywart to the bone with firm ideas on what children should and should not do, no matter how much it conflicts with the culture of being a trainer.

    Zinnia, on the other hand, is from a reclusive tribe. Being open just isn''t in her nature. In the months he''s known her, clarity is something she struggles to provide anyone.

    Another part of Brendan is still sore and resentful, though. For all his strides forward and proving he can keep pace with them, Lee and Zinnia still treat him like a dumb child, someone who isn''t equal to them. Courtney isn''t like that. She understands who he is, and the scale of his ambitions.

    "We''re alike in more ways than one, Brendan," she said as she finished her story, finished coming clean and being honest. Her soft-looking lips twitch, pulling upward into a smile as beautiful as it is small. "In more ways than you know, and that''s why I need your help."

    Just thinking of the magenta-haired woman and her gentle smile turns Brendan''s stomach into warm mush. He gulps and wets his suddenly dry mouth with his tongue, looking away from the scenery and over to Marshtomp.

    His blue, amphibious partner stares back with a nervous light in his beady eyes. Twiddling his large fingers, Marshtomp lets out a short, inquiring croak, and Brendan doesn''t need to read a single bit of Marshtomp''s body language to guess what the pokemon is asking.

    "You''ll side with me, won''t you?" Courtney''s phantom voice asks, each word as enticing as a sugary morsel.

    "I''m�� Still thinking on it, pal��" Brendan''s voice is so quiet, he can''t even hear his own words. He doesn''t want to risk Shelgon, or Arceus forbid, Ninetales hearing him. "No matter what, we''ll stay friends, right?"

    Marshtomp grimaces, but nods his head without hesitation.

    Without warning, there is a poke to the back of Brendan''s head, one that isn''t physical, and he feels everything in his veins turn to ice. He turns and looks over to the fox pokemon standing by Lee''s side, and eyes like blood-coated gems stare back.

    Ninetales wants to talk�� With telepathy.

    Brendan flashes back to just a few days ago, just hours before Lee''s Corvisquire unexpectedly returned to the group.

    <hr>

    Wakefulness comes to Brendan in just a few breaths, an unpleasant, formless dream of the events to come fading and leaving him disoriented. Sitting up in his bed, Brendan grumbles as he looks at the nightstand clock, which reads just a few minutes before noon. He lays back down, staring at the ceiling as his mind buzzes aimlessly. Courtney, Magma, Lee, Zinnia, The League, his thoughts flit from one thing to another, too restless to stay on a single topic for long. He''d turn and talk about it to whichever of his pokemon was playing night-guard and sleeping in his bed that night�� but all of his pokemon are in their balls. They''ve been avoiding Lee and Zinnia''s pokemon ever since he asked them to keep Courtney''s secret, and oftentimes the privacy of a pokeball was the only haven away from the rest of the group.

    Raising his head again, he takes in the room.

    Lee and his bag are gone, and the curtains are pulled shut, likely a favor from Lee. It makes Brendan frown, though. He thought he was hiding his mood better. Apparently not if the older trainer knows Brendan is sleeping in so late. It looks like he''s alone in-''

    Fwip!

    The sound of paper being overturned makes Brendan''s eyes shoot over to Lee''s bed, and Brendan realizes he''s not alone.

    On Lee''s bed is Ninetales, splaying out in a relaxed pose as she reads a thick book laid out on the covers. She looks up from her reading and levels him with an even look.

    "Oh, uh��" Brendan hesitates. "Good morning, Ninetales��"

    The Fire-type dips her head in greeting, then returns to her book.

    Silence fills the air, and Brendan fidgets before finally throwing the covers off. He hastily steps over to his backpack at the foot of his bed, takes some clothes from his bag, and quickly walks to the bathroom to get cleaned up and change out of his night clothes.

    After showering, brushing his teeth, and changing his clothes, Brendan exits the steamy bathroom and sits on the edge of his bed, sighing. He checks his phone, and finds only a text message from Lee saying the man is going out training and that Ninetales is taking a vacation day. There''s nothing from Courtney.

    For a few more minutes he sits, wondering what he should do today. Just as he begins debating the merits of reaching out to Courtney first, he feels something touch him. It tickles the back of his head, so he pulls his hat up a little and scratches the spot only for the itch to remain.

    There is a snort from Lee''s bed, so he looks over to see Ninetales with a single eyebrow raised. In the back of his head, Brendan feels the phantom finger poke once, twice, three times. Then again, one, two, and three times. Before the third repetition, everything clicks into place.

    Ninetales is reaching out to him with telepathy. What could she have to say? Why reach out to him? Should he let her in? Will she know something is afoot if he declines?

    "Uh��" Brendan swallows heavily. "I don''t know how to let you in."

    Ninetales blinks, and the tickle in the back of Brendan''s head is gone like nothing ever happened. For a second, the boy wonders if Ninetales decided against telepathy, then he hears it, and a shiver runs down his spine.

    ''Are you well, Brendan? You''ve been sullen for several days.''

    Brendan stiffens and shivers. The voice of a woman with an unplaceable accent echoes from everywhere yet nowhere, from the corners of the room and the depths of his skull. The words he understands, but it''s as if they lack all inflection, and he cannot hope to assign a meaning beyond literal to each one. In a place Brendan cannot see, there is a great non-human something close to a part of himself that he cannot name, so close that it''s borderline perverse, coating him in the sensation of grime despite his having just had a shower. Within him, something primal shivers, wracked by the fear of being devoured by something he can''t defend himself against. It takes a moment for his thoughts to clear and realize that the great thing is Ninetales.

    Lee lives with this awful feeling every day?

    "I''m fine," Brendan congratulates himself for keeping the warble out of his voice. "Nothing wrong, honest."

    Ninetales'' eyes narrow. ''You''re certain? Everyone has noticed you''ve not been yourself lately, and Lee asked me to check upon you should you still be in the doldrums. If you don''t wish to speak to me, then please speak to someone else.''

    How much can she see? Can she tell he''s not being truthful? "I''m sure I''m fine! I''ll let you, or Lee, or Zinnia, or Courtney, or heck, anyone else know." Brendan smiles, but he knows it''s going to look off.

    Ninetales flicks an ear with a displeased huff. ''Very well, I will not push you. Both Lee and Zinnia have noticed, however. They will eventually want to know.''

    Brendan just nods, and the room falls back to silence. For a moment, Brendan debates asking Ninetales what she would do if someone she liked were�� on a path in life contrary to hers. Her kind are supposed to be instinctually wise or something, right? Then he stops. Even if he were to get her to swear she wouldn''t say a thing, she could just lie to him and tell Lee anyway.

    ''Oh no,'' his eyes widen. ''Can she hear my thoughts right now?'' His stomach drops, and he turns to stare at Ninetales once more. "Hey, uh, Ninetales? No dig at your integrity intended or anything, but with telepathy, how much can you see? Or hear?" He asks before his nerves can get the best of him.

    If the implication offends her, the fox keeps it off her face and out of her ''voice'' like an expert. In fact, her narrowed eyes soften ''I can see nothing you do not wish to show me, Brendan,'' She assures him. ''My mind is touching yours only enough for you to hear me. I would never dream of taking anything from you by force.''

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ''Is that because it would upset Lee, or because of your own morals? I think I know the answer.'' Brendan wonders to himself.

    The phantom thing that is Ninetales pulls away from his brain quickly, as if recoiling. Brendan goes still for a moment, wondering if Ninetales heard his final, parting thought.

    <hr>

    Brendan blinks and returns to the present when he feels another phantasmal poke to the back of his brain. Meeting Ninetales'' eyes, he gulps and nods his head.

    The pressure is gone, and once more Ninetales'' maddening everywhere-at-once voice can be heard. ''Brendan, you''re jittering. Is something wrong?''

    ''I''m fine,'' To himself, the young trainer wonders how Ninetales can tell what thoughts are meant for her. Once more, a single exchange leaves him feeling vulnerable in a way he can''t put into words, and he hates the feeling. ''Lee suspects this is some kind of criminal negligence case, right? This is why we''ve stayed for so long in Lavaridge?''

    ''Indeed.'' Ninetales then pauses. ''Brendan, Lee is about to explain in more detail. I wanted to speak with you briefly, just to inform you that what you''re going to hear might be shocking. Please understand that Zinnia, and particularly Lee, did not withhold the information from you out of a sense of maliciousness. Lee looks at age before all else in matters where danger might arise.''

    ''I know he does��'' Brendan crosses his arms. ''Maybe he shouldn''t, though.''

    Ninetales frowns, but withdraws her telepathic tendril, leaving Brendan blessedly alone in his head once more.

    As the cable car slows down and turns the bend to the boarding platform, Lee turns and looks his way. The older trainer''s face screws itself up into guilt. "Hey, Brendan? There''s something myself and Zinnia need to let you in on, something pertaining to this little investigation and�� to Courtney, as well."

    Beside Lee, Zinnia shifts in obvious discomfort, but is stilled by Shelgon briefly touching his shell to her leg.

    ''Now they come clean, huh?'' Brendan frowns, but banishes his darkening thoughts. "Okay, what''s up?"

    Zinnia takes the stage from Lee by clearing her throat. "Lemme frame this whole thing real quick. You''re probably going to be upset that we''ve been keeping things from you, and that''s fine. You can be pissed, we''re expecting it." With a sigh, Zinnia hooks her thumbs in her belt loops. "Brendan, we''ve been tracking Magma for a while now, and we''re heading right into the fire, here. We''re expecting to encounter them on the volcano-" she nods her head backwards, towards Mt Chimney "-and Lee wants to give you the chance to back out. One, because of the danger, and two��" The Dragon Tamer sighs and looks around awkwardly. "Two, because Lee and I heavily suspect Courtney is some kind of official within Magma."

    "We suspected her from the beginning, which is why we agreed to let her travel with us," Lee continues as Ninetales leans into his side. "I know this might come off as a shock, and we''re sorry for not telling you. I know you and Courtney are friends." Lee hides his hands in his jacket pockets, but Brendan can still see him twiddling his fingers nervously. "We still haven''t found a motive for her joining, but we figured we''d keep her close anyway in an effort to get her to spill her secrets and to force Magma to operate with one less officer." Lee steps forward and lays a hand on Brendan''s shoulder. "Since she vanished this morning, I can only assume she''s up there."

    ''She is,'' Brendan''s phone contains a single new text message for today, one from Courtney begging him to make the right choice on the volcano. Conflict boils within the boy''s gut as the realization that the point of no return is upon him. He looks up at Lee, then to Zinnia.

    Two serious faces stare back, faces that want only the best for him. The frustration of being looked at like a child still burns inside of him, though.

    Licking his lips, he looks up at the distant, smoky peak of Mt Chimney. Up there, a woman who makes him feel special and wanted awaits. She wishes for him to be by her side as they reshape the entire world.

    He can pick only one side. He knows neither Lee and Zinnia nor Courtney will bend to the other.

    Taking a deep breath, Brendan gives Lee a hard stare, his brown eyes locking with Lee''s blue.

    "I want to go along."

    <hr>

    The ride up the cable car to the top of the volcano is quiet, with the silence enforced by the building anticipation of the conflict to come. After Zinnia sent Swablu ahead to check for guards at the landing point, the only real noise is the creak of the cable overhead pulling the car along, and the tapping of Brendan''s foot.

    Tap tap tap!

    Everyone''s eyes are drawn to the window, where Swablu hovers just outside.

    Grinning, Zinnia opens the window just long enough for Swablu to flutter in before rolling it shut again. "Any advance guards?"

    Landing on Zinnia''s outstretched arm, Swablu shakes her head with a trill.

    "Heh," Zinnia raises Swablu''s pokeball. "Magma sure is full of themselves not guarding the way in. Thanks, girl. Return!"

    Swablu lets out a pleased tweet, then is drawn back into her pokeball for a rest.

    As the stopping platform at the very top of the volcano comes into view, Brendan observes his friends once more, because�� Because today might be the last time he sees them.

    I''m�� more than I say I am. I''m on a mission, and�� I need your help.

    I need your help.

    The youngest Birch withholds a shaking sigh and tries to will his heart to be still. He glances over to Marshtomp. "You ready, pal?"

    Marshtomp looks down at the steel floor of the car, saying nothing.

    "I''m not, either��" Brendan murmurs.

    Once the car comes to a stop at the station on the volcano, Lee takes a deep breath and once more takes the lead. "Alright, everyone. Best foot forward, and be ready to fight."

    "Be ready? I''m already ready for a scrap, Dolittle." Zinnia smiles and pats Shelgon on his metallic shell. "You aren''t?"

    "Not really," Lee says, pushing the lift''s squeaky door open. "I''d rather be relaxing in my own private lab somewhere."

    Lee and Ninetales step out first, followed by Zinnia and Shelgon. Sharing one last troubled look with each other, Brendan and Marshtomp bring up the rear. Immediately, the boy''s face wrinkles as his eyes and nose are assaulted by hot air smelling of burning plastic and sulfur.

    The ''closed'' station atop Mt Chimney is, as far as Brendan can see, abandoned. Off to the side and near the high fence that keeps visitors away from a deadly tumble are a number of wooden crates, some open. There are a few food wrappers on the ground and an overturned trash can by the door leading into the volcano visitor''s center, along with a large pavilion where picnic tables sit in the shade.

    ''The rest of the volcano isn''t accessible from here,'' Brendan looks at the visitor center to the left. Behind them is the lift, and to the right is a high wall of rock with a painted mural of various fire pokemon upon it. The wall extends into the distance and wraps around to the left, encompassing the pavilion and meeting the visitor center''s wall, forming an enclosed square. ''So we''ve only got one way in, and one way out��'' He eyeballs the double glass doors off to the left.

    Walking forward as a group, the three trainers and their pokemon approach the visitor''s center, stopping when someone pushes the door open.

    Stepping out of the building is a man whose face is mostly covered by his red hood. On his red shirt is Team Magma''s stylized M logo, and on the belt holding his gray pants up is a single pokeball. At the man''s side is a Purrloin, a small, cat-like pokemon covered in creme and purple fur.

    "Who the hell is using the lift?" The Magma grunt grumbles. "I thought we go-!" The Magma underling and his Purrloin freeze like a pair of Deerling caught in headlights when they spot Brendan, Lee, Zinnia, and the cadre of pokemon with them. The man''s hand shoots to his side, where a radio is strapped. "Purrloin! Fake Out!" He cries, pointing at the group with his free hand.

    A command for Marshtomp is on Brendan''s lips, but he hesitates even as his partner''s eyes bore into him.

    "Shelgon, Rollout!" Zinnia counters in his place.

    Before the grunt''s Purrloin can get into position to attack, Shelgon rolls into a ball and flies across the cement ground like a runaway boulder, kicking up chunks of cement as he goes.

    Purrloin can only widen his eyes before Shelgon slams into him with crushing force. There are a few cringe-inducing cracks, and the dull thud of Purrloin''s head rebounding off of Shelgon before the poor cat is thrown away like an abused toy. He flies through the air for a long second, then lands on the concrete in a boneless heap, bouncing once. Purrloin coughs through battered lungs and tries to stand, but falls to his stomach and wheezes helplessly as Shelgon unrolls and looms over him.

    "Shit shit shit!", the Magma grunt pulls his radio free and goes to raise it to his lips, but before he can depress the transmit button, the radio glows violet, then is ripped from his hand with such force that the man cries out and trips forward.

    The radio flies over to hover in front of Ninetales, whose eyes glow the same color as the corona encasing the device. With a growl, she crushes it in her telekinetic grip, throwing sparks and littering the ground with shards of black plastic.

    "Please don''t resist-" Lee begins as the Magma grunt scrambles back to his feet and tries to run. Tries, being the keyword, because the red-clad man only gets a few steps before Shelgon throws himself into the grunt''s path, making the man gasp and fall to his rear. He turns back to stare at the group in undisguised fear.

    "Or do resist and make this fun," Zinnia grins a manic grin, one that promises violence. "C''mon, get up and run. Try your luck!" She takes a step forward, her hand grasping a pokeball. "I wanna see how far you''ll get!"

    The spooked grunt crawls backward, only to run into a glaring Shelgon and flinch.

    "Zinnia, please," Lee puts a hand on her shoulder and pulls the tanned woman back. Lee gives the grunt a smile, and after pushing the disgruntled Zinnia back a bit, he steps forward in her place. "Sir, in my capacity as a Hoenn Lab Trainer, you''re being placed under arrest at this time for suspicion of involvement with gang activity. Everything you say and do can and will be held against you in a court of law, so you have the right to remain silent if you wish. If you cooperate with us, though, I promise you I''ll do everything I can to secure leniency for you." Despite his kind words, Ninetales still adds an air of menace to Lee''s words just by standing next to him with her narrow-eyed leer.

    Brendan has to wonder if Lee and Zinnia rehearsed this Good Cop, Bad Cop, bit.

    The grunt doesn''t resist when Lee steps forward and takes his arm, pulling the other man to his feet. Lee produces a pair of zip-cuffs from his pocket and cuffs the grunt''s hand behind him, then takes the pokeball from his belt.

    "Hey, wait!" The grunt twists in Lee''s hold to look at the pokeball the scarred man seized. "What are you going to do to Purrloin? None of this was his fault, he was just following me!"

    "I''m going to keep Purrloin with me for now," Lee calmly explains, returning the unconscious cat pokemon to his ball in a flash of red. Once Purrloin is returned, Lee holds down the pokeball''s button to lock the ball, then shrinks it and drops it in his pocket. "Once this is all figured out, he''ll be returned to you pending your trial and any resulting convictions." Lee''s expression twists into distaste. "It''s�� more likely you''ll be reunited faster if you cooperate," he says pointedly.

    Brendan can''t help but frown himself, looking at Ninetales as he does so. That seems like something she would say, not Lee.

    The grunt''s face falls, and his shoulders slump. "Okay��" He allows himself to be led over to the side of the building and sat down against some railing. Once sat, his current set of cuffs are cuffed to the railing so he can''t escape.

    After pulling the grunt''s ID from his wallet, jotting a few things down, and asking a few questions, Lee gets to the meat of everything as Brendan and Zinnia stand by.

    "Lawrence," Lee addresses the grunt by his name. In Lee''s hands are his pen and notebook, the latest page of which is filled with the grunt''s info. "You said you were the guard for the visitor center and the lift, right? You don''t work in pairs or teams or anything?"

    The grunt shakes his head. With his hood down, there is nothing hiding the miserable look on the youngish grunt''s face. "No. The Admins want everything set up faster and lowered guards and patrols down to one man to free up workers. I''m covering both the visitor''s office and the lift stop."

    "What exactly are they working on?" Zinnia asks, leaning over the grunt with her hands on her hips. "With all the bogus closures, you have to have moved a lot of materials up here, right?"

    "I don''t know what they''re working on," Lawrence denies. "I just know it''s some big machine that dips down into the lava at the mouth of the volcano. It should be done today after they get the power source."

    "Power source?" Brendan finally asks a question. Courtney didn''t really fill him in on what was going on up here, only to make the right choice. "What''s the power source?"

    The grunt shrugs his shoulders as best he can while cuffed and sitting down. "I don''t know. Some kind of meteorite filled with pokemon energy, I think? A team had to rough up some doctor named Cozmo to get him to adapt the machine in the volcano to use the meteorite. The Admins couldn''t find a better power source, I guess?"

    Brendan watches Lee''s face when the scarred man''s expression becomes forcefully neutral, tipping him off that Lee knows something about what''s going on.

    "Interesting," Lee murmurs, jotting another note down. "About how many people and pokemon are on this volcano operation?"

    Again, the grunt shrugs. "Twenty? Twenty-two with Admins Tabitha and Courtney. Most of the guys only have one or two pokemon."

    Zinnia hisses, and Lee gives Brendan a searching look.

    Brendan looks away, not wanting to see how Lee and Zinnia regard him with pity. Marshtomp touches his elbow with a webbed hand in a silent show of support.

    "Right, thank you��" Lee stands up straight, shoulders his bag, and stows away his notebook. "Stay here, Mister Lawrence. We''ll be back."

    The grunt is left as Lee takes the group a few paces away and gestures for a huddle.

    "We could be looking at twenty to forty pokemon to fight, assuming a max of two per grunt, and that''s not counting Courtney or this Tabitha character," Lee begins, giving Brendan and Zinnia hard looks. "Any suggestions on how to go about this?"

    "We should have all of our pokemon ready from the get-go." Zinnia clicks her tongue and grabs her other three occupied pokeballs from her belt. "They''ll probably try to pair off and hit us one on one, but if they''re stupid, they might say to hell with it and try a dogpile. We should be ready for either, even if the latter is unlikely," she says, hitting the buttons on her pokeballs and enlarging them. She tosses the balls up, and all three pop open at the apex of their flight, depositing Swablu, Goomy, and Tyrunt at her feet.

    Swablu trills out a neutral note, ready to go. Tyrunt snaps his jaws with a loud pop and hops from foot to foot, eager as can be. Goomy, meanwhile, just shrinks in on himself, quivering.

    "Pair off? You really think there''s any chance they''ll play by any rules and fight one-to-one?" Lee asks, disbelief clear in his voice. He crosses his arms and shakes his head. "There''s nothing stopping them."

    ''Lee always seems to expect the worst��'' Brendan rolls his eyes.

    Zinnia smirks, and it''s a knowing one. "I forget you''re still a novice in some things, Dolittle. This isn''t a war or anything, so they aren''t going to cross any lines that we won''t. They know if they take desperate measures, we''ll take desperate measures, and they have no way of knowing if our pokemon are more powerful than theirs. It''s Pro Crook 101 to play it safe in battles unless you know for a fact they''re weaker than you."

    Lee hums to himself in thought. "So kind of like one of those hypothetical dilemmas you hear in school eh? Don''t press the red button, because that genie won''t go back into its bottle." He looks to the horizon with unseeing eyes for an uncomfortably long minute. "Is there any merit to non-lethally disabling the trainers themselves? I think I already know the answer, but��"

    "That''s the logical end of the desperate measures I was talking about," Zinnia mutters darkly. She looks up at the sky with something Brendan can''t quite place in her red eyes. "Hurt the trainer, and what''s stopping their enraged pokemon from returning the favor?" She asks.

    Lee calmly nods like he expected nothing else. "Okay, let''s make some final prep, then hop to it." He takes his pokeballs from his belt and tosses them up. Like Zinnia''s, they snap open, and in flashes of light, Grovyle, Octillery, and Corvisquire are in position around him. Catching the falling pokeballs, Lee puts them back on his belt.

    Grovyle and Octillery stand ready with little fanfare, looking towards Lee for instruction, while Corvisquire''s beak is pulled back into a nasty, eager grin. The raven ruffles his feathers, and it sounds like steel rubbing on steel.

    ''It''s my turn,'' Brendan takes Mawile and Breloom''s pokeballs in his hands. For a moment, he thinks about also taking Elektrike''s, but stops short. ''Naw, he''s too young.'' He tosses the balls up, and both pop open. In flashes of white, Mawile and Breloom take form on either side of Marshtomp.

    Both pokemon look up at him with open worry. Mawile''s large, expressive eyes are already prickling with tears, and Breloom''s tired face seems even more exhausted than usual.

    Mawile steps forward, tenderly taking one of Brendan''s hands in her tiny ones. She doesn''t need to say a thing. Her disheartened face says more than words could anyway.

    I''m�� more than I say I am. I''m on a mission, and�� I need your help.

    I need your help.

    Courtney''s words echo in his skull again, and Brendan grits his teeth and pulls his hand away from Mawile''s to ball it up in frustration.

    He knows none of his pokemon agree with him.

    <hr>

    "So, we''re clear on formations and such?" Lee asks everyone, glancing over his shoulder to the visitor center doors. They need to move, and soon before someone in Magma notices something amiss.

    The lift station atop Mt. Chimney is different from the one he remembers in either the games or the anime. In the anime, Lee swears the cable car had an indoor drop-off point, not an outdoor one. The pavilion and the location of the office are throwing him off as well. At least there wasn''t a load of goons waiting for them��

    The pokemon around the trio of humans give their confirmations to Lee''s question with nods, yips, tweets, hisses, croaks, burbles, and other, single-syllable answers.

    "Ready!" Zinnia smiles a smile that is perhaps a touch too eager.

    Lee looks over to Brendan, who is lost in his thoughts for what seems like the tenth time today. The boy is staring not at him, but past him. "Hey, Brendan? Ready to go?"

    Brendan blinks, coming back to reality. "Oh, uh��" He grins sheepishly and adjusts his hat. "Can I get that one more time?"

    Lee resists the urge to sigh. Part of him wants to include Brendan, both because of the young Birch''s ability as a trainer, and because of the guilt of lying to him, but it''s clear the news of Courtney being a Magma member unbalanced him. ''I guess I can''t blame him. First crushes are hard to overcome, and this is probably the worst way to do so��''

    ''He''s been distracted all day, remember?'' Ninetales says telepathically, replaying her own memory of Brendan''s listlessness this morning for Lee. ''Perhaps it wasn''t your revelation that is doing this?''

    ''Then what is doing it?'' Lee grumbles then clears his throat. "If they all try to gang up on us, Octillery will hang back and snipe, with Goomy and Mawile as guards. Marshtomp, Shelgon, Tyrunt, and Breloom are going to be our linemen and stay in the front so we can keep the brawl contained on our terms, Corvi and Swablu will deal with fliers and help out below once they''ve got the sky under control, and Ninetales is going right into the thick of things to keep them disorganized. If Courtney or the other admin get involved, then Ninetales will break away from the main fight to hold them off. Once the grunts are cleaned up, everyone supports her. If things really start to go pear-shaped, Corvi will take off and get back up. Got it?"

    At Lee''s side, Corvisquire frowns and snaps his beak at his auxiliary role, but his ire dies near-instantly when Lee places a gentle hand on his head.

    Brendan nods, but he still seems a little distracted if his wandering eyes are a reliable tell. "Got it."

    "Okay��" Lee sighs and turns towards the visitor center, steeling his nerves. "We''ve gotta move fast, so let''s go!" Lee throws the double doors open and heads inside, Ninetales only a single step behind him.

    The large group of trainers and pokemon file into the office on Lee and Ninetales'' heels (after Goomy hitches a ride on Shelgon''s shell). They quickly march through the halls, and Lee silently laments that they aren''t here for a day trip, as the exhibits regarding the pokemon of the volcano they pass look so enticing. Resolving to come back one day, Lee glances at a map on the wall they pass and hangs a right, leading everyone to the ''front'' foyer of the office. Once the double glass doors leading out to the mouth of the volcano come into view, Lee holds a hand out behind him and stops the group.

    Outside is a large, flat swathe of smoothed-over rock, serving as a courtyard of sorts before the building. From the doors, everyone is given a view of several smaller buildings that have also been erected on the mountain, such as a small eatery, another office, a gift shop, and an open shed with several volcanic rock exhibits on display, to name the prominent ones. Along those buildings, a number of Magma members mill about, either moving large crates on dollies, idly playing on their phones or with their pokemon, or in the case of one poor man, getting yelled at by a larger grunt. What the smaller, red-wearing man is getting smoked about is a mystery since the argument is too far away to hear.

    ''Nine?'' Lee barely needs to ask, as he feels Ninetales stretching her mind out already, covering damn near the entire volcano.

    ''Courtney is out there,'' the fox at his side grimly confirms. ''Near the mouth of the volcano, if the unearthly mass of Fire TE I sense is the lava pool. Besides her, there are twenty-three other people and seven loose pokemon.''

    Lee takes one deep breath and screws his eyes shut, sending a prayer to God, Jesus, Arceus, Mew, hell, even Giratina is fine. Whoever is listening is good enough.

    "C''mon, Dolittle!" Zinnia hisses, drawing Lee''s attention to her. At Zinnia''s feet, Tyrunt is practically slathering at the mouth for the fight to come, and Zinnia has her foot stomped on one of little dino''s own to keep him from lumbering into the fray. "Are we doing this or what?"

    With a grunt, Lee looks over his pokemon.

    Ninetales smiles reassuringly, and Lee can feel the phantom sensation of hellfire in his chest, which is surely bleeding over from his fox. She gently noses his side. ''Ready when you are.''

    Grovyle''s leaves are already humming with danger and a glowing, razor edge. The gecko lightly bounces on his feet and gives Lee a simple nod, needing to say nothing else.

    Octillery is laser-focused, his eyes locked forward on the nearest Magma goon with deadly-serious intent. Already, Lee can see the octopus thinking ten steps ahead.

    Corvisquire''s eyes gleam with unfettered violence and the desire to prove himself with it. He looks up at Lee, almost begging for the chance with his gaze alone.

    Letting out his bated breath, Lee sets his face into as authoritative a scowl as he can. "Go in fast, demand they surrender, and respond quickly to the ones who don''t. If they freak out, take formation and give them hell. Got it?" Without waiting for a reply from his friends, Lee steps forward and throws the doors between them and Team Magma open.

 Act 2: Chapter 16

    "Hands up! Pokemon League!"

    ''Is that really the best I could come up with?'' Lee grimaces inwardly as he and his pokemon, along with Brendan and Zinnia''s teams all pour out into the courtyard of the volcano''s visitor center. "Toss away any pokeballs and get on your knees!" he yells at the top of his lungs.

    Every Magma grunt''s eyes shoot to them, with some being more startled than others. Three of the grunts even cave to the demand, raising their hands and dropping down to their knees with looks of fright painted on their faces. Of the three, two of them can be no older than sixteen.

    The others?

    One grunt takes a pokeball from his side and throws it at the ground, where it pops open and releases a furious-looking Golbat. "Golbat, get ready!" the henchman orders.

    As if hearing the pop of a starting gun at the beginning of a race, the rest of the grunts all shake themselves from their stupor and seize their own pokeballs. Their orders all overlap each other as each one scrambles to ready themselves and their pokemon. In a multitude of flashes, pokemon of all sorts take shape at their trainer''s feet. Lee spies several Poochyena, a Zubat, a Numel, a Koffing, a Mankey, and others. Two of the older-looking grunts, who must be lieutenants, have a Machoke and a Lairon.

    Ninetales bristles and lowers herself, taking position in front of Lee. On either side of her, a growling Shelgon and manically grinning Marshtomp do the same for Zinnia and Brendan. Lee only spares a second to look behind him, seeing Grovyle, Octillery, and Corvisquire standing ready to jump into the fray.

    The grunt with the Lairon blinks and slides forward a bit, his hurt eyes focused on Zinnia. The man is rather unremarkable appearance-wise, sans the cyan hair Lee can see under his hood. "Hey, Zena, babe? What are you doing?!" he demands. "You''re one of us! Is this some kinda joke?!"

    ''Zena? Is this the guy Zinnia was catfishing?'' Lee looks between Zinnia and the Magma goon.

    Zinnia scoffs at the lieutenant. "You got played, dolt. Try thinking with the head on your shoulders, and maybe you wouldn''t have been strung along or found yourself in a gang." She shakes her head. "You and your friends need to give up before you get hurt."

    Lee doesn''t miss how Brendan flinches at Zinnia''s examination.

    The grunt retreats back a step, seeming to be genuinely distraught. Beside him, his Lairon''s blue eyes narrow, and a growl rattles from his metallic throat. "Well��" The lieutenant blinks his eyes, and his disappointment is replaced with fury. "Fuck you, then! Lairon, get ready! Boys, step up!"

    Another grunt steps forward with his spitting-mad Mankey on the lieutenant''s left, and on that grunt''s left, the grunt with the growling Poochyena takes position. Another steps out of the crowd to join his fellows, a calm Meditite on his heels. The three grunts step forward, with the Mankey poised to take on Ninetales, Poochyena on Shelgon, and Meditite on Marshtomp. The rest all back up a dozen steps with considerable haste, whooping and hollering for their fellow gang members.

    "Kick some ass!"

    "Make Magma proud!"

    "Fuck ''em up!"

    ''They really do intend to fight us one-to-one��'' Lee blinks at how surreal it feels. ''I could have sworn this was going to turn into an uncontrolled brawl.''

    Ninetales snarls at the Mankey across from her, who screeches back in blind anger. ''They''re afraid of a full-scale conflict, and rightly so,'' she says, her thoughts dark as she stares down her foe. ''They have no idea what they''re up against.''

    The lieutenant off to the side, the one with his tense Machoke, takes a radio from his belt and lifts it to his lips. Amidst all the noise from the Magma members and their pokemon, the lieutenant''s message is lost even to Ninetales'' sharp ears, but it can''t be good.

    ''He''s probably calling Courtney and Tabitha��'' Lee grimly realizes. For a second, he''s tempted to have Ninetales rip the radio away from the man, but stops himself, fearing that might constitute an attack on the trainer and turn the whole situation into a bloodbath.

    Shelgon and Marshtomp take their places on either side of Ninetales. From Shelgon''s throat rolls a deep growl that reverberates from within his shell, while Marshtomp wordlessly raises his fists.

    The chatter of the grunts and the cries of their pokemon fall quiet. The heated air of the volcano top fills with uneasy tension, one looking for any excuse to explode like a spring wound too tight.

    Ninetales'' Drought begins to make the sunrays unpleasantly hot, and Lee has to resist the urge to pull on the collar of his shirt. Keeping his head still, Lee turns his eyes to the left.

    Zinnia meets his nervous gaze with red eyes practically blazing with resolve. That firm, assured belief that everything will turn out fine takes the edge off his nerves.

    To the right��

    Brendan refuses to meet Lee''s eyes, instead looking away with guilt for some reason. The boy''s attitude does nothing to settle the twisting within the older trainer''s stomach.

    The Mankey across from Ninetales snorts and lowers himself. Behind him, his sweating trainer''s lips finally part. "Mankey! Kara-!"

    The rest of his words are drowned out as all three battles erupt at once. Shelgon rolls into a ball and charges his foe, while Marshtomp bellows and fires a spear of rushing white water from his mouth. As Ninetales snarls in wordless fury, Lee pulls her mind closer and tries to steady his pounding heart.

    Mankey bounds forward at his trainer''s command, his hairless fist glowing with enough power to turn a boulder to powder. Jumping high, he screeches and zooms downward with all his body weight behind his attack.

    Together, Lee and Ninetales devise a counterplay, exchanging telepathic messages at lightning speed.

    The monkey-like Mankey is stopped dead when Ninetales ducks his strike and latches her teeth around one of his ankles, drawing a shrill shriek of pain from him. The fox then throws her neck, releases her jaws, and dashes her smaller foe across the rocky ground like a child trying to destroy glassware. Before the winded Fighting-type can stand up and recover at his trainer''s frantic urging, Ninetales leaps to him, stomping a front paw onto his stomach, then hovers her open mouth mere inches away from Mankey''s face. The wavering heat mirage pouring from her throat is a dead giveaway of what is about to befall Mankey.

    Mankey screeches and drives his fist into Ninetales'' lower jaw in a flash, even faster than Ninetales can attack, but the vixen hardly budges from the strike, merely redoubling her hostile glare in reply. No, from the hardly-painful phantom impact on his own chin, Lee can tell the strength difference between the two Pok��mon is simply too vast to overcome. Mankey was finished the moment he stepped up.

    A split-second later, the Magma grunt''s Mankey is bathed in a point-blank Flamethrower. The roar of the fire covers any sort of agonized sound that Mankey is surely making, and despite the monkey pokemon being a true enemy, Lee feels his burn scars tingle in sympathy. The flames are a mercifully cool orange rather than white, but many of the spectating Magma goons still cry out in alarm and shuffle backwards from the heat.

    Ninetales cuts off her attack after a mere few seconds, then leaps backward closer to Lee, her stance remaining low and her tails fanned out threateningly.

    On the blackened ground, Mankey, covered in blistering red burns and wheezing, doesn''t even try to get back to his feet. Behind him, his grunt trainer is staring at Ninetales in open terror, shaking so badly that he can hardly raise his pokeball. "R-Return!" He cries, pointing the pokeball into the cramped fighting area.

    In a flash of red, the wounded Mankey is recalled into his pokeball.

    Cradling the ball in his hands, the fearful Magma member pushes his way behind his stunned fellows, hiding himself away.

    ''Well, that didn''t make me feel like a bully or anything.'' Lee thinks, with Ninetales the only one to hear his sarcasm. He scans the crowd of Magma goons, seeing their smirks and jeers gone, replaced with fearful realization. The only noise that isn''t from fighting is Corvisquire''s mocking laughter, trumpeting like a grating, rusty horn behind them.

    ''Is Ninetales that scary?'' Once more, Lee wonders if his ideas of normality are skewing.

    ''They can surrender any time they wish,'' Ninetales snorts in reply. ''Until then, they receive no quarter.''

    Lee hazards a look over to Zinnia''s fight, watching as an unharmed Shelgon bashes his namesake shell into the head of the Poochyena who dared enter the ring with him. Poochyena yelps like a puppy unfairly struck, then stumbles, bleeding profusely from a split in his skull. He stands for only a second more before he collapses, going limp and breathing in gasps. Before the blood pooling around his head can grow to a worrying size, Poochyena is frantically recalled by his trainer, a middle-aged grunt.

    Satisfied, Lee glances over at Brendan''s skirmish.

    Marshtomp plays his fight slow at Brendan''s direction, harassing Meditite at range with Water Gun, and parrying physical blows with his large hands when Meditite dares to close the distance. Marshtomp looks as fresh as can be, smirking throughout the battle, while the panicking grunt''s Meditite is flagging, becoming sluggish as his stamina wanes.

    "Meditite, H-High-Jump Kick!" The Magma member with Meditite can only be sixteen at most, as his voice cracks nervously halfway through the command.

    The sweating Meditite leaps high up into the air, his little humanoid body covered in a faint aura of blue. At the apex of his jump, one of his short legs shoots out and he races down at Marshtomp like a javelin.

    "Now," Brendan orders with unusual apathy.

    As Meditite races down, Marshtomp remains still until the absolute last second, then one of his arms blurs into motion and knocks Meditite''s kick wide. Meanwhile, he clenches his hand into a fist glowing with a slight outline of white, then drives it into the still-falling Meditite''s solar plexus like a battering ram.

    Lee can actually feel the shock wave produced from the brutal blow, which stirs some dust on the ground.

    Meditite can do nothing but rasp through his winded lungs, his hands grasping Marshtomp''s thick wrist for support as his eyes bug out from the gut punch. When his grip becomes limp, he falls from his place suspended on the mudfish''s fist, hitting the ground in a heap.

    "Don''t just stand there!" The lieutenant with the Machoke yells at his stunned compatriots. "Someone else get in there and start fighting immediately! We have to hold out!"

    From the nervous crowd, three more frightened grunts are pushed forward, figuratively thrown to the wolves by the men behind him. With no other choice, the trio shares a look as each one reluctantly takes a ball from their belt.

    ''Here we go again,'' Lee mentally clicks his tongue.

    The new trio, this time with a Zubat, a Machop, and a Rockruff, fare no better than their predecessors. Within a handful of moves and barely a few moments, the second round ends just as the first did. The grunts recall their wounded pokemon and push their way through the throng of bodies behind them, seeking refuge behind the other gang members. The third round passes, and then a fourth, each one draining the gangsters ranks more and more. The lieutenant with the increasingly twitchy Machoke beside him quickly grows pale as he realizes his forces are being chewed through.

    "C''mon!" Zinnia taunts with an unsettlingly wide grin. "Give up!"

    "You don''t have to hurt your pokemon like this!" Lee chimes in as well. "You''ll get a shorter stint in jail if you cooperate!"

    Brendan remains silent.

    The morale of red-clad gangsters is in total freefall, as even the lieutenants are looking unsure at this point. It''s become evident to them all that winning simply isn''t going to happen. Just as the next three reluctant gang members step forward, a loud, angry voice cuts through the silence.

    "Why the hell are you all wasting yourselves like this?!"

    The crowd of grunts rapidly part, allowing a pair of figures entrance.

    On the right is a large, rotund man, both broad and tall, clad in the signature red uniform of Magma. Squinted eyes upon a round face open enough to peer at the gangsters around him with disapproval, which is enough for many of the Magma grunts to bow their heads. On his belt are four pokeballs, one of his large hands hovering above them.

    Beside the large man is a much more familiar face.

    There, next to the large man, is none other than Courtney. The woman''s face wears its usual apathetic expression, which is partially shaded by the red hood pulled over her head. Her hoodie, skirt, and sneakers have been discarded, instead replaced with Magma''s distinctive uniform.

    "Admin Tabitha! Admin Courtney!" The cyan-haired lieutenant who fell for Zinnia''s false affections bows his head, a look of dread upon his face. "We''ve been trying to stall as best we can, but-"

    "You were engaging." Courtney''s matter-of-fact voice interrupts the lieutenant, her magenta eyes raking over Zinnia and Shelgon, Lee and Ninetales, and stopping on Brendan and Marshtomp. "Didn''t follow training. Fighting when you should be dodging." Courtney shakes her head. "Foolish."

    "How many of you are no good to Magma anymore? Twelve? Fifteen?" Tabitha shakes his head with an annoyed sigh, as if having a dozen agents disabled is just an inconvenience. "The rest of you, back off and go guard the TE extractor by the volcano. You''re breakwaters, not fighters! Remember that!"

    The Magma grunts don''t need to be told any more, as all of them quickly break away and retreat to the mouth of the volcano, their footsteps a staccato on the rocky ground. Lee watches their backs for a second, then looks at the large monolith of machinery at the lip of the volcano. ''Did he say ''TE extractor?'' On a volcano? I thought that thing was supposed to awaken Groudon?'' Lee grimaces, realizing they need to stop this now. "Hold on! What''s all this about using TE up here? We''re on top of a volcano! If you upset the balance of the Fire TE in the magma, who knows what could happen!? Are you trying to induce an eruption?!"

    Zinnia tenses up, while Brendan just remains stony-faced.

    Tabitha raises an eyebrow and stares down at Lee, as if he were a child asking an asinine question. He cracks a grin, then throws his head back and laughs. "Ahyahya! An eruption? What do you take us for? Something as crude as inducing a volcano eruption wouldn''t require so many men and so much equipment!"

    Lee feels his nerves unravel a bit at the awful implications of such a line.

    "You''re with the Pokemon League, I understand?" Tabitha continues, crossing his arms and staring them down, seemingly unfazed by Ninetales, Shelgon, Marshtomp, and the gaggle of pokemon in the rear. "I''ve got bigger Qwilfish on their way to be fried, so I don''t have time for you. Recall your pokemon, toss their pokeballs down, and surrender. That''s the only way I can promise you won''t be hurt."

    Ninetales bristles, and Lee is forced to take a second to feed her calming, telepathic whispers to keep her temper in check.

    "Somehow, I doubt that promise is worth much��" Lee retorts, his glare mirroring Ninetales'' to hide his faltering resolve. "Your friends weren''t much trouble for us, and even if you''re ten times better than they are, this is still a three on two fight. I think you''re the one who should be surrendering."

    "Three on two?" Courtney''s lips quirk in amusement. "No."

    "No?" Zinnia''s eyes narrow. "Already called for backup, huh? You gang types are all the same."

    "No," Courtney shakes her head again, and instead looks to Brendan, her smile growing.

    Brendan clenches his fists and grits his teeth. His molars grinding together makes enough noise to draw both Lee and Zinnia''s attention. "I��"

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "Brendan?" Zinnia blinks. "Kid, what''s wrong?"

    Brendan stares down at the ground, his eyes shadowed beneath his hat. Behind him, Breloom and Mawile refuse to meet the eyes of anyone. Mawile especially, considering the tears prickling hers. Marshtomp, meanwhile, forces his usually smiling face into an unnatural, almost painful-looking rictus of neutrality.

    Brendan then takes a deep breath, one that comes out shakily. "Lee? Zinnia?" He asks, his voice quiet. "Courtney told me what Magma is doing. She told me weeks ago. What they''re doing, how they''re doing it, and where they want to be when everything is said and done. These guys�� Are looking really far ahead, and Courtney needs me to help."

    For a moment, Lee listens on, lost, then Brendan''s words piece themselves together into a grim picture. Lee feels his jaw drop, and even Ninetales'' burning fury abates in her surprise. "Brendan, what are you saying?" Lee shakes his head. "You''re not saying what I think you are, are you?"

    "Magma is trying to save the world," Brendan continues, his voice gaining strength. "They want to reshape the land, make the world more sustainable for everyone. There are places like Orre that are totally barren, or Ransei, where people and pokemon are always fighting over land and resources. Heck, didn''t you say your home was so isolated that it had no pokemon? There are a lot of places that aren''t as nice as Hoenn, places that were dealt a bad hand by nature, but that can be fixed!"

    Brendan looks up, and Lee does not like the determined glint he sees within those brown eyes.

    "Courtney says Magma has the will and the means to fix all of that, to send the world into a golden age." Brendan''s eyes narrow. "I�� I want to help with that."

    ''What kind of drivel was Courtney feeding to him?'' Ninetales digs her claws into the rocky ground, her frustration bleeding over to Lee. ''Is Brendan so smitten that he''s taken leave of his senses?!''

    "Brendan, are you listening to yourself!?" Zinnia looks just as shocked as Lee feels. "Magma are terrorists! You can''t honestly believe that they''re doing this for selfless reasons, are you? They''re going to pull the rug out from under you! Whatever the hell you were told, it was all lies! That''s all these criminal fucks can do! Lie!"

    Brendan''s face contorts into a scowl. "Like how you and Lee lied to me?"

    "What?" The Dragon Tamer asks, incredulous. "What have we ever lied to you about?"

    The boy''s entire visage darkens. "You knew who Courtney was for weeks, but never told me a thing! I had to learn about it from her! Not only did she have the nerve to tell me who she was, she told me about Magma''s plans!"

    Tabitha snickers to himself, staying the hand hovering over his pokeball-laden belt. "Oh, quite the soap opera we''ve got going on here! Keep going! I want to see how it ends!"

    Lee flashes back to that night shortly before Corvisquire''s return, when Brendan and his pokemon returned to the hotel sullen and withdrawn. Neither the boy nor his pokemon spoke a single word that night. ''Son of a bitch��''

    Zinnia seems equally as shocked, sharing a brief look of alarm with Lee.

    "Brendan��" Lee struggles to form words. "We knew from the beginning, yes-"

    Courtney''s small smile falls, something that Ninetales notes and wordlessly''s relays to Lee.

    "-but we didn''t keep it to ourselves out of a sense of maliciousness or anything," Lee assures as calmly as he can, thinking quickly about how to turn this around. "We wanted to keep our cover and see what Courtney''s motive was as we attempted to extract information from her. You-" Lee stops himself short, nearly saying ''You''re a kid. You shouldn''t be worrying about criminals.'' Such a sentiment would surely set Brendan off in this high-tension moment. "It�� It wasn''t an issue of trust; it''s just the more people who know a secret, the harder it is to keep, understand? And�� and what about your dream? You want to be the regional champion, right? You can''t do that if you''re on the League''s most-wanted list!"

    Brendan scowls and crosses his arms, but the set of his shoulders falls some. "This is bigger than my own dreams��" He mumbles. "I want to do the Birch name proud, and this goes way beyond being a champion."

    Lee curses under his breath and tries to think of a different approach. Maybe spin the blame around on Courtney? "Unless my eyes were playing tricks on me��" Lee turns and directs a smoldering glare at Courtney, who twitches, but otherwise remains impassive. "Someone seemed a bit shocked that we came clean. Any reason for that?"

    Tabitha quickly steps in when his fellow admin''s scheme develops a wrinkle. "Okay, this has stopped being entertaining," the taller of the two admins takes a pokeball from his belt, drawing the eyes of everyone. "If you aren''t going to surrender, then we''ll have to do this the hard way."

    Beside him, Courtney palms a pokeball of her own.

    "Brendan��" Zinnia growls, her eyes flashing in warning. "Don''t you dare side with a bunch of terrorists."

    "You don''t have to fight, Brendan�� Just stand back." Courtney regards the boy with gentle eyes. "We�� Won''t make you do it."

    Brendan''s earlier resolve seems to be faltering, as he looks between Lee and Zinnia, and Courtney. The boy tries to catch the eyes of Marshtomp with his own, but the mudfish Pok��mon steadfastly refuses to look away from the ground.

    Lee bites his lip, mind racing. Realization strikes him like a blow to the head, and he silently curses himself. Was Courtney playing off of Brendan''s infatuation the entire time? Her motive for traveling with them couldn''t have been Brendan, could it? The dilemma is shelved, though, in favor of the crisis currently unfolding before him.

    Courtney and her team themselves are daunting foes, professional criminals with the skill and the grit to match. They alone would present a serious hurdle. If Tabitha''s skill as a trainer and the might of his pokemon match Courtney and her own pokemon, then this was going to get ugly. If Brendan decides to switch sides��then winning might be nigh on impossible.

    Even with Ninetales, Shelgon, and everyone in reserve, it''s his and Zinnia''s eight pokemon versus at least ten of equal standing. A child he may be, but Brendan is a trainer few can stand up to, even this early in his career.

    ''Beloved, you''re shaking,'' Ninetales doesn''t dare take her eyes off of the Magma admins, but Lee can feel her attention is focused on him. ''You needn''t worry. We''ve come too far to fail.''

    ''Nine, if there''s one thing I know to be absolutely true, it''s that failure can strike anytime,'' despite his sardonic reply, Ninetales'' words steady the zoologist, as does the phantom feeling of a furry muzzle pressed into his neck. He rubs the spot with a clammy hand. ''��Do I say it? Tell Brendan about Groudon and what Magma''s real endgame is? It might snap him out of it, but it would paint a permanent target on our backs.''

    The golden vixen flicks one of her tails. ''I believe the time for being concerned for that has already passed�� ''

    Lee growls and looks at Courtney once more.

    She has the gall to smirk at him, and a surge of vindictiveness rises up within Lee.

    "Before this fight breaks out, I want to ask something. Brendan?" Lee begins, turning his narrowed eyes to the Birch heir. "Did Courtney explain just how they''re going to move all of the land around?"

    The young trainer shakes his head in a negative. "She said they have the means, though, and that she would explain when the time came. I trust her!"

    Lee winces at the declaration. "Brendan, listen to me. Courtney, and Magma are keeping you in the dark. If you knew what their exact methods were, I don''t think you would be so agreeable."

    "The drama keeps going. I should adapt this and sell it to a TV station for big bucks," Tabitha laughs once more, his jovial tone utterly infuriating. Rolling his chosen pokeball in his hand, he says: "Go on, scarface. Let''s hear your conspiracy theory."

    An irritated growl finds its way out of Lee''s throat. Taking a second to silently wave goodbye to the prospect of a peaceful life, he continues. "Magma doesn''t have any crazy super tech or anything, far from it. You''re smart, so think about it for a moment, Brendan. Think about the unearthly amount of power needed to shift continents. Think of all the ecological restructuring and terraforming that would be needed afterward. Think about the massive civil unrest, assuming there isn''t outright anarchy. There is no humanly possible way to accomplish all that, let alone maintain order afterward, so Magma isn''t using a human way."

    Brendan blinks, and Lee can see a bead of sweat trail down his face. In the corner of his eye, he can see Tabitha''s smile falling and Courtney''s eyebrow rising.

    Lee sets his face into a grim scowl. "Magma is up here on this volcano for one purpose: they intend to awaken Groudon and try to leash it like a rabid dog."

    Lee was sure he could hear a pin drop on the volcano''s summit.

    Zinnia stares at him, expression unreadable.

    Courtney''s eyes widen, wider than any of them have ever seen before.

    Brendan looks lost, as if he can''t process what he just heard.

    Tabitha is no longer smiling. He isn''t even looking at Lee any longer. No, instead he''s directing a hostile, borderline murderous glare at Courtney, who shrinks away as soon as she notices.

    "Do you really think Magma can control a legendary pokemon? A god?" Lee quietly continues, feeling the eyes of his pokemon on his back. "There is some truth in every legend, and the legend of Groudon is as real as the earth we stand on. No one seeking out that much power does so with good intentions, Brendan. Everything you''ve been told is simply too good to be true."

    "This conversation is over!" Tabitha declares, his face set into a severe frown. He draws back his arm, pokeball in hand.

    Courtney mirrors him, her brows furrowed and her grip on her pokeball shaking.

    Ninetales and Shelgon tense, with Lee and Zinnia following suit. Behind them is a cacophony of hisses, growls, trills, and screeches from the gathered pokemon. Everyone freezes in place, however when a voice calls out from behind them.

    "Oh? I hoped to speak a bit longer."

    Slowly turning his head behind him, Lee feels his blood run cold.

    Hovering above the Mount Chimney visitor center, on a square, translucent pane of purple energy, a man stares down at the gathering below through his thickly-rimmed glasses. At his side, a black, doll-like pokemon hovers midair, unnervingly still.

    ''A Claydol,'' Lee thinks, as he remembers the odd Psychic and Ground type pokemon. Like its name suggests, the pokemon resembles a bulbous doll fashioned from black clay, perhaps a bit over five feet tall. Situated all around its head in a circle, eight unblinking red eyes stare in every direction, making its visage an unpleasant one to behold.

    "Leader Maxie��" Courtney breathes reverently, her eyes locked on the new arrival.

    "Fuck me��" Lee swears to himself.

    The man, Magma Leader Maxie, stands tall and slender. His severe face is pale, angular, and aristocratic, fitting perfectly with the aloof expression on his face. Much like Tabitha and Courtney, Maxie wears the signature red outfit of Team Magma. What rattles Lee the most, however, is the look in the man''s eye.

    Nearly every foe he and Ninetales have met thus far in their journey gave them their due caution, even if slight or unintentional. Zinnia, Roxanne, Brawly, Tyson, Wattson, Moore, each one of them met the man and fox as equals.

    Maxie''s eyes stare down at everyone coldly, as if pondering how best to step on an insect.

    ''Love?'' Lee begins. ''Did you hear him approach?''

    ''�� No, no I did not.'' Ninetales admits reluctantly. Lee feels her reach her mind out towards Maxie and his pokemon, only to withdraw as if spooked. ''I�� I cannot feel his nor his Claydol''s mind. It''s as if they aren''t even there.''

    The hairs on the back of Lee''s neck stand up.

    "Leader Maxie!" Tabitha speaks up. It doesn''t take a genius to see that his smile is merely a thin mask, one poorly hiding a deep anxiety. "We were just-"

    Maxie holds up a single hand, palm out, and Tabitha''s jaw snaps shut. The tall man folds his arms behind his back and takes a step forward, seemingly about to tumble off of his platform, only for another pane of psychic power to appear under his foot without a sound or even a flash. He continues his walk leisurely, descending upon glass-like that appear under his feet. The Claydol at his side - the one presumably creating the stairs - descends with him, remaining deathly still as it does so.

    As his feet finally meet the rocky ground, Maxie turns and regards Brendan, ignoring Marshtomp sliding in front of the boy defensively. The barest hint of a smile flits across Maxie''s lips. "So, you are the one Courtney sings praises for," he begins, prompting Brendan to blink and absently point to himself. "Yes, my boy. You. The heir to Nigel Birch was sure to be a trainer of great consequence, but you go beyond that. After seeing you and your pokemon in action, I believe I understand it all now. You and Courtney are quite alike, you know. Such steady pragmatism is a quality sorely lacking in today''s world." Maxie says, each word smooth, unhurried, and woven with cloying respect. "It would please me to welcome you into the ranks of Magma personally, after all is concluded here."

    "Brendan," Zinnia growls, looking between the boy and Maxie in disbelief. "Don''t you-!"

    She''s cut off when Claydol hums threateningly, rattling the ground with a deep, horn-like sound.

    "I will be with you in a moment," Maxie gives Zinnia a raised brow and nothing else, returning his attention to Brendan a moment later. "My boy, could I ask a favor of you?"

    The young Birch needs a moment to compose himself. "��What sort of favor?"

    "May I ask you to defend the extractor with Courtney and Tabitha?" He asks, turning his eyes to the machine in the distance, which is surrounded by a perimeter of lower-ranking Magma thugs and a ring of pokemon. "Aqua is on the way to crash the party as they would say, and your expertise is sorely needed."

    "L-Leader Maxie," Tabitha finally finds his voice once more, though he fingers the pokeball in his hand with obvious trepidation. "Are we not enough to keep the volcano secure?"

    Maxie smiles once more, but there is no warmth within it. "Resources embedded within Aqua advised that my dullard counterpart Archie may be with the raiding party, hence my arrival."

    Courtney''s face loses all of its color while Tabitha''s transforms into picture-perfect horror. "What?! That madman is coming here?!" Tabitha both looks and sounds as if the incarnation of death itself flashed before his eyes.

    ''Archie, the leader of Team Aqua?'' Lee ponders to himself, watching with a sinking gut. ''Madman? Is he really that frightening?'' With a gulp, he mentally reaches out to Ninetales. ''Nine, use telepathy and tell Corvisquire to run for backup. Have him hit the Lavaridge Gym, the Pokemon Ranger station, and the police department. Tell him to use Extremespeed from the get-go so no one has time to react to him leaving. This has officially spiraled out of control.''

    ''Very well��'' Ninetales sighs, and from the corner of his eye, he watches Corvisquire stiffen on his feet. From the gritting of his beak, Lee already knows what the corvid''s opinion on such instructions are, but regardless, he shifts his wings and takes a deep breath.

    Everyone''s heads turn to Lee when Corvisquire vanishes in a sonic crack, becoming a shadowless blur that is gone over the side of the mountain in an instant.

    Maxie recovers the fastest, once more seemingly unfazed. "Should we be concerned about that, Mister Henson?"

    ''Of course he knows my name��'' Lee steels his nerves and meets Maxie''s apathetic gaze. "He lost his nerve and ran away to hide. He does that sometimes," he lies smoothly.

    "Hmm��" Maxie hums, his eyes trailing the path that Corvisquire took through the air. "I see." Rather than comment on it further, he turns and gives Brendan a smile. "As I was saying, my boy, can you please aid Courtney and Tabitha? It will also give me ample time to speak to your friends here."

    Brendan hesitates. Like he did a number of times back on the lift, he looks towards his pokemon for answers, only for none of them to be willing to meet his gaze. "Mister Maxie?" He begins slowly and unsurely. "This... Lee and Zinnia are still my friends, so you''ll let them go, right?" As he says that, Brendan looks at all of them pleadingly. "I��" He looks to Courtney again and gulps. Watching the normally unflappable boy falter is such a surreal experience. "I didn''t want this to turn into such a huge deal, and�� and��"

    Lee swallows the incredulous words on his tongue, not wanting to set off Maxie''s Claydol. Looking at Zinnia, she appears to be just as frustrated. ''What kind of hooks did Courtney set into Brendan to make him do this? Surely he can see this is a mistake!'' He telepaths to Ninetales. ''His dream, his friends, his family? Does he know what he''s giving up?''

    Where Lee expected burning fury in Ninetales aimed squarely at Brendan, her earlier vexation is gone, and in it''s place is a storm of conflict, one that grows the longer she thinks of the events playing out before her. The vixen shifts her eyes between the boy and Courtney, her own thoughts in disarray. Finally, she says: ''Emotions and logic often�� do not walk hand in hand.''

    There is a brief moment, less than a second, where Lee''s mind goes to a dark, impulsive place and considers the pros and cons of asking Ninetales to slay Maxie. A mere flex of the vixen''s telekinesis, and the man''s head would be removed from his shoulders, utterly pulverized. Magma may spiral out of control with no leader, thus halting their insanity in its tracks. As quickly as it came, the plot is discarded with haste borne of self-disgust. If Maxie died, they would be left with his grieving and enraged pokemon to deal with, not to mention the other Magma members. And even if they managed to get away from such a mess, then the law would surely come down on them for circumventing due process.

    ''Shit��. Not that it would have been that easy anyway.'' Lee grimaces and steals a glance at Claydol, who is surely offering Maxie some kind of unseen safeguard.

    "There is no need at all for violence," Maxie soothes, cutting Brendan''s stammering off. "I will do everything in my power to see them home safely. They need only promise to be fair during our negotiations."

    "Negotiations?"

    Maxie adjusts his glasses, pushing them up the bridge of his nose as he nods. "Indeed. Magma, as of yet, still requires secrecy. Before your well-informed friends are sent on their way, I wish to see about compensating them for their silence. You understand, don''t you?"

    "I do��" Brendan murmurs.

    "Come with me, Brendan," Courtney smiles and beckons the boy to her side. "You�� made the right choice. Magma will take care of you."

    A smile tries to rise on Brendan''s face for the first time today, but it dies and leaves him only appearing more divided with himself. After a second that seems to stretch on and on, Brendan and his pokemon slowly walk to the Magma Admin''s side, falling in step as she and Tabitha turn and begin the walk to the lip of the volcano. Even from such a distance, Lee can see Marshtomp''s knuckles turn white as he and the rest of Brendan''s pokemon drag their feet.

    When Courtney wraps an arm around Brendan''s shoulders, Zinnia explodes.

    "What kind of fucking superhero bullshit did you feed him?!" The tanned woman screams at Courtney''s back, her voice so loud it echoes off of the buildings and the mountains surrounding Mount Chimney. Lee and Ninetales both flinch at the volume. Even Shelgon regards his trainer with surprise.

    "Do you feel good, you bitch!? Do you feel good manipulating a kid like that!?" The Dragon tamer continues her tirade. "How many other people who don''t know any better have you fucked over?! How many of them were kids?! You fucking freak! You''re not going to get away with this! I''m going to break you over my fucking knee, you scrawny, pink-wigged whore! If I find out you did anything worse to him, I''ll make you regret ever being born!"

    Despite all the curses and threats, Courtney doesn''t look back. She doesn''t so much as waver in her steps.

    Zinnia is forced to take a breath, then she shifts the focus of her frustration. "Brendan!"

    Brendan looks back, his eyes wide.

    "You had better hope I die on this volcano, because if I get my hands on you after this, then you''re going to�� going to��" Zinnia loses steam, her shoulders slumping. To Lee''s alarm and Ninetales'' uncomfortable surprise, the woman''s eyes are prickling with tears. "I thought we were friends, you little shit��" She finishes in a weak whisper. She pulls her cloak around herself, seeming to shrink.

    Courtney leans her mouth down to Brendan''s ear, whispering something that no one else can hear. Slowly, Brendan turned his shaken visage forward, continuing to walk with the pair of Magma admins.

    "Feeling better?" Maxie asks dryly, unbothered by the piercing glare Zinnia strikes him with. "As I said, I would speak to you two to see how we can resolve this little wrinkle. I meant what I said earlier, there is no need for us to fight."

    Zinnia sneers, once more all piss and vinegar. "Really?"

    "Really," Maxie reaches his hand up and rubs his chin, staring at Lee, then Zinnia. "Of course, young Brendan keeps company as excellent as himself. To travel and brave Hoenn as a trio means you all must be quite friendly with each other. Magma always has more room for such individuals, so-"

    "Stuff it!" Zinnia snarls like the dragons she trains, both Shelgon and Tyrunt mirroring her. "You already know the answer to that!"

    Maxie frowns. Despite being on top of a volcano, the air seems to chill. "Very well�� Then we are left with only one option." He glances at his Claydol, who has remained utterly impassive the entire time. "Magma can suffer no leaks, and you, my friends, are indeed the worst sort of leak: powerful, knowledgeable, and connected. If you wish to be let go with no violence, then memories of your time here must be wiped and memories of young Brendan must be altered. Claydol is an expert of such arts-" he waves a hand to his Pok��mon "-and I promise you that minus a few hours'' time from your perspective, you will leave here unmolested."

    Ninetales growls, and Lee feels her wrap her mind around his in a bristling, protective shield. ''Is he actually serious?!'' She says to Lee, aghast. ''Absolutely not!''

    Lee can''t quite hide how disturbed he is by how casually Maxie offers such an invasive and potentially identity-shattering procedure. Once more, he is reminded that psychic pokemon are more than light shows and floating objects. He doesn''t need to look at Zinnia to know what her answer is going to be.

    "Well?" Maxie asks, raising an eyebrow. "I would prefer an answer sooner rather than later."

    ''So much for negotiations��'' Lee gives the taller man a hard stare. "Maxie�� You''re under arrest for suspected terrorist activities. Come quietly."

    Maxie sighs. "Pity."

    In a flash of movement, a pokeball is launched from his hand. The ball snaps open midair, and the air becomes sweltering.

 Act 2: Chapter 17

    Lee gives the taller man a hard stare. "Maxie�� You''re under arrest for suspected terrorist activities. Come quietly."

    Maxie sighs. "Pity."

    In a flash of movement, a pokeball is launched from his hand. The ball snaps open midair, and the air becomes sweltering.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As the light clears from around Maxie''s pokemon, Lee feels his shoulders drop in disbelief. "Fuck me��"

    Standing before Maxie is a Camerupt, and it''s an absolute Goliath of a pokemon. It must be seven, nearly eight feet tall from its hooves to the peak of its craggily volcano-like back humps. His dark red coat is crisscrossed by the occasional scar, with a deep, healed over gash across his brown muzzle being the most apparent. The miniature volcanoes upon his back are already belching black smoke and embers, making the air almost unbearably hot. The worst of all, though, is his eyes.

    The camel pokemon''s eyes are feral, focusing upon them all with a horrid, animalistic desire for violence within them. The bloodshot orbs lack that spark of clarity, of intelligence. It is as if the Fire and Ground-type�� isn''t even there.

    ''He may not be��'' Ninetales sends a glance towards Maxie''s Claydol, and Lee can feel her stomach churn. When Lee connects the dots himself, he takes a deep breath to prevent himself from being sick.

    "Shit��" Zinnia whispers, her voice wavering in a rare moment of fright. Lee follows her wide, red eyes and tries not to curse himself.

    Almost hidden against Camerupt''s fur is a red, armored chest piece hanging around his neck. Within the crimson-colored metal, a fist-sized stone with the appearance of a marble is set with clasps. The crystalline orb shines with its own internal light, one that hurts to look at.

    ''A mega-stone��'' Lee looks up, seeing the Keystone set within the frame of Maxie''s glasses just as he expected. ''That was the one thing I was hoping wasn''t accurate. I thought Courtney''s Camerupt was a monster, but this thing changed the definition. God only knows how strong this behemoth must be after mega-evolving��''

    Ninetales tenses up. Beside her, Shelgon growls and locks his yellow eyes with Camerupt''s blood-shot browns.

    Without any warning, Camerupt bellows with such volume and force that he blows away all the dust around his feet, then charges forward, moving far faster than something the size of an armored car should. It feels as if every one of his footfalls shakes the entirety of the volcano, because they certainly rattle both Lee and Ninetales to the bone.

    ''Move!''

    "Move!" Zinnia calls, mirroring Lee''s telepathic command.

    Ninetales and Shelgon split, jumping away from the mammoth Camerupt, who passes through where they were standing a mere second later. Without so much as a word from Maxie, Camerupt turns and faces Shelgon, opening his mouth as he does so. At the same time, rings of light manifest around the camel Pok��mon''s massive body. With another ear splitting bellow, Camerupt''s maw glows a brilliant silver, then a ball composed of compacted light is shot toward Shelgon like a tank shell.

    At the same time, the rings of light around Camerupts body coalesce into knife-like stones. The stones violently vibrate in place before shooting towards Ninetales with a vengeance, homing in on her despite Camerupt''s attention being elsewhere. The stones move with such swiftness that each one screams hideously through the air.

    Ninetales'' eyes bug out, and a frantic, mental urge from Lee forces her to wreath herself in Quick Attack and dive to the side. The barrage of stones is so quick, however, one stone still slices into Ninetales''s leg and opens a gash on her thigh.

    Lee winces, his own leg tingling in phantom pain.

    "Shelgon, Protect!" Zinnia''s hands are already clenched anxiously.

    A mighty barrier of green surrounds the wide-eyed Shelgon in the nick of time. Camerupt''s attack slams into Protect with a sound like a cannonball striking a gong, the impact sending a rumble to the ground. The ball of light deflects off and flies far into the sky, becoming a dot against the blue expanse above. Shelgon drops Protect a second later, and Lee is dismayed to see the Dragon already looks woozy from guarding against a single strike.

    ''What the hell was that?! Stone Edge? And Flash Cannon? Is Camerupt acting on his own? How did he fire off two differing moves in two different directions at the same time?''

    Lee isn''t given any time to ponder further as Camerupt, once again without an order, charges towards Shelgon like a runaway train. The gargantuan camel crosses the distance in less than a second, and with every step, a positively blinding cloak of spiraling energy builds around him. Lee''s hearing is drowned out by the snapping and crackling of Camerupt''s attack, but he still vaguely hears Zinnia shout something to Shelgon.

    ''Is that Giga Impact he''s using?! Ninetales! Extrasensory!'' Lee sends frantically. ''Slow him down!''

    The vixen''s eyes shine with fury, and bubbles of permeable psychic energy bloom to life in Camerupt''s path. With any luck, the damage will throw him off-

    Maxie''s monstrous pokemon blows through the attack as if it isn''t even there. All of the overpressure and under pressure from the rapidly expanding and contracting bubbles barely cause so much as a bruise on Camerupt''s hide.

    All Shelgon can do is screw his eyes shut and raise Protect once more.

    Camerupt strikes the green shield and shatters it like glass.

    CRACK!

    Shelgon is thrown end over end, trailing blood through the air from a deep crack in his shell. When the orb-like Dragon finally rolls to a stop after several bounces, he''s left prone upon the rocky ground, gasping for breath. His shell is littered with cracks, and is missing a few pieces. A piece of his shell even shattered near his face, pushing a shard into his cheek, which bleeds profusely.

    Despite Shelgon laying prone upon the ground, Camerupt decides that his opponent isn''t yet disabled. The camel pokemon snorts black, sooty smoke, and charges forward.

    Lee watches the entire scene play out for him, as if it''s moving in slow motion.

    Camerupt moves with the speed of a truck with the gas floored.

    Zinnia''s face morphs into horror. Her hand moves towards her belt, towards Shelgon''s ball, but it''s too slow.

    Shelgon can only close his eyes and brace himself.

    ''Nine!''

    With a yowl, Ninetales darts forward with Quick Attack and slams her whole body into Camerupt''s side. Through her, Lee can feel the bone rattling sensation of smashing into a brick wall. Not even Ty was this tough!

    Camerupt veers off course ever so slightly, giving Shelgon just barely enough time to push himself the rest of the way to safety with his remaining good legs. Camerupt, meanwhile, slams into a vacant snack stand, one branded to the cable car company. The stand explodes into splinters and twisted metal framework on impact, making Camerupt dig his hooves into the ground and skid to a stop. The camel turns his animalistic visage towards Ninetales and the still wounded Shelgon.

    ''Nine, are you okay?'' Lee asks, feeling his entire right side ache in a dull manner. Camerupt doesn''t look like he took any damage from Nine''s Quick Attack. If anything, Ninetales got the worse end of the exchange.

    ''I''m fine��'' Ninetales'' reply is terse.

    "Goodness, how rude of me." Maxie finally speaks up once more. The bastard has the gall to smirk as he pushes his glasses further up his nose. "That was rather unsporting. Perhaps you would like to change pokemon before we continue our bout?"

    At his words, Camerupt goes still as a statue, staring forward vacantly.

    Lee''s self-directed disgust towards the idea of Ninetales slaying Maxie lessens considerably as he looks at the man''s face. The scarred trainer looks at Claydol once more and purses his lips. "Is this some kind of game to you?"

    Maxie''s smirk rises just a bit.

    "Shelgon, return!" Zinnia calls, thrusting the pokeball in her white-knuckled grip forward.

    In a flash of red, Shelgon is sucked back into his ball, but not before he can snarl in protest.

    Placing the ball back on her belt, Zinnia looks behind her. Following her eyes, Lee looks as well.

    Tyrunt''s challenging sneer is gone, replaced with bewilderment, as if he didn''t believe what he just saw. Perched upon his head, Swablu''s beak is dropped open in a human-like expression of surprise. Goomy��

    The little slug-dragon is openly quaking, staring at Camerupt with terror.

    Lee turns to Grovyle and Octillery.

    Both the Grass-type and the Water-type wear grim expressions. Grovyle chews on his stick irritably, while Octillery''s eyes are narrowed down into slits.

    Shifting his twig in his mouth once more, Grovyle sighs and steps forward, a warble directed towards Ninetales leaving his mouth.

    "Grovyle?" Lee asks, watching the gecko pokemon raise his arms, his wrist leaves shining and hardening into blades. He glances back at Lee with his yellow, slitted eyes.

    ''��He wishes to take my place, to act as a buffer so I may rest and be reserved for last��'' Ninetales provides. ''He intends to act as fodder and wear-down Camerupt so mine and Octillery''s chances of a victory can rise.'' Lee can feel the kitsune''s mind whirl as she thinks over all the different possibilities, and how she might deny her teammate, but in the end, Grovyle''s simple yet sound reasoning is hard to find flaw with.

    "Grovyle��" Lee curses inwardly over and over and grits his teeth. The thought of using Grovyle as a sacrificial pawn makes his conscience scream in protest, but the steel in Grovyle''s eyes tells him it''s already a lost battle on this front. "��Fine."

    As Ninetales backs out of the impromptu battlefield, never taking her eyes off Maxie or Camerupt, Zinnia hisses through her teeth. "Swablu��" She grounds out reluctantly. "You''re up."

    The little blue bird leaves Tyrunt''s head and flits into the field, landing next to Grovyle without any of her signature musical trills.

    ''We just need to hold out until Corvi gets back with help,'' Lee tells himself, hoping and praying to whoever would listen that his crow would return soon. ''We just need to hold out until Corvi gets back.''

    "Quite ready?" Maxie asks, an eyebrow raised. "Then let the melee continue."

    Camerupt roars.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Brendan feels as if he is going to be sick.

    Leaning against the "TE Extractor" device that Magma is so worried about, He looks around himself.

    The perimeter around the lip of the volcano is surrounded by low level magma members, most with one or two pokemon at their feet. Some of them, namely the ones that he, Lee, and Zinnia battled and defeated, turn to look at him bitterly.

    Tabitha steadfastly refuses to meet Brendan''s eyes. The large man won''t even look in his direction.

    Turning to Courtney, Brendan finds her standing at attention and scanning the horizon for anything incoming. She notices him staring, and gives him a thin smile.

    Brendan''s stomach twists. It twists because of the girl at his side, it twists because of the disappointment radiating from his team, and most of all, it twists because of the words on his tongue, ready to fly as speedily as a Taillow.

    ''Marshtomp! Use Water Gun on the energy extractor! Blow it to pieces!''

    The Birch heir hisses under his breath.

    Just a few moments ago, his desire to please the girl who makes him feel so strange but good and his loyalty to his friends did battle one final time. It was a match where the winner takes all to settle the days-long conflict within him.

    It was a battle won by razor-thin margins and with only seconds to spare.

    His hurt at being considered childish and untrustworthy by Lee and Zinnia may yet sting, the reluctance of his pokemon drags him even further down, and Courtney still only needs to smile to make him feel lighter than air, but the events of the last few months flashed before his eyes over and over.

    Meeting Lee and Vulpix.

    His smiling dad giving him Mudkip''s ball.

    Meeting the annoying Dragon Tamer named Zinnia.

    Learning new things under Lee.

    Growing to look at Zinnia like the sister he never had.

    Speaking to his dad on the phone and regaling the man with his adventures thus far.

    Seeing new places, fighting in thrilling battles, watching his pokemon grow before his very eyes.

    Just�� Enjoying being together.

    The realization of what he was going to turn his back on made him hesitate.

    Then Lee''s words turned that hesitation into dread.

    "They intend to awaken Groudon and try to leash it like a rabid dog."

    There was a terrible, undeniable consequence to the older trainer uttering those words. It sounded like utter insanity, summoning a Legendary pokemon, but Lee said every word without a hint of deceit or uncertainty. Brendan even watched Ninetales for her reaction.

    He''s not sure if either Lee or Ninetales knows, but the pair have tiny, nearly indiscernible tells when they communicate. Ninetales has a habit of firming up her stance whenever Lee speaks a lie or half-truth, as if trying to reassure him.

    She did no such thing this time.

    His heart ached, and even now, he''s not sure he will recover, but he would have to�� fight Courtney.

    The older girl creates such a confused mess within the boy. She''s pretty, kind, understanding, willing to sit and listen and hear anything he has to say, and she asked for so little in return.

    Still, the heartbroken boy hardened himself, and in his mind, a plot was born. He would ''side'' with Magma, and when the inevitable fight began, he would slink away, his pokemon in tow, and see about shutting off the TE machine that is supposedly pulling energy from the volcano. Once all was said and done, he would pull Courtney aside and ask her to explain everything, even throwing his pride away and using his father''s name with the police if it meant keeping her out of trouble.

    The more he thought about what Lee said�� The more Magma''s claims do seem to be too good to be true. How do they intend to control Groudon? What''s the timeframe for the completion of the project? What sort of safeguards are in place to prevent lives from being lost? Once the land is rearranged, who gets to decide who goes where?

    Deep in his heart, Brendan hopes Courtney can explain.

    It was a moment after Lee spoke the name of the legendary Pok��mon, that Brendan noticed Maxie the interloper from the corner of his eye. He dared not turn his head and give away that he saw a man in red hovering above the rest of them.

    All of a sudden, his gambit to falsely side with Magma became so much more complicated.

    A number of things keyed Brendan into what he might be dealing with in Maxie, and he liked none of what he saw. First, was Maxie''s Claydol.

    The seldom-seen pokemon made a great show of giving Maxie a psychic platform to stand upon, one perfectly square and without a single imperfection. His father''s Ace, Medicham, can do such a thing with only the barest hint of concentration, but it''s what Brendan didn''t see that was all the more damning.

    Being high above the walls and buildings, Maxie should have been subject to the wind. Yet, his voice carried perfectly fine and his hair and clothes remained unruffled at all without any apparent reason as to their perfection.

    Brendan''s mind raced, and he was glad he was already feeling ill, for his pale face wasn''t out of place.

    Claydol, as best as he can deduce, is likely arresting the airflow around the locale, or maybe even the entire volcano with a barrier of some sort. Such monstrous power and control is�� Something he''s only ever seen dad''s Medicham accomplish.

    ''No wonder Maxie wasn''t upset about Corvisquire trying to run for help��'' Brendan gulps and hopes Lee''s pokemon is okay.

    As much as he hated it, as much as he wanted to do more, Brendan was left with only one real choice; go quietly with Courtney and Tabitha, turning a hopeless 3-on-3 fight into a hopefully more manageable 2-on-1. He knows that neither Lee nor Zinnia would agree to any sort of terms Maxie would set, and conflict would to break out.

    Sure enough, bellows and the sound of crunching rock creates a great cacophony near the volcano visitor center, around the bend and just out of sight. Brendan clenches his eyes shut and grits his teeth, mustering the nerve to do what he must.

    "So those idiots decided to fight?" Tabitha harrumphs and crosses his large arms. "They have no hope of defeating Leader Maxie, they''re marching straight into their own deaths."

    Alarm surges within Brendan. He turns and levels Tabitha with an uncomfortable stare. "Death? What do you mean by that? Maxie said that he would let them go!"

    The large man sneers in reply. "Maybe they would have been sent off on their merry way if they had complied with the boss''s conditions. Your scarred pal knows a lot of things that he shouldn''t, and that''s bad for Magma. He should''ve just kept his mouth shut if he wanted to leave without needing a bribe."

    Somehow, Brendan doubts that the offer Lee and Zinnia received was a bribe.

    The boy trainer turns and looks at Courtney, his eyes pleading. "Courtney?"

    The smaller of the two magma admins draws in a deep breath and plants a smile on her face. "Don''t worry, Brendan. Everything will be fine."

    For the first time, her words do nothing to reassure him.

    As the sounds of combat grow more frenzied, more violent, the Magma grunts around the group shift nervously. The handful of combat ready pok��mon are all jitters, seemingly ready to jump out of their skins. Beams of light, gouts of fire, and shards of rock fly through the sky as if an all-out war is taking place between Maxie, Lee, and Zinnia.

    ''Maxie''s Pok��mon can''t possibly be strong enough to take on Lee and Zinnia''s at once, right? Lee beat Mister Moore, after all��'' Brendan silently growls, once again reworking his plans. ''Maxie said that Aqua was on their way. Do I wait for those jokers to show up and then make my move? Do we go now? I don''t know what to do��''

    "Brendan?" Courtney looks at him with a frown. She slides one of her gloves off and presses the back of her hand to his forehead. "You''re pale. Are you okay?"

    The smooth hand against his forehead makes Brendan''s insides turn to mush, but it''s immediately soured when he sees Marshtomp''s grimace, Mawile''s teary eyes, and Breloom''s resignation from the corner of his eyes.

    "I''m fine��" Brendan murmurs, gently pulling her hand away from his head. He slides his backpack off his shoulders into the ground, unzipping it so he can reach inside, not all missing how Tabitha and several of the Magma grunts tense up. His hand wraps around the bottle of anti nausea pills he bought in Dewford. When he pulls his hand back out, revealing nothing but a pill bottle, the Magma members ease up.

    The distant din of combat rings all the louder in Brendan''s ears, reminding him of what is at stake. He turns to Marshtomp, who stares back with disappointed eyes. "Marshtomp?"

    The pokemon grumbles, but pays attention.

    ''None of the Magma guys are acting jumpy. They probably think I''m going to ask Marshtomp for some water.'' He steels his nerves one final time and looks back at the machine.

    The boxy metal thing stands high, and is covered with lights and gauges that hold no meaning to Brendan. From its side, a terminal screen and a keyboard jut out, seemingly a last-minute addition. In the middle of the machine is a compartment covered by a glass door. Within, a curious gray stone sits upon a forked pedestal, glowing with a faint, rainbow light. The stone must be the centerpiece of the machine, though Brendan can scarcely puzzle out what it''s supposed to do.

    "Marshtomp��" Brendan takes a deep breath. "Water Gun. Destroy the TE machine."

    His words are gentle, conversational, even, and that is probably why no one other than Marshtomp reacts right away. The mudfish''s eyes suddenly regain their life, and without wasting a moment, he turns and opens his maw, blasting a violent stream of water at the energy extractor.

    The blue rail of water hits home without any opposition, shattering the glass door and the rock behind it in a hail of shards. The Water Gun punches a hole clean through the back as well, making the contraption wail with warning alarms and viciously spark.

    Brendan raises his arms to protect his face, wincing to himself when he feels a speeding piece of glass open a small cut along his bicep before bouncing off of his shirt. Scooping up his bag and zipping it closed amid cries of shock and dismay from the Magma agents around him, he hurries and sprints outside of the circle of red clad gangsters around him. His pok��mon need no order and follow right along. The young Birch spares Breloom and Mawile a glance.

    Breloom''s usually dour face sports a tiny smirk.

    Mawile, meanwhile, looks at him with a beaming smile and open admiration, a total shift from her depressive state a mere handful of seconds ago. The whiplash of a Fairy''s ever-changing emotions is still a surprise to see. Mawile''s smile then turns into something vicious and vindictive. As the little Pok��mon is passing Courtney, Brendan''s heart leaps into his throat when Mawile''s second set of jaws lash out towards the magenta haired woman, gaping and ready to bite.

    Courtney gasps, her hands rising in a futile effort to halt Mawile''s attack.

    ''Mawile, no!''

    ��Only for the strike to be a feint. Mawile''s jaws change course at the last second, instead chomping down on the pokeballs clipped to Courtney''s belt. Mawile growls as she tears the balls free, and all three of the capsules shake in her grip, the pokemon unable to release themselves with Mawile holding the balls shut. Mawile then leaps to Brendan''s side, looking up at him with her innocent smile back in place.

    Brendan swears to himself that he nearly had a heart attack. ''Geez, Mawile. A little warning, next time?'' The boy is well aware of how hypocritical such a thing sounds, even if he''s simply saying it to himself, but he can''t help but complain.

    "Brendan?" Courtney asks, appearing totally lost. For the first time since they''ve met, Brendan hears her voice wavering. "What�� What are you doing?" Her hand gropes the torn belt where her pokeballs used to hang, as if on instinct. The Magma admin seemingly shrinks on herself, and Brendan can feel his heart wrenching in his chest.

    "You punk!" Tabitha is decidedly more upset, his face twisting into a rictus of loathing. "I knew this whole thing was a bad idea! Look at what you fucking did! This whole operation is a bust!" He takes a ball from his own belt and throws it into the air in one motion. "Kid or not, you''re not leaving this volcano alive after that!"

    Tabitha''s pokeball opens, and Brendan recoils at the pok��mon that comes out. In a flash of light, a Weezing rises and hovers at chest height.

    The pokemon resembles a pair of purple, rocky meteorites fused together like conjoined twins, with one being larger than the other. Each body sports a pair of narrow eyes, fang filled mouths, and a number of protruding, overly large pores that acrid, yellow gas hisses out from. The pokemon groans, both mouths opening in duel tones.

    Brendan blinks and swallows, but that does little to stop the sudden watering of his eyes or the itch within his throat, courtesy of Weezing''s rotten, chemical stench. Often considered ugly, unpleasant, and requiring much more care and enrichment than a normal pokemon, Weezing are a rare sight outside of the teams of Poison specialists. When they are fielded, though��

    "Weezing!" Tabitha growls. "Sludge Bomb!"

    ��They''re a menace to deal with.

    "Marshtomp!" Brendan is quick to counter, eyes locking on Weezing. "Water Gun! Dilute it!"

    The surrounding Magma grunts finally come to their senses and quickly back away with exclamations of fright as the first attacks are called.

    Weezing swells like a smog-filled balloon, then with a disgusting sound akin to retching, it spits a globe of dark purple ooze, which smokes as it arcs through the air.

    Marshtomp responds in kind. He opens his mouth and fires a torrent of water, meeting Sludge Bomb halfway.

    Water Gun and Sludge Bomb deflect off of each other initially, proving just how dense the orb of toxins is, and then Water Gun bites into the glob of poison, mixing with the sludge and turning into a watery mess.

    The sludgy water drops to the ground, hissing. Even so diluted, the poison smokes as it eats into the stone of the volcano.

    ''Definitely don''t want to get hit by that��'' Brendan eyes the disgusting puddle in the middle of the makeshift battlefield with a frown.

    "Weezing, Smokescreen!" Tabitha rapidly switches tactics after their opening attack fails.

    Weezing draws in a deep breath, then from all of its open pores, dense black smoke pours out, forming a cloud and obscuring its form.

    Brendan narrows his eyes. "Marshtomp! Foresight!"

    "Taunt!" Tabitha orders hardly a second after Brendan.

    ''Damn it!'' Brendan''s eyes widen. "Marshtomp, don''t fall for it!"

    Marshtomp is already halfway through processing the first order when deep, raspy laughter booms from within the cloud of smoke. No one needs to know anything about pok��mon speech to practically feel the concentrated mocking within each laugh.

    The glow of Foresight fades from Marshtomp''s eyes as the already hot-blooded mudfish is visibly overcome with seething anger. With a bellow that draws flinches from all the bystanders, Marshtomp charges headfirst at the smoke.

    "Stop!"Brendan orders at the top of his lungs, but it''s little use much to his dismay. Taunt has already worked its fingers into Marshtomp''s brain.

    Weezing bursts from the smoke with a nasty smirk on both of its faces, its head aimed low to smash skull-to-skull with Marshtomp. Its smirk is wiped right off its face when Marshtomp''s clenched fist shoots out and crashes into its chin with bone-shattering force.

    Rocking back, Weezing shudders from the titanic blow.

    Brendan spares a moment to look at Tabitha, who seems totally unperturbed from his pokemon taking such a hit. If anything, the large man seems to have expected it.

    Then without warning, another Weezing bursts from the slowly dissipating smoke, spinning rapidly like a top and coated in a dark aura Brendan has seen more than once on Lee''s Ninetales.

    ''Payback?! But why would��?!'' Brendan looks at the first Weezing and freezes. ''That''s not another pokemon, that''s Substitute! Can Payback even work when it''s a clone that was hit?''

    Substitute is a move Brendan wasn''t expecting to encounter until deep into the gym circuit. The ability to create a clone, no matter how costly the energy requirement, is a complete game changer in a fight. The steep stamina requirement in the difficulty of mastering the move makes Substitute wholly unviable for anyone who isn''t a cut above the rest.

    The Weezing Marshtomp struck groans before losing cohesion, dissipating into multicolored balls of light and vanishing before everyone''s eyes.

    At the same time, the real Weezing smashes into Marshtomp with Payback on full-blast, folding the Water and Ground-type around its spherical body like a living cannonball. The wind is knocked from Marshtomp''s lungs in a harsh gasp, and the mud fish is thrown end over end.

    "Sludge Bomb!" Tabitha presses his advantage, his narrow eyes shining cruelly.

    Weezing once more spits a noxious glob of purple, one perfectly aimed to hit Marshtomp midair.

    "Correct course with Water Gun!" Brendan leaves out any further directions, not wanting Tabitha to anticipate where Marshtomp will land.

    Marshtomp spreads his arms out and rights himself midair, shooting a stream of water from his maw and throwing himself out of Sludge Bomb''s path. He lands harshly, but on his feet. Underbelly rapidly beginning to bruise, Marshtomp huffs through his winded lungs and lowers himself, ready to charge once more.

    The missed Sludge Bomb flies past and splatters on the ground. The horrendous Poison hisses and fumes as it eats a deep divot into the rock.

    ''Weezing doesn''t have any good options for dealing with a Ground and Water-type like Marshtomp��'' Brendan mentally runs through all the documented moves that a Weezing can learn, grimacing slightly as he recalls moves such as Self-Destruct and Destiny Bond. ''Okay, Weezing doesn''t have many good options for dealing with Marshtomp,'' he amends. ''We need to stay out of the way of his Poison and expect more trickery. While Mawile is keeping Courtney''s pokemon out of the fight, I only have Marshtomp and Breloom to rely on.'' Brendan winces. The sounds of combat coming from Lee and Zinnia''s way are only getting more brutal the more time passes. ''We can''t waste time. Marshtomp and Breloom need to be as fresh as possible so we can help Lee and Zinnia. I guess we''re pulling out all the stops here.''

    "Brendan��"

    The boy''s heart leaps into his throat. Turning his head, he sees Courtney standing off to the side, looking at him with wide, frightened eyes. "Brendan," she begins again. "You�� You need to stop! You can''t be-"

    The magma admin''s words are drowned out by an earthshaking bellow from Marshtomp, who looks at the admin with open hostility in his beady eyes.

    Brendan takes a deep breath. "We''ll talk later!" He promises Courtney, before turning his attention back to the fight though not without great effort. "Marshtomp! Pulverize the ground with Muddy Water!"

    Both Tabitha and Weezing watch carefully, an order clearly on the tip of Tabitha''s tongue.

    Marshtomp grins like a savage, then opening his mouth, he shoots a stream of murky water at the ground, a stream churning with such violence that the volcanic rock underfoot is pounded into sandy paste. The sediment groans and cracks as Marshtomp sweeps his stream around, swiftly turning the field into slick mud.

    Halfway through, Tabitha finally calls for an order. "Sludge Bomb!"

    Once more, Weezing swells, then expels a toxic glob from its mouth, one aimed squarely at Marshtomp.

    Without needing any instruction, Marshtomp drops down low, letting the Sludge Bomb pass overhead. It splatters on the muddy ground, and Brendan can''t help but grin at what he sees.

    The Poison barely even bubbles in the mud. Muddy Water might officially be a Water move, but the name is muddy for a reason. All of the Ground energy still lingering in the watery sediment soaks up the Poison and neutralizes it magnificently.

    Marshtomp gets the point immediately, and before he rises, he turns his whole body over once in the mud, coating him in a slick, anti-Poison armor.

    If Tabitha realizes that his inaction was a blunder, then it doesn''t show on his face. Instead, he barks another order. "Smokescreen!"

    Weezing groans, and once more expels a thick cloud of black smoke, covering itself from view behind a rolling, black veil.

    ''What an awkward pokemon to fight. Can''t get too close, or you risk taking a Poison move to the face or having to deal with Self-Destruct. There''s also no limbs to break to hinder mobility, further encouraging a ranged fight, but that''s where a Weezing is most comfortable.'' Brendan narrows his eyes. ''Too bad we got you right where we want you.'' The young trainer draws in a breath. "Marshtomp! Widen Mud Slap!"

    Marshtomp dips low, partially immersing his arm in the mud below, then with a mighty heave, he sends a wave of speeding muck into the entire smoke cloud.

    Meaty thuds echo over the volcano, and pained groans come from the smoke. A battered and dirty Weezing, whose rocky hide is lined with spiderweb cracks, emerges from the smoky cover to glare hatefully at Marshtomp. For an instant, Brendan takes his attention off of the fight and homes in on where Tabitha is paying the most attention.

    The Magma admin is focused on Weezing, not the smoke.

    ''You expected me to think you''d pull the same trick twice in a row? You''re not getting me with a fake-out that easily.''

    "Marshtomp, Take Down!" Brendan has to keep his grin to himself. "Rush down the smoke where the real one is!"

    Marshtomp roars, recklessly charging forward at the waning smoke cloud, drawing a malicious smirk from Tabitha.

    Weezing, behaving like a clone might, passively watches the speeding mudfish, keeping his eyes on the pokemon all the while. The meteor-like pokemon slowly swells, preparing an attack.

    ''Gotcha!'' Brendan can''t help it and smiles. "Change target!"

    Brendan''s partner doesn''t hesitate for an instant, instead coming to a stop on the muddy ground as if it weren''t covered in muck. Instead, he turns and leaps directly up at Weezing, his body cloaked in an aura of white.

    The smirk leaves Tabitha''s face instantly, shock taking its place. "Sludge Bomb!"

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Weezing spits a hasty, half power attack at Marshtomp, which lands true�� then soaks into the mud covering the amphibian pokemon with barely a hiss.

    Midflight, Marshtomp wipes the noxious slush from his chest and slings it into Weezing''s face.

    "Weezing, move!" Tabitha urges.

    Weezing doesn''t even get the chance to cry out about the mud irritating its eyes before Marshtomp slams into it shoulder-first like a missile, opening up numerous cracks along Weezing''s hide. Marshtomp grins, then spikes Weezing like a ball with his fist, sending his foe tumbling to the ground. Toxic gasses hiss and sputter, escaping Weezing''s ruptured flesh as the Poison-type falls gracelessly into the mud.

    Marshtomp lands a second later, mud splashing around his feet.

    Gasping for breath and eyes rolling in distress, Weezing doesn''t rise back into the air, or rather can''t rise back into the air owing to all of the lighter-than-air gas in his body escaping. Like a regular creature with a sucking chest wound, it''s all the Poison pokemon can do to draw breath.

    Rearing his head back, Marshtomp bellows up into the heavens at his victory, drawing flinches from everyone around. Murmurs filled with dread begin to flit through the air.

    "D-Did this kid beat Admin Tabitha?"

    "What kind of monster is that pokemon?!"

    "Aqua is going to kill us all without Courtney and Tabitha!"

    Weezing is engulfed in a flash of red, then is drawn back into a pokeball held in Tabitha''s shaking fist. The large Magma admin places the ball on his hip holster and draws another one, his face contorted into an expression of absolute loathing. "You little shit��" He growls, staring down Brendan with a look in his eye that can only be genuine murderous intent. "You come up here, say you''re gonna join, double-cross us at the first opportunity, then embarrass me like this?! You''re going home in a bag!"

    Marshtomp roars at the open threat, raising his arms and smashing them on the ground, rumbling the entire area as he stares hatefully into Tabitha''s eyes. Brendan doesn''t need to look behind him to know Mawile is seething at the threat, or that Breloom''s usual aloof face is likely drawn into a deep frown.

    Tabitha raises his next pokeball and throws it with a wild swing of his arm. "It was a mistake to come here, kid!"

    From the pokeball, a Crawdaunt whose armor is crisscrossed in white, healed over marks, takes Weezing''s place. The shellfish pokemon lets out a warbling cry and raises its pincers, snipping them together with the sound of steel grinding over steel.

    Before either Brendan or Tabitha can call an order, the entire volcano is bathed in a harsh, white light, prompting screams of fright from more than one person and forcing everyone to cover their eyes.

    From behind his arm and squinted eyelids, Brendan looks up.

    In the sky is an entire sea of rolling flames, shooting hundreds of feet up into the air and stirring a hot gale over the entirety of Mt Chimney. The fire is simply... Unbelievable. Even Ninetales during her bout in the Lavaridge gym falls short of such a feat. As quickly as the flames came, they''re gone.

    ''We need to hurry,'' Brendan grimaces.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    To call the ongoing battle anything short of absolutely disastrous would be a horrific understatement to Lee. It''s only his adrenaline and quiet reassurances from Ninetales that keep his nervous breakdown at bay.

    In the slagged, ruined courtyard of the Mt Chimney visitor center, Lee watches Octillery breathe in quick and harsh gasps, two tentacles clutching his right side, which is completely coated in ghastly, blistered burns. In the middle of one of his other tentacles, a shard of stone lays lodged, left pierced into his body lest he bleed out without it. Blood dribbles from his mouth, where his broken beak is no doubt aching.

    To Octillery''s left, Zinnia''s Tyrunt is bleeding profusely from a split in his skull. The little dino''s left eye is shut, owing to a painful bruise on his face, under which, he surely has an orbital fracture. He too is covered in burns, though not quite as terrible as what was inflicted on Octillery.

    Across from them is Maxie''s Camerupt, still standing like an indomitable monolith of fire and violence. The only visible wounds on his body are an already scabbed over slash on his flank, one inflicted by Grovyle, and a dirty bruise on his muzzle from Octillery''s Octozooka. In one of his front legs are several of Tyrunt''s teeth, dislodged after Tyrunt landed a Bite and was kicked in the head for doing so. It''s difficult to tell if Tyrunt''s attack caused any harm.

    Grovyle paid for the wound he inflicted with interest, and Octillery just paid for his.

    Every attack, every tactic, every trick tried, Camerupt would shrug off everything like a juggernaut, and did so without a single word of instruction from Maxie. Even through the animalistic rage hovering over him like a physical cloud, Camerupt pushed the offensive with unnatural focus and precision. The camel pokemon moved like a machine, executing unseen instructions to cause the maximum amount of harm he can with single-minded aggression. Despite the match being a two-on-one, Lee and Zinnia have been on the back foot the entire time.

    Grovyle, despite his superior maneuverability and plethora of slashing attacks that could carve through even the greatest armor, fell after only inflicting a single wound. Camerupt whirled with supernatural reaction speed and bathed the Grass-type in an ocean of fire that lit up the entire sky once Grovyle''s Night Slash connected. With such a wide attack, Grovyle had nowhere to go, nowhere to run.

    There was a horrible moment where everything seemed to move in slow motion. Before Camerupt''s Flamethrower even hit, Lee could see Grovyle''s leaves wilting and his scales blistering. When the burning pillar connected, Lee heard Grovyle scream.

    His body moving of its own accord, Lee frantically recalled Grovyle before the gecko''s limp form could crash to the ground.

    Swablu''s fearsome Hyper Voice, an attack that can shatter rock and instantly incapacitate pokemon many times her size, was a mere annoyance to Camerupt. Despite the little bird''s minuscule form and speedy flight, one Stone Edge volley left her bleeding out upon the ground and recalled back to Zinnia.

    Octillery and Tyrunt have fared no better.

    In the field, Tyrunt''s head wound finally gets the better of him. With a whimper, the dino slowly begins to sway on his feet, his legs growing shaky. His one good eye stares up at Camerupt with equal parts juvenile defiance and instinctual fear, the latter of which slowly begins to overtake the former.

    "Lee��" Zinnia grounds out. The tanned woman''s face is pale, and her mouth is set in a thin line, not at all hiding how distraught she is. "I don''t think Tyrunt can keep going. He''s at his limit."

    Lee shudders. "We all are, Zinnia. We all are��" He prays for someone, anyone out there to cut them a break. "Recall Tyrunt. Octillery is done, too. He can barely move, and I suspect he''s taken some kind of internal damage."

    Grimly, Ninetales steps forward. ''I''m ready, Lee,'' she sends.

    As one, Lee and Zinnia raise their pokeballs, and in twin flashes of light, the battered Octillery and Tyrunt are recalled with no fuss from either pokemon.

    Across the way, Maxie allows the retreat with a small smile. The eco-terrorist''s smirk has been in place the entire time, as if he''s humoring a pair of cranky toddlers fruitlessly beating their fists on his leg.

    Behind Zinnia, Goomy openly quakes now that he is Zinnia''s final battle-ready pokemon. His black eyes stare at Camerupt with absolute terror. The little slug-dragon is shaking so violently, it''s as if he''s about to fall to pieces.

    Ninetales notices, and with a grimace, reaches out to Lee once more. A conversation too fast for words takes place.

    "Zinnia," Lee begins with a gulp. "Just recall Goomy and let us fight, okay?"

    Inwardly, another conversation takes place. With Ninetales acting as a midway point, Lee feeds telepathic instructions to the Dragon tamer. ''If�� when things go south here, Nine and I are going to try and hold them off. If Maxie tries anything rash, try to escape in the confusion.''

    ''Lee��'' Zinnia''s telepathic words are choppy and halting, owing to having so little experience with such forms of communication. ''What about you? I don''t think-''

    ''Just do it.''

    There is a flash of annoyance at being interrupted, but for once, Zinnia is cowed. ''What about Brendan?''

    Lee sighs, painfully aware of just how much of a nightmare the situation has become. This fight, Brendan, Magma in general. Damn it all, why can''t anything be easy? ''That''s a bridge we''ll cross later��'' Zinnia is cut from the telepathy.

    Backing up slowly, Zinnia steps towards Goomy. "Just take it easy, Goom," she whispers soothingly, bending down to pick the tiny dragon up. "Dolittle and Ninetales have this in the bag."

    "Down to one, final pokemon?" Maxie asks, tilting his head and staring down at all of them. "You should have taken my offer. All that you had to do was agree to have a mere few hours of memory snipped away, and you would have been on your merry way." Maxie adjusts his glasses once more. "Surely, you realize that once you can no longer defend yourself, you will have no say in what measures I take to ensure the secrets of Magma remain secrets, correct?"

    "Go fuck yourself!" Zinnia''s reply is as swift as it is caustic.

    Maxie clicks his tongue. "How unladylike."

    Ninetales sets herself into a low, wide stance, hiding just how nervous she is with a hostile stare aimed squarely into the eyes of Camerupt.

    Camerupt stares back with the same horridly blank look he''s worn the entire fight.

    ''Hold nothing back, Nine.''

    ''Never,'' Ninetales promises.

    Once more, without any warning, Camerupt roars and accelerates into a red meteor.

    Ninetales bounds forward as well, turning and dodging around Camerupt''s headbutt with inches to spare. Eyes glowing with a sinister pink light, she turns her head and levels Camerupt with a full-power Baby-Doll Eyes.

    The invisible, enfeebling rays, which would have nearly crippled another pokemon from the muscle weakness they induce, barely do a thing to Cameupt. The monster hardly even flinches. No, instead he turns and corrects this course, the dagger-like stones of Stone Edge manifesting around him in flashes of light. The stones quiver, then fly at Ninetales with a staccato of supersonic cracks.

    The fox weaves around the stones with gritted teeth, but a few of the sharpened rocks are just too fast, too packed together, and she''s forced to settle with near-misses that slice open small cuts in her pelt. One on her shoulder, another on her leg.

    ''Double Team! Then Feint Attack!''

    Ninetales'' body shines white briefly, then illusory clones flash to life all around her, including one right over top of herself. The illusions all bear their teeth and bristle at Camerupt as Ninetales, who fades from sight under a cloak of light-bending Dark energy, quickly pads her way to Camerupt''s rear.

    The camel pokemon snorts black smoke, then without bothering to pay any attention at all to the clones, turns and looks directly at the real Ninetales, who is still invisible. Bellowing, he stomps his hooves on the ground, shaking the entire volcano.

    ''Fuck! Claydol has to be helping him! Move!''

    Ninetales drops Feint Attack and Double Team in favor of leaping straight up into the air, and not a moment too soon, as the ground underneath her violently cracks, shooting up spires of craggy rock that would have impaled her otherwise.

    Camerupt growls. In yet another flash, he''s surrounded by stone knives that shriek as they race up towards Ninetales.

    The gold fox coats herself in the rolling corona of Quick Attack, and twists out of the way of Stone Edge midair, this time avoiding any harm. Quick Attack flares, and she falls back down to earth like a shooting star, aimed squarely for Camerupt.

    With gravity aiding her, Quick Attack is so fast that Camerupt has no time to dodge or brace himself, and Ninetales slams herself down onto the back of his neck, using her whole body as a battering ram.

    Camerupt doesn''t so much as stumble, not even as the ground buckles and cracks beneath his hooves from the force of the blow. No, instead he whips his head around and smashes his skull into Ninetales like a wrecking ball, throwing her to the ground in a breathless heap.

    Lee bites back a groan when his entire right side lights up with bone deep pain. He already knows Ninetales must have fractured at least one rib from the blow. ''That son of a bitch!'' He takes in a breath through his teeth, unsure if it was Ninetales or himself who cursed.

    ''This isn''t going well��'' Ninetales huffs and surges to her paws, throwing herself out of harm''s way when Camerupt charges her again. Lee can feel the pain that flares in her sternum from the movement. ''Have you any ideas?''

    ''Other than ''try not to die?'' A few.'' Lee can''t help but snark to try and relieve his nerves. ''Pull in closer, love.''

    Ninetales doesn''t fight at all as Lee reels her soul a bit closer to his.

    Together, their minds grow close, close enough that words begin to fail, just like in the fight with Ty. Lee''s eyes constantly scan their foe and the field, feeding information and instructions to Ninetales. Ninetales, in turn, provides him constant feedback on everything for him to evaluate. Her stamina, her injuries, her own observations, anything he might find useful. Together, the pair become a near-seamless machine.

    A frightful dance begins between nimble fox and mighty camel. Ninetales moves like lightning, leaping and sprinting amid illusions of herself, her eyes aglow with psychic power the entire time. Camerupt is battered over and over by psychic blows that would have reduced another pokemon into pulp. Ninetales'' fire, her greatest weapon, is reluctantly held in reserve. With Camerupt''s Fire-typing drastically reducing the effectiveness of any fire, Ninetales'' flames would have wasted precious energy.

    Camerupt, meanwhile, remains far too fleet-of-foot for a creature that must weigh an entire ton at minimum. The red camel whirls on his hooves and moves as if the rules of inertia simply don''t apply to him, for he can accelerate to a dead sprint and stop just as suddenly. Ninetales'' Double Team doppelg?ngers are entirely ignored, and even when Ninetales vanishes from the realm of sight, he remains locked-on to her like a missile. While Ninetales has no techniques especially suited to fight him, Camerupt is not in the same boat. Shards of rock, cracked slabs of earth, and even entire boulders are used as projectiles that would surely inflict horrific damage should they connect with Ninetales. Camerupt, likewise, refrains from any Fire attacks. Whether it''s because Maxie thinks Ninetales'' special ability is Flash Fire, or if he knows of her pyrokinesis, Lee can only guess.

    Only once do Lee and Ninetales make the mistake of trying to redirect the attacks with telekinesis, finding that each projectile simply has too much speed and force to seize in time. For the error, a near-miss from Camerupt''s Rockslide attack scrapes a raw patch on Ninetales'' shoulder.

    It''s clear who is at a disadvantage.

    Maxie''s Camerupt endures strike after strike. Extrasensory rips at his flesh to cause little more than ruffled fur and bruises, Hex crackles over his existing wounds, hardly even breaking the scabs, what few physical attacks can be landed safely rattle Ninetales'' injured ribs more than Camerupt, and Confuse Ray slow the monster down none.

    Meanwhile, Ninetales has to use all her force just to evade injury. Her Quick Attack is pushed to its limits, and even when she turns into a gold smear rocketing across the ground, Camerupt is already leading his next attack.

    In the back of his mind, Lee has to wonder, is this the difference between an Elite pokemon and everyone else? Do they even have any hope of winning? Moore, nor Tyson, nor anyone else have ever inspired this terrible, creeping helplessness that grips Lee like a full body chill, and it''s made all the worse by the stakes.

    He can only pray that Corvi returns with the cavalry soon.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    As his third and final pokemon, a Houndoom, finally gives in to his wounds and falls to the earth with a piteous whine, Tabitha can only shake in barely restrained fury. The large man stiffly holds Houndoom''s pokeball out, wordlessly recalling the Fire-type in a burst of red light.

    ''We did it��'' Brendan''s grin can''t be overstated.

    Tabitha''s Weezing, Crawdaunt, and Houndoom all put up exemplary fights, each one backed up by Tabitha''s skill as a trainer and a wide variety of techniques, but Marshtomp and Breloom felled all of them with only a handful of injuries to show for it.

    In the field, Marshtomp throws his head back and laughs, raising his arms. The Water-type seemingly doesn''t notice the red burns on his left arm, or is just too elated to care. They won.

    At Brendan''s side, Breloom and Mawile stand silently. Mawile''s focus is still on keeping the pokeballs in her jaws shut, as all three of Courtney''s pok��mon have been struggling to free themselves from the capsules the entire time. None of them, however, can exert enough force from within their balls to overcome Mawile''s steel-trap jaws.

    Breloom, meanwhile, keeps a silent but attentive vigil on the rest of the Magma goons. The Grass-type''s mushroom-like head and his left leg each sport a messy slash courtesy of Crawdaunt, but both wounds have stopped bleeding.

    All around, the Magma agents stare at Brendan and his pokemon with a range of emotions on all their faces. The most common is abject horror, often with some form of disbelief. Others refuse to meet his eyes at all, instead hiding away behind their fellows or pokemon, who are equally stunned.

    The young Birch gets the feeling none of them are going to hinder him going forward.

    "Everyone!" Brendan gets the attention of both his team, and the Magma members around him. "We''re going. And no one is stopping us��" He looks around, and every set of human eyes he meets looks away.

    "Brendan��"

    His breath hitches.

    Turning around, Brendan can''t help but feel a lump form in his throat.

    He''s done his best to ignore Courtney throughout the fight, but now there are zero distractions, and the look of complete devastation, of disappointment on her face��

    ��It hurts.

    The magenta-haired woman steps closer, only to abruptly halt when Breloom coolly slides into her path. The hand she raised to reach out to him falls, clenching into a fist. "Why, Brendan?" She whispers, and those two words drive a knife into his chest. "I trusted you�� I thought we were friends��"

    I thought we were friends.

    Zinnia spoke those same words only twenty minutes ago, and the boy gathers his nerves, remembering everything he nearly put on the line. ''Really?'' A voice in the back of his head whispers. ''Everything still is on the line! Zinnia and Lee need help! Stop dawdling and hurry! Maybe they''ll learn to trust you again sometime this decade if you say sorry for worrying them and help beat Maxie!''

    Brendan sets his brow, and stomps on the Butterfree in his stomach. "I�� I can''t betray my other friends like this." He stares up at Courtney, eyes as hard as he can make them. "Maybe�� Maybe you shouldn''t be with Magma, Courtney."

    The woman recoils with wide eyes, as if physically struck.

    "I want to believe that Magma has a good cause, that everything you told me is true, but��" Lee''s words ring in his head again.

    "They intend to awaken Groudon and try to leash it like a rabid dog."

    Again, even just thinking about what Lee said has a cataclysmic sort of weight to it, and brings forth even more memories, back when Lee revealed a bit more about his mysterious past.

    "Gone. Completely burned to the ground."

    "As far as I know, I''m the only survivor."

    "The superweapons used means going back is pointless."

    Lee spoke of Groudon and the devastation that befell his home in nearly the same tone, the same I-can-do-nothing-about-it lifeless calm. A shiver runs down Brendan''s spine.

    What if whatever happened to Lee''s home happened to Hoenn? Was it a Legendary pokemon who burned down the faraway land?

    Brendan looks up at Courtney once more. "Should anybody have power like that? Are people even able to handle power like that? I don''t know, and the more I think about it, the more fishy the plan to awaken Groudon becomes." He admits. "If I''m being truthful, Courtney, then I didn''t want to join Magma for their goals, anyway��" He looks at the ground. "I wanted to join to be around you."

    Courtney''s face remains frozen in shock. She shakes her head. "Brendan, hold on-"

    "Before we leave this volcano, I''ll give your pokemon back, but I can''t let you impede us right now," Brendan turns away, beginning a steady march back towards the lift that leads up to the mountain. Beside him, his pokemon fall into step.

    A hand reaches out to him as he leaves, but Brendan steadfastly ignores it, no matter how much his stomach twists.

    The Magma agents part around them, and looking over to Marshtomp, the amphibian pok��mon grins back. Stepping closer, Marshtomp claps Brendan on the back with a broad hand, his eyes shining in pride.

    Marshtomp, ever faithful and supportive, eases Brendan''s wounded heart. ''Buddy, I lucked out so hard when we met. You really are the best.'' He smiles back.

    Paying no mind to the Magma grunts and the disarmed admins, Brendan and his pokemon break into a jog, heading towards the sounds of fighting.

    In the span of only a minute, they turn the corner around a wall of rock, stopping and scanning the goings-on with wide eyes.

    Ninetales is the last pokemon standing, and she''s engaged in a furious fight with Maxie''s Camerupt.

    A fight that she''s losing.

    The fox moves at such obscene speeds, it''s as if she''s teleporting from location to location, a flicker of yellow being the only sign that she''s physically moving. She''s constantly circling Camerupt and firing off ranged attacks as quickly as possible. The bolts and bubbles of psychic and spiritual power scream through the air and rip up the ground. Most of the attacks land true, striking Camerupt.

    ��Only for the behemoth to barely notice. The mussed fur and bruises Camerupt sports are the only sign that he''s even being hit, in contrast to Ninetales'' weeping wounds and the way she favors her left side. The massive Fire-type slings a tireless fusillade of sharpened stones and speeding rocks at Ninetales, interspersed with stomps of Earth Power, which makes the ground itself rise up and try to strike the fox.

    "No way��" Brendan mutters, his mouth hanging open. When he notices, he shuts his jaws with a ''click''. "Ninetales�� Doesn''t really have a good counter for a Fire and Ground-type, does she?"

    Even if the question is rhetorical, Marshtomp still shakes his head, as absorbed into the fight as Brendan is.

    Maxie and his Claydol are still as calm as can be. The man, who is turned away, has his hands folded behind his back. Claydol is as unnervingly still as ever.

    Behind Ninetales, Lee''s face is screwed up in concentration. Sweat rolls down his red face, and the veins in his temples and neck are bulging. He never takes his eyes off the fight, and that might be why Ninetales is holding up as well as she is.

    Zinnia��

    Brendan falters.

    Zinnia stands just a bit behind Lee. Seeing the Dragon Tamer look so vulnerable strikes him somewhere deep.

    ''I thought we were friends��'' The words used by both Zinnia and Courtney echo within his head.

    ''Focus, man! Mope later!'' Mentally, Brendan reviews all the options they have.

    They can sit here and wait for some type of opening, but who knows when that will be.

    They can jump in and join the fight right now.

    Or��

    ''May be scummy to launch a surprise attack like this, but we''ve gotta win!'' Brendan turns to Marshtomp. "Okay, bud. I really wanted to save our new move to surprise Lee with a win over Ninetales, but I think we need to bust it out now."

    Both Mawile and Breloom look at him in alarm.

    Marshtomp blinks, then he grins, an eager croak building in his throat.

    "Camerupt has a double weakness to Water, and this one is made to hit hard and fast, so lets do it!" Brendan smirks. "Marshtomp, Water Cutter!"

    Marshtomp exhales, then clamping his mouth shut he breathed in sharply through his nose. Brendan hears water churning within Marshtomp''s stomach, which then travels up his throat, causing his chest and neck to bulge far beyond what should be natural. Clenching his fists, Marshtomp lets his mouth balloon with water, pushing his cheeks out. The water pressure within the amphibian Pok��mon continues to build, and just when it seems like he''s about to explode, Marshtomp puckers his lips and throws his head forward.

    A thin stream of water, no thicker than Brendan''s pinky, lances out of Marshtomp''s mouth like a laser beam. The sheer pressure behind the attack throws Marshtomp''s aim off course, and the aptly named Water Cutter slices through a distant outcropping of rock the size of a man. The volcanic rock gives way as if it were butter meeting a hot knife, crashing to the ground and shattering.

    The clatter of the falling stone produces a half-second lull in the fight between Camerupt and Ninetales, and that''s all the time that Marshtomp needs.

    Forcing his head down, Brendan''s ace drags the beam down onto Camerupt, drawing the water diagonally from Camerupt''s rear flank all the way to his front leg.

    Blood bursts from the sudden, savage wound, painting Camerupt''s side an even deeper red, and for the first time in the fight, Camerupt stumbles, but does not cry out.

    Marshtomp cuts off his attack and coughs up the remainder of the water in his mouth, clutching his chest as he does so. With a groan, he wipes his now-raw lips tenderly.

    Maxie turns on a dime, glaring down at Brendan from behind his rectangular glasses. "Having second thoughts are we? Or perhaps you were a Rattata from the very beginning?"

    "Brendan?" Lee asks, staring at him with uncertainty. Behind him, Zinnia appears just as shocked.

    Brendan grunts. "Give up!" He exclaims, pointing an accusing finger at Maxie. "We beat both of your admins and destroyed your machine! Whatever it is you were doing up here, it''s failed!"

    Maxie''s face darkens. "I see," he grounds out, sounding as if he''s mauling each word like a Houndour might a Mareep. "Well then, with no extractor to charge the meteorite, then I suppose I haven''t anything to wait around for."

    Charging a meteorite? What would that have accomplished?

    Maxie''s hand rises to his glasses, rubbing a curious rainbow stone set into the frame. "What a pain you''ve all been, but no longer. Perhaps it was foolish of me to indulge myself with you." The stone set within Maxie''s glasses begins to glow.

    "Shit!" Lee''s voice carries over the entire volcano. His wild eyes meet Ninetales'' for a split second. "Brendan, Zinnia, run!" He screams.

    Just as Brendan begins to ask what exactly he''s running from, Maxie''s Camerupt is engulfed in the same rainbow colored aura as Maxie''s glasses. The camel grunts and shudders, twisting and convulsing on his hooves as the glow becomes brighter and brighter. Just before the light becomes blinding, Camerupt throws his head back and roars in agony. The sound rattles Brendan all the way down to his bones, making him feel sick.

    The light seemingly hardens into a shell around Camerupt, who is still making a terrible, pained racket. The roar begins to lower in pitch, and changes from agony into incoherent rage.

    A crack forms on the glowing shell. And then another. And then the entire structure spiderwebs.

    In an explosion that rips at Brendan''s clothes and hurts his ears, the shell is blasted to pieces, and once he lowers the arm shielding his face, Brendan has to blink his eyes to confirm he''s seeing everything correctly.

    Standing there, where Camerupt was, is not a pokemon he''s ever seen before.

    Occupying the place where Camerupt was, is another camel-like pokemon. The mystery pokemon has the same light red coat of a Camerupt, the same head and face, and the same four hooved legs, but when it comes to stature, this is a completely different beast. Gone are the pair of volcano-like humps on its back, instead replaced with a single, taller hump that is actively leaking lava. Molten rock bubbles out of the rocky protrusion, slowly oozing down and catching on a number of dark, stone-like outcroppings on either side of the camel pokemon''s torso. The beast is also far larger than what it replaced, as it has to be at least ten or more feet tall and weighing several tons.

    The pokemon throws its head back, roaring again with such volume that the entire volcano rumbles, as if answering in turn. The noise strikes somewhere deep and primal in the young Birch, and he shivers without knowing why.

    Then the heat hits, and Brendan recoils.

    The entirety of the air around them feels as if it''s drying up, and the boy has to blink his eyes to keep them from drying out. The back of his throat itches, as if parched, and every breath is unpleasant and gag-inducing from the sudden, oppressive heat and the overwhelming smell of sulfur. All of it emanates from the Camerupt-thing, whose hump is still dripping lava like a leaky faucet.

    "No��" Brendan can barely hear Zinnia''s dismay, but it''s as plain as can be on her face.

    "What-" Brendan stops and gulps, but his mouth remains like cotton. "What did you do?"

    Maxie''s smirk returns. "There is no use explaining Mega Evolution to the dead."

    ''To the dead?'' Brendan feels his stomach turn cold.

    "The setbacks suffered here today have necessitated a more aggressive approach going forward, I believe." Maxie muses, as if he didn''t just casually speak of murder. "As such, I''m confident in ending our time together today in a permanent manner. Camerupt?"

    The beast turns and stares at Maxie, its eyes devoid of any semblance of sentience.

    "All of them must go. Have fun."

    A rolling growl builds in Camerupt''s throat, starting slowly then rising into a roar that he throws his head back for. Once more, the volcano underneath them rumbles in turn.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    ''Was he faking everyone out the whole time?''

    Any questions along the lines of what in the world is Brendan doing are firmly shelved for now in Lee''s mind, because after watching an Arceus-honest Mega Evolution before his eyes, merely living to see tomorrow takes precedence.

    Mega Evolution is Pokemon''s answer to things like Bleach''s Bankai, or perhaps more famously, Dragon Ball Z''s Super Saiyan, that being a temporary transformation to drastically increase one''s power. The increase wasn''t much in the games, enough to turn the tide of an uneven fight, perhaps. In the anime, it was inconsistent, but undoubtedly made the user stronger.

    After watching Camerupt Mega Evolve, it''s easy to see why it''s not something just any old trainer is running around using. Although he can''t feel it, Ninetales can.

    WrongUnnaturalTooStrongRunAwayMoveMoveMove��!

    Ninetales, his brave fox and the other half of his soul��

    Is openly quaking on her paws.

    Her red eyes are wide, her tails are frazzled, and her body is racked by shakes. She looks like little more than a feral animal backed into a corner.

    Merely looking at Camerupt batters Ninetales''s psyche, and by extension Lee''s, with a deep, instinctual terror by way of utter wrongness. Something like Camerupt should not exist, cannot exist.

    If, in terms of TE, Ninetales is a firestorm in the shape of a fox, then the mega pokemon across the makeshift battlefield is the living embodiment of a volcanic eruption. The Fire and Ground energy Camerupt wantonly discharges into the air is so thick that one can practically taste it, coating the mouth with the taste of ash. Were Ninetales to attempt to match the energy Camerupt leaks seemingly without knowing, then she would be drained dry in the span of a minute. Hell, the entire volcano is reacting to it!

    The natural Fire and Ground energy within Mount Chimney must be reacting to Camerupt, as the previously sleeply volcano is spewing smoke and embers up into the air. As the seconds pass, the mountaintop begins to grow darker and darker, illuminated with a fell, orange light as the sun, even empowered by Ninetales'' Drought, struggles to pierce the soot.

    ''Love, it''s okay! Focus on me, not him!'' Lee clumsily tries to wrap his mind around Ninetales'' own like a buffer, attempting to deaden the awful aura that pushes down on everyone with heavy, searing hands. ''We can do this! Just keep it together.''

    Ninetales'' shaking slows, though only just enough to be noticeable. She draws in a shaking breath. Wordless thoughts run through her head, the most prominent being her biting his shirt, slinging him over her back, and fleeing as fast as her paws could carry her.

    ''Love, what about Zinnia and Brendan?''

    The vixen has no answer.

    "All of them must go. Have fun."

    Lee realizes he missed the exchange between Brendan and Maxie sans the final line, and returns his attention outward, just in time for Camerupt to rear his head back and roar, shaking Mount Chimney all the way down to its foundation.

    Camerupt turns his baleful eyes to Marshtomp, who is frozen in place, barely able to even draw breath. Brendan''s ace, usually so fearless and confident, stares at Camerupt like a child faced with the bogeyman.

    Unlike before, Camerupt can''t accelerate instantly. His first step towards Marshtomp is lumbering, with the next one only a little bit faster , but each step Camerupt takes shatters the ground beneath him. In a handful of strides, the behemoth is bearing down upon Marshtomp.

    Marshtomp can''t even raise his arms to brace himself, and when Camerupt reaches him, the camel throws his head up, catching Marshtomp in the stomach with a medley of sickening cracks. The Water-type is thrown into the air, his eyes bulging. Then like a discarded toy, he comes back down, smashing to the ground with a single bounce. The mud fish gasps and wheezes, spitting an entire mouthful of blood.

    "Marshtomp!" Brendan screams, his young face etched in horror.

    Camerupt turns bloodshot eyes to the boy, violence glittering within, only to be distracted when Brendan''s Breloom rushes him, striking him across the muzzle with an ineffective punch.

    Behind Brendan, Mawile throws away a trio of pokeballs she was holding in her rear jaws, which remain inert when they bounce along the ground. Then she uses her now free teeth to bite down on Brendan''s backpack and yank him away from Maxie''s berserk pokemon. Brendan stumbles, but keeps enough wits about him to raise Marshtomp''s ball and recall his disabled ace back to safety.

    Breloom''s lax expression is gone as he distracts Camerupt, replaced with a deep grimace. The mushroom pokemon throws paralytic spores from his cap-like head, strikes Camerupt with lightning fast punches wherever he can, and circles as best he can, keeping away from Camerupt''s head. It''s all for naught, however. His spores burn up into blackened powder the instant he casts them, and Lee can see the Grass-type wilting and burning just being near the camel.

    Camerupt grunts. All of the lava dripping down his body glows a blinding yellow, then explodes outward in a burning wave of molten stone. When the lava hits the ground, it instantly begins to melt the surrounding rock, and if it''s even possible, the air dries out even further.

    Breloom tries to twist around the lava, but it''s simply too much, too fast. A melted glob strikes him in the stomach, hitting with the force of a burning battering ram. All of the breath is driven from Breloom''s lungs, and his face screws up in agony as the edges of the wound instantly catch fire. The fire begins to spread, and it''s all Breloom can do to push the lava off of him, charring his two-fingered hands and pulling off the ruined skin of the impact site in the process.

    "No no no!" Brendan''s hand shoots out, Breloom''s ball in hand. The boy''s eyes are prickling with tears, but they simply can''t fall in the oppressive heat. "Return! Return!"

    In a flash, Breloom is returned to the relative safety of his ball.

    Camerupt roars and stomps his hooves in fury, his anger palpable at the loss of yet another target. He turns to the now-petrified Brendan once more, only to bellow when Mawile rushes him down, her second set of fangs bared. Her crocodile-like teeth sink into Camerupt''s neck, and in the midst of sobbing in mindless fright, Mawile tries to wrench Camerupt''s head from his shoulders with her bite to no effect.

    Her crying is silenced instantly when Camerupt raises a hoof and carelessly stomps upon her.

    With all of the pokemon in his way removed, the camel stares down Brendan, who falls to his rear and tries to scramble away, his eyes wide and alight with panic, with the realization of his own mortality.

    "Brendan!" Zinnia shrilly screams, reaching an arm out

    ''Nine!'' Lee mentally screams right along with Zinnia.

    Fast as can be, a nameless bolt of fire shoots from Ninetales'' mouth, curving through the air and squarely striking Camerupt in the eye in a puff of embers.

    The camel whirls around in fury, Brendan apparently forgotten. The camel begins his slow lumber, accelerating to full speed like a locomotive.

    Ninetales tenses, shaking so minutely that only Lee notices. Then with all the speed she can muster, she moves, caring none for conserving her stamina or bothering with any trickery. She rushes across the field with frantic energy, her entire body glowing with how hard she pushes her powers.

    Where Extrasensory caused bruises previously, Camerupt doesn''t so much as blink now.

    Hex finds no wounds to ravage, for the gouge Marshtomp inflicted on Camerupt''s side healed over upon Mega-Evolving.

    If Confuse Ray does anything, then it''s not apparent.

    Meanwhile, Camerupt''s attacks are even more potent than they were previously. His Stone Edge flies with such velocity, that even the shockwave caused by a near miss is enough to batter Ninetales down to her core.

    But everything Ninetales throws, Maxie''s monster simply takes without a flinch. The sheer difference between the pair of pokemon leaves Lee''s head spinning. He thought Ninetales was already beginning to reach into the upper echelons of the world.

    How wrong he was.

    If there is any upside to the fight, it''s that Camerupt''s speed suffered for his radically increased power. Ninetales is free to dart in and out, moving out of the way before the camel can mount a proper retaliation. The beast''s patience is visibly waning, and Lee can only hope it means that he''ll screw up in a way they can exploit, somehow. In the melee, Brendan recalled his brutalized Mawile and snuck his way around the perimeter of the field, returning to Lee and Zinnia''s side. Whatever misgivings Zinnia held for the boy before are forgotten for now, as she clutches the shellshocked Birch to her side, shielding him from the madness with her body.

    "Camerupt," Maxie begins, voice carrying over the chaos with ease.

    Lee feels his blood run cold.

    Maxie smiles, his expression devoid of humanity as Claydol hovers closer, a translucent psychic shield forming around them. "Use Eruption."

    Camerupt groans. Within his body, something audibly churns and bubbles, then with a pained cry, he halts and falls to his knees. The miniature volcano upon his back rumbles.

    Then it explodes.

    The top of Camerupt''s volcano erupts like a fire hydrant with its top unscrewed, spewing a simply unbelievable amount of ash, lava, and rocks into the air, forming a hellish cloud high above. As if that were not bad enough, the burning cloud halts, then coalesces into countless ashy stones with sizzling, molten veins within them, each one the size of a man''s head.

    ''There must be hundreds of them��'' Lee looks up at the looming attack, whatever hope he was holding onto washed away in a tide of cold realization.

    They lost. All of them are going to die here.

    There isn''t anywhere to run to. What could they do? Run away and be shot in the back? Try to use the cable car? Even if they could get that far, there is nothing stopping Maxie from cutting the cable, leaving them to tumble to their deaths.

    Trying to solve all of this on their own was such a mistake. How could they underestimate literal terrorists to such a degree?

    Lee turns to Zinnia and Brendan.

    Zinnia''s face is just as ashen as his, and Brendan''s last dregs of bravery have drained away, leaving him looking so small and fragile.

    Whatever force was holding onto Eruption lets go, and the stones begin to fall, screaming like falling bombs.

    For the first time in weeks, that day replays in Lee''s mind.

    ''History really does repeat itself.'' He looks over to Ninetales, who is just as frozen as he is. ''Nine�� I love you. I''m sorry.''

    Ninetales raises her head and screams as the thought crosses Lee''s mind. The shrill sound is ugly, wounded, and so startling to hear from her from her ''No! No! No!'' The wild mantra repeats over and over, breaking Lee away from the cold thoughts of demise. Ninetales points her maw skyward, a ball of fire coalescing and compacting itself within. The fire goes from red, to orange, to blue, finally to a bright white. ''You don''t get to die here! You''re not allowed! They''re not allowed to take you away!'' Screaming once more, she throws her neck, a gout of fire shooting from her mouth and up into the sky to meet Eruption.

    Ninetales'' Flamethrower is thin and beam-like, slicing through the air like a hot wire, and each falling orb of lava that meets it explodes into smoke, practically vaporized. The Flamethrower greedily sucks down Ninetales'' already flagging stamina, but she doesn''t seem to notice at all, instead shooting down everything as fast as she can. The single-minded fervor leaves Lee awed and�� just a bit frightened.

    Try as she might though, Ninetales is but one pokemon facing down hundreds of falling projectiles. She destroys a hundred, then another hundred, cutting their numbers by nearly two-thirds, but by then, the remainders are just too close.

    One slips by, and Lee, so overloaded, doesn''t realize it''s bearing down on him until the flaming meteor is only fifty feet away. He looks up, his eyes wide.

    A gold blur slams into his chest, throwing him away, but he scrambles to his feet a second later. That could only be-!

    The meteor strikes his savior, exploding into a cloud of sharp, superheated stones and choking ash, but the explosion does nothing to drown out the tortured cry that follows.

    Lee''s entire body lights up in horrid phantom pain. His vision flashes and his legs give out, forcing him to his knees. He chokes, swearing he feels blood welling within his throat. When his vision clears and the waterfall in his ears finally begins to quiet after what feels like hours, he forces his neck to turn and take in the limp, bloodied form just a few yards away.

    His own scream is all that follows.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Consciousness returns to Corvisquire like a bolt of lightning to the head. With a jolt, he spreads his wings and flaps, freeing himself from his awkward position laying wedged between a rock and��

    He blinks as he rises into the air and settles on a rocky outcropping on the side of Mt Chimney. "What in the world?" He asks himself, looking around. "What happened? What was I lodged between?"

    The corvid looks down at the rock he was lying against. There is nothing beyond it, so he should''ve tumbled down the mountain. With a frown, he reaches a wing out and pauses when he feels his feathers bend against thin air, as if there is an invisible wall.

    Frown deepening, he draws his head back and stabs at the invisible barrier with his beak, only to wince when the wall holds strong and jolts his neck. He shakes his head. The last thing he remembers was speeding away on Lee''s orders, moving as fast as he could before he collided with something headfirst.

    ''Did I hit this wall so hard I knocked myself senseless?'' He grits his beak in annoyance, only pushing it back as he remembers the mission given to him. ''Damn it! What sort of devilry is this? The work of a psychic?''

    He hops along the unseen border, continually testing it with taps of his beak, only to find no exits or weak points. With a sneer he holds out a wing, and in the shadow of his dark plumage, a single Pursuer takes form. Whipping his wing forward, he sends the little orb straight into the invisible wall.

    The ball of caustic darkness splashes across the invisible barrier, doing�� Absolutely nothing.

    ''That''s��'' He stops himself from saying ''impossible''. Nothing is truly impossible, not with enough strength. ''Improbable. What sort of psychic has enough might to do such a thing? None that I''ve ever met. Even Queen Furball''s telekinetic hold falters in the face of Dark.''

    It''s just then that Corvisquire notices just how dark it is outside. Looking up, he blinks, mystified at the dark clouds covering the landscape. "That''s�� From the volcano? No, surely it hasn''t become active��"

    Then, over the rocky cliffs and walls, a scream pierces the silence, and it''s a sound that cuts Corvisquire down to his core.

    That was Lee''s voice, and the anguish within was unmistakable.

    Without a single further thought, Corvisquire spreads his wings and shoots up into the air, flying up over the mountain and homing back in on the place where he left his comrades behind. He''s forced to fly low and breath shallow, as the dust in the air prickles at both his eyes and his throat.

    Flying back over the cable car building, he stops, hovering.

    Below him is absolute hell.

    The terrain is torn asunder, the natural walls forming the way to the mouth of the volcano reduced to rubble. Blots of cooling lava dot the landscape, with one red hot glob setting fire to the roof of the visitor center. None of that is what has Corvisquire''s attention, however.

    No, it''s his comrades below.

    The Dragon Woman''s bravado is dead and gone, replaced with an unnatural paleness as she shields the Birch boy behind her. The boy himself, usually so unflappable, clutches the woman like a lifeline. Neither of them have any of their pokemon called forth.

    Looking a talonful of yards to their side, Corvisquire feels as if he was dunked into ice water.

    Lee is kneeled upon the ground, his face contorted in shock. The man''s expression stirs a terrible familiarity within Corvisquire, for he''s certain that his own expression was the same when�� When the Young Master fell for the final time.

    Corvisquire gulps, following Lee''s outreached hands, hands reaching for a form lying prone upon the ground.

    A form of gold fur dyed red.

    Ninetales lays upon the rock floor, broken. Blood leaks from her mouth, her nose, her ears, and from countless wounds scouring her body, some with razor shards of stone still digging into her flesh. A leg and more than one tail are twisted in the wrong direction. She struggles to draw breath, and Corvisquire''s eyes lock on to the reason.

    A stone shard, larger than the others, lays lodged deep within her chest. The edges of the wound are burned, cauterized shut, but there''s no telling what sort of internal suffering she''s endured. Without treatment, she''ll��

    Corvisquire tears his eyes away from the sight. Ninetales, one of the mightiest pokemon he''s ever met�� He can''t even bring himself to say that she has been brought low. The terrible cold grows utterly frigid within his breast.

    Did this�� Did this happen because he failed the assignment given to him by Lee?

    A hoofstep echos off of what remains of the walls, drawing the corvid''s eyes.

    WrongWrongWrongShouldNotBeRealCannotBeReal!

    A monster stands across from Lee and Ninetales, one coated in red fur and carrying upon its back an entire volcano. Every step it takes shakes the ground with such force that even the air vibrates. Try as he might, a shiver runs down the raven''s spine, his nerve fleeing him and leaving him a small Rookiedee once more. Then Corvisquire notices just whom the abomination is lumbering towards.

    It walks towards Corvisquire''s fallen comrade and trainer, and in its eyes is murder. The monster opens its maw, and light begins to build within its throat.

    Lee looks up at the Camerupt, his arms falling to his sides. The shock fades, replaced with weary resignation. He falls forward, hugging Ninetales to his body for comf-

    No. Not to comfort himself. The man shields the fox with his own body, no matter how ineffective it will be.

    The feeling of ice leaves Corvisquire''s body, replaced with something much more intense and countless times more familiar.

    Hate.

    Hate.

    HATE.

    Hate at Wally and Kirlia for opening his eyes and making him vulnerable.

    Hate at Lee for taking a coward like him back.

    Hate at Magma for causing this mess in the first place.

    Hate at Camerupt and Maxie for daring to harm the man who forgave him, for daring to harm the pokemon who understands.

    Hate at himself for being too damn weak to stop any of-

    ''No! No more!'' Corvisquire grits his beak, pushing away the tears that threaten to fall. ''I will not lose another trainer! I will not suffer that pain again! I''m not weak! No one I love will die! Nevermore!''

    He dives.

    ''Nevermore!''

    The heat of his fury rages through his core into his limbs. Euphoric strength and the certainty of steel overtakes him along with a cloak of grand, white light, That furious, raging heat begins to reforge all it touches.

    His wings grow, each feather hardening and lengthening into midnight-hued blades.

    Molten steel drips from his pores, turning feathers into peerless armor.

    His beak and talons coat themselves in glimmering, razor-edged metal, forming keen weapons.

    His body, so small and weak, practically explodes with wire-like muscle and bones as unyielding as bars of the finest steel. His form doubles, then triples in size.

    Within his head, now clad in a helm of obsidian metal, comes the greatest change.

    Gone is the raging, uncontrollable wrath that would warm him beneath his feathers. The undirected frenzy is quenched in cold focus, hardening into a weapon far sharper than any blade, and more unbreakable than any set of armor. With it comes beautiful clarity, and assured purpose.

    Red eyes snap open under the shadows of a corvid-shaped helm.

    "Corvisquire, foolish and hotheaded, is no more," the raven, now sized to dwarf a man, rumbles. "From his twisted remains, I am born."

    Corviknight, newly evolved, pulls his wings even closer to his sides, his armor whistling sharply through the air as he dives like a missile.

    "Let us see how you fare with a fresh opponent, cur," he narrows his eyes, targeting the Camerupt below and cruelly seeking out where his foe might be most vulnerable.

    None of his will die.

    Nevermore.

 Act 2: Chapter 18

    With the supernatural cool of chilled steel and the leashed, frantic energy of danger seeping into his mind, Corviknight analyzes his foe as he screams down through the air. Thoughts of a tactical sort supersede all else, and objectives take form.

    Lee and Ninetales must be defended at all costs and evacuated as soon as possible.

    Brendan and Zinnia must be defended and evacuated.

    Barriers and obstructions preventing evacuation must be removed.

    Bystander casualties must be avoided where possible.

    All foes must be disabled where possible.

    From the most important to the least important, it all comes to him with lightning speed and assured confidence. A small part of him, a bit left over from his prior evolution, seethes at the notion of leaving such impudent opponents intact, but it''s silenced swiftly. The most important aspects must take precedence, and that means none of his can die.

    Nevermore.

    A mere second before impact, the mockery of a Camerupt seems to realize something is amiss and raises its head. Its eyes, small and bloodshot, don''t seem to register the approaching danger.

    A moment later, Corviknight drives his beak into its neck with hellish speed and ferocity.

    The beast skids back several inches, its hooves practically grinding the rock beneath it to dust. And most worrying of all, Corviknight feels his beak sink less than an inch into the flesh of his foe.

    That�� is not good. At least Camerupt''s attention shifts away from the catatonic Lee and disabled Ninetales.

    With a bellow so loud Corviknight can feel his armor rattle, Camerupt turns its wild eyes to him and opens its mouth, fire building within its throat.

    With a single flap of his broad wings, Corviknight pulls back and twists his bulk through the air, flying over Camerupt at an angle too sharp for his neck to follow. Beak glowing with power, Corviknight stabs the beast''s neck once more, and just as last time, his efforts produce a wound that barely even bleeds.

    ''Damnation! What in the world is this thing?'' Corviknight grimaces, once more throwing himself out of the way when Camerupt turns to him, firing a retaliatory Flamethrower. Just being near Camerupt makes his armor feverishly hot, and the added heat from the Flamethrower makes Corviknight''s stomach roll in nausea. ''I''m striking with all the strength I can muster, yet it barely notices.''

    "Another interloper?" The red-clad human behind the monstrous Camerupt frowns. Maxie, Corviknight believes his name to be. "This is becoming bothersome."

    Although few would interpret Maxie''s words as some sort of order, Camerupt re-doubles its efforts to strike Corviknight down. The beast''s volcano-like hump gurgles and boils, throwing globs of lava into the air, forming a miniature shower around it, forcing Corviknight to back off lest he test his new armor against molten rock.

    ''Wonderful��'' The great raven sneers to himself. He takes stock of the battlefield once more.

    Lee, still ashen-faced, is focused on Ninetales. Even so shocked, the man''s eyes roam her numerous injuries, treating what he can, and when he can do no more, he draws her pokeball. With a whisper too quiet to hear, Ninetales is drawn back into the protective sphere. He cradles the ball to his chest, unable to do much else.

    Zinnia and Brendan stare up at his armored form with wide, disbelieving eyes. The Dragon woman''s arms are wrapped protectively around the boy, partially shielding him with her own body. Considering the frightened, vulnerable state of them both, neither must have any battle capable pokemon.

    Behind Maxie and the Claydol at his side, a trio of pokeballs lay on the ground. Neither Lee, Zinnia, nor Brendan would dare ever drop such critical lifelines, so Corviknight vows to keep the trio of potential unknowns in his peripherals whenever possible.

    ''Wait��''

    With a grunt, Corviknight once more twists out of the way of a gout of flames, looking at Claydol once more. Though he is no expert on the natives of Hoenn, Claydol is unmistakably a psychic.

    The corvid''s eyes narrow.

    Something ephemeral pokes Corviknight''s instincts, warning him that things are not as they seem, and he listens well to the silent urging. The Claydol must be responsible for the barriers, unless he has unseen compatriots positioned around the mountain, which is not an impossible occurrence. This is far from a regulation battle, after all. Regardless, something simply isn''t right here��

    With all of his focus and his newfound power brought to bear, Corviknight dances through the air as if he doesn''t weigh half a ton, weaving around Camerupt''s mindless, furious attacks with inches to spare. The black armor coating his form feels as though it should make him invincible, and dodging almost feels cowardly, but seeing Lee''s First and Most Faithful put down so brutally pushed all notions of pride and bravado aside. He will dodge until he cannot.

    So begins a rapidfire back-and-forth exchange. Camerupt''s flames, burning as hot as anything Ninetales could throw, whip by the deft raven with palpable wrath. Corviknight, meanwhile, darts in and out, patiently driving beak and talon into his foe''s flesh the instant an opening presents itself. How utterly wrong the existence of the thing before him is, and the revulsion that follows is pushed aside with great effort. Many times Corviknight has to abort his strikes, unused to his new size and the sudden difficulty of squeezing between his foe''s projectiles. Each time, he curses under his breath.

    Camerupt finally becomes frustrated with Corviknight''s evasiveness. The camel stomps its hooves as if throwing a tantrum, shaking the volcano down to its foundation. Then it draws back its head, mouth open wide. From the open maw comes an ocean of blinding white fire, aimed squarely up at a scowling Corviknight and the entire area surrounding him.

    ''Damn it!'' Corviknight already knows there is no way to dodge such a wide attack with his natural abilities alone. Taking a deep breath, he ignites the bright cloak of Extremespeed around him. An instant later and with a sharp crack of displaced air, he is on his foe''s opposite flank, and Corviknight''s entire body screams in protest. The sudden onset of pain nearly makes Corviknight lose altitude.

    ''I should''ve expected such a thing. Grovyle did not master his new body for a week after evolution, and I am only a mere talonful of minutes into mine own transformation��'' the raven growls under his breath. His heavy armor protested against the sudden change in inertia, feeling as if it was going to rip itself free from his skin. ''I cannot dally. I haven''t any idea how many more times I may use Extremespeed without injury, but it surely cannot be many.''

    His foe, the twisted Camerupt, presents a serious hurdle, however. The nicks and small wounds upon its face and neck are far from debilitating. Unless he can inflict more substantial damage, the fight will boil down to a battle of attrition, one that Corviknight is not equipped to win.

    Unbidden, his self-imposed objectives come back to him.

    Lee and Ninetales must be defended at all costs and evacuated as soon as possible.

    Brendan and Zinnia must be defended and evacuated.

    Barriers and obstructions preventing evacuation must be removed.

    Bystander casualties must be avoided where possible.

    All foes must be disabled where possible.

    Corviknight scowls once more. Camerupt is a danger to objective one, and needs to be defeated now. ''Very well, then. I suppose I can no longer afford any level of fair play.'' He stares down at the wild-eyed Camerupt below.

    The camel bellows a deep, ground-shaking roar.

    Corviknight answers by parting his beak and letting out a piercing screech, one akin to the shriek of tortured metal. Then he dives.

    The raven twists by a stream of fire, and throws his wings out to arrest his flight, stopping just short of being struck by an opportunistic headbutt.

    Camerupt was clearly expecting his skull to impact Corviknight, as the monster overextends, leaving its face vulnerable for a precious split second.

    Without a hint of remorse, Corviknight jabs his steel-coated beak, shining bright with a Pluck attack, right into Camerupt''s eye��

    Screeech!

    ��Only for his beak to skitter off some sort of invisible barrier.

    ''What in the world?''

    In his surprise, Corviknight is a split second too slow to totally avoid a roaring blast of flame from Camerupt''s mouth. The corvid rises up and out of the way, but not before a glowing molten trail is carved into the side of his breastplate, dangerously close to cooking the flesh beneath.

    Corviknight growls and darts out of the way of a follow-up blast, his mind working a mile a minute. The beast before him is supernaturally tough, quick, and doesn''t seem to react to any kind of pain stimulus. All these things tickled his instincts, but now, after seeing a debilitating attack simply glance off?

    Corviknight''s eyes turn to Claydol, just in time to see the faintest of violet glows fade away from around its body.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Unbeknownst to Corviknight, Lee would share his realization almost exactly.

    It takes entirely too long for Lee to compose himself in his eyes. Even now, he can feel the phantom pain of a burning stone lodged between his ribs. Despite knowing that it''s all within his mind, the agonizing sensation still drove him to his knees.

    The knowledge that Ninetales is suffering the real thing hurts infinitely more.

    Even so shocked, or perhaps because he is so shocked, Lee reverts back to what feels natural, and immediately sets to tending Ninetales'' wounds in a dazed sort of autopilot. He dares not remove the shard of stone embedded within her chest, lest she bleed out or lose pressure in her punctured lung. The wound was cauterized shut, but still, Lee removes the Super Potion from his bag and uses the last of it upon Ninetales'' various wounds, finishing off the last spritz around the edges of the chest wound. Finally, he returns her to her ball, back in the safety of stasis, cutting off the shared pain and leaving only something phantasmal behind. Ninetales falling into a painless unconsciousness is the only solace.

    Precious time bought, but Lee can still feel her life force slowly ebbing away, even through her ball. He knows deep down that if she dies here, then so will he. Not at the hands of Maxie, no, but from his own heart giving out.

    Ninetales is his world. If she dies, then it all may as well come to an end, no matter how pathetic such a sentiment sounds.

    They need to leave. They all need to leave immediately.

    There is a bone-shaking bellow, met by a spine-tingling screech.

    Lee''s head shoots up, and he shakily rises to his feet, watching the battle of the behemoths before him. Every time they clash, the entire volcano shakes. Of course he noticed the Corviknight descend from above and distract Camerupt. Even so distraught, such a titan would be hard to miss. Only now, though, does it sink in that the gigantic bird might be his Corvi. The viciousness, the determination, the fury, all of it is Corvi to a T. Did he contact help? Was he stopped? He must have been stopped somehow if no backup followed in his wake. Lee eyeballs Claydol, gulping, knowing that the Ground and Psychic-type must have been responsible.

    The raven''s identity is driven home when Corvisqu- Corviknight ruthlessly stabs his beak right into Camerupt''s eye.

    Screeech!

    ��Only for the attack to glance off of something invisible.

    ''What the hell?'' Lee''s eyes instantly turn to Maxie''s Claydol, and he''s just in time to see the doll pokemon glow with a psychic light so faint, Lee has to wonder if his eyes are playing tricks on him. His mind whirls, and he comes to a horrible conclusion. ''Our fight against Camerupt was never a two-on-one, it was a two-on-two the entire time. That son of a bitch!'' Lee tries to recall any other manipulations Claydol might have thrown into the fight for their lives, but he comes up blank. ''Either Claydol is so slick that we haven''t noticed a thing, or Camerupt is only just now getting help, but��''

    His mind jumps back to just a short while ago, where Grovyle valiantly took up the fight to delay the inevitable. The wood gecko was as fast as they come, darting in and out of danger to land a Night Slash right on Camerupt''s flank. Despite still having a few difficulties with manipulating Dark, Grovyle''s attack carved a hard-won wound into Camerupt''s flesh that only Tyrunt''s lucky Bite on the camel''s leg could match. Every attack that isn''t Dark (or Water, Camerupt''s critical weakness) seems terribly muted in comparison.

    ''Dark moves, the antithesis of Psychic, damaged Camerupt.'' Lee comes to a wide-eyed conclusion. ''Claydol has been interfering since the very start! He''s been defending Camerupt from as much incoming damage as possible!''

    ��But if Claydol has been participating the entire time, why hasn''t he thrown out any attacks? Lee knows for a fact that a well learned Psychic can attack and defend simultaneously, making them into lethal enemies.

    ''No��'' Lee looks at Camerupt''s eyes.

    The bloodshot orbs are still just as wild and hateful as they were when the pok��mon was first released from his ball, lacking any sort of apparent spark of intelligence or self-awareness. It''s the gaze of a drugged animal, one in the between state of consciousness and stupor.

    ''Is Claydol not attacking because he''s�� controlling Camerupt? Can he not split his focus that much?''

    It almost feels like a leap of logic, but everything lines up so neatly that Lee can''t help but physically stumble back a step. ''It''s almost like with Ninetales'' Foxfire move. Trying to control a body that isn''t yours with telepathy is a chore�� And that''s when the body isn''t potentially putting up a fight��''

    A plan takes shape in Lee''s mind, and with his shock passing and the knowledge of everything on the line weighing on his shoulders, a blessed lucidity takes him. He looks back at Brendan and Zinnia.

    Both of them stare back, looking smaller and more fragile than they ever have been before. Brendan clings to Zinnia like a lifeline, his youthful face pale and gaunt in his fright.

    Zinnia''s face is arguably worse, for she stares back with resignation. It looks so alien on her that Lee nearly mistakes the expression for some sort of trick of the light.

    Lee then scans the battlefield.

    The area is pockmarked by craters and spots of rock that glow an ominous red from all the residual heat. The ground, battered and uneven, is barely fit to be walked upon. Far in the distance behind Maxie, a number of grunts along with Tabitha and Courtney all hang back, watching the goings-on with undisguised terror. Courtney''s face is pale as a sheet, while Tabitha wears a smile that is barely hiding panic. Courtney must have briefly braved the danger of the field to retrieve her pokeballs, for all three are back on her belt.

    ''Maxie��'' Lee looks at the Magma Leader, who doesn''t so much as glance his way. Without Magma, without this man in particular, none of this would be happening.

    His secrets, secrets of the world before this one, wouldn''t be in jeopardy.

    His life, one set for peace and the fulfillment of childhood dreams, would still be on the rails.

    His friends, the town below the mountain, hell, the whole world wouldn''t be in danger.

    His pokemon, his beloved family, would still be healthy and whole.

    Ninetales, his greatest friend across two worlds, wouldn''t be in her pokeball, desperately clinging to life, life nearly stolen from her.

    For the first time in his entire life, genuine hate for another human being boils within Lee''s chest. He''s seen deplorable people from all parts of the world and all walks of life, and he thought he had seen it all, but apparently not. From common malcontents on the street to apathetic, greed-driven criminals, each one evoked distaste, but Maxie has reset the scale. This is no cartoonish plot for a videogame, but genuine, remorseless evil beyond the capacity of a sane man to comprehend. The end goal of Magma''s ludicrous endeavor can only be selfish and destructive, ruining an untold number of lives.

    It''s galling on a level deeper than words.

    Lee sets his shoulders and scowls. A plan clicks into place, and with that plan, his fear yields to something infinitely more useful.

    Resolve.

    ''I will not die again. I will not let my friends and pokemon die. I will not let Ninetales die.''

    "Corvi!" Lee''s exclamation echoes across the volcano like a gunshot.

    Maxie''s eyes focus on Lee.

    Brendan and Zinnia both jump.

    Corviknight''s baleful red eyes turn to meet Lee''s unflinchingly.

    "Pursuers!" Lee roars. "Hit him with everything you have!"

    Corviknight''s beak twists into a smirk, the crow seeming to relish the order. He spreads his wings, and above him, five, no, seven, nine, twelve seething orbs of cloudy shadow hiss into existence. Where Corvisquire''s Pursuers were the size of tennis balls, Corviknight''s are the size of human heads and writhe with barely contained rancor. With an ear-rending screech, Corviknight throws a wing forward, sending all of the Pursuers down at Camerupt.

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    Maxie''s Claydol hums ominously, and Camerupt doesn''t remain idle. The Mega pokemon grunts, rings of light appearing around him. The rings then coalesce into the spear like-stones of Stone Edge. The rocky projectiles shoot up to intercept Pursuers with vengeful speed.

    ''Not willing to tank this one, are you?''

    Corviknight laughs in reply, no doubt noticing as well. It''s a deep yet hoarse sound with a metallic timbre, and just a hint of a rattle. As if following the glee of his voice, the balls of darkness Corviknight threw dance out of the way as if possessing minds of their own, letting the rocks fly past.

    Camerupt snorts twin plumes of black smoke. Then seemingly without warning, his eyes go wide and he freezes in place, letting the barrage of dark orbs smash into him and detonate into caustic clouds.

    As the residual tendrils of smoky Dark fade away, Lee clicks his tongue when he is treated to the sight of Camerupt free of injury. ''Damn it all, how is he doing that? Compacting air between panes of psychic barriers? Micro shapes to distribute and disperse the impact like dragon''s teeth or breakwaters? It can''t be brute power, can it? Regardless�� Camerupt froze in place.'' He glares at Claydol. ''Can''t defend at full power and direct Camerupt at the same time, can you? Fine then.''

    "Again!" Lee orders.

    Corviknight screeches and swipes his man-sized wing again, sending another burst of Pursuers at Camerupt.

    The hum coming from Claydol deepens, growing a little louder.

    Just like before, Maxie''s pokemon roars in reply. This time he blasts a wide cone of fire to try and disperse the dark spheres homing in on him. The fire claims three of the spite-like orbs that can''t scatter fast enough, but the others smash into Camerupt, who goes ramrod still a second before impact.

    "Charge two more volleys!" Lee smiles a vindictive smile. Is the fight actually turning around? He looks at Maxie.

    The Magma Leader isn''t smiling. Good.

    Corviknight spreads his wings. This time a mantle of dark balls numbering nearly twenty-four take form around him, hovering like a band of spirits awaiting a command. The raven''s eyes narrow in focus.

    "Fire!"

    The armor clad raven throws a wing forward like a general issuing a command to charge, and twelve of the Pursuers heed the order, racing down towards Camerupt.

    This time, Camerupt merely freezes and doesn''t retaliate.

    "Now!" Lee calls once more. "Send the other volley at Claydol!"

    There is no hesitation and no wasted movement. Corviknight caws shrilly and the other orbs beeline for Claydol just as the first set impacts Camerupt.

    For the first time since his fiasco began, Maxie is taken aback.

    The violet glow of psychic energy around Claydol finally grows to a truly visible level. A circular shield erects around him, stopping the Pursuers dead.

    By now, the residual darkness around Camerupt has faded, but the camel pokemon remains as stiff as a corpse propped up upon its feet as Claydol''s shield is battered by the Corviknight''s assault.

    ''Disgusting. Claydol really is piloting Camerupt like some kind of meat puppet,'' Lee''s face is drawn back into a disdainful grimace. "Again! Hit them both!"

    Corviknight obliges with a vindictive shriek, drawing his wings close and then thrusting them out once more, shooting repeated cavalcades of Pursuers at both Camerupt and Claydol with tireless zeal.

    Claydol''s shield remains raised, and Camerupt is stuck frozen in place, forced to endure with whatever leftover protection Claydol can offer him. While Claydol goes uninjured under the relentless barrage of attacks, Camerupt is finally beginning to falter. No pained noise, not even a whimper, comes from the brainwashed Mega, but the Pursuers leave a tiny patch of cracked, withered skin with each strike. In a matter of seconds, the Mega, unable to defend himself, begins to shake.

    A vein begins to bulge in Maxie''s brow, and Lee takes notice.

    Camerupt''s shakes begin to become more pronounced as the withered, cracked sections of his flesh begin to bleed after the tenth volley. Claydol''s humming continues to increase in volume, but the shield around him holds.

    Maxie''s face slowly grows red, and sweat begins to dot his brow. Then, something changes.

    ''What?'' Lee blinks. Suddenly, he can feel a breeze again. Immediately, the sensation raises red flags. ''Wait a minute, the volcano acting up should be producing updrafts and wind if I remember my eighth grade science correctly. All of the hot air and ash traveling upward should drag the surrounding air up from the surrounding valleys. Why did it just start now?''

    Before he can puzzle it out, Camerupt''s eyes shoot wide open and he throws his head back, ignoring the latest batch of Pursuers pelting him. He bellows to the heavens with such outrageous force that a pressure wave explodes from his body.

    Corviknight''s constant parade of attacks is interrupted as the giant bird is physically shaken midair. The bellow echoes off of his armor like someone screaming into a stockpot.

    Lee stumbles back a step, feeling as if someone put both of their hands on his chest and shoved him. He hears both Brendan and Zinnia gasp and struggle to stay up right behind him. "Jesus, what the fu-!"

    Like some sort of video played in fast-forward, Maxie''s Mega Camerupt whirls on his hooves, angles his body so his hump is aimed at Corviknight, and with a gurgle of molten rock, roars, shooting a shotgun blast of lava in a wide, devastating net at the raven.

    ''Lava Plume,'' Lee''s subconscious provides the name of the attack. "Corvi! Move!"

    A white, rolling aura overtakes Corviknight, and in a flicker of movement, he vanishes from the realm of sight with a loud crack of violently displaced air. He reappears a split second later on Camerupt''s other side, grimacing. The lava, meanwhile, falls to the ground, hissing and popping.

    Cli-cli-clink!

    And Lee can see exactly why his pok��mon is grimacing.

    A number of steely feathers fall to the ground like discarded knives under Corviknight''s feet, and in his wings, a number of other feathers are out of place. Lee quickly connects the dots and curses under his breath. ''Extremespeed is too much for him right after evolving.''

    "Hit them both! Just like we were doing previously!" Lee''s adrenaline surges anew with the realization that they aren''t out of the woods yet.

    Camerupt doesn''t give them a single moment of reprieve, once more moving with simply unnatural speed to turn and face Corviknight, who throws his wings out again, sending a simply titanic wave of dark, hissing orbs down at both Camerupt and Claydol.

    The still raised shield around Claydol endures the repeated blows and the caustic clouds left behind, as does Camerupt�� Without a hint of slowing down. The Mega fires off yet another burst of horrid lava in such a wide area that Corviknight has no choice but to use Extremespeed to dodge out of the way. Vanishing with a sonic crack, Corviknight reappears behind Camerupt with his face set into a deep scowl.

    Cli-cli-clink!

    More metallic feathers fall to the ground, and Lee''s heart falls when he sees several of the dark pinions are slick with blood.

    ''Shit! We can''t keep doing this! Corvi isn''t going to last!'' Lee''s mind races, desperately reviewing all the moves that Corviknight knows and how he might apply them here. One in particular jumps out to him, yet he hesitates.

    ''This�� This could be our saving grace, or could backfire horribly and get all of us killed��'' Lee watches, despising the helpless feeling in his chest as Corviknight barely avoids being cooked alive once more by a wave of molten lava. ''I don''t think I have any time to think about ''what-if'' anymore. We have to do something and do it now!

    "Corvi!" Lee calls, praying to Arceus this goes right. "Use Taunt-"

    Maxie''s eyebrow rises.

    "-on Claydol!"

    Maxie''s face screws itself up into absolute horror, and Lee can''t help but revel in it a bit. Immediately, he grabs at Camerupt''s pokeball from its place on his belt�� but is just a hair too slow.

    At the same time, high above, Corviknight stares down at Claydol, eyes alight with cruelty. "Craw caw haaahaaa!" The words are lost to Lee, but the mocking, impudent tone is not. The raven then throws his head back and laughs. The deep, raspy sound is supernaturally grating upon the ears, and even Lee finds himself a touch annoyed just hearing it.

    So it''s no surprise that Claydol''s shield drops, and all of that psychic power instead finds its way to the clay doll''s eyes as an evil, vengeful glow. Before the psychic can so much as move, however��

    "�y�z�z�y�z�y�z�z�|�|�}�}�}�|�~�|�~�~�~�~�~�~�~�~�~�~�~�~ !"

    Camerupt makes a sound of such nightmarish agony that Lee is instantly sick to his stomach. All eyes are drawn to the camel; even Claydol''s fury is forgotten for a moment.

    The Mega writhes and seizes on his hooves, and to Lee''s horror, wounds begin opening up all over his body.

    The slash Grovyle put upon his flank splits open.

    The bitten leg, courtesy of Tyrunt, struggles to hold weight.

    The countless strikes from Corvi''s Pursuers begin to weep red.

    Worst of all, the deep wound from Marshtomp''s waterjet attack suddenly reopens, and steaming hot blood begins to pour down Camerupt''s flank, pooling at his legs at an alarming rate.

    ''W-What the fuck is happening?!'' Lee struggles to process just what is happening before him. Was Claydol doing something to keep all the injuries suppressed? How? Why?

    Corviknight shoots down, rumbling the ground when he lands next to Lee, and the man is pulled into a protective, engulfing wing.

    Yet, despite all the wounds, Camerupt remains standing. Its terribly blank eyes are now lit up with absolute loathing and blind rage. The pokemon bellows the same horrid sound, a sputtering flame building within his mouth. He throws his head side to side, blasting everything and anything around him indiscriminately with bursts of flame. He stomps his hooves, sending spatters from the pool of blood beneath him flying as his breathing becomes shallow and erratic. Then the pokemon goes still, his eyes gaining clarity for the first time Lee''s seen him.

    And they''re filled with murderous purpose.

    With slow, lumbering steps and a flagging ball of fire in his throat, Camerupt turns to look at a grim-faced Maxie, who has a pokeball raised.

    "That will be quite enough��" Maxie''s words are as frigid as solid ice, contrasting sharply with his smoldering eyes.

    All Camerupt can do is hack up a mess of embers and bloody spittle before he is recalled back into his ball in a flash of light.

    For a handful of seconds, everything is silent. No one dares say a thing. Then from the town of Lavaridge below, emergency sirens begin to sound.

    Maxie draws in a deep, calming breath, and his expression returns to neutrality. "Mister Henson��" he begins, tone conversational. "You and your compatriots have each made terrible mistakes. The consequences will come back to haunt you."

    Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Lee glares back. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing to you."

    The eco-terrorist smirks, seemingly amused, and damn if the expression isn''t infuriating. He looks between Lee, then to Brendan, and finally Zinnia. "Enjoy the minor setback you have caused here today. You will not have the opportunity to make another."

    Without letting Lee get another word in, Claydol glows in a bright rainbow corona, one that engulfs Maxie, Tabitha, Courtney, and all of the distant grunts. Then with a blinding flash, all of them vanish, Teleported away in an instant.

    All at once, the energy from his racing adrenaline leaves him, leaving Lee leaning into Corviknight like one might a wall. With a deep, shuddering breath, he turns to Brendan and Zinnia, who slowly separate from one another.

    "��Is it over? They ran away?" Brendan asks breathlessly. He looks at the devastation around them, from the ruined courtyard to the still-burning visitor center.

    Zinnia takes a deep breath, color returning to her tanned face. "Yeah, yeah it looks like��" She gulps, and with her fright receding, a more characteristic anger takes its place. "Those no good mother fu-!"

    "Let''s hold off on the freak-outs for now, please," Lee grunts. The phantom pang within his chest begins to return, once again reminding him that the longer they dally, the greater chance that�� "We need to go to the Pokemon Center, and we need to do it now." Lee stands on shaky legs and looks up at Corviknight. "Corvi, can you carry all three of us?"

    The raven''s answer is a resolute nod, and Lee once more thanks Arceus for the splendid pok��mon he''s found himself with.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Say, boss? Why didn''t we go down and trash the place when that red prick''s Claydol dropped the shield around the mountain? I thought that''s why we were here?"

    From their place on a high mountain just a few kilometers away, another group was given front row seating to watch the metaphorical fireworks upon Mount Chimney from behind the safety of binoculars.

    Standing all around the cliff side of the nameless mountain, a group of twenty all watch the proceedings wrap up upon the volcano. Each man and woman is dressed in fashion of their choice with the exception of a single accessory: a bandanna.

    Each of them sport blue bandannas bearing a stylized, bone-like "A" stitched into the fabric. Some wear the bandannas upon their heads, and others have them tied around their arms, but all wear the calling card of Magma''s rivals.

    Team Aqua.

    Around the Aqua members are their pokemon, a multitude of different Water-types, all ready to rumble. A curled up Huntail, a Wartortle with his arms crossed, and a Staryu idly twirling on one of its points are just a few on display.

    With a hum, a figure in the middle of the group raises his binoculars again, watching the trio of curious trainers all pile onto the back of a Corviknight. "That''s why we were here at first, yeah." The figure lowers the binoculars, revealing his tanned face, sharp eyes, and the beard along his jaw line. He turns to the grunt who spoke up. "Sometimes, though, you''ll learn more by watching than by doing, you get me?"

    The grunt raises a hand to his forehead in a lazy salute. "Aye, Leader Archie."

    Archie raises his binoculars again, grinning a grin that would look more appropriate on a shark than a man. "I''ll tell you guys what. I certainly learned a lot today," he says, looking at the spot Maxie vanished from. "A whole lot indeed."

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The ride on Corviknight''s back down to the Lavaridge Pok��mon Center is a nerve-racking and unpleasant affair. Corvi keeps his flight slow and level like a pro, but it''s only Lee''s desire to save Ninetales that keeps him from panicking as the ground rushes by below.

    Flying on a giant bird is not as easy as it looks in an anime.

    As they fly, they pass a helicopter escorted by a Togekiss and a Flygon on their way to the top of the mountain. The Togekiss, who is being ridden by a familiar pokemon ranger, breaks off and tries to intercept them, forcing Lee to shout over the howling wind and through lungs being crushed by Zinnia, who is hugging his back for support. Once the ranger hears the words "Hurt" and "Critical", she reluctantly allows them to pass.

    The entirety of Lavaridge is on lockdown as they approach, as the emergency sirens are still blaring. Pokemon Rangers and police officers are standing on every street corner, each one nervously fingering their radios and watching the volcano. Several try to pull them over, but Corviknight ignores them and beelines for the Center.

    The instant they storm into the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy only needs to look at their haggard appearances and hasty steps before she rises and flags down other nurses. Quickly, Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan''s pokemon are handed off to different teams.

    "She��She has it the worst, Nurse." Lee gulps to try and soothe his sore throat, realizing just how parched he is as he hands over Ninetales'' pokeball. "Impalement in the chest, dangerously close to the heart. At least one of her lungs was struck. She has numerous other injuries, but the chest wound is the most critical."

    Nurse Joy remains as cool and composed as can be as she hands off Ninetales'' ball to a waiting Chansey wearing a nurse cap, one of many standing in a line and ready to take care of the sudden wave of patients. "Have Doctor Kay''s team prepare for emergency surgery immediately. Expect significant chest trauma," she orders the little pink pokemon.

    Chansey takes the ball in her stubby arms and hustles back into the rear of the Pokemon Center, moving as fast as a human at full sprint.

    Once the Chansey is out of sight, Nurse Joy turns back to Lee and puts a gente smile on her face. "Go rest, Mister Henson. You obviously need it. We won''t stop until your pokemon are stable."

    Absently nodding, Lee turns and walks over to a couch along the wall where Brendan and Zinnia sit. He rubs his chest, feeling yet another phantom throb of pain.

    Behind him, Corviknight follows dutifully, and people part around them, warded away by the gigantic corvid.

    Sitting down on the left side of the couch, next to Brendan, Lee sighs and leans back, exhausted.

    Neither Brendan nor Zinnia have much to say either, that is until Zinnia finally breaks the silence.

    "That sucked��" the Dragon tamer mumbles.

    The two simple words are such an understatement that Lee struggles to withhold an exasperated laugh. "No fuckin'' joke��" Lee shakes his head. "No. Fuckin''. Joke." He leans back, and after looking around for eavesdroppers, he continues. "We messed up. We messed up big time."

    Zinnia frowns, but before she can say anything, Lee continues. "We went in there all confident that we can handle everything, and that was a huge fucking mistake. These aren''t some uppity punks on a battlefield in the middle of town or at some public tournament, these are actual criminals and they were a hundred percent on board with killing us all, human and pokemon alike." He looks over to Zinnia, who shuts her mouth with an audible click from her teeth. "I don''t care what sort of decorum criminals are supposed to follow, Magma is obviously okay with murder."

    The Dragon tamer looks away, stricken. "I didn''t know��"

    Taking a deep breath, Lee does his best to calm himself. "I''m not pointing fingers, but it''s something we have to keep in mind now. We went up without telling anyone, and we had no backup when things went south. I wanted to alert literally everyone, but I assume that you would have objected, right?" he asks, looking at Zinnia.

    She sets her mouth into a thin line and doesn''t answer, but her silence says everything. "When we get to the Draconid stronghold in Fallarbor��" she begins, pausing for a moment. "...I''ll explain everything. I promise."

    Lee looks up at Corviknight, who is standing protectively at his side. The massive raven stares back and shuffles a little closer, silently offering his support. "You aren''t the only one with things to explain, Zinnia��" Lee sighs for what feels like the millionth time today. "I''ve got a few things you and Brendan should know as well."

    Zinnia simply nods. "Say the word, and we''ll listen."

    Throughout the conversation, Brendan remains silent, staring at his hands. Part of Lee wants to probe the boy on what''s wrong, but between how tired he is and how everybody is still processing the ordeal they just endured, Lee thinks better of it and decides to ask tomorrow if Brendan says nothing first. ''Shit would have been way smoother if Ash had shown up. I thought for sure that he would have.''

    It''s at that moment a terrible realization strikes Lee, and the next words in his mouth die on his tongue.

    Ash and his friends never showed up during the volcano incident.

    Ash, the supposed Chosen One, didn''t show up where he was needed the most.

    This is real life, not a game or cartoon, and magical saviors don''t exist.

    ''We can''t just wash our hands of everything. Maxie knows who we are, and will be gunning for us. The only thing stopping him is ourselves.'' The thought makes Lee pause.

    At first, fear grips him. Ninetales is being prepped for surgery for injuries so grievous that a human or animal would have long since died. Grovyle, poor Grovyle, is a mess of debilitating burns. Octillery was turned into a pincushion, and only fortune saved him from injuries comparable to Ninetales''. Shinx is just a baby, and would never survive anything the others just took. Hell, Corvi, despite his fateful evolution, is lucky to have escaped with nothing more serious than a few burns and warped armor.

    Lee looks up at the raven''s broad chest, inspecting the spots where lava twisted and discolored the dark steel.

    Magma would kill all of them if given the chance.

    Under that terrible, clawing fear, though, is something else.

    Indignation. Indignation backed by a fury yet unseen in this world.

    How dare they? How dare Magma strike at his pokemon, to hurt them in such ways? How dare they do this to other people''s pokemon? How many teams and families have been destroyed by them? How many will be destroyed by them if allowed to continue?

    Unbidden, Lee thinks back to his time under the wing of Aasir, his first and greatest mentor, and the man who instilled within him a passion for life itself.

    The friendship started after Aasir showed up to Lee''s high school on behalf of the zoo as a guest speaker. The man''s booming voice and bombastic enthusiasm for the animal kingdom enthralled every set of ears in the room, and Lee remembers even his teacher, Miss Vahn, leaning forward in interest, as Aasir turned a lecture about genetics into something unforgettable. Lee would approach him after class with more questions, about the whys and hows of animal behavior and how encoded it is in their genes, all of which the Kenyan man answered with a smile. The exchange ended with a trade of email addresses, and for the next two years, the pair would be pen-pals.

    Back and forth, back and forth, they would trade emails, and Aasir was a never-ending well of knowledge and philosophy. The adoration of nature and all things with teeth and claws was woven so deeply in Aasir''s words that Lee himself fell in love by proxy. It was a shallow enthusiasm at first, but it was there nonetheless. He was like every other directionless teen before, but now the world suddenly opened up to him, and he knew what he wanted to do. The joking ''Pokemon Trainer'' on his list of careers was crossed out.

    When Lee, in the beginning of his senior year of high school, told Aasir he wanted to pursue a career in zoology, the man was ecstatic and encouraged him every step of the way, even offering up a tantalizing prize.

    Aasir told Lee he had plans to return to Kenya for a few years, back to the African nature reserves where he spent his 20s and 30s. "If you can show me how dedicated you are by getting a degree, I''ll take you with me," he said.

    Without a second thought, Lee put his nose to the grindstone, saved every penny he earned, and threw himself into college as soon as he graduated high school. Every bit of free time was sacrificed at the altar of college credits, and in a little over two years, Lee left college as the proud holder of a bachelor''s degree in zoology at the age of twenty.

    Aasir, true to his word, took Lee to the harsh, untamed African bush, away from civilization and the dominion of man.

    To see animals from behind a wall of glass is one thing. Stepping into their domain, to play by their rules, is another thing entirely. He felt small, weak, and only by learning the unspoken edicts laid down by the rulers of this natural kingdom could he be safe. Never did that diminish his enthusiasm, though. No, it only magnified his desire to learn, seeing things from this new perspective, to understand just how large the world is. The more he knew of the creatures around him, the more he admired them, and the more he admired them, the more he wanted to know, and it all ran away from there.

    "At last, you understand the cycle-" Aasir said with a grin, gesturing to the other smiling men in the small savannah waystation as Lee voiced those thoughts. "-Just as we do. Never lose that love, okay? Look upon the life around you with wonder, and there will be beauty and purpose wherever you go."

    As Aasir said that, Lee''s eyes were drawn to the corner of the room, where a number of FAL rifles sat against the wall. In the wood stock of one of the rifles, ''Aasir'' was carved into the side. Below the name, there were four notches, one each for a poacher felled by that gun. Those notches are ominous reminders.

    There are people out there, ones who through recklessness, apathy, or greed, do not respect the lives of others, be they human or animal.

    And sometimes, you yourself are the only one who might stand in the way of such people.

    As the train of memories comes to an end, an epiphany hits the zoologist, and it''s a sobering one.

    So long as Magma and Aqua are allowed to exist, then his dreams of a peaceful life as a trainer here in Hoenn can''t come true. He, his friends, and his pokemon will always be in danger.

    ''Fine then.'' Lee clinches the denim of his worn, dirty jeans in his hands and stares a pair of holes into the floor. ''I''ve had it. I''m sick of being afraid. My team��my family��they''re strong, talented, and determined. I''ll dedicate my whole being into raising them high, turning them into juggernauts so strong it would be insanity to fight them.

    His hand rises to his chest, pressing against the spot where Ninetales was maimed.

    Even with the multitude of walls between them, and Ninetales'' mind floating in blissful unconsciousness, Lee can feel the Pokemon Center''s best working their magic on her. The precious life force draining away from her is stymied, and with the most immediate danger passed, tension slowly begins to drop away from his shoulders.

    But she would never be in such a condition if it wasn''t for one particular man.

    Maxie''s face flashes before his eyes, and Lee growls to himself.

    ''I''ll make them strong enough that nothing can ever hurt them, to make anyone who tries regret it.''

    Lee recalls all of the research he''s done so far, and how people think he''s making waves with what he and his pokemon have done. His eyes narrow.

    ''You call those waves? I''ll break every known rule of the world if it means we get to live in peace afterward.''

 Act 2: Interlude 4

    To say that Steven Stone is having a long day would be a bit of an understatement.

    Firstly, his Aerodactyl did something to upset his mate, a lovely and equally fiery Charizard owned by Drake of the E4. Aerodactyl always makes it everyone''s problem when he lands himself in the doghouse, and has been uncooperative all day.

    Secondly, his attempts to furret out more info on the happenings around Ash Ketchum have hit brick wall after brick wall. No matter how he tried, Kanto refused to part with any information regarding the young trainer beyond the absolute basics. Within him burns equal parts curiosity and a concerned desire to know what sort of possible danger the young, mysterious trainer might be dragging along in his wake. With so much else going on, Steven''s curiosity has to be left on the back burner, something the champion loathes doing.

    Thirdly��

    "�Creturned in rough condition, but alive. I believe that concludes my report, Champion Stone."

    Leaning back in his office chair, Steven sighs and looks at the ceiling, processing everything Lavaridge''s Chief Pokemon Ranger just said.

    A clash on Mount Chimney.

    The involvement and near death of Lee Henson''s group.

    The appearance of Magma and their shadowy leader.

    In one fell swoop, all of the information given to the Hoenn Champion by Lee Henson has more or less been validated, and many lingering suspicions of the man''s motives have been put to rest. If all the reports are accurate, then Lee''s Ninetales was nearly a fatality in the melee, so at the very least, the man is genuine in standing against the ecoterrorists.

    A skeptical part of him asked, Well, what if he let Ninetales get hurt to throw off suspicion? What if he has another motive?

    For a moment, Steven imagines Metagross in Ninetales'' place, and part of his soul simply turns into a cold void, one that gnaws at the rest of his being with serrated fangs.

    No. No man bonded so deeply to a pokemon would let them be harmed with such callous intentions. It''s simply not possible.

    Lee reportedly refused to provide memories of the incident to a sanctioned Psychic-type belonging to the Lavaridge PD without his Ninetales present, but Brendan Birch stepped up and volunteered, providing countless precious details in his account.

    The boy gave them numbers, names, faces, strength approximations, pokemon information, and verified the story shared between himself, Lee, and their Draconid friend, Zinnia. The plot to extract Fire type energy from the volcano for a reason Brendan didn''t understand�� It fits Lee''s abridged description of Magma''s plans to awaken Groudon to a disturbingly accurate T.

    Perhaps the greatest thing the young Birch provided is an accurate image of Magma''s leader. A memory-assisted sketch of ''Maxie'' matches one Maxwell Matsubusa.

    Maxwell Matsubusa seems rather unremarkable on paper. Born into old money and journeying around Hoenn from the ages of 14 to 20, he inexplicably and abruptly retired from the life of a trainer and became an ecologist with a handful of published articles on the subject of nature conservation. Over the next two decades, he would go on to fund a handful of successful startups and was a key investor in the Devon Corporation, helping the Hoenn-based company grow and rise to rival Kanto''s Silph Co. The smart business moves would nearly double the Matsubusa family''s already impressive wealth.

    Then Matsubusa began to pull back. He was never one for the public eye, but he became a recluse. No one truly minded, as rich-types tend to be strange that way, which is why no one noticed him quietly liquidating his assets, or moving his money out of Hoenn''s National Bank. Eventually, the Hoenn civil government began to look for him regarding unpaid taxes, and that''s when his disappearance came to light.

    ''That explains Magma''s funding��'' Steven sighs once more.

    Apparently, Maxie hasn''t been idle over the years in regards to his pokemon. His stint as a trainer painted him as rather average, but if his Camerupt could fight and defeat three above-average teams all at the same time, then the Camerupt must at minimum be an Elite. That alone is worrisome, but even worse are the other things reported by young Brendan.

    The Claydol.

    The dangers presented by pokemon able to manipulate minds cannot be overstated. Mind reading, memory wiping, psychic domination? All felonious crimes punishable by decades, if not life, in prison. Even frontier regions and the borderline anarchist land of Orre agree on such things. The loss of one''s sanctity of mind is a unique horror that many can''t even properly fathom, and that''s the reason why League-sanctioned Psychic-types are trained so thoroughly, and why amateur Psychics meddling where they shouldn''t be are punished so harshly.

    The description of the events upon the volcano makes it seem like Maxie was treating the cardinal sins of Psychic manipulation as a checklist. What in the world is compelling the man to do this? Regardless, Magma has made their intentions clear, and they can be afforded no quarter.

    ''What is Team Aqua doing during all of this?'' Steven can''t help but wonder. Do they have something even more insidious planned? Are they merely sitting back and watching? The inaction of Magma''s rivals is disconcerting.

    "Champion Stone?" Steven''s deskphone asks. "Are you there?"

    With a start, Steven realizes he''s still on a conference call with Lavaridge''s Chief Ranger. "My apologies, I was busy thinking," he says, sitting up and steepling his fingers on his desk. "Thank you for your prompt report, Ranger Jeremiah. I''m going to contact the Department of Justice once all the proper reports are on my desk and we can make sense of the situation. I have a feeling that Magma and their rivals, Aqua, are going to be wanted men very soon."

    "That''s good to hear, sir." The ranger sounds relieved. "I''ll keep my men on high-alert. Do we have a timeframe on when we are going to receive an official update?"

    Steven mulls it over. "That''s difficult to say. I''m going to be personally overseeing the progress of this investigation, and I imagine that we will have an official decision within�C"

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "Two weeks?" Maxie''s frown is as grim as gray death itself. "Doctor, I believe that you are mistaken."

    Hector Kale, director of medical operations within Team Magma and former native of Cinnabar Island, is currently in the process of regretting his life choices. Ever since starting this gig, his life has been nothing but sleepless nights, meek acquiescence, and pulling miracles out of thin air.

    Behind Maxie, Claydol looms like some sort of warped specter, its eight eyes all looking in different directions, yet seemingly focusing on Hector at the same time. The pink, psychic sheen on the wall means there must be a sound-catching barrier isolating the infirmary. Some might see the measure as smart or necessary, but Hector knows a menacing gesture when he sees one.

    Looking up from the unconscious mountain of muscle that is Maxie''s Camerupt on the infirmary floor, Hector stares into Maxie''s eyes, feeling as if Giratina itself is staring him down.

    ''No, this is worse,'' the middle-aged doctor thinks, keeping his grimace to himself. ''Giratina would be more fair.''

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "I apologize, Leader Maxie," Hector bows his head demurely, "but Camerupt is going to require at least two weeks of rest followed by another week of abstaining from strenuous activity. Your latest test run has pushed him to his limit. Any further, and his long-term health will be compromised."

    Truly, Camerupt needs at least a month, ideally more, to recover from his extensive list of injuries. With his countless lacerations, cracked bones, bruised organs, an enormous rent in his side, desiccated and necrotic skin patches from Dark poisoning, and full-body strain from Mega Evolution, Camerupt seems to be suffering from every injury conceivable.

    ''Poor thing. What did he pit you against?'' The doctor can''t help but pity the camel pokemon.

    Not that Maxie cares about details like that, or he would not have let his pokemon fall into such a state. The Magma leader stalked into a part of the infirmary reserved for his pokemon, practically fuming. Without a word, he deposited his bleeding Camerupt on one of the low-set beds.

    Hector required no orders, and got to work stitching the behemoth back together as his assistants carted in blood bags and Sitrus slurry for transfusion after transfusion. There must be other injured pokemon if the volcano operation went so sideways that Camerupt was incapacitated, but they will simply have to wait until Maxie''s pokemon is treated. Only now, after several hours of continuous work, is the monstrous pokemon stable.

    "��But I will give it my best effort to ensure that Camerupt is back on his feet within a week." The doctor lowers his head further.

    Silently, Hector apologizes to Camerupt. ''It''s you or me, Camerupt. I''m sorry.''

    The answer seems to be exactly what Maxie wants to hear, for the frown on his face is replaced with the smallest of smiles. "Excellent. Your expertise and work ethic are appreciated as always, Doctor Kale. What is the status of Claydol''s extras?"

    "All ten have been recovered from their hiding places around the volcano��" Hector sighs, preparing himself for Maxie''s probable displeasure. "Baltoy number 6 is�� no longer fit for duty. The strain of working in concert with Claydol has left number 6 with greatly diminished psychic capabilities."

    "Hmm��" Maxie hums. "Yes, Claydol can be quite hungry during missions, can''t he?" he asks rhetorically, peering over his shoulder towards his pokemon.

    Like it always is, Claydol is utterly impassive and so still it''s as if the space around it is frozen in time.

    "Retire Baltoy 6 and replace it." Maxie waves his hand as if warding away an irritating insect. "While you''re at it, lower Camerupt''s dosage of suppressants."

    For a moment, Hector flashes back to a moment in time a number of years ago, back to the day that set him on the path of ruin.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "I must say, Mister Kale, I was quite impressed by your studies of genetic similarities between the limbic system in humans and pokemon!"

    In a darkened meeting room and sitting across from a gentleman older than he, Hector smiles nervously and nods. "Thank you."

    "Your suggestions that people and pokemon may share common ancestry based off of your findings is a bold one, yet succinctly supported and thought-provoking in your follow-up research and addendums. I believe that you are just the kind of mind that we are looking for." His lab coat-wearing interviewer smiles and pushes his glasses further up his hooked nose.

    For a second, Hector wonders just what he is getting into. What sort of job offer requires such secrecy and security? Nervously, he glances behind him.

    Standing at the door are two men dressed in black, their hats tilted down to cover their eyes. The man on the right stands with a full-grown Nidoking, while the left is partnered with a Rhydon.

    "I am gathering a team for a special project," Hector''s interviewer continues, reaching a hand into his lab coat and producing a closed folder. "I cannot say much right now, but we need the greatest minds of our age, particularly ones well-versed in pokemon genetics and biology. Believe me, Mister Kale, our work will rock the entire world to its foundations."

    The interviewer opens the folder and slides a single sheet to Hector, along with a pen. "Here is our initial proposal. Please take some time to read it before signing."

    Taking the sheet, Hector scans the contents, his eyes widening into an impression of a Hoothoot.

    The amount of payment for the job is simply absurd, with a multimillion credit payout, permanent benefits, a pension, and a slew of other bonuses upon the completion of the unspecified project�� And equally absurd is the requirement of an indefinite NDA and XY-grade psychic block.

    Hector knows the capabilities of both human and pokemon brains, and how psychics interact with both. Among that knowledge is the severity of different psychic blocks, and XY is the most severe by a longshot. Some blocks could be encoded to be unlocked at the end of a certain timeframe, or be unlocked by an authorized person or passphrase. More sophisticated ones can activate and deactivate based on circumstances. XY, however, is permanent. Once in place, it cannot be removed, and attempting to break it with force will kill the secret holder. The name comes from the final steps before Z, which is shorthand for outright erasing memories.

    Hector''s common sense tells him no, that this isn''t worth it. Whatever project this is must be criminal in nature. The secrecy, the guards, the shady meeting place, it''s all so stereotypical that Hector is kicking himself for not realizing it earlier.

    But�� what if this is worthwhile? If he doesn''t take it�� will he be missing out on something big? To promise such an unearthly reward�� Caution goes to war with greed and a desire to use his talents. Hector hesitantly picks up the pen�� Only to set it back down.

    "I''m sorry, sir." Hector shakes his head. "I''m afraid I have to decline. I do, however, wish you the best of luck with your project."

    The interviewer frowns. "Doctor Kale, I urge you to reconsider. We wish to put your talents to use for the good of the world. We intend to push the boundaries of known science within the field of genetics, and your cooperation would be of immense aid. Surely you understand?"

    "I do," Hector replies. "However, I don''t believe that I am the best fit for this role. It''s a very generous offer, but it''s not for me."

    The man across the table leans back, his glasses catching a harsh glare off of the dim lighting above. "Very well. If nothing else, please take this."

    A business card is slid across the table.

    "If you reconsider, and I do believe you will, contact me straight away."

    On the plain white business card are a phone number and a name.

    Dr. Fuji

    (9999)-4352-5677

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Everything after that day immediately spiraled out of control. Two days after the fateful meeting, Hector was called during work to meet with a grim-faced Blaine, Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island and Director of the Cinnabar Laboratory of Genetics. Out of nowhere, Blaine informed Hector that he was being terminated from his position within the lab. A shocked Hector tried to ask why, but Blaine would answer nothing.

    It''s fine, Hector thought once the shock passed. There are other jobs. No big deal.

    How wrong he was.

    Cinnabar University had an opening for a biology professor, but they rejected his application without so much as an interview.

    A spot was open in Silph Co for a general laboratory manager, but they shot him down within minutes of submitting a resume.

    Hell, an elementary school in need of a substitute science teacher didn''t even call back.

    Seemingly nowhere would take him. Then it dawned on him just how terrible a mistake agreeing to meet Doctor Fuji had been.

    "If you reconsider, and I do believe you will, contact me straight away."

    He did no such thing. Hector fled the region, running away to the distant land of Hoenn to escape, for the sheer reach of his tormentors clued him in on exactly who he had slighted.

    Team Rocket.

    Even without an official Team Rocket presence in Hoenn, the black mark painted upon him held fast, and employment was scarce. Down to his last credits and desperate, Hector latched onto the first people to give him a chance.

    Team Magma.

    By the time he realized their true nature, it was far too late. All he had done was flee from one criminal enterprise into another. Now he''s here, using his hard-earned skills to keep a lobotomized monster in one piece.

    Maxie raises an eyebrow, and Hector realizes that he''s been silent for several seconds. Bowing his head once more, he speaks. "Yes, Leader Maxie. I''ll make adjustments to Camerupt''s medication schedule."

    The red-clad man smiles. "Thank you, Doctor. I''ll leave you to your work." With that, Maxie turns on his heel and marches out of the infirmary, Claydol floating silently behind him.

    As the door behind Maxie clicks shut, Hector is left alone. Only Camerupt''s labored breathing and the slow beep of the ECG machine hooked to the living volcano interrupt the silence. After a long moment of brooding to himself, the doctor steps over to a refrigerator in the corner, one emblazoned with a large NOT FOR FOOD sign. Opening it and reaching in, he takes a small, unlabeled phial and holds it up to the light.

    The solution within the glass phial is clear as water, and no one would be able to tell just how insidious the concoction inside is just by looking. The drug within, formulated by Hector''s own hands, retards the functions of a pokemon''s cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala, all areas of the brain responsible for higher thought and emotional processing. One dose reduces a pokemon into a husk for days at a time.

    The side effects of long-term usage? Unknown.

    He turns the phial in his fingers, the chemicals within refracting the light into a rainbow.

    Anyone else might have been confused as to why Maxie asked for a lower dose for Camerupt, but to a man like Hector, the reason is as clear as it is disturbing.

    The drug isn''t an end in itself; it''s merely a set of training wheels for Claydol.

    "I''m sorry, Camerupt," the doctor whispers to himself, shuffling over to a cabinet along the wall. Opening it, he withdraws a clean syringe and curses himself under his breath. "Not all who wear chains can be brothers."

 Act 2: Chapter 19

    Basics of Mounted Air Transportation in Hoenn

    Article 1: Definitions

    1.1. "Flying Mount" refers to any living creature, pokemon or otherwise, capable of carrying human passengers or cargo through the air.

    1.2. "Private Citizen" refers to any individual not operating a flying mount as part of a commercial, government, or military operation.

    1.3. "Flight Zone" refers to the airspace designated for the use of flying mounts, which is separate from airspace designated for conventional aircraft.

    Article 2: Licensing and Registration

    2.1. All private citizens operating a flying mount must possess a valid Flying Mount Operator''s License (henceforth known as FMOL).

    2.2. The FMOL may be obtained after passing a written and practical examination issued by the Hoenn Pokemon League Air Authority (Henceforth known as HPLAA), which includes both theory and actual flight experience. Click here for more info.

    2.3. Each flying mount must be registered with the HPLAA, and a unique identification code must be broadcast from the mount at all times during flight.

    Seated against his bed headboard, Lee looks away from his laptop filled with government jargon and rubs his eyes. Lifting his hand, he looks around the near-silent hotel room.

    Sitting on Brendan''s bed are Brendan himself, Zinnia, a black-and-blue Marshtomp, and Goomy. All four sit close together, comfortable and at ease. Brendan, Marshtomp, and Goomy are distracted by a colorful anime starring an Emolga on the TV, while Zinnia is impassively scrolling through her phone, occasionally stroking Goomy, who is in her lap.

    It''s been a week since the disaster of a mission at the top of Mount Chimney, and the entire time, he''s been studying and planning as he waits for Ninetales to be released from the Pokemon Center.

    Octillery was released after only two days with a several-day light duty advisory. The octopus pokemon has been in a quiet mood ever since, his cheery disposition replaced with something brooding and contemplative. He often stares into space with his eyes narrowed, and Lee can see the cephalopod''s powerful brain turning, thinking of something. When asked, Octillery waves Lee off.

    Grovyle��

    Lee bites his lip.

    Grovyle is in little better condition than Ninetales. Camerupt''s lethal Flamethrower burned away an enormous portion of his frontal scales and even damaged the nerves and muscles beneath. After five days in the care of the Pokemon Center, he was released with hair-raising scarring. On his chest, where the brunt of the attack struck him, is a starburst-like burn scar of pale, discolored scales. His neck, legs, and left arm were likewise burned, but not as badly as his chest. Regardless, he kept his head held high and insisted he walk out of the burn ward on his own power, no matter how much each step obviously pained him.

    According to Nurse Joy, it''s going to be weeks before he regains full mobility and nerve sensitivity, and even then, he''ll need either specialist treatment or evolution to undo the worst of the scarring. As Lee expected, Grovyle rejected the notion of waiting around for an available specialist, even at Lee''s urging. He did, however, allow Lee to restrict him to rest for the next week.

    ''You really are a legend in the making, Grovyle.'' Lee''s fingers brush the gecko''s pokeball, and the ball wiggles in reply. ''Please don''t overdo it, though.''

    Finally, Ninetales��

    The fox was rushed into surgery upon arrival, as the Pokemon Center''s usual healing machines simply couldn''t deal with such extensive damage in a reasonable timeframe. Her first two days in the ICU were sleepless nights for Lee, as she was stuck on a ventilator and everything was still touch and go. On day three, the Center declared the worst had passed and took her off the ventilator as she began breathing on her own again. Ever since, Ninetales has spent most of each day resting, her thoughts a jumbled mess as she gradually recovers. Each time she regained a short few seconds of semi-lucidity, she reached her mind out to him, desperately asking ''Are you okay, Lee?'' over and over.

    ''Am I okay?'' he answered back the first time. ''I should be asking you that.''

    <hr>

    Ninetales'' Flamethrower is thin and beam-like, slicing through the air like a hot wire, and each falling orb of lava that meets it explodes into smoke, practically vaporized. The Flamethrower greedily sucks down Ninetales'' already flagging stamina, but she doesn''t seem to notice at all, instead shooting down everything as fast as she can. The single-minded fervor leaves Lee awed and�� just a bit frightened.

    Try as she might, though, Ninetales is but one pokemon facing down hundreds of falling projectiles. She destroys a hundred, then another hundred, cutting their numbers by nearly two-thirds, but by then, the remainders are just too close.

    One slips by, and Lee, so overloaded, doesn''t realize it''s bearing down on him until the flaming meteor is only fifty feet away. He looks up, his eyes wide.

    A gold blur slams into his chest, throwing him away, but he scrambles to his feet a second later. That could only be��!

    The meteor strikes his savior, exploding into a cloud of sharp, superheated stones and choking ash, but the explosion does nothing to drown out the tortured cry that follows.

    <hr>

    Ninetales saved his life, and in doing so, took a spear of superheated stone to her chest, piercing one of her lungs and nearly striking her heart. If the stone had been an inch to the left, Ninetales would have been struck in the heart and killed.

    She would have died.

    The thought alone fills Lee with equal parts cold dread and burning fury. ''Maxie, your days as a free man are numbered. That''s a promise.''

    They got no rest after the ordeal, as the police barged in soon after, demanding an explanation. Over the next two days, he, Brendan, and Zinnia would be interviewed no less than four times by the police, the Rangers, and by League agents. Each party got the same story, one approved by Lee''s lawyer beforehand.

    Strangely, and perhaps a bit worryingly, the expected interrogation from Steven Stone never came. The one from Nigel ��

    <hr>

    As Lee finishes explaining the volcano fiasco to Professor Birch, the other man is understandably silent over the phone line for a few seconds. The seconds stretch into an agonizing, nerve-wracking minute, and just as Lee opens his mouth to ask if Nigel is still there, a sigh answers him.

    "Lee��" Nigel stops himself short. "This is��" Again, he stops, sounding frustrated. "Arceus damnit, I know the last thing you want on your plate is more shit to worry over, but if I''m being honest with myself, Lee, then I''m more than disappointed with how you handled this. You knew that Magma would be there in force, and you didn''t call for backup? You could have been killed. Your pokemon could have been killed! Brendan could have been killed!" He is almost screaming at this point. "What if he was killed, Lee?! Do you know what that would do to me? His mother? That''s not even getting into what would happen to the laboratory if our only Lab Trainers died mid-journey! How could you make such a stupid decision?!"

    Never before has Lee heard Nigel sound so scathing, and the words hurt all the more for it. Try as he might, Lee can''t help but physically flinch at the professor''s palpable anger, drawing a few stares from the people and gaggle of officers in the Pokemon Center.

    Tucking himself a little further into the corner he has claimed for himself, Lee clears his throat. "I�� I don''t have an excuse, Nigel. Zinnia and Brendan look to me as the leader of our little party, and I okayed all of this. I was overconfident in our abilities, and didn''t want to be questioned as to why I know all that I know. Neither did I expect Magma to be so willing to use lethal force. Deciding to go in at all was stupid, let alone with so little preparation." Leaning his head back against the wall, Lee begins to consider his options for a new job, which makes his pounding migraine even worse. "The blame here rightfully falls to me. If this results in my�� termination, and our group being broken up, I understand," he concludes, the words falling from his mouth as guilty as they are reluctant. "I know I''m overstepping my bounds here, but if you decide you don''t want me around Brendan anymore, can I ask you to consider not calling him home? His journey shouldn''t be cut short because of something I�� Hey!"

    Before Lee can finish, his cell phone is abruptly snatched from him by a tanned hand.

    "Professor Birch, Brendan''s dad and Lee''s boss, right?" Zinnia holds the phone up to her ear and turns her back to Lee so he can''t easily retake the device. "I''m Zinnia Draconid, the third member of our merry little band. Don''t give Lee the third degree, because none of this is his fault; I''m actually the shitty influence here. Fighting Magma was my idea, bringing Brendan included." She speaks too fast for Birch to get a word in, scowling the entire time. "Lee is just being the fall guy because he''s too stupid to not blame everything on himself."

    "Zinnia, what the hell are you doing?!" Lee reaches for his phone, but Zinnia''s free hand shoots out and grabs his wrist, halting him with infuriating ease. "Give that back!"

    "You want me to leave Lee and Brendan alone? Say the word and I''ll fuck off, just don''t try anything with them, because they don''t deserve it. If you fire Lee or drag Brendan home, I know you''ll regret it. You know you''ll regret it." Her piece said, Zinnia thrusts the cell phone back into Lee''s hand and stalks off, returning to the distant lobby seats where Brendan pensively watches.

    With a sigh, Lee raises his phone back to his ear and leans against the wall. "I''m sorry about that, Professor. Zinnia can be�� impulsive at the best of times."

    "Was there any truth to what she said?" Nigel''s anger seems to have abated, replaced with a weariness that drips from each word.

    Lee''s first instinct is to answer with "No", but he pauses. "It''s�� It''s complicated. She knows what Aqua and Magma are really up to"��he stresses this, hoping Nigel understands��"and has taken it upon herself to try and stop them. She insisted on confronting Magma on the volcano, but things still went sideways because of my negligence. The fault still belongs to me."

    The sound of a hand tiredly rubbing an unshaven face is barely audible over the phone. "I see��" Nigel mutters. "You know, from the moment he could walk, I did my best to instill the value of family in my son."

    Lee blinks in confusion at the seeming non sequitur. "Nigel?"

    "I like to think I did pretty well, considering he always makes time to call home when he can," the regional professor continues. "You know he talks about you two? You and your friend Zinnia?"

    "He does?" Lee asks, mildly surprised. Brendan''s calls home are usually private, so he had no idea. He cuts his eyes over to the boy in question.

    Liberated of his injured pokemon and sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Zinnia, Brendan looks so small and vulnerable. It''s unsettling to look at.

    "You and her are his favorite subjects outside of pokemon and battling," Nigel confirms. "He tells me about clever little tricks he''s learned from Zinnia, and all the lessons he gets from you, and how much fun you all have traveling together. To him, it''s never about what he does alone, but what you all do as a group," the professor reveals. "I can hear it in his voice; for better or worse, Brendan looks at you two like family, perhaps like the siblings he has never had."

    Even after all the trials of the day, a spot in Lee''s chest musters some warmth at hearing that.

    "If I call Brendan and tell him to come home immediately, do you know what his answer is going to be?"

    Lee doesn''t even need to answer. Brendan''s determination for excellence in all things pokemon makes it clear what he would say.

    "��I''m not going to let you go or call Brendan home, Lee," Nigel finally says, lifting a weight off of Lee''s shoulders. "Your pokemon are strong, and you''re a good trainer, but I don''t think you realize just how high the peaks can get in pokemon battling. Don''t play it fast and loose with Magma and Aqua any more. If things begin to look sketchy, you have plenty of resources to call on. For the sake of everybody in your group, use those resources. Heck, call me if you need to. I know this won''t happen again, correct?"

    "It will not," Lee promises quietly.

    "Good." Nigel sighs once more, this time sounding relieved. "Now, if you will please excuse me, I have to call my son and bite his head off."

    <hr>

    The call from Nigel could have been worse. Much worse. Lee was certain that he was about to lose his job and likely be blacklisted from every pokemon academic institution in Hoenn. After the worst parts of the conversation had passed, Lee was informed by Nigel that he had talked with a psychic expert about meeting Lee and Ninetales to aid in the mediation of their telepathy, and that the expert was making plans to meet them in Fallarbor. The news left him with a touch of apprehension, but with bigger worries afoot, Lee moved those concerns to the back burner.

    Thankfully, it looks like everything is on the upswing for once. The Pokemon Rangers locked down teleportation in and out of Lavaridge for the duration of their investigation, so Lee hasn''t been able to meet with Mable this week. In lieu of that, preparation for his team''s overhauled training regime took center stage.

    Article 3: Flight Operation and Safety

    3.1. Flying mounts may only be operated within designated flight zones.

    3.2. Operators must maintain a minimum safe distance of 500 feet from buildings, structures, and other flying mounts outside of the Operator''s formation, unless for takeoff or landing.

    3.3. Flying mounts must be equipped with proper lighting and signaling equipment for night flights.

    3.4. Operators must be equipped with proper radio and IFF transceiver equipment.

    3.5. Operators must follow all traffic control instructions issued by Air Traffic Control (henceforth known as ATC).

    3.6. Operators must not fly under the influence of alcohol or any mind-altering substances.

    3.7. Operators are required to carry a first-aid kit, redundant communication devices, and emergency signaling equipment during flights.

    Article 4: Maintenance and Health of Flying Mounts

    4.1. Flying mounts must undergo regular health checkups to ensure safe flight capability.

    4.2. Operators must maintain a record of their flying mount''s health and maintenance history, which must be presented upon request by relevant Pokemon League and civil government officers.

    4.3. Operators must ensure that their flying mounts are well-rested and well-fed prior to flights.

    Article 5: Prohibited Activities

    5.1. Flying mounts may not be used for illegal activities or to facilitate the commission of crimes.

    5.2. Private citizens may not use flying mounts to carry hazardous materials or engage in mounted aerial combat without express Pokemon League permission.

    5.3. Operators may not fly in restricted airspace or near sensitive infrastructure, such as military installations or power plants, without proper authorization.

    First among that? Get a flying license.

    Of course, one can''t just hop on the back of a flying pokemon and go wherever they want; it has to be mired down in regulations. Many of the regulations are sensible and even agreeable, but it''s still annoying.

    The test is simple enough, almost as simple as getting a driver''s license. A written test, an inspection of the pok��mon you intend to fly on, and a practical test. If you can prove sufficient competence in one go, Hoenn will issue a same-day license, and if not, then you''re stuck with a two-week-long course. With the license in hand, Lee will be able to fly anywhere he wishes, which will facilitate the gathering of training supplies, ease of travel, and will significantly shorten any hunts for the sixth team member that Lee is still deciding on.

    The sound of steel sliding across steel makes Lee smile. Looking away from his laptop again, he takes in the huge, avian form swallowing a significant fraction of the room with his darkened bulk.

    Out of his ball and sitting on the floor, Corvisq�� Corviknight cuts an intimidating figure. With his obsidian armor and razor-edged wings, the massive raven is practically the living embodiment of the word ferocious, even if his temperament isn''t totally matching anymore.

    With the rest of Lee''s team sans Shinx all in states of recovery, Corviknight has steadfastly refused to leave Lee''s side. Be it sleeping, out and about outside, or anything else, none of it seems beneath him, and he''ll dutifully follow. With his evolution, Corviknight''s foul temperament and constant fury have seemingly been abandoned, replaced with a brooding, yet patient giant of a bird. Lee still catches sneers and rolled eyes on Corviknight''s face, but now they are few and far between, and never directed at Lee himself.

    ''Big guy has grown up a lot, hasn''t he?'' Lee muses.

    Though big guy is an understatement for Corviknight. The raven is absolutely enormous, and it scratches Lee''s kaiju itch just right. To the zoologist''s delight, Corvi finally submitted to a physical without a fuss, and Lee had to stand on a park bench to measure Corvi''s unreal nine-foot-ten height.

    Fucking nine-foot-ten. Practically three meters even. Corvi is over two-and-a-half feet taller than his species'' average. Hell, they had to take him to the Pokemon Center and ask to use one of their scales, which showed a whopping three hundred and fifty-one kilograms, or just under seven hundred and seventy-four pounds.

    Lee can say that he is the proud trainer of a behemoth. Sadly, Corvi isn''t the largest Corviknight ever, but he did snatch third-place from a wild flock leader recorded to be living in Galar, who is said to be about nine-foot-eight.

    Not to say that Corviknight''s evolution is all upsides. For one, the raven is now so massive that he has to duck his head and angle his body to fit through doorways, which is saying something considering architects often take large pokemon into account when designing interior spaces. Battling in any confined space is going to be a chore.

    There is also the matter of his food intake. Lee ran the math, considered as many variables as possible, and overhauled Corvi''s meals. The raven''s supernatural musculature and the thick, natural armor he lugs around made exact numbers a pain, but after all is said and done, Lee came to a staggering twenty-five thousand calories per day simply for Corvi''s daily upkeep. A bulk of these calories need to come from protein, iron, and carbohydrates, and the sheer amount necessitated Lee to burn close to five thousand credits on a pokeblock maker.

    Using the same space-bending tech as their bags, Silph Co''s pokeblock maker lets trainers condense food down into dense cubes, essentially giving pokemon a one-bite meal for quick energy and nutrition. For large pokemon with serious dietary requirements, it can turn industrial amounts of food into a portable bowl full of cubes. Lee naturally splurged for the top model, which retains the texture, moisture, and taste of the food, and even has separated compartments so different meal components like meat and vegetables aren''t homogenized into unappetizing-looking kibble.

    ��Now, preparing all the food to dump into the briefcase-sized device is a multi-hour spectacle, so Lee dedicated an entire day to just preparing two weeks worth of meals for Corvi.

    Without warning, Lee feels Ninetales begin to stir all the way over in the Pok��mon Center, and his train of thought is cut off.

    Slowly, blearily, the distant fox begins to regain consciousness, and unlike the previous panicked spikes of awareness, this time it''s slow and deliberate. Her mind reaches out to his with a telepathic hand on instinct, and Lee quickly meets her halfway with a wave of love and concern.

    ''Nine? How are you feeling, love?''

    The vixen takes her time responding, her thoughts sluggish. ''Like I was impaled through the chest,'' she says dryly.

    Lee smiles even if the joke is rather grim. ''I''m glad to see that your sense of humor is still okay.''

    ''Considering the oxygen mask on my face and how numb I feel, no doubt from painkillers, I believe my sense of humor is the only thing I have that is functional.'' Ninetales gives the mental equivalent of a sigh and goes quiet. Within her, a mixture of deep, existential despair and near-blinding fury begin to build, like hot and cold water that refuse to mix. Most of all though, there is raw HATE, so burning and hideous that Ninetales is almost quivering. HATE aimed squarely at Maxie for nearly taking Lee away�� and HATE at herself for failing, something Lee is all too familiar with.

    ''Lee.'' Ninetales'' lips are pulled back into a snarl. Through her eyes, he can see her hot breath begin to warp her plastic breathing mask. ''Beloved, you almost �C''

    ''Let''s not worry about ''almost'' right now,'' Lee gently interrupts, shutting his laptop and closing his eyes before leaning back into the headboard of his bed. He doesn''t let his Ace''s overwhelming emotions rattle him. ''I nearly died. You nearly died. All of us nearly died. I''m just as furious at what that son of a bitch Maxie did, but what''s done is done, and we''ll simply be better next time.''

    Lee feels phantom fur on his neck shift as Ninetales physically recoils in surprise, her rage abating. ''Lee?''

    ''When the nurses were rushing you into the operating room and wheeling off everyone else, I was left with some time to think,'' Lee continues. ''And you know what I think? I think I''m tired of being scared, for myself and for all of you. We''ve been without any kind of direction because I''ve been too afraid to commit to a path, one that will inevitably lead us into the spotlight. I did you and the rest of the team a disservice by doing that.''

    Ninetales is silent as Lee telepathically speaks. In the meantime, she peruses Lee''s memories of what has transpired while she has been unconscious.

    ''Well, no more. If the world wants to play hardball, we''re going to show them that they aren''t ready for what we have. I''m drawing up plans to up everyone''s training, to fill our last spot, and to take plenty of safety measures. We aren''t going to get mad, we''re going to get better. If Magma wants to mess around, then we''ll take the opportunity to get even.''

    On the other end of the telepathic bond, Ninetales'' anger isn''t extinguished, but has dipped into a cool simmer, fueled by the implication that they won''t be actively pursuing Magma. Slowly, though, a proud warmth thrums through the ethereal band connecting them. ''Although I hate that an event like the disaster upon the volcano was the catalyst, it heartens me to see you more confident, beloved,'' Ninetales says, smiling. ''I still want nothing more than to chase down that redheaded, human-shaped filth and make him pay, though.''

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ''Maxie will get his when the time is right,'' Lee sends back. ''For now, let''s all recover and put this behind us.''

    ''Of course, of course.'' Ninetales'' mind reaches out, and even with painkillers dulling her thoughts, she still wraps Lee in a tight mental embrace. ''I love you, Lee.''

    Lee wraps his being around her in-turn, smiling. ''Same to you.''

    Their serious conversation over, Ninetales'' thoughts begin to drift, whisked away by the drugs in her bloodstream. She looks at the IV bag hooked to her foreleg with annoyance, silently wishing to trade the nutrient drip for something substantial to eat.

    ''I''ll get you something big and tasty as soon as I get the all-clear from the Center,'' Lee promises.

    As Ninetales shuts her eyes for some real sleep, Lee is given a front-row seat to her vivid imagination going wild. Just before she conks out, Lee is treated to the image of a hungry Nine biting into an entirely-too-big burger, one he recalls eating at some hipster joint in college.

    Returning back to the real world, Lee looks at the clock on the wall, noting that it''s nearly 1 PM. Shoving his laptop off his lap, he stands and stretches, drawing curious looks from the rest of the room. "Corvi and I need to go take that flying license exam. We''ll be back in a few hours."

    "Where is it being held at?" Zinnia questions, putting her phone down.

    "The Ranger station on the edge of town. Town Hall only does tests if you schedule two weeks in advance." Lee answers. "I need to stop by the Pokemart and pick up the saddle I ordered first, though. The supplier had to custom-build one for Corvi''s size."

    The massive raven just a handful of feet away scowls, miffed about how undignified wearing a saddle is going to be.

    "The practical part should be at 3PM or so, if you guys want to come watch," Lee continues. "Well, 3 PM assuming there aren''t any delays. There are only two other people taking the exam today, but you never know."

    "I know I''ll be there." Zinnia smirks. "Just remember to clench your legs and your butt when they run you through the high-G turn portion, or you''ll black out."

    Lee raises an eyebrow. "Do you already have a license?"

    "Pretty much every Draconid does," Zinnia confirms. "I took my test in Fallarbor on one of the Flygon who live with the tribe, just like every other tribal kid. You don''t actually have to have a flying Pok��mon to have a flying license."

    "Huh��"

    "Sounds like fun! Count me in!" Brendan chimes in, Marshtomp nodding beside him. "Say, Lee? If you and Corviknight are okay with it, can I borrow Corviknight to take the test with? I may as well get it now."

    Corviknight shrugs, uncaring.

    "If Corvi is okay with it, I don''t see why not." Lee smiles when Brendan cheers. "Better study up and book your test now if you want to get it done before we leave Lavaridge. I want to start making tracks north as soon as Nine is well enough to travel."

    Without delaying another second, Brendan digs his cell phone from his pocket and opens up the browser, making himself busy.

    "Ready?" Lee asks Corviknight.

    The raven stands, accidentally bonking his head on the ceiling.

    <hr>

    "Here''s your special order!" The cheery woman behind the Pokemart counter slides a large box to Lee, one that requires both hands to pick up. "I don''t think I''ve ever seen a delivery from Westwind Solutions this large before. Do you ride a Dragon?" she asks, badly hiding the curious look at Lee''s scars.

    "He''s got the temper of one," Lee jokes, lifting the hefty cube of cardboard and turning towards the door. "Thank you!"

    "No problem! Have a nice day!" The clerk waves goodbye.

    Stepping through the automatic doors and into the tiny parking lot of the Mart, Lee, followed by Corvi, who has been loitering outside, head off to a bench around the corner of the building.

    "Phew��" Lee drops the box on the ground and wipes his forehead. "Jeez, this thing is heavy. I hope it doesn''t add too much weight for you, Corvi."

    Red eyes blink as the titanic bird gives Lee an incredulous stare. Corvi then croaks mockingly, as if challenging the notion that the contents of the box would even be noticeable on his back.

    "Sure sure, I get it." Lee rolls his eyes. "Let''s not go overboard, though. Every ounce matters."

    Corvi clicks his tongue, but doesn''t protest further. Bringing a wing forward, his steel feathers slice through the tape and metal staples holding the box together with no resistance, letting the top pop open.

    Lee peers inside, then reaches in and pulls out the heavy bundle within. Setting it on his lap, he pulls away the covering of waxed paper around it, pausing when a letter falls out. Picking up the paper letter, he quickly scans the contents.

    Westwind Solutions

    Custom Products for Flying Pokemon

    Est. 198X, Proudly in Violet City, Johto

    Dear Mr. Lee Henson

    Congratulations! Your package from Westwind Solutions has arrived, and within it lies a crowning jewel of our craftsmanship��a custom saddle designed exclusively for your magnificent Corviknight companion. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for choosing us as your trusted supplier of bespoke products for flight-capable pokemon.

    At Westwind Solutions, we take great pride in our ability to blend innovation, functionality, and artistry into every creation. Our team of skilled artisans and engineers has poured their passion and expertise into crafting a saddle that not only enhances the comfort and performance of your majestic Corviknight but also showcases our commitment to excellence. We �C

    The letter is rather self-aggrandizing, and quite frankly goes on for too long, so Lee skips to the end.

    �C Fly high and forge new horizons, knowing that Westwind Solutions is your ally in the skies.

    Order Details:

    Saddle (including selected options) �C 4,209.50c

    Expert Traveler Equipment Pack ?2,550.00c  �C 1,550.00c (special promotion)

    Custom Size XXXL �C 1,109.50c

    Custom Folding Mechanism �C 1,088.70c

    Rush Interregional Shipping �C 581.71c

    Sales Tax �C 426.97c

    Wisdom in picking Westwind �C Priceless

    Total Amount: 8,966.38c

    Payment Due By: [PREPAID]

    Thank you for choosing Westwind Solutions for your custom flight product needs. We greatly appreciate your business.

    If you have any questions or concerns regarding this invoice, please don''t hesitate to contact our customer service by phone at (2100)-9887-1302 or email us at [email protected]</a>. We are here to assist you! Be sure to follow our BattleNet page for new products and special promotions!

    "Windbag Solutions is more like it." Lee snorts. "Here I am spending money like I''m made of it. Maybe we''ll head back to Mauville after this and give Aarons a new TM to copy. How does a business trip sound, bud? Care to menace sleazy businessmen for me?" he asks Corviknight.

    The raven smirks, eyes literally flashing in cruel anticipation.

    Lee finishes unwrapping the saddle and hefts it up on his shoulder. "Alrighty, let''s get this thing on."

    Corviknight sighs, but bends down so Lee can toss the saddle on his back.

    The exorbitant amount of manufacturer bluster might actually be justified, because the saddle truly is superbly made. The whole thing folds into rectangular fourths for storage, giving it just barely enough clearance to be dropped into Lee''s backpack. The contact surface intended for Corvi''s metallic back is fitted with soft, yet durable rubber, and when the leather straps around Corvi''s chest are fastened, the saddle is rock-solid secure.

    The seat is split in half along the middle folding point and is made up of two separate, leather-wrapped cushions, each one shaped to slot into the other. When unfolded, the cushions mesh together, providing a comfortable seat. The stirrups are fitted with leg-securing straps, and through some feat of mechanical engineering that Lee has trouble wrapping his head around, the leg straps apparently auto-squeeze during high G maneuvers, aiding the rider in preventing blackouts.

    Near the rubber-coated handholds on the saddle and molded into the leather are a number of mechanical instruments, namely an altimeter, a compass, and a speedometer. Around those are a number of different pouches for equipment. One for an IFF transceiver, another one for a radio, a large one for an emergency oxygen tank, a holster for a flare gun, and several other miscellaneous pouches for whatever the rider might need. Since Lee ordered all the accessories mandated by law and then some, all of the pouches are already filled with their equipment. Likewise, the slots in the saddle for safety reflectors and signaling lights are already populated. Powering it all is a pair of enclosed, cylindrical wind turbines mounted above the saddle bags, which feed into a battery bank.

    Finally, the handholds are fitted with a number of pressure-sensitive buttons that activate vibrating motors in the saddle, the intensity and location of which are used for different instructions, like increasing or lowering altitude, increasing or decreasing speed, turning, and maneuvering. Theoretically, a rider can give accurate instructions to their pokemon without ever saying a word.

    "That should do it." Lee nods and steps back, inspecting his work. "How does it feel?"

    Corviknight grumbles in his throat and struts in a large circle, moving his wings about and testing his mobility. The frown on the raven''s face eases some, but doesn''t totally go away.

    "Comfortable?" Lee probes. "Give me your honest opinion. I won''t hesitate to send it back if it''s not."

    After mulling over his answer, Corviknight nods once, though he still seems sour. His displeased face melts when Lee steps closer and reaches up, scratching the great avian beneath his beak.

    "I don''t think it looks undignified," Lee soothes him with a small smile. "In fact, you make it look good."

    Corviknight is too busy leaning into the scratching fingers to reply.

    After they toss the box into the dumpster behind the Pokemart, man and ''mon make the walk to the Pokemon Ranger station out on the edge of town, cutting through the midday streets with the same ease Corviknight''s wing did the cardboard box a few minutes prior.

    Where Ninetales parts crowds slowly, everyone trying to linger and peer at her as long as they can, Corvi is more akin to a landslide, in that no one has any choice but to move, and they do so with haste. Besides the buildings on either side of the road, Corviknight is the tallest thing around, and thus everyone is given plenty of forewarning to step aside and to occasionally snap a photo on their phones. Lee''s raven has no reaction to the attention, and his cold indifference seems to spur more admiration from onlookers than it does resentment.

    Upon arriving at the Pok��mon Ranger station, which has a door large enough for Corvi, the pair walk inside.

    The Ranger station is sparse, as to be expected. Other than the front desk, there are a couple of seats along the wall, a water fountain, and a small shelf with a handful of recruiting pamphlets. Lee and Corviknight ignore everything but the front desk and approach the bored teenager manning it.

    "Welcome to the Lavaridge Ranger station, what can I��" The teen scratches a zit on his chin and looks up, double taking when he sees the gigantic raven looming behind Lee. "Uhh��"

    "Lee Henson and Corviknight, here for the flying license exam." Lee smiles and makes it as kind as he can, all too aware of how Corvi is probably pinning this kid in place with his red-eyed stare. "I called and scheduled a couple days ago?"

    "Oh, uhh, sure." The teen regains his bearings and puts his phone down. He then brings up a spreadsheet on his computer and looks at it. "Uh, the test begins in about ten minutes. In the meantime, my supervisor will inspect your pokemon. Do you have a vaccination and preventative care manifest from the Pok��mon Center?"

    Lee produces the requested form from his back pocket and unfolds it, handing it off to the teenage attendant.

    The teenager takes the paper and photocopies it with a small copier on his desk before handing it back. "Ranger Wanda will be with you in a couple of minutes."

    <hr>

    Just as the front desk attendant said, a young woman in a Pokemon Ranger uniform comes and leads everyone off to a small classroom promptly before handing out a thick packet of paper to each test-taker. At the same time, another Ranger takes everyone''s pokemon out back to be inspected. Corviknight''s company in that regard ends up being a Pidgeot and a Skarmory.

    The written test, for which Lee and the other two trainers are given an hour and a half to finish a hundred questions, is thorough but not overly hard. It covers a wide variety of subjects, from local laws, international laws, exceptions to specific clauses and rules, identifying weather patterns, radio use and radio lingo, night flight safety, some common sense problems, and just about every subject imaginable. However, it''s no big deal if one has studied an hour or two a night a week beforehand as Lee did.

    When the test concludes and the Ranger overseeing everything collects the test packets, everyone is dismissed for half an hour as the tests are graded. The passing criteria is rather strict at 95% or higher, and if one fails to achieve a satisfactory score, they''re forced to take a longer, more thorough course lasting two weeks. When the Ranger returns, she gladly announces that all three of the prospective flyers passed, and their pokemon passed inspection as well, finally leading to the practical portion. For that, all of them are led to a spacious clearing behind the station, where their pok��mon are waiting.

    "Okay, everyone!" The lady Ranger before them calls out with a positively booming voice. "We''ll be going over equipment checks, communication with air traffic control, maneuverability, and defensive flying to start out. Go ahead and approach your pokemon and begin making your initial checks. I''ll be walking around and observing," she says, folding her arms behind her back. Beside her, her saddled Fearow looks as bored as can be, having probably heard all these lines a million times already. "Once we get into the air, remember to listen closely to our instructions! Flying with your pokemon is an incredible, liberating experience and one of the best bonding exercises around, but don''t get carried away!"

    ''Yeesh,'' Lee quells the urge to pick his ear with his pinky as he walks over to Corviknight. ''And I thought Zinnia had a big mouth. I guess the instructor needs to be loud in case someone''s radio fails or something.''

    One of the other two trainers, a fourteen-year-old boy, has to drag his infatuated Skarmory''s attention away from Corviknight, who in turn seems exasperated.

    The other one is a middle-aged woman who leads a Pidgeot. The Pidgeot unfortunately doesn''t seem to respect his trainer, and behaves passive-aggressively throughout the entire process of having his saddle mounted.

    "Here goes nothing��" Lee sighs, a tad nervous as Corvi leans down to let Lee mount. Lee has to bring his leg high, step into the stirrup, and with a grunt, throw his other leg over Corvi''s wide back. "There we goooo shit!"

    Corviknight stands to his full height again, his back tilted forward so Lee doesn''t fall off, and all of a sudden the ground is a damn sight farther away than he''d been expecting. Corviknight turns his head, his red, luminescent eye questioning.

    "I''m fine, Corvi." Lee takes a deep breath and pats the raven on his neck. "It''s no slight to you, I''ve just never flown before. Back on the volcano, I was too distracted to really have it sink in that we were flying."

    Corvi nods, his gaze sharpening. A deep croak reverberates in his throat, and Lee doesn''t need telepathy to understand the dark bird. ''I will not allow harm to come to you,'' the croak says.

    "I know you won''t." He smiles, and Lee can''t help but be heartened when Corvi''s beak twitches up, nearly forming a smile.

    Lee then busies himself with checking over all the equipment in the saddle, watching from the corner of his eye as the instructor has to help the flustered woman beside them with her uncooperative Pidgeot. He inputs the temporary IFF code the instructor provided into the IFF transceiver and sets the encryption to ''none'', then moves on to the radio. Westwind provided a rather nice unit, fitted with a wind-noise canceling headset, and a small magnet-fitted speaker that Lee attaches to Corvi''s helmet so he doesn''t have to scream instructions over the wind.

    Lee taps the microphone on his headset. "Corvi? Is the volume okay?"

    The raven flinches at the noise, so Lee twists the knob labeled Output #2 on the radio down to half power and tries again. "Better?"

    Corvi''s wings slump in relief.

    Lee tests the buttons on the saddle handholds, and after Corvi confirms that he can feel each motor vibrating, Lee straps his legs into the stirrups and watches the other license hopefuls.

    The boy trainer and his Skarmory are ready a few minutes later, but unfortunately for the third trainer, she and her Pidgeot are failed and dismissed by the instructor due to Pidgeot''s foul attitude, forcing the poor woman to recall Pidgeot and leave, dejected.

    The flying instructor clears her throat. "Okay boys �C "

    The Skarmory trills in her throat.

    "�Cand girl," the ranger corrects, "equipment checks have been completed, so let''s get to the fun part! Mister Lee and Mister Corviknight, let''s have you guys go first."

    Corviknight, with Lee astride his back, steps forward and stares down at the smiling instructor.

    "Your temporary call sign is going to be BC-Zero One, and I''m going to play the part of air traffic control. You can refer to me as ''Ranger Ground''. Remember to use phonetics on the radio! Tune your radio to reserve frequency number seven," the instructor takes a pair of pokeballs from her pocket and enlarges them out of their travel size. Both balls pop open, and on either side of her, a pair of Tropius materialize. Each of the dino-like pokemon are wearing green, visored helmets. "My friends here will be acting as backup in case something goes wrong, so if they grab you guys, don''t resist and make their job harder."

    In response to the Ranger''s words, each Tropius extends four thick Vine Whips, one from under each of their wings.

    "Kwah!" Corvi croaks, openly offended at the notion of needing help. Lee once more pats his neck, and the crow tones down his annoyance.

    Lee adjusts the microphone of his headset once more and hits the ''transmit'' button on the left earcup. "Bravo Charlie �C Zero One, ready."

    Smiling, the instructor takes the handheld radio from her belt and holds it to her mouth. "Bravo Charlie �C Zero One, this is Ranger Ground. Permission granted for vertical takeoff at the Lavaridge Ranger station. For the duration of your sortie, attempt to use nonverbal controls where possible. Winds are two-seven-zero at five. Maintain altitude at one-thousand feet, then take a holding pattern over the ranger station and await further instructions, over."

    Shit. They''re actually about to fly. Lee''s nerves clash with his excitement, and for a moment he forgets what two-seven-zero at five means, then it comes back to him. ''Wind is coming in from the west at five knots, right. Phew. You got this, Lee. Corvi won''t let you down��''

    "Cleared for vertical takeoff at Lavaridge Ranger station. Will maintain one-thousand feet and prioritize nonverbal controls, Ranger Ground. Bravo Charlie �C Zero One, out." Lee takes his hand off his headset and grips both handholds. Taking a deep breath, he taps the buttons under his index fingers twice.

    Corvi spreads his wings, and in a single flap, the ground falls away, dragging Lee''s stomach right into his toes.

    "Oh shit!" The zoologist gasps, his stomach rolling. He takes a deep gulp of air, which zips into his mouth without needing much aid from his lungs. The rushing winds try to yank him off of the saddle, only for the straps on his legs to hold tight.

    Hazarding a look at the ground, everyone below are already little more than dots, and the buildings are dollhouse-sized. The only people he can make out are Brendan and Zinnia, who must''ve shown up when he wasn''t looking. Then the instinctual surge of panic is tossed aside. He''s got a license to get, and if he messes up now, he and his friends will be stuck here for weeks of remedial classes.

    Pulling his eyes away from the ground, Lee instead focuses on the cluster of instruments just above his hands, which grip the saddle handles with white knuckles. The altimeter is rising fast, and before he knows it, they''ve already cleared nine hundred feet. He grips both middle finger buttons harshly, and Corviknight begins to level out, stopping his ascension at just a hair above a thousand feet.

    "Hot damn," Lee breathes harshly, struggling to keep the tremor out of his voice. He squints his eyes into the wind, wishing that he''d had the foresight to bring goggles. "Hot damn, Corvi," he repeats, holding the secondary transmit button on his headset. "You are fast."

    The crow lets out a gravelly chuckle that crackles in Lee''s headset.

    Without needing any instructions, Corvi gently yaws to the side, taking a wide, continuous turn over the ranger station. A moment later, the pair of Tropius catch up, flying on Corviknight''s flanks.

    There aren''t immediately more instructions over the radio, giving Lee plenty of time to catch his breath and once more send a tentative glance down at the ground. "You know? It''s not so bad the second time��" He says to himself.

    With the reassuring hulk of a bird beneath him, the height, the speed, and the whipping winds aren''t so daunting. Lee loosens his tight grip on the saddle, his churning stomach beginning to calm, and his nausea transforming into something light and excited. He can''t help the grin that forms on his face. He is a thousand feet in the air flying on the back of his pokemon! This is unreal! Lee is so caught up, that he almost doesn''t see Corvi turning his neck to peer back at him. When he notices, the man is dumbfounded for a moment.

    Corviknight is smiling. It''s no smirk, no vicious grin, nothing of the sort, it''s genuine happiness. It''s the first time Corvi has ever worn such an expression with him. The fact that the smile made its emergence here, during their first time flying together, isn''t lost upon Lee.

    The radio crackles. "Bravo Charlie �C Zero One, this is Ranger Ground."

    Lee composes himself and touches the transmit button on his headset. "This is Bravo Charlie �C Zero One, go ahead, Ranger Ground."

    "Bravo Charlie �C Zero One, good work on maneuver one. You will notice a tall tree at bearing one-eight-zero with a red ribbon affixed to the tallest branch. Increase altitude to fifteen-hundred feet and make a pass over the tree. Return to ranger station airspace and resume holding pattern after. Confirm receipt, over."

    "Roger, Ranger Ground. Changing altitude to fifteen-hundred, course to one-eight-zero, and will make a pass over the red-marked tree. Bravo Charlie �C Zero One, out." Lee lets the transmit button go and grips the saddle controls again. "Okay, Corvi. Let''s ace this."

    Corviknight lets out a screech and zooms toward their objective.

    <hr>

    An hour later finds a jittery Lee and a content Corviknight on the ground again and back inside the ranger station, standing before the front desk. A little ways behind them, Brendan and Zinnia stand, both wearing identical smiles.

    As Lee hoped, they passed the test with flying colors, and now they just need to wait for Lee''s license to be printed.

    The instructor was merciless. After the first few exercises, she began to mix everything up, telling Lee to adjust his IFF transceiver on the fly, pull high-G maneuvers that made the edges of his vision grow dark, suddenly changing her instructions, and even had her Tropius helpers use Whirlwind to simulate inclement weather among other things. However, neither Lee nor Corviknight faltered throughout the various challenges, and they got their prize for it.

    With a final whine, the card printer behind the front desk goes silent and spits out a laminated card. The teen manning the desk takes the card, along with a number of printed registration documents, and hands them to Lee with a smile. "Here you go, sir. Remember to keep those on you at all times."

    "Will do," Lee grins, holding the bit of plastic up to the light. It''s practically identical to a driver''s license, and the man can''t help but feel the same giddy excitement he felt at sixteen when he got his first car. Actually, he''s more excited.

    Corviknight is infinitely cooler and way faster than a beat-up Honda his parents bought for a pittance.

    Zinnia walks around the raven blocking off a chunk of the room and drops her hand onto Lee''s shoulder. "Look at you, Dolittle. You''ve got that flier''s high going on," she smirks. "I remember my first time in the air, too. It''s something, isn''t it?"

    Lee gives the Dragon tamer a grin. "Yeah. Yeah it is. I admit I was kind of nervous at first, but looking back, it''s kind of silly since Corvi had my back the entire time," he sends Corviknight a smile over his shoulder.

    The great raven visibly preens under the praise, his metallic feathers puffing up.

    "Ugh, I can''t wait for Shelgon to evolve��" Zinnia groans. "What about you, little hero?" She turns to Brendan. "Are you eager to try out flying?"

    Brendan hides how nervous he is admirably, coughing once into his fist. "I guess�� Dad took me flying on his Flygon once, but I was really young and don''t remember most of it."

    "That''s the spirit!" Zinnia claps him on the back, either not noticing or not caring about his hesitation.

    Turning the license in his fingers over once more, Lee sends a look up to Corviknight. "Say, Corvi?" He begins slowly and a touch unsurely. "How about we go practice flying? We still have plenty of daylight left, and the more we learn now, the better we''ll be later, right?"

    The corvid''s eyes light up in joy. He nods his head eagerly and shifts on his feet, clearly eager to go back outside.

    "We''ll be back later, guys," Lee addresses Zinnia and Brendan. "Now that we''ve jumped through the hoops, I want to get some practice in."

    "You mean you want to go have fun," Zinnia asserts with a smile. "No judgment here, Dolittle. There''s nothing quite like being in the air on pokemon-back. It''s the ultimate kind of freedom, and once you have a taste, you never want to do without again."

    Lee scratches the back of his head and looks away sheepishly. "Yeah, I admit I had a lot of fun."

    "We''ll let you know where we''re getting dinner and save you some if you aren''t back by then," Brendan joins in. "You might want to go. Corviknight looks about ready to drag you out."

    And indeed, the corvid is tapping the talons of one foot on the ground impatiently.

    "Right, see you then!" Lee turns and waves over his shoulder, Corviknight following him eagerly.

    Once outside, Corvi hunches over and lets Lee mount up. Once the leg straps are in place, the IFF transceiver is turned on, and the radio is tuned, Corviknight spreads his wings and shoots into the sky.

    As they rise higher and higher, the wind pulls at Lee''s hair, face, and clothes with cold, hooked claws, but he can''t keep the grin off of his face. ''I really hope I''m not turning into an adrenaline junkie.''

    Corvi pulls back even further once they are high in the sky, pulling a full inside loop. For a single moment, the ground is above them, then the raven comes back down and levels out, leaving Lee with a hammering heart.

    ''Oops, I was supposed to radio before leaving the ground. I''ve only had this license for ten minutes and I''m already breaking the rules,'' Lee smacks his forehead and tunes in to Lavaridge air traffic control. "ATC, this is HLC, I mean-! This is Hotel Lima Charlie �C Zero Two, over."

    This is a bit more nerve-racking than the exam.

    It takes a moment for air traffic control to reply, and the radio sounds considerably worse than the one the Ranger instructor was using. "Hotel Lima Charlie �C Zero Two, this is Lavaridge Control, go ahead."

    "Lavaridge Control, Hotel Lima Charlie �C Zero Two conducting��" What''s the acronym for personal flight? Lee blanks out for a moment. He''s using visual flight rules, so that''s what the acronym is, right? "��VFR flight of locale. IFF is transmitting. Requesting traffic advisories and restrictions."

    "Hotel Lima Charlie �C Zero Two, we read your IFF. Current altitude restriction is ten-thousand feet. Be advised, Mount Chimney airspace is currently restricted. No other advisories. Enjoy your flight and remember to radio before takeoff next time."

    ''Fuck��'' Lee twitches and takes his finger off his radio so no one hears his muffled curse. "Thanks, Lavaridge Control. Hotel Lima Charlie �C Zero Two, out."

    With business out of the way, Lee takes the saddle handholds in his hands and grips them tight. "Okay, Corvi! Show me what you can do!"

    Corviknight screeches and flares his wings, shooting forward so fast that Lee''s whole body is jolted. Each flap carries them faster and faster through the air, which fights them every step of the way. Corviknight then rises, taking them higher and higher, far higher than what the exam mandated. They roll, dip, and dive with such intensity that gasps and yells of sheer exhilaration are forced from Lee''s lungs. For almost an hour, Corviknight flies as extremely as he dares with a passenger, which is still pretty extreme, and when he''s done all that he can, Corviknight surrenders control to Lee, flying strictly by the inputs from the saddle controls. More than once, Corviknight looks back, mystified as a grinning Lee goads him into death-defying stunts.

    "What are you looking at me like that for?" Lee asks through the crackling radio. "I trust you to not let us get hurt."

    Corviknight''s eyes flash in joy, and the raven really lets Lee have it after that.

    Before long though, perhaps after only an hour and some change, fatigue begins to set in for Lee, and Corvi levels out for a calm, relaxing cruise.

    Taking a deep breath, Lee looks up at the clouds above, which are so close it''s as if he could touch them. If they fly a little higher, he probably can touch them.

    Zinnia was right. There is nothing that compares to this.

    "Say, Corvi?" Lee begins, a thought striking him. "When the league year is over, do you want to fly to Galar?"

    The raven looks back, a question in his eyes.

    "Well, have you been back since��" Lee can''t quite say it. ''Since your first trainer died?''

    Corvi''s mood instantly goes sour, and he shakes his head in the negative.

    Lee nods slowly and licks his lips. They''re wind burned, just like the rest of his face. "I was thinking that we could go to Galar. I promised Ninetales a visit to Kanto, so why don''t we make it a big trip? I''d like to go to�� To his grave, so we can pay respects. Maybe I could thank him, as well."

    His hostility dying down, Corviknight makes an inquisitive trill in his throat, sending Lee a curious glance.

    "Why else?" Lee smiles gently. "I want to thank him for how magnificently he raised you. You''re amazing, you know that?"

    Corviknight falters, buffeting Lee with turbulence. He turns his head away, and then nods stiffly. Turning away however, does nothing to hide the knightly raven''s watery smile.

 Act 2: Chapter 20

    "I believe that we can do that, Lee. Can I get that list one more time to confirm I have everything correct?"

    With one hand occupied by his cell phone, Lee has to flick his wrist to reopen the notebook held in his other hand. "Yeah. I need six copies of Protect, two copies of Solar Beam, two copies of Energy Ball, two copies of Focus Energy, one Dig, one Iron Tail, one Synthesis, one Thunder Wave, one Thunderbolt, one Psychic, one Swords Dance, one Payback, one Roost, one Light Screen, and one Hyper Beam. I''m willing to pay a premium if they come from quality donors."

    On the other end of the phone line, Aarons is quiet for a moment. "Quite an impressive order. Why the sudden interest, if you don''t mind me asking?"

    Lee clicks his tongue. Aarons doesn''t need to know. "I''m just closing gaps in my team''s coverage. I am a career competitor, after all."

    "Hmm��" Aarons hums on the other side of the line. "We can get the TMs to you within the week, though there is the matter of cost. I''m sure I can talk the boys upstairs down quite a bit since your TMs were quite a hit, but even my conservative estimates are putting the bill at nearly a hundred-and-twenty-thousand credits. Your second TM run will cover a fair amount of it, but��" The Silph Co rep sighs melodramatically. "Goodness, the remainder might hurt."

    "I''ll send you an email authorizing another run of Seed Sniper and Seed Blast when we''re done talking," Lee interjects, trying to hold back his cringe at the expected but still painful number. "Just get the TMs to me when you can."

    "That would certainly help out��" Aarons, being the asshat that he is, pauses dramatically. "But consumer projections of Grass TMs aren''t as favorable as they were now that we''re approaching the middle of the league year. The major players have theirs now, and a second run is never as exciting as the first. The Finance department might consider your ''tab'' to be a debt if the new run doesn''t sell as quickly, and they are rather aggressive when trying to collect an outstanding balance."

    A scowl mars Lee''s face. "That almost sounds like a threat."

    "No no! Not a threat!" the businessman backpedals. "They would never! Silph Co values the relationship it shares with the fine pokemon trainers of the world, and that is why so many trainers look to us to support their journeys and endeavors. Why, we �C"

    "I''ll fly back out to Mauville and let you copy something new," Lee interrupts, already exhausted from the conversation. "Give me two-three weeks."

    "�Cwill have your TMs in the mail by the end of the day!" Aarons is all radiant positivity, but he can''t quite hide the greed-tinged eagerness in his voice. "Where should we ship them?"

    Finally.

    "The Fallarbor Pokemart. I''ll be there in a week," Lee supplies, reaching up to massage his brow. "Oh, and Aarons? When I show up for the TM copying, skip all the posturing and pleasantries. My Ninetales'' temper is much shorter than it was back when she was a Vulpix. Have a good one."

    Without waiting for an answer, Lee ends the call and leans back on the rickety park bench, relaxing. The dull throb of his migraine is slowly siphoned off, and he looks down to find out why.

    Standing at his feet is Ninetales, who is breathing in deeply with a slight shake to her limbs. The tuft of chest fur on her breast is shaved short, and if one looks at her at the proper angle, they''ll see pink scar tissue on her chest, nearly touching her heart.

    It''s been a week since Lee, Brendan, Zinnia, and their pokemon left Lavaridge, making north towards the distant town of Fallarbor, all the way on the other side of Mount Chimney. It''s also been a week since Ninetales was finally released from the Lavaridge Pokemon Center��

    �� But not without complications.

    The Pokemon Center''s surgeons worked some absolute magic to save Ninetales'' life, and even ensured that any lasting damage would be minimal, but that was only the silver lining of a dark cloud. A portion of Ninetales'' left lung was destroyed, and although only a small fraction of her lung tissue was twisted and burned beyond repair, the loss compounded with the rest of the damage was enough to cause physical setbacks.

    Until everything recovers, Lee''s dear fox is going to be short of breath and easily fatigued. She''s hissed and grumbled her discontent the entire way north so far with only Lee to hear her thoughts, as she''s spent the long days of walking off of her paws and cooped up in her ball. Only now that they''ve reached a small border town west of Mount Chimney has she been allowed to begin exercising again, much to her frustration.

    ''Done with your laps, love?'' Lee sends, patting the bench next to him, which Ninetales hops up onto. The fox lays her front half across Lee''s lap, and Lee silently pours a bit of his stamina into her. His limbs grow a bit heavier, but the vixen''s tremors fade.

    ''Seven laps around a park at trotting speed and I''m already exhausted?'' Ninetales gnashes her teeth and tries to calm her rapid breaths. ''I hate this. I hate this feeling of weakness.''

    Lee watches the various pokemon and people in the park as he thinks of a reply. His eyes roam to Zinnia, who is in a distant corner, letting her Tyrunt brutalize a challenging trainer''s poor Pancham, to Brendan and Electrike, who are impressing a group of similarly-aged children with Brendan''s four badges.

    On the surface, everything seems normal. If Lee didn''t know his friends well enough, he would have missed the lingering uncertainty, the guarded look in the eyes of his fellow trainers.

    Everyone is still recovering.

    ''Don''t let it bother you, Nine,'' Lee silently soothes, combing his fingers through her silky pelt. ''Your trotting speed is a dead sprint for most other pokemon. You''ll come out of this stronger than before. We all will. It''s just a temporary setback.''

    Ninetales sets her jaw like she''s going to argue, but sighs and melts into his lap when Lee heads her off with a hug, one gentle enough to not squeeze her ribs. ''Very well. I suppose now is not the time or the place. How did your call with the slimeball go? I was not paying attention.''

    ''I gave him the list, and he estimated a hundred-and-twenty grand. I had to promise a new TM to get him to shut up. I also told him not to mess around when we show up, lest he annoy you too much. I didn''t get a reply from him before I hung up, but I imagine he''s pissing himself a little.''

    Ninetales lets out a raspy, vulpine chortle. ''As he should!''

    While Lee would have loved to take the time to teach all of his pokemon new moves from scratch to better aid their long-term mastery and further his own understanding in the process, the incident upon the volcano left the zoologist with a painful idea of what sort of gaps his team possesses, and expedited the need to close them.

    TMs are not a perfect solution, not by a long shot. As miraculous as the disks are, they only impart the fundamentals needed to use a move and little else, like inserting a new line of code into a program. Any tricks, quirks, and hangups will have to be discovered manually through use and training, meaning true mastery takes time. Only TMs from truly exceptional donors have the donor''s honed, instinctual understanding of the move woven within.

    Still, though, TMs provide an accelerated starting point, eliminating the initial hurdles of learning a new move. Time is money, which means TMs are expensive. To Lee, though, the cost is worth it.

    The first one Lee looked at when considering TMs was Octillery. He and the octopus have been slowly getting better at working together, but it''s obvious that they lack synergy; their effectiveness simply isn''t up to par, at least not compared to the rest of the team. Lee is simply too used to having pokemon with superior mobility, and the transition to a slower-paced fighting style has been a difficult one.

    The answer for that? Simply make Octillery the faster pokemon in the match. Until Lee''s skill as a trainer catches up with Octillery''s full capabilities, this is the most straightforward solution. Easier said than done, but some new moves might make all the difference in the world, which is why Octillery is getting Thunder Wave, Psychic, Focus Energy, and Payback.

    Thunder Wave''s near-guaranteed paralysis will slow down speedier opponents and give Octillery ample time to use Lock-On and Focus Energy.

    Psychic is going to be a bit trickier, as Lee wants Octillery to learn telekinesis not for attacking, but for mobility. Pokemon without an innate predisposition to levitation often have trouble moving themselves with telekinesis, as Lee and Ninetales found out shortly after Nine''s evolution, but if any pokemon can spare the brainpower to psychically levitate themself, it''s Octillery. Telekinesis also opens a lot of interesting doors for the cephalopod.

    Finally, Payback is to make other pokemon think twice about getting too close. Octillery''s Wrap is crushing, and his Headbutt is painful, but he simply isn''t a physical attacker at his core. Payback, which increases the user''s physical strength after taking a hit, will even the odds for a close-range engagement.

    Grovyle''s greatest weakness is his fragility, which unfortunately is difficult to solve. The Sceptile line is not well predisposed for defensive moves in general. Lee is certain that, given enough time, he can work out something viable for Grovyle, but for now, it seems more prudent to go with what''s tried and true. Synthesis should aid the wood gecko in his battle longevity as the two of them continue to develop the still unnamed ''drain blade'' technique, but in an ideal scenario, the battle wouldn''t drag on long enough for Grovyle to get that banged up.

    For that reason, Lee decided Swords Dance is a must-have. It''s difficult to master, and borderline dangerous for the user if they can''t control their own strength, but once the user has some expertise with it, the boost to the pokemon''s physical attributes is immense. Lee isn''t terribly concerned about that, as Grovyle is nothing if not a master of his own body. He researched the move, and was shocked with how huge a difference it makes. Grovyle is also getting a copy of Focus Energy, because why not? The techniques pair well together.

    On the projectile side, Grovyle is also getting Energy Ball and Solar Beam, just in case he faces a foe more susceptible to energy attacks than physical ones. Solar Beam also synergizes quite well with Ninetales'' Drought, because as the name implies, Solar Beam is empowered by the sun''s rays. In situations where Solar Beam isn''t the best choice��say, a cloudy day or at night��Energy Ball will make for an excellent backup.

    Corvi might be the best balanced of Lee''s team. The great raven has no outstanding weaknesses other than a susceptibility to Fire and Electric-type. Nevertheless, Lee picked out TMs for him too.

    Roost was an obvious one. How do you make a flying tank even worse to fight? You give that tank the ability to heal itself. Roost also has some properties that might make for interesting research later. How does the pokemon use Flying TE for healing?

    Given how many Fire and Electric-type moves are energy-based attacks, Light Screen was another gimmie. With Light Screen cutting the potency of energy attacks, Corvi should be able to shrug off most projectiles and reduce the potency of his only two type disadvantages.

    Lee would have liked to get an offensive Ground move for Corvi to defeat his sole pair of weaknesses, but most experts say that Ground TE is beyond the Corviknight line, meaning that that is going to have to be an independent project on his part.

    Thunderbolt is for Shinx once she grows a bit more. It should serve as an accelerated stepping stone once she masters Thundershock. Once the kitten has a few battles under her belt, Lee can more effectively build a movepool for her. If Lee is being honest with himself, Shinx is probably ready to begin battling. She''s fully transitioned to solid food, is finally in the healthy weight range for her species, and watches the rest of the team train with growing restlessness.

    And for Ninetales? His ace is getting Solar Beam, Energy Ball, Iron Tail, Hyper Beam, and Dig.

    Solar Beam was the most obvious choice for her. It hits hard, synergizing with the harsh sunlight brought by her Drought, and is super effective against her three main weaknesses��those being Ground, Rock, and Water. Like with Grovyle, Energy Ball is a backup for when Solar Beam isn''t viable.

    Iron Tail is a move Lee tried to teach Nine himself, but something about the Steel TE has been eluding her. They can get the fur of her tails to stiffen and shine, but they''ve always been too rigid to maneuver, sticking out like an awkward fan behind her. The fox is no slouch in melee, and turning her namesake tails into weapons would make her a terror at close range. But this pales to what Lee has in mind for long-range.

    Hyper Beam is a ferocious technique spoken of in hushed whispers. Few pokemon have what it takes to use the move in the first place, let alone master it. Even novices can reshape the landscape with it, and Ninetales could make fantastic use of a powerful, Normal-typed beam attack. The poorly understood components within Hyper Beam that allow a pokemon to unleash such unearthly amounts of energy at once will arguably be more useful to Ninetales later, though. If she and Lee can reverse engineer that��

    Finally, Dig is almost exclusively to introduce Nine to Ground TE. The move will be useful on its own merits, but the end goal of learning it is to use it as a stepping stone to other Ground techniques. With Ground at her disposal, Nine will be able to effectively counter other Fire-types with unfavorable secondary types, such as Fire-Ground, or Fire-Dark.

    Lee can thank some poor guy in his Battlenet megathread for this decision, as the poster proudly announced that he acquired a Houndoom with Flash Fire, an ability that completely negates fire moves, to counter Ninetales. A Fire-Dark pokemon that''s immune to both fire and psychic type attacks might be the worst matchup Nine can face.

    Lee replied with the word "Dig" and muted the thread for a few days, much to Ninetales'' amusement.

    Then, almost as an afterthought, Lee decided that everyone, eventual sixth pokemon included, will be getting Protect. Damn near every pokemon can learn it, and it''s too useful to not have. In the pokemon games, Protect negates all incoming damage outside of a few rare circumstances, and it works much the same here. Only an attack of truly monstrous power can break Protect''s barrier.

    According to Zinnia, the Draconid stronghold outside of Fallarbor would provide an excellent place for some private training, meaning Lee will be free to teach his pokemon one TM at a time and help them master each move before moving on to the next. By the time they''re back on the road, every one of them should have a greatly expanded repertoire.

    ''Seems sound to me.'' Ninetales nods, following Lee''s thoughts. Inside the fox is a twinge of excitement at the prospect of a handful of new moves, with Dig being the only exception. Already she can imagine her fur covered in filth��

    ''Even with a bit of dirt on you, you''d still be the most beautiful pokemon in Hoenn,'' Lee insists. He presses a hand to Nine''s chest, just to the side of her scar, and measures her heart rate. ''Your heart is calming down plenty fast, and your breathing is settling. You''ll be back to one-hundred percent in no time.''

    The fox huffs, a smidgen of her foul mood returning. ''It cannot come soon enough.''

    The pair remain there on the bench for a time, their silent chatter turning inconsequential, which Lee can''t help but find to be a pleasant change of pace.

    ''I finished my last book last night,'' Ninetales begins, her troubles fading from the forefront of her mind. ''The Cerulean Account is a fascinating read to be certain, though I can''t help but feel as if the author glossed over a number of important details. There was never a stated reason as to how Cinnabar Island and the Pallet Outpost began to poach seaborne merchant traffic from the Cerulean ports located on Route twenty-four. One can certainly assume that they lowered their tariffs as low as Kanto would allow, but that does not explain why even ships coming from the north, like from the growing Hisui, would be willing to circumvent Kanto''s entire eastern flank and add weeks to their trip��''

    Oh Arceus, she''s talking about geopolitical history again. If he couldn''t lift the knowledge directly from Ninetales'' mind, Lee would be so lost. Even if he finds the subject dull, Lee listens dutifully.

    The topic drifts here and there, from books and history��

    ''I would like to take up calligraphy, if funds will allow it.'' Nine gives Lee a hopeful look. ''Other Eyes mentioned that it was used as a meditative art form during the days of the shogunate, and I found myself intrigued by the concept. Learning Old Kantonese along the way may also be useful later.''

    Lee smiles and holds the fox a little tighter. ''Remind me, and we''ll order a starter kit tonight.''

    Ninetales nuzzles her face into the crook of Lee''s neck, purring softly in her throat.

    <hr>

    ��To Lee''s research��

    ''�C why I believe that the Cinnabar laboratory might be onto something. Ancestral memory may be recorded within the DNA of pokemon according to their research, and I can certainly see that being true. The amount of genetic variance between differing pokemon species outside of key sequences is odd, and all that data burned in the DNA may be what is causing such an unusual amount of genetic drift,'' Lee finishes, taking a breath even though he relayed everything with telepathy. ''And considering the ''level up'' method of learning moves, perhaps IE concentration within the body is what is responsible for activating these dormant genes? A typical learn set wouldn''t account for all of the uncategorized ''junk'' DNA, though. For all we know, it might be possible for any Pok��mon to learn every move. If not that, then the unused genes must be for something.''

    Nine seems a little dizzy from the dump of information and theory, and Lee can feel her mind prodding his to get a replay of what he just said. ''��Indeed, Beloved. I agree?''

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    <hr>

    ��To things much more inconsequential, like happenings online��

    "Oh my god, they actually did it��" Lee murmurs aloud, turning his phone to show Ninetales the screen.

    Junesoft, the gacha game makers who contacted Lee to see if they could use his likeness in their game, Pocket Masters Epoch, weren''t messing around and actually added him and Ninetales as attainable characters. They added Lee and Ninetales as a four-star ''Epic'' drop, and Lee and Grovyle as a three-star ''rare'' drop. Junesoft sent him an email earlier this morning letting him know when to expect royalty deposits and informing him that they awarded his account with both characters.

    Lee has always felt that gacha games are a waste, but Brendan introduced him to this one, and so far it''s a decent enough time waster. Naturally, the game is about collecting famous trainers and their signature pokemon, then battling NPCs and other players with them, making it a vague mirror of another pokemon mobile game that existed back on Lee''s earth. Never did he imagine that he would be in one of these games, though.

    ''Four out of five stars!?'' Ninetales is affronted. She frowns heavily. ''They should have made us a five!''

    ''Five might be the ''official'' highest, but there are ones who are six, seven, and some other hidden rank I''m forgetting. Brendan was bouncing off the walls when he got a six-star from Sinnoh''s battle frontier. Palmer, I think it was.'' Lee blinks at his phone and rotates the virtual models of him and Ninetales. He clicks his tongue at the exaggerated scars and scowl on his character''s face. He opens his browser and logs into Battlenet, navigating over to the video game section.

    Surprise, surprise, the newest patch to Pocket Masters Epoch and the release of new characters has kicked the hornet''s nest. No one seems to be complaining about Lee and Ninetales, so they must be fairly balanced in the game, but there is a thread complaining about Tobias, the Sinnoh trainer who recently captured a Latios, being added as a five-star and upsetting the metagame. Apparently, Tobias and Latios have the highest initiative of any five-star and a stellar attack rating, meaning the lucky few who have them can sweep anyone without an all-star lineup.

    ��No, wait, there is one post in the changelog mega-thread complaining that Lee and Nine are over-tuned. Apparently, Junesoft made Lee''s unique perk, Unsung Stratagem, synergize way too well with Nine''s unique perk, I Will Not Be Denied! According to the poster, anybody who uses Lee and Ninetales is definitely a ''sweaty tryhard too poor to roll a real frontliner.''

    Lee then looks at the various chat groups he''s in, realizing he hasn''t checked them in weeks.

    Fox Friday has the usual chatter. Lee debates bombing them with a photo of Ninetales draped across his lap, and then decides against it.

    Fire Masters is quieter. The latest post is from Flint in Sinnoh''s Elite Four. He included a picture of his goofy, smiling face with a dour blonde man beside him. Behind the pair are a boardwalk and the open ocean.

    9TT is a ghost town as usual, with only Lokoko online as she always is.

    Finally, there are the myriad of other chat groups Lee is in, but doesn''t really interact with. One for amateur academics, one for rare pok��mon hunters, one for rumors and gossip, and a number of others, none of which are of any real consequence. After a moment of indecisiveness, he taps on the one for the rare pok��mon hunters and skims through the recent conversations.

    ''Thinking on our sixth member, Beloved?'' Ninetales asks, already knowing the answer.

    ''Yeah, I am.'' Lee continues scrolling. ''Now that I can fly on Corvi, we can realistically get anywhere in the region within just a few days. Hell, if we feel like it, we could probably go to a different region altogether. With that kind of freedom available, I''m wondering what sort of pokemon might be a good fit for our sixth slot. Outside of Octi''s Ice Beam, we don''t have a good answer for Dragons, so an Ice-type or a Fairy-type would be nice.''

    ''Or a Dragon-type on our side,'' Nine supplies. ''Surely Meteor Falls and the Draconid tribal land have no shortage of them.''

    ''True, that would save a lot of logistical headaches. Besides Corvi, we''re also lacking a bulky fighter. A Dragon could fit both��''

    Nine can sense his doubts, however. ''But you don''t wish to deal with a typical Dragon''s mentality.''

    ''I don''t.'' Lee frowns. ''Zinnia''s crash course in Dragon etiquette makes me a bit leery of them. I have no problems with the song and dance of dominance displays, but I don''t like using physical force when it comes to solving issues with inter-team relations. I didn''t like it as a zookeeper, and I don''t like it now.''

    The golden fox yawns, putting her pearly whites on display for a moment. ''You still want an Eevee, I take it?''

    Finding little of interest in the chat group, Lee scrolls a bit further. ''A little. I still want a Vaporeon because I think their hydro-kinetic bodies are fascinating, but at the same time, doubling up on types doesn''t seem wise when Octi is already great at what he does. An Umbreon might be nice. They''re outrageously tough and scrappy for their size, so one could be a welcome addition as a tanky fighter. Ice was an underwhelming type in the games, but looking around on Battlenet has shown me that a little creativity goes a long way with Ice, so a Glaceon would also be a welcome addition.''

    Ninetales nods along. ''You were considering others as well, correct? I recall Audino, Miltank, and Chansey were high on your list for their restorative abilities.''

    ''A dedicated healer would be fantastic,'' Lee thinks with a sigh. ''In an ideal world, there would be a pokemon that can heal, no-sell Dragons, fight, not overlap with our other types, and still be attainable.'' His thoughts go to Gardevoir and Galarian Rapidash, who fill all of the criteria except for the ''attainable'' part. No one finds a Ralts, as the timid pokemon use their empathetic powers to pick out trainers on their own, and promptly teleport away when threatened. As for Rapidash''s colorful cousin, not only are they difficult to find in the wild, the small number of ranches with the expertise to breed them are all the way in Galar and demand adoption fees that approach six figures. For that amount of money, he would prefer an Eevee. ''I suppose I''ll just have to make a choice and settle.''

    Ninetales, apparently tired of sitting, shuffles off of Lee''s legs and stands, giving herself a full body shake as she does. The shake aggravates some of her lingering aches, which Lee acutely feels in his own body, but it passes in only a second. ''I''m feeling rested. Let''s go for a walk.''

    Lee stands as well, giving both of his legs a shake to get his blood moving. ''Lead the way,'' he sends back, locking and pocketing his phone.

    The town that the group stopped at along Route 109 is small. It''s almost more of a village, really, considering the main street holds roughly 90% of everything there is to see. From what little Lee has gathered from looking around, it seems as though many of the residents sustain themselves by being a resting place for trainers going to and from Lavaridge, as evidenced by the many inns, bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants, and a disproportionately large Poke Mart. The other major industry in town is a large mining operation that set up shop in Mount Forina, an ore-rich mountain along the western side of the town. The valley town reminds Lee of beautiful Appalachia, deep in West Virginia, where he spent more than one youthful summer with his grandparents.

    The sight of Ninetales strolling down the street doesn''t draw as many eyes as it did in Lavaridge. More than one person slows down to watch them pass, but it''s not the pointing and grabbing for cell phone cameras that it was in the previous town. It''s surprisingly refreshing.

    ''It still gets me how damn near everything in this world is so pleasant,'' Lee smiles to himself, looking around. Idly, he casts his mind to Ninetales, telepathically feeling up and down her body, taking stock of it with the same ease he would his own. The trainer finds himself pleased that the sedate pace they''ve set isn''t aggravating any of her lingering aches and pains.

    ''I''m hardly an invalid,'' Nine snaps, irritation coloring her voice. ''If walking after weeks of bedrest tired me out, then I would hardly be fit to be your Ace.''

    ''I know, I know. I just worry sometimes.''

    Ninetales'' annoyance melts away in an instant, replaced with regret. ''I apologize, beloved. It wasn''t my intention to be snippy. I just can''t stop dwelling on my failure on the volcano�� I should have been able to do more,'' she says, one of her tails lashing in frustration.

    ''Do more?'' Lee shakes his head, incredulous. He stares down at Ninetales, who refuses to meet his eyes. ''Nine, you saved my life, nearly at the expense of your own! I''m the one at fault here! I''m the one who let us go up on that volcano without adequate backup, and look what happened! You nearly died, we all nearly died!''

    ''Your failures are my failures, too,'' she replies, her lips pulling back into a silent snarl. She quickly schools her expression and takes a calming breath, finally raising her ruby eyes to lock with his blues. ''I am not only your Ace pokemon, but your partner from now until grim death calls for us, and I would have it no other way. I arrogantly believed that nothing could hope to stand up to us, and did not catch the mistake either, so do not take all the blame for yourself. We are both equally at fault no matter what you think. Remember Mabel''s words, and do not put yourself down over everything.''

    Lee quickly formulates a reply, but stops himself short when Ninetales silently hushes him, wrapping her mind around his own in a hug of untold intimacy.

    ''You still don''t agree with me, do you?'' The fox asks quietly.

    Lee''s silence is all the answer she needs.

    Nine physically sighs, and a twinge of regret jabs Lee for how he is exhausting her. ''Let us agree to disagree for now then, and promise that we will both do better for each other. After that, there is no point in dwelling on the past. Doing so is clearly taxing for us both.''

    ''I can do that,'' Lee finally sends back, reaching a hand down to rub the heart mark on her ear. ''I love you, Nine.''

    The vixen leans into him, smiling faintly. ''And I, you.''

    ''We''ll do better,'' Lee silently promises himself. ''I''ll do better. For you, and everyone else.''

    <hr>

    "That''s such crap!" Brendan cries, clawing at his hat in frustration. In his hand, his PokeGear branded phone flashes with a mocking ''DEFEAT'' screen. "Gah! I hate pay-to-win wailords!"

    Beside him, Marshtomp chortles.

    The afternoon finds Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, and their pokemon back in the park. The inn where the trio is staying the night is rather cramped, as all three were forced into a cramped two-bed room with little more furnishings than a pullout couch, making anything other than sleeping in there unpleasant at best, and impossible at worst.

    Forget trying to let all of their pokemon out. Rather than dealing with the squabbling that will surely result from dinner in such tight quarters, they had left and claimed a corner of the public park with an aged picnic table and a slightly crooked, rectangular charcoal grill jutting from the ground.

    Thoroughly tired of oppressive thoughts and the lingering malaise hovering around himself and his friends, Lee decided one final splurge was in order and hit up the town supermarket to get everything needed for a cookout. He had cleared out the small meat section of their steak and ground beef, grabbed a bag of potatoes, some whole ears of corn, several packages of buns, all the condiments and fixings he didn''t have on hand, and a bag of charcoal.

    Before he left, Lee made another round and picked out some appropriate replacement ingredients for the herbivores like Grovyle and Breloom, and the ones not too fond of red meat, like Octillery and Marshtomp.

    Brendan, Zinnia, and their teams were equal parts surprised and elated when Lee and Ninetales returned trailing a train of telekinetically cradled bags.

    "Damn thing��" Lee grunts, looking down at the unevenly burning coals in the grill. due to the supporting pole having probably been bent by a large pokemon or an especially fat human tripping over it. "Nine?"

    At his side, Ninetales sticks her muzzle between the grill grate and coalbed, breathing a stream of flames into the coals. The uneven side glows red, warming back up to match the tilted side. Above the coals and on the grate, four burgers and a steak sizzle with more intensity.

    "Thank you," Lee smiles, getting one in turn from his fox as she pulls back.

    At the picnic table, Zinnia and her pokemon are tearing into their food with all the manners of�� well, dragons. Zinnia is halfway through a rare, borderline raw steak, her corn cob is bare, and two of the three burgers she took are gone. How she can eat like she does and still maintain a slim figure is beyond Lee.

    At her feet, Tyrunt mirrors his trainer to a disturbing degree. Huge bites of his meal disappear in his maw with little in the way of chewing. The little dino also took a baked potato�� And didn''t bother extracting it from the foil it was wrapped in, instead crunching down on the aluminum as if he didn''t even notice. All that is left is a few scraps of foil.

    Swablu and Goomy are a bit more clean. The bird opted for just grilled corn and somehow didn''t cover herself in butter despite tearing it down to the cob in record time. Goomy, meanwhile, swallowed his burger in a single bite and let it dissolve in his acidic mouth.

    Shelgon had a single bite of Zinnia''s steak and called it quits, still in the middle of his evolutionary fast.

    Even knowing that a Shelgon''s lack of appetite is normal, Lee still cringes a bit when he looks at Shelgon. All of the healed-over cracks in his shell would fade faster if the orb-like Dragon would eat a bit more.

    At Lee''s feet, Electrike, Mawile, and Shinx all sit patiently and wait for the next round of food to be done.

    ''Some are more patient with others, though��'' Lee thinks to himself, watching Mawile''s crocodile-like jaws drool in the grass. He lets his gaze wander.

    Corvi is over beneath a tree, resting along with Octillery as they wait to be called for food. Neither wants to be in the sun, one because he''ll overheat in his armor, and the other because he''ll dry out. It''s good to see the corvid and cephalopod chattering quietly, as they didn''t seem too fond of each other before Corvi''s evolution.

    Grovyle, meanwhile, is lying in the grass along with Breloom. The Grass-types leisurely sun themselves, but Lee cringes when he lays eyes upon Grovyle.

    So many of his scales, especially on his chest, are deformed or pale from his burn scars, but it looks like a nightly application of Rawst-infused cream, the same stuff that Lee uses to keep his own scars pliant, is helping minimize everything.

    It obviously chafes Grovyle, who is so used to training daily, that his body refuses to move how he wishes. The wood gecko has few tells that slip through his aloof attitude, but Lee can see the annoyed bounce of his chewing twig whenever Grovyle is reminded of his injuries. Every day, he''s able to push his limbs a little farther, pulling at his scarred skin, but not as far as he could at the height of his health. It''s going to be some time before he gets everything back, and it''s heartening to Lee that Grovyle finally seems to be accepting that he can''t work himself to the bone.

    For now, at least.

    Lee touches his spatula to one of the steaks on the grill, and judging it to be right at the halfway point between rare and medium rare, he scoops it up, plates it, and hands it down to Mawile.

    The fairy looks at the slab of meat with glee, her eyes starry and both of her mouths watering. Her croc-jaws begin to rise and drape over her shoulder, ready to snap up the meal in one bite.

    A canine whine interrupts her.

    Looking to the side, Mawile is treated to the sight of both Electrike and Shinx looking at her with large, despondent eyes. Shinx waivers slightly, letting her gaze fall to the steak for a moment before fixing her eyes forward again.

    Mawile grimaces, her shoulders tensing as if she were just stabbed. She looks between the steaming meat on her plate and the pair of younglings giving her big Growlithe eyes, indecision coloring every movement. Then with a pained hiss, she shakily holds the plate out to Electrike, trying, and mostly failing, to put a sincere smile on her face.

    Stubby tail wagging so fast that it''s practically a blur, Brendan''s giant, electric puppy takes the steak right off the plate and trots over to a shady spot, Shinx bounding along with him. He tears the meat in half�� Then promptly cedes the larger half to a loudly purring Shinx without a fuss.

    Mawile drops to her hands and knees dramatically, a mournful moan leaving her.

    "Oh, don''t be like that," Lee rolls his eyes and bends over, picking up the discarded plate. Taking a patty off the grill, he assembles a regular burger from the spread of ingredients laid out on the folding camp table next to him and hands it to Mawile.

    The fairy is back on her feet in an instant and shoves the sandwich into her rearward-facing jaws, shredding it between her teeth like a wild animal.

    ''Jeez��'' Lee smiles awkwardly at the sight. He takes two more patties off the grill and puts more on to cook. With the two he took off, he makes a double burger, leaving out the onions, and holds it at hip height.

    ''What are you �C'' Ninetales begins to question before her stomach growls. The inside of her ears turn pink in a blush, and as nonchalantly as she can, she bites into the offered sandwich.

    The taste of the burger and Ninetales'' satisfaction both wash over Lee, and he smiles as both are equally pleasant.

    Looking over his shoulder, Lee finally focuses on Brendan.

    The boy is still occupied by his cellphone, seemingly disinterested in any of the food being prepared. Considering his appetite as a growing boy, it''s unusual, to say the least. His usually smiling face, is instead neutral as though troubled. It seems as if the young trainer has been smiling less and less over the last week.

    Something must be troubling him.

    "Brendan?" Lee calls to the younger trainer. "You alright? You look kind of down."

    Brendan jumps, apparently not expecting to be addressed. He puts his phone down and plasters a thin smile on his face. "Yeah! I''m fine! Just a bit bummed about a losing streak," he says, lifting his phone and giving it a shake.

    Beside the young Birch, Zinnia''s eyes sharpen, and she slows her eating. For a brief moment, Zinnia and Lee lock eyes.

    She''s noticed, too.

    "Okay��" Lee lets the word hang. When Brendan doesn''t spill, he continues. "If something was wrong, you''d say something, right?"

    Brendan nods, though it looks rather unconvincing to Lee.

    Clicking his tongue, Lee returns his attention to cooking. ''What''s eating you, Brendan?''

    <hr>

    "You''re certain that this is needed?" Courtney weakly asks, looking at her new quarters within the Magma hideout.

    It''s spartan, even by her own pragmatic standards. A bed, a filled bookshelf, a desk with pens and stationary, a dresser with a mirror atop it, and a small door leading to an even smaller lavatory. Air circulates from somewhere, but Courtney can''t see from where.

    "Leader Maxie''s orders, ma''am," the lieutenant escorting her says. Courtney can''t tell who the lieutenant is on account of the bulky, psychic-dampening helmet they wear, but they sound like a man beneath the polarized visor. "Standard quarantine post-contact with hostile telepaths is four weeks. Your decontamination will start at o-seven-hundred hours tomorrow."

    If it is Leader Maxie who ordered it, then Courtney is in no place to argue��

    Stepping inside the rehabilitation quarters, Courtney looks around and realizes that she''s never seen them from the inside. She''s seen the schematics countless times in her dogmatic pursuits to ensure that everything within Magma is up to par, but being inside one is completely different.

    There is a slam and a click, and the Magma Admin whirls around, seeing that the heavy steel door behind her has been shut and locked. Her first instinct is to reach for the pokeballs on her belt, only to stop.

    Her pok��mon were separated from her. ''Safety concerns,'' said the medical officer who evaluated her. ''We don''t want your pokemon to be endangered by unwilling orders from you in the event you were implanted with time delay or conditional compulsions. We''ll take care of them.''

    With an anxious sigh, Courtney slowly trudges over to the bed and sits, staring down at her hands.

    Everything seemed to be going well enough when Leader Maxie rescued everyone, using Claydol to teleport them safely to a hidden clearing on the eastern part of Mount Chimney''s flank. As per standard protocol, all of the members scattered and made their way back to the hideout at random times to throw off pursuers. Courtney was one of the last ones to arrive. She immediately made herself useful and began gathering the various lieutenants and low-ranking members of the volcano operation. She received reports and debriefs from each one, then forwarded everything to Leader Maxie in a secure email. Things would play out calmly for some time afterward, and Courtney was thankful for the return to normality. Leader Maxie was scarce, likely dealing with the fallout of the botched operation.

    Courtney began to shift her priorities, starkly remembering the words of Lee Henson on top of the volcano.

    ''Magma is up here on this volcano for one purpose: they intend to awaken Groudon and try to leash it like a rabid dog.''

    How? How did he know? Who leaked the information to him? Magma must have some sort of information leak, and for ruining their plans so thoroughly, Courtney found herself determined to plug the leak permanently. She began sorting through all the member dossiers, trying to find who in the world would dare interfere with Leader Maxie''s vision.

    Then everything began to change all at once.

    Countless Magma assets were recalled, filling the hideout to capacity and then some. Some were dismissed, and new blood was brought in to replace them. What struck Courtney as strange is that�� She wasn''t consulted on any of those changes. She reached out to both Tabitha and Leader Maxie, only to get no reply��

    Then out of the blue, Tabitha and a host of lieutenants barged into her office, with Tabitha declaring that Courtney had been compromised. She stood up and argued her case, only to be silenced when Tabitha spoke those damning words.

    "The order comes from Leader Maxie."

    She wanted to ask why, but she set her jaw and allowed herself to be led off. Leader Maxie must have a reason.

    In the medical wing, a psychic specialist saw to her and declared her a risk within thirty seconds. Her pokeballs were seized before her pokemon could do anything rash, then she was led to this room.

    ''Was I�� Really compromised?'' Courtney''s breath hitches in her throat, her usually placid face screwing itself up into horror. ''Did that Ninetales slip past my blocks? No, that''s impossible�� But how did Henson know?''

    Her hands grip her head, and the room seems to spin. Was someone actually in her head without her knowing? What other secrets did they acquire? What else do they know? All of Magma, all the time, effort, and ambition might be in danger now! Henson might have everything!

    For all the damage she may have caused, though, something else hurts just as much now that the botched mission won''t leave her mind.

    "Should anybody have power like that? Are people even able to handle power like that? I don''t know, and the more I think about it, the more fishy the plan to awaken Groudon becomes. If I''m being truthful, Courtney, then I didn''t want to join Magma for their goals, anyway��"

    "I wanted to join to be around you."

    Brendan could have been an Admin like her; he could have helped them change the world.

    Then at the last moment, he turned on Magma.

    Should anybody have power like that?

    Are people even able to handle power like that?

    She wants to say it. She wants to say that Leader Maxie is the one, that he alone can lead them into a new era, a shining era, one where man is no longer subject to the whims of the world beneath their feet.

    But she hesitates.

    She hesitates.

    Courtney''s eyes shoot wide open, and for the first time since her childhood, she wants to scream.

    She has been compromised.

    She''s betrayed Magma without even meaning to.

 Act 2: Chapter 21

    Fallarbor isn��t exactly what Lee expected it to be.

    In the pokemon games, Fallarbor is a small, barren town on account of the volcanic ash from Mount Chimney. Much of central Hoenn is subject to a north-blowing jetstream, so once Mount Chimney��s ashes are free of the volcano��s updraft, they should be blown onto Fallarbor. That wouldn��t make for a sustainable settlement in real life, though, constantly living in a downpour of soot.

    In the anime, Fallarbor is just another town surrounded by lush green forests on all sides, as geography was never really accounted for. Why would it be? The mostly-child audience wouldn��t care one way or another.

    The reality is quite a bit more interesting.

    As Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia begin their final approach into town, Lee looks up, finding the sky clear and blue. High, high above, wisps of gray and black soot flit in the air, only to stop as though hitting a wall around Fallarbor��s southern perimeter. More ash builds up along the invisible wall, persisting against the unseen barrier for fifteen minutes at a time, before it��s suddenly pulled down to a distant place on the ground, hidden from view by the forestry. It��s as if a giant vacuum cleaner has sucked all of the ash up.

    ��The Grumpig Glassmakers on the southern side of town are the ones keeping the place clean,�� Zinnia says, answering the unspoken question on Lee��s face. ��Whenever the volcano acts up, they use a big psychic net to catch all the ash that would fall into the town. Then they compress it, melt it, and make all sorts of stuff out of it. The place is regionally famous for its glass wind instruments.��

    Ninetales perks up, though with her being in her ball, only Lee notices. ��Truly?�� she asks. ��That sounds as if it might make an interesting stop.��

    ��We��ll have to swing by, then,�� Lee sends back.

    ��How far away is your tribe��s land, Zinnia?�� Brendan asks, giving the Dragon Tamer a sidelong glance.

    Zinnia looks up at the wispy soot above. ��Not far. The main village is situated outside of Meteor Falls to the west of town, and it��s a three-hour walk. With a pokemon mount, it''s way shorter.��

    ��The main village?�� Lee questions. ��You mentioned a while back that we were actually going to a ��stronghold��. I take it that the stronghold is within Meteor Falls itself?��

    Zinnia nods, her usual smile absent. It��s been absent for the last several days. ��Yeah�� It��s only accessible by air. It��ll be a good place for us to hang out and train in peace.��

    ��And they��ll be okay with outsiders like Brendan and I?�� Lee continues.

    A frown finds its way to Zinnia��s face. ��If they aren��t, then I��ll invoke my powers as Lorekeeper and declare you guys are necessary for the continued survival of the Draconids. I know I told Lee that I had some things to share�C �� she turns to Brendan, who stiffens under the intense stare ���Cand if you want to hear it Brendan, then you can too. Just be warned that, once you hear what I have to say about the Draconids and my mission as Lorekeeper, you��re going to be involved in something big. Once we��re safely in the stronghold, I''ll tell you guys everything.��

    Oh shit. Lee nearly forgot. He said he would tell Zinnia about his origins. Now the exchange is actually upon them, maybe less than a day away. ��What do I even say? ��Hey, this sounds crazy, but I��m from a parallel universe where pokemon are just children��s entertainment?�� I��m sure that will go over well.��

    ��You have Grovyle, Corviknight, and I to vouch for you Beloved,�� Ninetales silently soothes. ��If Brendan and Zinnia require proof, then I can give them whatever you wish me to.��

    Ah. Right. Lee did forget that Ninetales can actually use telepathy with other people if she cares to. He sighs in relief. That makes things so much easier��

    ��It��s good to see that the secret dump is still on,�� Lee weakly jokes. ��I��m still thinking about the best way to explain my life before I became a pokemon trainer. Ninetales might need to join in with some telepathic assistance. A couple of the things I have to say might be hard to swallow,�� he says, looking between Brendan and Zinnia.

    Zinnia accepts the warning with a cool nod, but Brendan looks away, his face twisting into guilt at the mention of a ��secret dump��. Neither Zinnia nor Lee miss it.

    ��Brendan?�� Lee begins gently. ��Something has been bothering you ever since we left Lavaridge. I know you said it was nothing, but now we��re all starting to get worried. What��s going on?��

    The young trainer doesn��t meet Lee��s eyes. Biting his lip and nervously fingering his belt right next to his pokeballs, Brendan doesn��t answer right away, forcing Lee to hold up a hand and forestall an interrogation from a disgruntled Zinnia. After a long minute, Brendan finally begins to speak.

    ��So, uh���� He gulps, still unable to look at Lee or Zinnia��s faces. ��Back up on the volcano, when I went with Courtney, you all remember that, right?��

    ��Duh,�� Zinnia answers, her face losing its annoyed edge in the wake of Brendan��s uncertainty. ��That was a slick move you pulled, getting in close to wreck that machine.��

    Brendan nods weakly. ��Yeah�� Uh, about that���� He finally looks up. ��I wasn��t going to double cross Magma.��

    ��What?�� Lee''s eyes widen, wondering what in the world the kid is talking about. He shares a glance with Zinnia, but she seems equally clueless. ��Nine?��

    ��I haven��t any idea what he��s speaking of, either,�� the vixen sends.

    ��You weren��t going to double-cross them?�� Lee questions, raising an eyebrow. ��What do you mean by that?��

    Brendan nods again, his voice growing weak. ��I�� I was going to join them for real. I was this close���� he raises a hand, his thumb and pointer finger a centimeter apart ����to actually doing it. I tried to get Courtney to say that she wasn��t in on it, or that you were wrong, but���� He lowers his hand and trails off, distraught. ��After all we��ve done together, I was about to throw it all away because I��m gullible, and it came down to a split-second decision! I can��t keep it to myself anymore!�� he cries. ��I don��t want to hear what either of you have to say, or whatever secrets you have! Someone might trick me into giving it all away!��

    All at once, it strikes Lee just how critical a mistake it was not trying harder to discern Courtney��s motives. It never occurred to him that Brendan might have been her ultimate goal all along.

    ��Stop. Don��t pin all the blame upon yourself,�� Ninetales is quick to jump in, her mental tone biting. ��I did not see it, either. We know better now. Magma and Aqua will not be allowed to work such schemes around us anymore,�� she says, audibly bitter about the failure.

    It takes a moment for Brendan��s words to sink in for Zinnia. When they do, her face twists itself into fury, and her hands clench into white-knuckled fists. She marches forward towards the guilt-wracked boy, practically stomping on the ground.

    Three of the four pokeballs on Brendan��s belt wiggle in warning, a very clear message to the approaching Zinnia.

    Zinnia cares none, and keeps walking forward to��

    ��pull a shocked Brendan into a hug.

    ��That bitch���� Zinnia��s growl is downright animalistic, but her snarl is mostly hidden by Brendan��s hat, thanks to how close she holds the boy. ��That bitch! Kid, why are you apologizing when she is the one who manipulated you?�� the Dragon Tamer demands, pulling her head back to stare at a speechless Brendan. ��What? Why are you looking at me like that? Did you think I was going to be mad?��

    Lee finally finds his own words and clears his throat. ��I have to agree here, Brendan,�� he begins, drawing an incredulous look from the boy. Stepping closer, Lee puts a comforting hand on the young trainer��s shoulder. ��We��re the adults here, and some of the blame is on us. We were the ones who let Courtney even get close enough to you to pull her stunts, and it was all just to try and get her to slip and reveal some of Magma��s secrets.��

    ��That cunt didn��t lie about the part where we were on to her from the get-go,�� Zinnia mumbles into Brendan��s scalp. ��You��re a real honest kid, Brendan, so Lee and I didn��t want to let you in on everything and potentially have you slip up, spooking her into doing something unpredictable.��

    Brendan seems beyond stunned, at this point. He shakes his head slowly, as if he can��t believe what he��s hearing. ��You guys aren��t mad?�� he asks, the words weak, fragile, and hopeful above all else.

    ��Am I mad that a twelve-year-old got manipulated by a high-ranking member of a cult who probably had infiltration training?��

    Lee almost shakes his head.

    ��No.�� Lee��s reply is as quick as it is firm. ��It takes a big man to own up to his mistakes. You could have said nothing and we would have been none the wiser, so I think I can speak for both Zinnia and I when I say the sentiment is appreciated.��

    ��Damn straight.�� Zinnia smiles and finally releases Brendan. ��Just�� don��t be offended if Dolittle and I keep an eye on you for a while, okay?��

    For the first time in weeks, the gloom around Brendan lifts, and his bright smile returns. He looks between Lee and Zinnia, as if seeing them in a new light. ��Thank y �C��

    ��Besides,�� Zinnia interrupts, a smirk forming on her lips. ��I heard the verbal ass-whooping your old man gave you over the phone. Sheesh, I knew a broad-chested guy like that probably had some lungs on him, but I could practically hear the speakers on your phone blowing out. You don��t need any from us.��

    Brendan visibly cringes, his cheerful smile straining to remain on his face. ��T-Thanks����

    ��Let it never be said that Zinnia does not have a talent for ruining a moment,�� Ninetales dryly observes with only Lee to hear her.

    ��And what do you think, Love? About how Zinnia and I handled this?�� Lee asks. He can already feel the vague disapproval in Ninetales�� emotions, but he wants to hear her put them into words.

    Ninetales is silent for a moment, long enough for Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan (who is now chattering away, making up for two weeks of silence) to get back on the road towards Fallarbor.

    ��I think���� Nine begins, the minor turmoil within her settling, ��that, given the circumstances, forgiveness is the correct course, even if part of me is frustrated to admit it.��

    Even if part of me is frustrated to admit it. Is that the predisposition for grudges that Ninetales as a species seems to have, perhaps? It��s heartening to see that Ninetales can work past such emotions. Hopefully, things will go the way Lokoko said they would, and Nine��s control of her instincts will tighten.

    ��So, boys���� Zinnia crosses her arms behind her head as she walks. ��Anything that needs to be done while we��re in Fallarbor? The Draconid village outside of Meteor Falls has a general store and a clinic, but anything more specialized than that, and you��ll have to come back to town.��

    ��I��m going to have to come back regardless,�� Lee muses. ��I��ve canceled on Mable far, far too much over the last month, and I need to meet the Psychic specialist Nigel wants for that study. Who knows, maybe the specialist will have some insight on the deeper parts of what is bothering Ninetales.��

    Lee apparently didn��t bother to keep his thoughts private, as Ninetales radiates a wave of displeasure as he thinks that. The displeasure dissipates as Lee wraps her in the telepathic equivalent of a hug.

    ��I��m going to visit the PokeMart for some supplies,�� Brendan answers Zinnia��s question. ��My Potion bottle is about empty, and I need to get a pokeball to replace the one I broke while catching Mawile.��

    ��Another pokeball?�� Zinnia seems surprised, then her surprise transforms into a grin. ��Thinking about getting a Dragon in the falls?��

    Brendan makes an undecided noise in his throat. ��Maybe. I think Marshtomp is on the home stretch to evolution, and once he��s there, I��m really gonna consider who I want for my fifth and sixth slots.��

    ��Well, if you decide on getting a Dragon, Meteor Falls is the place to do it!�� Zinnia smiles. ��I can show you the little lagoon where I got Goomy. If the breeding cycles of the falls are still synced up, then there might even be Dratini there.��

    Damn. Dratini? The precursor to Dragonite? Lee silently feels his reservations about acquiring a Dragon-type begin to waver.

    Zinnia turns to Lee. ��What about you, Dolittle? Got anything to do in town? And since Little Hero here brought it up, any ideas on who your sixth pokemon will be?��

    ��I need to pick up a bunch of TMs I ordered from the PokeMart, and probably audit all of my current gear just to be safe,�� Lee muses aloud. ��As for a sixth pokemon, that��s still up in the air. I��ve been looking at various breeders while we��ve been on the road����

    Zinnia seems both amused and exasperated as Lee mentions breeders. Brendan simply nods along as if he was expecting the answer.

    ����and I��ve got a few promising ones picked out that I want to visit,�� Lee continues. ��If I can��t get my hands on either a bulky fighter or a healer, then I might have to ask you to help me hunt a Dragon, Zinnia.��

    Zinnia grins in reply, and it��s positively feral.

    ��What kinds of TMs did you get?�� Brendan asks, looking at Lee with a raised eyebrow. ��Since you know how to make moves, I figured you wouldn��t need TMs.��

    Lee hesitates and looks to the side of the road, watching a Dustox flit and flutter in the shade of a distant tree. ��After all the unpleasantries back on Mount Chimney, I decided that there were some gaps that need to be closed immediately in my team��s repertoire. On a more long-term side, this also introduces them to new forms of TE, which makes learning more moves later on easier.��

    Brendan nods slowly. ��Makes sense. Heck, I might see what TMs the Fallarbor Pokemart has on hand now that you mention it. So, what did you get?�� When Lee recites the shopping list, Brendan��s eyes are wide long before the last TM is named. ��Jeez. How much did that run you?��

    When Lee remains silent, Brendan��s face twists into pity. ��That bad, huh?��

    ��Arm and a fuckin�� leg,�� Lee mutters. ��I��m going to have to fly back to Mauville and give Silph another new move to cover the tab.��

    Before long, the trio enters Fallarbor proper, and the well-trodden dirt road transitions into asphalt and sidewalks. The town is on the smaller side, without much in the way of distinguishing features, so the trio hurry along down the main street, swiftly finding the PokeMart.

    Upon entering the shop, everyone scatters to grab what they need. Lee himself sticks close to the front of the building and finds a wall to lean against. Pulling his backpack off and placing it on the ground, he unzips it and peers at the disorganized mess within with a critical eye.

    Ninetales apparently takes the stop as her cue to release herself. On Lee��s belt, her ball shakes, then pops open in a flash of light, depositing the fox at his side.

    ��Ah ah! I won��t hear any protest!�� Ninetales heads Lee off before he can turn his head towards her. ��The air is not filled with soot or anything that may bother my lungs, and I have spent most of the last week within my ball. Two weeks of recovery is enough.��

    Lee grumbles. He sucks in a deep breath himself, and Nine, already knowing his intentions, synchronizes her breathing with his, letting him compare his own breath with hers. The disembodied feeling of Nine��s sternum expanding and contracting is as easy as can be expected. She��s not yet back to where she was before the volcano, but she��s in a better place, certainly.

    With a mental sigh, Lee gives in to Nine��s demand. ��Okay. Tell me if you get winded, though, alright?��

    ��Beloved, you can tell when I am hungry before I do these days,�� the vixen says with a roll of her eyes. ��But yes, if it makes you feel better, I promise to speak up.��

    ��That��s all I ask.��

    After spending a few minutes taking stock of his supplies, Lee, with Ninetales in tow, explores the PokeMart for a bit. After grabbing a Mart basket, Lee stops by the Flying aisle and grabs some goggles along with a face scarf, which will make flying on Corviknight that much better. After that, they move to the Electric aisle and get a new multimeter for Shinx, who has outgrown her current one. The little kitten is now pushing over fifty thousand volts at forty milliamps, enough that a multimeter rated for ��weak�� Electric-types is topping out.

    ��My baby is growing too fast.�� Lee gives the cartoonish Raichu on the multimeter packaging a bittersweet smile and drops it into the basket. ��Maybe I should see if I can find a battle for Shinx before we leave for the Draconid village.��

    After gathering a few other things of a more mundane variety, Lee and Ninetales walk over to the front of the store, where all of the locked displays are. Behind the glass displays are the usual expensive things, like pokeballs, high-end medicine, a few middling-grade evolution stones, and a handful of the things that Lee is really interested in.

    Held items.

    The various Leagues around the world all have their own rules on special equipment that pokemon can take into battle with them, but many of the general guidelines are the same. Typically, a pokemon can only enter an official match with a single item, be it a berry, a tool, or a weapon. The rule is good to have, and was implemented after some goober gave his Bewear a whole sack of Sitrus berries in an official tournament back in the day, but the rule is less important than most think.

    Many items that passively enhance the performance of pokemon, like Grovyle��s Miracle Seed, do their mysterious work by radiating Type Energy in sync with their wielders. If two items are in too close proximity to each other, then the TE radiated by each item will conflict with the other, causing a greatly diminished effect. This isn��t the case with all items, but it affects enough that most trainers don��t see the point in experimenting.

    Lee learned all that from a recent delve into the world of held items, and he also learned that a number of the more outlandish held items simply don��t exist here.

    Leftovers, something Lee abused rather egregiously in the video games, isn��t a real item here much to his chagrin. Same with the Shell Bell. The Eject Button, Lucky Punch, Ring Target, Rocky Helmet, and a number of others also have no analogues.

    Fallarbor��s PokeMart doesn��t really have much in the way of desirable held items. Some cellophane-wrapped Power Herbs, White Herbs, and Mental Herbs, a few Smoke Balls, and an empty display where there was apparently a Flame Orb.

    ��Looks like I��m going to have to suffer through online bidding wars if I want anything for my team.�� Lee sighs. Making a mental note to start watching auctions, he makes his way over to the PokeMart checkout.

    <hr>

    ��Must be quite the order!�� the elderly lady manning the cash register comments as she rings Lee��s items up and produces a cardboard box labeled ��Silph Co.�� from behind the counter. ��The deliveryman had me sign for your package in triplicate.��

    Lee offers the grandmotherly woman a smile as he hands over his debit card. ��Hah. Pokemon training supplies just seem to get more and more expensive, don��t they?��

    ��For certain.�� The cashier clicks her tongue. As she finishes ringing Lee up, she reaches into a transparent tub of bone-shaped biscuits by her cash register. Taking one, she leans over the counter and offers one to Ninetales. ��For you, dear.��

    The fox screws her face up into a mixed expression, like she��s not sure if she should be offended at the pet-like treatment or impressed with the elderly woman��s bravery. Regardless, Nine takes the offered treat so as to not appear rude. She croons a low, half-hearted thanks as she crunches into the morsel.

    ��That biscuit tastes better than I would��ve expected,�� Lee thinks to himself, looking at the brand name on the tub before bidding the cashier farewell. ��Better than what the work dogs back at the zoo were trained with.��

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ��I still don��t understand why you felt the need to try your animals�� food, Lee.�� Ninetales rolls her eyes and licks her lips, cleaning up any errant crumbs.

    ��I wouldn��t feed anyone or anything in my care any food I wouldn��t eat myself.��

    Outside the Mart, both Zinnia and Brendan stand, having finished their shopping before Lee and Ninetales have. As the man and fox approach they pick up what the other two trainers are talking about.

    ��...It doesn��t really matter to me.�� Brendan shrugs. ��It would be nice to rest since we��ve been walking all day, but a few more hours won��t kill me.��

    Zinnia withdraws her phone from her pocket, unlocks it, and opens up her browser. ��Let��s rest and finish off the trip tomorrow then. Hanging with the Draconids can be pretty exhausting for outsiders, and the last thing you want to do is appear vulnerable around a bunch of Dragons.�� She looks up, finally noticing Lee and Ninetales. ��There you guys are! Little Hero and I were just discussing getting a hotel for the night. Like I was saying, you might want to be rested up. It will also give me some time to give you guys an idea of what to expect.��

    Lee nods easily. ��Sure. I was hoping to try and scrounge up a battle or two for Shinx, anyway.��

    <hr>

    With Fallarbor being on the small side for a town and in a part of Hoenn without a Gym, the town isn��t well-equipped for accommodating traveling trainers, forcing Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan into a two-bed room in an older inn. A grumbling Brendan loses the three-way rock-paper-scissors game for the beds, and is forced to take up residence on the pullout couch.

    Once their things are situated in the room, they venture out to a nearby park with several packed dirt battlegrounds scattered around. Claiming a corner of the park to themselves, Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan release their pokemon for a late lunch. Once all the various food bowls are passed out, the trio of trainers all sit down at a nearby picnic table and dig into their own lunches. By the time they��ve sat down, Ninetales and Shelgon have both finished their food. Each pokemon returns to the side of their respective trainers to better listen in on the coming conversation.

    ��Alright, let me give you boys the rundown of how things work in the Draconid tribe!�� Zinnia exclaims, twiddling the last bit of a sandwich between her fingers. After wolfing down the last bite, she continues. ��First and foremost, don��t take shit from anybody. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but I��ll point out who to avoid as we encounter them.��

    ��Don��t take shit from anyone, huh?�� Lee asks, raising an eyebrow. ��Zinnia, if we��re guests in the tribe, shouldn��t we not rock the boat?�� he asks, Brendan nodding along next to him. ��Starting fights seems counterproductive.��

    Zinnia shakes her head, making her dark locks bounce. ��No. That��s where you��re wrong. Most of my tribesmen won��t bother you, but it��ll reflect poorly on you if you don��t rise to a challenge, or at least call them out. If someone wants to get in your face and be rude, challenge them to a pokemon battle, and don��t pull your punches. Fuck their whole day up,�� she insists.

    ��Perhaps this visit will be more fun than expected if that is the first rule.�� Ninetales�� eyes shine.

    Zinnia��s voice then shifts, and it sounds as if she��s chewing on rocks. ��Go ma rok ja gan, taz tu ke ganzha. Yor skol, vaz belkan gan''hrus,�� she recites in a tongue that sounds as if a human mouth shouldn��t be able to speak it. ��Most everyone in the tribe speaks Galarian, but if they don��t, or if they��re being a jerk, hit ��em with that and they have to agree to a battle to save face. I��ll write it down later, along with a couple of other phrases for you guys to practice.��

    ��Your tribe��s first language isn��t Eng��Galarian?�� Lee corrects his slip-up at the last second. He goes to reach for his notebook, but when he reaches into the backpack leaning against the picnic table, the cardboard box of TMs gets in the way. Already, the foreign words he��s heard only once are a chore to recall, but he can feel Ninetales snatching up the info into her steel-trap of a mind for later.

    Zinnia shrugs and makes a ��so-so�� gesture with her hand. ��Spoken Draconid has a ton of loanwords at this point, so it really depends on how you look at it. Back to the topic at hand, though, don��t let anyone push you around, otherwise everyone will think they can push you around. A Draconid Tribesman can smack down a regular trainer without any issues, but you boys shouldn��t have too worry about much. Like I said, I��ll point out the exceptions when we come across them.��

    ��What��s the phrase you told us mean?�� Brendan asks, leaning forward in open interest.

    Zinnia thinks to herself for a moment. ��If you��re going literally, it means, By my right as a warrior, I challenge you to a duel. Raise your head, or be known as a coward!�� she recites with a dramatic flair of her cloak. ��Kinda lengthy and corny, but that��s how the Draconids have told each other to nut-up or shut-up for generations.��

    A guffaw escapes Brendan��s mouth, and Lee can��t help the amused smile that plants itself on his face.

    Nut-up or shut-up, bitch! Said a Dragon Tamer to another once upon a time. What a thought.

    ��Next up, if someone decides they have a problem with me, don��t step in. Just let me handle it,�� Zinnia continues, a frown finding its way to her face. ��I�� It��s the right of the Draconid Lorekeeper to pick their successor, but it really ruffled a lot of feathers that Aster picked me over anyone else, so it��s entirely possible that someone might decide that they have a problem with me,�� she admits, rubbing a fray in her cloak with her fingers. She looks at the fray with eyes that are suddenly wistful, then returns her attention to Lee and Brendan. ��Since the Lorekeeper is supposed to be the most resilient member of the tribe, it will look really bad if I have someone jump to my aid. No matter what gets said or what you want to do, let me handle it.��

    What? Lee furrows his brows. He shares a glance with Ninetales, then with a deeply frowning Brendan. He then sends a look to Shelgon, who stares back with narrow, serious eyes. ��I can understand the reasoning, but����

    ��Are you suuure?�� Brendan asks, dragging out his words as if Zinnia will reconsider.

    ��A hundred percent sure.�� Zinnia crosses her arms. ��I��m a big girl, Brendan. I��m not going to get upset if someone says something mean to me. If they really get out of line, I��ll trash them in a battle and they lose their right to complain.��

    Brendan looks none too happy, but doesn��t complain further.

    Once she receives no more protest, Zinnia clears her throat and continues on. ��Okay, next on the list are our laws.��

    Zinnia leads Brendan and Lee through a number of other rules and things worth knowing, like how the tribal land has its own sovereignty and that many of Hoenn��s laws don��t apply, how fully-evolved Dragons should be verbally referred to as a superior regardless if they are around to hear it or not, how the handful of tribe elders should be addressed, some Spoken Draconid phrases, and a smattering of other things, all delivered with such enthusiasm that Brendan begins to nod off.

    After Zinnia promises to give them a refresher before they leave in the morning, Brendan gets up and makes himself scarce, off to scrounge up a battle. Before Lee can rise and leave, however, Zinnia stops him.

    ��Hey, Lee?�� Zinnia begins, slowly grinning. ��How about a battle? Swablu needs just one more solid push to evolve, and I don��t think any of the local trainers are going to cut it,�� she says, throwing a look over her shoulder.

    Lee follows her gaze, taking in the sight of a young boy and his Makuhita, who are embroiled in a clumsy match against a teenager and his Zigzagoon. ��It��s not really fair to compare one of Zinnia��s pokemon to pokemon raised by casual trainers, but yeah, I get where she��s coming from.��

    ��Swablu, huh?�� Lee rubs his chin. ��I wanted to see if I could find a rookie to use as a first challenge for Shinx�� Buuuut it has been quite a while since Zinnia and I had a battle.�� He looks down at the box of TMs within his bag. ��It would also be a good excuse to get started with our new moves.��

    After a moment of thought, Lee slowly nods. ��Sure. I��m down.��

    Zinnia��s reply is a feral grin. She turns on her heel and calls to her pokemon. ��Swablu!��

    The little cotton-winged bird looks up from her lunch bowl, which she is just polishing off.

    ��Get ready for a battle! We��re evolving you today!��

    Swablu��s eyes light up, and she takes to the air, quickly finding her way to Zinnia��s shoulder with an excited trill.

    As Zinnia and Swablu go to secure a battleground, Lee looks over his pokemon, who are all either finishing their food or are already done.

    ��Humor me and get another few days of rest before you return to battling, okay Nine?�� Lee says aloud, stroking Ninetales behind her ear. ��For me?��

    The fox huffs, visibly displeased even as she leans into Lee��s touch. ��Very well����

    Lee looks over Corviknight, and the giant crow stares back without bothering to step forward, likely already knowing Lee��s decision. ��Yeah, Corvi is a really bad matchup for Swablu. That wouldn��t be a very fair match.��

    Grovyle pretends to not care as Lee��s eyes skip over him, but the downward turn of his lips is obvious to anyone who looks. ��Sorry, Grovyle. I really want you to recover a little more, and walking into a match with a type disadvantage like that is counterintuitive to that goal.��

    Shinx, who is sleepily basking in the sun after her meal, is also discounted. ��She might have a type advantage, but Swablu is simply too experienced. That just leaves����

    Octillery slithers forward on his tentacles, standing ready.

    ��Already figured it out, huh?�� The zoologist gives Octillery a smile. ��Swablu is going to be a pretty harsh fight, but if anyone can figure out a new move on the fly, it would be you, wouldn��t it, bud?��

    Octillery��s eyes widen as Lee reaches into his backpack and withdraws the Silph Co box.

    While all of Lee��s pokemon were excited by the news of new moves on the horizon, Octillery was by far the most fascinated. The very concept of TMs seemed to amaze him, and he��s been the most impatient of them all, waiting for the group to finally make it to Fallarbor.

    All at once, Octillery��s carefree self is replaced with a laser-focused machine, one locked on to the box of TMs. He breaks his staring contest with the cardboard to give Lee an irritated glare, as if asking what he��s waiting for.

    ��Geez, I can feel the daggers coming out of your eyes,�� Lee jokes, holding the box out and letting Ninetales hook a claw into the tape sealing the cardboard shut. Once the top pops open, he stares down at the neatly packaged disks within, each one devoid of its cringy outer box and secured in labeled plastic cases.

    ��Let��s see���� Lee leafs through the TMs with his fingers, stopping on a case of translucent purple. Picking it up, the label reads ��Psychic.�� ��Here we are! Okay, let��s get this show on the road,�� he says, taking Octillery��s pokeball from his belt and pointing it at the narrow-eyed octopus. ��Return!��

    In a flash, Octillery is sucked back into his ball.

    Opening the TM case, Lee slots the center hole of the disk on the pokeball button, gives the button a tap, and holds his hand clear as the disk spins up on a thin cushion of TE. After a few seconds, the disk whines, then cracks and crumbles away, turning to dust before it hits the ground. Some of the dust finds its way onto Ninetales�� head tuft, and the vixen shakes herself vigorously to be rid of the filth.

    A grin rising to his face, Lee brushes the TM dust off his shirt, opens the pokeball, and lets Octillery back out in the grass. When the light of the pokeball fades, the octopus�� eyes are as wide and disbelieving as can be. He looks down at his primary pair of tentacles, as if seeing them for the first time.

    ����?�� Octillery lets out a mystified breath and shakes his head.

    ��Do you feel any different?�� Ninetales questions aloud, her words coming out as a foxy croon. ��If you do not, envision Psychic as a limb you cannot see.��

    Octillery blinks, then focuses on the empty TM case lying on the picnic table. With a hesitant gurgle, he raises a tentacle.

    The case lifts up in a corona of violet and floats into his grasp without so much as a dip.

    Lee can feel his wallet suddenly hurt, as Octillery��s eyes take on a positively voracious light.

    <hr>

    ��Ready?�� Zinnia calls from the other side of the battleground.

    Around the battleground are a handful of spectators, no more than five excluding Brendan. The locals took a single look at Zinnia and backed off, unwilling to act as the referee which left Brendan with the duty.

    On Zinnia��s side of the field, Swablu is already hovering and lets out an eager trill.

    ��Ready!�� Lee calls back staring at Octillery��s back. In a quieter voice he says, ��Remember, bud. If you can��t manage to use telekinetic locomotion safely, then save it for some calmer training.��

    Octillery waves him off with a tentacle. ��Great. Didn��t listen to a word I said����

    Looking between Lee and Zinnia, Brendan grins and raises a hand. ��If both battlers are ready���� He chops his hand down. ��Begin!��

    ��Octazooka!�� Lee immediately starts on the offensive. ��Octillery��s ink is heavy and stains like a motherfucker. If we soak her wings with it, Swablu will be a sitting duck for a follow-up�� Or a sitting Farfetch''d? Sitting Ducklett? Agh!��

    ��Mist!�� Zinnia orders a split second later.

    Octillery sucks in a breath, puckers his lips, and then, with a sonic crack, fires a screaming bolt of ink at Swablu.

    The blue bird tweets in alarm and ducks out of the way with inches to spare. At the same time, she rapidly flaps her wings, which produce a thick, white mist. In no time at all, a dense cloud begins to overtake Zinnia��s side of the field.

    ��No, you don��t!�� Lee narrows his eyes, already knowing how effective this particular strategy is. ��Lock-On!��

    Octillery goes still, his eyes shining a bright blue. If one were to look close enough, they would see red rings in the blue glow that rapidly flit across Octillery��s field of vision.

    ��Take Down!�� Octillery��s sudden lack of movement isn��t lost on Zinnia, who grins and orders a rush down.

    Swablu bursts out of the mist with a snapping cloak of white energy enveloping her. Like a vengeful meteor, she shoots down towards Octillery, intent on hitting him with the force of a cannon shot.

    ��Please let this work!�� Lee says a prayer in hopes Octillery is as much a genius as he seems. ��Strafe right!��

    Octillery��s entire body suddenly shoots to the right, as if the ground beneath him has turned to slick ice, letting Swablu��s Take Down miss by a mile. At least, that��s how it would look to an outside observer.

    No one but Lee and Octillery know about the cushion of telekinesis that the octopus is sitting on, letting him maneuver with a magnitude of freedom his tentacles alone would never afford him.

    ��What the fuck?�� Zinnia��s grin falters, and Swablu aborts her failed Take Down to stare at Octillery in befuddlement.

    Octillery, meanwhile, drags a pair of tentacles along the packed dirt of the arena, slowing his rapid slide to a stop. The look he gives Swablu is almost diabolically smug.

    ��Definitely have some work we need to put into it.�� Lee looks at the skidmarks left behind by Octillery��s tentacles. ��Particularly the stopping part. But I��ll be damned if that wasn��t an amazing first attempt.�� He shakes his thoughts away and gets his head back in the battle. ��Octazooka!��

    Another bolt of supersonic ink blasts from Octillery��s maw, aimed squarely at the wide-eyed Swablu.

    ��Cotton Guard!�� Zinnia doesn��t bother ordering a dodge after Octillery��s Lock-On.

    Swablu crosses her wings in front of herself as they puff up to twice their size providing a downy layer of armor. When Octazooka smashes into her, drenching her wings as Lee planned, Swablu is thrown spinning through the air with a pained cry. She spreads her wings and struggles to right herself, but even flapping as hard as she can, it��s all she can do to maintain altitude with her sullied wings.

    ��Back into the Mist, then use Refresh!�� Zinnia is leaning forward now, her face hardening into focus.

    ��Refresh? That heals status conditions like poisoning, burns, and whatnot. Can it clear off contaminants like ink as well?��

    ��Charge Beam, don��t let her go!�� Lee pushes the offensive.

    ��Dragon Pulse, counter!��

    Octillery narrows his eyes and, with minimal flourish, throws his head forward, shooting a crackling stream of electricity as thick as a man��s arm at the retreating bird.

    Flying backwards as best she can with her ruined wings, Swablu opens her beak and, with a furious screech, expels a whirling beam of blue.

    Charge Beam and Dragon Pulse meet at the halfway point in the field, pushing against each other for only a moment before both destabilize and explode with a bone-rattling Bang! In the wake of the explosion is a rain of sparks and hissing wisps of Dragon TE, obscuring Swablu from sight. When the aftermath fades away, Swablu is nowhere to be seen.

    Lee��s eyes shoot to Octillery, and he��s pleased to see that the Water-type is already re-casting Lock-On.

    Octillery looks over his shoulder towards Lee, waiting for a signal.

    ��Zinnia has to realize that Octillery is Locked-On again, so she��s going to counter with another attack, likely Dragon Pulse, and probably try to close the distance. Ice Beam would beat Dragon Pulse in a stalemate, but is Octillery��s slowest beam attack, so with that in mind����

    ��Aurora Beam!�� Lee orders.

    ��Swablu, Dragon Pulse!��

    Octillery��s eyes track something in the dense mist that Lee cannot see and, fast as can be, the octopus spits a flashing beam of rainbow-colored light into the wall of white.

    A raging Dragon Pulse flies out to meet Octillery��s attack, but unlike with Charge Beam, Aurora Beam plows through the Dragon-type attack, dissipating it with some difficulty to lance through the mist.

    Cra-Boom!

    Aurora Beam hits home, and Swablu��s shrill shrieks draw winces from both Lee and Zinnia.

    The Mist rapidly clears without Swablu consciously holding it together. As it does, it reveals Zinnia��s little bird panting harshly, barely able to stay aloft. Refresh cleaned off Swablu��s wings but she now sports several spots of cracked, frostbitten skin from Aurora Beam.

    Swablu looks down at Octillery, who stares back up dismissively.

    A furious trill building in her throat, Swablu spreads her wings and shrieks in anger. Just as she does so, however, a bright light begins to envelop her.

    ��This is it!�� Lee smiles and pulls out his Pokedex to record everything.

    Swablu��s downy cloudlike wings grow, expanding across her body until she practically has a full-body covering; her egg-like body morphs, her neck lengthening into something long and graceful, and her tail feathers lengthening with new feathers forming a regal-looking fan.

    As the light fades, Swablu is no more, and in her place is a glowering Altaria. The newly evolved Altaria puffs up her chest and releases a nails-on-chalkboard screech.

    Lee cringes at the sound. Ugh! She��s not even using an attack, and the sound is deafening.

    ��Yes!�� Zinnia��s feral grin is back in full force. ��Altaria, baby, I knew you could do it! Let��s rock!��

    Altaria, fresh once more, trills in agreement. Unlike her prior form, the trill is practically musical in nature, as though the sky blue bird might break out into song at any moment. She turns her beady black eyes to Octillery, and within those eyes is an aggression that Swablu never had.

    ��Take Down!�� Zinnia orders, her manic grin growing ever wider.

    Where Swablu was fast, Altaria is fast. The bird-shaped Dragon closes the distance between herself and Octillery in a split second, and Octillery can do nothing before he��s struck and thrown end over end.

    ��Shit!�� Lee grimaces. ��Octillery, back on your feet! She��s swooping again!��

    Altaria��s cloud wings flare out, slowing her damn-near instantly and allowing her to turn towards Octillery, who is shaking the stars from his vision. With a borderline sadistic hiss, she shoots forward like a missile.

    Thwack!

    Octillery tries to strafe on his telekinetic cushion, but is slammed with another Take Down. This time, he grips the ground with his tentacles and remains upright as Altaria surges past. Octillery lets out a watery groan, his side already beginning to turn into a giant bruise.

    ��C��mon man, think!�� Lee frowns, watching Altaria take to the sky again. ��How do we���� He pauses, eyes drawn to the most vulnerable part of Altaria��s anatomy.

    Her long neck.

    In both his studies and in nature, Lee has seen what happens to long-necked avians who let something get at their most defining characteristic, and it��s never good.

    I feel a little bit scummy gunning for the obvious weakness, but I owe it to Octillery to try and win this.�� Lee grunts. He��s yet to net a substantial win with the red cephalopod, though not for a lack of trying. As Altaria again stops on a dime and turns to re-engage, Lee puts his plan in motion. ��Octillery! Wait until she gets close, then grapple her! Her neck is her weak point!��

    Octillery��s eyes narrow, and he holds his main tentacles ready.

    Zinnia, however, is having none of that. ��Altaria, pull back!�� the Dragon Tamer barks.

    Altaria doesn''t seem to hear Zinnia and keeps charging forward, eyes burning with the desire to harm. She slams into Octillery with another brutal Take Down, rocking the Water-type with a painful impact.

    Narrowing his eyes vindictively, Octillery doesn��t give Altaria any chance to escape and wraps two of his tentacles around her windpipe, squeezing as hard as he can.

    Altaria immediately gags and chokes, desperately flailing to free herself.

    ��Altaria! Listen to me, dammit!�� Zinnia bellows at max volume, frustration plain in her voice. ��Fury Attack! Free yourself!��

    Altaria continues to struggle, heedless of the words of her trainer.

    ��What in the world is with this sudden aggression?�� Lee wonders. ��Something with her evolution?�� Then it hits him. ��Oh shit. Altaria gained Dragon typing with her evolution. Did it mess something up in her head?��

    Off to the side of the arena, Ninetales subtly flinches.

    Altaria hisses as best she can and snaps her beak almost mindlessly at Octillery, who is visibly straining to keep her from overpowering him.

    ��Let��s not drag this out.�� Lee looks away for a moment. ��Ice Beam, point blank!��

    Octillery takes a deep breath, and then from his nozzle-like mouth comes a beam of pale blue cryo-energy that strikes Altaria directly in the face. Frost crawls over the body of the bird-dragon, who screams and thrashes harder in Octillery��s grip. Since she��s both Flying and Dragon-type, and both types are weak to Ice, Ice Beam is hitting her four times harder than usual.

    The newly-evolved Dragon wavers in Octillery��s hold, shivering like a leaf in a windstorm from the brutal cold. Finally, she goes limp and Octillery cuts off Ice Beam, dropping the frostbitten and unconscious Altaria to the ground.

    Brendan, still playing the part of the referee, raises a hand and makes the call after a long five seconds. ��Altaria is unable to battle! Lee and Octillery are the winners!��

    Zinnia sighs and raises her pokeball. ��Looks like this is my loss�� Altaria, return,�� she mutters recalling her nearly-frozen pokemon in a flash of light.

    ��Excellent work, Octillery,�� Lee praises his pokemon, rubbing a hand on an unbruised bit of Octillery��s head. ��Damn fine job with your telekinesis. You��ve only had it for twenty minutes and it��s already combat-viable. We��ll work on fine-tuning it later.��

    Octillery nods tiredly, raising a tentacle to lay over Lee��s hand.

    ��Get some rest, bud.�� Lee smiles, raising Octillery��s ball and getting a grateful look in return. ��Return.��

    Like Altaria, Octillery vanishes in a flash. His pokemon secured, Lee walks over to Zinnia, who is staring down at Altaria��s ball with a frown. As he walks, Ninetales retakes her usual place at his side.

    ��Great battle, guys!�� Brendan interjects, skidding to a stop before Lee and Zinnia. The boy conspicuously looks at Altaria��s ball, but doesn��t comment on the blatant disobedience he saw.

    ��I��m going to guess suddenly becoming a Dragon�� did something to Altaria?�� Lee gently asks, slipping his hands into his pockets.

    Zinnia nods and shrinks the pokeball into its travel form, clipping it to her belt. ��Yeah. I knew that she was going to be really testy after evolving but I didn��t expect her Dragon aspect to be that strong.�� Zinnia��s smile returns. ��Sucks that we lost, but evolving and immediately getting knocked off her high-Horsea probably did Altaria a lot of good in the long run, so thanks for not throwing the match or something because you wanted to spare her feelings,�� Zinnia smirks. ��Knowing you, you probably considered it, didn��t you?��

    ��I didn��t, actually,�� Lee admits, getting a surprised look from the tanned woman beside him. ��I thought surrendering or sandbagging would upset you, and I hadn��t had a solid win with Octillery yet, so I pulled out all the stops.��

    ��Well, I hope one of you is up for another battle!�� Brendan interjects with a wide grin. ��Breloom and I managed to get a battle in before you guys started, but it was against a rookie that we had to take it easy on. After watching Octillery and Altaria duke it out, we��re all raring for a good one!��

    Marshtomp��s ball suddenly snaps open on Brendan��s belt, materializing the mudfish next to his trainer. As if to punctuate Brendan��s statement, Marshtomp lets out a rumbling croak and punches a fist in the air.

    ��This is what I signed up for when I agreed to travel with battle junkies, I guess.�� Lee rolls his eyes and shares a glance with a rather amused Ninetales. ��Sure, sure. Do you want to pick your poison, or should it be a surprise?��

    Brendan and Marshtomp��s identical smiles only grow when Corviknight��s ball rumbles, then pops open of its own accord.

    They would all later be chased out of the park by a groundskeeper, furious about one of the battlegrounds being rendered unusable.

 Act 2: Chapter 22

    Of all the reminders that Lee now calls an alien world home, the most eerie is certainly the lack of crickets in the early morning.

    Zinnia, in her excitement to return to her tribe, woke everyone up not-so-bright, but definitely early, as the sun was only just now beginning its journey over the horizon. Lee was the first to get packed up, leaving him ample time to watch the sunrise, nurse a steaming paper cup of coffee, and muse about how strange a food chain without insects is.

    Indeed, pokemon outclass animals so thoroughly when it comes to survival that not even insects can compete. Mosquitoes, crickets, bees, cicadas, and every other noisy invertebrate that existed as background noise on Earth are wholly supplanted by their pokemon counterparts here, leaving the morning peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, it nearly feels unnatural.

    ''I''ll have to dig into the subject of botany, sometime,'' Lee thinks to himself while taking a sip of his coffee. ''With no insects actively pollinating plants, the plants themselves have to have become more aggressive when it comes to reproduction. Even with bug and grass-types assisting in pollination, there must still be some slack that the plants themselves are picking up.'' As he thinks that, he looks to his side.

    Joining him in watching the sun outside the hotel is Grovyle, who needed even less time to prepare than Lee. All Grovyle had to do was apply a softening ointment to the slowly healing burn scars around his body, eat his breakfast, and then he was ready.

    ''What is everyone else up to?'' the zoologist wonders. He can vaguely hear what''s going on around Ninetales in the hotel room and feel a faint annoyance that is not his own. It certainly sounds like Brendan and Zinnia are still tidying up. ''They sure are taking their sweet time, especially when Zinnia''s the one who wanted us to wake up so early.''

    Concentrating, Lee taps deeper into Ninetales'' senses, letting his own become muted.

    Through Ninetales'' eyes, he sees the disgruntled vixen with the scruff of Shinx''s neck held in her teeth. Together, the fox and pouting kitten wait outside the bathroom for Brendan to finish his shower.

    ''What happened?'' Lee asks.

    ''Shinx, Goomy, and Electrike decided it was a grand idea to play beneath the beds despite being told that it''s filthy down there.'' Lee is sure that if Ninetales'' mouth was free, she would click her tongue�� Or at least try. Making such a sound is tricky with a muzzle.

    Nine then turns her head, letting Lee see a frowning Mawile tongue-bathing Electrike, who shivers with each lick from Mawile''s croc-like mouth. Behind them, Zinnia is wiping down a sheepish Goomy with some wet wipes on a bed. In the background of it all Lee spies Marshtomp and Octillery washing out the breakfast dishes in the kitchenette sink. Naturally, Octillery is flexing his new telekinesis for the job, picking up dishes and drying them off with a rag without so much as raising his tentacles. The ease with which the cephalopod has taken to the skill draws an envious pang from Ninetales.

    ''I''m going to bathe Shinx, pack our dishes, and perform a headcount, then we should all be ready. I''ll return our room keys to the innkeeper and bring your bag out shortly,'' Ninetales concludes.

    ''Do you want any help?''

    A warm wave of gratitude flows from the fox into Lee''s psyche, but she refuses. ''I can manage, Beloved, but thank you. Enjoy the morning away from the helm for once.''

    Lee is sure he''s physically smiling. ''You''re the best.''

    ''Don''t you forget it!''

    Returning to reality, Lee is just in time to see Grovyle giving him a strange look. ''Oh, whoops,'' Lee thinks to himself, somewhat embarrassed. ''I was standing there staring at him while talking to Ninetales. That probably looked a little creepy.''

    Tilting his head just a bit, Grovyle lets out a short, inquiring warble in his throat. "Something you need?" the sound seems to say.

    "Sorry about that. I was talking with Ninetales," Lee says in reply.

    Nodding easily, Grovyle turns back to the sun, watching it rise with crossed arms.

    Arms covered in a smattering of burn scars.

    Unbidden, Lee reaches up and touches his own burns, feeling the stretched, dry skin. Grovyle is dealing with the same taut skin�� But scattered across much of his body.

    "How are you doing, Grovyle?" Lee asks, sending a gentle look to the mobility-impairing scars on Grovyle''s limbs. "Less stiff now? I talked to Fallarbor''s Nurse Joy after we left the Pok��mon Center last night. After pulling up the records from Lavaridge, she said she''s surprised with how far you''ve already come in your recovery."

    Try as he might to remain stoic, Grovyle''s yellow eyes take on a disgruntled light. The expression is so subtle that anyone else would have missed it. Grovyle doesn''t give a verbal reply, but the rigid jaw clamping down on his signature chewing twig says more than words could.

    He''s frustrated.

    ''With Nine''s evolution, Corvi''s return and evolution, his injuries, and now Octillery learning a new move in one go, Grovyle is probably feeling left behind,'' Lee realizes with a hidden frown. ''Or maybe even useless��''

    "Grovyle, I can already see what you''re thinking, so stop those thoughts about your worth compared to everyone else immediately," Lee orders, reaching out and giving Grovyle''s shoulder a short squeeze.

    The Grass-type''s eyes shoot to Lee''s, and Grovyle can''t entirely hide his surprise.

    "I''ve seen that look on my own face in the mirror more than once. Are you really so surprised?" Lee looks up at the sun, creeping its way over the trees. "I meant what I said when I swore I would help you get to the very top. Don''t sweat things when this journey is nowhere near over."

    Grovyle slowly turns away and looks back down at the ground, crossing his arms in thought. His twig bounces in his lips, giving away the conflict still playing out within his skull.

    ''Platitudes aren''t going to do anything.'' Lee blows a breath out of the side of his mouth and takes another sip of his coffee. Withdrawing his hand from Grovyle''s shoulder, Lee slips it into his pocket and drums his fingers on his leg, considering what to say next. While fishing for an idea, Lee looks back down at Grovyle, his eyes gravitating to the leaves on the pokemon''s wrist.

    It''s quite amazing how Grovyle''s combat style has evolved towards using his leaves for blade attacks. Mastering Night Slash has been a long road for Grovyle, and X-Scissor is as devastating as ever, but both pale in comparison to Leaf Blade. At this point, Leaf Blade is as instinctual as breathing to Grovyle. Even without any focus on maintaining the move, Leaf Blade is razor-sharp and always bites deep into any foe unlucky enough to face him. Even against Fire-types and other Grass-types, Leaf Blade will leave unforgiving cuts that bleed profusely. Anything that would help Leaf Blade be more effective is sure to raise Grovyle to even greater heights.

    Lee''s mind suddenly goes back to the night prior, as he was getting ready for bed. Ninetales borrowed his phone to enjoy an e-book before lights out, and she was naturally reading about her favorite subject: history. The fact that she was reading isn''t important, but the particulars of what she was reading is.

    She was engrossed in feudal military accounts, back when samurai still served in Kanto and Johto. The fox pokemon''s reading cited a number of actual manuscripts that the samurai used, one of which was on swordsmanship. According to the manuscript, a properly trained samurai could hold their own against hostile pokemon with nothing but their sword and martial skill in the event that their own pokemon were defeated.

    ''If humans armed with steel swords can do that��'' Lee suddenly sees Grovyle''s leaves in a new light. Gifted in the art of battle he may be, but Grovyle has nothing in the way of formal technique. ''Then what is stopping Grovyle from learning those skills and taking them to the next level?''

    With a new path suddenly open before him and his second pokemon, Lee smiles and gives Grovyle a nudge. "Say, I think I have a new avenue of training that you might enjoy. It''s technical stuff��light enough for you to do while the last of your injuries heal up, but groundbreaking enough that you might use it for the rest of your life."

    Grovyle''s head turns so fast that a human would''ve gotten whiplash. Yellow eyes bore into Lee, unable to hide how eager they are.

    "I was doing a bit of talking with Ninetales last night, and she was telling me about the warriors in the olden days of Kanto��the samurai and their skills as swordsmen," Lee continues. "If the manuscript she was reading is correct, then regular humans could hold off pokemon who were trying to tear them up with swords and technique alone. What if we learned those same techniques and applied them to you?" Lee smiles, then looks at Grovyle''s wrist leaves. "How good are you at changing the shape of your Leaf Blade?"

    Rather than verbally reply, the Grass pokemon holds a hand out, one of the leaves hardening into his standard reverse scythe blade. The blade flattens out into a thick, imposing cleaver that runs down his whole arm. A moment later, the cleaver transforms into a long, rail-like blade with a gentle curve.

    "Right there! That''s what we''re looking for!" Lee smiles. "Can you invert the curve and bend it forward, so you can hold it and manipulate it with your hand?"

    Grovyle tilts his head and looks at the thin Leaf Blade. With a sound like warping sheet metal, the curve inverts, and the base of the blade bends forward, running along Grovyle''s forearm and extending past his claws. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, Grovyle rolls the edges of the razor-sharp blade nearest to his claws into a rudimentary handle, then bends it one last time, making the ''handle'' slap into his waiting palm. It leaves him holding a green glowing ''katana'' of roughly four feet.

    Lifting his newly styled Leaf Blade, Grovyle gives it a few test swings, and the thin weapon slices through the air with a quiet hum. Like the combat savant he is, his eyes widen as he realizes how much easier it is to manipulate his weapon when he''s gripping it in his hand. All it takes is experiencing it firsthand.

    "Combine some tried-and-true techniques with your new sword, and throw in the absorbing attack we''re still working on, and you should be able to slice competitor after competitor to ribbons and still be fresh as when you first stepped into the ring," Lee says, watching Grovyle slowly rotate his wrist, pulling Leaf Blade along. "Does that sound like something you would be interested in?"

    The look Grovyle gives his trainer is almost offended.

    With a chuckle, Lee turns back to the sunrise. "I''ll get copies of those manuscripts, and we can get started on the basics tonight."

    For the first time in weeks, Grovyle smiles.

    <hr>

    Once the rest of the crew have finished packing up, they join Lee outside. Ninetales, carrying Lee''s pokeballs and bag in her telekinetic grip, pads over to Lee upon arriving, letting him don the bag and return Grovyle, holstering the pokeballs on his belt. Once all is said and done, Zinnia takes point and they begin the trek to the west towards the Draconid village through the valley.

    As they walk, they begin to leave the range of the psychics guarding Fallarbor from the effects of the falling volcanic ash. Halfway into their trip and after a turn leading them southwest along the mountain range, the landscape around them has transformed into a dry, rocky, and, above all else, sooty environment, much to the dismay of Ninetales, whose coat attracts filth like a magnet. The trees are small and gray, with harsh shrubs and other short foliage making up most of the plant life. They pass few wild pokemon during the trek, and the ones they do pass are those of notable hardiness, such as Sandshrew, Skarmory, and a trio of Koffing, to name a few. It''s only a short time later that they come upon a fork in the road without a sign, and Zinnia leads them along the right-hand path, making a sharp turn towards the northwest and through a dirt path much less trodden than the one they were on.

    Upon the third hour of walking, Zinnia speaks up during a lull in the idle chatter of the group. "Not much longer now��" she murmurs. "The edge of the Draconid sovereign land is coming up, so remember what I told you guys: most of Hoenn''s laws don''t apply, don''t let people walk all over you, and just play it cool around fully-grown Dragons. We might run into a sentry, and if we do, let me do the talking."

    "How does the law thing work?" Brendan asks, sending a distrustful look toward the snaking path ahead. "Like, how did your tribe get exempt from the law? I''ve never heard of such a thing, and you''d figure that something as unusual as a whole village with self-sovereignty would be common knowledge."

    Lee, already seeing the parallels from Earth, has a few guesses as to why.

    ''Seems eerily like a Native American reservation,'' Ninetales observes, mirroring his thoughts. ''And considering the phobia of death that the Pok��mon League has...''

    Zinnia shoots Brendan a sardonic smirk. "The Draconids and the growing central government of foreign settlers got into it hundreds of years ago."

    ''Called it,'' both Lee and Nine think at once.

    "The fighting got pretty nasty near the end, but ended in a cease-fire before someone got the upper hand," Zinnia continues. "The Draconids got perpetual ownership of their ancestral land, monuments, and strongholds, no questions asked, and the rest of Hoenn got to expand into previously uninhabited areas." She fingers a pokeball on her hip, and the ball wiggles in reply. "I''m not surprised you''ve never heard about it. The League probably doesn''t want to dredge up unpleasant history, and the Draconids don''t believe in taking credit for the victories of others��even those of our own ancestors."

    ''A cease-fire? That''s a better ending than I could''ve hoped for,'' Lee thinks and nods. "Interesting stuff. Do the Draconids keep historical accounts written in Galarian? I''d love to take a look, if they are."

    Zinnia sends him a smile as if she was expecting the question. "There''s a handful of translated books that the elders keep. I''ll ask for you."

    The winding path eventually straightens out, leading up to a hill and under a wooden arch with a signpost upon the top. In scratchy lettering, the sign reads "Freksaran."

    Hanging on the underside of the sign like an insect is a Vibrava, who eyeballs the group warily as they approach. Just a few feet away from Vibrava and leaning against one of the sign supports with his arms crossed is a man roughly Lee''s size, with tanned skin and dark hair similar to Zinnia.

    As they approach, the unknown man gives them a warning look and stands straight. His sharp red eyes lock onto Zinnia. "Thelban, tu yul terug? Frax se tu yul ke tuk?" he says, each word rough and accusing. Above him, the Vibrava flutters its wings.

    "Ah, tu yul, vaz suf belon," Zinnia replies in kind, taking a challenging step forward. Behind her back, she gestures for Lee, Ninetales, and Brendan to stay still. "It''s rude to speak such around non-speakers, you know this."

    The Draconid tribesman doesn''t seem impressed by Zinnia''s words. "Pazen, vaz fo raen jir tu ma se? Ja Thelban, tu yul vrih ke inke, vaz tu nara jir fo tu yul frax ke parsa." He aims a hard gaze at Lee and Brendan. "Frax lat ke se yul shud, vo''ganhrus, zuk ma sifrih vaz bel ja tu yul giv fon ma geld."

    Zinnia actually growls. The noise sounds like a human throat should be unable to create it. "They are neither dishonest nor weak," she grinds out. "I wouldn''t have brought them here if they were. Perhaps you would like to test one of them yourself?"

    Ninetales takes that as her cue to step forward, baring her teeth in a bowel-loosening snarl with her tails whipping behind her.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    The sentry''s face hardens and for a moment Lee fears that a battle is the only way they''ll be able to pass. After a long second, the tribesman sighs, easing his stance and raising a hand to his Vibrava who also calms down. "Very well. Enter, if you must," he says gruffly. "Mind yourselves, outsiders. Visitors have been too common a sight recently, and each more a nuisance than the last. Take care not to follow a similar path."

    "Visitors have been a common sight?" Zinnia questions, her eyes narrowing. "Who''s been snooping around?"

    The sentry clicks his tongue. "Who hasn''t is a better question. We expelled a tall woman with dark hair a week ago who claimed she merely wished to rest here. She began to put her nose where it did not belong, asking questions she has no right knowing the answers to. Questions that she should not even have the idea to ask."

    ''A tall woman with dark hair?'' Lee frowns, his mind going to the female admin of Team Aqua. ''What are they looking around here for? Can Archie not use Mega Evolution yet?''

    Zinnia''s eyes narrow further. "I see. We''ll keep that in mind," she says, offering the guard a shallow incline of her head. "Belin guz yara."

    The Draconid man nods. "Belin guz yara, Thelban."

    With that, Zinnia beckons Lee, Ninetales, and Brendan along, and all four pass beneath the gate.

    "Can we expect confrontations like that to be common?" Lee asks once they are a distance away from the gate. "Battling is fun and all, but��"

    With a tired sigh, Zinnia shakes her head. "No. The sentries are specifically told to be hardasses. Not everybody is going to be like him. In fact, we shouldn''t be bothered for a while. I''m going to need to do some sweet talking to convince the elders to let you guys into the Meteor Falls stronghold. My grandmother is one of the elders and should be the easiest to convince, so we will start with her. After that, I''ll show you guys to my place so we can relax a bit. We might be here for a few days."

    Brendan audibly hums. "Is there any special reason we need to go to the stronghold? If it''s going to be a pain to get in, why don''t we train here?"

    The Dragon Tamer opens her mouth to answer, then stops, apparently reconsidering her words. "The village is secure, but the stronghold is extremely secure. I don''t want anything we say to be heard by anyone who doesn''t need to. Plus, there are some��" she hesitates, "��other reasons why we should train there. I''ll talk about it more when we actually get there."

    The young Birch frowns at the non-answer, but doesn''t pester Zinnia further.

    As they descend the hill, Lee looks down at the village nestled below, taking everything in with a critical eye.

    "Village" is a generous term, as the hamlet can''t possibly be home to more than a few hundred people. The humble buildings and houses, though relatively modern, bear signs of age and hand-worked upkeep. Around the edges of the village, there are a number of houses where the sparse electrical lines don''t reach, and around those houses are what look like unpainted gazebos of impressive size. Only after squinting at one with a Flygon occupant beneath does Lee realize the gazebos are, in fact, covered Dragon nests.

    The village has four main streets, which intersect in the middle at a large plaza. Up and down the streets and around the plaza are various businesses, though more rustic than anywhere else in Hoenn to his knowledge. The most prominent and easily recognizable thing on display is a great stone monument in the central square of the village. Even so far away, Lee can make out most of the individual Dragon pokemon of the monument, who are all nesting in a circle around a massive stone Salamence, whose head is raised high and defiant. The monument must be at least three stories tall, as it stands taller than any building. The symbolism isn''t lost on Lee.

    "Here we go��" Lee whispers as they make their way into the village proper. Lee keeps his eyes forward and his face schooled so as to not look nosy, but Ninetales has no such reservations and looks around for him, wordlessly offering her sense of sight.

    It only takes a minute to confirm that Zinnia''s tanned skin, dark hair, and to a lesser extent, her red eyes must be genetic, for nearly all the people they pass on the road share the same traits. Exceptions pop up here and there, mostly with eye color, as a number of curious Draconids have non-red eyes, and there is even a teen girl with the Draconid tan, but possessing vibrant red hair and yellow eyes. The only person that doesn''t match is a blonde, fair-skinned man holding hands with a Draconid tribeswoman.

    ''Probably married into the tribe,'' Lee muses.

    The sheer abundance of young Dragon-pokemon is also mind-boggling. It seems as if for every person, there is a Dragon with them. Dratini wrapped around a man''s shoulders like a scarf, a Bagon having his steel-like head polished with a rag by an elderly man, a Druddigon walking by holding the handles of a wicker bassinet gingerly in his teeth, with the sleeping infant within undisturbed. Countless rare pokemon the average trainer may go their entire life without seeing in person are out and about.

    Zinnia leads them all past everything towards the northern border of the village and to a humble two-story home. Nothing about the residence strikes Lee as out of the ordinary.

    "Granny''s place. Looks the exact same as it did three years ago," Zinnia muses aloud. Stepping forward, she gives the door of the home three firm knocks, then takes a step back.

    After a moment of waiting, the lock shifts, the doorknob twists, and the door is pulled open, revealing a diminutive elderly woman who can''t be any taller than Brendan. Her gray hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, and her dark skin is weather-beaten, but her eyes shine a red surpassing even Zinnia''s, rivaling the likes of Ninetales. Said eyes take on a fond light when they rest upon Zinnia.

    "Ah! Tu welkan, my dear!" the elderly woman exclaims, stepping out to embrace Zinnia, who returns the hug with a wide smile. "You return. The years number three, nearly four, and such change they have brought upon you. Timid girl no longer, I see before me a proud woman."

    ''Timid?'' Lee tries to imagine Zinnia acting in such a way, but the image simply won''t come to him.

    "Thank you, Granny. It''s good to be back home." Zinnia''s smile only widens as she and her grandmother release their embrace. "I wish I could say this was only a social visit, but my friends and I actually came here with some business in mind."

    Zinnia''s grandmother turns her eyes to Ninetales first, then to Lee, before finally finishing with Brendan. Where her eyes were warm before, now they are deadly sharp. "How curious. To catch the eye of the Draconid Lorekeeper is an action that brings either ruination or glory. Which will befall you lot, I wonder?"

    The way she says that makes a shiver run down Lee''s spine.

    She then stepped back inside her house, beckoning everyone to follow with a hand. "We shan''t waggle tongues upon the stoop. Come! Come inside and be welcome."

    Zinnia follows without a second thought.

    Brendan and Lee share a look, then step inside, following after Zinnia and her grandmother.

    The inside of the home is just as humble as the outside, and quite a bit warmer than the moderate weather out in the village. The door leads directly into the living room, which has its walls decorated with handwoven tapestries and paintings upon stretched skin canvases. In the corner of the room sits a dusty television that looks like it came straight from the 80s, VCR, rabbit ear antennas and all. The furniture��a pair of couches and a lounger of dated appearance��all bear hand-stitched rips.

    "Please, rest and relax, o'' guests," Zinnia''s grandmother insists. "I shall return shortly."

    As the woman shuffles away into the nearby kitchen, Lee and Co. all sit-down and make themselves comfortable, with Brendan opting to take Lee''s side on one couch while Zinnia sits alone on the other.

    When a great snore suddenly shatters the peace, Lee''s head shoots to the side.

    ''Oh�� I can see why it''s so warm in here��''

    Curled up on a rug by the fireplace, over on the opposite side of the room, a fully grown Dragonite sleeps. The great beast''s orange scales are marred by crisscrossing scars that sag with age. While not marked up as horrifically as Moore''s Ty, the Dragonite certainly bears its own long-standing epic upon his body.

    ''Maybe he''s less fucked up because he won more often..?''

    "Don''t mind him." Zinnia seems rather nonchalant about the Dragon only a dozen feet away. "Granny''s Dragonite sleeps like the dead. The house would have to come down on top of him for him to wake up."

    "If you say so��" Brendan says unsurely, and Lee is glad he''s not the only one concerned with the pseudo-legend''s presence.

    The sound of glassware moving in the kitchen breaks up the silence, and, a few moments later, Zinnia''s grandmother reemerges with a tray, upon which are four steaming cups of tea. Setting the tray down on a low coffee table, she sits by her granddaughter and offers everyone a smile.

    "There, now we may proceed to the pleasantries." She smiles and takes one of the cups, prompting everyone else to also take one.

    Lee takes a probing sip of his cup and struggles not to make a face. Whatever is in his cup is strong.

    The old woman takes a deep sip of her own without so much as a twitch. Smiling, she sets it back down and begins speaking. "My greetings to you boys. I am Juniper, an elder of the Draconid tribe. Who might you be, to have followed our Lorekeeper to her home?"

    Brendan, boisterous as ever, takes the lead with a wide grin. "I''m Brendan Birch, ma''am. It''s nice to meet you!"

    Juniper''s eyes flash in recognition. "Birch, you say? Are you the son of Nigel Birch?" At Brendan''s confirming nod, the elder continues. "Ahh. The prowess of Nigel Birch is known far and wide, including here in our lonely corner of Hoenn. Do you pursue the title of Champion?"

    "Yes, ma''am," the boy replies and nods. "I''m halfway there with four badges, and I intend to get the other four and go all the way to the Ever Grande Conference."

    "Four badges?" Juniper raises an eyebrow. "Are you on your first journey?"

    "Yes, ma''am."

    Now the elderly woman seems genuinely impressed. "In a story repeated time and time again, it seems as if the son will surpass the father. How interesting!" she says, clapping her hands together once. "Perhaps I will have to have my old television repaired if a fine young man like yourself will be in the Conference."

    Brendan blushes and looks away, taking a sip of his tea.

    Juniper then turns her attention to Lee, looking at his scars, then to his eyes, then to Ninetales before settling back on his face. "And you, young man, who might you be?"

    "Lee Henson, ma''am." Lee inclines his head. "I''m a Lab Trainer under Professor Birch."

    The elderly woman takes much longer to consider Lee than she does Brendan. "Do you compete within the gym circuit as well?"

    "I do," Lee confirms with a nod.

    "And the badges you''ve acquired?"

    "Four. All the same as Brendan."

    "Yet." Juniper gives him a piercing look. "The title is not why you compete, is it?"

    Lee, having halfway expected some sort of clairvoyant nonsense, smiles awkwardly. "Not really. I��" He stops, remembering what he vowed to himself in the Lavaridge Pokemon Center. "I want to live a peaceful life with my pokemon��" as he speaks, he reaches a hand down, rubbing his thumb on the heart-shaped patch behind Ninetales'' ear. The Kitsune smiles and leans into the touch, "��and the best way to do so is to be so strong that no one can ever challenge us," he says, voice resolute. "The gym circuit and the championship is the grindstone we need to make it happen."

    Beside him, Brendan looks at Lee with a measure of shock. Zinnia seems to have been caught flat-footed by the declaration as well.

    Juniper, however, nods slowly. "I see��" she murmurs. "It has been many years since I''ve seen such a look in the eyes of a trainer," she says severely. Rather than elaborate, she then turns to Zinnia. "My dear, what is the business that you mentioned earlier? What do you require of me?"

    Zinnia schools her face and takes a deep breath before settling her hands in her lap. "Granny, I want to take Lee and Brendan to Meteor Falls."

    The old woman raises an eyebrow. "Then do so. One hardly requires permission from me to traverse the luminescent caves. Why, the beauty is something all should behold at least once in their lifetime, for �C"

    "Granny, don''t play coy!" Zinnia scowls. "I mean The Crater."

    There''s a sudden shift in the atmosphere. Where things were warm and homey a moment ago, suddenly it''s as if the air is thick with prickling needles of ice.

    Juniper''s eyes narrow. "Lorekeeper, you know as well as I do that such a thing is out of the question."

    "I wouldn''t ask if I didn''t think it was necessary." Zinnia crosses her arms. "I know I''m asking for a lot, but I need you to work with me here, Granny. Please?" she asks, her tone softening into something uncharacteristically gentle. "I genuinely believe that I need help, and Lee and Brendan are the best for the job."

    Zinnia''s words ward away the cold atmosphere. Somewhat. From the corner of his eye, Lee can see Brendan''s face growing firm, even if he doesn''t know what he''s required for yet.

    The elder falters slightly, but shakes her head. "I cannot allow it."

    Now a scowl finds its way to Zinnia''s face. "I can''t do it alone. The Crater is the best place to get them informed and for us to train. Elder Juniper, I need this."

    Juniper shakes her head. "What you ask cannot be done."

    "Can''t, or won''t?" Zinnia counters instantly. "You are the eldest and most esteemed of the elders, and you''re telling me that you can''t sway the others? You know what''s coming, and what is at stake! I''m not asking anymore, I am telling you as the Lorekeeper what I require to do my job!"

    "Thelban��" Juniper suddenly switches to Spoken Draconid. Her wrinkled face is twisted in conflict. "Konsidar fo tu yirn von ma. Sifrih mest archa vaz sakred liven inwin do inrik rokam von Metron''fall krate. Frendi vaz nai, frax bel fobid!" she exclaims, standing with her fists clenched, throwing her teacup off of her lap to spill on the floor. "Foolish girl! Such things are guarded to protect our people!"

    Zinnia''s entire face twists into a snarl. "A lot of fucking good that did for Aster!"

    If the air was frigid before, it dropped to absolute zero at the uttering of those words.

    Juniper stumbles, stricken. All at once, every single year she''s lived seems to physically weigh down upon her, and she falls back to the couch heavily.

    "The secret is already out, Elder Juniper��" Zinnia''s anger drains away, leaving her visibly exhausted. Her shoulders slump, and her tattered cloak suddenly seems too large for her. "We fought someone several weeks ago, someone who could use Mega Evolution, and he was using it for all the wrong reasons. There''s no point in trying to stubbornly pretend that it''s sacred or exclusive anymore."

    The elder says nothing, merely staring down at her hands. Then, she draws in a shuddering breath. "I see�� I see��" she sighs. For several minutes, all is silent as she thinks. Just as the lull stretches into its fifth minute, Juniper speaks. "Very well, you will have my support. I will convene the council of elders and we will speak."

    Zinnia inclines her head. "Thank you, grandma."

    "Go." Juniper points towards the door, her voice weak. "Go, now. I am weary, and you all disturb me. I wish to rest."

    As one, Zinnia, Lee, and Brendan all rise, filing out the door and leaving.

    "C''mon, guys," Zinnia mumbles. "My place is just a few doors down."

    <hr>

    "I''m sure you can have the guest room, Brendan," Lee insists, leaning against said bedroom''s door sill and watching Brendan unpack his necessities. "I''ll be fine on the couch."

    Brendan levels Lee with a raised eyebrow, but doesn''t protest further.

    Zinnia''s home is a small, rustic, one-story affair perfectly suited to a single person, but with three people and their pokemon, it''s a bit cramped. With two bedrooms, one small bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room, it has all the very basics required for the house. Unfortunately, that means that someone is going to be sleeping on the couch until they can go to The Crater, which should be the tribal stronghold only accessible by flight that Zinnia mentioned.

    ''Didn''t take Zinnia to be the homeowner type,'' Lee thinks, pushing off of the door sill and walking over to the other bedroom. The door is open, so he peers inside, finding Zinnia lying face down on her bed, unmoving.

    Lee gives the spartan room a once over. Other than a framed picture of a young, grinning Zinnia standing next to a gently smiling Draconid woman on the nightstand, the room has little in the way of personal effects.

    ''Is that woman Aster?'' the zoologist wonders, noting how the woman is wearing the brown, scale-collared cloak that Zinnia is rarely seen without. He puts the thought out of his mind for now, and instead clears his throat to announce himself. "You okay?"

    Zinnia groans into the bed covers. "I''m fine, just exhausted��" With herculean effort, she grunts and pushes herself over onto her back so she can stare at Lee. "I knew that Granny was going to fight at first, but I had no idea she was going to take that much convincing��"

    "You know what they say about plans and first contact and all that." Lee shrugs. "Do you want to talk about it?"

    His question earns him a smile. "You already know all about Mega Evolution, don''t you?"

    Lee considers his answer, then nods. "I know the basics, like how you need a keystone, mega-stone, and a bond between the trainer and pok��mon to make it all work."

    Zinnia sits up and crosses her legs. "That''s the gist of it, but did you know that the stones are just training wheels? That Mega Evolution is possible without them?"

    That throws Lee for a loop. "N-No. I had no idea." He shakes his head. "I thought that the stones were a hard requirement."

    "They aren''t, and Aster figured that out too." Zinnia looks up at the ceiling, her face set into a wistful smile. "Like I told you before, she was the Lorekeeper before me, and she was the best one in generations. She was a Dragon Tamer of unmatched skill. It was like she was a Dragon herself, able to just understand pokemon on a level no one has ever seen before, kind of like you, Dolittle. It was a wonder just watching her talk to a pokemon. If anyone was worthy of Mega Evolution, it was her and her Salamence. The only time I''ve ever seen a pokemon and trainer that close was with you and Ninetales."

    ''Truly?''

    Lee looks down to his side, where Ninetales now stands. So engrossed in Zinnia''s words was he that he barely noticed the fox approaching.

    Ninetales must have projected her mental voice outward and touched Zinnia, because the Lorekeeper levels Ninetales with a grin. "You better believe it, sister. They were thick as thieves, and could practically read each other''s minds without any fancy telepathy. They were so in sync that, when Aster and Salamence battled together, Aster barely needed to say a word." Zinnia''s grin begins to fall. "But despite being the best damn Lorekeeper in hundreds of years, the elders still denied her access to the stones needed for Mega Evolution."

    ''That seems rather foolish��'' Ninetales says, blunt as can be. ''For what purpose?''

    "Sycamore��" Zinnia hisses distastefully. "He''s the regional professor over in Kalos. I think he knew the best way to get the right answer was to give a blatantly wrong one and wait for a correction. If what I heard is correct from some contacts of mine, then Mega Evolution''s origin is a subject the really hush-hush upper parts of the regional Leagues like to debate about. Then Sycamore began to get nosy about it over in his home of Kalos, and when no one wanted to share, he made his own theory and touted it as fact. Naturally, someone with more pride than brain cells corrected him and put the Draconid tribe on his radar. Once the elders got wind of it, they got spooked and put everything under lock and key, not even allowing Aster access."

    Lee frowns, once more reminded of the amount of cloak and dagger the Pokemon League gets up to.

    ��Well, not so much the dagger part, but there is certainly a lot of cloak.

    "Ancient Draconid texts never mention the use of the stones in the first instance of Mega Evolution, though, and Aster noticed." Zinnia''s grin is all but gone now, replaced with a grim face. "She and Salamence puzzled over how to Mega Evolve without the stones for weeks before finally figuring it out, and�� when they tried, they��" Zinnia halts, unable to continue past the lump in her throat. "It could have all been prevented."

    A shiver runs down Lee''s spine, and he shares a look with Ninetales.

    Despite her fur, Lee knows the fox''s face is pale.

    "I see��" Lee finds his voice after a long minute, his mind in a million different places. "I''m sorry if I dredged up any unpleasant memories, Zinnia."

    She waves him off. "It''s okay, Dolittle. It�� It feels good talking to someone about it," she says, a thin smile finding its way to her face. "I''m going to take a short nap and sleep this off, so you make yourself at home, okay? Once I get up, I''ll take you guys to Yukkani''s for dinner. The village doesn''t have much in the way of restaurants, but I''ll be damned if Yukkani''s isn''t top-notch!"

    Smiling in return, Lee nods. "Sounds like a good time! Enjoy your nap."

    Lee closes the door behind him, leaving Zinnia alone, and walks back to the small living room with Ninetales on his heels. Seating himself heavily on the dusty couch, Lee sighs and idly pets Ninetales when she drapes herself across his legs.

    "Okay, Miss Political Intrigue," Lee mutters. "I need you to become a master of Dragon politics overnight so I don''t have to deal with all of this shit, okay?"

    Ninetales looks at him with an unamused face. ''Pray tell, what do I receive in return?''

    Lee pulls her into a tight hug, resting his head on top of hers.

    The fox sighs. ''That will have to do, I guess.''

 Act 2: Chapter 23

    Grass clippings and fallen leaves whip wildly around in the gale Corviknight''s wings kick up as the mammoth bird touches down just outside of Slateport''s Pokemon Center. Around the landing site, several people let out startled exclamations and raise their arms, shielding their eyes from the dust.

    Astride the raven''s back, Lee takes off his flight goggles, pulls down the scarf around his face, and rubs his arms to help chase away the high-altitude chill.

    It gets damn cold several thousand feet up in the air, regardless of how tropical Hoenn is.

    Once some feeling has returned to his limbs, Lee looks down at the clock in the instrument panel of Corvi''s saddle, raising a brow. "We made good time."

    Corviknight croaks deep in his throat and looks over his shoulder as Lee dismounts as if to say, "Was there ever any doubt?"

    "You''re right, I guess I shouldn''t be surprised," Lee easily agrees, smirking. "Aarons was, though. I don''t think he expected us to show up only a few hours after calling, and he certainly didn''t expect to see you."

    Corvi haughtily chortles.

    With deliberations between the Draconid elders on whether or not Lee and Brendan would be allowed to accompany Zinnia into ''The Crater'' expected to take several days, Lee decided to take the liberty of clearing up his outstanding obligations. After informing his friends that he would be leaving for a day or two, Lee saddled Corviknight up and flew to Mauville, stopping at the Silph Co. office to speak with Alec Aarons, his�� Ugh. His account manager. Since Corvi can leisurely cruise well over a hundred miles an hour, the raven swiftly got them to Mauville before midday.

    After demonstrating and letting Silph Co copy an unnamed Ember shotgun blast technique from Ninetales, and signing an agreement for another run of Seed Blast and Seed Sniper, Lee left the Silph Co office and came to the realization that, in only a few hours, his errands were finished.

    ''Flight really opens up the world, just like in the games,'' Lee muses. ''Only flying is much more fun here.''

    With so much time and freedom suddenly in his hands, the zoologist wondered for a moment if there was anything else he had to do before returning to the Draconid village; then, his eyes fell on the empty sixth pokeball on his belt.

    With both time and spare credits available, why not tour around and see if any pokemon breeders in the area have a pokemon who would fit the team? Naturally, his mind went to Leo, the breeder who he had adopted Shinx from, and who had a pair of Eevee brothers.

    "Raising your team limit to seven is easy enough," Nigel had said on a call earlier that morning. "The limit of six is actually just a traditional safeguard; did you know that? It''s so young trainers don''t collapse under the strain of a large team. Distinguished trainers can have their limit increased by the League or whoever is offering ranch services to them, though six is still the maximum you can use in competitions. Hang tight, and I''ll adjust your account."

    If the pair of Eevee don''t want to be separated, then that''s just fine to Lee. He''ll get them both.

    ''If I''m being honest, I don''t want seven pokemon,'' Lee thinks to himself, returning Corviknight to his ball for a rest. ''Shinx is more or less recovered from all the side effects of her premature birth, but she''s really gunning for the position of "biggest handful" out of all of the cubs I''ve raised. More pokemon to split my attention between has some definite downsides.''

    ''The Eevee duo, assuming they wish to be adopted, could function as more eyes to keep watch of Shinx,'' Ninetales offers from within her ball. ''They seemed fully mature last time we met.''

    ''That relies on the assumption that the brothers themselves aren''t troublemakers,'' Lee sends back.

    ''True,'' Ninetales concedes. ''Perhaps you should have Shinx walk with you today. Both as an exercise in discipline, and to surprise Leo when you arrive at his market plot.''

    ''Not feeling up to walking with me today?''

    The click of the fox''s tongue is mental, but Lee still hears it within his ears. ''I stayed up late into the night reading up on the lore and law of the Draconids. If it is all the same to you, Beloved, I would rest for now and enjoy a midday siesta.''

    The hand hovering over Nine''s pokeball instead grasps Shinx''s. ''You know I was joking when I asked you to become an expert on Dragon politics overnight, right?''

    ''Joke or not, it''s valid and worthwhile preparation,'' Ninetales replies, her thoughts slowly growing lethargic as she settles for her nap. ''Wake me if you need me.''

    ''I will, love. Have a nice nap.''

    Ninetales sends back a warm, slow flow of love, before nodding off.

    Taking Shinx''s ball from his belt, Lee taps the pokeball button and lets it pop open. In a flash of light, a blinking Shinx takes form at Lee''s feet. After the kitten looks around and gets her bearings, she turns her bright yellow eyes up to Lee with a tilt of her head.

    "We''re back in Slateport, babygirl," Lee says, kneeling down closer to her height. "I''m going to go visit the market and see Leo, the man I adopted you from. Do you remember him?"

    It takes a moment for the name to click, but when it finally does, Shinx''s face lights up with a smile. Behind her, her star-tipped tail flicks back and forth eagerly.

    "C''mon." Lee offers an arm. "Let''s make tracks."

    Needing no other encouragement, Shinx leaps up and drapes herself across her trainer''s shoulders like Ninetales used to do before her evolution, purring all the while.

    Together, man and kitten begin the trek to Slateport''s famous outdoor market. As they walk, Shinx''s head is on a constant swivel, turning all around to take in all of the unusual sights, sounds, and smells. More than once, she tenses as if to leap off of Lee''s shoulders and go investigate things that pique her interest, like a group of wild Taillow chirping back-and-forth on a public bench, but each time Lee gives her a firm look and she reluctantly settles back down.

    Once they pass the outer boundaries of the Slateport market, Lee glances around and finds it much the same as the last time he visited. There are a few new vendors here and there, but it seems like most have retained their places. He even spies the phony TM merchant from before, who gives Lee a sour look as he and Shinx pass.

    Once they walk past all of the common wares and back into the corner where all of the breeders have set up shop, it doesn''t take long for Lee and Shinx to find Leo, the breeder who raised Shinx for the first few weeks of her life. The man is leaning on his truck next to his pen of young pokemon, humming a tune as he jots something down on a small clipboard.

    "Hey, Leo!" Lee smiles and raises a hand in greeting as he approaches. "Long time, no see."

    The pokemon breeder looks up briefly, then back down to his clipboard. A second later, his eyes widen and his head shoots back up in a prodigious double take, looking at Lee with barefaced surprise. "Mister Henson?" he asks, his eyes then falling to Shinx. Leo gasps. "Oh my stars, is that��?"

    Shinx leaps from Lee''s shoulder into Leo''s arms in one deft motion, forcing the overall-clad breeder to drop his clipboard with a ''clack!''

    "Is this her? Is this little Shinx?" Leo asks again, looking down at the kitten nuzzling her face into his chest with disbelief. "She''s so big��"

    ''Big? She''s only now hitting a regular size and weight.'' Regardless, Lee smiles in pride. "Yeah. She''s certainly grown like a weed, the last few weeks especially."

    A laugh bubbles out of Leo''s mouth. "A weed? Ain''t no weed that can hope to match this!" he exclaims, stroking Shinx''s head and earning himself a purr. "I''ll be�� and here I thought today was gonna be a boring one! How did you bring her back from such a state, Lee? I thought for sure little Shinx was going to spend the rest of her life small and sickly."

    Lee rubs his chin, organizing his thoughts. "Nightly physical therapy, a diet rich in protein and calcium, plenty of play time around other pokemon, and her own willingness to go through with it. The last one is the most important, I think. You can''t force someone, human or pokemon, to recover from an atrophied condition if they themselves aren''t willing to work at it."

    "I get the feeling that you''re oversimplifying things," Leo replies, smiling. "What brings you back to Slateport? You said you were going to Mauville last time you were here, right?"

    "Indeed," Lee confirms. "We''ve been through both Mauville and Lavaridge, and now the rest of my group is back in�� Fallarbor." He hesitates slightly, unsure if he should talk about the Draconid village. "I flew back here with the help of my Corviknight so you could see Shinx''s progress, and because I wanted to see about adopting that pair of Eevee you have."

    Leo winces. "Oh, the boys? About that��"

    ''Shit...'' Lee turns and looks in the pen of young pokemon all playing about. There is a Poochyena and a Houndour roughhousing, a Meowth dozing in the corner, a Silcoon hanging in a faux tree near the back, and several others, but not a single Eevee in sight.

    "A gruff but nice kid all the way in Orre contacted me a few weeks ago, saying he''s been looking for a pair of good pokemon who work well together," Leo explains as Lee turns back to him. "When I told him about the brothers, he was interested and wanted to adopt. The boys liked him after a little video meeting and agreed to go with ''em. Either the kid or his parents have some deep pockets, because he put up the money without any trouble."

    Lee blows out an exasperated breath. "That''s what I get for not calling ahead, I suppose��"

    The breeder looks down at Shinx, who is still in his arms.

    The kitten blinks sadly back, mirroring Lee''s attitude.

    "If it''s an Eevee you want, I can give you a referral." Leo looks back up towards Lee. "A friend of mine runs a mighty professional operation in Verdanturf. Evelyn is her name. Sweet gal, and a whiz when it comes to working with rare or difficult pokemon. Heck, she advised me through the first couple of days after Shinx was born. She''s usually got a few Eevee on hand."

    Lee''s smile is restored almost instantly. "That would be fantastic."

    After passing Shinx back to Lee, Leo bends down and picks up his dropped clipboard. He takes a blank paper from the pocket of his overalls and jots a quick something down, before folding it and handing it to Lee. "There ya go. Evelyn doesn''t really like parting with her rare ones unless she''s sure a trainer can actually care for ''em. That should convince her to let you adopt."

    Lee shifts Shinx up to his shoulders and takes the note, tucking it away into one of his pockets. "Thanks, Leo. I''ve got a couple of other breeders on my short list, but it''s nice to know that one of them is guaranteed quality."

    "Merow!" Shinx agrees.

    Leo snorts. "Think nothing of it, pal. You two take care now, you hear?"

    <hr>

    The flight to Verdanturf doesn''t take too long, as Corvi flies low and fast. When they touch down outside of a spacious rural residence with a fenced backyard on the edge of town, it''s only half past two in the afternoon.

    "This should be it," Lee says, looking at the house number on the mailbox. It matches what Leo gave. "Let''s go say hi."

    After dismounting Corviknight, Lee recalls the great raven to his ball for a rest, then walks up to the large home. Stepping onto the raised porch, Lee reads the sign in one of the windows.

    "Greener Pastures Boarding and Breeding Services?" Lee reads with a raised eyebrow. "Sounds premium."

    The door bears a sign saying ''Please Come In!'' so Lee does just that and steps inside, closing the heavy wooden door behind him. Turning back around, he''s greeted with a startling sight.

    Sitting a little ways away in the entrance to the foyer of the house is a Sylveon, one who stares back up at Lee with a neutral, practically dead expression.

    Lee, despite trying not to, tenses slightly.

    Sylveon is the rarest of the eeveelutions by a wide margin, and arguably the most dangerous. The strange ways that pure Fairy pokemon look at the world are at odds with the mindset of most others, both human and pokemon, making a Sylveon unpredictable at best. The amount of reliable information about them is only slightly greater than what is available for a Ninetales.

    Which is to say, very little. The expression on this Sylveon''s face and the disheveled, sickly look of its coat do nothing to inspire confidence, either.

    "Hello, there." Lee smiles, steadying his nerves. "Is Evelyn in? I was given a referral by another breeder, and I was hoping to speak to her."

    When the Sylveon tilts its head, Lee reaches into his pocket and presents the note given to him by Leo. He steps closer to give it to the Fairy, but one of the Sylveon''s ribbons extends out, stretching across the distance and taking the offered note. Reeling its ribbon back in, the Sylveon opens the note and reads the contents with a raised eyebrow.

    Upon finishing the note, the Sylveon folds the paper back up, then turns and begins to walk, looking over its shoulder with a beckoning expression.

    "Coming." Lee hurries along.

    The Sylveon leads Lee through the spacious, if a bit rustic, home. On the way, they pass several bedrooms furnished for pokemon, with appropriately-sized beds, toys, and food bowls as well as decorations that simulate a natural environment, among other luxurious accouterments. Past those doors are several closed ones. On one of the closed doors hangs a sign saying, ''Mother and newborns inside! Please be quiet!''

    Past all of that, Sylveon leads the way to a double set of doors leading to the backyard. Reaching up with her ribbons, Sylveon pulls both doors open and steps outside, letting Lee follow.

    Stepping out into the sunlight, Lee looks over the huge backyard and feels his jaw drop.

    Outside in the huge backyard is a medley of rare and unusual pokemon.

    Near the edge of the fence, one Eevee leads a game of tag followed closely by another Eevee, a furious Fennekin, and a green, cat-like pokemon with pink eyes that Lee can''t readily name.

    Under the shade of a small tree, a Liepard grooms a fussy Purrloin. It takes a moment for Lee to realize that the tree the parent and child are relaxing under is no tree at all; rather, a sleeping Trevenant, a Ghost-type resembling a haunted tree.

    In a corner, a self-satisfied Houndoom lies cuddled with a serene Arcanine, one that is decidedly large even by most accounts of their species. Together, the pair watch three Growlithe pups wrestle and play.

    In the center of the yard, a shiny Vaporeon and a normally-colored Floatzel both lounge in a small pond, floating without a care.

    "Wow��" Lee says with a smile. ''Look at all of these pokemon! No wonder this Evelyn character is so picky with trainers.''

    A tiny part of Lee is still a little uncomfortable with the ''breeding sapient creatures'' thing, but�� ''I guess if you look at it from the perspective of a pokemon, they get a secure home with free food, free healthcare, resources for offspring, and a dedicated vetting process to ensure their offspring can be successful, comfortable, or both.'' Lee looks at the fence around the yard, noting how short it is, and how no adult pokemon would struggle to leap it. ''And there''s nothing really stopping them from leaving, either. Maybe it''s not a bad deal at all?''

    The Houndoom beside his Arcanine mate catches Lee staring, and gives the man a smug look, nosing his mate''s shoulder as if to say, "Yeah, I''m pretty much the best. What do you think?"

    Lee gives the Houndoom a subtle thumbs up and the pokemon grins back.

    Behind Lee, the rear door of the house opens and closes, followed by the sound of someone stepping over a squeaky floorboard on the patio. "Excuse me, sir? Can I help you?"

    Lee turns to the voice, seeing a small, green-haired boy looking up at him nervously. The boy seems familiar for some reason��

    ''Oh!'' Lee suddenly remembers. ''This kid is Wally. He was a throwaway character back in Pokemon Emerald, but became a rival in the remakes. What''s he doing here?''

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Do you work here?" Lee asks, getting a nod from Wally. "I''m here to see Evelyn on referral from another breeder. Is she in at the moment?"

    "I think she''s in the newborn ward," Wally answers, seemingly unsure. "Miss Lopunny gave birth a few days ago, and she''s a new mom, so Miss Evelyn has been watching her and the babies closely."

    Lee nods. "Perfectly understandable. Do you know when she might be available?"

    "Umm��" Wally looks away, watching several of the pokemon play in the yard. "I''m not too sure. I would go check for you, but I''m not allowed in the newborn ward yet��" He looks down at Sylveon, who has been watching the conversation with a blank mask. "Miss Sylveon, can you check for me please?"

    Without a word, Sylveon rises and steps back inside, closing the doors behind her with a click.

    "Is she always so dour?" Lee asks, watching Sylveon walk deeper into the house through the glass doors.

    Wally''s sigh says everything Lee needs to know.

    Before the silence can stretch into something awkward, Lee clears his throat and addresses Wally again. "You seem awfully young to be working here, bud. What brought you here?"

    The young boy puffs himself up. "I want to be a real pokemon trainer, one who can help the people he loves when they need it. I''m working here with Miss Evelyn to save up some money and get started."

    Surprised, it takes a moment for Lee to formulate a reply. "Huh," he begins, slipping his hands into his pockets. "That''s a lot of resolve for a kid your age. What started you down that path?"

    Wally grimaces slightly. "A friend tried to help me and my Kirlia a while ago, going so far as to steal for us. He was a good person, but he was hurting real bad and not making good decisions at the time. It felt�� Bad. Bad, that we couldn''t do anything for him, or stop him from making those bad decisions." Wally looks up, and there is fire in his icy blue eyes. "We''re going to be strong for the people who can''t be strong themselves."

    One of Lee''s pokeballs wiggles, but when he looks down his belt, the wiggling has already stopped.

    "That''s heavy stuff, kid," Lee says, meaning every word. He looks up at the afternoon sun. ''Being strong for the people who can''t be strong themselves, huh? Not a bad goal, honestly.'' He shakes his head. "I realize I never asked your name. I''m Lee Henson. A pleasure," Lee says, holding out a hand.

    Wally''s resolve wavers, replaced with a nervous child once more. "Oh! I''m Wally, sir. It''s nice to meet you too." He takes Lee''s hand and gives it a shake.

    Lee smiles and releases the kid''s hand. "Say, Wally? You said you have a Kirlia? Are they a male or female?"

    "Male, Mister Henson," Wally answers, brow wrinkling in confusion. "I''m hoping that we can get a Dawn Stone and evolve him into Gallade in a few years."

    "In that case �C " Lee shrugs off his backpack and unzips it, digging a cased TM disk out, "�C I have something for you. I don''t know if Gallade can learn it, but take this."

    Eyes so wide that they almost pop out of his head, Wally gingerly takes the disc case labeled ''Focus Energy.''

    ''Of course, Octillery would learn Focus Energy the night after I placed the order.'' Lee''s smile is just a touch sour. ''And then Grovyle learns it from Octillery in a single afternoon, making the TM useless. Gah.''

    "Mister Lee��" Wally breathes, clutching the present. "Are you sure? TMs are really expensive��"

    "Positive," Lee replies and nods, zipping up his bag and putting it back on his back as he does so. "I don''t need that one. I''ll consider the favor repaid if you do good on your promise to be a great trainer, okay?"

    The fire returns to Wally''s eyes, and he nods. "You can count on me."

    Just as they finished their conversation, the back door of the house opens once more and out steps Sylveon, followed by a smiling, mature woman of perhaps fifty years of age, who Lee inspects with a critical eye. ''So this is Evelyn?''

    "You must be Lee!" the woman exclaims with a wide grin. "I''m Evelyn, and let me welcome you to our little slice of heaven!" she says, her curly locks bouncing with each word. "I understand that you''re looking to adopt."

    Lee gives the woman a smile in return. "That I am. It''s nice to meet you."

    "Ha!" Evelyn laughs. "Honey, the pleasure is all mine," she says with a flirty wink.

    ''I''m so glad that Ninetales is still asleep.''

    "Now, let''s see who we can add to your family," Evelyn continues, reaching out and lightly taking Lee''s arm. "Let''s get ourselves sat down and talk."

    The pokemon breeder, with Sylveon on her heels, leads Lee over to a patio table surrounded by wicker chairs. After everyone is sat down and relaxed, Evelyn addresses Wally. "Wally, can you run inside and bring some drinks out? Our visitor looks thirsty."

    Wally nods and heads off. "Yes, Miss Evelyn!"

    As the back door shuts, Evelyn shakes her head flippantly. "If only there were more courteous young men like that. What a doll, that Wally," she sighs. "Okay, honey. What kind of trainer are you? And why are you looking to adopt?" she asks, visage growing serious.

    "I''m first and foremost a Lab Trainer and researcher under Professor Birch," Lee says, resting his elbows on the table and his chin on his intertwined hands. "I''m competing in the gym circuit for independent funding and exposure, and occasionally take on law enforcement duties as dictated by necessity. As for why I''m looking to adopt, I want to add one last pokemon to my roster, and I would prefer having one that is both capable in a fight and potentially help with my research on the nature of Type Energy. I would like an Eevee if any of the ones in your care find me agreeable."

    Evelyn nods slowly, digesting the words with care. "I see�� If it''s an Eevee you want, then you''ve put thought into what you want them to evolve into, haven''t you?"

    "Umbreon and Vaporeon are my top two picks," Lee answers. "I wouldn''t be upset if my hypothetical Eevee changed their mind later, but one of those two is who I really want."

    "Yet, you wouldn''t be entirely satisfied with that," the breeder says matter-of-factly, leaning forward. "Is there another quality you''re looking for?"

    Lee has to hand it to the woman sitting across from him. She is damn good at reading people. With a sigh, he nods in confirmation. "Yeah, you''re right. In an ideal world, I would like a decent fighter, someone to help with research, and someone who has some healing capabilities. Me and my team have been in some nasty situations before, where immediate medical attention beyond what I myself can provide would have been appreciated."

    Evelyn narrows her eyes and crosses her arms, thinking to herself.

    For a minute, the only sounds are the pokemon playing in the yard, then Evelyn turns her eyes to Sylveon, who is sitting on the ground and watching the exchange. "Sylvy, can you go see what''s taking Wally so long, please?"

    Sylveon raises an eyebrow, but stands and goes back inside the house as requested, looking for the boy.

    Once the door shuts, Evelyn returns her attention to Lee. "Lee, Leo said that you fixed up his poor little premie Shinx. Can I see her?"

    ''Where is this going?'' Lee wonders. He takes Shinx''s ball from his belt and lets it pop open, depositing a Shinx-shaped mass of light on the table. When the light fades, a confused Shinx is left behind.

    Evelyn''s gasp is quiet. "Goodness gracious��" she murmurs. She reaches a hand out gently, and Shinx gladly pads forward, nuzzling her head into the offered palm. "It''s like nothing was ever wrong with her��"

    When Shinx grows bored of the halfhearted petting she receives, she pads back across the table and drops herself into Lee''s lap, sitting and setting her chin on the table to watch.

    Rubbing the fingers that were just caressing Shinx, Evelyn nods firmly, seemingly more for herself than anyone else. "Lee, I have a proposition for you."

    A proposition? Lee narrows his eyes. "I''m listening."

    "I want you to take my Sylveon."

    Of all the words that could''ve come out of the woman''s mouth, those were not what Lee was expecting to hear. "What?" he asks, narrowing his eyes even further and tilting his head. "Are you serious? Why?"

    The pokemon breeder''s mouth is drawn into a thin line, and she takes a deep, calming breath. "Trust me, this ain''t something I''m asking because I want to. I''m asking because I have to. Sylveon is dying here, Lee. Don''t act like you haven''t seen it, how unkempt and unhappy she looks."

    Lee frowns. "I suppose she did seem a bit out of sorts, but I''m no expert on Fairies."

    A humorless laugh finds its way from Evelyn''s mouth. "Who is? I know I''m not. There are maybe two dozen Fairy masters alive��but I''m getting off topic here." She looks down at the table and clenches her hands, telling Lee just how much she doesn''t wish to continue. "Honey, Sylveon used to be one of my breeding mamas before she evolved. She''s been part of this ranch since the beginning thirty years ago, and she ruled the place as the Queen Beedrill. Then she evolved��"

    "How did her evolution cause this?" Lee asks, leaning back and gently stroking Shinx across the back.

    Evelyn reaches her hand up and runs it through her curly hair. "Sylvy got sweet on some hired help a year back. He was a nice young man, and so good with the young ones. Poor Sylvy was smitten, and followed him around everywhere. He didn''t know any better, and pampered her, paying special attention to her, just treating her like a princess, really. To him, it was all innocent." Evelyn''s face takes on a tired look. "I can''t blame him no matter how hard I want to. No one knew just how seriously Sylvy was treating it until she evolved for him, turning into a Sylveon."

    Lee gets a cold feeling in his stomach, already suspecting where the story is going to go.

    "That ranch hand, he knew what that meant. He had a fianc��e, and he didn''t want an obsessive Fairy in his life mucking that up," Evelyn continues. "He came to me saying that he''s got to quit, and that''s the last I saw of him. When Sylveon found out, she�� She didn''t take it well."

    "Shit��" Lee mutters, leaning back and pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to stem the coming migraine.

    Sylveon is one of the handful of pokemon that would not exist without human interference, considering an Eevee can only really evolve into one by reciprocating human affection�� And because of that, they have a depressing tendency to die of a broken heart if a trainer can''t properly provide for their emotional needs. Researchers and breeders have all tried to figure out why, but the completely illogical nature of Fairies only yields muddled results in the face of conventional science. The only thing anyone can agree upon is that a Fairy''s emotions must be directly tied to their physical health.

    The reason Sylveons are so rare is not from lack of trying.

    ''For Sylveon to have lasted a full year��'' Lee thinks, rubbing his forehead.

    "Evelyn," Lee slowly begins, lowering the hand rubbing his brow. "I really appreciate the vote of confidence in my abilities as a trainer, but I don''t think I''m the best pick for Sylveon. Remember, I did say that I''m an active battler, and sometimes face mortal danger. I sympathize with the plight Sylveon is going through, but I can''t risk the rest of my team with a potentially unstable ally."

    Surprise flashes across Evelyn''s face, as if she didn''t expect pushback. "My Sylvy isn''t a pushover, and she even knows Wish, so she can do first-aid like you''re wanting. If that''s not enough, her ability is Pixilate," she shoots back. "You know the one? It makes all Normal moves into Fairy�Ctype."

    Lee narrows his eyes. That is a bit more tempting, but ultimately he''s forced to shake his head. "She sounds wonderful from a purely statistical view, but my point on the potential instability still stands. I have serious concerns about Sylveon butting heads with my Ninetales. Like many Ninetales, she has..." Lee hesitates, trying to think of a better phrase. "She has possessiveness issues," he finally admits.

    Out of curiosity, Lee silently probes Ninetales'' mind, only to find the vixen still asleep.

    Evelyn is quick to respond. Smiling mirthlessly, she says, "Honey, I don''t think you need to worry about that. After such heartbreak, Sylvy''s refused to look at any male, human or pokemon, the same way again. I talked to a Fairy expert after weeks of false starts, and you know what I was told? Sylvy is going to pine after her first love until the grave."

    A shiver runs down Lee''s spine.

    "That doesn''t mean that she has to be miserable, though." The breeder leans forward, reaching across the table and taking one of Lee''s hands in her own.

    Her grip is shaky and weak.

    "Please, Lee. She can''t stay here, not with so many bad memories tainting the place!" the woman begs, her composure beginning to break down. "My baby needs to go out and find a new reason to live! I wish I could make it all better for her, but I can''t! I''ve been sitting here, biding my time and hoping she would work her way past it so I didn''t have to let her go, but I''ve waited far too long! Every morning, it''s a little harder for her to get out of bed, and it''s all I can do to get her to choke down one meal a day!"

    Lee''s face screws itself up into a grimace as guilt gnaws at him. "Evelyn��" Dammit, there really is no good way to answer. "I��" Lee stops himself short again. "I want to help, I really do, but why me? Am I really the best choice?"

    "I don''t know." The answer is immediate, with the woman reaching up to wipe at her moist eyes. "I can''t afford to wait any longer, though. I want her to go to a good, talented trainer who will treat her kindly, one who will give her a rich life, and you''re the first trainer that happened by that I feel confident about."

    Lee sits back and looks down at Shinx.

    The kitten stares back with wide, yellow eyes, unnerved by the tense atmosphere.

    ''A Sylveon would shut down Dragons, which is useful considering where I will be for the next few weeks.'' Lee closes his eyes and tries to see the pros and cons from a neutral place. ''A Fairy also provides resistance to Dark and Fighting. Wish works a bit differently than from the games, and is more along the lines of a generic healing ability, so that would be nice. Pixilate would also be wonderful to study. That might reveal some interesting relationships between the different types of TE. If I remember correctly, Sylveon is also deceptively bulky when it comes to defense, especially when it comes to taking energy attacks. On the flipside��''

    He frowns. ''On the flipside, there is a whole lot going on here. Sylveon has a lot of baggage which�� I guess isn''t unusual for my pokemon. Geez, that''s a bit of an unpleasant realization. Is Octillery really the only normal one around here? I also don''t have much personality-wise to gauge from Sylveon. I really don''t want to take her in only for her and Ninetales to maul each other.''

    ''If she behaves, then I will as well.''

    The telepathic words are groggy as Ninetales slowly returns to awareness in her pokeball.

    Lee sighs in relief. ''Did you have a nice nap? I was just about to wake you to ask your opinion.''

    The vixen grumbles slightly. ''My sleep was pleasant, yes, though your introspection woke me. No matter, I suppose, if you were about to wake me anyway.'' Pausing for a moment, Ninetales scans through Lee''s most recent memories, and the man can practically feel the frown on her face. ''Let it never be said that the dilemmas this team faces are not interesting.''

    ''What''s your take on the matter?''

    As the fox thinks over Sylveon''s plight, Lee is silently surprised to feel a pang of sympathy from her. The irritation at potential competition for his time is far more mild. ''��Perhaps it would be best to bring Sylveon into the conversation. As you told Leo regarding Shinx, one cannot become better if they themselves do not wish to be better.''

    Lee smiles. ''Sounds like a good idea.''

    ''I would like to be present as well.''

    ''Easily done.'' Lee reaches for his belt, unclipping both Shinx''s ball and Nine''s ball, before pointing one at the tense kitten in his lap. "Why don''t you take a rest, baby girl? Sorry for stressing you out with all the adult talk."

    Shinx doesn''t protest, so Lee returns her to her ball and puts it back on its magnetic clip.

    With his other hand, Lee releases Ninetales, setting her next to him with a flash. Once the light fades, Lee turns back to Evelyn, who is sending Ninetales a wary look. "Since this is such a big decision, I want Ninetales to sit in on it. Is that okay?"

    "No problem, honey��" Evelyn replies, looking between Lee and Ninetales with a calculating eye. A sudden realization seems to hit her, as it''s visible on her face. "Oh. Telepathy? Well, I certainly get your concerns now."

    ''How did she��?'' Ninetales shakes her head.

    Lee smiles thinly. ''We both moved our eyes in-sync, and she noticed.''

    The fox pokemon huffs.

    "Anyway," Lee continues, "At Ninetales'' suggestion, I want to include Sylveon in this conversation. I don''t think it would be a good idea to suddenly spring it on her. It could just make her resentful of both of us."

    Evelyn nods and laces her fingers, leaning back tiredly in her chair. "That''s a good idea."

    After a moment of waiting, both Wally and Sylveon reemerge from the house, with Wally carrying a pair of tall glasses filled with a yellow liquid and ice cubes. "I''m so sorry about how long it took!" the boy apologizes, sheepishly setting the drinks down before Lee and Evelyn. "We were out of aspearade, so I juiced a few Aspear berries and made a fresh batch."

    "Don''t you worry your cute head about it, Wally," she replies, a smile returning to her face. "Could you go check on the big laundry machine in the basement? We need a few minutes to talk, and those bed covers are probably due to be dried."

    "Yes, Miss Evelyn!" Wally dutifully turns back around and walks back inside.

    In the meantime, Lee lifts his glass of aspearade and gives it a sip, finding the refreshment pleasant. The fresh made kind is definitely better than the canned stuff in corner stores.

    Across the table, the pokemon breeder takes a swig of her own drink, wetting her throat for the unpleasant conversation to come. Setting the glass down, she gives her Sylveon a smile. "Sylvy, my baby, I''ve been talking with Lee here, and he''s quite the trainer! Traveling around, taking on the gyms, seeing all sorts of new things��" She pauses and gauges her pokemon for a reaction.

    She gets nothing in return. Sylveon''s blue eyes stare blankly back.

    "��And I think, Sylvy," Evelyn continues, picking each word carefully, "that�� that this would be a really good opportunity for you. You''re hurting here, so I''d really like it if you went with Lee and his pokemon. What do you say? Can you do that for me?"

    That elicits a reaction. Sylveon''s face twists into hurt, and a growl begins to build in her throat. Her ribbons, which were placidly limp, bend themselves into zigzags.

    "Do not mistake this as me kicking you out because I don''t want you. Don''t you dare ever think that." Evelyn''s eyes grow misty again, and despite how quiet her words are, the commotion in the yard stops as all of the pokemon watch pensively. "Look at yourself, Sylvy. You''re letting yourself waste away. If I could keep you in my arms forever and fix what hurts you, I would, but every day you stay here you die a little more!"

    Sylveon flinches, but despite being told in plain English, she still doesn''t seem to understand. Her ribbons pull themselves into more rigid zigzags, and her growl turns into a snarl, one unfitting for a cutesy, pink creature.

    "You need to go, Sylveon!" Evelyn insists, standing from her chair and growing more emotional. "I won''t let you sit here and torture yourself! Please, I want you to live and be happy!"

    The breeder gets a hiss in reply.

    ''This doesn''t seem to be working��'' Lee watches the back-and-forth with some frustration.

    Ninetales is silent, but Lee can feel her brain working, watching both the pokemon breeder and her pokemon argue. ''Perhaps you should step in, Lee. I don''t foresee this ending on its own. Both of them are too emotionally charged.''

    Emotionally charged.

    Lee blinks as an idea comes to him. ''Nine, be ready to help if need be. I have a bit of an idea.''

    ''Typically one should approach dangerous situations with a whole idea,'' Nine quips, but nonetheless, she stands and takes a protective step closer to him.

    ''Just like your pyrokinesis was a little tidbit from the game pokedex that no one knew��'' Lee begins, standing out of his chair and crouching down ''��How well-known is a Sylveon''s touch-based empathy? Did this Sylveon ever get the opportunity to use that empathy before she was heartbroken?''

    Both Evelyn and Sylveon watch Lee kneel down to Sylveon''s level, and Sylveon growls when Lee slowly reaches out, stopping halfway to her.

    "I really believe that Evelyn means what she says, Sylveon," Lee begins, keeping his voice low and gentle. "She cares so much about you, and it''s tearing her apart. Can you take my hand? Maybe I can put it in a way you understand."

    The Fairy looks at the extended hand distrustfully. Instead, she looks over Lee''s shoulder to Ninetales.

    The fox replies with a warm purr deep in her throat.

    With great reluctance, Sylveon extends one ribbon out and wraps it around Lee''s hand with a featherlight touch.

    Taking a deep breath, Lee exhales and prepares to muster everything he has for the coming conversation.

    "Evelyn loves you like you wouldn''t believe," as he speaks, Lee closes his eyes and imagines the face of each of his pokemon, each one smiling at him. Warmth and meaning blooms within him, and the ribbon around his hand flutters.

    "If you died, the pain of your death would never go away," he continues, his veins growing cold when he remembers the sleepless nights after the disaster on Mount Chimney, and how Ninetales'' life hung in the balance. "She just wants to do what is right for you, even if it hurts her. Love is strange like that."

    Lee hazards a look through his eyelids, and Sylveon is intently focused on him.

    "My pokemon and I, most of us relate to the loss of something precious like you do," he says, his memory cycling.

    Grovyle losing his home.

    Corviknight losing his trainer.

    Lee losing everything.

    "Some of us never even knew the precious thing we lost."

    Shinx living without her mother.

    Ninetales living without an identity.

    "But��" Lee smiles and closes his hand around the ribbon in his grasp. One by one, the struggles he and his pokemon have faced flashed before his closed eyes, and each time, they came out of it stronger and closer than ever. "That doesn''t mean you can''t find something new to live for, you get what I mean?" He opens his eyes and looks at Sylveon.

    Wide blue eyes leaking tears stare back in disbelief.

    Taking deep, shuddering breaths, Sylveon breaks her stare and looks down at her other three ribbons. Slowly, almost unsurely, she reaches one out to a watery-eyed Evelyn.

    Without hesitation, the pokemon breeder takes the ribbon in her hand, and the instant she does Sylveon stiffens, fresh tears springing into her eyes. Lee can scarcely imagine what Sylveon must be feeling from the woman.

    "If you want to try the ''new lease on life'' thing," Lee finishes with a smile. "We''re willing to help. Friend in need, friend indeed, and all that, right?"

    The Fairy sniffles and shudders, tearing her eyes away from her trainer of thirty long years to stare back at Lee. With a shaking breath, she nods, the ribbon around Lee''s hand tightening.

    Lee squeezes back, sealing the deal and securing his sixth pok��mon.

 Act 2: Lees Logs 2

    Stretching his arms over his head with a jaw-cracking yawn, Nigel Birch settles into his office chair and mentally reviews what he needs to get done today. ��Mister Nelson��s Dustox has been looking a little under the weather, so he probably needs to be added to the checkup roster. Need to finish up my article from the Verdanturf Sitrus grove study. The fire extinguisher in Exam room B needs to be replaced after the mishap with that Torchic����

    As he writes his mental list, Nigel jiggles the mouse of his computer, waking the old device. As per usual, he goes to check for any emails that came in during the night. Yawning once more, he goes down the line. ��Not important. Not important. That one can wait. Spam. Why am I still getting this one? I need to have the IT guy adjust the mail list.�� Nothing seems urgent, and then Nigel spots two that came in a few hours after he went home the night prior.

    New mail from: [email protected]</a>

    Subject: Lhenson New Capture

    New mail from: [email protected]</a>

    Subject: Logs and Research

    Nigel��s eyebrows rise to his hairline. A new capture and updated research logs? Lee hasn��t sent in any logs recently, though with the debacle on the volcano still fresh in the mind, the professor can��t say that he minds much. ��Well, let��s see who your sixth is, Lee,�� Nigel murmurs, opening the email.

    Acquisition Details:

    Pok��mon Species: #0700 �C Sylveon

    Gender: Female

    Method of Acquisition: Adoption

    Location: Verdanturf �C ��Greener Pastures Breeding and Boarding Services.��

    Research Value Index: 0.89

    [Attachment #1: Adoption Forms]

    Nigel sighs, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. ��A Sylveon. An adopted Sylveon. Why am I even surprised? I shouldn��t be. I said it before, and I��ll say it again��for a man deathly afraid of drama, Lee sure finds himself mixed up in a lot of it.��

    Already resigned to the fact that today is going to be a long one, Nigel leans toward the screen and continues. Opening the adoption forms, he scans them with a critical eye and finds nothing out of place. Upon finishing, his mind immediately goes to Lee��s Ninetales. The professor can only imagine how in the world Lee is going to manage with not one, but two emotional time bombs on his team.

    ��Well, if there is anyone who can get a Ninetales and a Sylveon of the same gender to get along, it would be Lee,�� Nigel muses. He resolves to check Battlenet after this and to remind the lab��s PR team to be vigilant for a week or two. The internet is going to have a heyday with this one.

    Moving onto the next email, there are fewer audio logs than expected, but there are a few research papers attached. Again, likely a consequence of Lee being so busy after the volcano incident. After standing to close his office door, Nigel opens the first log and sits back, listening.

    "Log twenty-four, day one-hundred-twenty-one."

    ��It was narrow, but we took the win from the Lavaridge Gym yesterday. I had no idea that Leader Moore was going to blindside us like that, but looking at silver linings, he was an excellent test for me and my team.��

    ��I didn��t expect Grovyle to actually take down Moore��s Rapidash, and I admit I feel a little scummy for doubting him. The plan originally was to have Grovyle essentially be a sacrificial buffer to weaken the first opponent for Octillery. I can��t overstate how continually I��m amazed by him. Grovyle, that is. He��s something else. Taking down a fully evolved, near-elite Fire-type as a middle stage Grass-type? It��s crazy. His air control using Quick Attack is also advancing faster than ever, and he showed that off yesterday with how he continually outran Rapidash��s Flamethrower while avoiding the burning ground. This fight also highlighted his predisposition for cutting attacks more than ever. The Sceptile line has very little natural inclination for Dark moves, yet Grovyle��s Night Slash cut into Rapidash easily. Leaf Blade, X-Scissor, and now Night Slash. Not a bad repertoire of slashing attacks, if I say so myself. I��m thinking we''re going to lean into this strength and see where it takes us.��

    ��I��m still rather frustrated with my poor synergy with Octillery. I��m so used to having the fastest pokemon on the field that trying to transition into Octillery��s preferred fighting style is a pain. He has power in spades, and the accuracy to nail a bouncing Joltik at a hundred yards, but none of that matters if I can��t effectively work with him. His performance in the gym match was stellar despite me choking with our defensive measures. Gunk Shot is a truly heinous technique, and if not for landing it right in Arcanine��s mouth, I��m thinking that the fight would��ve been a complete blowout. Octillery is one intelligent ��mon, so I��m sure between both of us, we can figure something out.��

    ��Ninetales�� Well, I��m sure that you saw the fight. Ninetales and I are as in-tune as we can possibly be, so I don��t have much to comment on there. This did show me how higher level pokemon can resist more esoteric forms of attack, like Confuse Ray, Baby-Doll Eyes, or being held aloft with telekinesis. I can say with no exaggeration that Ninetales�� Confuse Ray is officially too dangerous to use on weaker pokemon at full power. We haven��t tested it much considering the unpleasant effects it has on targets, but Nine��s Confuse Ray has gone from being discombobulating to sending weaker targets into full-blown seizures. Sources and research papers I read say Confuse Ray can��t cause permanent harm, but I think it��s better to err on the side of caution here. Until I can study the effects to confirm that it��s not causing irregularities to the autonomic nervous system of targets, we��re saving full power Confuse Rays for emergencies.��

    ��Like with Ty. Arceus damn, what a monster. He barely even flinched.��

    ��Baby-Doll Eyes is�� a really weird one. I thought that the attack induced muscle weakness via involuntary relaxation, but I��m getting inconsistent results with tests. Sometimes the targets relax against their will, other times their muscles stay tensed, but they simply aren��t able to bring all of their strength to bear for a reason I don��t readily understand. Ugh. Fairy-type. It��s times like these that I��m glad Ninetales is a Kantonese Ninetales, and not an Alolan one. A fox that doubles as a portable air conditioner would be great, but not if it means dealing with Fairy nonsense all the time.��

    ��Alolan Ninetales, huh?�� Nigel blinks and pauses the recording. Turning to his other monitor he types the species name into a search engine and digs for several minutes. ��Huh����

    Alola does have its own species of Ninetales! Lee mentioned it in another log, but Nigel didn��t have time to look. There is even less about them than the already mysterious Kantonese Ninetales, and only a handful of Alolan Vulpix have been confirmed to be owned by trainers. There are even fewer confirmed Ninetales captures. If Nigel is reading right, then the white fox species is even more elusive and temperamental than their Kanto cousins.

    ��Sometimes I forget that Lee is filled to the brim with secrets and trivia you��d never find anywhere else.�� Nigel shakes his head. Oh, how he��d love to study Alolan pokemon habitats to see what causes so many regional mutations. ��I need to go to Alola at some point,�� Nigel resolves to himself. ��Maybe I��ll drag Lee along. He already has a knack for troublesome foxes, so maybe he can nab an Alolan Vulpix to study,�� he says, resuming the playback.

    ��Brendan and Zinnia have been sticking close to me, apparently worried since all three of my active battlers are recuperating in the Pokemon Center. I never really considered the cultural angle of having no battle-ready pokemon on hand. I guess it��s kind of like conceal-carrying a gun back home. Some people do it for so long that they feel a bit nervous when they do without, wondering about ��what if�� scenarios. I myself owned a pistol, but I rarely took it with me anywhere, and thankfully never needed to use it in self-defense, so I guess I don��t really know what that feeling is like. Also, I��ve still got Shinx, and although she is nowhere near the level of the rest of the team, I don��t feel unsafe having just her. Her Thundershock has to hurt like hell.��

    ��Not too much more to say for this one. Lee, out.��

    Nigel plays the next one.

    "Log twenty-five, day one-hundred-thirty-four."

    ��Corvi came back.��

    There is a short pause broken up by a joyful, disbelieving laugh.

    ��Corvi actually came back. On his own. I can��t�� I can hardly believe it. The worry over him has lessened over the last few weeks, but never totally gone away. I came back to our hotel room to find him and Ninetales talking. He��s like a changed pokemon! He actually let me touch him, something he never allowed before. Oh man. After letting him inside and getting him some dinner, I had Ninetales act as a translator so I could understand him word-for-word as he explained what he was up to.��

    ��It��s�� Well, Corvi��s story is a personal one, and not really mine to tell. I��ll just say that my theories about him having a trainer before me were correct and leave it at that. His tale does explain why he acted the way he did, though. It was enough to satisfy Ninetales, so I think just about anyone would understand why he did what he did. Hoooo�� Okay, I��m getting a little too excited here. Let me back up and try this again, or I��m just going to end up rambling�� What was I saying again?��

    A scratchy ��caw!�� fills the lull in the recording.

    ��Right, right. Anyway, I gave Corvisquire a check over, and I��m happy to say that he is still in great health. He��s roughly at the same level of combat ability he was before he left, so he probably has a bit of catching up to do with Grovyle and Ninetales, but that��s nothing he can��t handle. I admit, I��m a bit surprised that he didn��t evolve while he was away. He was on the cusp back in Mauville, and he still is today. Curious. Regardless, I��ll be revising his diet and adding him back into our training routines soon.��

    ��Regarding the rest of the team, I��m currently brainstorming a new technique for Grovyle. Grass is a type of somewhat poor defensive capabilities, so to counteract that, I��ve been wanting to create an energy-draining technique similar to Absorb or Drain Punch for Grovyle, one that he can use with his Leaf Blade. I figure that rather than try to bulk-up a pokemon not known for being bulky, it would be better to play to Grovyle��s strengths, namely his speed and proficiency with cutting attacks. With this hypothetical ��Drain Blade�� in his repertoire, Grovyle should be able to endlessly dance around his opponents as he cuts them to ribbons. Our initial tests have produced some results, but it��s going to need a lot of refinement before it��s ready for live combat. I��m hoping that we can use Grovyle��s understanding of Absorb as a starting point for this technique, and to facilitate that, I��ve been having him drive a Leaf Blade into newly felled lumber, then using Absorb on the same piece of lumber. My hope is that he can begin associating the two attacks together, and the focal point of Absorb will migrate to the edge of the Leaf Blade.��

    ��Not much to report with Shinx. She��s steadily outputting more voltage each day, and she��s certainly cemented herself as the leader of the group��s younglings, despite being the youngest of them all. She��s making use of different cries for different instances and scenarios, so if you��re comparing her to a human baby, she��s in the toddler stage where speech starts emerging. I might be mother-henning a little, but I still want to hold off for another week or two before I begin to actively look for battles for her. She��s done well in spars with Grovyle, who can shrug off her electricity and safely divert her physical attacks, but I still want her to firm up a bit more before throwing her into a real fight. I should��ve taken a picture of her face when I pulled her aside one afternoon and told her she doesn��t need to be a fighter if she doesn��t want to. I��ve never seen her look insulted before. I guess that also confirms that her grasp of human speech is maturing as well.��

    ��Octillery, I��m still trying to make plans for. He has such a wide array of techniques with the capacity to learn more, but I am still not good enough to command slower pokemon effectively against trainers of equal or greater skill than myself. I initially thought, ''Well why even bother? Let��s get him a technique to facilitate faster movement, like Aqua Jet,'' then dismissed the thought. I don��t know if a shortcut like that will do us any favors in the long run. Otherwise, it��s business as usual for Octillery. He is still as voracious an intellectual as ever, and hungers for stimulation. I''ll admit, I broke Battlenet��s rules on ��pokemon sock puppet�� accounts and let Octillery make his own so he can peruse the site without using mine. Thankfully, he��s very opsec conscious and tends to keep to himself. He learned quite quickly that it��s useless to argue with morons online, even if he��s right about whatever he��s talking about. He certainly learned faster than I did as a teenager.��

    ��He��s not the only one who has been doing some reading. After our win at the Lavaridge Gym, a number of groups reached out to us, and one of them was a cabal of trainers who own their own Ninetales. I got the invitation from Kabu, a gym Leader all the way over in Galar, and the place is run by a Pokemon Master called Lokoko. I swear I��ve heard that name somewhere before, but for the life of me, I can��t remember it.��

    There is the sound of an exasperated sigh over the recording.

    ��Anyway, Ninetales�� temper has been especially short here recently, so I reached out to Lokoko for advice. We had a very enlightening discussion, and I can certainly see why Lokoko is referred to as a Pokemon Master, as she had some unique insight on the Ghost, Psychic, Fairy, and Dark types. A large part of our discussion revolved around the psychology of Ninetales as a species, however. She had�� a few interesting things to say.��

    Nigel leans in slightly, listening carefully.

    ��According to Lokoko, trainer fixation is just something that Ninetales is going to experience, and constant telepathy is only making things worse. She advised that we don��t use our telepathy any more than needed, or we face a serious risk of becoming a gestalt entity.��

    Pausing the recording for a second, Nigel narrows his eyes in thought. ��A gestalt?�� he wonders to himself. ��Like a Dugtrio or an Exeggutor?��

    The concept of a gestalt entity is not something completely unknown to pokemon academics, but neither is it well understood. The hows and whys of things such as identity or consciousness are still purely theoretical. For all the resources and advancements in the fields of medicine and science, the inner workings of the conscious mind for both man and pokemon alike remain largely a mystery. Even with the aid of expert psychics, it all rapidly hits a dead-end that traditional science simply isn��t equipped to handle. After a certain point, things simply become indescribable to any who haven��t experienced it firsthand.

    Feeling a touch uneasy, Nigel resumes the recording, hoping that Lee provides his own insights.

    ��I�� The thought of breaking what Nine and I have is unthinkable, Nigel. Even if we don��t speak a single word to each other, just knowing that she��s there is reassuring in a way I can��t put into words. It��s an affirmation that I��m not alone, that someone else out there is real. There are still some days where I think I��m back on Earth, and this is all just a wonderful hallucination before I die, and then I feel Ninetales and I know this is the real world.��

    A long pause, then Lee begins speaking again.

    ��I��m not a philosopher, or psychologist, or anything like that, so take the following with a grain of salt. You know, we rely on our hands, our eyes, and our ears to perceive the world around us, and we simply have to trust that they are correct. What if they aren��t? What if what we see and what we hear is not the same thing other people see and hear? What if we��re missing something entirely? What if we��re missing everything? In a way, the only thing we can ever know is true is our own existence. The telepathy between Ninetales and I, though, is proof that more exists beyond the sanctity of my mind. It takes away a weight, knowing for certain and on all levels that I��m not alone. It��s a kind of weight I don��t think people even realize they��re carrying, at least until it��s pointed out to them.��

    ��Neither of us can go back to living without that��without each other��Nigel. I��m really hoping that your psychic expert can offer some kind of alternative, otherwise Ninetales and I might have to figure this out on our own.��

    ��Jumping backwards a little bit, I had to sit and think on the gestalt bit Lokoko mentioned. I know the definition, that a gestalt is something that is somehow more or different from the sum of its parts. It��s a loose definition with a lot of room for interpretation, and that��s probably why I��ve seen so many people attribute the word to so many different things, or even use it wrong during some independent research. By some definitions, Ninetales and I are already a gestalt, if you count the telepathic bond as an integral part of our beings. I get the feeling that Lokoko was referring to something different when she used the word, however. It seemed to have a more dire meaning. I know that fanciful fictional stories of the Lovecraftian sort�� Wait, Lovecraftian isn��t a genre here, is it? Stories about cosmic and existential horror sometimes deal with the concept of fusions and gestalts. They often depict it in the worst way possible, where the components that make up the resulting entity are miserable and devoid of individuality. That can��t possibly be what Lokoko was talking about, was it?��

    ����This turned kind of grim and gloomy, didn��t it? Well, Lokoko also mentioned that a hobby is a good way to ease a Ninetales out of a fixation, so we went out and found a bookstore that piqued Nine��s interest. She��s got the mind for history and political intrigue, so a book retelling the fall of the Johto shogunate caught her eye. I��m already saving up for a house with a full library in it, because I know I��m going to need it. She��s turned into a bibliophile overnight.��

    ��I think that��s everything relevant for this one, so�� Lee, out.��

    As the recording ends, Nigel can��t help being left disturbed, the talk of new pokemon techniques overshadowed by Lee��s musing about the mind. There is a slight crawling to his skin as he thinks over Lee��s words and admissions, questioning about how anyone can be certain of the world around them. Such a line of thought never occurred to Nigel, and after having it thrust upon him, he finds that he doesn��t care for it. Something about Lee and Ninetales�� relationship still seems unhealthy, but now doubts gnaw at the professor. He notes down the recording, resolving to get the relevant parts to his loaned psychic, Anabel.

    Nigel��s thoughts then turn to Anabel: master of the Battle Tower, natural-born empath, and the young woman who is going to be meeting Lee and Ninetales in just one more week. The teen girl is famous the world over not only for her team of Elite pokemon, but for the empathic powers she possesses. With her amazing psychic gift, she can telepathically communicate with all of her pokemon, making battling her a daunting prospect to say the least. If anyone can understand what Lee and Ninetales are experiencing and offer them appropriate help, it would be her.

    ��Took her long enough to get ready�� But I suppose I can��t complain, considering Scott is letting me borrow Anabel for free.�� Nigel sighs as he thinks of his old frenemy. Not wanting to dwell upon Scott or Lee��s disquieting words anymore, he moves to the next recording.

    "Log twenty-six, day one-hundred-sixty-five."

    ��It��s been two weeks since the volcano. I��m sorry for not recording recently, Nigel, but�� I just haven��t had my head on straight for what feels like weeks now. I��ll try to keep this one brief and relevant. I know you probably don��t want any extra shit.��

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ��We left Lavaridge a week ago, and we''re stopping at a small border town to rest for a day or two before we continue on to Fallarbor. We��re planning on meeting Zinnia��s tribe near there, then taking a bit of a sabbatical to train for a while. By the time we get there, all of our pokemon should be back in decent shape. Octillery is mostly recovered from the confrontation with Magma, but Ninetales and Grovyle are different stories.

    ��Poor Grovyle�� Camerupt��s Flamethrower burned away large patches of his skin across parts of his body, and the resulting scar tissue and misshapen scales are leaving him stiff. The scars are fading with time and treatment, but they won��t fully clear up until he evolves. This has left him with diminished maneuverability, and by Arceus, it��s frustrating him something fierce. I��m working with him every day and providing physical therapy to speed up the recovery, but I know that he��s not going to be satisfied with the pace. He should be back to a hundred percent in a few weeks.��

    ��Ninetales�� She took a fully-powered Eruption from Camerupt, lodging a spear of superheated rock into her chest. If I ever meet who created the modern pokeball, I need to thank them, because without the stasis-like effect pokeballs have on a pokemon��s physical body, she would have died within minutes.��

    There is a weak shudder, barely audible in the recording.

    ����I��If she had died, I think the shock would have killed me.��

    Professor Birch��s blood runs cold.

    ��Thankfully, the rock missed her heart, but it irreparably destroyed about ten percent of her left lung, and the temporary damage that she��s still healing from has left her with diminished lung capacity all around. She��s getting over it, but it��s going to take another two or three weeks before she stops being short of breath.��

    ��As with last time, there��s not much to report with Shinx. She hasn��t been sleeping very well recently, and I think the gloomy atmosphere is what��s causing it. Thankfully, she didn��t seem to be having nightmares, and I��m fairly certain that she is ignorant of what happened on the volcano. According to Ninetales, pokemon have to actively try to see outside of their ball, and I don��t think Shinx is quite capable of that level of focus yet. I��m quite glad for it, because she frankly didn��t need to see what went on up there. I��m also going to try looking for actual battles for her. I can only hope I don��t intimidate the kinds of rookie trainers who would be a fitting match for Shinx.��

    ��Moving on to lighter things, I guess if you haven��t seen it already, Corvi evolved. Heh, he��s really something else now. Nine-foot-ten, and over seven-hundred and seventy pounds. He��s enormous! I think one of the things that appealed to kids back home about pokemon was the idea of being friends with big monsters, and Corvi scratches that itch perfectly. Also, I had no idea that flying on pokemon-back was so fun. This is going to open a lot of doors for us. On the not-so-bright side is the food cost. Corvi is taking in over twenty-five thousand calories per day, and that��s on days where he��s mostly idle. On days where he��s battling or training, he��s eating thirty to thirty-five thousand calories without overfilling. This trainer business is getting expensive����

    Nigel cracks a smile at the levity. ��Lee, you have no idea.��

    ��On the topic of my aching wallet, I also placed an order of TMs for my team to the tune of over a hundred grand. My last TM deal with Silph Co was lucrative enough that they want to do another run, and want something new to copy. I��ll be heading back to Mauville in a week or two for that, and I was thinking I might also visit a few breeders to see about getting my sixth team member. If all the stars line up, I can get a bulky fighter who also has some utility use, like Heal Pulse or something. I think that��s the biggest gap in my team currently.��

    ��That��s all for this one. Lee, out.��

    The next log is dated for yesterday, several hours after Lee acquired his Sylveon. Nigel clicks it, curious to find out why on earth Lee would adopt a Sylveon.

    "Log twenty-seven, day one-hundred-seventy-six."

    The log opens rather quietly as Lee is practically whispering, so Nigel has to turn up the volume for the rest.

    ��Sixth member acquired. Sorry for whispering, but I��m currently in a hotel room in Verdanturf and my pokemon are asleep around me after a meet-n-greet. I didn��t get the pokemon I expected, but it could have turned out worse, I suppose. Like I said in my last recording, I took the time after visiting Mauville to go down my short list of pokemon breeders. After I missed a potential deal on a pair of Eevee brothers in Slateport, I got a referral for a place in Verdanturf, where I met one Evelyn McGarden. Her ranch had quite a selection of pokemon, but after all was said and done, I left with her Sylveon. Apparently, Evelyn had been looking for someone to take Sylveon for a while, and begged me to take her away from the ranch.��

    ��It��s a bit of a sad story, and I��m only mentioning it because I think it might be relevant to future notes on Sylveon. Apparently, she was a breeder at the ranch for over thirty years, and fell in love with a ranch hand who treated her especially well.��

    ��When she evolved for him, that ranch hand made the decision to get out of Dodge.��

    Nigel does a full body flinch. ��Oh����

    ��Evelyn�� wasn��t really sure how to handle things from there. She��s a fantastic pokemon breeder and caregiver, but having to deal with a broken-hearted Fairy was a tall order. I admit, I didn��t want to take Sylveon at first. I said that I didn��t want to risk my team with a potential weak link, and then she revealed that Sylveon knows Wish, and has Pixilate as her ability.��

    A long sigh comes from the computer speakers.

    ��Damn it all. Her story had me hooked and it hurt saying no, but I wasn��t at all prepared for Sylveon to be everything I was wanting with the exception of her baggage. I ended up agreeing. Already, I can tell this is going to be a challenging one. I��ve made a few notes that I��ll take photos of and send along with this log. I would scan and digitize the notes, but I don��t want the noise of the scanner to wake everyone up. I��ll give a brief summary of my findings so far. I��m sure that I��ll have more to report.��

    ��Firstly, Sylveon either has no faith in her ability to read humans, or is literally incapable. I��m not sure which, yet, but I��m leaning towards the former. While we settled in and began to relax in the hotel room, she seemed awkward and unsure of where she should be. I told her that she can relax on the bed with myself, Nine, and Shinx, but the point didn��t seem to get across to her. I tried again, this time being more literal with my words, and that seemed to help, but only so much. Initially, I likened her apparent non-understanding to autism, as she displayed several key symptoms in the communications area, but when I reached a hand out and let her touch it with one of her ribbons to activate her touch-based empathy, everything I said came across just fine. This problem doesn��t exist with pokemon, as she was able to converse with the rest of the team without issue. If this is the worst of her problems, I��ll count myself lucky.��

    ��What am I saying? It��s never that easy����

    ��In regards to her physical state, Sylveon is going to need a fair amount of TLC to turn herself around. Currently, she��s underweight and malnourished from self-deprivation, as according to Evelyn, Sylveon refused to eat full meals for over a year. I��m already in the process of devising a proper menu for her, and it��s going to be a tricky one. Nutrition for a Fairy-type seems to place just as much emphasis on emotional stimulus and state of mind as it does physical need, so to that end, I��m going to devise a meal plan that is especially tasty, as nutritious as I can make it without sacrificing flavor, and on a rotating schedule to prevent palate fatigue. For now, the grain and meat omnivore mix that I use for Ninetales seems to be fine, as Sylveon got most of a bowl down with some encouragement.

    ��Trying to keep the peculiarities of Fairy-types in mind, I didn��t want to jump straight into a physical, and decided to groom her first. Sylveon allowed me to give her a thorough grooming, but held my wrist with a ribbon the entire time. She seemed uncomfortable at first, but the discomfort eased after the first several minutes. Afterward, I think she was a touch embarrassed that someone ten years her junior was nurturing her.��

    ��Oh, I suppose I forgot to mention. Sylveon is thirty-six years old, making her the oldest member of our whole traveling group. It feels a bit strange that one of my pokemon is older than I am.��

    Nigel��s memory goes back to his father��s Ludicolo, who was actually his grandfather��s starter. When Granddad settled at home to be a family man, he asked his Ludicolo to keep an eye on his son, and Ludicolo interpreted that as ��Go on his journey with him.��

    Dad always lamented that having ��Uncle Ludi�� with him on the road made things weird.

    ��Anyway, after a good grooming, she let me poke, prod, and measure her. She turned and asked Ninetales if I��m always like this, and Nine laughed in reply.��

    ��Ninetales�� She��s been surprisingly onboard with Sylveon joining. I really expected a lot of conflict to arise, but Nine��s been keeping a tight leash on her jealousy recently. That��s not to say that she wasn��t a little jealous tonight, but she kept to herself. I asked, and Nine had this to say. Quote: ��Our situations are not the same, but that does not mean I cannot sympathize. If you, Lee, ran away from me out of fear, I do not think I would��ve held up quite as well,�� unquote. It was�� Hrm. I don��t have a good way to describe it. I don��t want to say I��m surprised with a levelheaded response, because that implies that Nine is more hot-tempered than she actually is. I��m not going to jinx it by talking about it more, I��m just going to enjoy the peace while it lasts. Tomorrow, I��ll be flying back to the Draconid territory, and I imagine that my hosts aren��t going to be pleased that I brought a pokemon known for hunting dragons back with me.��

    ��There hasn��t been much in the way of significant training breakthroughs with the rest of my team sans Grovyle and Octillery. Grovyle once more blew me away with his mastery of Leaf Blade a day ago. After thinking about some half-remembered book that Ninetales was reading, I realized that Grovyle could really refine his technique with some formal�� well, technique. I asked him to bend his Leaf Blade forward so that he could grip the actual blade and manipulate it by rolling his wrist, and he immediately grasped just how much of an improvement doing such a thing provides to his control. I would like to scrounge up some time-tested sword fighter manuscripts and see if anything could be adapted for Grovyle��s use.��

    ��Octillery, meanwhile, got the honor of being the first member of the team to try out one of his TMs. I taught him Psychic, and we put our heads together and came up with a solution to his mobility problem. His tentacles don��t allow him to move too quickly on land, but what if he wasn''t using his tentacles? Instead, we decided to go with a cushion of telekinesis that he can sit on and manipulate, letting him skate around the battlefield. He used this trick to great effect in a battle with Zinnia��s Swablu-turned-Altaria, taking the win. He doesn��t have the earth-shattering psychic power that Nine does, but Octillery��s telekinesis started off with some rather fine control, and I can only imagine that both his control and power are going to get better. Telekinesis is practically his new favorite toy. I didn��t want to alter how he fights naturally at first, but Octillery doesn��t seem to share that sentiment.��

    ��I do think I awakened some kind of demon in him, though. He��s really been eager for his next TM. Did I mention that this pokemon training stuff is expensive?��

    ��That��s it for this one. Lee, out.��

    As the final recording ends, Nigel rubs his face with a sigh. ��You really can��t resist attracting trouble, can you, Lee?�� he mutters. He leaves the research notes attached to the email alone for now, instead navigating over to Battlenet to see if anyone has discovered who Lee��s sixth team member is yet. ��The Internet never sleeps, so who knows��?��

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    ?FlyingMagiKarpet

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    @O_Parker (Verified Trainer) For real. Ketchum��s Pikachu glassed the whole arena so Flannery��s Torkoal couldn��t step anywhere without shredding his feet. They turned a weakness into an even bigger weakness. Not even Torkoal��s new Flame Burst move could help. Pikachu was too fast and the fight was over after that.

    <hr>

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ?Contest Circuit General ?Top Picks

    ?Borsht11

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    @Orbulon That shit was so pretentious it just gave me a film school degree.

    <hr>

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Rumors and Hearsay ? Eco Terrorists?

    ?K_Kole (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    The magma and aqua gangs were reclassified this morning by the PLDoJ. No idea what happened, but it��s suspicious that there was a total lockdown in Lavaridge just weeks before this suddenly drops.

    <hr>

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Pokemon Hunting ? Aron/Lairon/Aggron

    ?J_Abdi (Pokemon Ranger)

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    It looks like whatever was preying on the Aron in the Granite Cave has moved out and has been gone for a while. It should be safe again, or at least as safe as can be expected.

    <hr>

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Indiv Trainers ? Lee Henson

    ?Noirpg

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    @Yu_Nou_Gud Fake and gay. Go take a bath with a Magnemite you pinhead.

    Ah, there it is. Nigel can already see that this is going to be a fun one. Opening Lee��s thread, the professor grimaces at the number of pages and realizes that he��s got a lot of backlog to get through. Resolving to do that later, he looks at the posts that arrived just this morning, because there are a lot of them.

    ��I guess the Meowth is out of the bag. Or the Sylveon is���� Nigel clicks his tongue and begins reading.

    Topic: Official Lee Henson Megathread

    Threadmark #4: Lee��s 6th Pokemon

    In: Boards ? Hoenn ? Indiv Trainers ? Lee Henson

    ?JankyFranky_EX

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    I can put the sixth pokemon debate to rest. I live in verdanturf and I saw the same humongous Corviknight the other guys saw with Lee in slateport and Mauville. He flew to the outskirts of town towards a pretty high end breeding ranch called Greener pastures. I followed as best I could but by the time I was getting there he was taking off. I managed to pull my phone out just in time to see Lee returning a Sylveon to a ball before leaving. Evelyn McGarden the lady who runs the place has a Sylveon. Or I guess she had one not anymore picture attached

    Edit: first ever thread mark nice.

    [914200xx0302.png]

    (Showing page 239 of 245)

    ?KazuoKandy

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    @JankyFranky That picture is really grainy. Are you sure that��s him?

    ?Jaaace

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    @KazuoKandy I��ve got a pretty clear picture of them in Slateport that you can compare Janky��s to. Looks like a pretty close match to me. [CLinSP.png]

    ?UNDERMAN!

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Fuck you this loser is a ringer and you can��t deny it now. The entire hoenn league is a sham because they pull stunts like this.

    ?P_Trundale (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Holy shit it is them. Where 2 find rare poke magnet?

    ?Jaaace

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    @P_Trundale Bro I don��t know if I would be envious. @L_Henson is going to have a lot of weirdos in his DMs soon.

    ?Flying_TA_5455

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Holy miltank, I��ve just come back and this Lee is a heck of a trainer. Looking at all of that Corviknights footage I can tell that while it seems of decent breeding the specific hight and wingspan tells me it��s mostly TLC that got it going. I gotta see if he��s willing to enter a breeding contract.

    ?mothslover1012

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Arc, a Sylveon? Think he can help a sister out and share his strategy to find so many rare ''mons? He doesn''t seem like the type to use lure and incense and all the expensive crap. Are we sure he''s not just got connections? I''ve spent literal years searching for Larvesta to no luck and how long has he been on the circuit now?

    ?BlueRibbonsOnly

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Greener Pastures? That place is up there as far as breeders go. You have a referral or a known rep as a good trainer, or don''t bother even calling. I tried to get on the waiting list for a Growlithe there, and they wouldn''t even talk to me until I won a half dozen first place contests without a reference. Love my Solaire more then life itself, but I could have bought a condo for what he went for.

    ?D-Actual

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    How could Henson just get a Sylveon of all mon��s? There��s no way in hell there isn��t some under the table shit going on here. You don��t just pick up the rarest Eevee evolution in your first months as a trainer. Seriously first a Ninetails now this!?

    ?Lopunny_Pancakes

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    A Sylveon? Are we certain that Henson isn''t planning on entering the contest circuit? I mean every single pic I have seen on here has shown that his team are absolutely gorgeous specimens of their species. And look at his team members! Even ignoring Ninetales (I practically cried when I saw she got hurt somehow?!?! But even still she pulls off the Wounded Beauty look like none I''ve ever seen!), his (newly evolved?) Corviknight is just the picture of a gallant dark warrior, stoic with gleaming armor and mighty presence! And now a Sylveon, perhaps one of THE most legendary of the Eevee line when it comes to performances! I am almost convinced here that as soon as he finishes up the gym circuit, however that might go, it will all have turned out to just be a warmup for him taking the Contest circuit by storm!

    (Showing page 240 of 248)

    ?AlmostSane

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    A Sylveon is a wonderful addition to Henson''s team as it compensates for various weaknesses, but the degenerates will of course ignore this fact. I''m sick of all the weird behaviour online whenever someone catches any pok��mon that''s... ''cute''. It''s unfair to both the trainer and pok��mon to keep making these inappropriate comments, and can genuinely be damaging in some cases. Grow up.

    ?Specc-time

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Adding to this, me and Metang spent a dozen minutes or so on this topic. I thought the rumours were just false, but the website for Greener Pastures Breeding and Boarding Services has had a recent page update relating to their Pokemon tally. There''s no official notice yet, but It''s exceedingly likely that this is the Sylveon that Lee has just acquired. On that note, how often do people frequent that breeder? I don''t live nearby so I don''t have a good tally on local affairs (nor can I go and check). And both of us don''t want to be attributing some random trainers acquisition to these ongoing rumours of Mr Henson.

    ?Trainer4Fun

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    @UNDERMAN! Got any evidence to support that claim? I swear, you losers come out whenever anything good happens to anyone. Ringer this, league plant that, waah waah waah. Just because you failed your dreams of being a bigshot league champion doesn''t mean you need to go all conspiracy theorist over an eevee.

    ?Mikoto_H (Verified Trainer)

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    I hope mister Henson will have the capacity to bring a Fairy to their best. If the rumors of his telepathy with miss Ninetales are true, then he might have an advantage if she can translate Sylveon''s thoughts. However, the mind of a Fairy is fickle. After all, there is a reason why fairy specialists are so rare and that''s because taking care of a Fairy is much more than just their physical health.

    ?CorrodedSteel

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Oh Corviknight, my beloved. Henson''s knocked my Corvi out of the top 10 big bois. Also, thank Arceus that he has something I hard counter. He is still going to melt me and mine, but now I know I can beat one ''Mon if I face him. But a Sylveon adoption? Holy crap, I wish him well. But it''s also Lee Henson, and if someone could pull that off, it''s that dude.

    ?Leafeon_L0ver

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Wait, Henson managed to grab a Sylveon? From momma McGarden? I know it''s a ribboneon and not a Leafeon, but she''s famous for any eeveelution fans out there! Any pokemon that''s come from her farm has serious potential.

    ?MurkrowInWaiting

    Replied On September 14th 20XX:

    Has anyone seen those recent pictures of Henson''s Ninetales? The fur shaving patterns are pretty indicative that she suffered some sort of penetrating chest injury, maybe something that collapsed a lung. Someone noted that she''s not been very active when seen. Some sort of career-altering permanent cardiopulmonary injury, maybe? She''s shown so much sheer power, it''s hard to imagine what kind of Pokemon could hand her that level of injury that wasn''t an Elite''s and Henson has no battle of that sort on his public record.

    ��

    ERROR LOADING PAGE. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER.

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    <hr>

    Closing the website, Nigel shakes his head. ��Forget finding drama, Lee throws himself into it headfirst.�� The professor huffs out a single laugh, one tinged with a bit of despair for the coming headaches. ��The Academic Board better give my lab another grant for this.��

 Act 2: Chapter 24

    "Twenty-eight, twenty-nine��"

    The tape measure in Lee''s hand maxes out, refusing to budge any further at thirty feet.

    Meanwhile, the ribbon wrapped around the fingers of his other hand still feels as if it has much more slack to give.

    "Thirty feet, at least." Lee smiles and lets his eyes follow the ribbon back to its owner, who is sitting on the other side of Zinnia''s backyard and holding the other end of the tape measure in her teeth.

    Across the way, Sylveon wears a bemused expression, just as she has with all of Lee''s other tests. The expression is shared by Zinnia and Brendan, who are sitting on the weathered wrought iron patio furniture by the back door of the house.

    ''Her ribbons just keep extending, seemingly generating new material from nothing! No lights and no sounds to indicate excessive TE usage, so this must be an instinctual skill that most, if not all, Sylveon possess. Is it a property of Fairy TE, perhaps? Could Nine or Octillery learn this trick?''

    Lee is already imagining Nine extending her namesake tails across a whole battlefield, manhandling a foe without ever needing to stand. ''If we could combine that with Iron Tail��''

    Crash!

    Screeeech!

    Lee and Sylveon aren''t the only ones busy in the backyard. Near one corner, Ninetales and Grovyle clash against Corviknight in a steady rhythm, tail and blade vs. wing.

    Grovyle is throwing himself into the swordsman manuscripts provided to him. It took some time and research to find what would fit best with his long, katana-like Leaf Blade, but, with Ninetales'' help, they picked out a fitting style: one where, as luck would have it, the writer used a sword of unusual length with a single hand, similar to how Grovyle uses his blade. Some bits had to be translated, and they''ve yet to read the whole thing, but the opening lessons on wrist exercises and the inherent pratfalls of such an unusual style were already bearing fruit. Grovyle''s stance is sure and steady.

    Nine, meanwhile, used her Iron Tail TM earlier this morning before they arrived back at the Draconid village. The knowledge imparted by the TM turned Ninetales'' cumbersome and rather useless Iron Tail into something much more practical. With Lee helping her modulate her Steel TE output, she''s been able to utilize the attack in two different ways so far.

    The first by wrapping all of her tails tightly together and using Iron Tail as a great club. This was borderline instinctive, but Lee definitely heard the little voice in the back of Ninetales'' head scoffing at the idea of using such a ''lowbrow'' technique.

    And secondly, hardening the tip of a single tail with Steel TE and using it as a spear.

    The latter has proved much more difficult than the former thanks to the fine control required, which is why Ninetales is practicing it now.

    In the middle of the two, Corvi stands tall with a handful of scratches and dents in his armor. Taking a deep breath, the great corvid spreads his wings slightly. Seemingly from nowhere, motes of light-blue light manifest and gravitate towards him, seeping through his feathers and into the skin beneath. In just a handful of seconds, the scratches on his armor fill themselves in and the dents push themselves out.

    Corvi exhales sharply, his wings growing slack for a split second before he pulls them back into his sides.

    Ninetales wasn''t the only one who decided she was ready for a new TM. Corvi learned Roost earlier this morning, and, in typical tough guy fashion, decided that letting his teammates whale on him is the best way to practice a self-healing technique.

    On either side of Corviknight, Ninetales and Grovyle tense.

    Ninetales holds her steely, silver-tipped tail like a scorpion might, the spear-like weapon quivering in anticipation. Her chest rises and falls more harshly than Grovyle''s, the recuperating lungs beneath still aggravating her.

    On the other side, Grovyle holds his humming blade perfectly still, mirroring the stance depicted in his manuscripts perfectly.

    Then, at an unseen signal, both explode into movement, lashing out like vipers the instant Corviknight is in range.

    Bang!

    Screeech!

    Nine''s strike puts a conical dent in the obsidian armor protecting Corvi''s wing, and Grovyle''s Leaf Blade throws sparks as it drags down the opposite wing. Once both Nine and Grovyle bleed off the momentum of their leaps, they jump back and reset, waiting for Corvi to heal the damage.

    Baby Shinx isn''t totally left out either. The kitten sits in the shade by the side of the house, panting and taking a break from her own workout, one Lee is proud to say that he came up with himself.

    Sitting before Shinx is a small, industrial fuse box fitted with replaceable fuses. From the box comes a pair of electrode clamps, which are secured to each of Shinx''s ears. The first three fuses in the box are popped, destroyed by Shinx''s electrical output, but the last two are rated for an impressive amount of current, remaining stubbornly intact despite Shinx''s best efforts.

    Shinx rises to her paws again, and with a growl, she clamps her eyes shut and lights up her whole body with a crackling coat of electricity, dumping everything she has into the second-to-last fuse. Cracking open an eye, she looks at the unbroken fuse and redoubles her efforts, arching her back with a yowl of fury.

    Pop!

    The fuse burns out and pops.

    Shinx cuts off her electricity and leaps for joy, her face lit up in victory. In her happiness, she totally forgets about the electrode clamps to her ears. One slips off, but the other one yanks her ear painfully, drawing a yelp from her.

    Sylveon is at Shinx''s side in a flash with the aid of an expert Quick Attack, forcing Lee to drop his tape measure before it recoils and whips him in the knuckles.

    At the same time, Mawile bursts from her ball on Brendan''s belt, leaping to aid Shinx, only to stop when she realizes she''s been beaten to the punch. Mawile''s face swiftly transforms into an ugly glare.

    "Mawile!" Brendan groans. "Not again! I told you, just play it cool for now and we''ll figure everything out later!" he says, taking Mawile''s ball from his holster and recalling her in one move.

    Sylveon doesn''t pay the dematerializing Mawile any mind, too busy using her ribbons to take the clamp off Shinx''s ear.

    ''�� At least it''s not Ninetales that Sylveon is beefing with,'' Lee sighs, bending over and picking up his tape measure. ''Small blessings�� I don''t know how Mawile is going to handle the sudden competition for her niche, though. Sylveon has been doing this for thirty years, and Mawile isn''t any older than ten.''

    Lee jogs up to the back porch of Zinnia''s home, scooping his notebook up off of the patio table. He turns to Sylveon''s section and pats down his pockets, searching for his pen. "Dammit, don''t tell me I lost another one."

    Zinnia rolls her eyes and clears her throat. "Your feet, Dolittle," she says, pointing at the ground.

    Lee looks down, and sure enough, it appears as if he dropped his pen in his haste. "Oops."

    As Lee retrieves his pen, Zinnia shakes her head and looks over toward Sylveon, who stares back pensively. "You know, it took some time to sink in, but you really did bring a Fairy back into a den of dragons. You got some brass ones to pull a stunt like that."

    "Stunt?" Lee asks, leafing through his notebook''s latest page and beginning to write his findings down. "I know I''m probably violating some kind of unspoken protocol for outsiders, but I didn''t take Sylveon for that explicit purpose. Her prior trainer simply wasn''t equipped to care for her."

    "I''m sure some will understand the kindness, but definitely do not go around advertising that you have a Sylveon," Zinnia warns, leaning forward slightly. "It might scare off punks, but it''s practically wearing a wailing siren to anybody who''s anybody around here."

    Lee shakes his head. "Wonderful," he grumbles, jotting down his last note and closing his notebook. "Any news on those talks that the elders were having?"

    "None yet." Zinnia shrugs apologetically. "Like I said, it''s probably going to take a few days. I have faith in Granny''s ability to convince the other two, but it''s going to take time. If we''re lucky, it should only be another day or two."

    "Works for me, I suppose." Lee pulls out one of the chairs around the patio table and sits himself down. "Once we''re in the stronghold, am I going to be able to leave? I''ve been skipping out on my therapist too much, and I''ve got an expert who is going to help with a side study of mine I need to meet."

    Expert is an understatement. Once Nigel confirmed that he was able to acquire her services, the professor informed Lee who exactly would be on their way.

    Anabel, one of the Frontier Brains.

    The Battle Frontier is an odd place mired in the murky waters of semi-independence, and Lee had to send Ninetales into the deep end of that political maze simply because of how it made his head spin.

    On paper, the Battle Frontier is a massive, luxurious resort for the rich and talented that doubles as a free economic zone for Hoenn, but in reality?

    The Battle Frontier is a rogue state.

    They mint their own currency, they have their own laws and charters, they control their own seas and airspace, they collect their own taxes, and they have all the firepower of a full region despite being a fraction of the size.

    The last point is the most damning one. Scott, the owner and CEO of the Battle Frontier, has a large number of Elite level trainers and a Champion level trainer on payroll. Which is why no one can really do anything about Scott''s shenanigans.

    Each of the Frontier Brains are the elite of Elites, no questions asked, but Pyramid King Brandon, widely acknowledged as Champion material, overshadows them all. Owning a Regirock, Registeel, and a Regice, the man holds the record for the most legendary pokemon captured by a single trainer, and rumors are circulating that he captured a fourth legendary pokemon sometime recently.

    Of the other Frontier Brains, Anabel is the closest one to matching Brandon''s prowess.

    ''And she''s coming here next week,'' Lee thinks. ''Damn.''

    "You have to have someone escort you to and from the stronghold," Zinnia says apologetically. "It''s only accessible by air, and without a dragon with you, someone might mistake you and your bird for an intruder."

    Lee simply shrugs, having expected that. "Fair enough. Is there anything you guys need from Fallarbor? I''ll be flying over to meet with Mable after lunch."

    Zinnia shakes her head, but Brendan chimes in. "Yeah, can you get me a fresh bundle of Oran berries and a Sitrus if you can find one?" he asks. "I used up my last Sitrus trying to get my team''s food to taste right, and I''m nearly out of Oran."

    "Maybe cut back on training that water cutter move and Marshtomp wouldn''t need so many Oran for his sore throat," Zinnia dryly interjects, looking at a number of deep gouges in her backyard.

    Brendan has the good grace to appear mareepish.

    Reopening his notebook, Lee jots Brendan''s request down, then turns to his pokemon. "Great work everyone! Let''s call it for now and get some lunch in you!"

    Ninetales and Corvi perk up, gladly disengaging at the prospect of food, and while Grovyle hides it better, he still powers down his Leaf Blade a little bit faster than usual. Shinx practically teleports into Lee''s arms at the call, leaving a flabbergasted Sylveon behind.

    ''How does Iron Tail feel, love?'' Lee sends to Ninetales, adjusting the purring kitten in his hold. He can feel the ache in the tip of a tail that he doesn''t own. ''Getting the hang of it?''

    Ninetales lets out a tired huff. ''I suppose I am. I believe there is quite a ways to go before I can realize any of your daydreams, however.''

    Oh. Nine must''ve caught some of Lee''s stray thoughts. He definitely imagined Nine wrapping herself in her own tails and using Iron Tail, turning her luscious fur into thorny armor.

    ''What can I say? Iron Tail is a versatile technique,'' Lee replies, giving Shinx one last stroke across her head before setting her down. In short order, he makes his way to his backpack, which is leaning against the side of the house, and pulls from it six saran-wrapped food bowls, one of them twice the size of the others. ''Having nine extra limbs to fight with is going to be invaluable down the line.''

    ''If you say so,'' Nine says back, too focused on her upcoming lunch to give Lee''s words more thought.

    <hr>

    Lunch is unfortunately a little bit tense, as all of Zinnia''s team gaze distrustfully towards Sylveon, who doesn''t seem to notice as Lee spends the entire time encouraging her to eat. Brendan''s pokemon, being the team players that they are, stand between the visibly disgruntled Mawile and Sylveon, letting both fairies eat in peace.

    Once everyone''s food has had time to settle, Lee recalls his pokemon sans Corvi, saddles the great raven up, then flies off for Fallarbor. It takes Corviknight a mere ten minutes to fly all the way to Fallarbor at a leisurely cruising speed, and Lee is once more mystified by how easy traveling is on the back of a pokemon.

    Corviknight touches down just outside of the Fallarbor Pokemon Center and kneels, letting Lee dismount.

    "Thanks, Corvi." Lee reaches up and strokes the raven across his metallic beak. "I hope I''m not bugging you too much, having you fly me everywhere."

    A disapproving croak rumbles from Corvi''s throat paired with a sidelong stare, telling Lee to stop that line of thinking immediately.

    "All right, all right." Lee smiles and takes out Corvi''s ball. "I get it."

    Corviknight nods once, then is sucked back into his ball for a rest.

    Lee exchanges Corvi''s ball for Nine''s, then taps the button, popping open the sphere and releasing his ace. Once she blinks the spots from her eyes, she gives Lee a reassuring smile and a soothing mental hug, chasing away his prickling nervousness.

    Stepping inside of the Center, Lee and Ninetales ignore the people turning to look at them and instead head down one of the side hallways leading out of the lobby. They turn a corner, find meeting room number three, and pause as Lee raps his knuckles on the doorframe.

    "Come in!" a familiar voice calls from within.

    Lee takes a deep breath, then opens the squeaky door.

    Inside, Lee and Ninetales find a smiling Mable, sitting in her chair with a pad of paper on her crossed legs. "Lee, Ninetales, it''s wonderful to see you two again!" she exclaims, bright smile widening. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. I know we''ve got a lot to catch up on."

    "It''s good to see you too, Mable." Lee smiles right back, meaning every word. As he sits on the couch across from his therapist, he glances around the room, and finds it to be the exact same as all of the other meeting rooms they''ve used in past Centers. ''Seriously, do the Pokemon Centers standardize this room in particular?''

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    Ninetales hops up after him, draping herself across his lap and focusing her eyes on Mable. However, Lee can feel her mind beginning to wander.

    ''Speaking to Xatu, probably,'' Lee realizes.

    "So!" Mable claps her hands together once, making the charm bracelet on her wrist jingle. "How have you been doing, Lee? It''s been quite a while since our last talk, and I understand that you''ve been up to quite a lot recently."

    Lee leans back on the couch, trying to gather his thoughts. "I''m�� I''m doing really well, all things considered. I understand that Nigel or someone else informed you about everything that happened in Lavaridge?"

    "I did get one such email, yes." Mable nods. "But I''d like to hear things from your perspective if that''s okay."

    Breathing out a harsh sigh, Lee slowly combs his fingers through the fur of Ninetales'' back, prompting her to lean into him. "Yeah, sure. Team Magma and Aqua, the gangs that recently got reclassified into terrorists, I know what they''re up to, and what their ultimate goals are. Stupidly, I decided �C "

    "Unwisely," Mable suddenly and firmly interrupts. "You are not a stupid man, Lee, even if you made a bad decision. Call it unwise, if you must, for wisdom is something that comes with experience."

    "��Unwisely, I decided to get caught up in trying to stop them, and despite having so many resources, I put my friends and team in unnecessary danger," Lee continues. He stares down at the scuffed toe of his boot for a moment, then returns his eyes to Mable''s. "We figured out that Magma was doing something up on the volcano and directly confronted them. We�� I didn''t expect their leader, Maxie �C"

    Ninetales openly growls at the name.

    "�C To show up, or to be willing to kill us." Lee pauses, finding his mouth dry as he remembers everything. "He overpowered all of us, he used his Claydol''s psychic powers to�� To pilot his Camerupt like a meat suit, keeping Camerupt going long past the point of falling apart. That Arceus-damn Claydol was even pinching Camerupt''s wounds shut and keeping his shattered bones in place! I-I didn''t expect that someone would ever be willing to do something so�� So��" Lee can''t find a word extreme enough and stumbles over his speech. If not for Ninetales in his lap, he would have risen to his feet in fury.

    Mable''s face transforms into a deep frown, but she listens dutifully.

    Taking a deep breath, Lee calms himself and gathers his thoughts. "He nearly killed us��" Lee murmurs, wrapping Ninetales in a loose hug, letting him feel her heartbeat. "He nearly killed Ninetales. If we didn''t figure out his little trick at the last second, we all would have died."

    Mable nods slowly. "I''m so sorry that you were forced to endure such a thing, Lee," she says quietly. "This is a fact of life that pains me more than any other, but sometimes people are simply cruel and twisted. If I can have a wish, just one, then it would be for such people to become well again."

    "Heh��" Lee shakes his head. "It would surprise the hell out of me if he was ever sound in the first place. I don''t know what can twist somebody that much."

    "Are you having any flashbacks, or nightmares?" Mable asks gently, quietly writing something on the pad in her lap. "It sounds like you already understand how to avoid such an unfortunate situation in the future."

    Lee shakes his head. "No, no flashbacks or anything. I''m doing my best not to dwell and to just keep going forward. In a fucked up, roundabout kind of way, maybe Maxie did me a favor."

    Mable, who was opening her mouth to reply, instead stops, a hint of bewilderment on her face. "Can you elaborate for me, Lee? I''m afraid I don''t quite understand."

    "Well��" Lee licks his lips. Dammit, what is it about talking to Mable that always makes his mouth dry? "I''ve just been aimlessly bumbling along as a trainer, and scared to death of doing anything that would attract attention to us �C my team, that is. I didn''t like pokemon battling when I first became a trainer, and if I''m being honest, I still have mixed feelings on the subject. If I could have someone else fight all my battles for me, I would, but the fiasco in Lavaridge taught me something."

    The dusky-skinned therapist remains quiet, letting Lee talk.

    Lee shakes his head with a rueful smile. "I have to be responsible," he says, poking himself in the chest with a finger. "I''m responsible for my own safety, I''m responsible for the safety of my pokemon, and sitting around wishing I wasn''t doesn''t do anything." He punctuates every point with a tap of his finger. "I''ve got the means and the resources to make sure that my pokemon and I aren''t victims ever again, and I just refused to use them! Well, not anymore. While I was sitting there in the Pokemon Center waiting room in the wake of all the aftermath, I decided that I was done, that I''m not going to mope and complain. No!" Lee exclaims, making Ninetales jump slightly.

    The zoologist smiles, and damn it feels good. "We''re just going to be better. I am going to be better. I still want that peaceful, idyllic life with my pokemon, but now I know it''s not just going to drop into my lap. We''re going to be strong, work towards the life we want, and it''ll be all the sweeter when we get there. I won''t let anything get in the way."

    As the last word leaves Lee''s mouth, he stops and replays what he just said in his head, his face turning red as he realizes just how unbearably corny the speech Mable elicited was. ''Arceus, if you''re merciful, you''ll smite me where I sit before I die of embarrassment.''

    ''That was hardly embarrassing!'' Ninetales interjects, looking at Lee with disbelief. ''Lee, I felt you speak straight from your heart! It''s not something that you can �C ''

    Ninetales is interrupted by slow, steady applause.

    On the other side of the room, Mable is positively beaming. Her hands come together in one last clap before she folds them in her lap. "I was worried, you know," she begins, smile still in place, "worried that you would have regressed or had problems after we missed so many sessions together, and I am overjoyed to be proven wrong. I knew that there was a confident, capable man beneath your exterior. This is such a momentous leap forward, goodness me! I should''ve known from the beginning, because it was like watching a different man walk in here."

    "A different man?" Lee questions, pushing away his embarrassment. "How so?"

    "How so?" Mable seems incredulous. "The Lee Henson I met so long ago was a shy, unsure man who was letting his demons weigh him down. He looked to the floor, spoke quietly, twiddled his fingers and then some. You walked in today with your head held high and without so much as a moment of hesitation. I heard you walk up to the door and knock on it immediately. Last time, you waited for almost a minute before coming in."

    ''Shit. Did I really?'' Lee blinks and recalls the last distant therapy session. ''I did��''

    "It hurts me down here," Mable says, putting a hand over her heart, "that you had to go through yet another horrible ordeal, but you bounced back with such strength that it''s blown me away! I''m convinced that there''s nothing in the world that can keep Mister Lee Henson down!"

    Lee looks away, embarrassed once more. "I don''t know if I would go that far�� But thank you for the vote of confidence."

    Mable reins in her giddy happiness, returning to placid professionalism. "Anytime, Lee. Anytime. So, you feel as if you''ve come to terms with everything that''s happened in Lavaridge, correct?"

    A nod is Lee''s answer. "Yes. I can''t really do anything about the past, so I''ll just count my blessings and be more prepared next time."

    The therapist gestures forward with her pen. "Well then, how about you take the lead for a while? What would you like to talk about?"

    ''Here''s hoping she agrees,'' Lee thinks, considering his words carefully. "This might be a little outside of your scope, Mable, so feel free to decline, but do you think you can help me with��" He hesitates to call the telepathic connection between himself and Ninetales a problem. "... I don''t want to call it a problem, but it''s in regard to the telepathic bond between Ninetales and myself, and if possible I''d like to have a three-way meeting between you, me, and a natural telepath I would be working with."

    Ninetales perks up once more, apparently pulling out of her conversation with Xatu to listen. Her red eyes shift between Lee and Mable.

    "I''ll be happy to lend my expertise if I can." Mable nods, her pen scratching at her notepad. "What''s this not-problem you seem to be having? Is it in regards to Miss Ninetales'' trainer fixation?"

    ''So she has been speaking with Xatu about it this entire time,'' Lee realizes. He''s been avoiding Ninetales'' inner thoughts since they stepped into the room out of a sense of privacy.

    "That, yeah��" Lee confirms. "We spoke with a Pokemon Master who specialized in the Ninetales line, and she advised that we cease using telepathy with each other, or Ninetales is just going to get worse."

    Mable raises an eyebrow. "My darling Xatu is a telepath, and I can certainly see how the talent would prolong trainer fixation, but to make it worse?"

    Oh.

    It hits Lee that he has never explained just how deep the telepathy between him and Ninetales goes. As one, he and his fox lock eyes before turning in-sync to Mable.

    "About that��" Lee wonders just how to explain this. "Ninetales'' telepathy has evolved beyond simply sending and receiving words. It''s tied us together deep, very deep. So deep that we can no longer disconnect or tell where one side ends and another begins. By the loosest definition of the word, Ninetales and I are a gestalt."

    The woman sitting across from Lee has learned of nuclear bombs, listened to a man lament his vivid death, heard stories of loss and grief, and none of that phased her. As soon as she hears the word gestalt, though, her eyes widen.

    "Each side can feel the other''s emotions, hear their thoughts, feel their bodies, share their senses," Lee continues on. "As we sit here, without me focusing, I have a vague, fuzzy awareness of Ninetales outside of my own senses, just as she does for me. If I do this," he says, reaching over and pinching the tip of one of Ninetales''s tails, "I can feel it. It''s like phantom limb syndrome, or mirror-touch synesthesia."

    It suddenly strikes Lee how it no longer takes focus for he and Ninetales to share their senses, and how doing so causes no discomfort anymore. Just a few months ago, sharing Vulpix''s vision made his head hurt and his stomach turn. Now? It''s as easy as breathing.

    Lee recovers from his own revelation and resumes speaking. "When Lokoko, the Ninetales expert I was referring to, warned us about the possibility of becoming a gestalt, I got the feeling she was referring to something much more sinister than what we have currently. I don''t want anything to happen to Ninetales and I, but neither can we just stop. I don''t think we''re physically able, which is why I''m asking for your help, Mable."

    For the first time ever, Mable appears stunned. In record time, however, she recovers and schools her face back into a professional smile. "My, oh my! It''s not every day I''m not prepared for something!" she exclaims, bouncing back from her shock. "I would be delighted to help. This does push the boundaries of my qualifications a bit, but a brand-new learning experience isn''t something old Mable is about to shy away from! Let me know when and where, and I''ll be there to help as best as I can."

    Both Lee and Ninetales smile as one. "Thanks, Mable," Lee says, inclining his head. "It means a lot to us."

    The woman waves away the thanks. "Oh, think nothing of it. I told you, Mable Lane does not stop until her patients are as well as can be. Is there anything troubling you about the situation?"

    "Only the possibility that Ninetales and I might have to��" Lee hesitates to say the word. "Disconnect."

    Even entertaining the notion feels wrong on a visceral level. For a split second, Lee''s entire body grows cold, and he definitely feels Ninetales shiver slightly.

    "And we''ll take a look at that bridge as soon as we get there," Mable says. "Let''s rewind things a little. Have you been feeling down recently about Earth and your old life?"

    A slow shake of his head is Lee''s answer. "No. I still think about it sometimes, but already it seems like it was a lifetime ago. I still miss my family, my zoo, and everyone in between, but it''s more of a background thing now. I have trouble believing it''s only been six months." He frowns. "Sometimes I worry that I''m forgetting everything too fast, though. It''s left me feeling somewhat guilty."

    "Hmm��" Mable hums in thought. "Time sure does fly, doesn''t it? You shouldn''t totally forget your time and experiences on Earth. Your memories are an important part of who you are, but neither should you let the past pull you down." A sudden thought seems to strike Mable, and she smiles. "Lee, about that wonderful idea you had during our first meeting��"

    <hr>

    The sun is beginning to set when Corviknight swoops in for a landing just outside the front door of the Littleroot Pokemon Laboratory. Tucking his stiff wings in, Corvi kneels and allows Lee to hop off of his back.

    "Still think I''m not a bother?" Lee jokes, rubbing a hand across the downy feathers of Corvi''s chest.

    The massive bird gives his trainer the stink eye and defiantly shakes his head. Lifting his wings slightly, Corvi casts Roost on himself, drawing in sky-blue lights that seep past his armor and ease the aches of the cross-region flight.

    Lee huffs playfully. "I knew Roost was a good pick," he says, doffing his scarf and flight goggles, which are stuffed in his jacket pockets. Lee then rubs a hand across his face with a grimace. ''Euh. Even with the scarf I still have wind burn. I guess an all-day flight does that.''

    "Holy-! He''s even bigger in person!"

    Turning around, Lee is treated to the sight of Nigel Birch gaping at Corviknight, who puffs up proudly.

    "Too bad Corvi isn''t a chicken pokemon, or I''d have a real dumb joke to make" Lee grins and steps towards Nigel. "It''s been a hot minute since I''ve seen you in person, Nigel. How are you doing?"

    "You adopt a Sylveon and give the PR guys a ton of work to do, and you have the gall to ask me how I''m doing?" Nigel rolls his eyes, but his small smile tells Lee the man isn''t serious. "At least we''re getting a funding increase from the Academic Board for it. Having three pokemon with a research value index over a zero-point-eight between two lab trainers is really getting their attention."

    Lee furrows his brows. Why does the Academic Board insist on their weird value systems? "Three? I know Nine and Sylveon are two of them, but who''s the third?"

    "Brendan''s giant Electrike."

    "Ah." That makes sense. "Any idea what you''re going to use the funding increase on?"

    "We are definitely expanding the ranch grounds," Nigel says, pointing to where the ranch behind the laboratory meets the tree line. "You and Brendan are attracting new trainers to the scene, and our boarding capacity is starting to get low. If we don''t expand, I''m going to have to adjust the boarding prices for trainers without sponsors, and I''ll let you guess how well that will go over."

    Lee cringes. "Oh. Yeah, that sounds like drama the lab doesn''t need."

    Nigel nods with a sigh, resting his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. "Hopefully we can do everything in time. The Rangers need to survey the land we intend to expand into and confirm there''s no protected pokemon there, the town auditor needs to review the land deed and resize the parcel, the contractors need to come out here and actually build the extended facilities�� I''m hoping it''ll be over sooner rather than later." Nigel then raises a hand and points in another direction, back towards the corner of the ranch grounds. "The stone I mentioned is in the northeast corner of the ranch. You don''t need to worry about any of the pokemon touching it. I''ll have Medicham, uh�� Let them know what it is," he finishes awkwardly.

    His cheer dying down, Lee smiles and gives Nigel a grateful nod. "Thanks for letting me do this here, Nigel. It means a lot to me."

    The professor simply pats Lee on the arm. "When you''re done, meet me at my house, okay? You can stay the night with us. My wife has been dying to meet you anyway."

    As Nigel makes his way to the jeep parked beside the laboratory, Lee takes a deep breath and reaches down, tapping the button of every still-occupied pokeball on his belt.

    Pop!

    Pop!

    Pop!

    Pop!

    Pop!

    Ninetales, Grovyle, Shinx, Octillery, and Sylveon join Corviknight outside of their capsules, each one emerging in their own flash of light.

    Ninetales, who already knows what''s happening, steps forward and presses herself into Lee''s side, lending him her warmth and support, drawing stares from the others.

    "C''mon guys and gals," Lee murmurs, "we''ve got just one more thing to do today."

    Taking point, Lee leads his pokemon forward, leaping the fence and making for the corner of the lab ranch that Nigel pointed at. As they walk, the ranch pokemon still out and about during the evening hours quietly move out of their path. There is no fear or apprehension from the pokemon who see Lee and his team.

    Today, there''s only melancholy.

    The northeast edge of the fence leads into a wooded area, where bird and insect pokemon watch the group march past from above, sometimes flitting away when Corviknight''s head gets too close to their branch.

    As they walk, Lee hears Sylveon murmur a question to Grovyle, too quiet for a human ear to hear, but personally audible to Ninetales.

    Grovyle answers Sylveon''s question with a low, mournful warble, making the Fairy go quiet.

    Finally, they arrive, and Lee brings the group to a halt.

    Before them is a featureless boulder, utterly plain and unassuming.

    "Grovyle?" Lee asks over his shoulder. "Can you get us a nice, flat face to work with on this thing?"

    The Grass-type steps forward, extending and palming his Leaf Blade. His yellow eyes inspect the stone closely, then with a flash of movement �C

    Shink!

    �C his Leaf Blade cleaves through the face of the boulder at a diagonal angle, slicing off a thin chunk that shatters when it hits the ground, and leaving behind a perfectly flat face.

    Lee rubs a hand across Grovyle''s head as the lizard retracts his blade, making Grovyle look away bashfully. "Nine?"

    ''Yes, Beloved. I already know the words.''

    The vixen steps forward, bringing a tail to bear as she hardens the tip with Iron Tail. Bringing the tail forward, she drives it into the face of the stone and begins to carve. Letter by letter, word by word, a mournful message takes shape. When the final word is done, Ninetales steps back, allowing everyone to see what she wrote.

    In memory of all who are no more.

    Loved and never forgotten.

    Born again, I live for you.

    Here in this charmed place.

    Lee''s very being hurts, and the world seems to fade from his vision.

    Almost immediately, Ninetales returns to Lee''s right, pressing herself to him and burying her head in his side.

    Grovyle leans into his trainer''s left, visibly fighting with himself, before wrapping an arm around one of Lee''s.

    Shinx jumps into Lee''s arms, cuddling into his chest without so much as a sound.

    Corviknight wraps a great black wing around them all.

    The two outliers, Octillery and Sylveon, stand in front of the group and stare at the words.

    Octillery''s expression shifts constantly, as if he''s not sure what he''s supposed to be feeling. From calculating, to indifferent, to frustrated, before returning to calculating.

    Then, as if Arceus descended to reveal a great secret to him, Octillery turns and stares at Lee, comprehension dawning in the cephalopod''s eyes, before that too is gone. Finally, he settles upon an expression of practiced sympathy, just barely masking the intense curiosity within his eyes. He shuffles close, wrapping a comforting tentacle around one of Lee''s legs.

    Sylveon, meanwhile, reads the words over and over again, as if doing so will reveal some hidden knowledge. After the tenth rereading, nothing changes, and one of her ribbons snakes its way into the sleeve of Lee''s jacket, wrapping securely around his wrist.

    The Fairy suddenly stiffens as if electrocuted. Great shakes wrack her body, and she lets go. Staring at the ground as if the dirt at her paws wronged her, she shuffles backwards until she is standing between Lee''s legs, and leans into his knee, ever so slightly.

    The warmth of his pokemon returns Lee''s senses, just a little, letting him read the inscription once more.

    In memory of all who are no more.

    His family, his friends, his animals, his entire world. It''s gone, and will never come back. It''s all been reduced to nuclear ash. Sometimes, he still expects to wake up, choking upon dust and bereft of purpose.

    Loved and never forgotten.

    Oh, how it agonizes him to admit it, that he''ll never get to make new memories with the ones he loved, but�� Is it all bad? Those memories aren''t gone. They''ll be with him forever.

    Born again, I live for you.

    ��No. No, it''s not all bad. Someway, somehow, he cheated death and now lives while everyone else has perished. If he does nothing with this chance, it''s practically spitting upon everyone who didn''t get the chance.

    Here in this charmed place.

    Lee blinks, suddenly realizing that his pokemon are all huddled against him, warding off the chill of the evening with their bodies. He looks down, left, right, and even up. In every direction, he sees naught but faces looking at him with love and support.

    Love and support from his new family.

    A smile crosses Lee''s face, and with the hand not holding Shinx, he dabs at his eyes. ''Charmed place, indeed. Nine must be making me flowery. I guess its - no. No guessing. I know it''s time to let it all go.''

    All at once, the ache in Lee''s chest is gone, and the man is left feeling lighter than air. "It''s good to be home," he breathes.

    Together, they all stay until the horizon swallows the sun''s last ray.

 Act 2: Interlude 5

    After the solemn silence at the memorial, Lee takes everyone back to the Birch household for the night. After dinner, Corviknight and Octillery retreated into their balls to rest, leaving Ninetales, Grovyle, Shinx, and Sylveon to follow Lee and Nigel to the den, where the two men now talk.

    The atmosphere within the Birch home is one that Sylveon is familiar with. Warmth, laughter, and merriment were hallmarks of the ranch where she spent most of her life, even if enjoyment of such things has eluded her for what seems like forever.

    "No��" Lee leans forward with a grin.

    "Oh yes." Nigel mirrors Lee''s grin. "One of the few vending machines around that still takes coins, and he tries to put a washer on a string in it! You know what happened after that? A Porygon popped out, mad as a Beedrill and with a Tri-attack already charged! It''s a good thing he was wearing dark pants, because I''m sure he wet himself!"

    Both men laugh, though Nigel stifles his mirth to take a drink from the glass held in his hand.

    Sylveon can hear it. There is a difference in her new trainer''s voice. She twitches an ear from her place leaning against Lee''s chair. It suddenly sounds as if there is true levity within his words, that he is happy, where he was weighed down before. Her ribbons twitch, and she longs to wrap them around Lee''s hand to see if her guess is correct. Instead, she looks at Ninetales, who is lying across Lee''s boots.

    Despite having been with the team for a few days, it is clear Ninetales is the right-hand of Lee. The fox is a firestorm on four legs and��

    ��And the other piece of Lee, just as Lee is the other piece of her.

    The fairy felt it the first time she and Lee made contact, the dull thrum of emotions not his own. Sylveon''s thoughts immediately went to mental illness. Did this man suffer from BPD, or some form of schizophrenia? As far as she was concerned, it would be par for the course for a man.

    No. Then she realized the emotions actually weren''t his. They belonged to Ninetales.

    Then she felt the constant undercurrent of love flowing between them, and she was gripped with a horrific jealousy. How dare they? How dare they flaunt her greatest desire in her face like that?!

    For many years, she lived at the ranch with no illusions about what she was doing. She would pick a viable suitor, allow him to mate with her, then birth kits. She cared not if her one-night stand bothered to stay around. She was solely interested in mates who would give her the best kits.

    Oh, her darling kits�� Each one had grown up too fast. It was as though every litter would look at the world beyond the fence with wanderlust faster than the previous. Sylveon cherished every single one of her children, and set her standards for trainers looking to adopt as high as could be reasonable.

    Then he came, and showed her that other forms of love exist.

    Her thoughts had become murderous.

    Sylveon cannot even think his name. Should she try, her stomach will fall to her paws, her heart will turn her rib cage inside out, and she''ll be so sick she cannot even see straight.

    She loves #&%$ more than anything.

    She hates #&%$ more than anything.

    How dare he show her a world she knew not, only to rip it away?! He should suffer! The woman who took him should suffer! They should all be crushed and broken in her grip!

    How in the world could she be so foolish? How could she think that his petty platitudes, tender touch, that smile she would die to see just one more time were real?

    Ever since that day, the only sensation she''s felt throughout her body is cold. It''s as if her blood was replaced with ice water, and it drives her mad. No amount of blankets or sunlight or nights spent before the fireplace makes it go away. So often she''s been tempted to leap into the ranch fireplace if only to feel some new sensation.

    She loves #&%$ more than anything.

    She hates #&%$ more than anything.

    Yet, if he came back, Sylveon would love him again in a heartbeat. Her chest is so tight she can barely breathe. Why did he leave her? Why did he do this to her?

    The fairy shakes the homicidal impulses away. No. She shouldn''t be focusing on him right now. Other things are afoot. Taking a deep breath, Sylveon turns her blue eyes up to Lee.

    His smile seems unburdened.

    His eyes seem�� to smile?

    His��

    Sylveon gives up. Try as she might, the human face is an enigma. Instead, she looks down to the ribbon that she wrapped around his hand several hours prior.

    Her ribbon is still quaking.

    The things she felt in that scant moment are burned into her for better or worse. The instant they made contact, she felt everything.

    Despair.

    Loneliness.

    Grief.

    DespairLonelinessGriefDespairLonelinessGriefDespairLonelinessGrie �C!

    It was like the moment she learned that he abandoned her. The intensity was unspeakable, and she was rooted in place as the emotions of her new trainer ripped into her like razor claws, piercing her down to the bone.

    So much was gone.

    Everything was gone.

    It was as if the world had come to an end.

    At that moment, Sylveon knew that she had found someone that understands what she felt that day as she was forced to endure the emotional surge. It was as if her nerves were dunked in acid.

    Then something unbelievable happened. It all began to recede, and something else took its place.

    Happiness.

    Belonging.

    Acceptance.

    Love.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    The last one nearly took Sylveon''s breath away. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the rest of her new team huddle close, holding the wounded man who took her away from the ranch. Without even meaning to, she joined them. Despite the chill of the evening, just being against his leg filled her with warmth.

    The fairy gulps, once more looking up at Lee, taking in his smile and listening to his voice as he strokes Shinx, who dozes in his lap.

    That pain, that horrific pain, the same kind that still torments Sylveon�� Does Lee carry it no longer?

    Can one actually recover from such an ordeal? But�� The loss of something he loved is what caused everything, isn''t it? How did he do it? It doesn''t seem possible.

    Letting out a quiet breath, Sylveon lays her head upon her paws.

    In her chest, something flickers, pushing away the perpetual cold that has plagued her, if only a little.

    ''Is that hope? What could I possibly have to hope for?'' Sylveon wonders, swallowing bile that suddenly rises into her throat. ''How dare you do this to me, Lee Henson?''

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Shinx isn''t quite sure when things began to make sense. It was recently, but not too recently, and Papa''s gentle fingers combing through the fur of her back make it difficult to focus.

    It doesn''t matter. What matters now is things are beginning to reveal themselves to her, beginning to connect together in a way she understands. All of the flashes and snippets of days past are beginning to line up in order, each one clear and vivid. Before they were like dreams, with no one seeming to relate to one another, but now she knows the difference between the dreams and her own memory, even if those dreams are too captured in her head. Armed with things like words and numbers, all her past experiences come into sharp focus.

    There were the earliest ones, where she was her smallest and weakest. She was in a warm place, utterly secure, and everything before that was a stupor. She did not know where she was, as that was a place without sight or words, but she knew Mama was nearby, looking out for her. That knowledge was all Shinx needed. Time moved forward.

    Mama would take Shinx far and wide. Some days, she would go ten ten ten ten steps or more, and as time went on, she would take less. The decrease was gradual.

    Then Mama began to breathe wrong.

    Mama''s breath and heartbeat lulled Shinx in and out of a dreamless sleep as the place she resided began to grow small, so the disruption was immediately apparent. Unease filled her. She squirmed, pushing against the walls around her. The noises Mama made in reply were soothing, but it did little to ease her.

    Mama would continue to breathe wrong, and it would get worse without getting better. Then Mama began to stumble a lot. The place where Shinx was would then be bumped and tossed around often, and Mama only got worse from there.

    Then one day, after Mama and Shinx settled somewhere, after only ten tens and nine tens worth of steps. They came to a rest, and the steady heartbeat that had lulled her to sleep so many times fluttered��

    And stopped.

    For exactly seven and ten tens of Mama''s regular heartbeats, Shinx was alone, and she knew it. Shinx''s home then began to spasm, and her instincts screamed. Whatever is happening, it''s not yet time! This is not right! Not right!

    The entire world shifted.

    Light!

    Cold!

    Noise!

    The air was ice and drove needles into her lungs. The light was blinding, and it was all she could do to keep her eyes shut. The breeze howled in her ears, and agony shot through her skull. She tried to open her mouth and cry, but all that came out was a whisper.

    Shinx has no idea how long she lay there, but the light of the sun eventually stopped battering her eyelids. Then she heard great thuds upon the ground, followed by a gasp.

    ''Oh my stars! What on Arceus'' green earth happened here?!'' said a voice. It was Leo who had found her.

    Warm hands picked her up, and she was taken away.

    ''I don''t know, Leo��'' the voice of a woman said. Shinx remembers her. She said her name was Evelyn. ''If this Shinx lives through the next week, it''ll be a miracle. Whatever you do, please don''t get attached. Something tells me she will be joining her mother soon.''

    No. No, Shinx doesn''t want the thing that happened to Mama to happen to her! She won''t go!

    Over the next few days, Shinx would force herself to stand upon unsteady legs and finally see the world around her, all without Mama. The first thing she ever saw was Leo staring down at her in amazement.

    Her chest hurt, and although she didn''t know the word at the time, she was heartbroken.

    ''I went back to give that Luxio a proper burial, Eve,'' Leo solemnly said into his glass rectangle one day. ''She was awful young and sickly, and I think her pregnancy did her in. She must''ve used the last bit of life she had left to make it to the edge of my property. She wanted somebody to find her cub.''

    The words were confusing, but the tone was not�� It only made Shinx''s chest hurt more.

    She wanted Mama. Sometimes, she would stand by the door of the ranch house and cry ugly tears, hoping Mama would appear, but she never did. All that ever happened was Leo picking her up and shushing her. Then she tried using Leo''s glass rectangle. It can let you talk to people who are far away, right? Maybe Mama can be summoned that way? On the rectangle, there were symbols that one would need to touch to make the rectangle do its thing. She tried every combination she''d ever seen Leo press, each one two and ten presses long, but she only ever heard confused humans on the other side.

    ''Sorry Eve!'' Leo whisked the rectangle away from Shinx when he found out one afternoon. ''I have no idea how she guessed your number. I guess I''ll put a lock on my phone.''

    From thereon, Leo''s rectangle needed four more presses at the start, but they were always the same, and Shinx learned them just as she learned the other presses. Leo then started guarding his rectangle with more jealousy.

    Leo was good to her, but he had so many other babies that Shinx fell by the wayside. He fed her, cared for her, and looked out for her, but so many other pokemon needed his attention, too.

    Two and three-ten times they would go from the ranch house to the market, and after watching some of her surrogate littermates disappear in the arms of a human, she understood what was happening.

    Those pokemon were getting new parents! Oh, she liked Leo, but she wanted more!

    Shinx never missed a chance to be front and center. She memorized exactly where to stand on the house porch to be the first in Leo''s ''truck'', and where to be in the market pen to be best seen.

    She was small and weak, though, and thus overlooked. The hurt in her chest grew day by day.

    Then Papa came, and her life changed forever.

    The people of the market parted around him as he stepped forward to speak to Leo, with a Vulpix upon his shoulder that Shinx would later know as her new Mama.

    When she met Papa''s eyes, Shinx knew what it was like to be wanted.

    When she was held in Papa''s arms, Shinx knew what it was like to be loved.

    When she was adopted by Papa, Shinx knew what it was like to belong.

    He fed her, cared for her, made time for her, dedicated himself to her, and Shinx cannot ever love him enough. The hurt within her chest finally went away. She looked him in the eye and burned his face into her memory.

    Then came Mama. Her new Mama.

    Where Papa is soft, Mama is stern. She rules the team with no question, like a queen in a coat of gold that Shinx dares not disobey. Yet, Mama is not without her tender side. Her eyes are sharp and her words sharper, but cuddling in the safety and security of her tails is a privilege Shinx shares only with Papa.

    Would her old Mama be angry? Upset?

    ''She must''ve used the last bit of life she had left to make it to the edge of my property. She wanted somebody to find her cub.''

    No. No, Shinx doesn''t think so�� She''s gone. She did all that a Mama can.

    Shinx blinks her bleary, tear-filled eyes, going back to just a few hours ago.

    Papa said the stone that Mama carved was a ''memorial''. She hasn''t any idea what that word means, but it sounds like ''memory''. Is it something similar? Shinx couldn''t read many of the big words on the rock, but two stuck out to her.

    No more.

    Is a memorial a thing to remember something that is gone?

    She skips backwards once more, to a fateful, one-sided conversation.

    ''You weren''t my first baby, you know? You''re the third. You would have been the fourth if�� things had worked out for the best.''

    ''Zefu and Suburi were like you, these little cubs I helped raise. I loved them like nothing else, but they aren''t�� around anymore, making you my last.''

    Papa''s eyes are filled with melancholy�� No, that''s too tame of an emotion. Shinx has no word for what she sees, but she dislikes it with all her being.

    ''You look just like them, and for a while, I wondered if I made the right choice by taking you, baby girl. Was I trying to fill the hole they have left behind? I don''t know, but I do know I was worrying myself sick wondering if I would do a good job raising you, wondering if you''d get big and strong.''

    Papa''s big blues look down at her, and he smiles.

    ''I love you �C''

    "�CBaby girl?"

    The little electric-type awakens from her half-slumber with a start. Looking up, she sees Papa smiling down at her.

    "Tired, are we?" Papa teases. "It is starting to get kinda late, so if you don''t mind, Nigel �C " Papa looks over to the scruffy man in the other chair, "�C I think I''m going to get ready to turn in. My pokemon seem to agree."

    On the floor, Mama lets out a sleepy huff.

    "Sure thing, Lee," the scruffy man says with a smile. "Let me show you to the guest room."

    Papa rises, taking Shinx into his arms as he does so, and she doesn''t fight the sleep that wishes to overtake her.

    Papa is the best, strongest Papa there is.

    Shinx will be the best, strongest baby she can be.

    Papa will never need another memorial for his babies, or anyone else. She will make sure of it.

 Act 2: Chapter 25

    The following morning, after a pleasant evening spent in the Birch home, Lee gathers up his team, mounts up on Corvi, and begins the multi-hour flight back to the Draconid village.

    Lee takes a breath through the scarf protecting his face from the biting wind, looking down at the landscape below. To the east, Verdanturf passes by as Corvi lazily yaws to the left, following a waterway into the western mountain range.

    ''It all seems greener, somehow,'' he thinks to himself and smiles. ''Hoenn. What a beautiful place to call home.''

    Home.

    Just thinking the word before yesterday made his chest tight and put thoughts of happier times in his head. Home used to be the place where his animals lived and where his zoo stood, and the reminder that it was all gone never lost its harshness.

    Until today, that is. It''s all been put to rest now.

    ''It''s been six months since I died, six months since the whole world came to an end��'' Lee watches a formation of Swablu pass below. ''Half a year. It feels like a lifetime ago. I guess, if you really think about it, it was a lifetime ago.''

    ''Do you regret how things have turned out?''

    So lost in his thoughts is he that it takes Lee a moment to realize Ninetales reached out to him. He blinks and thinks over his answer. ''Regret? No. I could never regret where I am today. I can''t regret meeting you, or the rest of the team, or Brendan and Zinnia. I think I''ll always miss Earth deep down, but sitting and lamenting doesn''t bring anything back. Besides, how can I remain unhappy when I have you?''

    Ninetales is silent, but he can practically feel her smile. Lee definitely feels the warm tide of pride that wells up within her and spills over into him, banishing the high-altitude cold and coating his skin in the sensation of silky fur. ''You''ve grown,'' she says quietly, each word practically glowing.

    ''Aasir once said that if you''re not growing, you''re dying. I think I''ve had enough of the latter for one lifetime,'' Lee jokes.

    The fox shudders within her capsule. ''Please, Beloved. Perhaps not joke in such a manner? It''s grim.''

    Lee pats the ball on his belt, and in doing so, is just in time to feel his phone vibrate in his pocket. ''Jeez, of course I get messaged as I''m thousands of feet in the air.''

    Taking his phone from his pocket with a tight grip so as to not lose it to the whipping winds, Lee squints past the sunny glare on the screen to see who could be reaching out to him.

    Zinnia: final elder debate happening rn. need you here so fly fast.

    Lee''s eyes widen. ''I''ll be damned. It''s about time.'' Apprehension gnaws at the zoologist, but he ignores it. Putting his phone away, he reaches up and taps the transmit button on his radio headset. "Corvi? Can you hear me?"

    The great raven turns his head slightly, peering back at Lee with a crimson eye.

    "Zinnia is wanting us to return ASAP. Let''s put the pedal to the floor!" As an afterthought, he adds, "Not so fast that I fly off, please."

    Corvi smirks and pulls his wings back, forming a delta shape with his body. He straightens out, and then�C!

    Lee isn''t given time to gasp before Corvi rockets forward, easily tripling his speed and sending Lee''s stomach to his toes. The man has to lean his head down and hold his arm in front of his face as a windbreak just to breathe. Hazarding a look forward, Lee sees the beginnings of a sonic cone tickling the tip of Corvi''s beak.

    ''Maybe I should''ve been more specific and said ''not one notch below supersonic''��''

    <hr>

    The man and raven reach the Draconid village in record time, and circle around Zinnia''s house for a landing. Coming in low and slow, they''re just in time to see Brendan''s Breloom perk up from his backyard sunbathing and leisurely head inside the house, probably to inform everyone else of their arrival.

    Corviknight spreads his wings and finally touches down, allowing Lee to free his legs from the saddle straps and stumble to the ground. The man hisses and shakes away the pins and needles that run all the way from his toes to his thighs. After the pain subsides, he takes his phone from his pocket and checks the clock. "I''ll be damned if that wasn''t terrifying, but no one can ever call you slow, Corvi."

    The raven smiles smugly, or at least he tries. The way he tries to hide his panting diminishes his smirk, however. The halfhearted smirk transforms into gratitude when Lee reaches into his bag and withdraws an Oran berry, one that Corviknight takes in his beak and swallows whole.

    "Enjoy the rest, pal," Lee tells him. He smiles, turning to Zinnia''s house. "I think I''m going to need you again soon."

    Corviknight answers with an agreeing croak, readjusting his wings and sitting with a relaxed sigh.

    Not bothering to put away his flying gear, Lee lowers his scarf and radio headset before letting himself into Zinnia''s home. As soon as the screen door slams shut, Zinnia''s voice can be heard further within. "Is that you, Dolittle? Come in here!" she calls.

    Lee''s boots and heavy footfalls make the old floorboards of the house creak as he follows the voice. Rounding the corner to the small kitchen, he finds both Brendan and Zinnia, along with the trio of guests.

    The first is the most recognizable, that being Elder Juniper. The elderly woman is sat at the kitchen table sipping at a steaming mug along with the two unknowns and Zinnia, leaving Brendan to lean against the wall.

    To Juniper''s right is a tall Draconid man with a severe face. His tanned head is bald, and a salt-and-pepper beard covers his square jaw. Much of his body, barring his muscular arms, is covered by tribal hide clothes decorated with marks of red. His narrow, suspicious eyes are locked upon Lee.

    Sitting across from the tall man and on Juniper''s left is another man, who seems to be the polar opposite of the stern-faced Draconid. His short, side-parted hair is graying at the edges, but the only other signs of age on his smiling face are laugh lines. Like his counterpart, he too wears traditional hide.

    "This is the third one, then?" the square-jawed Draconid asks with a rumbly, smoky voice fit for a Dragon. He crosses his thick arms. "Ma hr druknam. I''m not impressed."

    "Come now, Taxus." The other man clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "You are aware of what they say. What are the words in Galarian? To judge with eyes alone is folly?"

    Juniper sets her mug down. "I believe it''s ''do not judge a book by its cover'', Elder Danae."

    The now-named Danae snaps his fingers with a smile. "Yes, precisely. Worthwhile wisdom regardless of tongue."

    The man whom Lee assumes is Elder Taxus rolls his eyes. "They also say that seeing is believing. I see, but I do not believe."

    "Elders, please," Zinnia cuts in with poorly-hidden frustration, "you''ve been arguing for hours. I swear I''m not spitting on tradition for nothing. Lee and Brendan are the real deal, and I need them."

    Taxus snorts, not dignifying Zinnia with a reply.

    "Indeed, Thelban, indeed." Juniper nods, turning from Zinnia and leveling Lee with a smile. "Naraikvejor Henson, we were not expecting you for some time. Your haste is appreciated."

    Lee smiles back and inclines his head, wondering what the strange title means. "Think nothing of it. We did our best not to dawdle considering how important today is."

    Juniper nods, raking her eyes across Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia. "For many hours of many days, Elders Danae and Taxus and I have debated. I believe the conclusion is upon us, but something from you is required."

    "From me?" Lee blinks, wondering what in the world he could possibly have to offer.

    "Yes," Taxus asserts, his already narrow eyes thinning into squints. "Disturbing things we have heard, that the unworthy have achieved Zenvokur: achieved Mega Evolution. You carry with you a telepath, yes?" he asks, staring at Lee.

    Lee nods back grimly, already seeing where this is going. "You want to see it for yourself?"

    "Should you allow it," Elder Danae chimes in. He takes a pokeball from beneath his hide poncho and holds it out in his palm. "Testimony so personal is not a request usual, but�� What is the word? Deadlocked, we are. ''Tis one thing to hear danger, but another to know."

    Frustration flashes across Zinnia''s face as Danae finishes speaking, and Lee doesn''t miss it. ''Is she upset that they aren''t taking her word for it?'' he wonders. ''Or is it something else?'' Lee puts the thought aside for now. Despite Danae''s unusual wording, Lee gets the gist of what the elder is saying. ''He wants to see memories of the fight with Maxie to validate everything that Zinnia has said. Love?''

    ''Of course.''

    Lee nods his consent, and Danae smiles before hitting the button on his pokeball. In a flash, the small kitchen is a bit more cramped.

    ''I seem to be running into a lot of rare pokemon recently,'' Lee thinks, his eyebrows rising at the sight before him.

    Floating at Danae''s side is a Sigilyph, a Psychic-type pokemon. The unusual pokemon resembles the top of a totem pole. From its sides sprout a pair of multicolored wings that do not flap despite how the pokemon hovers, and just below those wings is a stubby, acorn-like body bearing two round, blue eyes. From either side of the body sprouts a three-pronged protrusion without an obvious use, and hanging below it is another protrusion the same color as the wings, almost like tail feathers. On the top of the body sits an antenna-like shape, which bears a third, unblinking eye.

    Taking that as her cue, Ninetales emerges from her ball in her own flash and is forced to lean into Lee''s side, lest she be pushed into the wall.

    Danae murmurs something in Spoken Draconid to his Sigilyph, and the pokemon makes a bell-like chime in reply, its eyes glowing.

    Ninetales'' own eyes glow, and Lee can practically see the memory transferring from her, to Sigilyph, then to Danae. She also takes snippets of Lee''s own memory, filling in the blanks after she was struck down.

    Maxie''s coldhearted declaration of murder.

    Camerupt''s agonized transformation, and the horrible monster that follows.

    The very volcano quaking under Camerupt''s rage.

    The desperate fight for survival.

    Claydol losing control, and Camerupt turning on Maxie with the last of his strength.

    It all plays out in an instant, and in that instant, Danae''s face transforms into unbridled anguish. The man leaps to his feet and clutches his heart with a curse, sending his chair into the wall and making everybody jump.

    "Danae!" Taxus stands, planting his hands on the table. "What did you see?!"

    Danae''s face is ashen, and he does not answer right away. Hand still clutching his heart, he uses his other shaking hand to pull his chair back to the table, where he sits heavily. His Sigilyph hovers close, and despite how alien the pokemon is, its worry is plain.

    "No��" The stricken Elder finally speaks, quiet and breathless. "No. H-how could one pervert the beauty of the zelak? The bond? To stomp so carelessly upon��" He shudders, as if wracked with cold, and can speak no further.

    Taxus watches with disbelief as Juniper''s face remains forcefully neutral.

    After a minute to compose himself, Danae swallows thickly and speaks once more. "It�� It is as Thelban Zinnia says. He forced Ascension upon his pokemon." He shivers as he says ''forced''. "Corruption without equal, it is. These visions shall haunt me for weeks to come."

    Brendan tries to lighten the atmosphere with a weak chuckle. "Yeah. It was�� uh��" Then he thinks better of speaking and goes quiet once more, staring at the floor. He steals a look at Lee, who gives the boy a reassuring smile.

    Danae shakes his head and swallows the lump in his throat, color slowly returning to his face. "A travesty, this is. I withdraw all reservations with Thelban Zinnia''s requests. To face such an abomination and live is a far greater test than anything we can offer."

    ''Requests, plural? And what is this talk of a test?'' Ninetales takes notice of the wording and relays it to Lee. ''It was my understanding that going to the Meteor Falls stronghold was the only request she had.''

    ''Maybe there''s some special resources in the stronghold that she had to ask for as well?'' Lee answers with the mental equivalent of a shrug. Even so, he cannot deny his own curiosity.

    His face morphing into disbelief at Danae''s words, Taxus sits once more. Steepling his hands, he looks between Juniper''s expecting eyes and Danae''s slumped form. Gritting his teeth, he finally speaks. "Entrance into Metron''fall krate I can allow, but I will require further meditation for Thelban Zinnia''s other demands."

    Juniper nods, Zinnia frowns, and Danae''s face morphs into a snarl.

    "Did you not hear me, Taxus?!" Danae suddenly starts, a Dragon-like growl emanating from his throat. "I have seen it! Thelban and Naraikvejor all speak truth!"

    Taxus'' eyes harden, and any sympathy held for Danae dies. "Fool! In what world does adding more poison to a poisoned well solve any issues? To allow outsiders within the sacred Metron''fall krate is already generous, and you are well aware of what happened last time they were afforded such honor!"

    "Enough!" Juniper silences the argument before it can spiral out of control. She looks between both of her fellow elders, who have their jaws set and lips pulled into thin lines. "We can debate further if we must, but for now, let us see our guests to their new home for the coming weeks."

    Neither Taxus nor Danae say anything, but both rise to their feet and make their way toward the back door. Danae lags behind for just a moment in order to return his Sigilyph to its ball.

    Juniper rises to her feet with a sigh. She meets Zinnia''s eyes briefly, then shuffles past towards the door.

    Once her grandmother is out of sight, Zinnia sighs and slumps in her chair. "Ugh! All of this political nonsense is killing me. It feels like they''re trying to fight me every step of the way."

    "That rough?" Lee asks with an awkward smile.

    Zinnia rises to her feet and gives him a flat look. "You don''t know the half of it. They showed up here at 7 am just to bicker at my kitchen table and drink all my tea," she says, walking around the table and taking the empty mug Elder Juniper was sipping from. After giving it a brief rinse in the sink, she stuffs it away in a cupboard and turns towards Lee and Brendan. "And he didn''t even have the decency to stick around as moral support!" she exclaims, pointing an accusing finger at Brendan.

    The boy gives Zinnia an offended look. "I didn''t want to get in the way! It''s not like I was going to be any help with some kind of tribal political debate, anyway!"

    "Feh." Zinnia plants her hands on her hips and looks down at Brendan from over her nose. "You just wanted to go play kissy face with your girlfriend, didn''t you?"

    Brendan''s face lights up a bright pink as he scowls. "Kissy face? What are you, five? I was training with my team while she watched! And girlfriend? No way! I''ve met Astis, like, twice!"

    ''I feel like I''m missing some context here,'' Ninetales complains, and Lee can''t help but mirror the sentiment.

    At Lee''s confused face, Zinnia smirks. "While you have been a busy Beedrill buzzing all over Hoenn, little Mister Hero here �C" she once again points to the blushing Brendan "�C has been schmoozing with the tribal girls. He''s got one in particular, Miss Astis Talon, hooked. By the way, kid." She looks at Brendan again. "You''re in luck. Astis and her sister Isis are the Draconid Oracle''s assistants, so you''ll get to see them a few times a week in the falls."

    Brendan groans and covers his face with his hands. "She was the one who came to me while we were training over at the outskirts of town! What was I supposed to do? Just be a jerk and tell her to get lost?"

    Hiding his amused smile behind his fist, Lee throws the poor boy a bone. "Leave him be, Zinnia. You can pester him later. We''ve got stuff to do right now."

    Zinnia sobers abruptly, reminding Lee about the discussion and eminent revelations on the horizon. "Yeah, we do. Let''s get going."

    Once Brendan and Zinnia grab their respective traveling bags, they follow Lee and Ninetales outside, where the trio of elders all stand along with their own flying mounts.

    With Taxus is a Dragapult who leisurely floats midair, while Danae stands beside a Garchomp with an X-shaped scar on his chest. Behind them, Juniper is settling down upon the shoulders of her droopy-eyed Dragonite.

    "Mount up, young ones!" Juniper calls. "We haven''t all day!"

    Zinnia gives both Lee and Brendan a nudge towards Corviknight, who is standing and giving the trio of dragons nearby a wary glare. "You two take the bird. I''ll ride with Granny. Granny will lead the formation, so stay on her 6 o''clock and fly close. We don''t want any of the crater nesters to take a potshot at you."

    "Real reassuring��" Lee mutters as Zinnia makes tracks towards her grandmother. He looks to his side and gives Brendan a nudge. "You haven''t had a proper flight yet, have you?"

    Brendan shakes his head. "No. I didn''t get enough time to schedule a flying test in Lavaridge before we left," he says, a slight nervous warble to his words. "I guess the volcano escape doesn''t count as ''proper''?"

    "It''s fun when you''re not running for your life, trust me," Lee says with a smile, leading them toward Corviknight.

    After Ninetales retreats back into her ball, Corviknight crouches and allows Lee, followed by Brendan, to clamber on his back. Two people on a one-rider saddle is a tight fit, forcing Brendan to hug Lee''s back to stay secure, but once Lee gives a thumbs up to Juniper and Zinnia, Dragonite spreads his short wings and takes off, Dragapult and Garchomp following shortly after.

    Corviknight spreads his wings and follows suit, drawing a startled yelp from Brendan.

    <hr>

    The flight takes the group to the southwest, towards a large plateau that nearly touches the clouds. While they fly, Corviknight kindly tries his best to keep the ride smooth for Brendan, who groans with motion sickness.

    The closer they get to the plateau, the more inquisitive pokemon swoop by their formation, only to back off at the sight of the three elder dragons escorting the mammoth-sized Corviknight. A bat-like dragon called Noivern passes by, then a wild Altaria, and then two Vibrava who dart by like dragon-flies.

    Finally cresting the edge of the plateau, Lee hazards a look down, and has to catch his jaw so he doesn''t drop it. ''So that''s what Zinnia meant by ''crater nesters''.''

    The face of the plateau is pockmarked by craters and divots between patches of greenery, and in those craters, many Dragon-type pokemon, lying in nests of carved stone and shaved wood. The vast majority of the Dragons are nesting pairs of fully grown Salamence, who stare up at them with narrow eyes.

    "Holy crap��" Brendan gulps and looks down at all of the dragons glaring up at them. "Look at all of them! This place is dragon pokemon heaven!"

    "Might be heaven at first glance, but something tells me it can quickly turn into hell on earth," Lee mutters back. He begins to count the numbers below, and the number rises to nearly fifty before a cloud obscures his vision. ''One Salamence is enough to trash a high-level team solo, and there have to be dozens of them below��''

    During his test for his flying license, Lee encountered questions about no-go zones. There were the obvious ones, like military bases, congested airports, places with travel restrictions enacted by Rangers, and this plateau in particular. The test didn''t say exactly why this plateau was off limits, but after seeing enough dragons to burn a city to the ground living here, Lee understands why.

    Juniper''s Dragonite angles down and leads the formation through a cloud towards a great crater in the middle of the plateau, one that seems to dig deep into the bowels of the earth, prompting everyone to follow her. As they descend, none of the Salamence bother to rise and harass them. The closer and closer they get, the more they realize just how enormous the central crater is. It''s less of a crater and more of a hole leading to a great cavern beneath the ground.

    As soon as they pass the lip of the crater, Lee''s breath hitches.

    Something in the air has changed.

    An ephemeral force, like static yet distinctly not electrical in nature, rolls across his skin and makes goosebumps breakout across his body. His whole body feels lighter for some reason, and alertness crashes into him as if he were dipped in ice water. Below him, Corviknight pauses mid-flap before completing the motion with too much vigor, jostling both of his passengers.

    Behind him, Brendan shivers. "Ugh�� Did you feel that? Not Corviknight knocking us around, I mean the�� The thing in the air?" he finishes unsurely, unable to find the right word.

    "Yeah," Lee confirms, furrowing his brows and trying to keep the uncomfortable buzz in his stomach in check. "Just try to stay relaxed. We''ll ask Zinnia when we get the chance," he says, swiveling his head and taking in the surroundings.

    Indeed, the crater goes far deeper than expected and was merely the entrance to an underground cavern of mind-boggling size. The walls around them stretch for what looks like a half-mile in any direction, shining with luminescent crystals of all different sizes. Even the spots where no crystals grow glitter from the rich minerals embedded within. In some of those bare spots are caves and doorways, some natural, and others with obvious claw marks around their thresholds, leading to who-knows-where deeper within the cavern. From this angle, they''re treated to the sight of a Draconid tribesman and his Gabite partner carving out the beginnings of a new doorway.

    Upon the ground at the very bottom of the cavern grows hardy greenery. Shrubs, small trees, lichens, and other plants suited to a life of little sunlight stubbornly add color to the cavern. A small handful of grass-types pause their activities to stare up at the formation flying in, and among their number are several Maractus, a Carnivine, and a pair of Shroomish. More than a few lounging dragons, such as a group of Bagon and a Shelgon, also rest under the short trees.

    None of that, however, holds a candle to the lake.

    In the center of the cavern, directly below the crater entrance, is a lake of crystal-clear water. Where pokemon are scattered about among the cavern, the lake is devoid of life, leaving the waters undisturbed and mirror-smooth. Down at the bottom of the lakebed is a huge, building-sized boulder with a craggy, metallic silver exterior and a number of craters upon its face. From several of those craters, a breathtaking rainbow light shines. The fantastic rays make the lake glow and shine out of the water to bounce off of the crystalline walls, bringing an almost magical glow to the entire space.

    ''No wonder it''s called the Meteorfall Crater.'' Lee can''t help but stare. ''It almost feels like I''ve stepped into another world. Oh, the irony there.'' He grips the handholds of Corvi''s saddle tightly, half afraid of floating away. Suddenly, Lee realizes he hasn''t heard from Ninetales yet despite all the strangeness abound, so he reaches out to her. ''Love? You feeling any of this?''

    It takes the fox a moment to collect her thoughts within her ball, and below the surface, Lee can feel the same strange, uncomfortable feelings within her that exist within him. ''I''m fine, Beloved,'' she asserts. ''I�� I don''t quite know what I should be thinking, or feeling. This cave touches a place within me I feel as if I should recognize, yet I don''t. I''m excited, yet I don''t know why.'' If she were outside her ball, Lee is sure her eyes would be narrowed. ''Sidelining the privacy aspect of the cavern for a moment, is this phenomenon perhaps why Zinnia wished to come here?''

    Lee reflexively wraps his mind around hers, girding his thoughts and pushing away his own discomfort. ''Maybe. We''ll see.''

    Ninetales pushes back, eliminating any space between them and taking the edge off of the alien sensations for both of them.

    Corviknight touches down with unusual roughness, jostling Lee from his thoughts and forcing him to shake his head to clear it. He''s quick to dismount Corviknight and jump to the ground, bending his knees to absorb the impact. Brendan follows shortly after, swiveling his head the entire time.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ahead of them, Zinnia and the trio of Draconid elders take their time climbing down off of their dragons, and once they''ve done so, Juniper beckons everyone to come together around her.

    Lee takes a deep breath and walks over. ''Arceus, give me strength.''

    As he utters those words, it almost feels as if the tingle upon his skin eases before returning.

    Once Lee and Brendan, with Corvi protectively bringing up the rear, form up with Zinnia, the elders, and their dragons, Juniper raises a hand to her mouth and clears her throat. "Naraikvejor Birch, Naraikvejor Henson, allow this elder to be the first to welcome you to this sacred place. Countless years it has been since an outsider has seen the Metron''fall Krate, the Meteorfall Crater. Tell me, are you well? You both appear ill."

    "I feel weird and jittery," Brendan speaks up first, rubbing his arm. "Like I''m about to be struck by lightning. Is that normal?"

    "It is to be expected," Taxus gruffly states. He briefly meets eyes with his Dragapult before returning his attention to Brendan. "Concern yourself not. It shall fade."

    The answer satisfies Lee none, and for a split second, he considers blurting his discontent out, but he bites his lip and stops himself at the last second.

    Juniper nods along with Taxus'' words. "It is as Elder Taxus states. Energies most ancient permeate the very air here, but your discomfort shall pass. Thelban''s reasons for bringing you here are many, and the energies are amongst them. We shall discuss at length later."

    "Understood, Elder Juniper," Lee says, inclining his head. "Thank you for this opportunity��" Again, he has to withhold the urge to ask more questions, as they nearly sneak past his unusually loose lips. ''Fucking hell. What is this cave doing to me?''

    The Elder nods once more. Turning to her Dragonite, she murmurs something in Spoken Draconid, and the great beast lumbers off to a nearby bed of moss upon a flat rock before flopping down for a nap. "Elders Danae and Taxus will inform the Metron''fall caretakers of your arrival, while we will see to your lodgings. Come."

    Taxus, Danae, and their pokemon separate off from the group, and after Lee recalls Corviknight for a rest, the elder leads Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan towards a large, mossy hill that overlooks the lake, following a path worn to the ground.

    Zinnia slows her pace, slipping between Lee and Brendan. Quietly, she asks, "How are you guys doing? Be real with me. I know this place is making you feel out of sorts."

    "I don''t like it." Brendan is the first to speak. "It''s�� I don''t know how to describe it. It''s like I''m not totally in control of myself." He rubs his arms together, and Lee can see the goosebumps covering them. "It''s eerie."

    "I''m in much the same boat," Lee murmurs. "I''ve had to hold my tongue a couple of times already. I''ve almost blurted out a bunch of questions, and I''m sure I would''ve been rude about it."

    Zinnia nods sharply. "It''s the Dragon energy in the air. It''s being magnified by the meteorite in the bottom of the lake," she says, casting a glance towards said lake. "It''s loosening your inhibitions and trying to bring all the things deep inside you to the surface. Many Draconid can''t bear to be here because they''re afraid they''ll be forced to confront something ugly about themselves." She suddenly throws her arms around Lee and Brendan''s shoulders, pulling them both into a short hug. "You guys should be fine; just stay focused, okay?"

    The instant that Zinnia touches Lee, a part of him enjoys the contact. A split second later, Lee feels Ninetales trying her absolute hardest to stomp on a flash of jealous rage, and he winces.

    "Pokemon with the right drive and mindset grow like crazy down here," Zinnia whispers, releasing Brendan and Lee. "No one is quite sure if it''s the dragon-like mental state, the ambient energy, or some combo thereof, but the fact stands that it works. That''s one of the reasons I wanted us to spend a few weeks down here. I''ll explain everything once we''re alone."

    Brendan grins in reply. "Well, if there''s good training to be had, then it can''t be all bad!"

    As they come closer to the hill, Lee does a double take as he sees a wooden door in the side of the hill. Scanning the hill more intently, he finds slits in the moss covering the hill that glint as if there is glass beneath. ''Don''t tell me they built hobbit houses down here? That''s honestly pretty cool.''

    Stepping up to the door, Juniper takes a brass skeleton key from her pocket, unlocks the door with a heavy-sounding clunk! and passes the key to Zinnia.

    "I will be nearby, dear Granddaughter." Juniper''s visage finally softens as Zinnia pockets the large key. "Inform me when a conclusion has been reached."

    "I will, Grandma." Zinnia smiles. "Thank you for everything. I know I''m asking a lot."

    The elderly woman pats Zinnia on the shoulder, then shuffles past her, and past Lee and Brendan, making her way back towards her Dragonite.

    Zinnia sucks in a deep breath and lets it all back out in an explosive exhale. "C''mon, guys," she beckons, pushing the door open. "That whole ''no more secrets'' conversation has arrived, and we have to talk before we do anything else."

    Without a word, Lee and Brendan follow, and Lee feels his heart begin to speed up. ''This is it. The moment I''ve been dreading.''

    As they step past the threshold, the feeling of static on his skin thankfully leaves Lee, and with it, his scattered thoughts and nagging desires refocus into a continuous train of thought. The strange feeling is not completely gone, but it''s far less pronounced. ''The house deadens the Dragon TE outside. Thank goodness. I don''t think I would''ve been able to sleep otherwise. How are you, Nine?''

    ''Much better,'' the fox sends back, her relief palpable. ''The dampening must be purposeful, as stretching my mind beyond the walls is a chore.''

    Stepping deeper into the hillside house, Lee briefly glances around himself, finding the interior dim and smoky. The only sources of light in the room are several candles in a low-set chandelier of wood and bone. Before he''s given much of a chance to inspect the rest of the house, Zinnia ushers them towards what looks like a living area, and upon sitting on one of the handmade, wooden chairs, she takes all four of her pokeballs from her belt and tosses them into the air.

    Sna-Sn-Sn-Snap!

    Each ball opens midair and deposits her pokemon on the ground. A grim-faced Shelgon, the ever-surly Tyrunt, serene Altaria, and finally Goomy, who is quivering. Shelgon moves first, and the rest of the team falls in line behind him, taking positions around Zinnia.

    "I''m going to be blunt, guys." Zinnia rests her hands on her knees and gives her pair of human friends a pained face. "I don''t really know where to start with this, and�� and it''s going to impact our friendship. I have to tell you straight up, though, that once you hear what I have to say, it''s going to change your lives for the worse. If you don''t want any part in it, then you need to speak up now so Granny can escort you back out."

    ''So that''s why Elder Juniper is sticking around outside.'' Lee frowns. ''What kind of secret could Zinnia have that would change our lives?'' He tries to remember anything about the tiny bit of the Omega Ruby postgame that he played, but what he does remember is blurry and indistinct.

    Brendan seems incredulous with Zinnia''s words. "What? Back out? You said you needed help from us, so you''re getting it!" He pauses and gives Lee a nervous smile. "Not that I speak for the both of us, I''m just saying that �C "

    "It''s fine, Brendan." Lee raises a hand and waves the boy off. "I''m not about to bail either."

    Zinnia''s face contorts, as if she''s not sure whether or not she wants to be frustrated or relieved. "Are you guys sure? A hundred percent? I know for a fact you''re not going to like what I have to say."

    Lee lets a wry smile rise to his face. "You already went to all the trouble of strong-arming your elders into letting us into your sacred crater, and you said before that you need help with whatever this thing bothering you is. I think both Brendan and I made up our minds before we even got here."

    The Dragon tamer smiles wanly. "Thanks, guys. You really are the best. You might want to sit down and let your pokemon out, because this is going to be a long one.

    As Lee and Brendan settle themselves on a small sofa across from Zinnia, they both take their pokeballs and release their teams.

    ''Not Shinx��'' Lee passes over her ball with a slight grimace. ''She''s still a little too young.''

    Corvi is forced to sit and bow his head slightly, and Ninetales telekinetically pulls the low table in the living area aside so she is able to sit in front of Lee, but after only a minute of shuffling around, Lee''s team is settled. Octillery sits in front of Corviknight, while a blank-faced Sylveon and narrow-eyed Grovyle flank Ninetales.

    Brendan''s younger, rowdier bunch takes a little longer, but eventually, Mawile stops glaring at Sylveon and sits, either not noticing or not minding how Marshtomp shuffles closer. Breloom looks bored as can be, while Electrike lays his head on Brendan''s knee.

    "Are we ready? No last-minute back-outs?" Zinnia asks. When nobody replies, she leans back in her seat and sets a hand on Shelgon. "I guess�� I should start way, way back," Zinnia begins, looking up at the candles illuminating the room. "As I told you guys, the position of Lorekeeper was created to ensure that the legacy of the Draconid tribe always survives the test of time. It''s the job of the Lorekeeper to both defend the tribe and to survive it should tragedy strike and wipe everyone else out. No one is quite sure when the position was established, but according to ancient Draconid texts, the first Lorekeeper was the first Draconid to��" She hesitates. "The first Lorekeeper was the one who synchronized with the legendary dragon that all Draconids still revere: Rayquaza."

    "Rayquaza?" Brendan frowns, his brows coming together in thought. "I think one of my dad''s old books has something on Rayquaza. It didn''t really mention much other than a couple of sightings and that it''s probably Dragon-type."

    Zinnia laughs. "Probably a Dragon-type? That''s funny. Depending on who you ask, Rayquaza is the Dragon-type. The Draconids have many names for him, like Dragon of Dragons, Keeper of Balance, Guardian Above, but Almighty Who Claims The Sky is the most common. Much like how a Dragon atop a mountain claims everything beneath him as equally as he does the mountaintop, Rayquaza claims everything below the sky. To a dragon, that''s a simply preposterous amount of territory to defend, yet Rayquaza has done so for eons and has never been defeated. All who live beneath him exist because of his mercy, and he allows none to make a mess of what belongs to him. That''s why Rayquaza is considered the Dragon."

    Lee eyeballs his bag in the corner of the room, wishing he had his notebook. He''s going to have to interrogate Zinnia later. "Fascinating stuff, Draconid lore. When you say the first Lorekeeper synchronized with Rayquaza, do you mean��?"

    "I do." Zinnia nods with a small smile. "Eons ago before recorded history, the legendary pokemon Groudon and Kyogre awakened and sought each other out to kill the other, putting an end to their rivalry once and for all. Their power was unbelievable. The oceans rose and fell, entire continents shifted and moved across the world, it was chaos, and the people and pokemon of the world were caught in the crossfire. It''s unknown how many lives were lost."

    Gulping, Brendan goes pale, and a stone-faced Marshtomp puts a hand on his arm.

    Lee tries to imagine what life must''ve been like with the land and seas themselves going berserk, and it conjures an image not too far away from the event that led to his own demise. ''Maxie, you son of a bitch, you have no idea what you''re playing with.''

    "The first Lorekeeper, desperate to save the world, sought out Rayquaza," Zinnia continues her story, heedless of Lee''s thoughts. "No one is really sure if the Lorekeeper battled Rayquaza or did something else, but regardless, Rayquaza took notice of the state of the world. Rayquaza then synchronized with the first Lorekeeper and Mega Evolved, rising to a level of power never before seen in the world. Neither Groudon nor Kyogre stood a chance, and Rayquaza forced the fight to end, sending them both back to slumber."

    "Wow��" Brendan eats up the story with starry eyes, leaning forward and stroking Electrike''s head, making the large pup''s tail wag. "A human actually battled together with a legendary pokemon? Like, a capital L legendary?"

    "Yep!" Zinnia grins. "And that brings me to the next part of why I need you guys: Magma and Aqua."

    That takes the smile right off of Brendan''s face. "Lee, you said that Magma was planning to revive Groudon, right?" he asks, turning to the zookeeper. "And that means that Aqua��"

    "Is going to try and revive Kyogre, yes," Lee grimly confirms.

    "Obviously, that''s going to put the entire world in danger, and since it''s right here in Hoenn, that officially makes it Lorekeeper business," Zinnia sighs. As she takes a moment to gather her thoughts, Goomy slithers up Shelgon''s shell and hops into her lap with a quiet plap, looking up at her with wide, black eyes.

    Her smile returning slightly, Zinnia pets the little Dragon and resumes. "Originally�� I wasn''t going to interfere with Magma or Aqua. Heck, I was going to help them, and try to ensure that both Groudon and Kyogre were summoned close to each other. My plan was to let them revive their legendaries, drawing in Rayquaza to deal with them both in one fell swoop and to end the other crisis that''s on its way."

    The admission that Zinnia was going to let catastrophe strike is forgotten for a moment at the mention of yet another disaster. Lee pins Zinnia in place with a hard stare. "Other crisis? What other crisis?"

    Zinnia rubs her forehead with her hand. "''Beware. Beware the hateful intruder. Beware the end of our home. It comes uncomprehending of our plight, and with a shell of earth born to another sun, it will see our home gone and her inhabitants reduced to ash. Only the Almighty Who Claims The Sky and a Champion with the power of Ascension might avert disaster. Save us, Almighty. Save us, Champion.''"

    Both Lee and Brendan meet eyes, and each sees the other is just as confused. Lee then strokes Ninetales between her ears. ''Any idea what that is?''

    ''Obviously some sort of Draconid lore, but what, I can''t fathom.'' Ninetales frowns.

    "That''s a prophecy that''s been spoken over and over by Draconid seers throughout the ages," Zinnia begins quietly, placing her hand atop Goomy to quell his trembling. "For a long time, no one was really sure what to make of it. It''s vague like every clich�� prophecy you''ve ever seen. It sometimes skipped a few generations without being mentioned, but this time was different. It hit our tribe''s oracle so hard that she suffered a stroke, and this time, a date was included." She looks up and stares them in the eyes. "''The longest day shall also be the last.''"

    "Longest day?" Lee mutters, suppressing the shiver that wants to run down his spine. "The summer solstice? That''s about eight months away."

    "What exactly is that supposed to happen?" Brendan asks, leaning forward anxiously.

    "A meteor." Zinnia points a finger to the ceiling. "The tribe scholars pored over the prophecy, and concluded that it must be a meteor, one being controlled by something and large enough to destroy all of Hoenn at least. The prophecy also clearly states that Rayquaza and his champion of this era are the ones destined to deal with all of this. If they don''t��" The unspoken words hang like a guillotine.

    Lee can''t help it: it feels as if a void has opened up below him. Magma and Aqua were already known elements, and despite the danger they pose, they''re a danger presented by humans. Humans that can be stopped. This, though? Less than a single day after he has made peace with all that has passed and declared Hoenn his home? He lets his eyes roam his pokemon.

    Ninetales, he doesn''t even need to look at. He can feel her dread and see the half-formed plans in her head, plans to whisk him and the others away, trying to find refuge on the other side of the planet.

    Corvi''s eyes are narrow and his steely feathers are ruffled in agitation. He meets Lee''s eyes for a second, and it''s plain to see that he is of a similar mind to Ninetales. Lee only needs to say the word, and Corvi will carry him to the end of the earth.

    Octillery and Sylveon are both flummoxed, as if they can''t believe just what they have heard. One of Sylveon''s ribbons snakes its way around Lee''s arm to wrap around his wrist, and when Lee''s own belief smashes into her like a hammer blow, she shudders, practically going limp. Meanwhile, Octillery stares at Zinnia with open astonishment.

    Last and not least, Grovyle�� He bites down upon his twig and tries his best to contain himself, but his eyes. They shine with defiance, boldly rejecting the idea that something like a meteor is an insurmountable danger. No. He will not allow such a future to be born! He hisses a low, almost jeering hiss to his teammates, who all turn and stare at him.

    "So you all give up so easily?" Lee doesn''t need Ninetales'' help to understand just what he said.

    ''Grovyle��'' Lee thinks with a smile, ''you really are something else.''

    Ninetales herself firms up, turning to Grovyle with a narrow-eyed glare, but she does not retort or let herself fall back into her panic. Beside her, Sylveon, with her ribbon still wrapped around Lee''s wrist, perks up enough to lift her head.

    "Kwaa ha," Corviknight grumbles at Grovyle, smoothing his feathers. "Gwak." �C "You can stop pretending to be cool anytime," he seems to say.

    "��" Octillery says nothing, obviously turning inward to think to himself with how he stares at the floor, tentacles crossed.

    "Haven''t you told anybody about this? Like the Pokemon League?" Lee asks, petting the heart on Ninetales'' ear. The silky fur beneath his thumb soothes his nerves as it always does.

    Zinnia snorts, giving Lee an incredulous face. "That was literally the first thing I tried. I told the League, the civil government, the Mossdeep Space Center, every rich loony with the money to do something, and everyone else. The Mossdeep Space Center took it seriously at first and looked around for anything that might hit Hoenn around the expected date, but they came up empty-handed." She blows out a sigh. "My best guess? If there is something actually controlling the meteor, then it''s purposely avoiding being caught."

    ''Well, that''s wonderful,'' Ninetales snarks with only Lee to hear it. ''A doomsday meteor intelligent enough to avoid telescopes, how fun.''

    "And that''s precisely why I need you guys," Zinnia continues on, looking between Lee and the wide-eyed Brendan. "If this comes down to the wire, then I need talented, goodhearted trainers with me in case Rayquaza doesn''t find me worthy of being his partner."

    "Stop! Timeout!" Brendan waves his arms, cutting Zinnia off before she can speak further. "You think we could be worthy of all of this? Are you crazy?"

    Offense flashes across Zinnia''s face. "No, I''m not crazy. You and Lee are two of the best trainers I''ve ever met, and you both have the pure heart needed for Mega Evolution. I��" She trails off, screwing her face up into a scowl. "I don''t think I have what it takes," she grounds out, shame staining each word.

    Her words are met with instant disagreement from her pokemon. Shelgon growls and smacks his shell against her knee none too gently, while Altaria trills her disbelief with her musical voice. Tyrunt openly bares his teeth towards Zinnia, and Goomy practically melts into a depressed puddle.

    Zinnia scoffs, but can''t quite hide the smile that tugs at her face. "Thank you, guys, but I''m serious. I nearly decided to let Magma and Aqua kill Arceus-knows how many people and pokemon just to make my job easier. It doesn''t matter how you cut it, that''s not pure-hearted."

    "But you decided not to, didn''t you?" Brendan suddenly speaks up, his face set into a stern expression. "You made the choice to abandon that plan even if it makes things harder for yourself. You did the right thing and I think that makes you pure-hearted!"

    "Yeah." Zinnia lets out a mirthless laugh, her face morphing into a grimace. "I ditched that plan because Lee reminded me of my dead best friend, and I thought I could be more like her and be a better Lorekeeper if I learned how he did his thing. Then I went and got pissed off back in Slateport because he wasn''t a carbon copy of the person I lost! Does that seem like something good? Something that a legendary pokemon would respect?"

    ''Where in the world is this all coming from?'' Lee looks to one of the covered windows in shock. ''Is the Dragon TE in the air doing this?''

    "If Aster saw any of the shit I got up to, she''d be sick," Zinnia growls, pounding her fist on the arm of her chair. "Sick! To this day, I still don''t know why she made me the Lorekeeper! I even kept all of this from my two best friends who would walk into the gates of hell like brain-dead idiots if I asked!"

    Without warning, Brendan shoots to his feet, making Electrike yelp. "Shut up! Don''t talk about yourself like that!" he yells at the top of his lungs, drawing startled looks all around. "You changed your mind and did the right thing! So what if you followed us because Lee reminded you of your friend?! It''s okay to be hurt, to be upset! You didn''t have to get Lee that Battletent ticket as an apology for yelling at him, yet you did! You didn''t have to train with us, or trade stories, or show us through the Valley of Steel, or anything! Yet you did! All that matters is that you did the right thing in the end, so don''t talk about yourself like you''re a bad person or bad friend, because you''re not!" Brendan screams. It''s the most vitriol that Lee has ever seen from the boy.

    Brendan pants to catch his breath and sits heavily amid shocked eyes. Once his breathing begins to settle, he seems to realize what he did and looks away.

    Blinking away her stupefied expression, Zinnia reaches up and rubs her head with a sardonic smile. "Kinda proving my point, but�� Thanks, Brendan," she says, her smile growing. She looks over to Lee. "You''ve been awfully quiet. Anything to add?"

    "Nothing that Brendan hasn''t already said," Lee mirrors her content smile with one of his own. "Intent and actions are two different things, and you know what they say about actions speaking louder than words," he says, gesturing to the house around them.

    Zinnia snorts, then lets out a short laugh, her face utterly delighted. "You guys are the real deal. For even coming this far, I don''t think I''ll ever be able to thank you enough." She schools her expression, even if her lips still twitch upward somewhat. "So to conclude what I was saying, I don''t want to put all my eggs in one basket so if, if," she sends a pointed look towards Brendan, who blushes and looks away again, "I''m not worthy enough, then one of you guys definitely will be. When the time comes, one of us will have to be a big damn hero and help Rayquaza ascend, stopping Hoenn from becoming a smear on the map. Down here in the crater, our pokemon can train up and get the boost we need to not only put a stop to Magma and Aqua, but to fulfill the Draconid prophecy. Sound like a plan?"

    "Easy!" Brendan agrees with a smile. Beside him, Marshtomp lets out a croak and jumps to his feet, pumping a fist in the air.

    "If you don''t want to put all your eggs in one basket��" Lee begins, feeling his wallet in his jacket pocket. In that wallet is where all the important business cards he''s collected are, along with their even more important phone numbers. "Then I think the Pokemon League will take the meteor threat much more seriously if I''m the one to tell them."

    Zinnia gives Lee a sidelong glance. "What makes you say that?"

    Lee licks his lips. ''Here we go. Finally going to let it drop.'' He thinks over what he wishes to say as Ninetales leans into his legs, offering him her reassuring warmth. "It all ties into my share of secrets, the ones I''ve been wanting to tell you all for a long time," he begins, tilting his head back and looking at the candles above.

    One of them flickers, nearly going out.

    "You know, it''s rather ironic," he mutters. "Yesterday, during my day trip to Littleroot, I stopped by the Pokemon Lab to make a memorial," Lee says, returning his eyes to the group before him. "I wanted to put my past life and all the people that aren''t around anymore to rest. On the flight back to the Draconid village, I looked down and thought about how great a home Hoenn is. Then Zinnia drops news of the meteor on us." Lee shakes his head. "I''m not about to lose my new home or die for a second time."

    Where it takes everyone else a moment to process his words, Sylveon, courtesy of the ribbon she has wrapped around his wrist, snaps her head up to look at him, aghast. Octillery is the next one to recover, and he focuses intently upon Lee''s face.

    "Die for a second time?" Zinnia narrows her eyes. "What do you mean by that? Are you being poetic or something?"

    "No, I''m not." Lee focuses on Zinnia, making her tense up. "Zinnia, I know that you more than anyone else have been wondering how I know all the things I know. About your tribe when we first met, about Mega Evolution, about legendary and mythical pokemon. I''ve got an explanation for it, but first I need everyone, human and pokemon here, to promise never to repeat anything you''re about to hear. You have to take it to your grave."

    "That''s�� That''s really severe, Lee," Brendan gulps. "Are you sure?"

    Lee gives him a flat look. "I''m dead serious."

    "Well, you already know that me and my team can keep a secret, so what''s one more?" Zinnia jokes, getting nods from her pokemon.

    "If you think it''s that serious, then we won''t say a thing, either!" Brendan jabs his chest with a thumb.

    Lee tries to smile, but it''s difficult with the subject he''s about to speak of. "There''s not a whole lot of explaining to do with what I have to say, but before you say it''s unbelievable or anything, know that Ninetales, Grovyle, and Corviknight have all heard everything, and Ninetales can validate it all with telepathy if you need it." He takes a deep breath. "The simplest answer is the best I guess. I''m not from this world."

    "Not from this��?" Zinnia double takes. "Hold on, we''re going to need more of an explanation than that!"

    "I was getting to it!" Lee frowns. "I�� wasn''t born in this world. My old home is a place without any pokemon."

    Brendan nods slowly. "Yeah, you said that a few months ago. The United States place you used to live in, it''s like Orre, right?"

    "No, it''s not ''no wild pokemon'' like Orre." Lee shakes his head. "It''s ''no pokemon at all.'' They didn''t exist."

    Just like it did for Professor Birch all those months ago, his words instantly confuse everyone. Brendan and Zinnia share a puzzled look while several of the pokemon chatter in low voices. The thought of there being no pokemon at all is seemingly unthinkable.

    "I lied about the States being an isolationist region," the zoologist soldiers on, trying his best to get the story over with. "It doesn''t exist in this world, and I know I''m in a new world because my old one ended."

    One could hear a pin drop despite the carpet covering the floor.

    "E-Ended?" Brendan questions, looking intensely uncomfortable.

    Lee nods, locking eyes with Ninetales for a moment and wondering how to explain. "I told you I didn''t have a home to return to after I told you two I was seeing a therapist, and that wasn''t a lie. Without pokemon battling as a proxy for conflicts, wars in my world could get bloody, bloodier than anything any region here has ever experienced." He takes in Brendan and Zinnia''s faces. "A lot of nations had stockpiles of missiles, missiles designed to fly all the way across the world and burn entire cities to the ground. The missiles used nuclear material as their explosive, meaning a huge blast and toxic radioactivity afterward. If the explosion itself didn''t kill you, then the radiation poisoning would, along with everything around the epicenter for years to come," Lee says, trying to gently pry Sylveon''s ribbon off his hand.

    At his feet, the fairy is shaking, and steadfastly refusing to let go. The harder he yanks, the harder she grips. He eventually reaches for her pokeball, only to find that another one of her ribbons has wrapped around the capsule and mummified it, making it useless.

    Sighing, Lee resumes. "The technology for detecting these missiles is far faster and more capable than any kind of counter-missile, and from that came a concept called mutually assured destruction, shortened to M.A.D. If one nation detected an incoming missile, they would loose their entire stockpile on the world and turn it into a zero-sum game. For a long time, that fear stayed everyone''s hand."

    "�� You''re telling us because that''s what happened," Zinnia realizes, her voice little higher than a whisper. Her jaw drops. "Arceus, Lee��"

    "One day while I was at work in my zoo, for a reason that is a mystery to me, someone fired the first shot. Everyone''s phones all blew up with alerts, and the TV in the break room where I stood suddenly cut out and displayed a nationwide emergency message. We only got a few minutes of warning that one of the bombs was going to hit the city nearby, and considering it was the middle of the day, all of the zoo guests panicked and tried to escape at once. The chaos clogged in the parking lot, more or less sealing everyone''s fate." Lee reaches up and rubs his scars with a frown.

    The trio of lines tingle with a phantom heat.

    "One of the bombs landed close, very close, close enough that the light from the blinds was enough to flash burn my face." Lee lowers his hand. "Everything after that is a blur, but��" He pauses and pulls at Sylveon''s ribbon once more. "Sylvy, please, you need to let go. You aren''t going to like what I have to say."

    The fairy looks up at him with a defiant glare despite how her eyes prickle with tears, and Lee matches it with a stare that is considerably more gentle.

    "I''m serious, Sylveon," Lee says as soothingly as he can. "Please let go."

    She bares her teeth, but slowly complies, the ribbon around Lee''s wrist unraveling.

    "Thank you." He smiles, then returns to what he was saying. "Everything after the blast was a blur, but I remember, in no uncertain terms, that I burned to death."

    Sylveon suddenly retches, and then vomits on the floor. She just barely catches herself from falling into her own sick, and can''t stop the ugly sobs that suddenly rip through her body and echo off the walls.

    Lee''s eyes shoot down towards her, and to his frustration, he sees a third ribbon snaking up his pant leg and resting against his shin.

    "Damn it," Lee hisses through his teeth before he leans down and plants a hand across the fairy''s withers, rubbing circles in her back. She also doesn''t resist as he wipes her mouth clean with his jacket sleeve. In her psychometric distress, Sylveon''s grip loosens on her ball, allowing Lee to snatch it once he''s rubbed the worst of her hiccuping sobs away.

    "Sylvy, You''re taking a rest." Lee does his best to keep his voice gentle, but his words are unmistakably an order. He points the pokeball in his hand at the trembling Sylveon. "We''ll have a one-on-one about all of this later. Return."

    Before she can protest, Sylveon is sucked back into her ball.

    "Jeez," Lee grunts, shrinking the pokeball into its travel form and stuffing it in his pocket. Looking at the mess on the floor, he makes to rise so he can get a towel or something, but before he can, the stain glows purple and lifts out of the carpet of its own accord. Then it floats over to a trashcan in the corner of the room before dropping down inside.

    "Thanks, Love." Lee smiles towards Ninetales, then returns his attention to Zinnia, Brendan, and their pokemon.

    The entire room is nothing but horrified faces. Even the most unflappable members of the entire party like Breloom and Shelgon stare at Lee with dropped jaws.

    "Then��" Lee pushes forward before the awkward atmosphere trips him up too much. "Then I inexplicably woke up on the edge of Littleroot with Ninetales, then Vulpix''s pokeball in my pocket. I can only chalk it up to divine intervention. For what reason? I have no idea."

    "S-So when I met you for the first time, that was right after��" Brendan trails off and looks away, unable to finish.

    "Right after everything happened? Yeah." Lee looks away from the menagerie of petrified faces. "As for how I know all the things I know? While pokemon weren''t real in my old home, they were popular in children''s fiction. Comics, TV shows, video games, that kind of thing, and I never quite outgrew pokemon," he says with a wistful smile. He then quickly sobers. "If I ever seemed distant at the start of our journey, I want to say sorry for that. It took time to stop seeing you guys as fictional characters and look at you as real people, and that was shitty of me no matter how you try to frame it."

    Zinnia tries to say something, but no sound leaves her mouth.

    He shakes his head. "I know a lot of things that normal people don''t because I watched it from a fourth-person perspective, or played through it in a game. I don''t know every little thing, so that''s why my knowledge seems so scattered," Lee concludes, leaning back into the sofa. While a bit tired and somewhat frustrated after Sylveon''s shenanigans, he finds that he is not as exhausted as he expected. "That''s why I said I should repeat your warning to the League for you. I can get it up to Steven Stone directly, and he''ll take it seriously. I''ve given him enough breadcrumbs to know that I and the info I give is good."

    Zinnia rests her head in her hand. "Holy shit��" she murmurs. "And here I thought what I had to say was going to be the biggest bomb today. News, I mean! Not bomb! Shit!" she hastily corrects herself, her face mortified. "Ech. Arceus, Lee. That was�� That was something."

    "But you''re okay now, right?" Brendan asks out of the blue, turning to look at Lee with melancholy that doesn''t belong on such a young face. "You''re not�� Upset with how you can''t��"

    "Go home?" Lee finishes for him, smiling thinly. "I told you, Brendan, I have nothing to go home to. Besides, Hoenn is my home now. I can''t, or rather won''t leave you all behind. I''ve put all the ghosts clinging to me to rest, along with Lee the average zookeeper. I''m Lee the pokemon trainer, now." He lets his smile grow into a grin. "I wouldn''t mind having another zoo in the future, though."

    Without warning, Ninetales partially rears up and drapes herself across Lee''s lap, startling him, but he quickly smiles and wraps her in a hug.

    The fox smiles in return, nuzzling her head beneath his chin. Wordless adoration flows from her, and Lee matches it, turning the gap between their minds into a churning whirlpool of affection.

    "Lee?"

    The man cracks open an eye and tilts his head to see past the fox ears in his face. "What''s up, Brendan?"

    "You said you played pokemon games and saw the TV shows, right?" Brendan asks with a grin. "Was I ever in any of them?"

    Lee lets out an exasperated sigh. "Let''s not go down that Bunnelby hole."

    <hr>

    Just outside the door of the hillside hut, a gnarled hand poised to knock slowly lowers, and the owner thinks over the things they''ve heard through the wooden barrier.

    A tale of horror, death, rebirth, and newfound belonging. Thoughts and feelings scatter every which way within the eavesdropper. Some dots connect, while others make no sense.

    The near-interloper turns and walks away, speaking not a single word to anyone else for the rest of the day.

 Act 2: Chapter 26

    Later that evening, after Zinnia has shown Lee and Brendan around their new home for the next few weeks, and after everyone has agreed they would all simply relax and settle in for the day, Brendan finds himself lying in his bed with most of his pokemon in their balls.

    There are four individual bedrooms in the hillside hut, and each one is homey, though small. Regardless, it gives each of the trainers and their teams a place for some privacy, and a place for them to reflect on their thoughts quietly, which is exactly what Brendan is doing.

    Lying on the bed with his hands behind his head, Brendan stares up at the ceiling, mind whirling with the revelations of the past hour. With him is Marshtomp, who is sitting on the mattress just a foot away, his back leaning against the wall. Like Brendan, the Water-type is silent and lost in thought.

    Another world.

    No pokemon.

    Death.

    Rebirth.

    It''s a tale that anyone would label as insane drivel, but it came from Lee''s mouth without a stutter or a misstep, at once so easy to believe, and yet utterly inconceivable.

    For a moment, Brendan tries to imagine himself in Lee''s place, and it''s simply impossible. The boy''s skin breaks out into goosebumps, and he rubs his arms to ward away an invisible chill.

    To lose everything��

    Brendan tries to imagine himself in his older friend''s shoes once more, bereft of his friends, his family, his pokemon, and everything else he had ever known. He even visualizes the world around him that is a vague parody of all that he knows.

    The cold that blooms within his stomach is slow and cloying, creeping outward until it seizes his limbs in a paralytic grip. The boy''s strength seems to fail him, and the light from the window grows dull. His eyes sting with unshed tears.

    Brendan knows many strong men. His father, Norman Maple, Steven Stone (even if their meeting in Lavaridge was brief), and others.

    ��But for enduring such misery for Arceus knows how long, Lee has handily taken the number one spot on Brendan''s list.

    "Maaa?"

    Brendan is startled out of his introspection when Marshtomp takes notice of his trembling. The mudfish pokemon levels his trainer with a worried gaze and lays a broad hand over Brendan''s arm, stilling his tremors.

    "Heh��" Brendan smiles. "Don''t worry about me, pal. Just doing some thinking, is all. You look like you''re doing the same."

    Marshtomp nods absently. "Ma, gurah gamp?" he croaks, looking at Brendan with an unplaceable expression.

    The young trainer''s gaze softens. "Yeah. I don''t know what I would do without you, or Breloom, or Mawile and Electrike," he says, laying his head back and looking at the ceiling once more. The feeling of cold returns. "I don''t think I would handle it so well."

    Each one of Brendan''s pokeballs shake, and in a near-synchronized flash, all of them pop open, releasing all of his pokemon about the bed.

    Brendan blinks the flash from his eyes and makes to sit up. "Hey, what are you guys-!"

    He can''t quite finish as each one of his pokemon piles on top of him in a disorganized hug: Mawile on his chest, Electrike across his legs, and Breloom with a clawed hand laid across his shoulder.

    Gradually, Brendan''s surprise morphs into a grin, and he tugs Marshtomp into the hug with a free hand.

    "Guys?" begins the Birch heir, "if anything ever happens and we can''t be together anymore, let''s promise we''ll be happy for all the stuff we did together, and not be sad over the stuff we never got to do, okay?"

    Each pokemon cuddles closer, and Mawile can''t help but burst into over-exaggerated tears.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    He''s a Faller.

    Lee Henson is a Faller.

    It neatly and plausibly explains everything. The uncommon knowledge, the gaps in his skills, the subtle accent, everything.

    Zinnia stops pacing in her bedroom of the hut for a moment and looks down, confirming that she hasn''t worn a pattern into the wooden floor yet.

    Off to the side and standing guard in front of the door, Shelgon follows her with his yellow eyes, dutifully watching.

    Fallers are such an excruciatingly rare and dire phenomenon that few people are even privy to the knowledge of their existence. Oh, the concept of travelers from another world is not a new one and is even a popular plot in fiction, but actual, genuine Fallers are another thing entirely. Throughout the entire history of the Draconid tribe, no one has actually interacted with one. No one could even confirm they were real.

    Until now.

    I remember, in no uncertain terms, that I burned to death.

    When Lee said those words, Ninetales flinched, Grovyle bit down on his twig, and Corviknight looked away.

    The most telling, though, was Sylveon. Her sudden bout of violent illness put to rest any thoughts of doubt. A good Draconid knows her enemies well, and Zinnia is well aware of the touch-based empathy possessed by the pink dragonslayer. The Lorekeeper isn''t sure what''s worse�� Lee expertly hiding his true feelings on his demise, or truly being that casual about it. Either way, it must have been like a mental flash-bang to Sylveon.

    If horror has a taste, then it must be akin to bile, Zinnia decides. She swallows the sick that wants to rise in her throat and begins to pace once more, trying to turn her thoughts to other matters.

    Pokemon existed as fiction within Lee''s world, and from the sound of it, it was fiction that he was fond of. Has everything been a one-to-one experience? How much has changed from what he knows? Brendan asked if he was a character in the stories, and now Zinnia can''t help but wonder if she was a character in any of those video games or TV shows.

    ''I had to have been, right?'' she muses, rubbing the edge of her cloak between a forefinger and thumb. ''Lee was startled when we first met, like he knew who I was. He knew about the Draconids, at least.''

    ''Oh, Dolittle is definitely getting grilled later.''

    "I know I''m in a new world because my old one ended."

    Zinnia pauses once more, then walks to her bed and gently sits down, staring down at her lap.

    From his place by the door, Shelgon walks to Zinnia and settles himself on the floor next to her, lightly leaning against her knees.

    "It''s almost like he''s a Lorekeeper himself��" Zinnia murmurs, reaching out and rubbing a hand across Shelgon''s cool, metallic shell. "The very, very last of his kind. If something were to happen to Dolittle, then that''s it. The final ember of a whole world is just�� gone��"

    Shelgon says nothing, merely leaning into her knees a touch more.

    She could scarcely fathom it; to lose it all and be dropped into a world of childhood fairytales, only for your redo to be threatened by the likes of Magma and Aqua. Being entirely honest with herself, the Lorekeeper doesn''t think she would be quite as composed. No, she would be heading for the hills, desperate to stay out of the way and trying to salvage what bits of her new life she could.

    Yet instead of running away, Lee has decided to stand with her and put everything on the line for the Draconid mission.

    Zinnia''s hand wanders to the edge of Shelgon''s shell, her fingers lightly running over the edge. It''s invisible to the naked eye, but she can feel it with her fingers.

    The shell, ever so slightly, has begun to peel.

    "Hoenn is my home now. I can''t, or rather, won''t leave you all behind. I''ve put all the ghosts clinging to me to rest, along with Lee the average zookeeper. I''m Lee the pokemon trainer now."

    "We''re going to get strong, Shelgon," Zinnia murmurs, her eyes hardening and glaring holes in the wall. "We''re going to be unstoppable, because people like Lee, Brendan, and the rest of the tribe need us to be. We''ll drag that meteor back into space ourselves if we have to."

    Shelgon trembles, then points his head skyward and roars.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Eyes of red, piercing as can be.

    Mantle of gold, majestic as can be.

    A fanged mouth speaking, damning as can be.

    In a void of neither light nor dark.

    The great maw of teeth opens once more, inhuman lips forming words meant for he alone.

    It says unto him �C

    Lee awakens with a start as he hears noises through the wall, but groggily dismisses them and lays back down into his breathing, silken pillow. "I guess I shouldn''t be too surprised that Brendan and Zinnia are talking to their teams," he says with a yawn. ''Weird dream. I must be more tired than I thought,'' Lee thinks with a subdued stretch.

    For the last hour, Lee and Ninetales have been relaxing as they allow everyone time to digest the recent revelation. During that time, they have made themselves comfortable in their new bedroom for the foreseeable future.

    The bedcovers in the Draconid hut certainly leave something to be desired, as Lee found his thin pillow to be thoroughly uncomfortable. Instead, he laid his head into Ninetales'' side once she settled, finding the fox to be a much more luxurious pillow. She even fanned her tails across his chest, leaving him extra cozy. In two minutes flat, he was out like a light.

    "�� I can''t help but wonder if I should have left out the whole dying part," Lee wonders aloud, replaying the conversation an hour prior in his head. "Now that I think about it, that came out a little more melodramatic than I wanted."

    ''You shouldn''t worry so much,'' Ninetales chides, her muzzle tickling Lee''s ear as she idly grooms his hair. ''You wished to tell them the whole truth, and you did so. The way you told your story was very matter-of-fact, in my opinion.''

    "If you say so," Lee murmurs. Regardless, he cannot deny how unburdened he feels by telling Brendan and Zinnia of his real origins. "I just hope that Brendan is taking all of this well. He''s a strong kid, but he''s still just a kid. Meteors, terrorists, aliens��" Lee goes to shake his head, but stops at the last second on account of the teeth and tongue combing through his hair. "Love, I can taste the hair funk on your tongue and it''s really making me self-conscious about taking a short shower this morning."

    In response, Ninetales wordlessly tips her muzzle back, clamps it closed, and flash-heats her mouth a thousand degrees Celsius for less than a second, vaporizing the loose hair and debris on her tongue. A puff of smoke escapes her lips as she reopens her mouth, and she resumes grooming Lee wholly unbothered.

    "Nevermind." Lee resumes looking at the bare wooden ceiling above, his eyes tracing a knothole that vaguely looks like a Dustox. The knothole is right where an electric light would be, if the hut was equipped with any sort of electrical wiring.

    Fighting the urge to close his eyes and nap once more, Lee jots down a mental list of everything he needs to do. ''I''ve got that meeting with Anabel in a few days, and I''ll send word to Steven about the Draconid doomsday meteor then, as well.'' Lee''s brows furrow, annoyance with the crater''s lack of cell signal prickling him. ''Between all of that, we''ll be training good and hard. Grovyle''s sword techniques and the drain blade move need to be mastered, Octillery''s psychic cushion needs more practice, Shinx just needs experience in general, and I have to pass out everyone else''s TMs. More immediately, though��''

    His hand falls to his hip, hovering over Sylveon''s pokeball.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    ''I need to check on Sylveon.''

    Already reading his thoughts, Ninetales uncurls from around Lee and allows him to sit up. Grabbing Sylveon''s ball, Lee takes a deep breath and pops the capsule open.

    In a flash of light, Sylveon materializes on the bed, her ears already drooped and her eyes locked on the mattress.

    "Sylvy?" Lee begins gently, slowly reaching a hand out and stopping halfway. He does his best to steady his own emotions. "Are you feeling any better?"

    The ribbon wraps around Lee''s wrist with the speed and ferocity of a viper bite, and after initially stiffening, whatever was ailing Sylveon seems to abate and the tension in her shoulders eases.

    Lee allows her to simply hold him and collect her thoughts, remaining quiet.

    Eventually, the fairy raises her head and stares directly into his eyes, and Lee struggles to maintain eye contact.

    In those blue orbs is a profound sadness, mixed with disbelief. Sylveon opens her mouth to say something, but stops and looks away once more.

    ''Nine? Can you let me listen in through your ears? I don''t want there to be any mistakes for this,'' Lee thinks, briefly looking away from Sylveon to Ninetales.

    The fox wordlessly offers her senses, and after a brief flash of vertigo, Lee begins hearing the room from two different perspectives. From one of them, he can hear the beating of his own heart, along with Nine''s and Sylveon''s.

    "Sylvy, whatever it is you have to say, you can tell me." Lee gently rubs the ribbon around his wrist with his other hand. "I want to help you in any way I can."

    "How?" Sylveon begins with a deep, shuddering breath. Her voice, heard from two different sets of ears, is simultaneously a chore to understand yet perfectly clear. "How?"

    "How what?" Lee asks, scooting a bit closer. Inwardly, he tries to muster up as much encouragement as he can in his chest, hoping Sylveon feels it.

    Sylveon doesn''t reciprocate, but doesn''t move away, either. She blinks tears from her eyes and looks up at him. "How does one get better? How does one live after their purpose is gone?"

    The zoologist pauses. "That''s�� That''s quite the question," he says, looking at the wall and trying to think of an answer. ''Is she equating the ranch hand abandoning her to my restart on life?''

    ''Seems lopsided to me,'' Ninetales frowns, ''but as Lokoko said, Fairies are odd creatures.''

    Lee nods slowly. ''Back in Lavaridge, right after you evolved, you said something I quite liked�� how you exist to love and be loved? I think the same might apply to Sylveon as a species. That was their whole shtick in the pokemon fiction, and it seems to be holding true here .''

    Ninetales is silent, but Lee keenly feels her prickling discomfort as she tries, and fails, to imagine herself in Sylveon''s place. It doesn''t seem to matter how many times she tries, she can never quite visualize it.

    Outwardly, Lee resumes speaking. "Well, people and pokemon don''t have to have just one purpose," he says, smiling towards Sylveon. "I was a zookeeper, and now I''m a trainer. Sometimes life is unfair and you just have to start over, but that doesn''t mean you can''t be happy."

    Something about that just doesn''t seem to compute to Sylveon, who shakes her head vigorously. "No! That''s not right! I cannot!"sShe growls, her claws extending and tearing into the bedcovers.

    "Shhhh, it''s okay, no need to be upset," Lee whispers, rubbing the ribbon again. He shuts his eyes and for a split second, thinks about mentally leaning backwards into Ninetales to keep his nerves nice and soothed for Sylveon, only to pause.

    ��How much of Ninetales can Sylveon feel through him? Can Sylveon feel the invisible bond between them? Once more, Lee is reminded just how unusual the relationship between Ninetales and himself is. There exists no real world equivalent for what they have, in that strange place that is neither romantic nor platonic.

    It''s all too easy to see how someone looking in from the outside could come to a wrong and envious conclusion.

    With a sigh, Lee sends a wordless apology to Ninetales. ''Nevermind, Nine. I might need to do this one solo.''

    Her fan of tails twitch in irritation, but Ninetales nonetheless relents. ''Very well, Beloved. Remember I am here if you need me.''

    Lee sends back the mental equivalent of a nod, and with great reluctance pinches the telepathic line between him and Ninetales as closed as he can. Her senses vanish from his mind. Then her thoughts. Then her emotions. When they can close it no further, Lee is left with naught but a sense of profound loneliness. The only thing that he can feel is that the connection is there.

    With a deep sigh, the man powers through his discomfort and centers himself, returning his attention to Sylveon. "Let me finish, okay? I''ve got more to say."

    Sylveon, through great and obvious effort, takes a deep breath and attempts to calm herself. She sits, and her tense body begins to uncoil.

    Lee sidles closer. "I know things look bad now, and it takes different people different amounts of time to get better after tragedy strikes, but believe me when I say it does get better. You know what helps with that?"

    Sylveon shakes her head. The look she gives him is one of pleading, begging him to please make things better!

    Scooching just a little closer, Lee is now within arm''s reach of the fairy. "Things will be so much easier for you if you take it all one day at a time. It''s even better when it''s alongside people who understand, who sympathize."

    Lee twiddled his fingers, gathering his thoughts once more.

    "All of us on this little team of ours have been through different things, but I think we all understand what it''s like to lose something precious," Lee murmurs, voice subdued. "I like to think that we''ve all learned that no matter how bad it gets, no matter how much you lose, you can always find new things to love."

    Sylveon''s breath hitches in her throat.

    "Maybe what''s gone can''t be replaced, but that doesn''t mean you have to be miserable," Lee says, freezing Sylveon in place with his stare. "Other forms of love are just as real as the traditional, romantic sort. Evelyn loved you enough to harden her heart and let you go, to free you from the ranch and the weight of those memories, and although you''ve only been part of this team for a week and some change, I love you the same as I do my other pokemon. It kills me to see you so sad." Lee opens his arms, beckoning Sylveon to him. "Will you let me prove it?"

    For a long, tense moment, it seems as if Sylveon will reject him. Five seconds stretches to ten, and ten to twenty, but she shakily rises to her paws and steps forward. Each step is hard-fought, and hesitation colors her expression the entire way, but Sylveon steps close, her three remaining ribbons slowly coiling around him.

    Lee''s arms wrap around the Fairy and pull her into a tight hug. Using all the practice he''s obtained with Ninetales, Lee shuts his eyes and musters up all of the love and concern that he can.

    ''I want you to be well.''

    ''I want you to be happy.''

    ''I want you to be fulfilled.''

    There''s a sharp intake of breath, and then Sylveon begins to shake before collapsing into Lee''s lap. There are neither great sobs nor weeping, but the man feels his shirt grow wet with tears.

    Resting his chin on her head, Lee rubs gentle circles on Sylveon''s back, saying nothing and letting her vent everything she has. A sudden pang of sympathy not his own makes him look over to Ninetales, and Lee realizes he let his strangling grip on the telepathic bond grow weak.

    ''Nine, Love, don''t take this the wrong way but��'' Lee trails off, wondering how to word it.

    ''You were expecting jealousy?'' Ninetales dryly finishes for him. The vixen licks her lips, her eyes locked on her crying, elder teammate. ''There is a part deep down that is jealous, but I''ve been trying to do as you do more, and thinking of myself in the place of others. Were I to lose the one most precious to me, were I to lose you��'' She can''t finish her sentence, a shiver running down her spine and up each of her tails. ''No. I do not believe I would be well, either. I shall not begrudge Sylveon for partaking in your sympathy,'' she finishes, looking away. ''It is as you thought earlier; none have what we have, and upon reflection, it is immature of me to be discontent while possessing such a treasure.''

    Warmth blooms within Lee''s chest, and he gives her a proud smile. ''You really are the best, Nine.''

    The vixen clicks her tongue and shakes her head as if to wave away the praise, but she cannot hide the swell of love in her chest, or the insides of her ears blushing red.

    Gradually, Sylveon''s tears begin to stem, and like a water balloon with a hole poked in it, she deflates into an exhausted pink and white pile in Lee''s lap. No matter how limp she becomes, however, the grip of her ribbons remains tight.

    Lee pats his newest pokemon on the back. "Better?" he asks.

    Sylveon nods lethargically, sniffling and rubbing her eyes with her paw. She then lets out a long-suffering sigh and allows a distinctly rueful croon to bubble out of her throat, staring up at him all the while.

    ''Nine, can I get a translation? I''m still not that good at reading her.''

    ''She''s embarrassed to be doted upon by someone young enough to be her child.''

    Lee grins and squeezes Sylveon. "Ah, don''t let that bother you," he begins with a smile, "age doesn''t mean much. Sometimes all you need is to be held and told it''s going to be all right. Doesn''t matter who''s doing the holding."

    The fairy scoffs, but makes no move to pull away.

    "Oh, and before I forget��"

    Sylveon looks up, once more meeting Lee''s eyes.

    "If you''re ever feeling down, or doubtful, or just want a hug for its own sake, say something, okay?" Lee tells her. "Promise me. I want you to be happy."

    Sylveon grimaces at the word "promise". She looks around at the room, then to Ninetales, and back to Lee. She sets her shoulders, and before her sudden gathering of nerve can leave her, she nods her head, muttering two syllables under her breath.

    Lee flinches at the feeling of static that coats Sylveon''s ribbons for a split second, and wonders what in the world just happened. ''Fairy nonsense, for certain. Are fairies funny about promises or something?''

    ''Such a thing would not surprise me in the least,'' Ninetales thinks with a shake of her head.

    ''Wonderful. That''s something to keep in mind for later, then,'' Lee sends back. After thinking to himself, he smiles and comes up with a great way to end this talk on a positive note. "Sylvy? How about we give you a good grooming? I know I gave you a once over the first night you joined the team, but I''m talking something good."

    Sylveon tilts her head, obviously considering the offer, and Lee doesn''t miss the prickle of envy from Ninetales. Thinking quickly, Lee pivots the conversation around. "In fact, how about I treat all the girls of the team to something special? You, Nine, and Shinx, and then we can move outside for Corvi, Grovyle, and Octillery. Heck, we''ll make it a regular thing as long as we''re here, seeing as everyone is going to be working hard in the coming weeks. You deserve it."

    The metaphorical cloud hanging over Ninetales dissipates instantly, replaced by open delight, and Shinx''s ball bursts open in a flash, depositing an excited, sparking kitten only inches away.

    Sylveon just tilts her head once more.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    When Lee said "something special", he meant it.

    He started Nine, Sylvy, and Shinx off with full massages. He already knows what cats enjoy so Shinx was easy to turn into a purring puddle, and Ninetales was even easier considering he knows her body better than his own. In fact, he had to prod the vixen''s mind with his own so she didn''t fall asleep. Sylveon proved to be an interesting challenge, as eeveelutions take traits from both canines and felines. Eventually, though, Lee mapped her out well enough to get her to relax.

    The Draconid hut, thankfully, has running water, and Nine, Sylvy, and Shinx each got a full, hot bath and thorough scrubbing. Sylveon had to share Nine''s usual shampoo and conditioner, but even if both concoctions were made for dense, fire-retardant fur, they were plenty gentle enough to use on sensitive Fairy skin.

    As their fur dried, Lee took the time to trim and file all the claws between them, then lead them back to the bedroom to finish everything off with a thorough brushing.

    Shinx''s coarse coat zapped and crackled as it was brushed with a rather average pin brush, and an impressive amount of shed held together by static was tossed in the waste bin. Sylveon''s short, delicate, and velvety fur called for a soft bristle brush that Evelyn insisted Lee take - a gift which he was now quite glad he''d accepted.

    Now, he''s finishing the three-hour-long task off with Ninetales. Her dense, silky fur requires a long-toothed slicker brush to get all the way down to her undercoat, and each pass needs to be slow and careful, but leaves her fur sparkling like gold. Being the largest of the girls, Ninetales is laid on the bed with her hind legs splayed out behind her, while Sylveon and Shinx occupy a corner of the mattress. Lee, meanwhile, stands over Ninetales, slowly working his way through her coat.

    "When''s my turn?"

    Lee peers over his shoulder, not lifting his hands from Ninetales'' back and leaving the brushing he promised half done.

    Standing in the bedroom doorway are Zinnia and Brendan, both of whom are watching the goings-on. Zinnia specifically zeroes in on Sylveon and Shinx.

    The kitten is out cold, snoozing away and cuddled into Sylveon''s side. Her usually scruffy coat practically shines in the sunlight from the window.

    Sylveon actually looks happy. The smile on her face is small and fragile, and the colors of her coat are still a bit dull, but they''re brighter than they were just a few hours ago. If it isn''t a reflection of the tremendous amount of progress she''s experienced today, then Lee isn''t sure what is.

    Lee rolls his eyes and nods his head toward the pokeballs on his belt. "When you''re willing to hang out in a tiny ball and pick fights with literally anything on my behalf," he says, addressing Zinnia, "then I''ll pamper you whenever you want."

    "Is that all?" The Dragon tamer laughs and theatrically cracks her knuckles.

    Ninetales huffs at the insinuation, but before she can think of something witty to say, Lee moves the brush to her middle-most tail and renews his work, making the fox too lethargic to bother.

    "So, I take it you guys have questions?" Lee begins, slowing down to untangle a knot in his brush. He turns his eyes back to Ninetales.

    "A few," Brendan admits, walking in. He takes the chair from the small desk in the corner and sits in it backwards, resting his chin on the back.

    Zinnia, meanwhile, follows after Brendan and seats herself on the edge of the desk itself.

    "Shoot," Lee says, finishing Nine''s middle tail and moving on to another one.

    "So these games and TV shows and everything," Zinnia begins, lifting a hand and twirling her wrist in an unsure gesture. "How�� I guess how accurate were they? I know when we first met, you recognized me, so was I a character in any of these things?"

    "Hey, yeah! You never answered!" Brendan chimes in, leaning forward excitedly. "Was I in any of them?"

    Hesitating, Lee silently reaches out to Ninetales. ''Love, your opinion?''

    ''I foresee no harm in informing them,'' Ninetales drowsily sends back, slowly blinking her red eyes. ''So long as you remind them that fictional events have no correlation to them as people.''

    ''The ever wise kitsune always seems to have a good answer.'' Lee chuckles under his breath. "Yes, and no," he says, sparing a look to his pair of human friends. "I saw a version of you, Zinnia, in a game I didn''t finish, so beyond your name and appearance, I didn''t truly know who you were when we met. For all I know, the game depiction was completely wrong. I know none of the games or anything had any detailed history regarding the Draconid tribe like there is here, so any kind of game depiction was probably wrong, anyway."

    Previously unnoticed tension in Zinnia evaporates, and she folds her hands in her lap. "Huh. I guess I feel better?" She shakes her head. "Ugh. Just thinking about this is weird."

    "As for you, Brendan��" Lee regards the eager boy, wondering how to put things. "There wasn''t really a canon depiction of you. There''s a player character in a few of the games that vaguely looks like you, and I think some version of you was in a few of the comics, but there''s never been a one true ''Brendan.'' You''re completely unique."

    Brendan honestly seems disappointed. "So I wasn''t anyone important?" he asks, slumping.

    "Not what I said." Lee levels Brendan with a firm stare. "You''re the one and only Brendan Birch. You are what you make yourself, no more, no less."

    The boy leans back with a blink. Reaching under his white hat, he scratches the back of his head with confusion, before a realization seems to strike him. "Did you think I was going to have some kind of identity crisis because I was in an extradimensional videogame?"

    Lee freezes in brushing his fox for a split-second, but Brendan catches it, and openly laughs, making Lee''s face burn.

    "C''mon, Lee!" Brendan guffaws, throwing his head back in his mirth. "Of all the things to be worried about, that''s what you were afraid of saying?"

    "Brendan, if everyone in the world was as mature as you, there would be a lot less problems," Lee grumbles. "No, you want to know what I''m really afraid of? You remember Ash Ketchum?"

    Zinnia perks up. "Oak''s Lab Trainer? What about him?"

    "Would you believe me if I said there''s a non-zero chance that he is some kind of Arceus-blessed savior?" Lee asks, deadpan.

    "I''m sorry, what?"

    "Now you''re starting to get why I worry."

 Act 2: Chapter 27

    The morning following Lee and Zinnia spilling their secrets to the whole party is�� strangely normal. Lighthearted, even. Lee is the first to awaken, and after rousing his pokemon, they make their way as a team to the hut''s kitchen. Ninetales has no issue lighting the wood-burning stove, and before long, the smell of food permeates the entire hut, drawing Brendan and Zinnia from their beds. The kitchen lacks room for all of the pokemon (chiefly Corviknight), leading to everyone moving to the living room to begin their morning meal.

    Zinnia wolfs down her food with her usual vigor and finishes first. Setting her plate down on the coffee table with a satisfied sigh, she gives Brendon and Lee a bright smile. "Okay, boys, are you two ready to be amazed?"

    "Amazed?" Brendan questions after swallowing his latest bite. Distracted by Zinnia, he doesn''t see Breloom use his species'' signature stretching arms to scoop an entire fried egg off his plate. "By what?"

    That only makes Zinnia''s grin wider. "Every good story has a training montage, and ours starts today! The Meteorfall Crater is positively beautiful everywhere, even in the training arenas! Hurry up and finish breakfast! We''ve got places to be!"

    Lee grumbles past his food and swallows. "Not all of us can eat like dragons."

    Zinnia simply sticks her tongue out in response.

    Once everyone polishes off their meals, Octillery and Marshtomp make short work of the morning dishes with some good old-fashioned organic power-washing, letting all the pokemon sans Ninetales be returned to their balls for the trip.

    "Finally!" Zinnia then clicks her tongue and stops pacing by the door. "Let''s get going."

    The Dragon Tamer throws open the door of the hut and steps out, letting Lee, Ninetales, and Brendan follow in her wake. Lee shifts as the strange, invisible energy of the crater washes over him once more.

    Beside him, Ninetales shivers, partially ruffling her golden coat. ''Goodness. The Draconid elders said we would get used to this? I''m having difficulty believing that.''

    ''Yeah, it is pretty odd, and that''s the politest thing I can say about it,'' Lee sends back, ignoring the Butterfree in his stomach. ''Just stay strong.''

    ''For you, I will.''

    Zinnia takes the group down a well-trodden path that veers off to the side, away from the opening of the crater high above and towards one of the side caves. As they walk, they pass a fully grown Salamence lounging in a bed of lichen, who watches them with a lazy turn of its head.

    As they approach the mouth of the cave, Lee notices a number of runes scrawled upon the wall to the left of the entrance. The letters are jagged and made up of all straight lines, as if carved with claws. What the runes say, neither he nor Ninetales knows.

    "How come it''s not getting dark in here?" Brendan questions, looking up at the ceiling of the cave path. Above them, irregular bunches of crystals jut out from the rock, emitting gentle light. "The crystals?"

    "Yep!" Zinnia answers. "A lot of the crystals in the caves down here are natural, but a clever Draconid ages ago figured out how to modify the move Power Gem to make artificial ones. If you make a nice, uninterrupted line in the ceiling or walls connecting the crystals to the central chamber, then light will flow through. It''s kind of like�� What''s the word?"

    "Fiber-optic?" Lee supplies, looking up as well. Now that he does so, he notices that there are a lot of spots in the ceiling that are too smooth, as if they were carved out and had the material put back later. He also notices just how large the underground pathway is. The ceiling must be thirty, nearly forty feet up, with the walls just as far away. A group of Salamence could fly down the corridor in a three-by-three formation and not touch.

    Zinnia snaps her fingers and he gives Lee a smile. "Fiber-optic, yeah, that''s it. With that little trick, you can light up anywhere in the Crater!"

    Without him even needing to say anything, Lee''s notebook and pen floats out of his backpack and into his hand, courtesy of Ninetales'' telekinesis. Without the preamble, he flips to a fresh page and begins to write. "Fascinating stuff," he mumbles. "You said the technique uses a variant of Power Gem? It was my understanding that Power Gem, despite being Rock-Type, is actually an energy-based attack. Is that wrong, or did the founder convert it to something more physical?"

    Brendan snorts in amusement and Zinnia''s shoulders slump. "Never change, Dolittle," she groans.

    The path twists, turns, and splits off several times, leaving everyone who isn''t a Dragon Tamer disoriented, but after about twenty minutes of walking, the cave lets out into a positively gargantuan chamber.

    "Wow��" Lee breathes, looking all around, and even peering through Ninetales'' eyes as she swivels her own head in amazement.

    To call the chamber gargantuan is honestly an understatement. The space must be the size of a sports stadium. The flat ground and absence of plant life, man-made structures, and rock formations only make it seem even larger. The flat, rocky ground is scored in a neat checkerboard pattern of squares, and upon scuffing his boot over one of the lines, Lee finds that one of the squares is a few millimeters higher than the other.

    High above, at the top of the dome ceiling, is a positively massive crystal cluster spiking downward and filling the chamber with a soft, white light. The light glitters off of the microscopic minerals in the walls, giving the room an ethereal, unearthly feel. If at all possible, the odd dragon aura of the crater seems more concentrated down here. Lee can practically taste it, as if each breath coats his tongue in static.

    "Welcome, Lorekeeper and honored guests. Your arrival was anticipated."

    Lee turns sharply, along with Brendan and Ninetales, towards the unexpected voice.

    Standing several arm-lengths away and previously unnoticed, a pair of teenage girls clad in the hide clothes of the Draconids stand with their hands behind their backs. The pair of girls are practically identical, save for their hair and eyes. The girl on the left sports the usual red eyes of the Draconids, but her hair is an unusual blonde color. Her doppelg?nger, meanwhile, has gold eyes and vibrant red hair.

    As one, the pair bow their heads before standing straight once more. "Our apologies for the surprise," the left one speaks. "It is not often that guests get to see the Vorush''yarik, or Turbulent Womb in this language." The blonde girl smiles mischievously. "A fitting, if pretentious name. The honored ancestors certainly enjoyed their pomp and ceremony." The girls then incline their heads once more. "I am Isis, and my sister beside me is named Astis. We are honored to receive you here," the blonde says.

    ''Isis and Astis, the Draconid Oracle''s assistants?'' Lee recalls Zinnia''s words from the day prior. He looks at the redhead, Astis, who is giving Brendan a smile that the boy shyly looks away from. ''What is it with Brendan and quiet girls in red?''

    Zinnia chimes in with a laugh. "Ooooh yeah. The ancient Draconids were awful wordy for being warriors," she agrees, stepping forward and taking the lead of the conversation. "So we were anticipated, eh? Did the crone get her meds airmailed in?"

    A frown briefly passes Isis'' face. "The insinuation that Oracle Fabiana requires medication to make use of her gift isn''t appreciated, Lorekeeper, but yes, Astis and I were instructed to be here at this day and time to greet you."

    "So the Oracle resides here most of the time?" Lee asks, his curiosity overwhelming him. "Why is that, if you don''t mind me asking?"

    Isis bites her lip, seemingly debating with herself. "The flowing energies within Metron''fall Krate aid her gift, and I should say nothing more," she replies curtly. "Now, it is my understanding that you all intend to train in this space. It has been prepared for your use, and I would like to take the time to inform you on how to make use of this space to its fullest."

    ''She speaks as if this isn''t just a large room,'' Ninetales turns her eyes downward towards the checkerboard floor, thinking to herself with a hum. As Lee did with his boot, she runs a paw over a line separating two of the squares, feeling the tiny height disparity between them. ''Some sort of hidden mechanism? For what purpose?''

    "The ground beneath our feet is not what it seems," Isis continues primly, unknowingly confirming Ninetales'' suspicions. "The nature of dragons is one of supreme competition, and the Draconids of yore were clever. In order to guide growth, pokemon must be given space of their own and solitude to focus, as any peers they are not training with are merely a distraction. The sections below our feet can raise and lower to create walls, either as training tools, or to improve one''s skills with others out of sight and thus out of mind."

    "Really?" Lee looks down and taps the floor with the toe of his boot, finding it solid. "How does that work? Surely it''s not a pokemon using muscle power to lift and move the pillars, is it?"

    Isis shakes her head. "No. The exact mechanisms below are a mystery to us in the modern era, and we dare not investigate too deeply lest we damage something we cannot repair. Even if we so wished to investigate, the pillars below have proven more resilient than anything we have seen before. A grown Dragon could rampage day and night within this chamber and leave naught but scratches."

    ''The walls and floor look like regular limestone to me,'' Lee rubs his chin and scans the enormous chamber once more. ''There has to be some kind of TE shenanigans at play.''

    Heedless of Lee''s thoughts, Isis continues to speak. "The Zhaiv, the Dragon energy that permeates the earth here, is the key to the walls hidden below. The clever devices beneath the ground are keyed to it, and the Zhaiv is so dense here that it listens even to the weak wishes of man. Force your will upon it, and it will answer. Observe," she turns to Astis.

    The redheaded girl, who has yet to say a single word, nods and closes her eyes, seemingly concentrating.

    Without warning, one of the sections of floor a stone''s throw away grinds and shifts. With the sound of rock sliding against rock, a square section of pillar rises out of the ground, rising up and up until it''s halfway to the ceiling. The whole process takes a little under twenty seconds.

    "Wow��" Brendan says with an awed smile. He looks between the tall pillar and Astis "That''s incredible!"

    The silent girl blushes and inclines her head, hiding her eyes behind her bangs.

    As the pillar slowly lowers itself back into place, Isis smiles and gestures to the group. "Before my sister and I leave you to your devices, please practice raising and lowering the walls. Do not be discouraged if they do not respond right away. The Zhaiv in the air is fickle, and will twist out of your grip if you let it. Everyone, step away from one another and choose a section of your own."

    Everyone does as asked, and when spaced out, the blonde teenager speaks once more. "Most excellent. Focus upon your chosen pillar, and visualize clearly within your mind its movement. The pillar''s stillness offends you, and you must order it to move with all the imperious desire you can muster."

    ''Imperious desire, huh?'' Lee stares at the square on the floor and concentrates.

    Surprising no one, Zinnia gets it on the first try. She gives the square at her feet a hard stare, and it groans to life, rising to face height.

    Brendan struggles some, grimacing in effort. After several minutes of failure, he even tries pointing his hand at the floor to no effect. It''s only when he begins growling in frustration does the pillar tremble, and then slowly raise itself out of the floor. The instant it does, Brendan jumps and pumps a fist with a whoop, making Astis smile and quietly applaud.

    The pillar then grinds to a stop, making Brendan groan and redouble his focus. This time, it only takes a few seconds for the pillar to reluctantly shudder to life.

    Lee, however, can''t get the damn thing to work.

    ''C''mon, move!'' he demands in his head, giving the section of floor in front of him a death glare. ''Rise! Up and at ''em! Anything?''

    The pillar doesn''t even rumble.

    Beside him, Ninetales noses his side. ''Might I try, Beloved?''

    Wanting a break after nearly ten full minutes of trying to pop a blood vessel, Lee reluctantly relaxes and strokes Ninetales between the ears, soothing his nerves. ''Go for it.''

    The fox looks down at the stone, her luminescent eyes narrowing.

    At first, Lee feels her reach for her telekinesis, only to pause and instead reach her mind outward into the weighty aura pressing down upon them all. Unbridled, almost sovereignly authority laces her next thought, along with a burning disdain for any sort of disobedience. ''Move!''

    The pillar immediately shoots up, rising high enough to peer over a building.

    Both Brendan and Zinnia pause to look over at him.

    "Jeez, Lee," Zinnia levels him with a raised eyebrow. "You really don''t do anything by half, do you?"

    Lee shakes his head in frustration. "That was Ninetales, not me. I can''t seem to get it to work."

    That makes Zinnia pause. "Yeah, now that I think about it, that makes sense. You really gotta think like a Dragon to get these things to move. No offense, Lee, but you''re the least Dragon-like guy I know."

    ''I haven''t any mind if you use me as a mouthpiece on these stubborn rocks,'' Ninetales sniffs and lowers the pillar with another mental command.

    ''I might take you up on that��'' Lee frowns as he watches the square tower of rock disappear back into the ground. ''I get the want component of it all, but being murderously annoyed at a floor for being a floor?''

    The vixen at his side lets out a few gekkering, vulpine laughs.

    <hr>

    Once everyone demonstrates that they can get the pillars to move according to their whims, Isis nods and steps back, a pleased smile on her face. "Well done. My sister and I shall retire from the chamber and leave you. We shall return at noon and at the end of the day, bearing refreshments. May your efforts be fruitful."

    With that, Isis and Astis excuse themselves, leaving through the cavernous doorway.

    When the pair of girls are out of sight, Brendan takes the lead in the conversation. "So how do we want to do this? Are we going to separate or train together?"

    Lee mulls over exactly what he wants to get accomplished. "Separate for now, I think," he finally says. "We can make little focused pockets in here, and I think we should use it."

    "I was just about to say that I want to go at it with just my team for a while," Zinnia agrees. "The Dragon TE in the air down here is going to react with our pokemon''s desire for more strength, and that''s going to hit twice as hard for my pokemon since they''re actual Dragons. I''m planning on really putting them through the wringer because of that, and the fewer distractions, the better."

    "Does it actually make pokemon who train down here stronger?" Lee asks, gesturing to the air. "The Dragon TE? Or Zhaiv?"

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    "Like you wouldn''t believe," Zinnia says gravely. She loosens the collar of her cloak and leans her head back, showing Lee beads of sweat on her forehead despite the underground chill. "The lust for power and domination is the core of what a Dragon is, and the TE reacts to that. The more a pokemon wants strength, the more the TE will resonate with them and push them towards that goal." The Lorekeeper takes a breath to gather her thoughts. "I tried to get permission to come down here after being made Lorekeeper, but Granny denied me because she was afraid that Bagon would fly off the handle. That''s the catch was being down here; if your pokemon don''t respect you enough to rein themselves in on command, then they can rampage, train until they break every bone in their body, or even die of exhaustion."

    A shiver runs down Lee''s spine. Hazarding a glance towards Brendan, the zoologist sees the boy is equally disturbed.

    "I think all of us are far past that point, however," Zinnia lightens the atmosphere with a smile. "I don''t feel like walking, so I''m claiming this spot by the door. Buzz off, boys!"

    Ninetales cleared her throat.

    "And fox."

    Rolling his eyes, Lee concedes without a fight and begins walking to the other end of the cavern with Ninetales in tow, thinking over how best to use this interesting opportunity and, more importantly, what sort of training he wants to get out of his team.

    Ninetales has yet to lose her crown as most powerful member of the team, and at this rate, it seems like she never will. She''s acclimated well to missing a small chunk of one of her lungs, and is already approaching the level she was at before her injury. It won''t be long now before she''s undeniably an Elite pokemon.

    For all her merits, though, Nine is still far too skewed towards power over finesse. She can modulate the output of her fire just fine, but her power in other areas is outstripping her control. Iron Tail is currently all or nothing, her Quick Attack is growing fast enough to disorient her, and her Confuse Ray, which is potent enough to induce seizures, is outright unsafe to use on weak pokemon.

    For now, control will be the name of the game for her.

    Shame prickles Ninetales as Lee thinks these things, so he pauses his train of thought and pulls her into a tight side-hug as they walk. ''You''ll improve, love. I know you will.''

    The fox smiles up at him, sending back a telepathic flow of love and appreciation. Lee swears that he feels silky fur running up and down his body.

    Corvi is probably the most balanced of the team. He has no glaring weaknesses other than his vulnerability to fire and electricity. He has ranged, melee, buffing, debuffing, and healing techniques all at his talon tips. Curiously and unfortunately, however, he''s lost the ability to use Extreme Speed. Whenever he tries, his body accelerates unevenly, resulting in him painfully yanking feathers out. Once Lee can figure out what''s going wrong there, they''ll fix that up. The raven also still has moments where he forgets how large he is, his usual grace making way for uncharacteristically clumsy mistakes. It''s perfectly understandable, since Corviknight literally tripled in size after his evolution, but his proprioception needs to be fixed. For now, they''ll focus on his dexterity and general improvement.

    Grovyle�� The burn scars across large parts of Grovyle''s body have been such a hurdle. Not only are they painful reminders of Maxie''s misdeeds, but they impair Grovyle''s movement. The only reason that Lee hasn''t scheduled a specialist to remove them is at Grovyle''s own stubborn insistence. Nightly rubdowns and ointment are giving the wood gecko back his range of motion, but it''s slow-going. Besides the aid of a specialist, the other way that Grovyle can be rid of the scars is through evolution.

    Lee tries to imagine Grovyle as a fully grown Sceptile, and much like when he tried to imagine Vulpix evolving, it just seems so mystical that his mind won''t conjure the image.

    At the moment, they''ll keep at Grovyle''s swordsmanship. The harebrained idea of changing Leaf Blade''s shape into a holdable, and thus much more easily manipulated sword is paying off big time. For all his injuries, Grovyle is still the most dexterous pokemon on the team, and is devilishly fast. A normal Leaf Blade''s reverse-grip angle can be awkward to manipulate and doesn''t offer much in the way of range, but Grovyle''s makeshift katana gives him a deceptive amount of reach and allows him to sneak in cuts where he couldn''t previously. Recently, he''s even become confident enough to try and deflect solid projectiles out of the air. With any luck, they''ll finish the yet-named drain blade move, and Grovyle will evolve down here.

    Octillery''s biggest priority right now is simply mastering his frictionless, psychic cushion. The octopus has already made it clear that he does not care to cultivate an immobile fighting style when such maneuverability is available to him, which suits Lee just fine. It''s easy for him to begin moving, but braking and changing direction are both still squirrelly at best. Once he has sufficient mastery of his telekinesis, more doors will open for them. Other than that, Octillery, like the rest of the team, still has several TMs to learn. Lee is sure the cephalopod will be delighted with Thunder Wave, the next move on the list.

    Shinx just needs any fighting experience. Loathe as Lee is to admit it, his baby should know how to fight with the threats that are on the horizon. Once she has Thunder Shock mastered, Wattson''s Shock Wave TM will be best used on Shinx.

    Last but not least, Sylveon needs to get into shape. She''s underweight, was not raised as a career fighter, and has potentially decades of bad battle habits. She is undeniably the weakest battle-ready pokemon Lee has. The Fairy has thankfully been putting on weight, but to the chagrin of Lee''s inner scientist, it seems as if her enjoyment of her food has a much greater impact than the actual nutritional content, which is some Fairy nonsense at it''s finest. Once he has all of her specific tastes figured out, Sylveon''s improvement should speed up dramatically.

    As Lee and Nine come to the far end of the training chamber, both turn to see walls rising up and dividing the space into thirds, leaving them closed off in a valley of subterranean rock. Hardly ten seconds later, they hear a roar from the other end of the chamber and the sound of bodies crashing together.

    "Zinnia sure doesn''t waste time," Lee muses, taking all the occupied pokeballs from his belt. With a heave of his arms, he tosses the capsules into the air, where each one bursts open and sends a lightning bolt of white light down. Each bolt of light materializes into a pokemon, and in short order, Lee''s entire team is standing ready. Corviknight, Grovyle, and Octillery all coolly wait for instructions, while Sylveon fidgets and Shinx is practically bouncing on her paws.

    Once everyone is assembled, Ninetales leaves Lee''s side to stand with her teammates, awaiting the coming briefing with them. ''I believe we''re all ready,'' she says.

    "Alrighty, everyone," Lee begins with a smile, surrendering a hand when one of Sylveon''s ribbons snakes over to make contact. "You all know the general idea, we''re down here to take some time to train for the competition coming ahead, official and�� otherwise," he clears his throat when Shinx tilts her head, seemingly uncomprehending of the ''otherwise'' comment.

    "I''m sure you all feel that strange weight in the air. According to Zinnia, the energy you''re feeling is going to spur your body into improving faster," Lee continues, "Zinnia also gave some very clear warnings that everyone might need some help with self-control down here, so that in mind, when I say we''re done for the day, we''re done for the day, everyone understand?" He finishes, his eyes roaming over each of his pokemon. He lingers longer than he intended to on Grovyle.

    Lee receives nods and murmurs of agreement. Shinx actually does most of the nodding, as her head is practically a blur whipping up and down.

    Smiling, Lee moves on. "Great, I think we all know where we need to improve, so for the sake of efficiency, I''m going to divide us up into two ''mon teams that I''ll cycle through and assist as needed. First, we''ll start with Grovyle and Octillery."

    The gecko and octopus both perk up.

    "Grovyle," Lee addresses his second-ever pokemon. "You''ve been making fantastic progress with both your swordsmanship and your recovery, and I can''t overstate how proud I am of you."

    The Grass-type crosses his arms and looks away, twiddling his twig in his mouth. Lee is sure that if reptiles had the capacity to blush, Grovyle would be.

    "Octillery," Lee sends the Water-type a smile. "You''ve picked up Psychic like a pro. If I didn''t know any better, I would swear that you''re actually a Psychic-type."

    Octillery flippantly waves a tentacle, as if that''s to be expected. Despite his nonchalance, Lee can still see the pleased upward crinkle of Octillery''s eyelids.

    "Both of you guys are really onto something with your respective talents, so for that reason, I''m turning today''s exercise into a competition for you two," Lee says with a knowing smile.

    Instantly, both pokemon lock-on to him.

    ''Oh yeah, using natural competitiveness was the right move. The word alone has gotten them laser-focused,'' Lee thinks to himself. "The first competition goes like this: Octillery will use his telekinetic cushion and only his telekinetic cushion to stay out of Grovyle''s range. No jumping, no shuffling on his tentacles, nothing of that sort. Octillery needs to evade Grovyle for as long as possible, and if he can play keep away for at least thirty minutes, he''s the winner."

    Octillery''s eyes narrow, and Lee can already see the cephalopod forming some kind of plan.

    "Grovyle, meanwhile," the trainer gives Grovyle a look, "can only use the Siphon Blade technique we''re still working on, plus whatever sword skills he has to attack. If his control slips and he uses a regular Leaf Blade to strike, he loses by default. If he can land a single Siphon Blade and steal some of Octillery''s stamina, then Grovyle wins."

    The gecko stands rigidly, his Leaf Blade already glowing and bending into shape. The green sword smacks into his palm with a thwack!

    "Oh, and there is a prize for this. The winner gets their next TM immediately."

    Octillery and Grovyle''s heads snap to the side, each staring at the other with such intensity Lee half expects to see sparks shooting from their eyes.

    "Since we''ve got a lot of lateral space here, we''re going to divide it up into thirds so we all have nice, square battle arenas," Lee gestures to the far end of the artificial valley they all stand in. "You boys head to that end and Nine will raise the wall. As soon as the wall is up and stops moving, your time starts."

    Both pokemon move in a flash, racing across the ground towards their area.

    ''I hope they don''t tear each other up too much��''

    Lee then pairs Nine with Corviknight and gives them a similar exercise. Ninetales can only use Iron Tail to attack and Quick Attack for vertical movement, while Corviknight needs to evade and use Steel Wing only to parry, with the caveat that he needs to maintain a minimum proximity to the Ace of the team. Lee does all of this in the hopes that Corviknight will master his new bodily dimensions. He and Nine also squeeze their telepathic bond mostly shut. It''s uncomfortable, and neither truly wants to, but it allows both to focus on their own tasks better.

    The next wall rises and closes Ninetales and Corvi into their own box, leaving Lee with Sylveon and Shinx.

    "Okay, girls, here''s what I''m thinking," Lee squats down, prompting the fairy and kitten to step closer. "We''re going to ease into things at first. Baby girl," he strokes Shinx across her head, making her purr and flick her tail, "you''re spunky and have the go-getter attitude needed to be great, you just need experience in general. I want to be a hundred percent certain on something though, so listen to me carefully."

    Shinx pauses her purring and looks Lee in the eyes, giving him her full attention.

    "Do you want to be a fighter?" Lee asks seriously. "You''ve sparred a little with Grovyle and Nine, but if you want to be a fighter, it''s going to be different from now on. You could get hurt, hurt bad, the kind of bad I can''t fix. I don''t know how much you know, baby girl, but there are bad people out there that we might have to fight one day." He pauses for a moment, finding his mouth dry.

    Lee debates telling her that he personally doesn''t want her to be a battler, but reluctantly stops himself, not wanting to influence her opinion with his own. "If you don''t want to fight, tell me. I''ll send you to Professor Birch''s ranch where you''ll be protected, and I''ll visit as often as I can."

    For the first time ever, Lee sees Shinx frown. The kitten marches right up into Lee''s personal space, staring up at him with eyes that quite literally glow. Slowly, she shakes her head back and forth in a firm No.

    She''s made up her mind, and she''s staying.

    With a sigh, Lee lets a rueful smile cross his face, then he lifts Shinx into his arms and gives her a tight hug. "My baby is growing up too fast."

    Shinx purrs once more, nuzzling into his chest.

    Setting Shinx down, Lee turns his eyes to Sylveon, who is watching the exchange with Shinx with an expression Lee cannot name. As he opens his mouth, one of Sylveon''s ribbons wraps around his wrist. "Sylvy, you need some physical conditioning. You''re doing great and my heart soars every time you get all of your food down, so I think you''re ready for some light exercise. What do you think?" He asks. "I''d like to nail two Pidgey with one Rock Throw here, so can you help me get Shinx up to speed? It''ll be good exercise for you, as well."

    Sylveon''s answer is a single, determined nod.

    Lee smiles, then stands. "We''ll keep it simple, then. A good, old-fashioned battle. I''ll direct Shinx, and you can fight as you see fit. Just keep things toned down to Shinx''s level, okay?"

    "Eeya?" Sylveon answers with an annoyed glare, as if saying, "I know that!"

    As Sylveon trots to the other side of the square arena, Lee withdraws his pokedex from his pocket and scrolls through both Shinx and Sylveon''s known moves.

    Shinx only has Tackle, Leer, and Thunder Shock to work with, which is not surprising. She''s never been in a real fight before. Her spars with Ninetales and Grovyle were more like exercises where the elder pokemon would evade and deflect, remaining on the defensive for the entire fight.

    Sylveon, meanwhile, has a much more extensive list. Covet, Bite, Sand Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Copycat, Baton Pass, Charm, Helping Hand, Disarming Voice, Quick Attack, Light Screen, Swift, Wish, and Draining Kiss. Except for Wish, which was probably a move inherited from one of her parents, Sylveon''s move line-up is entirely expected. Even with Sylveon toning herself down, though, this is going to be an uphill fight for Shinx.

    Lee and Shinx take position on one side of the makeshift arena while Sylveon sits calmly on the other end.

    "Is everyone ready?" Lee asks, getting a pair of nods in reply, one much more eager than the other. Bending down, Lee scoops a pebble off of the floor. "This rock hitting the ground will signify the start. Here we go!" He tosses it upward.

    Two sets of eyes, one yellow, and the other blue, watch the pebble arc up into the air then fall back down.

    Shinx shakes in anticipation, her fur sparking.

    Sylveon sets her jaw, her ribbons wriggling like snakes.

    The pebble hits the ground with a tap!

    Shinx yowls, baring her fangs, throwing sparks everywhere, and her eyes shining with ill intent. Her visage transforms from cute to spine-chilling on a primal level in an instant.

    Startled, Sylveon flinches and steps back.

    ''Intimidate is Shinx''s special ability, then?'' Lee withholds a laugh at the irony that his adorable cub has Intimidate of all things. With his odd luck thus far, he was expecting a hidden ability. ''Focus, Lee. Don''t let Shinx down.'' He clears his head with a shake."Thunder Shock!"

    Shinx''s body lights up once more with a crackling corona of electricity, and with another yowl, she looses a merciless bolt towards Sylveon.

    The rattled fairy jumps to the side and out of the way, letting the lightning strike the wall behind her and leave a scorch mark. Shaking her head, Sylveon grits her teeth and steels herself, a shimmering blue barrier covering her body.

    ''Light Screen. A smart move,'' Lee doesn''t spend much time reflecting. "Shinx, close the distance and Tackle!"

    The kitten is off in a burst of frenzied movement. Her short legs sent her flying across the ground at a startling speed, fast enough that Sylveon freezes in indecision.

    Only a few feet away, one of Sylveon''s ribbons shoots out on reflex, tangling Shinx''s legs and sending her falling end-over-end with a distressed mewl. Sylveon doesn''t stop there, and with that ribbon, she lifts Shinx before tossing the Electric-Type away.

    Landing roughly on the hard floor, Shinx coughs as the air is knocked from her lungs, but despite her tumble, she scrambles back to her paws. Strangely, she doesn''t turn her head toward Lee for instruction like many rookie pokemon do, like Mudkip and Vulpix both used to do before knocking the habit out of each other. No, instead Shinx keeps her eyes firmly on Sylveon.

    ''Curious. Maybe she learned that from watching the rest of the team?'' Lee dismisses his idle musings for later, and raises a hand to stall Sylveon. "You okay to keep going, Shinx?"

    The kitten''s charged fur pops and snaps in reply.

    "Good girl, keep at it!" He smiles and lowers his hand. "Close the distance again!"

    Shinx charges without an ounce of hesitation, her legs blurring together.

    Unfortunately for her, Sylveon is well-prepared this time. The fairy lowers her stance, and the fur bow on her chest begins to glow gold. Sylveon then thrusts her chest out, firing a barrage of Swift stars from the bow into Shinx''s path.

    "Abort! Zap them with Thunder Shock!" Lee orders a counter the instant he sees the first star fly.

    Eyes wide, Shinx skids to a stop and powers up her electricity. With everything she can muster, she fires off Thunder Shock after Thunder Shock.

    Bzat!

    Boom!

    Bzat!

    Boom!

    Bzat!

    Boom!

    Arcs of lightning shoot into the ranks of the starry rays, blasting many of them to smithereens and leaving showers of glowing motes behind, but several slip through and smash into Shinx with painful, jostling explosions. After the fifth one slips by and hits her, Shinx''s eyes screw themselves shut, and with a cry, she wreaths herself in a crackling mantle of electricity that covers every inch of her body.

    The remaining stars hit the cloak of electricity and pop, exploding without doing any damage.

    Baring her fangs, Shinx sucks the electricity into her own body, drawing it in and past her fur like a luminescent gas. Then she snarls and lights up like a Christmas tree, shooting a Thunder Shock with twice the speed and intensity she''s displayed thus far.

    Sylveon freezes again, and is this time struck by the lightning. Light Screen flares to life and absorbs the worst of the attack, but the pink pokemon is still forced to shake away some lingering pain.

    "What the hell?" Lee wonders aloud before his pokedex beeps. Quickly yanking the device from his pocket, he checks Shinx''s profile and is amazed.

    Shinx now has both Charge and Spark listed as moves. Charge does exactly what it says on the screen and increases the power of an Electric move used after it, and Spark turns the user''s entire body into a giant taser for an extra painful tackle.

    ''Was she on the brink of learning them? Was it some kind of improv that the ''dex registered as legit moves? Or did the Dragon TE down here do something?'' Lee pushes aside his amazement and puts away his pokedex. "Shinx, keep going! Close the distance again!"

    Once more, Shinx rushes in, her eyes locked on Sylveon.

    Sylveon frowns lightly, and rather than let Shinx get close, she rapidly shoots one of her ribbons out, intending to trip the kitten again.

    This time, however, Shinx''s eyes follow the ribbon carefully, as if she''s anticipating such a move. Just as the ribbon is wrapping around one of her front legs, Shinx rips the leg away and leaps, bounding through the air toward her surprised opponent.

    "Spark!"

    Shinx crackles with electricity once more, and she smacks into Sylveon like a cat-shaped missile, sending a current of Arceus-knows how many volts through Sylveon and turning both of them into a light show.

    Convulsing on her paws, Sylveon growls past chattering teeth and flares up with Quick Attack''s white glow. With a half-controlled twitch of her ankles, Sylveon rockets away and makes distance. She lands two dozen yards away with the fur on her shoulder scorched, and now regards Shinx with a strange, pleased sort of wariness.

    Ending her Spark attack, Shinx pants as both her nerves and exhaustion catch up to her, but her toothy grin is plain for all to see.

    "Way to go, girl!" Lee cheers, unable to help himself. His face stretches into a grin to match Shinx''s. "At the risk of sounding mean, I wasn''t actually expecting you to land a good, solid hit on Sylveon today, let alone two!"

    Out in the field, Shinx is positively beaming at the praise.

    "Everyone else on the team wishes they could improve as fast as you," Lee calms himself and sends Sylveon a look. "Sylvy, you''ve done a great job holding back for Shinx, but let''s ramp it up a little. I think she can handle it, and you need a workout too."

    Sylveon sends Shinx a glance promising the upstart some payback, and Shinx replies with the most adorable, yet competitive roar the world has ever heard.

    It looks like the coming days are going to be very interesting indeed.

 Act 2: Chapter 28

    A glance at his watch tells Lee that it''s nearly noon. Around this time, everyone - Brendan and Zinnia''s teams included - would normally stop for a short break, but today noon marks the end of his team''s training in the bowels of the Draconid crater. "Okay! We''re done for today! Disengage!"

    The gold and green blurs before Lee break off from each other with a final metallic crash, materializing into Ninetales and Grovyle respectively.

    On one side of the square, pillar-formed arena, Grovyle breathes deeply, his Leaf Blade �C

    No, not Leaf Blade, Lee corrects himself with a prideful smile. Leaf Blade glows green. Grovyle''s new Siphon Blade hums with a shade of sickly yellow, and is held ready to strike. Each stroke of the leafy sword, honed by days of continuous work, drains its foe, making every single slice a twofold setback for the victim.

    Across from Grovyle, Ninetales rests in a low stance, three of her tails held before her. Each one of the limbs shines with a metallic gleam, the fur upon each one molded into different shapes.

    To her left, the fluffy tail''s fur is flattened into a broad, cleaving blade.

    The middle is wrapped tightly in a spiral to make a stabbing lance.

    The right holds the nastiest weapon of all: the metallic fur juts out into multiple, jagged spikes, forming a wicked club.

    Yet, despite wielding thrice the number of weapons that Grovyle does, Ninetales bears just as many wounds as her reptilian opponent, if not more. She hides her pain well, but Lee can feel the phantom sting of an especially deep slash on his outer thigh, mirroring a wound on her flank.

    As one, the pair of pokemon power down their attacks and incline their heads to one another, not unlike a pair of samurai breaking off from a spar.

    ''Pokemon are kind of like samurai when you think about it,'' Lee muses. ''Honorable warriors serving a Lord that they could merc if they felt like it.''

    "So!" Lee busies himself with digging his berry case out of his backpack as his pokemon seat themselves at his feet. "How are we feeling after that? You two were really flying into each other there at the end. The sound of leaf-on-metal was starting to get deafening."

    ''Somewhat embarrassed that I was pressured so much the entire fight,'' Ninetales admits both aloud and via telepathy, punctuating her words with a sigh. ''I am well aware that melee is not my specialty, but I did not expect to be on the defensive so often, especially not with three tails to defend myself with.'' She frowns. ''I''ll endeavor to keep improving, perhaps by incorporating more tails. I believe my coordination to be sufficient.''

    If Lee was riding in the backseat of her mind and assisting, Ninetales could probably use all of her tails in tandem as weapons without them getting jumbled, but the pair have been consciously avoiding such measures for now. The better Ninetales becomes at splitting her focus and multitasking, the better she can utilize even more complicated techniques.

    Like the still unfinished Fox Fire.

    Oh, how Lee wants that move to work. During the few times he could get a data signal down here in the crater, Lee''s research delved into the complicated and poorly understood world of clone-producing moves. Substitute is the only widely known and commercially available move that makes solid clones, and it''s almost entirely used as a distraction. Substitutes are also limited to only unpowered physical strikes if they''re used offensively. Add in the prohibitive stamina cost of creating even one, and it''s no surprise that Substitute is a move rarely encountered.

    After Lee realized that, it''s no wonder that the reveal of Fox Fire had Battlenet in such a clamor. Producing two proxy battlers was already novel, but proxies capable of both firing projectiles and a bastardized form of Self-Destruct? Unheard of.

    Grovyle raises an eyebrow and makes an insulted chirp in his throat, drawing Lee from his thoughts. "You didn''t expect to be on the defensive?" Lee interprets from the noise.

    Ninetales'' frown grows in reply. ''Such a remark was not intended to be a slight upon you, but a reflection of shortcomings belonging to me.''

    "I think you did great, Nine," Lee cuts in with a smile. "Just a few days ago, you were only able to go all-or-nothing with Iron Tail, and now you can modulate the shape, intensity, and even pick and choose which tails to use! Grovyle''s got the most refined fighting style of the team, so there is no shame in not beating him. You''ve made fantastic progress in my eyes," he says, popping open his berry case and palming a Sitrus berry. Holding the fruit in his upright palm, he holds it out to Grovyle. "Grovyle, if you could be so kind?"

    Grovyle''s Leaf Blade glows, and in a flash of movement too fast to see, the Sitrus berry is sliced into six equal-sized pieces that neatly fall apart in Lee''s hand.

    Lee holds one of the slices out to his Ace. "We''ll work on something new tomorrow, okay, Love?"

    The vixen smiles and eats the treat out of Lee''s hand. Ninetales'' satisfaction with his words and the tangy, secondhand flavor of Sitrus coating his tongue draws a wide smile from Lee.

    "And how about you, Grovyle?" Lee asks, offering a berry slice to Grovyle. "What are your thoughts after today''s training?"

    Grovyle takes the Sitrus slice in his claws and takes a slow, methodical bite from the fruit, thinking over his words as his wounds slowly begin to mend. Then Grovyle sighs and hisses lowly. "I could have done better," he seems to say, finishing off the rest of his Sitrus.

    His smile becoming unsure, Lee reaches out and pats the top of the gecko pokemon''s head. Dry scales rasp beneath his hand. "A good attitude to have, but don''t become too critical of yourself. Mastering a brand-new technique and fighting Nine to a standstill with it is some crazy progress for only a few days. In fact, I think you''re about ready for the Swords Dance TM."

    Grovyle crosses his arms and closes his eyes, not reacting to the hand upon his head. He does, however, smile at the mention of the new move on the horizon.

    Cradling the sliced fruit in one hand, Lee dips the other back into his bag and pulls out a package of wipes, which he uses to clean the blood from Nine''s fur and Grovyle''s scales. By the time he''s done, both pokemon''s wounds have closed.

    Lee then turns to Nine. "Love? Can you bring the walls down?"

    Licking a smear of berry off of her lips, Ninetales nods and turns her attention to the eastern wall. As soon as her eyes fall upon it, the pillars making up the wall begin to retract into the ground, revealing the next pair of training partners.

    Corviknight, zipping and diving through the air as fast as he dares, is the first one revealed, and Lee, Grovyle, and Ninetales are just in time to see a bolt of lightning shoot from the ground, zapping him. The telltale shimmer of Light Screen dulls the pain, but Corvi still winces from the super-effective hit.

    In retaliation, Corvi turns and throws a glowing wing in a wide arc, spilling a barrage of Swift stars below.

    As the final pillars sink into the ground, everyone is treated to the sight of a bruised and battered Shinx dancing around the homing projectiles, letting each one smash into the seemingly indestructible ground and explode. Not a single one manages to hit her as she weaves through them with complete confidence, with some missing her by mere millimeters. The entire time, she never takes her eyes off of Corvi.

    A prideful smile returns to Lee''s face.

    Of all the pokemon improving down here in the secret Draconid training ground, Shinx has enjoyed the most explosive growth by far, baffling everyone. In just a few days, she''s added Baby-Doll Eyes, Bite, and Roar to her repertoire, bringing her total number of moves up to seven. She uses every move on her aerial foe effectively.

    ��Except for Baby-Doll Eyes. For quite some time, Lee hasn''t been able to confirm what special ability Corviknight possesses, but when Shinx''s first use of Baby-Doll Eyes on Corviknight bounced back and left Shinx gasping for breath, he was finally given a definitive answer.

    Corviknight has Mirror Armor, the rarest of his line''s special abilities. With Mirror Armor, any sort of effect intended to enfeeble Corvi is reflected right back onto the caster. It makes sense considering Corvi''s noble pedigree, but the confirmation is sweet.

    Back to Shinx. Even more astounding than her rapidly growing move pool is how a tactic used against her immediately becomes ineffective if she''s seen it before. Case in point, Corvi''s Swift completely missing her. Lee''s baby must have something special going on upstairs, and Lee intends to find out with a round of cognitive tests in Shinx''s next physical.

    Back in the battlefield, Shinx sucks in a deep breath, filling her tiny chest, then she looses a deep Roar, one grossly unfitting for her small frame.

    The invisible, sonic shockwave of Roar smashes into Corviknight with a metallic clang, doing no damage but throwing him off balance. During the brief moment that he''s forced to right himself, a lightning bolt streaks up to zap him once more.

    Just a moment before it hits, Corvi vanishes with the crack of a sonic boom, reappearing behind Shinx with the aid of Extreme Speed. He holds one of his wings out, charging Steel Wing to smack his tiny foe upside the head.

    Shinx takes only a split second to realize where Corvi is and leaps away, but is still clipped broadside by Steel Wing, sending her spinning through the air with a distressed mewl. When she lands, it''s flat on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

    That''s when both take notice of one of the arena walls missing. As one, the raven and kitten turn their attention to Lee, Nine, and Grovyle.

    "Magnificent work, you two!" Lee praises, stepping forward with Nine and Grovyle flanking him. "We''ve got that meeting with Anabel coming up, so we''re going to call it for today."

    Shinx quickly rises to her paws and scampers her way to Lee, eagerly hopping around his feet as if asking, "Did you see me?! Did you see me?!"

    Chuckling, Lee kneels down and presents a Sitrus slice to Shinx. "Oh, I saw alright. I can''t believe how strong my baby is getting. If you keep this up, you''re going to blow everyone else out of the water!"

    Shinx gobbles up the presented fruit slice, rubbing her body on Lee''s leg and purring up a storm the entire time. In just a few seconds, her scuffs and bruises fade.

    Standing, Lee turns to Corvi, who struts over in the way only a raven can. "So, how do you think you and Shinx did? You seem to have Light Screen down pat," Lee says, running his eyes up and down Corvi''s frame.

    Two metallic feathers on his left wing are missing, and the skin the pinions used to occupy slowly weeps blood.

    ''We''ll figure out how to fix up Extreme Speed soon,'' Lee vows to himself.

    Heedless of Lee''s inner thoughts, Corviknight answers with a grumble-like warble. "Shinx is excelling. I am likewise improving, but still have my own frustrations."

    "I only counted two missing feathers this time, so you''re obviously doing something right," Lee answers with a reassuring smile. He reaches up and pats the warm armor of Corvi''s chest. "I''ll be honest, Corvi. You''re in such a good place right now that I''m kind of struggling to come up with a good regimen for you. Once you have Extreme Speed and your general dexterity fixed up, we''ll have to sit and brainstorm a bit on what direction you want to go in." Lee tosses a Sitrus slice up to the massive bird, who snatches it out of the air and swallows it in a single bite. "Think about it some, and whatever you decide, I''ll help you get there."

    Corvi allows a small smile to rise to his beak.

    ''Nine?''

    The next and final wall comes down, and when it falls, Lee sees that Sylveon and Octillery are already wrapping up.

    Octillery sits still as two of Sylveon''s ribbons hover above him. Between the ribbons, the star-like glow of Wish rains down golden sparkles on the red octopus. The sparkles gravitate to Octillery''s skinned and cut tentacles, seeping into his flesh and regrowing the missing bits of skin.

    When using her ribbons, Sylveon''s physical reach is simply ridiculous. There isn''t a safe place in the arena for anyone, as there seems to be no end to how far the ribbons can stretch. The only real weakness the ribbons have is how slow they are.

    At first, Lee had worries about the durability of the long strips of woven fur, but it seems as if the ribbons are the strongest part of Sylveon''s body by a wide margin. With that in mind, Lee decided that it would be best to focus on them for the time being, considering that it''s best if Sylveon knows how to use them in a fight.

    Octillery, having gotten his psychically-assisted ground strafing mastered to an appreciable level, actually suggested his next form of training to Lee. The octopus wanted to take his telekinesis to new heights �C quite literally. He wished to move on to psychically-assisted leaps and surface clinging, to further make himself a bother to any foes. Octillery reasoned that such maneuvers would pair nicely with his newly learned Thunder Wave, and give Sylveon a worthwhile foe to catch.

    Lee agreed, but privately thinks that Octillery, after having a taste of what mobility is like, wants more and is looking for an excuse.

    Not that that''s a bad thing. After riding astride Corvi''s back, Lee more than understands the appeal. As he thinks that, Lee looks around at the floor and the pillars making up the walls.

    Clearly, Octillery still has a bit of learning to do, as his harsh maneuvers have practically worn his tentacle suckers down to nubs. The ground and walls are dotted with spots of blood. Considering his lack of bruises, Sylveon probably wasn''t successful in her attempts to catch him.

    "I take it that you guys heard me when I said that we''re done for the day?" Lee asks, approaching and dropping to one knee.

    Octillery nods languidly, gurgling a thanks to Sylveon as the Fairy lets Wish fade and steps away. He accepts the Sitrus slice handed to him, stuffing the morsel into his hidden beak. The cephalopod evidently doesn''t feel the need to elaborate on today''s efforts, for he says nothing else.

    Sylveon eats the final slice from Lee''s hand, and once finished, gently nuzzles her cheek to Lee''s knee. The friendly gesture is at odds with the frown on her face, however.

    "Don''t feel too bad about not catching Octillery." Lee smiles and scratches Sylveon behind her ribbon-bearing ear. "You''re making great progress. It won''t be long before you can win a fight without ever having to move from your spot. When that day comes, you''ll feel incredible. I promise."

    A ribbon curls around Lee''s wrist, and Sylveon''s dour expression lifts into a small smile.

    Looking over his shoulder, Lee notes that the sound of combat from the other parts of the cavern has come to a halt. The roars, plumes of spores and dragon fire, and screeches of pain amid encouraging words are absent. "We''re just in time. Seems like the others are winding down too."

    In short order, the walls all descend back into the floor, and the rest of the gang can be seen. Both Brendan and Zinnia tend to their pokemon, who are all in various states of fatigue and injury.

    "Alrighty, everyone," Lee rises back to his full height, prompting Sylveon to pull her ribbon away "let''s get you all some lunch and a well-deserved rest. Corvi, I''ll need you here in a bit to fly me to Fallarbor. Are you feeling up to it?"

    Corviknight almost looks insulted.

    "Just checking." Lee smiles. "C''mon."

    As a group, the man and team of pokemon walk over to the center of the chamber. Once there, Lee drops his backpack at his feet and digs around inside, pulling out six cellophane-wrapped bowls, one notably larger than the rest, along with a sandwich for himself. Once the bowls are unwrapped, Lee sets them down and smiles. "Dig in!"

    Each of Lee''s teammates dive into their lunch with gusto, any conversation forgotten in favor of happily munching on their homemade meal. Shinx, thinking she''s being sly, tries to surreptitiously dip her paw into Corvi''s extra-large portion, only to be chased away with a loud "Scraw!"

    ''Looks like a hundred-and-thirty percent of everyone''s usual calorie count was about right for our little training trip down here," Lee muses, sitting and digging into his sandwich. ''Might bump it up to one-forty just to be safe. Everyone has been working damn hard.''

    Stolen story; please report.

    Brendan is the first to finish up tending to his team''s wounds, and they join Lee''s team in the center a minute later, followed shortly by Zinnia and her dragons.

    "Jeez, hard to believe a week has already flown by," Zinnia remarks as she finishes feeding her own pokemon. She sits down on the ground heavily and leans forward resting her chin in her hands. "Seems like it''s all blending together."

    "Maybe a little," Brendan agrees. The youngest of the trainer trio falls back to lie on the floor, his arms behind his head as he relaxes. "I totally understand why this place is secret, though. It seems like all of my pokemon are jumping forward so fast that my training plans for the next month might get eaten up by the end of next week!" he exclaims, sending a none-too-subtle glance towards Marshtomp.

    Lee follows Brendan''s eyes.

    Marshtomp is sitting with the rest of Brendan''s team, eating a specially blended meal of Brendan and Lee''s creation from a bowl, handful by gluttonous handful. Looking at his head, the split beginning to form in Marshtomp''s fin is all too obvious.

    The mudfish''s final evolution is on the horizon.

    Mawile and Breloom don''t appear to be too different, but Electrike is even larger than he was before. The pup has seemingly sprouted an extra inch of height in only a few days.

    Lee turns his eyes to Zinnia''s team, but finds no significant differences. Goomy is a bit bigger, maybe, but if there has been any significant improvement, then he''s not seeing it.

    ''They''re dragons. I imagine that when they do show off their improvement, it''s going to be profound,'' Lee muses.

    "Because of that," Brendan continues, "we''re going to cut today short and go hunting for a fifth team member."

    "Oh?" Lee perks up. "What sort of pokemon are you going to be looking for? A Dragon?"

    Brendan nods with a bright smile. "Yeah. I''ve been thinking pretty hard about it, and I want a Flygon. My dad''s Flygon is a swell pokemon, and I''d love to have one of my own."

    "Dragon hunting, eh?" Zinnia is suddenly all smiles. "Well, you''re in the right place for it! Hell, I might join you. I''ve been meaning to add at least one more to my team. There is a Flygon nest down in one of the lower chambers, and quite a few of the Trapinch down there have to have evolved by now, so you can skip the painful ground-pounder phase."

    "Sounds great!" Brendan agrees, sitting up with a grin. He takes his pokedex from his pocket and opens the entry on the Flygon evolutionary line. "You''ve got some kind of meeting today, don''t you, Lee?"

    Lee nods, feeling a thrill of apprehension for the coming conversation. "Yeah. We''re meeting with Anabel from the Battle Frontier. She''s a natural human telepath and best equipped to help Nine and I with this side study your father wants us to do."

    "Wow, a Frontier Brain?" Brendan blinks. "Dad must have pulled some serious strings to make this happen."

    "Probably," Lee agrees, taking another glance at his watch.

    It''s almost time to go.

    "It''s about time for us to get going." Lee stands and stretches, pleasantly popping his back. "Good luck on your pokemon hunt, you two."

    "Seeya, Lee!"

    "Later, Dolittle. There should be a tribesman by the pond to escort you to town."

    By now, all of Lee''s pokemon have finished their meals, and Ninetales has stacked the empty food bowls by Lee''s side, letting him toss them into his backpack to be cleaned later. Once his bag is zipped shut, Lee takes his pokeballs from his belt, two in one hand and three in the other, and recalls all of his pokemon besides Corvi for a rest.

    With his giant raven by his side, Lee makes his way through the cavernous tunnels and back to the great central chamber of the Meteorfall Crater. As Zinnia said, one of her tribesmen stands by the luminescent pond with a Flygon. After a short exchange with the man, Corvi is saddled up by Lee, then the pair take to the air, bound for Fallarbor.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    "I return at four o''clock here, yes?" Lee''s Draconid escort confirms. "Take you back to Metron''fall krate."

    Lee nods. Evidently, his escort doesn''t speak much Galarian, and Lee has to reiterate the time and place once more. "Yes. Here at four o''clock."

    The tribal man, still on his Flygon''s back, nods with a smile. "Okay. I return later. Belin guz yara, Naraikvejor."

    With that, the tribesman and his Flygon take to the air, rapidly shrinking into a green dot in the sky.

    With a shake of his head, Lee turns and walks through the sliding glass doors into the Fallarbor Pokemon Center with Ninetales on his right.

    Together, they make their way down one of the side hallways of the Center. The third door down is the meeting room scheduled, and Lee knocks on the door. When there''s no answer, he cracks the door open and peeks inside.

    It''s empty.

    Lee glances at a wall clock down the hall, his eyebrows rising to his hairline. "Damn. That Flygon really hauled ass to get us here. We''re a full fifteen minutes early."

    ''Just as well.'' Ninetales noses the door open and steps inside. ''You wished to call Steven Stone and arrange a meeting to address the Draconid prophecy, did you not? Better sooner, rather than later.''

    ''Ah, I knew I was forgetting something. Thank you, Love.''

    Lee steps in after his fox, taking in the room. Unlike when he was attending therapy, the room is now furnished more like a typical meeting room.

    In the center is a table surrounded by leather office chairs, and on the table is a round conference phone. Besides the furniture and the light fixtures, the room is otherwise barren.

    Lee seats himself and takes his phone from his pocket. With his other hand, he takes out his wallet and quickly finds Steven''s business card. After dialing the number, Lee puts the phone up to his ear.

    Riiiiiiiing��

    Riiiiiiiing��

    Riiiiiiiing��

    There is no answer, and the phone rolls over to voicemail.

    "You''ve reached the voicemail of Steven Stone, Pokemon League Champion of Hoenn. If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 911 �C"

    Lee blinks incredulously. ''Does Steven get enough calls that he has to add a line like that?'' he wonders.

    "�C Otherwise, please leave a message, and I will return your call within several business days. Please include your full name, the nature of your call, the urgency, and the best number to reach you back at. Thank you, and have a great day."

    ''Not optimal, but beggars and choosers and all that��''

    After the phone trills in his ear, Lee clears his throat and speaks. "Hello, Champion Stone. This is Lee Henson. I apologize for disturbing you, but I need to arrange a meeting with you. This is in regards to a matter similar to the one we discussed in Lavaridge. I''m unfortunately going to have limited cell phone service for the foreseeable future, which is why I would like to make this a face-to-face meeting. If I miss your return call, I will respond within a day. The best number to reach me at is��" Lee then quickly rattles off his phone number. "That''s a cell phone, so text messages work as well. I can also be reached by email at L Henson at hoenn P, K, M, N, lab dot org. Thank you."

    Lee hangs up the call and slides his phone back into his pocket. "Here''s hoping."

    Ninetales, who spent the entire call trying to get comfortable in one of the rolling chairs, gives up and kicks the seat away with a huff. Instead, she sits on the floor and sets her chin on the table. ''Steven Stone doesn''t strike me as someone foolish enough to ignore such a dire warning. If he does, then perhaps we have greater issues.''

    Lee and Ninetales are not forced to wait for long. Only several minutes after they make themselves comfortable, the meeting room door swings open on squeaky hinges, making both man and fox turn to look.

    Through the door steps a teenage girl, no older than fifteen. Her short hair and her eyes share the same lavender color, and her pale skin almost blends in with her frilly white shirt. Standing by the girl''s feet is an Espeon, who regards Lee and Ninetales coolly.

    ''So this is Anabel, huh?'' Lee meets the girl''s eyes. ''You wouldn''t be able to tell that she''s an Elite trainer just by looking.'' He clears his throat."Anabel, I presume?"

    "That''s me," she says with a smile before it melts off her face. "Oh goodness! I didn''t keep you waiting, did I?"

    "No, no, not at all." Lee shakes his head. "We arrived a lot earlier than we thought we would. You''re just in time."

    Anabel sighs in relief as Espeon rolls her eyes. An instant later, Anabel shoots her Espeon a despondent look for seemingly no reason, prompting the purple-hewed Psychic to shrug her withers.

    ''Ah, so that''s what it looks like from the outside.'' Lee observes the unheard telepathic exchange with interest. He unzips his backpack from where it lies at his feet and takes out his notebook, already flipping to a fresh page. ''Curious.''

    ''I like to think our conversations are faster and more streamlined,'' Ninetales says, also watching.

    Both of them miss the sharp intake of breath from Anabel.

    Lee nods, more to himself than anyone else. ''Speaking of speed, we still need to re-create that slowed time perception effect that we experienced during the Lavaridge gym battle. Perhaps we''ll work on that next when we get back to the Crater?''

    ''I was under the impression that you wished to work on Fox Fire? You have pages upon pages of theory and stratagem for the technique, and I admit I find the idea of autonomous battle minions quite amusing.''

    ''We can do both.''

    "Oh wow�� It''s seamless��"

    Anabel''s awed whisper draws Lee and Nine from their conversation. As one, they look towards the girl, who blushes under the sudden scrutiny.

    "Sorry about that," Lee apologizes, a sheepish smile on his face. "Ninetales and I can get lost talking to each other sometimes. It''s nice to meet you, Anabel. I''m Lee Henson. I presume Professor Birch gave you a rundown on what this is all going to entail?"

    Anabel seats herself across from them, with her Espeon crawling up into one of the office chairs beside her. "In broad strokes, yes." Anabel nods, the extra color fading from her face. She returns Lee''s smile. "The professor informed me that you and your Ninetales share an extraordinary telepathic bond, and that you need a bit of help exploring and managing it. I''ll be happy to offer whatever I can! When you''re ready, we can go over the preliminary courtesies that telepaths observe."

    "Preliminary courtesies?" Lee asks, already positioning his pen on his notebook. "Do tell. Ninetales and I have never delved into the professional practices of telepaths beyond making sure we don''t run afoul of the law."

    "I''d be happy to!" Anabel seems delighted to be given the opportunity to teach. "There are three big ones. Consent, boundaries, and confidentiality." As she speaks, Anabel raises a finger for each point, and Lee dutifully writes each one down. "The consent one should be obvious. Don''t ever touch someone else''s mind without explicit permission, and permission obtained under duress or from someone who''s impaired does not count."

    Anabel lowers a finger. "Everyone has different boundaries and comfort levels when it comes to telepathy, and those should be clearly communicated and respected."

    The last finger falls. "Anything a telepath learns from someone else''s mind is confidential. No buts."

    Anabel folds her hands on the table. "There are a couple of other rules like how you should be professional and ethical, but I don''t think those are going to be problems here. The big three are the ones we should focus on."

    Lee nods, jotting everything down. "I see�� Interesting��"

    "Oh! And one last thing!" Anabel shares a glance with her Espeon. "There is also the ''three knock'' rule. If a telepath wants nonverbal permission to initiate contact, they need to ''knock'' and be let in. When they get permission, both sides set boundaries before delving deeper and then continuing. It should feel a little something like this."

    From nowhere, Lee suddenly feels a phantom finger tapping against his skull. The ephemeral touch is gentle and he nearly misses it at first, but once he realizes what it is, he involuntarily stiffens up. From how Ninetales suddenly sits straighter next to him, she must feel it as well.

    Reaching a hand up, Lee rubs his forehead, over where he felt the psychic tapping. "Wow. That''s, uh, a strange sensation to say the least."

    Unprompted, Ninetales wraps her mind around Lee''s, shielding him.

    Anabel''s smile is all sympathy. "Don''t worry, Mister Henson. It feels weird to everyone at first."

    "Lee is fine, no need for any ''Mister Henson''," Lee waves the girl off.

    "Sure thing, Mister Lee!" she cheerily replies, pulling a sigh out of Lee. "I''ll let you take it from here. What kind of things do you need help with? I noticed earlier that your and Miss Ninetales'' telepathy is so smooth that I''m not sure what I can really do for you. I didn''t even notice any lag!"

    ''Moment of truth.'' Lee pauses and wonders how to word everything. "Before I go any further, I do have a couple of questions about the limits of telepathy."

    Anabel and Espeon look at each other for several seconds, a silent conversation passing, before Anabel turns back to Lee. "Of course. What kind of questions?"

    "Is it possible to share senses with telepathy?"

    The teen girl blinks, obviously not expecting that question. "Share senses? You can��"

    ''Here comes the ''but'','' Ninetales anticipates.

    "��but due to the inherent differences between the minds of humans and pokemon, a lot of it would just be a jumbled mess," she says with a shrug. "There are few pokemon who can do it with some coherency, but that''s usually from a special predisposition and not general telepathic talent."

    Anabel shakes her head. "Communicating with telepathy is one thing, but bridging the gap between human and pokemon so thoroughly would be like mashing a square peg into a round hole; it won''t work, and you might break something trying. Some have tried in the past and��" She looks away, uncomfortable, "��It seldom ends well."

    Lee sets his pen down and scratches his chin. ''I guess my metaphor of plugs and prongs is apt, at least. What to ask next?''

    ''Ask her about the effects of prolonged psychic contact,'' Ninetales supplies, nosing his arm. ''Evidently, the impossibility of what we share is exaggerated somewhat, as many sources, Professor Birch included, stated it was outright impossible when Anabel has a contrary opinion. Perhaps she can shine a light on these particular questions.''

    ''Good idea, Love. I wish trainers were more prone to sharing their findings so we didn''t have to stumble around this long.'' Lee smiles at Nine and turns back to Anabel. "I''ve got another one for you. What would happen to a human and a pokemon who spent a long amount of time telepathically connected? Think weeks, or even months."

    Anabel''s expression begins to creep into discomfort, which is mirrored by Espeon. "That can be rather dangerous. People and most pokemon need time alone in the sanctity of their mind for their own health, and shouldn''t be connected longer than a few hours a day." She taps her fingers on the table. "Prolonged contact can cause control to slip, cognitive fatigue, social skills getting rusty, and a lot of other nasty things. If worse comes to worst, it may even result in an inability to disconnect, dependency issues, or death by gestalt."

    ''Oops,'' both Lee and Ninetales think at once, briefly meeting eyes. They''d already flubbed hard, it seems. Then Lee replays Anabel''s words, driving a spike of shock into both him and his fox.

    "Hold on, death by gestalt?" Lee questions, shaken. "I''m going to need a bit more info on that one. How does that cause death?"

    Anabel leans back in her chair, a grimace taking form on her face. "T-Thats really not a pleasant subject, Mister Lee. Are you sure you want to talk about it?"

    "Yes, we''re sure," Lee insists. "We need to know this."

    Once more, the Frontier Brain and her pokemon take ten seconds to themselves, silently conversing. Finally, Anabel lets out a sigh and begins to explain. "It goes back to the differences between human and pokemon minds I talked about earlier. A lot of pokemon form one-personality gestalts as part of their evolution, but they do so knowingly and combine into one body afterward. They can do it safely because there are no leftover physical bits, and the new individual is made up of similar participants."

    Lee nods along and gestures for her to continue, following her words.

    "In the case of two different parties who do it on accident, like when they can''t disconnect and inevitably get jumbled��" Anabel gulps. "The stronger mind subsumes the weaker one. The weaker side is effectively left brain-dead, and the stronger side suffers irreversible ego death from the overload of memories and experiences that they aren''t equipped to process. The new individual�� doesn''t usually last very long after that��"

    The room is left in a chilled silence. If a pin were to hit the floor, it would sound like a thunderclap.

    Both Lee and Ninetales are left frozen. The first instinct of each one is to reach out and comfort the other, but they don''t. Instead, they''re left in a state of dread-filled paralysis.

    "Mister Lee?" Anabel begins after a long minute, giving Lee a searching look. "These aren''t hypothetical questions, are they?"

    The zoologist swallows a lump in his throat. "No. No, they aren''t," he says, needing a moment to find his voice again. Being careful to keep his mind to himself, Lee instead reaches an arm out and wraps Ninetales into a tight, physical hug, one she leans into. He looks down at her.

    Horrified ruby eyes stare back.

    "Ninetales and I have been connected for months." Lee continues. "Just recently, we discovered that we couldn''t actually disconnect anymore, and we''re not sure where one of us ends and the other begins. I can feel her emotions, experience her senses, see her memories, and more, just like she can with me. We''ve even touched our minds together in the past, letting the edges overlap." The man looks away. "This meeting is both a study, and us needing help mediating our connection before disaster strikes."

    Anabel''s narrow shoulders slump, and she shakes her head, making her lavender locks bounce. "This is a lot more than I thought it would be��" she complains, raising a hand to her forehead and giving it a rub.

    Beside her, Espeon leans over and nuzzles her face to Anabel''s cheek, restoring the girl''s smile.

    "I understand." Lee exhales sharply and runs his fingers through the thick tuft of fur on Ninetales'' chest, taking the edge off of his nerves. "Frontier Brain or not, I''m not going to put all this nonsense on a teenage girl. Thank you for coming here today. I''ll talk to Professor Birch about �C !"

    Anabel stops Lee short with a raised hand. "Hold on, Mister Lee. I never said I wouldn''t try. With your permission, Espeon and I would like to feel out the connection between you and Miss Ninetales. We''d like to know what we''re working with before going any further."

    ''After hearing what she might be dealing with, she still wants to try?''

    "Are you certain?" Lee asks, a frown tugging at his scars. "Things are never as normal as I would like with me and my pokemon, and I know that kind of insanity is not for everyone."

    ''Not as normal as you would like?'' Ninetales snorts, some of the tension in her shoulders leaving. ''My dearest trainer would prefer me to be more normal?'' she jokes.

    ''Hush. You know what I mean.''

    The lightning-fast exchange between the man and fox is not lost on Anabel nor Espeon, and the girl gives Lee a resolute smile. "Don''t you worry, Mister Lee. I''ll do everything I can."

    Once more, Lee finds himself praising Arceus for making a world with so many good people in it.

    Relaxing, Lee lets out a breath of relief. "Sure thing. We just ask that you don''t go deeper than you need to, and avoid any memories."

    "Got it!" Anabel says. She holds out a hand towards Espeon, and the purple-furred psychic drops her paw into the offered hand without a word. Both then close their eyes and begin to focus.

    Where Lee felt like someone was gently tapping his forehead before, it now feels as if�� as if�� He grimaces, unable to put words to the odd sensation of Anabel and Espeon probing up and down the telepathic channel between him and Ninetales. The closest thing he could liken it to is a tiny hand gently brushing its fingers up and down his arm, but even then, that''s still a gross oversimplification.

    As the seconds slowly pass into a minute, Anabel and Espeon''s combined wills probe a little harder, dipping a metaphorical finger into the stream of thought and emotion constantly surging between Lee and Nine, only to withdraw as if burned. Physically, Anabel''s brows furrow.

    Once more, they try again. The tiny hand lengthens out into a tendril, one that wraps around the telepathic bond. There is a slight squeeze, but no give. Slowly, the tendril slides down to Ninetales, then comes back, pausing once more in that place where the man and fox are one and the same. They continue on, the tendril groping up Lee''s side until it brushes his mind.

    Lee bites his lip, doing his best to keep his thoughts empty.

    Back and forth, back and forth, they grasp and touch along the entire length of the psychic bond, sometimes using two, or even three tendrils of thought to inspect multiple places at once. As Anabel and Espeon work, Anabel''s features unconsciously grow awed.

    "What is this?" Anabel whispers, her words so quiet that even Ninetales barely hears them. "What�� What is this?"

    After several minutes, they withdraw, and Lee lets out a breath he didn''t realize he was holding.

    Anabel blinks her eyes and shakes her head as if trying to clear a mental fog. Espeon, meanwhile, stares at both Lee and Ninetales as if seeing them for the first time.

    "You should be a gestalt��" Anabel breathes, looking at them in wonder. "It should have already happened. You should have cascaded into a gestalt, but you haven''t. You already feel what the other feels? You already know what the other knows? Totally and entirely? Either one of those alone should have caused a cascade!" she exclaims.

    "We should have already merged?" Lee asks, his unease making way for confusion. "What''s stopping it?"

    Anabel shakes her head once more. Despite looking ready to faint, her marveled expression remains. "I don''t know. I don''t think something like this has ever happened." She goes quiet, glancing towards Espeon. "You said that you''ve let your minds overlap before? And you came back just fine?"

    Lee and Ninetales both silently nod.

    "Wow��" Anabel whispers. The amount of disbelief she can stuff into a single word is staggering. "That''s incredible�� unreal, even."

    Espeon addresses Anabel with a rolling mewl, making the girl sit up straight. The pair of psychics lock eyes, and another exchange takes place. When it comes to an end, Anabel''s eyes light up.

    "Yeah, you''re right, Espi. They might be the real thing! Oh my gosh, this is insane!" she replies, turning her head and addressing Lee. "My teacher was a professional psychic, and some of his colleagues who went into academia and stuff had a phrase for this kind of theoretical, meta-stable gestalt, and I think you and Miss Ninetales might be the first ones ever!"

    "Really?" Lee leans forward, eager to finally have a name for what he and Nine share. "Don''t keep us in suspense. What are we?"

    Anabel''s smile turns radiant.

    "They called it a Concordant Singularity, the holy grail of bonds between man and pokemon."

 Act 2: Chapter 29

    "Ugh��" Brendan groans, staring at the downed Trapinch across from himself and Marshtomp. "We''re really not having any luck, are we bud?"

    Marshtomp turns and regards his trainer with a sheepish face and a shrug.

    After Lee left to fly off to his meeting, Brendan and Zinnia called it quits on training for the day and instead went out to try and find new team members. Zinnia settled on a Noibat, or even a Noivern if she could find one, and Brendan decided that an eventual Flygon is what he wants.

    That in mind, Zinnia recruited the help of Astis and Isis to lead them through the labyrinthian tunnels of the Crater. In Zinnia''s absence, the different flights of dragons had apparently changed nesting grounds, as when Zinnia took the lead, she and Brendan only found a dusty chamber filled with bones.

    Isis took Zinnia, leading the Lorekeeper to a different part of the cave system where the Noivern were nesting, while Astis took Brendan into a long, narrow chamber with many nesting holes in the walls.

    If Brendan is being honest with himself, he would have preferred having Isis. Astis�� Her admiration for him is plainly apparent, but after being manipulated by Courtney, he''s simply not sure how to feel about that.

    Grumbling, Brendan looks over his shoulder to Astis, who stands a safe distance away with her hands folded in front of her. "Zinnia said that there would be Vibrava, yet all I''m seeing are Trapinch? I don''t mean to sound like a jerk, either, but all these guys seem pretty underwhelming."

    The redheaded tribal girl helplessly shakes her head with a sigh. She shrugs, as if to say "nothing can be done."

    Wishing his guide wasn''t mute, Brendan returns his attention to the great number of holes along the wall.

    When they first arrived, several of the Trapinch emerged from the nests, snapping their jaws in irritation as the light of Astis''s lantern flooded the chamber. The antlion pokemon fought amongst themselves for only a brief moment before the largest one stepped forward, ready to throw down.

    Marshtomp floored him in a single strike. It wasn''t a super-effective blow, either, but an unpowered punch to gauge the large Trapinch''s gumption.

    The Trapinch took the blow with only a flinch�� and then fell over, groaning theatrically, a moment later.

    The next largest Trapinch made a harsh, clicking sound reminiscent of laughter before taking his fallen comrade''s place on the battlefield.

    He, too, fell in one hit, and made a big clamor about his defeat.

    After the sixth Trapinch failed to put up any appreciable fight, the rest slowly retreated back into their holes, dragging their wounded siblings back with them.

    Astis smiled uncertainly after the disappointing performance and led him to another chamber�� where the same thing happened.

    The third time was not the charm, either.

    Brendan watches another Trapinch emerge from the wall and drag its defeated sibling back into the nest, leaving Brendan, Marshtomp, and Astis alone once more.

    "Damn��" Brendan doffs his hat and runs his fingers through his hair, replacing his hat afterward. ''I can''t really afford to not have the best possible pokemon, not with all the crazy stuff the future is going to bring,'' he thinks to himself. ''If they can''t stand one hit from Marshtomp while he''s holding back, then that would make for a really rough starting point��''

    "I really wanted a Vibrava, but I might just have to make do��" Brendan murmurs, not noticing the alarm that passes Astis''s face.

    Feeling a tap on his arm, Brendan turns and finds Astis there, smiling apologetically. She gestures back to the tunnel that led them to this chamber and gives Brendan''s sleeve a gentle tug.

    "I''m game to try another, I guess," Brendan says. "C''mon, Marshtomp. I know we can find you a good teammate somewhere down here."

    "Maaaash!"

    Brendan and Marshtomp fall into step with each other, trailing slightly behind Astis, who picks up the lantern and takes the lead.

    After a minute of walking in silence, Brendan speaks up once more. "The Trapinch aren''t sick, are they? They look plenty tough at first glance, but it''s kind of weird that none of them put up any kind of fight."

    A bead of sweat runs down Astis''s brow, and she quickly shakes her head in a negative.

    A frown slowly tugs at Brendan''s lips. Deep down, he feels as if the redheaded girl is hiding something from him, and after the fiasco with Courtney��

    Brendan''s frown becomes more pronounced.

    �� After Courtney, the idea of being lied to by a girl who supposedly admires him does not sit right with him.

    <hr>

    ''And take a look here right in the middle! If I didn''t know any better, I would swear that I was sensing an entirely new person!'' Anabel''s telepathic voice is quick and chirpy.

    ''Indeed. I''ve never seen two minds form a central nexus as homogenized as this before, if this phenomenon can even be called a nexus,'' another voice, this one older and smoother, comments. ''It''s no wonder why our tests failed to yield any results.''

    ''That''s precisely what Espeon and I were thinking! It''s a little bit like a color gradient, and you can''t tell who is who in the middle. If you probe near the middle, it''s completely indecipherable,'' Anabel says.

    ''Curiouser and curiouser the mystery becomes�� I do have several theories, however.'' The second voice makes the mental equivalent of an inquisitive hum.

    ''�� Measured flow?... Equilibrium... Like flowing water...'' speaks yet another. Each slurred, nearly indecipherable word rings throughout the skull like the gongs of a bell. ''��Pulling and pushing�� Anchors firmly��''

    ''Indeed, my friend.''

    Lee ignores the voices in his head and glances at the clock on the meeting room wall, finding that it''s already 3 PM. If this goes on for much longer, he''s going to have to tell his Draconid guide that he will be staying the night in town.

    ''Ah, my apologies, Mister Henson. It is not every day that one can witness such an extraordinary phenomenon, so please forgive the lengthy inspection.''

    Lee looked towards the owner of the ''voice''.

    Across the table and sitting next to Anabel is none other than Lucian of the Sinnoh Elite Four, Anabel''s former mentor. Behind Lucian is his Bronzong, a massive Psychic pokemon resembling a hovering, patina-soiled bell.

    After discovering Lee and Ninetales'' apparent meta-stable gestalt, Anabel excused herself for several minutes, stating that she needed to make a phone call. When she returned, it was with a curious Lucian in tow, and Lee had to close his eyes and count to ten, exasperated with being on yet another Elite''s radar.

    ''I wonder, does Lucian already have prior authorization to enter Hoenn so suddenly, or is that a privilege of his station?'' Ninetales rests her chin on the table. ''I distinctly felt a great surge of Psychic TE outside, so he must''ve teleported here.''

    ''Who''s to say?'' Lee replies with a mental shrug, inspecting Lucian and Bronzong once more.

    The bell pokemon, Bronzong, looks much like a bell that can be found within a clock tower or cathedral. The massive hunk of steel hovers behind Lucian like some sort of guardian angel. Much of its body is oxidized to a pale blue, save for two red, protruding eyes upon its front.

    In front of Bronzong is Anabel''s purported mentor, Lucian. Lucian''s thin frame is covered by a sharp red suit, and his face is framed by shoulder-length, lavender hair a shade darker than Anabel''s. His eyes are covered by oval glasses with a color similar to his hair, and his mouth is curved into an easy-going smile.

    ''Easy-going? I suppose. I assure you, though, that I''m quite excited by this discovery.'' Lucian''s smile widens.

    Oh, right. Lucian, Anabel, and their pokemon can hear his thoughts. He''s plenty used to it with Ninetales, but having someone else hear his introspection is quite annoying.

    As Lee thinks that, he can feel Anabel, Espeon, Bronzong, and Lucian''s minds retract their telepathic probes, leaving Ninetales and Lee alone once more.

    "A true meta-stable gestalt between a human and a pokemon��" Lucian shakes his head slowly, but his smile remains. "Amazing. Countless experts have theorized such a thing, but to see it firsthand is a spectacle I don''t think I''ll ever forget."

    "Now, you say stable, but are you sure about that?" Lee asks, unable to hide the worry that colors his tone. "We''ve both lost sleep over this. You''re certain that we''re fine?"

    Lucian nods absently, apparently still lost in his own thoughts. "When it comes to the science of the mind, there is always room for uncertainty, but I believe that you and Miss Ninetales have nothing to fear." He focuses on Lee. "What exactly prevents one side of you from subsuming the other is unknown to us, but I see no signs of a potential cascade. As far as I am able to see, you have dodged the worst perils that could be thrown at you."

    Lee breathes a sigh of relief as Ninetales leans into his side.

    "Now, this may come as an upside or downside, depending on how one looks at it, but I suspect that what has been done can no longer be undone. You and Miss Ninetales are quite solidly connected," Lucian continues. "We''ve pulled and prodded here and there, and the deep psychic channel between you holds fast. Even the four of us working in tandem could not stress the connection. With colorful wordplay and the stretching of definitions, one could even argue that you are a singular entity at heart."

    Ninetales clicks her tongue and throws her head, sending a few errant locks of her head tuft behind her ear. ''As if we would be so easily separated,'' she says with a deep frown. Her distaste, however, does not hide the touch of apprehension beneath the surface. The unasked what if they succeeded goes unanswered.

    ''It''s nice to know that we resist it, even if it''s coming from some damn-strong psychics.'' Lee strokes the fox across the back of her neck, soothing her. ''See? I told you it was a worthwhile test.''

    ''I suppose��'' Ninetales reluctantly concedes.

    "Forgive me for being so forward, but would you allow me to sit in during these meetings with Anabel occasionally?" Lucian suddenly asks. The man twiddles and taps the fingers of his right hand on the table, as if he wants to twirl a pen. "If whatever caused the gestalt between you and Miss Ninetales can be properly understood, it could revolutionize our understanding of not only the conscious mind, but the differences between man and pokemon."

    Lee gives Ninetales a sidelong glance, and she nods her head. "Sure. While I''m happy to help advance any kind of academia, I''m also wanting to use these meetings to help Nine and I get a better grip on our relationship. With that in mind, I do have a professional psychologist who is going to be joining these meetings going forward. That bother you?"

    "Not at all," Anabel answers in Lucian''s stead. The girl offers Lee and Ninetales a bright smile. "If you trust them, then we will as well."

    Lucian, however, raises an eyebrow, looking between Ninetales and Lee carefully. "By all means, bring whoever you wish, but I have doubts about how much any sort of traditional psychology will apply in a case as unique as this." He pauses for a second. "When you mention relationship mediation��"

    Lee holds up a hand and stops Lucian short. "No, not that kind. We had that conversation a while ago. Things don''t need to be more complicated than they are right now."

    Anabel''s face turns pink while the other man blinks in surprise.

    "Really?" Lucian questions. "The few memories you were gracious enough to provide painted a rather, how you say, domestic picture?"

    Lee opens his mouth to refute, only to pause. Anabel asked to see some memories of moments they shared together to get a better idea of how Lee and Nine''s shared mindset worked. Anabel, Lucian, and their pokemon could parse memories from each individual side well enough, but when the memory included both Lee and Ninetales'' respective parts, it turned into a garbled, headache-inducing mess of sensory overload. As such, Lee and Nine could only show their respective parts without the context of their constant communication.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    From the outside looking in, it probably looks like they''ve been married for decades.

    Closing his mouth, Lee shrugs. "Maybe that''s just how�� What''s the phrase? Maybe that''s just how a concordant singularity is? We''ve got a lot going on right now, and throwing more stuff on the pile isn''t really wise." Lee pauses. "Concordant singularity, though? That is such a mouthful. Since we discovered the real thing, are we allowed to change the name?"

    Lucian chuckles. "Mister Henson, I believe that you can call it whatever you wish. No one will care, so long as they are credited as a contributor to the eventual article on you." The red-clad man then takes a shiny, silver pocket watch from his breast pocket and pops it open, taking a look at the time. "Ah, I seem to have run over my lunch hour quite spectacularly."

    The pocket watch is put away, and Lucian stands. "Anabel has long since surpassed me in the field of telepathy, but I''ll be sure to forward you my contact information should you need some form of expertise and Anabel is not available. Once more, it was a pleasure to meet you."

    Lee nods. "Sounds good. Thank you for your input, Lucian. The peace of mind means a lot to both of us," Lee says, laying a hand on Ninetales'' head.

    The foreign Elite then turns to Anabel. "Ana, you may reach out to me for more than business, if you weren''t aware," he teases. "I understand that I am old and none too hip, but I still enjoy your company."

    Anabel flushes in embarrassment.

    Laughing, Lucian pats Anabel on the shoulder. "Regardless, it was nice to see you again. Do take care," he says before turning to his Bronzong. "Ready to go, old friend?"

    Both Lucian and Bronzong are enveloped in a sheet of shimmering, multicolored light, then, in a flash, both Teleport away.

    "I guess we should be on our way, too," Anabel begins, the pink fading from her face. She gives Lee and Ninetales a wide smile. "It was great to meet you two! Now that I know what we''re working with, I''ll try to write up some kind of plan for next time. I''ll send you an email or something else when I''m prepared, and then we can get another meeting going!"

    "Sounds like a plan," Lee replies, mirroring her happy expression. "Thank you for taking the time to come talk to us."

    "No problem! This beats desk work any day! See you next time!" Anabel says her farewell.

    Beside Anabel, Espeon''s eyes begin to glow, then in a flash similar to Lucian and Bronzong, Anabel and Espeon are gone, leaving Lee and Ninetales alone in the meeting room.

    ''I do hope I can learn Teleport one day.'' Ninetales looks across the table at the spot that Espeon vacated. ''I can only imagine the wealth of uses it must have.''

    Lee mentally adds another move to Nine''s wanted list.

    <hr>

    With some time left before their escort arrives to take them back to Meteorfall Crater, Lee decides a Pokemart trip is in order. Not only is his berry stock starting to get low, it''s high time that he gets berry pouches for each of his pokemon so they can carry first aid into fights.

    The Pokemart is only a few blocks away from the Pokemon Center, and as he and Ninetales step through the automatic doors, Lee strides over to the front display counter, where all of the really pricey items are kept under lock and key.

    ''Luxury balls��'' Lee gazes into one of the cases, seeing the black and gold pokeballs on display. Normally, the capsules are a pricey ten thousand credits a pop, but here in Fallarbor, which has less trainer traffic than any city with a gym, they''re marked down to eight-and-a-half thousand. Lee withdraws his phone and peers into his bank account.

    Preferred PKMN Trainer Account ending in 4873

    Checking: 17,656.50 credits

    Savings: 43,433.00 credits

    IRA: 6,200.00 (Yearly deposit limit reached. Learn more about your retirement account, yearly deposit limits, and annual returns by clicking here)

    ''Six luxury balls would work out to be fifty-one thousand plus tax�� And that wouldn''t be a smart buy right now,'' Lee concludes regretfully, slipping his phone back into his pocket. ''Maybe another day.''

    Beside him, Ninetales rolls her eyes. ''I believe I can speak for the entire team when I say an average pokeball serves its purpose adequately. Worry not about luxuries until we sit upon a Dragonite''s hoard of wealth and numbers cease to matter. You needn''t spoil any of us.''

    ''But I want to spoil you.''

    The vixen nips one of his fingers. ''Pace yourself, my Beloved. Remember that a sum of fifty thousand credits was a life-changing amount of money only a few months ago.''

    Lee can''t help but smile and wrap the fox in a short, one-armed hug. ''I understand, Nine, and you''re definitely right. Love you.''

    Ninetales smiles gently and presses herself into his side. Her silky fur and unspoken adoration warm Lee both outside and in. ''While six luxury balls are frankly unnecessary, you could make do with one for Sylveon. She hides it well, so well that perhaps she does not even realize it herself, but I believe that she is unused to resting within a ball. Nights spent outside seem to leave her more well-rested.''

    ''I had suspicions, and it''s good to know that I''m not seeing things,'' Lee says and nods, gazing back towards the luxury balls behind the glass. ''Thirty years as a free-range pokemon probably doesn''t lend itself well to suddenly joining a traveling team.'' He takes Sylveon''s ball from his belt and turns away from the counter. ''Let''s get her opinion, yeah?''

    The Pokemart isn''t packed since the work day isn''t over yet, but the few curious eyes in the store definitely take notice when Sylveon emerges from her pokeball in a flash of light.

    ''A Sylveon and a Ninetales in one place must be an unusual sight,'' Lee muses before returning to the matter at hand. He kneels and presents a hand to Sylveon, who takes his wrist in one of her ribbons as she usually does.

    "Correct me if I''m wrong, Sylvy," Lee begins, rolling her pokeball in his hand, "but you''re not finding your pokeball too comfortable, are you?"

    Sylveon briefly looks down at her paws, considering his words. After a moment of hesitation, she shrugs and croons something almost too quiet to hear. The sound, at least to Lee''s ear, sounds vaguely dismissive.

    "If you want, I can get you a more comfortable ball." Lee gestures to the glass case beside them and the luxury balls within. "Remember our promise, Sylvy. If it would make you happier, then I want to know."

    The fairy stiffens on her paws at the mention of the promise she made, her muzzle twisting. After a long moment, her expression eases, replaced with a searching look. Her eyes lock onto Lee''s as her ribbon tightens ever so slightly.

    Lee stares back without so much as a flinch.

    Ten seconds into the staring match, Sylveon finally concedes, nodding her consent. "Syl��" she murmurs, stepping forward and gently pressing her forehead to Lee''s knee.

    In return, he strokes the fairy behind one of her ears. "I''m glad we''re in agreement," he says with a smile.

    Resolving to get a luxury ball after the rest of the shopping is done, Lee stands once more. "Alrighty, girls. Let''s get cracking. We''re on a timetable here."

    Ninetales smiles and takes her usual spot on Lee''s right.

    Sylveon quietly takes the left, one of her ribbons stretching out behind her and passing a startled shopper to grab a shopping basket by the entrance.

    Together, the man and pair of pokemon walk up and down the aisles, grabbing this and that. When they stop by the refrigerated section holding the mart''s supply of berries, Sylveon takes her sweet time keenly inspecting each one of the fruits. Only after a sniff test and a gentle squeeze does Sylveon allow Lee to bag the berry, and more than a few subpar examples are rejected.

    ''Maybe I need to include Sylvy on our shopping trips from now on.'' Lee watches the canine-shaped fairy give the stink eye to what looks like a fine Oran and put it back on the stand with the rest of its ilk. ''She''s got an eye for this.''

    ''Decades of experience, I''m sure,'' Ninetales comments, watching as well.

    Lee looks at his ace, who tranquilly sits at his side as Sylveon does her thing.

    Nine has done excellently on her promise to better control her emotions, especially where Sylveon is concerned, but there is always a small, instinctual flash of jealousy whenever Lee focuses his attention on someone else. The fox hasn''t acted on such impulses since Lee stopped her from lashing out at May back in Lavaridge.

    Yet, there wasn''t even an errant flicker when Lee stroked Sylveon a few minutes prior. What changed?

    ''How are you feeling after that talk with Anabel and Lucian, love?'' Lee sends. ''I can feel something turning in the back of your head. You''ve been thinking about it since we left the Pokemon Center.''

    Ninetales doesn''t reply right away, instead taking her time to gather her thoughts. From deep within her, Lee can feel a bubbling, giddy sort of happiness begin to well up. ''Good. I feel good. Fantastic, even,'' she says, leaning into Lee''s side with a warm sigh. She looks up at him, her eyes sparkling. ''Knowing that I''m not about to harm you by accident has set countless fears to rest. In fact, I haven''t felt such levity since my evolution.''

    As she speaks, Ninetales'' happiness boils over, pouring into Lee and making his body tingle. All of his limbs feel so light that he has to look down to confirm that he isn''t floating away.

    ''I already know what you wish to ask,'' Ninetales continues. ''Just as I said during our first night in the Crater, I should not be jealous of others you deign to give your time to, not when they do not share what we have. Now?''

    She smiles, but beneath her joy, there is a touch of... Melancholy? ''Our bond is one unbreakable and unique. No, I shan''t be jealous any longer. If anything�� I am tempted to pity,'' she says, her glee leveling off. ''My life is rich thanks to you, and the fact that no one else may know such a feeling leaves me�� sorrowful, I suppose.''

    Ninetales sweeps her eyes across the other people and pokemon in the mart. ''What would others say, if they knew what they were missing out on?''

    Not knowing what to say, and now filled with mixed emotions of his own, Lee just holds the fox tight.

    As he tries to think of a way to break the suddenly somber atmosphere, an intrusive thought comes to Lee''s mind. ''Well, at least the average person gets some peace of mind. They don''t have a partner who knows what kind of weird things they''ve touched themselves to, and I can''t say the same.''

    Nine physically sputters and breaks out into wheezy laughter, making a sound somewhere between a giggle and a vulpine gekker.

    <hr>

    After Sylveon finally picks the best berries on display, Lee accidentally causes a delay at the Pokemart checkout, as the clerk needs a manager to sign off on the luxury ball. Once that hiccup is out of the way, they begin the walk back to the Pokemon Center to wait for their pick-up.

    "Okay, so��" Lee glances at the little instruction manual floating in front of his face, courtesy of Ninetales'' telekinesis, as he, Ninetales, and Sylveon walk down the road. "Double press into long press, hold seven seconds, then short press after one vibration��"

    In his hands, Lee holds Sylveon''s old ball and the shiny new luxury ball. Silph Co seems to (correctly) assume that most people will be transferring pokemon from a more mundane ball to the luxury ball, and has included an instruction manual on how to do so.

    "��Press the buttons together after confirming the first vibration��" Lee touches both of the capsules together by their front buttons, and both buttons flash red briefly. A moment later, the luxury ball flashes blue with a distinct ''ping!''

    "That should do it!" Lee grins. He shrinks and pockets the now unassigned pokeball before pointing the luxury ball towards Sylveon. "Alrighty, Sylvy. We''ll be up in the air here in a few. Do you want to try your ball now, or wait?"

    Sylveon answers with a shake of her head, looking up at the warm sun above. Mount Chimney is idle today, leaving the sky beautiful and clear of soot.

    "You''re right, some more sun won''t hurt," Lee says with a smile.

    Lee shrinks the gold-accented ball and clips it to his belt. "All in all, a productive day," he says with a smile, watching Ninetales neatly fold the little paper manual and slip it into one of his backpack pockets.

    Together, the trio comes to a stop in front of the Pokemon Center. Lee seats himself on a bench near the sidewalk as both Sylveon and Ninetales take positions in front of him. With the spare time, Lee takes out his phone and does his best to catch up with his emails and other electronic business.

    BattleNet: You were mentioned in the thread: Official Lee Henson Megathread

    BattleNet: You were mentioned in the group: Fox Friday (x45)

    Junesoft: Notice of Deposit

    ContestCorner: Fallarbor Contest

    BattleNet: New friend request from Lucian Goyou

    BattleNet: New friend request from Anabel Lila

    Alec Aarons: SPECIAL STUFF! Silph Job Fair gig.

    BattleNet: You have been invited to join the private group: The Cognoscenti: Masters of the Mind

    His emails are the usual things. There''s a fair amount of spam, a handful of updates from various threads he''s watching on BattleNet, an invite to the next Fallarbor Pokemon Contest, Aarons being himself, and a notification from Junesoft about the first royalty payment they deposited into his account. He doesn''t give the rest much time or consideration. Before closing his mailbox, Lee shoots Nigel an email telling him that the first meeting between himself and Anabel went well, and to expect some detailed data in the next set of log files.

    Logging into BattleNet, Lee finds a plethora of new alerts, mostly from his own megathread. Both Lucian and Anabel have sent him friend requests that he accepts, and it looks like Anabel has invited him to some kind of elite Psychic-type specialist group.

    ''Here we go again��'' Lee rolls his eyes and taps ''Accept.'' The instant the chat room loads, Lee throws in the same boilerplate ''leave me alone'' message that he used in the Fire Master group.

    Today at 3:44 PM

    L_Henson: Hello everyone, and thank you, Anabel, for the invite. I cannot say how active I will be due to being a traveling trainer, but I''ll do my best to contribute where I can. I''m actually about to lose service now, so I hope to be back soon.

    Before closing the group, Lee glances at the members list, finding Anabel, Lucian, Liza and Tate, Sabrina of Saffron city, Will of the Johto Elite Four, and several other recognizable names.

    He closes the group and moves on, finding that somebody in Fox Friday was incessantly pinging him, and he didn''t notice at all due to having the group muted.

    Marking all of the pings as read without actually reading them, Lee instead opens his phone''s camera and holds it up. "Nine? Sylvy?"

    Both pokemon look at him inquisitively, just in time for Lee to snap a photo of them.

    Opening his browser and returning to Fox Friday, Lee attaches the photo to a message��

    Today at 3:45 PM

    L_Henson: Is this a fox? Ninetales for comparison.

    (Attachment #1)

    ��And hits send before promptly muting the group once more.

    Ninetales chortles, while Sylveon can only tilt her head in confusion.

    Nothing else really requires any attention, so Lee locks his phone and puts it away. Leaning his head back and closing his eyes, he enjoys the warm sun and the company of his pokemon.

    Ninetales eventually sets her chin on Lee''s knee, closing her eyes and relaxing, and even Sylveon leans into his legs, letting her usual tension drain away.

    For a while, there is nothing but peace.

    Then the bench shifts and Lee feels someone sit down next to him.

    "Blasted volcano is finally calm for a change. Not many days like this in Fallarbor." The stranger laughs, his voice rough. "It''s a bit dry, though. We could do with some rain."

    Not raising his head, Lee hums. "Yeah, it is pretty dry, isn''t it? I hope the local Grass-types are doing okay."

    "Only tough buggers live north of the volcano, but I bet they''d appreciate the sentiment, at least," the stranger says. "You know, I''m pretty sensitive to the humidity, so I can''t help but notice when it''s dry out. My boys joke and use me as a living hygrometer because I comment on it a lot." The stranger shifts, and Lee feels eyes on him. "What made you think of pokemon so quickly for something so mundane, if you don''t mind humoring me?"

    Lee simply shrugs as best he can with his head leaned back. "What can I say? I''m a career trainer, and my number one concern is always pokemon. Whether or not they''re my pokemon is kind of immaterial in the matter. Isn''t that what any trainer would think?"

    The stranger laughs once more, sounding pleased by the answer. "I think you''d be surprised by how often people think of themselves first for�� pretty much anything, really. I think it says a lot about a man to think of others first, especially when it comes to pokemon. There aren''t many people like you around."

    Lee opens his eyes and turns to the stranger. "Geez, man. You''re gonna make me blush. I jus-!" Lee''s words stop dead in his mouth and his blood runs cold, jolting Ninetales awake.

    Grinning back from the other side of the bench is none other than Archie, leader of Team Aqua.

 Act 2: Chapter 30

    A million thoughts fly through Lee''s mind all at once at the sight of Maxie''s rival. The mental cacophony, spurred by panic, is practically deafening and paralyzes him.

    Why did he approach us?

    How the hell did he find us?

    Is he here to recruit us? Kill us?

    He''s not honestly doing this in the middle of a populated town, is he?

    ''Lee!''

    Ninetales'' mental shout cuts through his rising panic, stopping the cascade of scenarios for a moment, just long enough for her to follow up.

    ''Remain calm, Beloved, and resume your answer! Don''t give him reason to suspect that we are aware of who he is!'' Ninetales urges, shoving a lid down on her own instinctual urge to growl. ''We cannot clash with him here, not so close to the Pokemon Center filled with bystanders.''

    Lee clears his throat and steadies himself as much as he can. "Sorry about that, I had something caught in my throat," he says, putting a small, false smile on his face. "Anyway, I was just speaking from the heart there, if you buy into sappy stuff like that. It''s an answer I think a lot of people would give."

    Archie scratches his bearded chin as he thinks up a reply, giving Lee time to inspect the other man.

    The eco-terrorist is a tall, darkly tanned man. Even sitting down, he''s several inches taller than Lee, and his musculature fills out his clothes. His wetsuit-like costume from the Omega Ruby game is absent, replaced with something much more inconspicuous. Dark slacks, black shoes, a blue bandanna lacking the Aqua logo, and an unbuttoned shirt make for a get-up that doesn''t stand out too much. Hanging from Archie''s neck on a golden chain is a large, anchor-shaped amulet. The amulet is where he keeps his Mega Keystone in the games��

    �� But the amulet here is missing its stone. The slot where the stone should sit is empty.

    ''Archie doesn''t have his Keystone yet!'' Lee realizes, nearly bringing his hands together and praising Arceus. ''Small mercies��''

    "You clearly have more faith in people than I do, then," Archie says, crossing his arms and leaning back into the bench. The wooden backrest groans slightly under his weight. "In my opinion, there''s a lot of greed and shortsightedness among folks nowadays. Too many think of themselves, and only themselves. It ends up harming everybody in the end."

    "I see��" Lee subtly signals Nine and Sylveon to keep their cool. "Well, it''s only natural for people to think of themselves first and foremost. Looking after yourself is arguably the oldest and most important instinct that any creature can have. After all, if one doesn''t keep their own best interests in mind, it makes succeeding in life substantially harder."

    "I won''t deny that, but the line between need and greed should be clear to everyone, and that doesn''t seem to be the case anymore," Archie counters. "Lemme give you a scenario, one that happens more often than you''d think: a town begins to swell with people moving in, and the mayor needs to do something about overcrowding. Do they repurpose some of the land that they already have? Or do they tear down a section of forest and build over the top of it, sending all the pokemon there running for the hills?" The tan man''s eyes darken. "I know the one you would pick because it would be the same choice as me. Nine times outta ten, though, they''d rather take more to the detriment of pokemon than make do with what they have."

    Lee frowns, thinking of a reply as he scans his surroundings from his peripheral vision. ''Dammit all, Archie. What kind of games are you playing here? And why in the middle of a crowded street?''

    ''He''s betting on a sense of fair play or concern for bystanders to keep him safe,'' Ninetales asserts, watching the eco-terrorist with narrow, unblinking eyes. Beside Nine, Sylveon seems placid, but the coiled muscles in the Fairy''s legs are obvious. ''Any sort of rash action could cost innocent lives.''

    Lee doesn''t let his nerves show on his face. ''Smart, in a bullheaded kind of way,'' he reluctantly concedes. Outwardly, he answers Archie. "I think we both know that in the real world, a scenario like that wouldn''t have just those two options, nor would everything be that simple."

    Archie smirks, seemingly amused by the answer. "Ha! I can agree with the simplicity part, but little else," he laughs. "You''re quite the character. What''s your name?"

    "Isn''t it polite to introduce yourself before asking for someone else''s name?" Lee shoots back.

    The snarky reply doesn''t wash any of the mirth off of Archie''s face. "You''re right. Boy, where are my manners? Archibald Aogiri is the name, but my friends call me Archie. And you are?"

    "Bruce Lancaster." Lee quickly combines his brother''s name with the street of his childhood home, forming an alias. "It''s�� a pleasure to meet you?"

    "Really? Bruce Lancaster?" Archie asks, unimpressed. "If you don''t want to tell me your name, you could just say so."

    Lee grunts, fed up with the verbal spar. "Something tells me you already know my name, so why even bother with the song and dance?"

    "Because, Mister Lee Henson, you already know who I am, so it''s only fair if I play dumb too, right?" Archie asks with a smirk. "Don''t look so tense! I''m not gonna hurt you or your pokemon. I''m just here for a chat, and to give you a well-deserved thanks."

    Lee takes a deep breath to steady his nerves. "A well-deserved thanks?" he parrots, turning his head to look the other man directly in the eye. "What are you talking about? I don''t think we actually have anything to chat about."

    "Oh, but we do!" the larger man insists before lowering his voice. He leans closer to Lee, uncaring of Ninetales and Sylveon each bearing their teeth. "I was watching from a distance when Magma raided the volcano, and I watched as you and your friends busted them."

    Unease flows through Lee''s being, and the mental bleedover makes Ninetales'' tails curl. ''We were being watched the whole time?''

    "Maxie��" Archie''s face falls into disappointment. "He and I were friends once. He was one of those always-polite, upper-crust types, but he didn''t let that stop him from being a swell guy. Then he started changing��"

    Archie pauses for a moment, his expression stormy. "It was weird stuff here and there, like shying away from conversation and suddenly despising the rain. Then he stopped showing up at gatherings and seemed not to remember a lot of people. In the end, he sold off everything he owned to fund some kind of ''project'' he refused to talk about. I made the mistake of not forcing him to fess up, and I knew I had made a mistake when he came to me and wanted me to join Magma."

    "I see��" is all Lee can say, wondering where Archie is going with this. ''This is not how I expected this to go��''

    "He shocked me with what he said." Archie''s face darkens further, falling into a scowl. "He told me about his scheme, how he wanted to awaken Groudon and use it to rearrange the planet. He said he wanted to do it ''for all the right reasons'', that he wanted to free the world from the whims of nature, but I saw that disgusting glimmer in his eye." Archie''s eyes narrow into slits. "When he said ''free the world from the whims of nature'', I know he meant ''from the control of pokemon''." He looks Lee in the eye. "That''s why I want to thank you. You stopped him on Mount Chimney, and I know you didn''t do it for us, but any setback for Magma is a win for Aqua."

    Unsure of how to reply, Lee nods slowly.

    Archie smiles back, but the expression is decidedly grim. "Maxie and the rest of his goons are lying low for now, but he won''t take the loss you gave him lying down. Eventually, he''s going to try and do something about you, which is why I''m here today." He holds out an arm for a handshake. "I want you and your friends to join Team Aqua, both because you all seem to have the heart for it, and because I want to protect you from Maxie''s backlash."

    ''And there it is,'' Lee thinks. ''It all seems so earnest too.''

    Where Maxie radiated an aura of menace that demanded respect, one barely hidden behind a polite fa?ade, Archie is the polar opposite. The man is as charismatic as he is blunt, and even though he knows better, Lee actually entertains the offer for a second.

    "It''s appreciated," Lee begins, selecting his words carefully, "but I don''t think an offer like that will be conducive to my team''s long-term health, except for maybe my Octillery."

    Archie sucks in a deep breath through his nose, his smile falling along with his hand. "Heh. You are well-informed, aren''t you? You won''t tell me who blabbed even if I ask, will you?"

    "You wouldn''t believe me even if I told you," Lee says, sharing a brief look with Ninetales, then looking at the people walking by on the street without a care in the world. "Surely you understand the ramifications of your end goal? You can''t alter nature to such a degree and not expect��" Lee hesitates. "Mass extinction."

    "Oh, but that''s exactly the plan," Archie says, his reply so casual that Lee''s body breaks out into goosebumps. "I can''t be too hard on Maxie now that I think about it, because he''s the one who really opened my eyes and showed me what I needed to do."

    Both Lee and Ninetales regard Archie in disbelief as he crosses one leg over the other, seemingly pretending he didn''t admit to the atrocity he has planned. Sylveon, meanwhile, looks on in total confusion, not understanding where the conversation is going.

    "What are you talking about?" Lee''s voice is little more than a whisper. "Do you even understand what you''re saying?"

    Archie scratches his bearded chin. "I understand. I understand a lot of things. I understand that the world is poisoned and that everything needs to be reset. The last talk I had with Maxie made me open my eyes and actually look around. There are a lot of things in this world that don''t fit, and I know a smart guy like you has seen it too. One of my boys in Dewford told me you visited a seafood farm there for some kind of private study. A guy like you wouldn''t do something like that unless you had questions, right?"

    Lee takes a breath to reply, only to stop and consider Archie''s words once more. ''�� He''s talking about the presence of regular animals. That is strange, and no one has an answer for it. Most animals simply can''t compete with pokemon in nature, but populations of wild critters are still found here and there. Yet there are also no small insects for some unfathomable reason. If any members of the animal kingdom could carve out a niche in a pokemon-ruled world, bugs would be the one by virtue of sheer numbers.'' Lee''s eyes widen. ''Arceus above, he has a point.''

    "You''ve seen it too," Archie concludes with a small smile. "In this world we live in, there are parts that simply don''t belong, that don''t fit. If there is some kind of divine plan, it''s gone wrong and deviates further and further as time goes on," he says, his voice rising in intensity. "Humans are one of the pieces that don''t fit, Lee, and I''m certain we''re what''s causing things to go sideways. As humanity advances, pokemon suffer. You don''t need to be a genius to see that pokemon and humanity will eventually clash. Hell, we''re already doing it!"

    Archie spreads his arms. "What kind of pokemon would be here in Fallarbor if we let nature take its course? If we didn''t stop the ash for the comfort of people? Every opportunity that humanity takes is at the cost of pokemon, and it''ll keep happening until catastrophe strikes! When it happens, I can already see pokemon being the ones to suffer the most!" Archie''s voice nearly rises into a yell, but he takes a breath and composes himself. The breath does nothing to stop the dangerous flash of his eyes, though. "We shouldn''t be here, and we''re destroying what doesn''t belong to us. Along the way something went wrong, and I know that something is the rise of humanity. The world is due for a reset before we make things worse."

    The leader of Team Aqua looks up towards the sky, his face set in stony determination. "I don''t know what you''ve heard about me and Aqua, but let me lay any lies you have probably heard to rest. I will beseech Kyogre for her aid, and wash away the influence of everything that doesn''t belong one wave at a time, giving it all back to pokemon. If humanity persists afterward, they''ll do so from a place of humility and respect for the rightful owners of the world."

    ''He''s just as insane as Maxie.'' Lee shakes his head, dread pooling in his stomach. ''He fully intends to kill millions without a hint of remorse.''

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    For a brief moment, Lee sees Nine''s mind go somewhere foul, down into the realm of murder. With Ninetales and Sylveon already out of their ball, they could��

    ''No. No, we can''t. We could justify it all we want, but the chance of something going wrong is just too high.'' Lee swallows a lump in his throat. ''Approaching in the open like this was a good move on his part.''

    Ninetales frowns, but doesn''t argue. ''Do his underlings know, I wonder?''

    "Is that really your call to make?" Lee begins slowly, looking at Archie the same way he would a powder keg next to an open flame. "What about the pokemon? What about the people who live peacefully with nature? What about all the people following you? That''s to say nothing about the morality of such blatant disregard for life itself."

    "When my time comes, I know I won''t be judged favorably," Archie replies calmly, "but if no one else will take accountability for what our race is doing, then I will. I''m heading things off before the point of no return." He shakes his head in apparent disappointment. "We''re tearing at the land now, and it won''t be long before that''s not enough. Greedy eyes will turn to the sea, the womb where life started. Once the sea is corrupted, it''ll be too late," he says, his eyes darkening once more. "The suffering in the short term won''t mean much in a hundred, or a thousand years from now, when things are back on course." He looks towards the horizon, and Lee follows his eyes.

    Far in the distance, a man astride a Flygon is flying towards the Pokemon Center.

    "I can see our time is running short," Archie rumbles. Lee doesn''t miss how Archie refused to answer the other questions posed to him. "I take it that you don''t want to join Aqua?"

    "No." Lee''s reply is terse.

    With a sigh, Archie stands. "Are you sure? You''re one of the good ones, Lee. I think you''d be happy in the new world."

    When Lee doesn''t dignify that with a reply, Archie nods. "Alright, if that''s really what you want, I''ll respect your decision. Next time we meet, though, it''ll be as enemies, and we won''t hold anything back. I''m sorry it has to be this way."

    With that, the eco-terrorist slips his hands into his pockets and walks into the foot traffic crisscrossing the front of the Pokemon Center. A passing Aggron obscures Archie from sight, and when the pokemon passes, the man has vanished.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Lee leans back into the couch behind him, having finished retelling the day''s events to Brendan and Zinnia, including the hair-raising encounter with Archie.

    The trio, along with all of their pokemon, are once more in their hut in the heart of the Meteorfall Crater. Around them, all of their pokemon are busy eating dinner in different parts of the sitting room, though it''s clear that most of them are listening carefully to the conversation.

    "No fucking way he tried to recruit you." Zinnia seems flabbergasted. She leans forward in her chair and rests her elbows on her knees. "After he talked about all of that insane shit, no less."

    "He wanted all of us, actually," Lee replies, watching Shinx eat.

    The kitten seems to be listening more intently than anyone else, for she''s eating the slowest, and frequently roams the room with her eyes.

    "And as much as I don''t want to admit it," Lee continues, "he did have one valid point that has me thinking. How in the world have animals persisted when they have to compete with pokemon? They should have been driven to extinction long before the invention of farms and nature reserves, and it doesn''t really mesh with the rest of the world that they even exist at all."

    "My dad proposed that some pokemon preserved habitats for animals as some kind of proto-farming a couple years ago," Brendan supplies from his place next to Lee. "That study went on the back burner, though, and I don''t think he''s picked it back up." He glances at Lee. "That doesn''t sound too weird, does it?"

    Lee shakes his head. "No. Back home, there were a number of animals who farmed other animals, most of them being insects. It''s not outlandish to think that pokemon would do the same." He frowns. "That still doesn''t explain why the animals exist in the first place. Back home, ancient humans either eradicated or interbred with the other members of the Homo genus until the modern human was the only one left. The fact that the same didn''t happen to pokemon and animals is striking now that I think about it."

    Zinnia shrugs. "He might''ve just been trying to get into your head. I wouldn''t give it too much thought."

    A short distance away, Ninetales audibly snorts as she chews on the last bite of her dinner. ''I can''t believe she told you of all people to not overthink something.''

    ''Hey, I don''t overthink things!''

    ''Whatever helps you sleep at night, Beloved.''

    Lee grumbles under his breath about cheeky vulpines and resolves to worry about the animal question later. "How did the pokemon hunt go for you two?" he asks, eyes gravitating to Zinnia''s group.

    Sitting next to Altaria is an adult Noivern, Zinnia''s latest capture by Lee''s assumption. The bat pokemon has a wyvern-like body, with her wings and red-clawed forelimbs fused together. She timidly eats from a food bowl, keeping her large yellow eyes and even larger ears on Sylveon from across the room. Naturally, the fairy doesn''t even notice the attention.

    "Swell!" Zinnia grins, following Lee''s gaze. "Noivern was a scrappy one for sure. I think she was the odd lady out for breeding this year, because her nest was empty. She was happy to take out her frustration on us, at least until Shelgon socked one to her. I don''t think she expected Shelgon''s Rollout to pinball off of the wall and nail her midair." Zinnia sighs and lets her shoulders slump. "I''m going to miss Rollout when Shelgon evolves."

    Noivern''s eyes narrow at the mention of her loss, but a growl from Shelgon makes her dip her head.

    "I see." Lee nods. "I briefly considered a Noivern myself before I got Sylvy, so I hope you and Noivern don''t mind if I study her a bit."

    "Next time we do a swap battle, she''s all yours," Zinnia says with a smile.

    Lee smiles right back, then turns to Brendan.

    The young trainer groans and leans back into the couch, mirroring Lee. "I found squat. Astis and I went to three Trapinch nesting tunnels, and none of them could stand up to Marshtomp even a little bit."

    Lee pats the boy on the shoulder. "Well, Marshtomp is pretty strong, so if you''re using him as your measuring stick, you might be at this for a while."

    Shaking his head, Brendan elaborates. "No, like, they couldn''t stand up to him at all. Every single one of the Trapinch went down after taking one regular, no-move punch. After the first tunnel, I had Marshtomp dial it back to half of what he was doing, and the same thing happened. The next tunnel we went down to a fourth, and after that, we ran out of time."

    As Brendan speaks, Marshtomp sidles up to Mawile, sending her a smile and giving a macho flex of his (admittedly muscular) arms, which Mawile pretends not to notice.

    "Huh." Zinnia tilts her head. "That does seem kind of weird. Maybe Astis was worried about you or something and took you down to the runt tunnels? I don''t know her that well, but she seems that type."

    Brendan crosses his arms and glances at Noivern, visibly bummed out that he didn''t get a new pokemon today.

    "Maybe Zinnia or I can go with you next time," Lee offers. "You know? To give you a second opinion. For all we know, Marshtomp actually is that strong. I know all the training down here is paying off for my team, so it''s got to be paying off for everyone else."

    Nodding easily, Brendan agrees. "Sure. That sounds good to me." He then turns his attention to Zinnia. "Say, Zinnia? How long are we going to be down here, anyway?"

    The tanned woman hums under her breath as she thinks. "We''ve been down here for a week already, so we can probably get away with four or five weeks more before we''ve officially overstayed our welcome," she says before her expression sours. "If we''re lucky, the old coots on the Elder Council will quit fighting long enough to actually fulfill everything I wanted from them."

    Before Lee can ask her to elaborate, there is a knock on the door, drawing everyone''s attention.

    "Weird. We''re not expecting any visitors, are we?" Lee asks. ''Is it some ironic timing from the elders?''

    "No, we''re not, but I think I know who it is." Zinnia stands and weaves through the pokemon in the room to the front door of the hut. Taking the squeaky handle, she throws the door open and reveals the person on the other side.

    Or rather, the people on the other side.

    Isis and Astis are both instantly recognizable. The girls look as they usually do; that is, mostly identical save for their hair color and for the shoulder bag Isis carries.

    Standing between the twins is a woman so elderly that using the word decrepit almost seems polite. The elder is hunched over a walking stick, making her thin, bone-white hair fall down her shoulders, and making her age-shrunken form even smaller. Her hide clothes are like a tent hanging upon her thin limbs, and the thoroughly weathered skin of her face droops on one side, a telltale sign of having suffered a stroke. Her one open eye, however, is a strikingly sharp red, nearly pink.

    The old woman scans the room behind Zinnia before smiling as well as her face can. "Thelban," she begins, her voice whispery, "it is heartening to see you once more. Might an old woman disturb you for but a moment?"

    Zinnia steps aside and gestures for the group to come in. "The Crater is kind of your place, Madame Oracle. I don''t think you really need to ask."

    ''Madame Oracle?'' Ninetales questions with only Lee to hear her. ''Is this the Draconid oracle Zinnia spoke of?''

    ''Must be,'' Lee sends back, vacating his seat on the couch to give the elderly woman a place to sit.

    The Oracle shuffles inside, her walking stick tapping on the floor as both Astis and Isis hover by her side, their arms partially extended to catch the woman should she fall.

    Once the old woman settles on the couch with a sigh, she takes her time looking at each one of the pokemon in the room, then turns her gaze to Lee and Brendan. "Naraikvejor Birch, Naraikvejor Henson. Allow me to bid you a late welcome. I am Hakea, Oracle of the Draconid tribe for ninety long years. I beg forgiveness for being a poor host and not greeting you sooner. Dialga''s march is felt acutely in mine bones these days."

    "It''s no problem at all, ma''am," Lee insists, raising his palms and waving away the apology. "We''re just grateful to be allowed here. We know that a lot of rules had to be bent to allow this to happen."

    The Oracle smiles once more. "Ah, but I am here for a reason twofold, so withhold pleasantries and platitudes. Thelban Zinnia believes you and Naraikvejor Birch are worthy of our tribe''s greatest treasures, worthy to succeed her should she fail. This evening, I am here to judge as much as I am to greet."

    Zinnia looks like she wants to bite out something rude, but stops herself short, instead settling on a silent scowl.

    "So you''re giving us some kind of test?" Brendan asks with an unsure blink. "That''s fine with me. Whatever you want to throw at us, I''m sure we can do it!"

    Lee remains silent. ''Here to judge just as much as she is to greet, huh?'' he thinks. ''One side of her face is paralyzed, and Zinnia said the Draconid prophecy hit the Oracle so hard that she had a stroke. Can seer powers have that kind of backlash?''

    ''If it''s Psychic in nature rather than something spiritual, it would make sense.'' Ninetales rises from her place and walks to Lee''s side, where she sits and leans into him. ''Psychic powers are limited by the brain, after all.''

    "The fire in thine veins will serve you well, Naraikvejor Birch, but I haven''t a challenge for you, merely mine own curiosity." Hakea rubs a gnarled thumb over the worn, knobby top of her walking stick. "I ask you both, speak from the heart, as lies will serve no one. Tell me, what do you love most in life?"

    "My pokemon," Lee answers without any hesitation, making the Oracle''s eye shoot to him. "They''re everything to me."

    Ninetales and Corviknight smile, while Grovyle and Octillery bashfully look away. Sylveon blinks in apparent surprise, while Shinx beams.

    Brendan takes longer. "I�� well," he begins, looking away uncomfortably when the Oracle levels him with an unblinking stare. "My knee-jerk reaction is to say my loved ones, but doesn''t that seem kind of broad? I don''t know if I can narrow it down."

    "It is as fine an answer as any," the Oracle soothes. "Now, another. Is mercy worth it?"

    "Always," Brendan answers with a resolute nod.

    Now it''s Lee''s turn to be put on the spot. "I want to say ''yes'', but my real answer is ''it depends''." Saying that earns him a surprised glance from Brendan.

    The old woman nods along, accepting the noncommittal answer. "Do you sometimes feel as if you don''t belong?"

    Brendan shakes his head. "No?"

    "��I used to," Lee admits.

    "Most interesting��" Hakea rubs her chin. "What is it that you fear most?"

    This time, neither Brendan nor Lee answer right away. They meet eyes for a moment, and after a silent conversation, Brendan goes first. "I guess my worst fear is letting everybody down, now more than ever with all the meteor business."

    Lee licks his lips and searches within himself. There are a lot of things he fears, but if he had to name one thing above all else�� He looks down at Ninetales, who stares back up with her large, ruby eyes.

    Between them, the psychic bond thrums like a plucked guitar string.

    "If there''s anything I fear��" Lee gulps, looking around the room at his pokemon, then to Brendan and Zinnia. "It''s being alone."

    Hakea draws in a deep breath. "I see�� I see��" she repeats, her bright red eye becoming glassy. "I''ve only one more for you. When your journey comes to a close, what is it you hope to accomplish?"

    ''Of course she saved a doozy like that for last.'' Lee bites his lip as he thinks how best to phrase what he wishes to say. He looks to Brendan, and the boy seems to be struggling just as well.

    "I think peace is what I want," Lee finally says, somehow finding this exchange more exhausting than the one with Archie. "One way or another, I want my team, my family, to live in peace and comfort, with all of their wants met."

    Brendan is quiet for another few seconds, and then, "When everything is said and done, I want me and my pokemon to be strong. Strong for us, strong for friends, and strong for everyone else who needs it," he says, his face hardening into a visage of determination, one Lee would expect to see on a man thrice Brendan''s age. "Especially the ones who can''t be strong for themselves."

    Marshtomp, from his place next to Mawile, can''t contain himself and lets out a proud laugh, punching his fist in the air.

    Lee can help but huff ruefully. "Jeez, Brendan. You''re making me sound awful greedy over here."

    The boy flushes in embarrassment, his hard expression gone in an instant. "What?! There''s nothing wrong with anything you said! A-and I was told to talk from the heart and all that junk, so I did!"

    "Madam?"

    All the eyes in the room turned to the elderly Oracle, who is staring off into space. Beside her, Isis gently gives the old woman a shake. "Madam Hakea? Are you okay?"

    "I see��" the old woman replies after a long moment. "I see��" She suddenly turns her head towards Lee and Brendan, moving so fast that Lee flinches.

    "O, Lonely Outsider�� O, Hero Yet Realized��" the Oracle speaks, her words no louder than a whisper, yet perfectly audible from across the room. Her eye seems to glow. "O, Lorekeeper�� One who is two and two yet to know, all shall learn and shine blindingly in joy. We unfortunates stand in awe of the unity. Yes��" She takes a deep gasping breath, blinking away whatever spell overcame her. "Yes��"

    "Madam, please!" Isis shakes the old woman''s shoulder once more, concern on her face. "Are you all right? Did you have a vision? What did you see?"

    The old woman waves Isis away, but does so with such lethargy that it''s clear whatever happened has taken a lot out of her. "Hush, child," the Oracle mumbles. "I have seen all that I need. Bring out the case."

    Isis takes her hands away and looks down at the bag on her shoulder, seemingly unsure. "You''re certain, Madam? Won''t the elders be upset?"

    Hakea clicks her tongue and taps her walking stick on the ground. "I care not. I have seen what I need to see, and these gifts are mine to give. Dear girl, the case!"

    Isis ceases arguing and opens the bag on her shoulder, letting her sister reach in with both hands and withdraw a rectangular box of peeling, aged wood. Astis then sets the box down on the low table of the sitting room.

    "Thelban," Hakea addresses Zinnia, who looks beyond shocked by what she''s seeing. "They are worthy."

    Zinnia''s surprise and disbelief begin to fade, replaced with a wide, overjoyed grin. In the candlelight of the room, her expression is radiant.

    ''Worthy for what? What''s going on?'' Lee wonders, leaning in.

    Isis unclips the front latch on the box and pulls it open, filling the room with flecks of refracted, rainbow light.

    Zinnia vibrates in place, Brendan''s jaw drops, and Lee''s breath hitches in his throat. ''Those��!''

    Sitting in the velvet-lined box are three shining, spherical, Mega Keystones.

    "Thelban, Naraikvejor." The Oracle inclines her head. "My gift to you. I know you will use them well."

 Act 2: Chapter 31

    "That is not what we agreed upon!"

    Elder Danae of the Draconid tribe frowns mightily, leveling his fellow elder with a glare from across the table where they both sit.

    The Meteorfall Crater is home to many sanctums and hideaways, many of which keep ancient treasures from prying eyes. Others act as homes for the rare few who live within the Crater year-round, such as the venerated Oracle. This morning, the Draconid Elders and Oracle Hakea sit around the elderly Oracle''s table for a meeting most urgent.

    "Calm yourself, Taxus," Elder Juniper, ever the diplomat, soothes. The woman reaches out and places a hand on Taxus''s shoulder, easing him back down into his chair. "There needn''t be raised voices in this place."

    Taxus twitches, as if he wishes to bat Juniper''s hand away, but before he can, she withdraws it. The dark interior of the Oracle''s home makes the shadows around Taxus''s furious visage all the more fearsome. "Hakea," he growls, sounding akin to the Dragons the tribe venerates. "Why? Why did you give outsiders Keystones?"

    Hakea seems totally unbothered with Taxus'' seething hostility. In fact, she seems to barely be listening, her eyes unfocused.

    "Taxus��" Danae speaks, stepping into the conversation with a glower. "Enough of this. Do you doubt the things I saw, the memories gifted to me? Ascension has fallen into the wrong hands already, and our best hope to restore the sanctity of our rite is to bequeath Thelban and Naraikvejor with the tools to combat it."

    "I was not speaking to you, Danae," Taxus grunts, affront flashing across Danae''s face. "Hakea! I demand an explanation!"

    The shout draws a slow blink from the elderly Oracle, and she looks up to Taxus placidly. "You would demand an explanation from me?"

    "I would."

    A raspy chuckle escapes the old Oracle. "Never before have you questioned me. What compels you to begin now? Does the loss of pretty baubles disturb you so?"

    Taxus grips the table with such strength that the wood begins to groan beneath his fingers. "Do not play coy, Oracle. It is not the stones themselves that bother me, but rather what they facilitate. It is folly, handing such powers to outsiders. We have already bent tradition as it is, but this is too far!"

    "Your voice, Taxus; lower it," Juniper says as she narrows her eyes. "What''s done is done, regardless of any opinion of the matter," she continues, sending Hakea a look. "We should be discussing on how best to guide the Thelban and Naraikvejor, not shouting impotently about events now passed."

    The bald Draconid elder sucks in a hissing breath and runs a hand over his head. "We should have been consulted. I have half a mind to demand that the stones be returned."

    "Returned into my ownership?" Hakea asks, raising a drooping eyebrow. "Youngling, you fail to remember, those three were properly all my own, not the tribe''s. If they are returned to me, I shall gift them once more."

    "We still should have been consulted!"

    "Perhaps," Danae murmurs, "but time is of the essence. There is already an unworthy one perverting the sacred bond and rite, and soon I fear there will be another."

    "Another?" Juniper asks sharply, snapping her head to stare at Danae. "What do you mean? Have we had another sneak?"

    The youngest of the elders sighs and nods his head. "A great hulk of a man passed through the village but one day ago. His questions were many and unsubtle, nearly resulting in conflict. He was finally sent away, but I have warned the sentries to be vigilant."

    Hakea laces her gnarled fingers together and turns her good eye to Taxus. "Change is coming whether we are prepared or not, and young, talented blood could see us through this turbulent time. Will we continue to resist the march of Dialga, or will we bend like the reed in the storm and survive?"

    For a long moment, Taxus is silent. "I cannot agree to relinquishing the Mega Stones, not without a test of worth."

    "Taxus, you cannot be serious!" Danae exclaims, standing and planting his hands on the table. His face screws up into a frustrated grimace. "Think of what is at stake! Thelban Zinnia was hand chosen by Thelban Aster! You claim to care for tradition, yet you spit upon the urging of the Thelban! This is unprecedented!"

    "Sharing our gift with outsiders is also unprecedented, so I will not be convinced otherwise." The bald elder abruptly stands. "I must make arrangements. Good day."

    In the shadows behind Oracle Hakea, gold and ruby eyes meet, then two forms shuffle away unseen.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    The Mega Keystone in Lee''s hand feels as if it weighs a hundred pounds.

    For most of the past week, the shining, spherical crystal has dominated his thoughts, which have ping-ponged all over. From the terror on the volcano to the disquieting fate that befell Aster, the darkest part of his imagination gnaws at him without regard for how it frays at his nerves.

    Idly, he rolls the Keystone around in his hand, watching it refract the waning sunlight streaming in from the great hole in the ceiling. Along his hand and chest, rainbow light dances. ''For such a powerful little thing, it''s deceptively innocent-looking.''

    With the day''s training over, Lee and his friends are relaxing outside their hut in the center of the Meteorfall Crater, mostly at Lee''s request. The last thing he wants is a lack of sunlight exposure making anyone crabby, not when the Dragon TE in the air already leaves everyone more highly-strung than usual.

    A short ways away, a smiling Brendan and his team all lie in a bed of soft moss, soaking in the sun and resting. Even the usually jumpy Electrike is already dozing off.

    ''Brendan is taking the Keystone thing in stride, it seems��'' Lee observes, unsurprised.

    Zinnia is huddled with her five pokemon a bit further away. Noivern, Zinnia''s newest capture, looks positively exhausted. Apparently, being fully evolved doesn''t mean that she''s able to keep up with the rest of her team yet.

    ''That, and Zinnia was twice as brutal in her training today.'' Lee lets his eyes roam his friend''s pokemon, taking in all the half-healed cuts and contusions amongst their number. ''The whole damn cave was shaking.''

    Finally, most of Lee''s team are in their balls, resting and waiting for dinner time. Sylveon and Shinx were both thoroughly tuckered out by the day''s activities, and Octillery has been even more withdrawn than usual recently. Corviknight is roosted up on the top of the dome-like hut, preening his metallic feathers with quiet rasps. Grovyle��

    Lee frowns and leans back into the wall of the hut, closing his hand around the Keystone.

    Around his Keystone.

    Ever since the Oracle left the Keystones in their care, Grovyle has had a fire in his eyes, an intensity to him beyond that of any other pokemon on the team. When he moves, he does so with purpose and zeal, pushing himself even when the burn scars across his body angrily tug at his skin. Three times today, Lee told Grovyle not to overdo his training, and three times Grovyle complied�� Only to forget minutes later and go right back to what he was doing.

    Lee can see what''s happening as plain as day, and it leaves him frustrated due to how powerless he feels in solving it.

    Grovyle feels like he''s falling behind.

    For quite some time, there has always been a clear hierarchy of strength on Lee''s team. Ninetales remains at the top. Her raw power, deep bag of tricks, and typing relative to the rest of the team make it so. Even if Lee were to completely shut himself out of her mind and deprive the fox of his input, she is still a force to be reckoned with.

    Corvi is next. The great raven was a terror as a Corvisquire, and his evolution has only made him more so. His size, strength, deceptive speed, and stellar dual-typing make him a nightmare to fight. Although he suffers a type disadvantage to Ninetales, a clash between them wouldn''t exactly be a foregone conclusion; Corvi is just too stubborn, too iron-willed.

    Then comes Grovyle. Lee knows the Grass-type doesn''t begrudge his teammates for being strong, but he does curse himself for not keeping up.

    The longer they stay down here in the crater, the worse the problem becomes.

    On their first day of training, Octillery won their game of keep away, and got his Thunder Wave TM as promised. The octopus was beyond delighted with his new ability to shoot bolts of paralytic lightning.

    Meanwhile, Grovyle stood by, his arms crossed and his eyes narrow, but no complaint was voiced. The gecko pokemon made Siphon Blade battle-ready only a few days later, but the rain cloud over his head persisted.

    Then Shinx began to improve by leaps and bounds, going from little more than a kitten to a headache on four legs. The same tactic never seems to work on Shinx twice, and when a foe''s cards are finally all laid bare, overpowering her becomes the only realistic option. A simple enough prospect now, but who knows where she''ll be in a week, a month, a year? Once again, Lee resolves to make time soon to give his baby a full cognitive test.

    Grovyle is no doubt comparing her growth to his, and finding his own lacking. The sting of comparing himself to an infant is likely even worse.

    Even Sylveon is beginning to ramp up. The middle-aged Fairy is shaking loose all the rust in her joints, and improves bit by bit, day by day. Her impressive repertoire of moves aided by Pixilate means she''ll never be irrelevant in a fight.

    Lee stares at Grovyle''s back as the Grass-type stands on a boulder a dozen yards away, his arms crossed and his eyes closed as he soaks in the sun. Being one of Lee''s first three pokemon, Grovyle knows much of the meta-lore Lee has to share��

    ��Such as the existence of Sceptilite, spurring him into such recklessness down in the training chamber.

    Warm fur cuddling into his side eases Lee out of his funk. Turning his head, he spies Ninetales settling down next to him.

    ''Worry not about everything today, Beloved,'' the fox begins, casting a critical eye towards the rainbow-hued bauble in Lee''s hand. ''Grovyle�� If he cannot shake what bothers him, I will aid you in addressing him.''

    Lee smiles. ''Thank you, Nine.''

    The vixen smiles back, warming Lee. ''Think naught of it,'' she says, before returning her eyes to the Keystone. ''What a curious little thing. I can only wonder if my kind has a Mega Stone out there. Were I to evolve once more, what would I become?''

    For a moment, Lee tries to imagine what a Mega Ninetales would even look like, but fails. To him, his fox is already perfect the way she is. ''Who knows? The world doesn''t have the limitations of a video game, so it''s entirely possible there''s a Ninetalesite.'' Lee wraps an arm around Ninetales in a half hug as he rolls the sparkly catalyst between his fingers. ''According to Zinnia, the stones are essentially training wheels, so even if there isn''t, maybe you could go Mega anyway?'' He gives the Keystone a stare as he musters many of the fond memories he''s shared with Ninetales thus far, filling his chest with bubbling warmth. He almost shouts the word ''Activate!'' in the confines of his mind, only to stop when he remembers the grave fate that befell Aster.

    The Keystone sparkles with a faint light in its center, making Lee''s heart leap into his throat, before going dim once more.

    Lee shakes his head, mentally kicking himself. ''Arceus-damned Dragon TE is still messing with my head. The training is nice, but if we never come back here again, I won''t cry over it.'' He stuffs the sphere into his pocket.

    For a time, man and fox simply relax, lazily conversing about this and that. No words of any consequence passed between them, until Ninetales brings up the meeting with Anabel and Lucian.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ''I can only wonder how we''ve apparently avoided the deadly pratfall of all bonded telepaths that have come before us,'' Ninetales says, looking away from Lee to stare up at the sky through the crater opening. ''Anabel said she had never seen two as close as we without a great mental cascade into a singular being. What is it that we did differently?''

    Lee is quiet as he ponders the question. "I''m not really sure," he admits. "You know just as much as I do when it comes to psychic shenanigans, or maybe even more. Interesting stuff, ancestral pokemon memory is. If you haven''t figured it out, I doubt I can."

    A prickle of uncertainty thrums across the telepathic tether holding them together, like a string being plucked. Nine turns back to Lee, her muzzle set in a frown. ''Perhaps�� Something to do with my birth? Was it not as random as anticipated? I am aware that I said I would spurn any plans a higher entity had for me in favor of being with you, but perhaps�� This was the intention all along?''

    Lee places a gentle hand between Nine''s withers, rubbing her shoulders. "I dunno, love. The subject of Arceus and how his influence plays into everything is muddy at the best of times. What we have is special, and we''re going to look into it as best we can, but it''s not a huge deal as long as we''re safe and together."

    Nine makes a vulpine purr in her throat, leaning once more into Lee. ''You are correct, as usual. Perhaps the Dragon TE is simply setting me ill at ease,'' she sends, rubbing her cheek against his. She pauses, then rubs a little slower. ''Goodness, my fur is delightful, isn''t it?''

    Lee rolls his eyes, and in his head, gently nudges her away from his sense of touch. ''That''s a little narcissistic, don''t you think?''

    ''I am a living analogue to a kitsune; I am allowed some narcissism,'' Ninetales sniffs. ''Ah, I''ve been so caught up with the training that I nearly forgot to ask. Have you been sleeping well, Beloved?''

    ''Sleeping well?'' Lee furrows his brow. He takes a moment to feel his face and rub his eyes. He doesn''t feel sleepy. ''For the most part. Why do you ask?''

    Ninetales once more makes a purr, though to Lee it sounds more like a hum. ''Several times now, since we''ve entered the crater, I''ve not felt you dreaming when you''ve fallen asleep first. That''s unusual for you.''

    ''Really?'' Lee asks, surprised. ''When was the last time?''

    ''Two nights ago.''

    ��That lines up with the strange, repeating dream that Lee has had several times now. Each time he sees red eyes, flashes of gold, and a mouth that moved to speak, only for him to wake up before he hears a single word. Wordlessly, Lee offers his inky memories of the dreams to Ninetales, who inspects each one with a critical eye.

    ''Curious��'' she mentally murmurs. ''Why am I not able to feel these?''

    ''I wish I knew,'' Lee sighs.

    The figure within the dream seems so familiar, but at the same time not. It doesn''t help that all the figure''s features are blurry and set upon a background of pitch black, but even then, a feeling of familiarity remains. Lee put it out of his mind with the busy schedule everyone has, but now that he truly thinks about it, it is beginning to bother him.

    Vague, repeating dreams are never a good omen.

    ''Maybe Zinnia or one of the Draconids will know something,'' Lee sends to Ninetales. ''This didn''t start until we got here, so here''s hoping.''

    Further conversation is interrupted when, from one of the distant tunnels, Isis and her sister Astis emerge, walking towards Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan with urgency.

    "Speaking of bad omens��" Lee grumbles, standing.

    The approach of the Oracle''s assistants draws the attention of both Zinnia and Brendan, as well as their teams, who all cease what they''re doing to watch the girls approach. Once close enough, both halt, Isis'' face set in a frown, while Astis'' wears an expression of worry.

    "Thelban, Naraikvejor?" Isis speaks, looking each one of them in the eyes. "We have news. May we discuss inside?

    Brendan blinks in confusion and Zinnia sets her jaw, her expression becoming grim.

    Lee heads to the door of the house, opening it and ushering the girls inside wordlessly.

    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">

    Inside the hut, Brendan sits himself in one of the chairs of the living area, the ominous words of the Draconid sisters hanging over him.

    ''Everything was going so well!'' The boy allows himself a bit of internal bellyaching. ''Well, except for pokemon hunting, but everything else has been going great,'' he thinks. ''Electrike is ready for battle, Marshtomp''s Water Cutter isn''t recoiling anymore, Breloom''s regeneration trick is almost there, and Mawile is becoming a debuff queen. What could''ve happened?''

    The sisters seat themselves on the other chair in the living area, their shoulders touching, letting Lee and Zinnia claim the small couch. All the while, Brendan''s eyes home in on Astis, the Draconid girl who is fascinated with him for some reason.

    In the first days that they stayed in the village, Astis found Brendan and his team training on the edge of town, and the girl seemed captivated by what she saw in a painful echo of Courtney. She''d somehow always know when Brendan was out and about, admiring him from a distance.

    Even with Courtney''s betrayal still weighing upon him, Brendan tolerated Astis'' gaze. He was a little bit exasperated when Zinnia told him that Astis would be following them into the crater.

    Then Astis volunteered to help him go hunting, which has turned up a whole lot of nothing. Zinnia even suggested that she might be sabotaging him on purpose!

    The young trainer stops, clearing his thoughts. ''Don''t let the Dragon energy get to you. It''s putting you on edge,'' he thinks to himself.

    Gosh, he wants to know what Astis'' game is.

    "I knew things were going too smoothly, I just knew it!" Zinnia exclaims, pounding a fist on her knee with a loud thwack! Apparently, Brendan isn''t the only one with his emotions running high. "What, what is it? How are you going to rain on our parade?"

    Lee, ever the calm one, sets a hand on Zinnia''s shoulder. "Deep breaths, Zinnia. Calm down and get the Dragon TE out."

    The tanned woman does as asked, taking a deep, shuddering breath and giving herself a shake.

    Neither Isis nor Astis seem offended by Zinnia''s outburst. "I''m afraid our news is indeed of the unfortunate sort, Thelban," Isis sighs. "My sister and I shadowed a meeting between the elders and the Oracle. Not all of the elders were pleased with Oracle Hakea''s decision to gift keystones upon you."

    Brendan feels his face shift into worry. They were going to try and take the keystones back, were they? "Are they going to want them back?" he asks. "I don''t have a problem giving mine back, even if I kind of wanted to learn how to do this mega evolution thing��" He trails off despondently.

    A shake of her head is Isis'' answer, and Brendan perks up. "Nay. Those keystones were the personal belongings of Oracle Hakea. The elders, notably Elder Taxus, are displeased, but it is not their right to reclaim the stones. To claim the belongings of another is to announce the shedding of your civility, and your willingness to fight to maintain your claim. A seer is the last foe any should want."

    Lee nods slowly. "That makes sense, in a�� Dragon kind of way. So we don''t have to worry about the keystones. That''s nice, I suppose."

    Isis nods. It''s a sharp, crisp movement. "Yes. Elder Juniper remained neutral while Elder Danae argued your worthiness."

    Zinnia clenches a fistful of her travel cloak.

    "Elder Taxus, however, would not be dissuaded," Isis continues on. "He insists that the tribe should not relinquish worthwhile mega stones before you prove your worth, and proposed a test."

    "A test?" Brendan questions, leaning forward incredulously. "They know about Magma, Aqua, the meteor prophecy, and all that, right?"

    They can''t possibly be stonewalling them at this point, can they? Lee and Zinnia said that the keystones need an accompanying mega stone for the pokemon, and Brendan can only think of one thing that the Draconid elders could withhold��

    "Taxus has always been a stickler, even when it comes back to bite him in the ass," Zinnia growls. She releases her white-knuckle grip on her cloak and takes another deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. "Fine. Whatever. A test. Did he say what it is?"

    Isis meekly shakes her head. "No, Thelban. The elder did not say, and abruptly left the meeting after his declaration, saying he had arrangements to make. We can only presume that he is referring to the aforementioned test." She looks towards her sister, who stares back nervously before nodding. "Whatever it is that Elder Taxus is planning, we don''t believe that he will spring it upon you immediately. No, for as foul as his attitude was, he would not shame himself by putting an impossible challenge before you. He will likely allow you time to train, and if you will suffer our presence, my sister and I shall assist."

    "How so?" Brendan asks, giving Astis a suspicious glance. He ignores the prickle of guilt when Astis winces. "Like, with pokemon hunting and stuff? I don''t want to sound like a jerk or anything, but I''ve gone looking for a fifth team member with Astis a couple of times, and it''s been a bust each time."

    Once more, Isis gives Astis a conspicuous look, as if saying, ''Are you really sure about this?'', to which Astis screws her golden eyes shut and harshly nods.

    With a click of her tongue, Isis answers Brendan. "Then you are in luck, Brendan Birch. The condition of our assistance is that you take Astis as your newest member."

    ''What?'' Brendan''s blue eyes narrow, and when he looks at Lee, Zinnia, and Ninetales, all of them seem equally confused as well.

    Astis stands, her arms held stiffly to her sides. She cracks open her eyes and looks at Brendan with hope.

    Then she begins to glow.

    The redheaded girl shines a bright white with shimmers of rainbow color throughout, from the very tips of her toes to the very top of her head. Then, as if made of light itself, her human shape bends and contorts, refracting like a beam of light caught between countless tiny mirrors. The shape grows thin wings, a long neck, and arms ending in a trio of talons. As quick as it started, the light show is over, and hovering in Astis'' place is a living, breathing Latias.

    Brendan feels his jaw drop, gaping at the legendary pokemon that just revealed itself to him.

    He''s not alone. Over on the couch, Lee''s eyes widen such that his face tugs at his scars. He reaches down, only to realize with a muttered curse that his bag, and thus his notebook, isn''t at his feet.

    Brendan can''t really read Ninetales'' expression, but all of her wavy tails going still seems like surprise to him.

    Zinnia looks at the Latias with her lips pursed and the beginnings of a scowl on her face after the shock fades away. She looks none too pleased by what just occurred in front of her. She palms her face with a groan. "Fuck. I should''ve known��"

    Wait a minute.

    The condition of our assistance is that you take Astis as your newest member.

    Without meaning to, Brendan shoots to his feet, pointing a finger at�� Astis? Latias? "Hold on! You mean to tell me that you were a Latias the entire time?"

    The Latias shyly looks away.

    "And that��"

    "�� She wishes to take you as a trainer?" Isis finally allows herself a small smile. "I would ask you to forgive her deceptions, both for her appearance and for your botched hunts. The latter was purposeful, and she did not wish for your team to fill before she could work up the nerve to reveal herself."

    �� So Astis was misleading him the entire time for her own gain, just like Courtney. Despite the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before him, Brendan can''t help but feel a bit put out by being deceived again.

    It just seems to keep happening.

    The excitement drains away, and Brendan sits back down, folding his hands in his lap and staring at the floor as he thinks.

    "Birch?"

    Brendan looks up to Isis, whose smile is falling. "You�� do not seem pleased. Is Latias not to your liking?

    Beside Isis, Latias seems petrified at the idea. She stares at Brendan pensively, her shyness completely replaced by apprehension.

    "Why?" Brendan asks simply.

    Isis and Latias share a glance. "I don''t believe either of us understands the question."

    "Why me?" Brendan asks again, this time more intently. "What about me is so special that you would do all of this? What are you hoping to get out of it?"

    Both Latias and Isis seem to have been caught flat-footed by the questioning. Red eyes meet gold, and Brendan recognizes the minute shifts in their expression, having seen the same thing between Lee and Ninetales whenever they use telepathy.

    The not-so-silent staring match is broken when Isis turns back to Brendan. "Latias only wishes for a life beyond the village at the side of a worthwhile trainer," she begins softly. "You are no fool, Brendan Birch, so surely you must know the risks such an extravagant pokemon takes when they live amongst people. There always exists the risk of a trainer who would capture them, mislead them, use their power for wrong. Without being at the side of the trainer worthy of trust, she would have no hope of living a life free of paranoia outside Draconid lands."

    Latias gulps and nods with Isis'' words, staring at Brendan pleadingly.

    "To that end," Isis continues on, voice little higher than a whisper, "she would not accept a trainer without a heart most pure. Yours, Brendan Birch, is what she''s looking for."

    Brendan finds his slowly building temper stalling out. He looks towards Lee, Ninetales, and Zinnia, but they seem content to remain quiet and watch. Returning his attention to Latias and Isis, Brendan mulls over his next words. "No one she''s ever met has been better? What about Lee? He lives and breathes everything pokemon. Or Zinnia? She''s your Lorekeeper, sworn to be your tribe hero."

    Latias twiddles her talons, making a low croon in her throat.

    "Lee Henson''s heart is pure, but there is little room left to spare within it," Isis carefully answers. The corners of her eyes are crinkled, and Brendan can tell his unexpected questioning is stressing her. "Thelban Zinnia�� She has changed since her departure from our lands, changed for the better. Were you not with them, Latias may have turned her sights upon them, but as it stands, you are the one she wishes for, Brendan Birch."

    Oh man�� Brendan almost wishes that the mega stone thing was the worst problem he had to face today.

    "It''s your call, Brendan," Zinnia says, leaning back on the couch and watching everything with scrutiny. "You''ve got Lee and I to help out if you wanna take this responsibility on, and if you don''t, then don''t. Simple as that."

    Lee''s encouraging smile pairs with Zinnia''s words, and Brendan comes to a decision.

    "A couple of months ago, a girl named Courtney lied to me for weeks straight to get what she wanted out of me, and I nearly threw my friends'' lives away when everything came to a head, only changing my mind at the very last second," Brendan begins, earning him a startled look from Latias and Isis. He stares Latias in the eyes. "I understand why you kept everything to yourself, but I hate being lied to, and I hate being manipulated, even for situations like this. Do you see where I''m going with this?"

    Latias visibly wilts, shrinking in on herself and hovering backwards. She begins to shimmer, her body becoming transparent.

    "So that means, starting today, there''s no lying or withholding information from me or the team, okay?"

    The nearly invisible Latias stops, looking at Brendan incredulously, before hope begins to rise to her face.

    Brendan can''t really stop the smile that tugs at his lips. "As long as you can follow that rule, welcome to the team."

    The nearly transparent Latias becomes visible once more, and before Brendan can say anything else, she zooms across the room and pulls him into a bone crushing hug.

    ''Oof! For having such short arms, she''s really strong!'' Grimacing, Brendan smacked his hand against the back of one of her arms. "I need air! Tap out!"

    Latias releases him with an embarrassed squeak, dropping Brendan back into his chair. Once the stars stop dancing in his vision and he catches his breath, Brendan reaches for one of the empty pokeballs on his belt. Taking it, he holds the capsule out to Latias, giddiness making him shake a little. "Whenever you''re ready!"

    Hovering forward and reaching a tentative arm out, Latias pokes the button in the middle of the ball, making it pop open and suck her inside as a mass of light. The ball shuts and doesn''t even shake once before it dings.

    "Holy crap��" Brendan murmurs to himself.

    ''I just caught a legendary pokemon. Without a fight. Dad is going to lose his mind.'' Then he frowns as the sheer enormity of what just happened really hits him. ''Oh no. Dad is actually going to lose his mind.''

 Act 2: Interlude 6

    -4 weeks remain in the Meteorfall Crater-

    Leaning back on the park bench behind him, Andre takes another bite of the partially unwrapped protein bar in his hand, ignoring the crummy artificial Pecha flavor in favor of thinking.

    Just two days ago, he and his pokemon managed to take the Dynamo badge in Mauville. Wattson was a sly old fuck, using Baton Pass to bypass the no substitution condition of the match and to make sure his Manectric fought Absol, but it didn''t matter. Nowadays, if Andre''s ace can''t get out of the way of electrical attacks, he jams an Iron Tail into the ground to disperse as much electricity as possible.

    After that kid Ash Ketchum embarrassed them, Andre made sure they were prepared for the eventual rematch. Without the money for a TM, they had to learn Iron Tail the old-fashioned way. If Andre wasn''t good at sharpening the bladed side of Absol''s tail before, then after all that practice, he was now.

    Swallowing his bite, the maroon-haired teenager reaches back into the side pocket of his backpack and pulls out a badge case. Popping it open, he glances at the gleaming trophies inside.

    Knuckle, Stone, Dynamo, and Heat. If he turned any one of them over, Andre would find a little "R" stamp on each one.

    Andre smirks, finally, finally feeling accomplished for once in his life. ''And we did it all on our own, too. No sponsors, no handouts, no nothing. Talent and perseverance is all a real trainer needs.''

    As he thinks that, he looks down at the half-eaten protein bar in his hand.

    If he were still back on Dewford Brawly''s mom would have been fixing dinner by now, and since it''s Sunday, she would have picked up something from the Dewford fishery to cook. Brawly might be the dickhead to end all dickheads, but Andre could never find it in himself to deny Mrs. Toki''s affections.

    Grrrr��

    A sudden growl catches Andre''s attention. Turning his head, he looks at his partner, who is seated next to him.

    Absol, pockmarked by mostly healed scratches and electrical burns, glances over, meeting Andre''s eyes. The Dark-type quirks an eyebrow, silently asking what Andre is staring for.

    ''He didn''t actually growl at anything, that was his stomach,'' Andre glances back down to the half-eaten protein bar in his hand. Without another thought, he pulls the rest of the wrapper off and offers the bar to Absol. "Here. You used a lot of energy today."

    Absol''s mouth pulls down into a subtle frown, and he shakes his head.

    In response, Andre simply pushes his hand closer. "C''mon, take it. You cinched that gym match and got us a badge, so this is literally the least I can do."

    Andre''s Ace remains unmoved.

    A scowl mars the teenager''s face. "What? Are you worried about the money again? We got thousands for our win today, so we can quit tightening our belts for a while. Eat, or this request is going to turn into an order. Your choice."

    Sighing, Absol takes the offered bar in his mouth.

    "And you better eat every fuckin'' bite during dinner tonight, or I''m forcing it down your throat."

    Absol simply grunts as he chews.

    Exasperated, Andre pulls his phone from his pocket and gives his notifications a check. ''Dickhead. I''m the trainer, and I call the shots. If I say something, that should be the end of it.''

    Nothing interesting in his email, and no new texts, so Andre does what every bored trainer does and opens up Battlenet for some mindless scrolling.

    ''A ton of unexplained crime in a place called Ryme City. Aren''t they the guys who try to come down on pokemon battling in their city limits? No duh crime is going to skyrocket if no one is allowed to battle. Dipshit politicians up to no good again.''

    Andre scrolls further down.

    ''Zoroark sighting? Fake as hell. Anyone who knows anything about Zoroarks knows you don''t find them, they find you.

    The next thread of note that he happens upon is Henson''s megathread, making him frown.

    Henson was named a conference shoo-in after his match in Lavaridge. Andre watched the footage of the match, explosive finale included, and was floored by what he saw. It stings, and he''ll never admit it out loud, but Henson isn''t the worst battler Andre has ever seen. The man is obviously carried by the power of his pokemon, but taming a temperamental monster like a Ninetales and going toe-to-toe with Mura Moore isn''t something any old hack can do.

    Henson is still a loser for sure, but less than initially expected.

    Naturally, Andre has checked in on the mega thread from time to time, purely to keep tabs on someone he''ll likely be facing in the Ever Grande Conference.

    The teenager takes a look at the news around Henson, frowning mightily when he sees that Henson''s latest pokemon is an adopted Sylveon of all things. No expert on Fairy is he, but Andre knows that fairies are a type rooted deeply in emotion similar to Dark types. No one would give away a pokemon as rare as a Sylveon unless there is some kind of string attached. Henson is probably on the hook for something after that.

    Then�� That''s it. There is no other news. A couple other posters in the thread are wondering where Henson has gone, because he apparently hasn''t been sighted in weeks. Theories started popping up in the thread, like how he flew away on his Corviknight to go get something special from another region, or how he''s secluded himself in some kind of special training, with a few even speculating that he gave up. His friends, Brendan Birch and a tribal woman named Zinnia haven''t been seen either.

    ''Probably got too big of a head and got strangled by that Sylveon,'' Andre smirks at the thought. He places a hand on Absol''s head, combing his fingers through coarse white fur. ''Whatever. It doesn''t matter who shows up to the Ever Grande Conference, because we''re taking the whole thing.''

    Andre''s phone beeps, drawing his eyes to a new email. Without even bothering to look at the title, he opens it up and begins to read.

    ''��Mega Evolution? Mega Stones? What is this shit?'' He frowns and glances at the ''sender'' field of the email.

    From:

    ''It''s empty?''

    <hr style="font-weight: 400">

    -3 weeks remain in the Meteorfall Crater-

    "Yeah! I got the Balance Badge!"

    Still shaking from the adrenaline of a hard-fought gym battle, Ash Ketchum raises his prize high over his head, taking care not to jostle Pikachu and aggravate the electric-type''s bruises.

    The cheers coming from the stands of the Petalburg Gym redouble as the badge sparkles in the sunlight.

    The battle with Norman was hard, one of the hardest that Ash has had to face thus far in Hoenn. Norman''s Slakoth, Vigoroth, and Slaking each brought something new and difficult to counter to the field. Never did he expect a Slakoth to know Blizzard of all moves, which froze Pikachu solid. Ash had to burn his one allowed substitution to send in Torkoal, who evened the odds by taking out Slakoth.

    Poor Torkoal couldn''t cope with Vigoroth''s sheer speed and aggression, and fell to a savage one-two punch of Bulk-Up into Crush Claw.

    Pikachu, given some time on the sideline to thaw, managed to defeat Vigoroth, matching the sloth pokemon blow-for-blow.

    And then came Slaking��

    Even after being paralyzed by Pikachu''s Static, Slaking was an utter force of nature. Pikachu fell in one savage strike courtesy of Facade, and it was all down to Shiftry.

    Shiftry won. Barely.

    ''I gotta thank Brock for the Sunny Day idea,'' Ash thinks to himself. The older teen recommended teaching Shiftry Sunny Day after he evolved. ''If it wasn''t for Shiftry''s Chlorophyll ability letting him speed in and out under the sunlight, we would have lost.

    As if sensing his thoughts, Shiftry''s ball does a little shake.

    The recently-evolved grass-type has been a handful as of late. His new Dark-typing has made him cantankerous even on good days, and it has been reminding Ash of his early days with Charizard.

    ''Maybe I''ll bring Charizard over for a day to show Shiftry that a strong pokemon and a trainer are always better when they work together,'' Ash nods to himself, making a mental note to reach out to the Charicific Valley.

    As the referee ushers Ash, Pikachu, and Norman off the torn up field, Ash searches the crowd for his friends and finds them quickly.

    Brock looks proud, and Ash''s smile widens.

    May looks mystified, like she wasn''t expecting the outcome. ''Norman is her dad, so it was probably weird to see him lose.''

    Finally, Max��

    Ash withholds a wince.

    Max looks devastated. His shoulders are slumped, and his eyes are teary, in stark contrast to May and Brock.

    The younger boy had been going on and on all day about how strong Norman is, saying that even with all his training and experience, Ash had no chance. It got on Ash''s nerves for sure, but he understood that Max is just proud of his dad. That in mind, Ash kept anything unpleasant he had to say to himself, determined to prove himself with actions rather than words.

    And prove himself he did.

    The cheers and chatter of the crowd fade as Ash, Pikachu, and Norman cross the threshold into a small office area behind the gym arena. Ash gives the space little notice, having seen these little administrative areas in gyms many times before. The boy wonders to himself why gyms even bother making these spaces when all they do here is give out victory prizes and do paperwork? The lobby would be fine for that.

    Norman lets out a sigh and wipes at his sweaty brow. "What a fight," he murmurs, gesturing for Ash to sit down at a small table, where a few forms and an aide armed with a laptop already sit. "Talented kids are just popping out of the woodwork these days."

    "That was definitely the toughest gym match we''ve had in Hoenn so far, Mister Norman," Ash replies with a grin. "I thought you had us for sure!"

    "Chuuu��" Pikachu tiredly chimes in for emphasis, his battered and bruised form sliding down from Ash''s shoulder to sit in the boy''s lap.

    "Me too," Norman sighs, looking down at the gym aide. "Nina, three on three, nonstandard team."

    "Understood, Mister Maple!" The teenage girl chirps, already typing away.

    Norman turns his attention back to Ash. "So, mine is your fifth badge, then?"

    Ash nods. "Yep. We''re thinking of heading to Fortree City after this for number six."

    "Going after Winona next?" Norman asks with a short laugh. "Good luck, Ash. She''s a terror. Don''t think Rock or Electric types will be able to walk all over her, because she teaches Ground-moves to all her pokemon. Her Altaria even knows Earthquake."

    Ash''s eyes widen until he feels his eyebrows touch his hat. "Earthquake? On a Flying-type?"

    "Oh yes," Norman smiles thinly. "If there''s any truth to the rumors I''m hearing, she''s also looking into getting a Dragonite. Be careful with her, or she''ll stonewall you for ages."

    A Dragonite? Ash exchanges a look with Pikachu and mentally reviews all the moves his pokemon know, finding that his team''s arsenal is lacking anything Ice or Dragon. ''Oh crud. We should probably prepare for the worst.''

    <hr style="font-weight: 400">

    -2 weeks remain in the Meteorfall Crater-

    Curled up on her tiny bed, her knees pulled to her chest, Courtney stares at the stone wall blankly.

    It''s official. She''s lost track of how long she''s been in quarantine. The fluorescent light overhead is turned off, so it must be the night hours still, but she''s been waking at odd hours. Or at least she thinks she is, for the quarantine chamber has no clock.

    The Team Magma standard quarantine period after contact with a hostile telepath is four weeks. Courtney knows this, for she''s one of the ones who drafted the measure, which was approved by Leader Maxie.

    ''It''s been��'' Courtney blinks sluggishly. She''s not tired, yet her vision is blurry. ''It must have been�� Twice standard length. Maybe more. Leader Maxie... I''ll be better. Please let me out.''

    There is no answer to the silent prayer.

    Day in and day out has been the same each time. A morning meal, then a visit from a Magma telepathic therapist, who spends hours trying to find out how and when Henson''s Ninetales made it past all of Courtney''s mental blocks. The therapist reveals nothing to her, but from how they came in every day at the same time, and from how each brain dive gets deeper each day, Courtney knows they''re finding nothing.

    Courtney screws her eyes shut as a migraine blooms behind them. Just thinking about the coming ''therapy'' is unpleasant. ''For Leader Maxie, I endure.''

    After the midday meal was another round of therapy, then dinner, then a short block of time to herself before lights out. Recently, she''s simply been going to bed early, as she has nothing to fill her free time with. Courtney has long since read all the books on the modest bookshelf within the room, and she dares not ask for more. ''Leader Maxie is gracious to have already done so much for me. Where would I be without him?''

    The dark, blank wall by her bed stares back at her, and Courtney swears she sees faces. She sees Tabitha''s sneer, her pokemon, worried, and most of all��

    Her breath hitches.

    She sees Leader Maxie, disappointed. His eyes bore into her like drills of ice, and she quakes to herself.

    "I''m sorry��" She curls into a tighter ball. "I�� Didn''t mean to be a traitor. Please, Leader Maxie. Just one more chance. I will prove myself to you, I promise."

    The expression of the wall remains unchanged, unconvinced, and Courtney screws her eyes shut, clawing at her scalp. The sharp pain of her nails digging into her skin does nothing to make the face inside her eyelids go away. Despite the sterile cool of the room, Courtney sweats profusely and feels her clothes stick to her. Worse yet, she''s gripped by a sudden nausea.

    She was compromised.

    She''s a failure.

    She''s a traitor.

    ��Bang bang!

    For a moment, Courtney forgets her woes as a banging noise followed by the sound of scuffling echo through the steel door of her room. Turning away from the wall and swallowing the bile in her throat, the former Magma admin turns over in her bed and stares at the doorway.

    Clang-scritch!

    Something metallic drags against something else metallic down the hall, and she begins to hear actual, human voices crying out.

    "Stop them!"

    "-one berserk! If you can''t fight, get out of the way!"

    "They''re heading for the quarantine cells!"

    They? Who are they? Courtney''s sluggish brain scrambles for an answer as she sits up. "Aqua?" She wonders aloud. "Are they�� Attacking the hideout?"

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    The more the disgraced admin thinks about it, the more other options seem outlandish. A police raid would be far louder, and a league raid would be lightning fast. An Aqua admin or someone comparable must be assaulting the base.

    Now Courtney can make out violent stomping coming down the hallway, each footfall seemingly shaking the entire hideout, and she jumps when a gigantic dent is put into the cell door with a bone rattling CRASH! All the while, the sound of combat rages further down the hall.

    ''If they''re breaking down my door, then they must have been tipped off about how I was compromised!'' Courtney''s eyes widen, and she quickly stands. ''Do they want to be rid of me, or capture me? I can''t allow either!''

    Courtney''s eyes dart about her cell as the attackers strike the door again, deepening the dent. To her dismay, she sees no serviceable weapons.

    CRASH!

    Wild magenta eyes turn towards the bookshelf, and Courtney scrambles over as fast as she can. She unceremoniously dumps the books on the ground and dashes the bookshelf across the floor as hard as she can.

    CRASH! The dent is getting larger, and the door hinges are giving out.

    The flimsy wooden bookshelf cracks and splinters on the floor, bursting into pieces. Taking a piece that ends in a sharp point, Courtney ignores the splinters stabbing her hand and stands ready.

    She will not be leaving without a fight.

    With a final thunderous impact, the cell door falls, the hinges shearing off with hideous shrieks. With a snort, a lumbering form steps into the cell, and Courtney nearly drops her makeshift weapon.

    "Camerupt?" She questions, scarcely believing her eyes.

    Her own Camerupt stands before her, his eyes sharp and full of hate. When he turns his gaze to her, Camerupt lights up and steps closer, lovingly pushing his head into her torso with a subdued croon.

    "Camerupt, what are you doing here?" She questions uncomprehendingly. "You damaged my cell. That''s unacceptable."

    The camel pokemon''s expression flashes with hurt, and he takes a hesitant step back. As he does so, the din of battle further inside the hideout begins to die down, and Courtney is treated to another surprise when her Swellow flies in and lands on Camerupt''s back, looking exhausted. Trailing in behind Swellow is her Mightyena, who is walking with a limp.

    "What are you all doing here?" Courtney''s question sharpens into a demand, a rare prickle of anger within her. "I''m under quarantine by order of Leader Maxie, and I am not to receive visitors. You''re going against orders."

    Swellow trills a note tinged with deep concern, her face dismayed. The bird trills once more and gestures over towards the door with a wing, her meaning obvious. ''Come with us!''

    "I am under quarantine by order of Leader Maxie," Courtney repeats, her grip on her shard of wood tightening. "I''ve been compromised, and until the method used for the compromise can be determined and rectified, I am not to move."

    Mightyena whines, her pearly fangs bared in a grimace.

    "Leave," Courtney forces out, shutting her eyes and looking away from her pokemon. They can''t be here, no matter how much seeing them balms her raw nerves. "Leader Maxie has forbidden me from �C "

    The blow to the side of her head is as sudden as it is unexpected.

    Courtney''s head swims as a pair of twin warmths suddenly find their way to her sides. She''s looking at the ground for some reason, and it''s moving by at a clipped pace, making her stomach roll. ''I''m slung across Camerupt''s back,'' she realizes. The warmths she feels are his volcanoes. There are voices, yelling, bellowing, shrieks, barks, and her head pounds. She blinks, but everything remains blurry, both her vision and her thoughts. ''Concussion.''

    Fighting, flashes, doors broken down.

    Then a pair of red flashes irritate her eyes, and Courtney feels a trio of spheres shoved into her pocket. Before she can get her bearings, talons grip the back of her shirt, and the ground falls away. The trees rush by, then they all become a green smear as she rises higher and higher into the sky.

    Despite the cool morning air in the first taste of sunlight she''s had in months washing across her skin, the disgraced admin is perilously close to tears.

    If she wasn''t marked a traitor before, then she certainly will be now.

    She''s failed Leader Maxie yet again.

    <hr style="font-weight: 400">

    -1 week remains in the Meteorfall Crater-

    Sitting on the sidelines deep within the Draconid training chamber, Octillery ponders to himself as a pair of his teammates spar before him. It''s something he''s been doing more and more as of late. Without a proper wireless signal, Lee''s laptop is quite useless to him, so the cephalopod has been turning inward.

    Their seclusion within the Draconid holy land will be coming to an end soon, and they''ll be returning to the outside world to resume the gym circuit and the crusade on Magma and Aqua. As regrettable as losing the Dragon TE thrumming through his body will be, Octillery relishes the thought of new foes to trounce and humiliate.

    In these few weeks, so much has happened that someone else''s head might spin, but not Octillery''s. Disorganization is a trap for the apathetic and dull-witted. He''s been carefully categorizing and cataloging each event �� his own growth, chiefly.

    ''Were I to clash with myself from a month prior,'' he begins, imagining many scenarios in parallel, ''then the result would be a foregone conclusion.''

    A ''foregone conclusion'' is a polite way to put it. Over the last month, Octillery has seen himself grow to heights he wouldn''t have even dreamed of before being brought into the fold of Lee Henson''s team. If his current and past self were to meet in the field of battle, then the past Octillery would surely perish. His skills, might, and repertoire have ballooned.

    Protect, Thunder Wave, Psychic, Payback, and Focus Energy have been welcome additions to Octillery''s move pool. The usefulness of Protect and Psychic go without saying, and he''s found a delightful loophole with Payback after much experimentation.

    Self-inflicted pain will trigger Payback''s muscle strengthening effect.

    As expected, Lee did not approve when Octillery shared this finding, but after demonstrating the effectiveness of the results, the man reluctantly allowed Octillery to continue his testing, so long as he was allowed to supervise.

    An unexpectedly pleasing outcome. Octillery planned around being denied outright. It seems his trainer''s newfound resolve after the showdown on the volcano is genuine.

    Thunder Wave and Focus Energy were grand boons for this yet-to-be-named technique. Octillery swiftly learned how to modulate the power output of electrical techniques using Focus Energy''s amplification. Using Focus Energy in tandem with Thunder Wave, he can electrocute himself. The actual damage from the technique is negligible, but Payback still swells with power when everything is fused together. The discomfort is a small price to pay.

    Then Lee began working on yet another technique with Octillery, one utilizing Octazooka and Psychic; his favorite moves. Octillery is already familiar with Corviknight''s Pursuers, and Lee''s proposed technique was Pursuers taken to its logical extreme:

    An Octazooka that cannot miss.

    With Octillery''s mental prowess, using Lock On for ballistic calculations is simply a waste, so Lee proposed using Lock On''s accelerated calculating for something much more devious and intensive. Namely, telekinetically assisted flight control for Octazooka.

    Combining his two favorite moves together seems like a ''no-brainer'' as they say, so why didn''t Octillery think of that?

    It took weeks of practice and meditation to turn into a serviceable technique. Octillery needed to shift Lock On''s thought acceleration property into his control of telekinesis, which was more difficult than expected. Going against the move''s in-built programming was hell, but Octillery refused to be controlled by a limitation that is purely mental. He could do without the migraines it causes, however.

    Then came practicing the first part of his new technique. Lee once more proved himself an unusually astute human by handcrafting a small, wooden maze for Octillery and instructing him to move a pebble through the miniature labyrinth as fast as possible without touching the walls. With each success, Lee reconfigured the maze and gave him a larger pebble. Within a few days, Octillery had less than a millimeter of clearance on all sides for his pebble, and some of the maze turns were intentionally made too small, forcing Octillery to rotate the pebble to clear the turn. Then the time trials started, and Octillery had to beat his best time or suffer the indignity of failure.

    Putting all the pieces together, it was sweet to see his Octazooka pull hard 90 turns to dodge around obstacles and pin his target right where it hurt most.

    Ink Spear, they decided to call it. Simple, distinct, and as descriptive as it needs to be. Though, Octillery spied the name G��e Bulg crossed out in Lee''s notebook. Gibberish, or something else?

    A crash draws Octillery''s attention outward again.

    In the middle of their sectioned off area of the underground training arena, Ninetales and Corviknight rebound off of each other with a thunderous bang.

    Ninetales'' paws drag across the ground as she slides backwards to a stop, her red gaze locked on her aerial opponent. At the same time, Corviknight flares his wings, arresting his momentum midair.

    Three of Ninetales'' tails shiver like snakes, their tips shining like steel, then all of them rocket forward, extending far beyond their resting length using a trick she learned from Sylveon.

    Corviknight weaves through the first two and barely dodges the third, which shrieks as it gouges his armor.

    Lee''s first pokemon doesn''t let up and throws her open maw forward. In a split second, a raging conflagration the size of a Snorlax appears and races towards Corviknight.

    Octillery lazily watches as Corviknight crosses his wings in front of his body, a green barrier, Protect, encircling him. It''s all that he has time to do.

    The fireball smashes into the barrier with a furious explosion that shakes the entire cavern down to its foundation. Dust is shaken from the high roof, and the square pillars that make up the floor all dance beneath their feet on the vibrations.

    When the smoke clears, Corviknight''s emerald shield is rendered naught but a collection of spiderweb cracks. Protect falls like shattering glass, and the great avian is panting.

    Had he not raised Protect in time, the match would be over.

    Forbidden Sun, a fitting name for the technique, Octillery thinks. Lee explained it to Octillery when asked. The move is merely Ninetales unleashing the fire within her inside a spherical psychic shell and throwing it at the foe. Apparently, learning Protect was the push Ninetales needed to learn shape control with telekinesis, thus turning Forbidden Sun into a reality.

    Lowbrow, but the cephalopod can''t deny the effectiveness.

    Octillery lets his eyes roam over the rest of his teammates, who were gathered around and watching the spar.

    Shinx must be the most surprising of the bunch. Octillery expected her to remain a pet to warm Lee''s lap, but instead she has been growing at a prodigious rate. Each day, the kitten improved by leaps and bounds. Her techniques sharpen, her body strengthens, her mind is startlingly focused, and even with teammates that utterly dwarf her, she doesn''t fall into childish pitfalls like jealousy or pettiness.

    "She''s as strong as I was when Lee and I first set out on our journey," Ninetales said at dinner a few nights ago, regarding Shinx with glowing pride. Pride in someone else is an alien notion to Octillery, but he nodded along anyway to keep the conversation moving. "She''ll be something wondrous someday soon."

    Shinx looked up from her bowl when Ninetales said that, a silly smile on her face and food stuck to her cheeks.

    Octillery tries not to roll his eyes at the memory and resumes with his thoughts.

    Ninetales, as expected, retains her place as the mightiest of the team. Her power swells each day, threatening to outrun her control, but with Lee''s mind joined to hers, she can offload issues of control to him. With two minds and two perspectives to work with, new techniques came to her with ease. Protect, Iron Tail, Energy Ball, Dig, and even the legendary Hyper Beam were learned and brought to a professional level of expertise in just a few weeks. The only reason she hasn''t used her Solar Beam TM is because of how unsuitable a learning environment an underground cavern is for such a technique.

    As a control exercise, Lee started Ninetales down the path of Double Team experimentation, hoping it would help her with her fire clone move, Fox Fire. With some focus and imagination, the fox can make her illusions take on the appearance of other pokemon, and even humans. They''re still as immaterial as ever, but progress is progress.

    With fire, curses, illusions, telekinesis, and soon clones, it seems as if Ninetales has an answer for every situation.

    When night falls, Ninetales would retire with Lee, often spending time meditating with him. Recently, they''ve taken to sitting and pressing their foreheads together, eyes closed. What goes on between them is anyone''s guess.

    Octillery isn''t sure if that''s par for the course for a paradoxical gestalt entity, but once he has access to research material once again (the internet), he''ll be beginning a side study on the subject. It wouldn''t do if the human handing him power hand over fist accidentally lobotomized himself.

    The brooding dark knight of the team is the least remarkable when it comes to improvements. Corviknight continues to train diligently, and makes strides each day, but his movepool is already impressive, and he has few untapped talents to exploit. Lee has been brainstorming a new technique for the raven after seeing how quickly his metallic feathers regrow, but has said little at this stage.

    Grovyle�� Where does Octillery even begin? If Octillery has any friends among his team, then the sole one is Grovyle. The green reptile keeps his mouth shut unless needed, is surprisingly wise, and is talented, the last one being evidenced by the way it pushes himself to keep pace with Ninetales and Corviknight.

    When compared to the other senior members of the team, Grovyle falls short in all aspects but raw skill and speed, but with just those, he still thrives. Grovyle''s now-signature Siphon Blade is a menace of a technique, and he''s adept at slipping his blade past one''s defenses to steal their energy. No one makes the mistake of leaving themselves open to him anymore.

    His mastery of Quick Attack is also in a realm of its own. Now bordering on Extreme Speed, any foe without their own grasp of Quick Attack or some sort of omnidirectional defense is simply destined to fail against the bladed onslaught that Grovyle will unleash.

    Yet, frustration still clings to the Grass-type. He yearns for evolution, but it simply eludes him. Or perhaps he yearns for something even further, like the Mega-evolution his ilk are supposedly capable of. Whatever it is, Octillery doesn''t really care to ask.

    The sixth member of the team, Sylveon, is also another surprising one. When she was introduced to the team, Octillery recognized the look in her eyes.

    The Fairy looked dead on her feet, like she was merely going through the motions of life. It was something he often saw in his own face before he resolved to be something better.

    Her improvement was not so profound, but it didn''t need to be. Being the eldest member of the team by far, she was no slouch, she merely had bad habits that needed broken and poor health weighing her down.

    Lee did away with both, and it makes a twisted sort of sense that a human as disturbed as Lee would be able to easily get into the head of a Fairy. Sylveon has had little time to mope to herself with the intense daily training, and her condition improves each day.

    More recently, Octillery has spotted her watching him and the rest of the team with an expression he can''t place, her previous dreary attitude gone. He doesn''t waste too much time thinking about it, knowing that trying to make sense of a Fairy is a futile effort.

    Last and certainly not least, Octillery looks towards his trainer.

    Standing several yards away, Lee stands with his arms crossed and his face stoic. His blue eyes follow each one of Ninetales'' and Corviknight''s lightning fast movements.

    For the longest time, Octillery couldn''t make sense of the man, and if he is being honest with himself, he still can''t; not entirely, at least. He didn''t understand all the sympathy - the unwavering altruism. At first, it seemed like he was just like every other trainer, out seeking glory on the backs of his pokemon. Octillery had no time for such nonsense, as a trainer would simply hold him back. When he woke up in the Lavaridge Pokemon Center and was informed that he was captured, he was dismayed.

    Then Lee gave him the option of leaving, no strings attached.

    "Everything."

    Octillery still remembers the chilling word that Ninetales uttered when he asked just what Lee meant to her. That single word was packed with so much emotion, it made the comforting numb that has been shielding him for years actually falter. Only curiosity kept him with the team.

    He then began to grow under Lee, and at a rate he honestly found acceptable. They faced many foes, some of which were overwhelming and redefined what Octillery knew of power.

    The bellow of the Camerupt upon the volcano was the second time that his numb had fled him for a fleeting moment. In that moment, he felt the terror of his imminent demise once again, for the first time since the river.

    He was powerless. A better had come, and he could do nothing. No amount of ingenuity could save him.

    Yet, despite death coming to claim them all that day, they lived.

    Each one of the pokemon who clashed with Camerupt fought with a desperation far beyond what fear for the self can conjure. It would have made far more sense to lie down and allow the better to end them quickly, but none did. Where did that desperation come from? What caused it?

    Octillery pondered that every day since, and never could he find a satisfying answer. He knows instinctively that he cannot ask, for the pokemon around him would perceive something amiss. No, it''s something he has to figure out himself.

    Then, just a few short weeks ago, Lee set them all down and told them a story. One about himself and another world doomed to be washed clean in fire.

    "I died."

    It was outlandish, clearly the work of a delusion, and it lent credence to Octillery''s theory of mental illness, but the words made his stomach clench beneath his numb. That should have been the end of it, but Ninetales, Grovyle, and Corviknight all vouched for the story.

    Ninetales could be explained away as Lee''s mental illness seeping into her. Corviknight, after his evolution, became a proper and obedient servant, so he could have simply been ordered to confirm the story.

    Grovyle''s belief, however, was the tipping point. Subservient he is, but a liar he is not, this Octillery knows.

    In a fashion, he and Lee have the same origin. They are the very last ones. Yet, their paths could not be more different.

    "If there is anything I fear, it''s being alone."

    Lee spoke those words a handful of weeks ago, in response to the Draconid Oracle asking his deepest fear. Not fire, not death, but loneliness.

    Is there truly something out there greater than living for the self? Something greater than staving off death? Something that grants such distinguished power? The answer feels as if it should be obvious, yet it escapes him.

    The coat of numbness around Octillery shivers, an occurrence that is becoming increasingly common. Crossing his front two tentacles over each other, the octopus narrows his eyes.

    He needs more examples to study, so it appears he''s committed to this adventure for the foreseeable future��

    <hr style="font-weight: 400">

    -5 days remain in the Meteorfall Crater-

    Nigel smiles and sits roughly in his chair behind his desk, savoring the soft padding against his back. The shoulder bag he was carrying is set on his desk gently so as to not damage the laptop inside. Having just returned from Sinnoh''s Snowpoint City for a study on the back of his trusty Flygon, a real seat after the nonstop flight is absolute heaven.

    ''I knew that the fur density of the average mammal pokemon is influenced by their birthplace, but I didn''t expect the deviation between each successive generation to be so profound.'' Nigel thinks to himself. The family of Poochyena that were moved to Snowpoint for the study grew thick, winter worthy coats after just a few generations. Raising his arms over his head in a stretch, Nigel let out a pleased groan as his back pops. ''Oof. I think today is going to be a half-day.''

    After waking his computer and sending a message to the rest of the lab informing them that he''ll be leaving at noon today, the professor set about catching up with his work. A few requisition requests from his researchers and aides are all approved easily thanks to the funding Lee and Brendan are attracting, a few emails from the Academic Board are answered, as are a few requests from prospective trainers wanting to board pokemon with the Lab. There''s nothing new from Lee, which isn''t surprising considering that he, Brendan, and Zinnia went off of the grid into tribal land. Before Nigel can do much else, his computer pings with a new email.

    New mail from: Ranch_Monitor@hoennpkmnlab.org

    Subject: Bbirch New Capture

    The email is backdated to a few weeks ago, so Brendan must''ve just now gotten a signal for his pokedex. Eager to see what his picky son caught, Nigel smiles and opens the email.

    His smile becomes brittle.

    Acquisition Details:

    Pok��mon Species: #0380 �C Latias

    Gender: Female

    Method of Acquisition: Capture

    Location: ???

    Research Value Index: 0.95

    Oh�� And to make matters worse, he''s not the only one who gets these emails. Nigel looks up at the carbon copy field of the message.

    The Academic Board got that email, too.

    Before he''s given much time to process what he sees, the office phone on Nigel''s desk begins to ring. Looking over, he already knows the number on the caller ID by heart.

    It''s the Academic Board, and their timing is no coincidence.

    Sitting perfectly still, Nigel lets the phone ring out to voicemail once. Whoever''s calling doesn''t bother leaving a message and just calls again, making the phone ring incessantly.

    Slowly and carefully reaching into the back of the phone, Nigel yanks the power cord out and the ringing stops. To make extra certain, he reaches into his pocket and holds down the power button on the side of his cell phone until he hears its shut down chime.

    "On�� Second�� Thought�� Guys�� I''m�� Not�� Feeling�� Good," the professor quickly types off a message in the lab''s IM app on his computer, ignoring the ping of a new email coming in. "Back�� Tomorrow�� Send!"

    Standing and taking his shoulder bag, the professor quickly exits the lab, pops into his jeep, and begins the drive home.

    "That''s tomorrow Nigel''s problem��" he mutters to himself. "So is finding something to spend all the incoming grant money on. That boy is going to drive me to drink."

 Act 2: Chapter 32

    Eyes of red, piercing as can be.

    Mantle of gold, majestic as can be.

    A fanged mouth speaking, damning as can be.

    In a void of neither light nor dark.

    The great maw of teeth opens once more, inhuman lips forming words meant for he alone.

    It says unto him �C

    Lee��s eyes shoot open before he hears a single word, as always. His heart is racing as he stares up at the plain ceiling of his temporary room in the Draconid hut. ��Fuck. It always cuts off before I can hear what it has to say.��

    He doesn��t sit up quite yet, content to let his pulse settle under the blanket of golden tails courtesy of Ninetales, who is still asleep next to him. Instead, he takes time to gather his thoughts and form a plan for the day.

    For nearly six weeks he, Brendan, and Zinnia have been down here, training their pokemon day in and day out. Each one of their pokemon have grown leaps and bounds, aided by the seething Dragon TE permeating the air within the cavern. Lee has to admit that he was skeptical at first, but the results thus far speak for themselves. Nine has to have broken into the realms of the Elite by now, with Corvi and Grovyle only a few steps behind.

    Eventually, though, Lee begins to grow restless and slides out from under his furry coverings, letting Nine sleep for a bit longer. Changing into some day clothes, Lee quietly slips out of his room and into the common area of the hut, finding both Zinnia and Brendan already awake.

    In one of the hand-stuffed chairs, Zinnia sits with her head leaned back, staring up at the ceiling, her cloak draped over her like a blanket, her face lost in thought. What the Lorekeeper could be thinking about, Lee isn��t sure. The unknown trial that Taxus may spring on them any day, perhaps?

    At her side rests Shelgon, who acknowledges Lee with a glance. The petals of Shelgon��s namesake shell have been slowly peeling back over the last few weeks, little by little. His gray skin has also been transitioning into a gentle blue. It won��t be long before Shelgon evolves into a Salamence, a dragon revered and feared all over Hoenn.

    On the couch, Brendan lounges with his Latias, both of them sitting calmly with their eyes closed, likely speaking telepathically.

    Brendan has made it apparent in the past that he doesn��t care for telepathy - at least not between himself and Ninetales. That said, the boy isn��t the sort to let a new and useful tool go unused, and Latias has the proper talent for the art of telepathy. Each day, for a few minutes each morning, he and Latias connect and attempt to speak, trying to get used to the unusual contact. Both of them have taken Lee and Nine��s warnings about prolonged contact seriously, and Lee can��t help but find himself proud of Brendan��s diligence on the matter.

    Latias herself has taken an absolute shine to Brendan, and despite his reservations at first, the boy has grown to cherish her as much as he does his other pokemon. Brendan��s approval made way for Marshtomp��s, and before long, Latias was slotted into the team like she''d been there since day one.

    Zinnia takes notice of Lee and smirks. ��Hey there, Sleeping Beauty. You��re the last one to get up. Finally starting to slack off on us?��

    ��I sleep under a cover of genuine Ninetales fluff - that would knock anyone out.�� Lee raises his nose as if he is talking to a peasant. ��Besides���� He glances at a clock on the wall. ��It��s not even 9 o��clock.��

    ��Yeah, but you��re the cook around here, so it��s your duty to get up first,�� Zinnia shoots back, pointing an accusing finger.

    Lee crosses his arms and leans on the wall. ��I��m sure you could have cooked up something for yourself if you weren��t busy brooding.�� After a moment of silence, he continues. ��Something on your mind? You��ve been out of sorts for a few days now.��

    The question draws Brendan and Latias out of their pseudo-meditation, Brendan looking at Zinnia with concern as well.

    Zinnia opens her mouth to answer, only to stop and consider her words. After another false start, she lets out a sigh, seeming exhausted despite the early hour. ��I��ve been�� thinking about going to Aster��s grave,�� she finally admits, averting her eyes. ��I haven��t been since she died, and I wanted to visit before we left, to tell her everything that��s going on before things really begin to take off. I dunno if I believe in the afterlife and all that, but I��d like to pretend that she hears me.��

    ��Not since her death?��

    ����You don��t want to go alone, do you?�� Lee murmurs his realization aloud.

    Still looking down, Zinnia shakes her head.

    ��We��d be happy to go with you,�� Brendan jumps in, a small smile on his face. ��I��d love to meet her. I gotta at least tell her she made a great choice in picking you for the new Lorekeeper.��

    Try as she might to remain dour, Zinnia smiles. ��Brendan, give it a few years and we��re going to have to beat the girls off you with a stick. I want to do this before I lose my nerve, so how about we have breakfast and head out?��

    And they do just that; Lee rouses Ninetales with a poke to her mind, and she sleepily trots into the room with Lee��s pokeball-laden belt in her teeth. Brendan and Zinnia likewise let their teams out, and after everyone is fed and ready, they head outside, and all of the pokemon except Lee��s Corviknight, Brendan��s Latias, and Zinnia��s Noivern are returned to their balls.

    ��Ready for your first solo flight, kiddo?�� a grinning Zinnia asks Brendan as she helps him saddle-up Latias.

    ��I��ve been flying; I took my flying license test on Corviknight a week ago,�� Brendan grumbles, already looking a bit green around the gills.

    ��Flying on a bird is way different from flying on a Dragon!�� Zinnia exclaims, gesturing to Latias, who watches the goings-on with nervous yellow eyes. ��A big metal bird may as well be an airplane!��

    Off to the side, Lee sits on Corvi��s back, already mounted up and ready to go. The giant crow clicks his tongue as he listens to Zinnia.

    ��Don��t listen to the adrenaline junkie, Corvi.�� Lee pats his mount��s wing, watching as Brendan unsurely climbs onto Latias�� back, making the hovering dragon dip a few inches. ��She has no idea what she��s talking about.��

    Despite knowing that the saddle on Latias was hand-made by a tribe of dragon tamers and should theoretically stand up to just about anything, Lee can��t help but be a little anxious on Brendan��s behalf.

    Latias is fast.

    Brendan��s newest pokemon is a proper and powerful legendary, and that was made extremely apparent to everyone once they did some inter-team sparring. Latias eclipses damn near every other pokemon between them when it comes to raw power, and the only thing holding her back is her lack of combat experience. Of Lee��s pokemon, only Ninetales and Sylveon are able to properly stand up to Latias.

    ��Latias has to be propelling herself with a positively ridiculous amount of Psychic TE, possibly with Flying TE mixed in. I really hope Brendan doesn��t get sick or get blown off of Latias�� back. The second one would be really hard to explain to Nigel����

    ��If Latias has any sense, she��s holding onto Brendan with telekinesis,�� Ninetales chimes in, watching through Lee��s eyes.

    ��We can only hope.��

    Once Brendan is situated, Zinnia climbs onto the back of her Noivern, who is also sporting a Draconid-made saddle. ��Lee, Brendan, stay on Noivern��s tail, and don��t get left behind! Fly, girl!��

    Noivern takes to the air with a screech and a flap of leathery wings. Latias follows, and Corvi brings up the rear.

    Zinnia and Noivern rise, taking them out of the crater and up above the plateau into the biting, early-autumn wind. Lee silently curses himself for not taking the ten seconds to get his scarf out, already knowing his face is going to be wind burned by the time they land.

    The group cuts a wide turn, banking south and heading towards a low part of the plateau devoid of any Dragon nests. Once they level out, Lee gazes ahead of him at Latias and Brendan, nodding in satisfaction that Brendan is still securely on his dragon��s back.

    The flight only takes about twenty minutes, and Zinnia mercifully directs Noivern to come in for a gentle, gradual landing rather than a dive like Lee was half expecting. One after the other, the group touches down several dozen yards away from a stretch of barren ground covered in mossy stones with an equally mossy hill flanking its western side.

    Slowly lowering herself off of Noivern��s back, Zinnia takes a deep breath and stares at the field of stones with trepidation.

    Beside her, Brendan shakily dismounts Latias as Lee does the same with Corvi. Taking in the flat ground, a chilling sensation runs down Lee��s back, and he realizes what the rocks jutting out of the ground are.

    Stepping a bit closer to one, Lee kneels down and wipes away the dirt and moss clinging to the stone, finding a flat face bearing the scratchy characters of the Draconid script staring back. ��So this is the place?��

    Zinnia nods, evidently unable to find her voice.

    The trio return each of their flyers to their balls, then Brendan and Lee closely flank Zinnia as she leads them to the hill in the distance.

    As they walk, Lee looks around, taking in the graveyard with more scrutiny. ��The headstones are arranged in twos, threes, fours�� Are the trainers and their pokemon buried together?��

    A short chill not wholly his own rolls in Lee��s gut, and he places a hand over Nine��s ball.

    The short walk takes them to the foot of the hill where a jagged stone roughly 4 feet high sticks out of the ground. Like the others, moss has begun to claim it, but the growth hasn��t yet climbed up far enough to obscure the scratchy writing.

    Zinnia lays a hand on the stone, falling silent. Her face cycles through emotions so quickly that Lee can barely keep track, but she eventually settles on deep grief. The expression is so alien on her usually-smiling face that Lee is taken aback.

    ��Hi, Aster,�� Zinnia murmurs, rubbing her thumb over the inscription upon the stone. ��I��m sorry for not visiting. Hell, I barely mustered up the nerve to come here. It still feels so strange to me that you�� aren��t here.�� Zinnia gulps heavily. ��It almost feels like a dream - a bad one. Nothing seems real, standing here.��

    Brendan takes one of Zinnia��s hands, and Lee leans closer, pressing his shoulder to hers.

    The contact eases the pale pallor on Zinnia��s face, and she resumes speaking. ��I��ve been doing all I can as Lorekeeper, but I��ll be damned if I don��t have big shoes to fill,�� she says with a weak chuckle. ��Bagon evolved about half a year ago, and he��s almost ready to evolve again - so close that it��ll be any day now. From Bagon to Salamence in under a year; isn��t that something? I thought you and your Salamence were a bit crazy to give me Sala��s first egg, but he��s doing his dad proud.��

    ��Aster��s Salamence is Shelgon��s father?�� Lee files the interesting tidbit away for later. ��So Shelgon is only around four years old.��

    ��Considering most dragons have a decade between each evolution, Shelgon��s growth is extraordinary,�� Ninetales chimes in, her words heard only by Lee.

    ��We wouldn��t have gotten there alone, though.�� Zinnia smiles thinly and puts an arm around Brendan and Lee��s shoulders each. ��Aster, meet Lee and Brendan - my best friends.�� She pauses for a beat. ��After you, of course.��

    Lee can��t withhold an amused snort, but Brendan rolls with it, a smile on his face.

    ��It��s nice to finally meet you, Aster!�� Brendan addresses the gravestone cheerfully. ��I think I��ve liked everything I��ve heard about you, and I��m kinda sad that we��ll never talk face-to-face. I just wanted to say that you made a great choice in a new Lorekeeper. Zinnia is like the sister I never had, so I see exactly what you saw in her too.��

    Once Brendan is done, Lee speaks up as well. ��The love Zinnia had��has��for you is quite apparent every time she talks about you, Aster,�� Lee begins quietly. ��It reminds me of my own late mentor, who set me on the path I��m on today. Did you know Zinnia started traveling with me and Brendan because I reminded her of you?�� Lee shakes his head with a small smile. ��That��s a compliment to me if I��ve ever heard one. I think we would have been good friends, you and I, judging from all the fantastic qualities you passed to Zinnia.��

    A sniffle interrupts Lee before he can say anything more, and looking down at Zinnia, Lee finds her eyes watery and her mouth set into a wobbly smile. ��You two���� She says nothing more, pulling both into a tight hug.

    Lee wraps an arm over Zinnia��s shoulders as Brendan hugs her around the middle. For a moment, they simply stand together like that, and warmth seeps into Lee��s core.

    It feels as if his little family has grown a bit bigger today.

    Zinnia��s trembling shoulders begin to still, and she blinks the tears from her eyes with a final sniffle. Her red eyes trail down to the brown cloak over her shoulders, and Lee follows her gaze.

    The ragged, brown cloak is something Zinnia has always kept close, for she��s only ever taken it off to bathe, clean it, or if she was otherwise forced to. It��s precious to her, as anyone can see.

    ��What prompted this sudden inspection?��

    Zinnia gently pries herself free from Brendan and Lee and, after a moment of hesitation, reaches up to the collar of her cloak and unties it. The cloth comes free, and Zinnia heavily steps forward to drape it onto Aster��s gravestone.

    ��I think it��s time I gave this back to you, Aster,�� Zinnia whispers, tying the neck strap and stepping back, letting the cloak flutter in the plateau breeze. ��I don��t need it anymore.��

    ��Oh����

    All three of them stand and stare at the gravestone for a moment, the only sound being the returned cloak fluttering in the wind, and Zinnia��s pokeballs slowly shaking on their magnetic clips.

    ��Do you mourn too, Shelgon?�� Ninetales wonders as Lee glances at Zinnia��s pokeballs. ��Were our places traded, I would.��

    With a tired sigh, Zinnia rubs her arms, as if to ward away a chill.

    ��Do you want my jacket, Zinnia?�� Lee can��t help but offer. ��It is kind of chilly up here.��

    Zinnia��s reply is a short laugh. ��Thanks, but no thanks, Dolittle. Don��t bust out any charm on me, or your fox will get jealous.��

    ��I��m not so petty���� Ninetales grumbles with only Lee to hear.

    Lee lets out a half-laugh, half-exhale and smiles. ��Okay, but if you change your mind, tell me. I��m not bothered by the cold.��

    Oh, and how true that is. Over the last month, he and Ninetales have been practicing with their unusual bond to furret out all the secrets they can. One interesting, if only situationally useful, thing they discovered is that Ninetales can shunt Fire TE into Lee, warming his entire body.

    ��But now that you have a good foundation for Fairy TE and can extend your tails with it, I still think a tail-tent or a tail-cocoon is better for keeping warm,�� Lee sends to Ninetales.

    Ugh. Fairy TE. What a headache that stuff is. TE already breaks physics, but Lee��s now-grizzled inner scientist still nearly had a heart attack when he realized that Fairy TE runs off of pure belief and nothing else. Ninetales can use it to extend her tails because of course she should be able to do that.

    Fairies run off of ork magic. No wonder Fairy experts can��t explain how their favorite type works. How do you explain ��it just works�� to someone and expect them to take it at face value?

    At least the realization has made training Sylveon easier��

    Before Lee can get caught in a spiral of loathing for Fairy TE��s flagrant disregard of the natural world, one of Zinnia��s pokeballs wobbles furiously, then pops open, making everyone jump in surprise.

    In a flash, Shelgon materializes at Zinnia��s feet.

    ��Shelgon?�� Zinnia blinks in surprise. ��What��s wrong?��

    The armor-bound dragon growls, looking past Zinnia and into the sky behind her.

    As one, the trio of trainers turn, following Shelgon��s gaze.

    In the distance flying towards them is a Dragapult, a Garchomp, and a Dragonite, all of them with the sun to their backs. Through the light, silhouettes of riders can be seen astride each dragon.

    ��The Draconid Elders,�� Lee realizes, narrowing his eyes. ��What are they doing here?��

    ��Perhaps the day has come for the test Taxus insists upon.�� Ninetales watches the Elders begin their descent through Lee��s eyes. ��Unless they all collectively decided today was the day to pay respects to the honored dead.��

    Trepidation wells up in Lee, but Ninetales is quick to soothe it. ��Worry not, Beloved,�� she says gently. ��We��ve risen to new and fantastic heights, and I��m confident we can handle whatever it is they ask of us.��

    ��You��re right���� Lee takes a deep breath as the Elders land a dozen yards away and dismount. ��We can do it.��

    ��Elders,�� Zinnia tersely greets as Taxus, flanked by Juniper and Danae, approaches. ��To what do we owe the pleasure?��

    ��Such a prickly attitude is unbecoming, Thelban,�� Taxus says, clicking his tongue. He looks between Zinnia and Aster��s grave, his eyes lingering on the cloak wrapped around the stone. ��The time has come to test your worth. It is fortuitous that you are here, for this solemn place is where your foe resides.��

    Zinnia��s eyes narrow. ��Here? In a graveyard?�� she asks, panning her gaze around. ��What, going to sic a Ghost on us?��

    Taxus ignores her and continues on, though his severe scowl deepens. ��You three wish for Draconid treasures, and treasures you shall have�� should you pass the coming trial. Naraikvejor!�� he barks, addressing both Brendan and Lee. ��Present your Grovyle and Marshtomp.��

    Lee and Brendan reach for their belts, and in twin flashes, Grovyle and Marshtomp stand in front of their trainers with stony faces.

    ��For this test most important, we would ask to hold the rest of your pokeballs for safekeeping���� Danae��s face looks as if he��s sucking a lemon, going along with all of this. ��This is a trial for the holders of the treasures, and only the holders of the treasures. We mean no insult, but����

    ��You don��t want someone jumping in if things get heated,�� Lee finishes with a frown.

    ��I understand, but I don��t like it���� Brendan is the first to comply, reluctantly handing the rest of his team to Danae, who takes the balls with him.

    Before Lee can do the same, Ninetales��s ball wobbles before bursting open, letting the vixen out. Once she finishes materializing, Lee��s pokeballs float off of his belt, held by Nine��s telekinesis.

    ��If it is all the same,�� Ninetales coolly begins, projecting her thoughts out to everyone around and causing more than one person to tense up, ��then I will observe in-person and retain custody of the team,�� she says, practically daring them to object.

    Taxus opens his mouth to do just that, but Juniper beats him to the punch.

    ��If you so wish, Naraikvejor Ninetales, but let it be known that interference will not be tolerated,�� Juniper warns, prompting her sleepy-looking Dragonite to stand up straighter.

    Zinnia is the last to surrender her pokeballs, and does so with a scowl on her face. ��We could have avoided this song and dance if you had just trusted me and sided with Danae, ya know,�� she grinds out, dropping four pokeballs into Juniper��s hands.

    The old woman looks away, age-bleached locks hiding her eyes. ��I needed to know that you were ready. My wish is to not bar your way, but to not bury another child, O Granddaughter. Would you begrudge me so?�� she whispers.

    Zinnia sucks in a breath and turns away herself. ��Granny, there is too much at stake to worry about that.��

    Juniper closes her shaking hands around Zinnia��s pokeballs without answering.

    ��If you��ve any final preparations to make, do so now,�� Taxus orders. When no one moves, he nods sharply. ��We shall begin immediately, then.�� With that, he turns towards Aster��s grave. ��Defeat the coming foe as if your life depends on it.��

    Raising his hands above his head, Taxus begins to speak the guttural tongue of the Draconids. ��O unar vak''thoz vulden, ma yirn tuk zenvok. Fenrok tu zerak, vaz krelki or''nad fruv vor rokam. Zhex mazz fo ur vaz tazhn!�� he exclaims, his eyes bulging and voice rising into a roar.

    ��What''s he doing? Who is he talking to?�� Lee wonders, his gut sinking.

    Taxus lowers his arms as he speaks the final word, and the graveyard falls into a tense quiet.

    Then, the hill behind Aster��s grave begins to shake.

    No, the hill behind Aster��s grave begins to stand up</a>.

    The moss on the hill blackens and smolders as the air grows hot and dry.

    Four stout legs ending in razor claws lift the hill up, as a tail as thick as a tree lifts and slams into the ground, shaking the entire plateau and cratering the rock beneath it.

    The smoking moss flakes away, and from under the burning greenery, a pair of red reptile wings unfold.

    Finally, a head on a long neck rises, and a pair of bloodshot eyes snap open to stare damningly at all of them.

    ��No�� No way���� Zinnia''s eyes go wide as she watches. Her legs wobble, and she actually falls to her knees, staring at the emerging behemoth with disbelief. ��I thought he died with Aster,�� she chokes out, each word wounded.

    Lee can��t help but take a step back as Grovyle fearlessly jumps in front of him, glowing Siphon Blade at the ready. Craning his head back, Lee looks up at the monster before them.

    Glaring at them is a gigantic Salamence. No, gigantic is underselling it. The beast is the size of a house and radiates so much heat that Lee��s throat is going dry. Each leg could stomp a person flat, and the Salamence��s jaws would bite a man in half with room to spare.

    Lee��s eyes travel down.

    The Salamence��s ribs are showing through his skin, and his scales are dull with malnutrition, painting a horrifying image.

    ��Zinnia?�� Brendan asks, his words shaking. ��Is this who I think it is?��

    The Lorekeeper wordlessly nods, her eyes fixed to the gargantuan dragon.

    ��Aster��s Salamence���� Lee realizes with a sharp intake of breath. ��He was lying down long enough for moss to grow on him�� Has he been lying there since she was put to rest?!�� Lee can scarcely believe it and shakes his head.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ��Force these hatchlings from the nest, O Marred One,�� Taxus murmurs, his words uncharacteristically gentle and reverent. ��Prove to us your partner��s wisdom.��

    The Salamence wordlessly rears his wings back, and Lee winces when the air pressure sharply drops, popping his ears.

    Then Salamence throws his wings forward.

    Lee can��t even yelp as a hurricane of howling wind and dust consumes the graveyard. A thrill of panic overtakes everything else when his feet leave the ground.

    ��Lee!��

    Even Ninetales�� distress is drowned out by the sudden storm.

    Tumbling end over end, Lee tries to open his eyes and see what is going on, only to hiss and screw them shut when sand flies into them.

    As quickly as it came, the hurricane passes, and Lee lets out a cough when he lands hard on his back, knocking the wind from his lungs.

    Beside him, Brendan and Zinnia also gracelessly fall with grunts, as do their pokemon. The only one to land on their feet is Grovyle, who keeps his glowing blade and narrowed eyes ready the entire time.

    ��Lee! Lee! Answer me! Are you okay?!�� Ninetales urgently asks.

    ��I��m fine, Nine,�� he sends back, receiving Nine��s relief in reply. Scrambling to his feet, Lee looks around and-

    ��What the fuck?�� He can��t stop the words as he looks in the distance towards another plateau, where the Elders, their dragons, and Ninetales all stand as dots. He looks around, and the graveyard is gone. ��We��re on another plateau?��

    Brendan and Zinnia both stand up, as do Marshtomp and Shelgon. ��Seems so.�� Brendan winces and rubs the back of his head.

    ��That was Whirlwind, or it looked like it.�� Zinnia brushes dirt off of herself. The sound of wings makes her look up, her expression morphing into alarm. ��Move!��

    Trainer and pokemon alike all leap backward when Aster��s Salamence slams into the ground where they once stood, shattering the rocky ground and throwing chips of stone all around.

    Zinnia lowers the arm she was using to shield her face and stares at the massive dragon with hurt. ��Sala����

    The Salamence doesn��t heed his name being called. Instead, he snarls and roars.

    All of them flinch at the ear shattering noise and blast of hot wind. The force of the roar is so great, that each of them needs to lean forward or be thrown to their rear.

    All of them sans Shelgon, that is.

    Shelgon steps forward without a hint of fear, roaring with just as much ferocity as his father. As he meets Salamence��s challenge head-on, Shelgon��s shell begins to peel back before the eyes of the watching trainers. Half an inch, two inches, six inches.

    Then, Shelgon begins to glow a brilliant white.

    Shelgon��s metallic armor explodes off of his body as wings sprout from his back. His body swells with muscle, growing to twice its size and then some. A long tail and equally long neck sprout from rear and front. From the neck comes a flat head, flanked by three fins on each side and a maw filled with dagger teeth.

    When the glow fades, a second Salamence has taken Shelgon��s place.

    ��He did it!�� Zinnia��s joy is barely audible over the draconic shouting match. ��Shelgon evolved! I knew he could do it!��

    That joy dies a swift death when Aster��s Salamence��s throat glows emerald green.</a>

    ��Salamence, move!�� Zinnia orders.

    Salamence aborts his roar, stretches his wings, and flies up just in time. A second later, an impossibly bright Dragon Breath shoots from the elder dragon��s mouth, turning the ground into hissing, sputtering lava.

    Both Lee and Grovyle step back, and Lee has to turn away, as the glow of the newly made lava patch is blinding. ��Zinnia, what''s the plan here!?��

    ��Try and keep him off balance so Salamence can get some hits in for now!�� she barks back, her eyes fixed on her dragon. ��Poor Sala looks half dead, but this isn��t going to be easy! Not by a longshot!��

    ��Support, got it!�� Brendan forces a smile and a thumbs up. ��You heard her, bud!�� he says to Marshtomp. ��Ice Beam!��

    Marshtomp grins a nasty grin and opens his mouth, charging a blue ball of energy.

    Lee and Grovyle meet eyes. ��Swords Dance, then get up there and show him your Rock Tomb.��

    Grovyle closes his eyes and focuses, blue, sword-like flashes of raw energy manifesting around him. Taking a deep breath, the swords diffuse into wisps that Grovyle breathes in. Seen only by Lee, Grovyle��s muscles grow tense.

    ��Sala��, meanwhile, totally disregards Grovyle and Marshtomp, instead rising into the air to chase down his son. Despite his bulk and emaciation, the elder dragon moves like a fighter jet, rushing down Salamence with vapor tails on his wings.

    Salamence throws himself out of the way, blasting Sala with his own Dragon Breath for the trouble. The emerald flames wash over Sala��s hide, leaving only minor scorches.

    Marshtomp laughs and looses his Ice Beam, sending jagged flashes of cryo-energy into the air right at Sala.

    The dragon glances down and snorts, seemingly insulted. He opens his maw, and a white-hot Flamethrower shoots out without any delay, swallowing Ice Beam with ease and coming down upon Marshtomp like a meteor.

    Marshtomp��s eyes shoot open, and he swaps Ice Beam with a hasty Water Gun, only for Sala��s Flamethrower to plow through it and flash every drop into steam.

    ��Shit! Water-type or not, that��ll be the last of Marshtomp if that hits!�� Lee��s eyes widen. ��Grovyle, save Marshtomp!��

    The gecko pokemon lights up with a crackling white mantle of Quick Attack, then turns into a green blur that tackles Marshtomp out of the way of Flamethrower with inches to spare.

    The flames bathe the ground a split second after the save, and another pool of lava is burned into the rocky ground.

    ��Arceus, this is Mega Camerupt all over again!�� Lee complains to himself. ��This might even be worse. I��m not seeing how power like that can be a trick. It''s the real deal.��

    ��Oh man���� Brendan fixes his eyes on the bubbling patch of molten rock. ��Thanks Lee, good save!��

    Lee blows out a sigh. ��No prob.��

    ��Guys, some help, please!�� Zinnia angrily orders. ��Chit-chat later! Salamence! Dive down!��

    ��Right, need to focus. Mega-stones are riding on this.�� Lee turns his attention back to Grovyle. ��In the air! Quick Attack into Rock Tomb!��

    Grovyle explodes off the ground with a white trail streaking behind him, passing Salamence as he goes. A boulder the size of his own body materializes in his claws with a swirl of particulate, and with a grunt, he hurls it at Sala, who is diving after Salamence.

    Sala��s head shines white in what Lee recognizes as Headbutt. ��There is no way he��s going to-!��

    The titanic Salamence takes the super effective move right to the head and barrels through without so much as a wince.

    Grovyle��s Quick Attack flares and he shoots to the side to get out of Sala��s way as the dragon comes down, but an opportunistic flick of Sala��s tail catches Grovyle right in his stomach with a loud wack!

    Every bit of air is knocked out of Grovyle as he shoots towards the ground like a cannonball.

    ��Quick Attack, stop yourself!�� Lee desperately orders, balling his fists up and hoping Grovyle can hear him.

    Grovyle grits his teeth, white energy bursting from his body and forcefully arresting his momentum, turning a debilitating crash into a manageable fall. Flipping through the air, Grovyle lands on his feet with a grimace, his stomach already beginning to bruise.

    ��Salamence, Dragon Claw!�� Zinnia is quick to go on the offensive again. ��Stop him!��

    Salamence swoops low to the ground and flies back up, colliding with Sala in a deadly ball of gnashing teeth and ripping claws. Somehow, Sala remains both airborne and able to fight off the smaller dragon.

    ��He needs to be grounded ASAP, or Grovyle and Marshtomp are going to be too limited to make a significant difference,�� Brendan says, watching Sala and Salamence clash midair. A few feet away, Marshtomp waits for a clear shot, Ice Beam already charged in his mouth.

    The pair of dragons snap at each other, but Sala clearly has the advantage. The older dragon has more strength, more reach, and knows how to use his body, unlike the freshly-evolved Salamence. It''s like watching a robin tangle with a falcon.

    ��Easier said than done,�� Zinnia grimly replies, her eyes glued to the fight and waiting to order a disengagement.

    ��Grovyle,�� Lee begins, turning to the Grass-type.

    The reptile practically reads Lee��s mind and shoots back into the air, circling around to Sala��s back. Another Rock Tomb grows in Grovyle��s hand before he thrusts the boulder at Sala��s wings.

    Sala hazards a look over his shoulder, and just before Rock Tomb can hit, his wings stiffen and shine with the sheen of Steel Wing. The boulder shatters into pieces on the metallic appendages, doing nothing.

    Then through the dust of Rock Tomb, a long, leaf-like blade coated in caustic Dark TE slashes right at the joint of Sala��s red wings.

    ��Yes! Good hit Gro-�� Lee��s celebration is cut short as he watches the sneak attack land.

    Grovyle��s Night Slash skitters off of the wing joint like a knife dragged down a steel plate, throwing sparks and leaving only a tiny line of red.

    Grovyle himself is so flummoxed by the ineffective attack that he��s nearly struck by Sala��s Steel Wing when the dragon grunts and thrusts his back out. Only a hasty flare of Quick Attack pulls Grovyle out of harm��s way, where he falls back to the ground.

    ��Damn it all!�� Zinnia curses as she sees Grovyle��s attack barely do anything. ��Salamence, get out of there!��

    High above, Salamence snarls and thrashes against his father��s hold. It takes all of the younger��s strength, but he frees himself from Sala��s claws with a number of cuts for his trouble.

    The split second before Salamence drops away, Brendan makes his play. ��Marshtomp, fire!�� He orders.

    Marshtomp��s crackling Ice Beam flies, three-fourths of the way to its target by the time Salamence is clear.

    Sala turns and sees the writhing lance of blue, but it''s too late. He twists and takes the beam to his side.

    For the first time in the fight, Sala lets out a noise of pain, and it''s only a mere growl.

    Ice Beam splashes across Sala��s scales, covering them in short-lived frost that melts away in seconds, leaving behind a patch of blackened, frostbitten scales.

    ��A double super-effective hit, and that''s all we got from it?�� Lee grimaces. He��s almost tempted to ask Ninetales for advice, but stays the thread of thought that wants to reach out.

    The Elders don��t want outside interference, and he doubts gestalts get a technical pass. He still feels Nine��s persistent worry, however.

    None of them are given any chance to follow up on Marshtomp��s successful attack, as Sala rushes to the ground with a flap of his wings. Landing heavily and rumbling the ground, he rushes down Marshtomp with a livid roar.

    ��Rock Slide!�� Brendan doesn��t stay stunned by the dragon��s speed for long and orders a counter.

    Marshtomp jams his hands into the ground, and with a grunt and a heave, upends the earth between him and the charging Sala. The rocky ground explodes into jagged stones and heavy rocks, all bearing down on Sala with intent to maim.

    Sala growls once more, not letting his focus on Marshtomp slip for a second. As he runs headfirst into the barrage of stones, he sucks in a deep breath and lets out an earth-shattering Roar.

    The blast of sound and air blows a wide void through Rock Slide, letting Sala charge through without being hit by so much as a pebble.

    ��Grovyle!�� Lee calls, hoping to save Marshtomp.

    ��Salamence!�� Zinnia barks, having the same thought.

    Both pokemon, however, are a hair too slow, as Sala��s head shoots forward, his jaws wrapping around one of Marshtomp��s arms.

    Cra-cra-crack!

    The sound of Marshtomp��s arm breaking like a dry twig is loud, even over the remnants of Rock Slide crashing to the ground, but Marshtomp doesn��t so much as flinch. No, instead, he bellows in anger and throws a savage Mega Punch crackling with fury into Sala��s jaw with his free arm.

    The dragon winces from the blow that would have brought a house down and twists his neck, making to throw Marshtomp away.

    In reply, Marshtomp drives his free fingers into the ground and grips the plateau with everything he has, gritting his teeth and stopping Sala in his place.

    Sala growls and yanks on the broken arm in his teeth, only getting a grunt from Marshtomp.

    ��Guys, disable him now before Marshtomp gives out!�� Brendan urges.

    ��Rock Tomb!��

    ��Dragon Claw!��

    Grovyle and Salamence charge at their trainer��s orders. Grovyle rushes and leaps onto Sala��s back, forming a boulder in his grasp as he does so. With a cry, he smashes Rock Tomb right into the slowly bleeding wing joint he cut earlier, forcing the wound open further with blunt trauma. Then he leaps away as Salamence comes down like a dropped anvil, landing on Sala��s back. Salamence roars as he jams his red-and-blue claws into the wound Grovyle made, savaging everything he can.

    Sala��s eyes bulge, then narrow in hate. He tugs Marshtomp again, pulling the mudfish��s hand out of the ground, then he bucks wildly, throwing Salamence to the ground.

    The damage, however, is done. Sala��s left wing is limp, but rather than chase Grovyle and Salamence, he instead turns his rage to Marshtomp, intent on finishing off the foe he caught before taking another.

    Sala raises his head, then slams Marshtomp into the ground like a ragdoll.

    Again.

    And again.

    And again.

    ��Marshtomp, no!�� Brendan reaches a helpless hand out, his face stricken.

    Grovyle and Salamence rush in to help, but Sala whirls around with deceptive speed. He uses the barely-conscious Marshtomp like a flail and smacks Grovyle aside. Sala��s tail, meanwhile, coated in the cloak of Dragon Tail, smashes right into Salamence��s skull, knocking the younger dragon for a loop.

    Finally, Sala releases Marshtomp, throwing the bloodied and brutalized Water-type to Brendan��s feet in an unconscious heap.

    ��Quick Attack, move in and flank!�� Lee dares only spend a second looking away from Sala as Grovyle and Salamence start the fight anew, and he cringes when he sees the shape Marshtomp is in.

    The poor starter��s right arm is entirely purple and twisted, and the rest of his body is covered in countless contusions and lacerations. Lee is betting Marshtomp has a few broken ribs with how labored his breathing is, a feat considering just how damn tough Brendan��s first pokemon is.

    Brendan himself looks as if he��s been stabbed in the heart, his face screwed up in turmoil. With a heavy sigh, he schools himself and takes out Marshtomp��s ball. ��You did amazing, Marshtomp. You��re the toughest ��mon I know. Take a rest and return,�� he murmurs, pointing the ball in his hand down.

    In a flash, Marshtomp is safely back in his ball��

    ��Leaving the fight a losing one.

    <hr>

    ��This is bad.��

    Grovyle jumps out of the way of a gout of fire that would have incinerated him. Instead, the Flamethrower carves a shallow channel into the rocky soil. Landing back on the ground, the gecko pokemon frowns mightily as he considers what to do.

    From the very start, this fight has been an uphill battle, but with Marshtomp down, things are looking grim.

    Grovyle has no illusions on the matter. Of the three pokemon chosen to fight Sala, he is the weakest, no matter how much it shames him to admit it.

    Marshtomp��s barehanded blows made Sala flinch, and Ice Beam was enough of a threat for the great dragon to focus Brendan��s partner down.

    Salamence is�� well, a Salamence. His claws, bites, and dragonfire slowly but surely wear upon Sala, and his raw power is something to behold. If not for Sala presenting an unfair comparison, Salamence would be awe-inspiring.

    And then there is Grovyle.

    Weak, ineffective Grovyle.

    The gecko struggles to not grit his teeth as he watches Sala and Salamence clash again, rumbling the plateau down to its foundation. The starved dragon is losing steam, but all he can do is hold back and look for an opening, hoping to be useful.

    ��It seems like hoping to be useful is all I can do���� he thinks bitterly, sending a glance to Lee.

    The man Grovyle calls Master has a ��poker face�� as humans call it. Others find his face and thoughts hard to discern, but after months together, Grovyle can read him perfectly. The deeper-than-usual frown, the slight tilt of his eyebrows, the slump where he should be tense.

    It all points to Lee losing hope for this fight, and he should be.

    ��After all, he has to rely on me, the failure of the team.�� Grovyle clenches his grip around his leaf sword and touches the scars on his chest.

    All the movement is making them sting.

    These last weeks have seen Grovyle rise to new levels he thought impossible before, but compared to everyone else? He may as well be running in place.

    Ninetales, Corviknight, Latias, and Shelgon (now Salamence), would all trounce him easily.

    Breloom, Mawile, Marshtomp, Octillery, Altaria, and Noivern would each be a fight that took his all, with no guarantee of victory.

    Tyrunt, Sylveon, and Electrike all nip at his heels, threatening to overrun him.

    The only ones he can say he is truly better than are Goomy and Shinx, and comparing himself to an infant is pathetic.

    ��It��ll be even more pathetic when Shinx overtakes me���� He narrows his yellow eyes down to slits.

    Lee promised to take Grovyle to heights unseen, to be the very best, like no one ever was, and in accepting, Grovyle silently promised to live up to such lofty expectations.

    Lee��s side of the bargain remains fulfilled, while Grovyle has been reduced to a liar.

    The gyms? Mostly losses.

    The volcano? Swatted down like nothing.

    And now here, during a critical trial that decides if they get tools that could help save the entire world?

    He��s losing.

    What has he done for the team during his tenure? Why, he won a piddly beach tournament after Shelgon and Vulpix did all the hard work.

    Because he is Grovyle, the failure.

    ��Quick Attack into Night Slash, left flank!��

    Grovyle��s body moves on pure instinct at the order. He flies across the ground and swings his sword in a wide arc, aiming to drive the slash right into Sala��s frostbite weakened skin.

    The attack connects with the blackened flesh, and Grovyle is rewarded with a mere trickle of blood.

    ��Not enough.��

    Grovyle ducks and retreats when Sala turns and snaps with flaming jaws, nearly catching and roasting Grovyle alive. The dragon turns back to Salamence with a snarl when a Dragon Pulse catches him in the side of the head, and the two dragons are back to their melee.

    Fueled by a fresh evolution or not, Salamence is beginning to flag under Sala��s onslaught, and it''s plain to Grovyle. His limbs shake, his wounds are piling up, and the blood on the ground is more his than Sala��s.

    Once Salamence goes down, it''s all a forgone conclusion.

    As if to punctuate that thought, Sala bullrushes Salamence, barreling over the smaller dragon and driving his electrified Thunder Fangs into his son��s neck.

    ��Salamence, get out of there!�� Zinnia screams, eyes wide in fright. ��Listen to my voice and push him off!��

    Salamence can only screech in pain, twitching as he��s electrocuted.

    ��Grovyle, get in there! Night Slash into his back wound!�� Lee orders, desperation in his voice.

    Grovyle��s feet move before the last syllable is out of Lee��s mouth. The world blurs to Grovyle��s eyes, and a second later, he��s bearing down on Sala, stabbing his purple-hued sword into the ugly mess of a wound on his foe��s back.

    Sala was apparently waiting for this, though, as the beast turns with devilish speed and rams his skull into Grovyle��s stomach, not at all caring about the Night Slash that scrapes across his thick neck.

    Blood and spittle is forced from his mouth, and Grovyle feels a rib shatter. When he hits the ground, he struggles to draw breath through the pain, but he still forces himself back to his feet.

    Sala turns away from his panting son, his bloodshot eyes regarding Grovyle with annoyance.

    Not wariness, not anger, just annoyance.

    Then Sala slowly begins to stalk forward, the ground rumbling with each step, and Grovyle knows he��s done for. Still, he raises his sword, and looks towards Lee.

    The man smiles gently back, free of blame or accusations. Like this isn��t Grovyle��s fault.

    ��It is, though. It��s my fault for being weak. I can��t defend anything I hold dear.�� Grovyle screws his eyes shut, frustration bubbling over. ��I don��t want to be weak, I don��t want to be the only ordinary one amongst the extraordinary, I don��t want to be left behind,��

    In his mind��s eye, he sees Lee, Corviknight, and Ninetales, all walking with their backs to him.

    He tries to chase them, but he runs in place as they get further and further away, walking towards a light, something grand that he can''t have. Then Octillery passes him, and Sylveon, and Shinx.

    ��I don��t want to be left behind.��

    They take another step.

    ��I don��t want to be left behind!��

    Their silhouettes begin to fade.

    ��I don��t want to be left behind!��

    They��re gone.

    Gone.

    Gone without him.

    ��I refuse!��

    A dam breaks, and a shining cloak of white bursts from Grovyle��s scales, drawing a gasp from him.

    His muscles writhe and his bones creak, and the ground grows further away as his limbs lengthen. His tail thickens, sprouting bladed leaves. The leaf on his head retracts, forming ridges over his eyes. On his back, a dual row of seeds push themselves from his scales.

    The light fades, and Grovyle is no more. In his place is Sceptile.

    Sceptile looks down at himself.

    On his chest, his scars are no more, reduced to a faded starburst in his scales. He twists his arms, finding no pain or pulling.

    Oh. Oh, he can feel everything.

    Everything.

    From the tip of his tail, to the point of his nose, and every scale in between, he can feel all of them.

    Awareness of himself, in utter totality. The direction of the breeze on his scales, the beat of his heart, the synapses of his brain firing, each one consciously accounted for. It should be overwhelming, his brain should be melting out of his ears from the overload.

    With a thought, his heart slows down to almost nothing. As he expects, his vision blurs and his limbs grow chilled, so he lets go of the organ.

    Then he speeds it up, and he grows warm and restless as his blood surges.

    It''s all natural, just as natural as the muscles as taut as spring-steel beneath his skin.

    He lets out a breath and allows his heart to settle.

    He feels so light, so unburdened. If he so much as twitches his ankles with too much excitement, he��ll fly up and never come down.

    Sceptile turns his head towards Lee, and his heart soars.

    Lee is looking at him with undisguised awe, an expression usually reserved for Corviknight and Ninetales.

    ��I won��t be left behind.�� He smiles around his chewing twig. ��Not now, not ever.��

    Whatever shock Sala was feeling after witnessing Sceptile��s evolution passes, as the dragon growls and charges once more.

    On pure instinct, Sceptile spools up both Detect and Quick Attack, and the world slows to a crawl to him. Sala looks as if he��s running through molasses, and is so slow that Sceptile has enough time to count each scale on his foe��s face, if he were to feel so inclined.

    One of the leaves on his forearm lengthens and twists, forming a blade as long as a Sceptile is tall with the same- no, greater- ease he did as Grovyle. Grasping his weapon, Sceptile sends Lee a smile and a wink.

    In slow motion, Lee smiles back with a nod.

    Sceptile turns his attention back to Sala. ��Now, foe of mine.�� He lethargically raises his weapon. ��Let us see how you combat that which you cannot hit.��</a>

    The gecko pokemon races forward, and with all the might in his reforged arm, swings his Siphon Blade into Sala��s leg.

    His arm strains against the blue scales, but where nothing gave before, a split opens in the elder dragon��s limb and blood begins to run.

    In Sceptile��s slowed world, it takes a few seconds for the pain to hit. Sala wastes no time moving once it does hit him, though, lashing out with flame-coated fangs.

    Fangs that Sceptile has already dodged. He��s on Sala��s other flank.

    ��A failure no longer!�� Sceptile declares before raising his sword and swinging again.

    Blood flies through the air.

    <hr>

    ��Grovyle evolved���� Lee can barely contain his excitement, having waited for this moment for months.

    Gro-Sceptile takes the brief moment of surprise from everyone to look down at himself with a discerning eye, turning his hands over and bouncing lightly on his feet. He turns his gaze to Lee, and Lee can only beam.

    Sceptile smiles back.

    ��He��s needed this for so long, and to evolve right here of all times and places! I knew you��d pull through for us, Sceptile.�� Lee puts his hands together and says a short thanks to Arceus.

    Sala, evidently tired of waiting, charges Sceptile with a chest-rumbling growl.

    The Grass-type on the field gives Lee a wink, one that says ��trust me��, and Lee nods back without hesitation.

    Then he blinks and Sceptile is�� gone?

    Lee blinks his eyes again and Sceptile seems to vanish. A second later, Sala lets out a deafening roar of frustration, drawing Lee back into the fight.

    ��Wait, what the hell happened? I looked away from him for only a few seconds!��

    On Sala are four wounds that weren��t there a moment ago, each one is long, deep, and weeping red onto the ground. They look like sword strikes, not claws.

    Then another opens on his back, blood spraying up in an arc.

    Another slash appears on one of his hind legs, which buckles under the wound.

    Tiny cuts are slit right above Sala��s eyes from a source unseen, which send irritating blood right into his vision.

    The dragon roars in rage again. From his throat, white fire pours out as he spins in a circle, setting the entire rocky field ablaze and slagging the ground. The suddenly superheated ground prompts Zinnia��s Salamence to shake off his electrocution and rise into the air with a flap of his wings, lest he suffer burns.

    ��What''s going on? Where did Sceptile go?�� Brendan asks, panning his head around.

    Lee recalls where he saw something like this before, all the way back in his gym match with Moore in Lavaridge.

    <hr>

    Lee blinks when he hears a squeal of pain, and as he blinks, Arcanine disappears from his sight. No, wait, what happened?!

    Arcanine is already upon Octillery, mauling the octopus and shaking him around like a ragdoll. Octillery twitches and writhes under the crackling, electrified fangs digging into his flesh.

    ''What the fuck?! I could''ve sworn I saw him standing still a moment ago!'' Lee''s mind whirls. Arcanine didn''t leave behind some kind of illusion, did he? No? ''Lord above, he moved so fast that he actually tricked my eyes. I just saw a real after image.''

    <hr>

    ��Honest to Arceus afterimages���� Lee whispers in disbelief, drawing looks from Zinnia and Brendan. ��Sceptile is so damn fast we can��t even see him!��

    As if to prove Lee��s point, Sceptile appears on Sala��s back like a phantom. No blur, no whoosh of air, nothing. He��s simply not there one moment, then there the next. Before Sala can do much of anything, Sceptile lashes out with a kick that slams into the back of the large dragon��s skull, nearly driving his muzzle into the ground.

    Sala turns his neck and snaps his jaws, but Sceptile is already long gone.

    ��We can win this. We can actually win this! Salamence!�� Zinnia��s manic grin is on full blast. ��He��s getting tired! We just need one good knockout blow now! Use the openings Sceptile makes!��

    Another slash bursts open on Sala��s side, and on pure instinct, the dragon turns and bathes the area in fire.

    Salamence launches a Dragon Pulse right into Sala��s unprotected side, making the larger dragon flinch.

    Sala turns to Salamence with a growl and fires off his own Dragon Pulse, which rages right along with its wielder, only for Salamence to twist midair and dodge.

    There is a barely visible flicker of green, and another cut rends Sala��s side, forming an X with another wound.

    Sala turns and blasts the area in fire, missing, and opening himself up for another Dragon Pulse from Salamence.

    The game of cat and mouse continues, with each new wound slowing the great beast of a reptile down further. With his wing crippled, he can��t hope to chase down Salamence, and Sceptile��s new speed is simply something he can''t keep up with. Sala tries changing tactics, like smashing the ground with omnidirectional attacks like Bulldoze, but Sceptile simply leaps high and avoids being struck.

    ��Aster��s Salamence is something else. Heartbroken, starved, bleeding like a stuck pig, and he��s still trucking through a two-on-one. How strong would he have been in his prime?�� Lee wonders, conjuring an image akin to Godzilla in his head. ��Hell, maybe Zinnia undersold Aster, if that''s even possible.��

    Eventually, though, Sala��s focus slips too far, and Zinnia calls for the last blow.

    ��Zen Headbutt!��

    Sala turns his head just in time for Salamence to smash his shimmering forehead between his eyes. The sound of the dragons colliding is like a bomb, and is just as harsh on the ears.

    With a tired, pained groan, Aster��s partner falls to his stomach, his head drooping from the blow. He stares up at Salamence, who is panting and covered in wounds, with something akin to pride in his eyes. Then unconsciousness finally takes the behemoth, and his head falls to the ground with a thud!

    For a moment, everyone waits with bated breath to see if the monstrous pokemon will get back to his feet. When he doesn''t, Lee lets himself relax. ��Holy hell����

    ��Holy hell,�� Zinnia agrees, turning her eyes to the distant plateau where the Elders are mounting their dragons. ��If that didn��t impress, then I don��t know what will.��

    Lee shakes his head as Sceptile materializes next to him in a flash of movement. ��If they want anything more after an exhausting fight like that, I��m telling them to stick those mega-stones where the sun don��t shine.��

    Zinnia snorts, then turns her attention to Salamence, who is lumbering over. ��Excuse me, boys, I need to go admire my dragon,�� she says with a wide grin, almost skipping over to Salamence.

    Beside Lee, Sceptile smirks around his twig and crosses his arms. He looks down at Lee and makes an inquisitive, throaty trill, one that seems amused. ��So what''s that about an exhausting fight? I��m the one who fought. How are you the tired one?��

    ��Don��t spoil the pride I have for you.�� Lee levels Sceptile with a mock glare, but can''t quite stop the smile that wants to rise to his face. Grovyle evolved! It still feels so good; so good, in fact that he throws an arm around Sceptile��s shoulders and pulls him into a side hug.

    Going for a hug, however, makes Lee notice that the Grass-type is now a good eight inches taller than him. ��Huh, you''re taller than expected. You��re going to need another physical so I can get a new baseline on you.��

    Sceptile sighs. ��Can��t it wait?��

    ��Until tonight? Sure thing.��

    The next sigh is twice as exasperated.

 Act 2: Finale

    Act 2: Finale

    "Why wasn''t I told that S is still alive?"

    Zinnia''s biting question is the first thing spoken as everyone sits down in the hut Lee andpany have called home for thest six weeks.

    Seated across from Zinnia with Danae at her side, Elder Juniper sighs deeply. "We thought him gone as well, Granddaughter," she speaks, each word weary. "When we found him beside what remained of Aster, he was delirious with grief, and we could not approach for fear of his aimless wrath. Then he took to the skies, flying to Metron''fall Krate, and we could not pursue, for we had to prepare the final rites of Aster. We feared he wished for solitude, to expire from a broken heart in peace." Juniper closes her eyes. "Weeks after Aster left into the sweet embrace of the ancestors, he returned, curling by her grave and refusing to hear any words spoken to him."

    Zinnia''s frown is decidedly unsatisfied. "That still doesn''t exin why I wasn''t told."

    "We assumed you knew, Thelban. We assumed that of all our tribesmen, you would have gone to pay respects countless times and seen him," Danae murmurs, refusing to meet Zinnia''s eyes.

    Her frown transforming into a frustrated snarl, Zinnia turns her head and growls. Whether she''s upset with herself or the elders, Lee isn''t sure.

    Sitting with Zinnia on the couch with Nales and Sceptile standing to his right, Lee swaps between listening to the Draconid''s conversation and looking out the window, where S lies curled up just outside the hut.

    It''s no wonder Zinnia wasn''t concerned about S when he finally lost the energy to keep fighting: the brute got back up within ten minutes, many of hiscerations already scabbing over. Even then, though, Lee''s first instinct was to treat the dragon''s wounds. S tried to ward him away with a snarl, but Lee wasn''t having any of that.

    "<em>Don''t give me that shit." Lee answers S with a seldom-used scowl. "You lost, bud, and I know how dragons handle things like this. Your fate is in our-" he gestures to himself, a smirking Sceptile, a stone-faced Smence, and an amused Zinnia "-hands. If I say I want to fix you up, you''re in no position toin."</em><em>Lee drops his bag, unzips it, and fishes around inside, producing a Sitrus berry and a capped Super Potion. He thrusts the berry towards a bbergasted S. "Now eat this and hang tight."</em>

    <em>Still stunned, S takes the offered berry with care. The apple-sized fruit isically small between the dragon''s teeth and is swallowed without needing to be chewed.</em>

    <em>Lee watches with a self-assured nod, then mbers into S''s back, uncapping his potion and giving the gory wing-joint wound a critical look. "This is going to sting, just a heads-up."</em>

    <em>S sends a nce towards Sceptile, who just shakes his head. </em>"Don''t fight it, you won''t win," <em>the Grass-type''s amused growl seems to say.</em>

    With the worst of S''s wounds taken care of, the great dragon was able to fly all the way back to the Meteorfall Crater at Lee and Zinnia''s behest, though he did pause to give Aster''s resting ce a mournful nce. It was surreal to see all the grumpy dragons nesting around the crater''s entrance duck their heads or even vacate the area as S flew in.

    ''<em>I guess S is still a big deal to the locals, even after years of being absent,'' </em>Lee muses before his thoughts turn to Brendan.

    Brendan�� The young trainer was obviously put out that Marshtomp went down before he could evolve, but the kid took it like the good sport he is. With a strangely subdued Taxus escorting him, Brendan flew back to the Draconid vige astride Latias so Marshtomp could be dropped off at the small clinic in the middle of town.

    ''<em>Marshtomp is going to be a terror as a Swampert.'' </em>Lee can scarcely imagine the damage Brendan''s eventual evolved starter will be able to inflict. <em>''A middle-evo making an oversized dragon flinch with a Mega Punch is unreal.</em>

    Zinnia''s sigh draws Lee back from his thoughts. "Okay, fine, maybe not knowing about S was on me, but what kind of pact was Taxus talking about before S stood up?" Zinnia asks, crossing her arms. "Did you old fuckers put him up to that? That was scummy, by the way, questioning Aster''s <emst fucking wish </em>to motivate him."

    Lee shoots a quick nce to Nales, who looks back. <em>''Based on what I''m hearing and what little I know of the Draconid tongue, Taxus apparently met S prior to today to be the ''test'', and strong-armed him intopliance by implying Aster''s faith in Zinnia was misced.''</em>

    Frowning, Lee feels his already low opinion of Taxus sour further.

    "We were unaware of Taxus'' n until the moment of revtion," Juniper bitterly admits, her eyes hardening. "We <em>will </em>have words over it."

    Before Zinnia can reply, the front door is pushed open, and in walks none other than Taxus with Brendan in tow. Held in Taxus'' hands is arge, wooden trunk.

    Sweeping into the room with the cloak around his shoulders billowing behind him, Taxus sets the trunk on the low table between the couch and chairs, his face set in a neutral mask.

    As Taxus does so, Brendan quietly sits between Lee and Zinnia.

    "Thelban Zinnia, Naraikvejor Henson, Naraikvejor Birch," Taxus begins slowly, looking at each one of them in turn. "You and your pokemon have proven yourselves against a trial you were not meant to ovee," he begins, closing his eyes with a sigh. The low candle-light of the hut makes the sweat on his bald brow obvious. "For that reason, I can do nothing but offer you congrattions�� and the tools you were promised."

    Slowly, reverently, Taxus lifts the lid of the trunk he set down, and the hut is filled with a soft, multi-colored glow.

    Lee''s breath hitches at what he sees.

    Inside the velvet-lined trunk are three fist-sized orbs resembling marbles. Each one shines with its own luminescence, casting colorful rays of light that dance off of the walls. Unlike the keystones they received weeks ago, the mega-stones are already set into bits of armor spotted with green, aged patina.

    On the left is a steely-white stone with twists of bright red and blue in its core, and Zinnia is staring at it with undisguised awe. On her belt, Smence''s pokeball shakes, then pops open on its own, making the already small room shrink further with Smence''s bulk. Like Zinnia, Smence looks down at the little stone with awe, and also a bit of hunger.

    ''<em>That must be the Smencite.''</em>

    The middle mega-stone is a bright blue with a swirl of rusty orange and a blue of a more ruddy hue. Brendan''s wide eyes are drawn to it instantly, as if by instinct.

    ''<em>The Swampertite. I''m surprised the Draconids have one, considering Swampert isn''t a dragon. That must make thest one��''</em>

    Lee can''t stop the grin that splits his face.

    The final mega-stone is a verdant emerald, and its innards are a mix of pale orange and a deep, forest green.

    Beside him, Lee can hear Sceptile''s sharp intake of breath.

    ''<em>Sceptilite.''</em>

    When Lee began this journey of his with Vulpix all those months ago, never did he expect to actuallye into possession of a mega-stone. It seemed like one of those things that a regr person could never ever stumble upon, not without some unreal luck.

    ''<em>I think our luck is within the realms of ''unreal'', Beloved,'' </em>Nales dryly interjects. <em>''Now, whether it is good luck or bad luck is a coin flip.''</em>

    "I''ll be honest, Taxus." Zinnia gives the man an uncertain re. "I was kinda expecting you to fail us on some kind of technicality."

    Taxus looks as if he wants to bristle at Zinnia''s words, but stops and takes a deep breath. "It is as I said, you seeded where you were not expected to. I would shame myself if I went back on my word now," he grinds out. "All I can ask is that you not use Ascension as a toy. Treat these sacred tools and the rite they can invoke with the respect they are owed."

    "Thank you, Elder Taxus." Brendan inclines his head with a smile. "We promise we''ll use the mega-stones responsibly."

    Taxus''s scowl falters in the face of Brendan''s sincere words. Instead, he crosses his arms and turns his head away. "Thelban Zinnia, Naraikvejor Henson, adorn your dragons. Naraikvejor Birch, guard your stone jealously until its user is ready."

    A grin on her face, Zinnia stands and lifts the Smencite along with its fittings from the trunk, not at all faltering with the stone or the heavy metal attached to it.

    "Man, oh man," Lee murmurs, getting to his feet and taking the Sceptilite from the chest. He huffs at the unexpected weight of the armor, only for the burden to ease when a gentle aura of purple glows around the metal. <em>''Thanks, Love.''</em>

    Nales answers with a silent smile.

    Lifting the Sceptilite and its fastenings up, Lee inspects it in the light of the candle chandelier above.

    The actual mega-stone steals the show with its brilliant color and rays, but the chest-piece it''s set into is also fantastic. The blueish-green metal forms a gorget with the mega-stone set right in the center. The entire thing is covered in Draconid carvings that Lee can''t tell the significance of, and the neck area looks to be padded in wool. After running his thumb over the cool surface for a second, Lee raises an eyebrow. "This color isn''t patina," he deres, looking over his shoulder to the elders. "What is this made of?"

    "The peoples of the Draconid tribe call it ''Shorveth'', Naraikvejor Henson," Elder Danae answers with a smile. "It is a�� what is the word? Composite? Alloy? Alloy of meteorite, iron, and copper forged with dragon fire. Very heavy, very strong."

    Lee hums to himself, filing that interesting tidbit away forter.

    It takes a moment of fiddling, but Lee discovers atch on the gorget, letting the back of it separate on a pair of hinges. Once he has it open, Lee turns to an eager Sceptile. "Ready?"

    Sceptile nods.

    Lee lifts the chest piece up, letting Sceptile hold the front while he circles around to Sceptile''s back. Once he closes the back and fastens thetch, the whole thing sits neatly around his neck and on his shoulders. "How''s it feeling, bud?"

    The Grass-type rolls his shoulders and turns his neck, slowly nodding to himself. In a show of dexterity, he flips into a handstand without bashing his tail into the chandelier. Sceptile gives himself a shake, but the padding around the neck of the armor has enough grip that it doesn''t slide down and bash him in the jaw.

    Flipping back to his feet, Sceptile gives Lee a small smile and a thumbs up.

    Lee grins back.

    Over with Zinnia, the Lorekeeper is finishing her final fitments to Smence''s own mega-stone. Like Sceptile''s, Smence''s stone is set into a carved, blue-green chest piece fitted around his neck. It''s considerably thicker than Sceptile''s, and whenbined with Smence''s half-healed wounds, the dragon cuts a striking figure in the candlelight.

    "Oh yeah��" Zinnia takes a step back to properly admire her dragon. "Smence, you look <em>so damn good </em>wearing that."

    Try as he might to remain stoic, Smence preens under the praise.

    Brendan, meanwhile, just takes the stone and its armor, which looks like a giant armband, and carefully tucks it away in his Silph bag. He takes care to shuffle the contents of his backpack so the mega stone sinks to the bottom.

    Elder Juniper then clears her throat, drawing all eyes in the room to her. "With the conquering of your trial and the bequeathing of these tools, the faith of the Draconid people has been ced on your shoulders. This world is a troubled one, and it needs steady shepherds to see it through the storm; shepherds such as you three," she says quietly, bowing her head slightly. "The power of Ascension, of Mega-Evolution, is one we cannot teach, for no teacher can know the bond between man and pokemon as they do themselves. We know, however, you will master it."

    "Mega-Evolution has not yet been seen in this new world of mass media and technology," Danae takes over, lowering his own head. "This new power is yours tomand, and�� It will create a paradigm shift. You will be in a unique position, one of consequence."

    "It''s for that reason that we must reiterate our plea to be responsible. You will drive countless others to seek what they cannot control. Be prepared," Taxus finishes, his eyes narrow and flinty.

    Despite having expected a speech beforehand, there is a weight to the word of the elders that leaves Lee the slightest bit unsettled. <em>''Yeah, mega-evos are still real hush-hush, aren''t they? If we use it publicly, there are going to be a lot of eyes on us.''</em>

    A momentter, the worry is banished, as Lee remembers the Mt. Chimney incident and the promise he made to himself. A phantom pain in his chest, from a spear of rock that never struck him, makes him narrow his eyes. <em>''Ha, here I am worrying about what strangers might think again. If I need to deal with a bunch of demanding emails and stares to make Sceptile or, hell, any of my pokemon the best of the best, then so be it.''</em>

    Juniper stands as Danae and Taxus make to leave. "We will leave you in peace. You deserve rest after today," she says, walking slower than Danae and Taxus.

    The other two elders don''t wait up, leaving and closing the door behind them.

    Before leaving herself, Juniper lingers. "Zinnia," she says, her words tender. "Please, if you heed <em>any </em>of my words, make it these: be careful." She turns and stares at a startled Zinnia with wet eyes. "If I must bury another child, my heart will surely give out."

    "Granny��" Zinnia whispers, her shoulders slumping, sending her earlier fire and defiance to the floor. She slowly makes her way over to Juniper, and takes the short woman into a hug. "I promise I will. I''ll make you and Aster proud."

    Juniper''s singrugh is quiet, almost too quiet to hear. Lee would have missed it if not for Nales'' sharp ears. "You already have, my dear. You already have," she whispers back, wrapping her own arms around Zinnia.

    Grandmother and granddaughter stay embraced for a moment, then Juniper pulls away, her face weary. "Naraikvejor," she says, nodding once to Brendan and Lee. "I bid you good day. You are friends of the tribe forevermore, and I wish you the best of luck on your mission and your lives after. I am in your debt for caring for my Zinnia."

    Lee waves off the admission with a thin smile. "No worries. It''s only a chore sometimes."

    "Sometimes?" Brendan chimes in with a trouble-making smile.

    "You guys are kind of ruining the moment!" Zinnia whirls and levels them both with a re thatcks any heat.

    Juniperughs once more, this time with genuine mirth. "Haha! Perhaps I worry for nothing after all, if you do not find her a challenge."

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the vition.

    With a grunt, Zinnia crosses her arms and looks away, but she grins the entire time.

    Composing herself, Juniper inclines her head to the group. "I shall take my leave. These old bones demand rest after today''s excitement. Belin guz yara, Thelban, Naraikvejor,"

    "Belin guz yara," Zinnia says back, her grin easing into something more gentle. "I love you, Granny."

    A smile blooms on Juniper''s aged face. "And I, you, Granddaughter."

    With that, Juniper leaves, shutting the door behind her.

    Once the wing beats of Juniper''s Dragonite fade, Zinnia instantly turns to Lee. "Okay, Dolittle, spill it. How does mega evolution work?"

    Lee leans back into the couch with a sigh. "The exact mechanics were never exined, and some things were retconned between generations, but I''ll exin what I can."

    Everyone leans in to listen.

    "One more time!"

    Lee tosses a ying card, a king of hearts depicting a sleepy Slowking, up into the air. Slowly it flutters down, carried by the gentle wind currents that blow in from the opening in the crater.

    Suddenly, there is a tiny pressure in Lee''s ears, then as quick as it came, it''s gone. It''s so fast that he almost wonders if it was imagined.

    The card, which is still midair, splits into two, cut right down its edge.

    Lee catches one half of the card and runs his fingers over the white, featureless side that was separated from the other half, finding the cut smooth as can be. "I don''t think that will ever get old."

    Standing a short distance away, Sceptile smirks and gives his Leaf de a flick, making the air whistle.

    Following the meeting with the Draconid Elders and Lee''s warning to not fool around with mega evolution quite yet, everyone dispersed to do their own thing and rx for a bit.

    Zinnia, who was all too eager to fly on Smence, went back to the Draconid vige to run some errands. She spoke briefly about seeing the cksmith to ask about proper holders for their keystones, and wanted to get a saddle for Smence.

    Lacking a saddle currently, she of course flew bareback, grantly ignoring every air trafficw in Hoenn.

    Brendan followed Zinnia, wanting to check in on Marshtomp. Unfortunately for Lee, the boy left before Lee could ask him if he was doing okay following the end of the battle with S. Marshtomp being the only one to go down and not even evolving to boot must have been an emotional gut-punch.

    ''<em>Brendan is a mature kid. I''m sure he''s disappointed, but I doubt Marshtomp''s loss will keep him down for long,'' </em>Lee thinks to himself, returning his focus outward.

    While Zinnia and Brendan took their teams and went to town, Lee decided it was time for some rxation while he tested Sceptile''s new capabilities. Nine, Corvi, Sylveon, Octillery, and Shinx are off to the side, resting as a group and conversing amongst themselves as Lee puts Sceptile through his paces.

    ''<em>Let''s see how he handles this��''</em>

    Looking down at his notebook, Lee pretends to be putting the ying cards away into his pocket, then suddenly flings all of them into the air, where they flutter around wildly in the wind. "Sceptile! Cut them down the edge! All of them!"

    Sceptile vanishes from his spot, and half a secondter, each one of the cards is split in two seemingly at once. The sound is like a p of thunder.

    <em>No, </em>not at once. Lee nearly misses it, but the cards closer to the ground are cut first. One nearly touching the ground splits, then the next highest one, then the next. The veryst one to go is one carried high by the wind. The sound of each slice is so close together that it''s easy to mistake it as one continuous noise.

    Sceptile reappears in his eerily quiet way, with the hum of his Leaf de being the loudest part of the process. He barely even disturbs the mossy ground of the crater.

    Bending down, Lee picks up a few of the cards, inspecting Sceptile''s handiwork.

    Most of the cards are split perfectly, with precision even a machine would be hard-pressed to match. Several are lopsided, or identally cut in half lengthwise rather than down the edge. <em>''So he''s not an instant anime hero. Thank goodness, I don''t think I could handle that kind of perfection right out of the gate.''</em>

    Lee shakes his head with a smile, jotting down Sceptile''s results. "Sceptile, you''d put every master samurai back on Earth to shame. This is the kind of performance even multi-million dor machines can''t replicate."

    Despite his words, Sceptile fixates on the cards he didn''t split correctly with a frown, prompting Lee to ball one up and flick it at him.

    The little ball of paper plinks off of green nose scales, and Sceptile blinks, giving Lee a half-hearted re.

    "Don''t pout, no one is perfect." Lee calmly stares back. He balls up another card and rolls it between his fingers. "You''ll get the hang of it. Just splitting one is impressive, and I won''t tolerate you putting yourself down, you hear me?"

    Sceptile sighs, <em>"Very well��" </em>he hisses.

    "<em>You''re the only pokemon in the world who can be upset over * speed powers, * ," </em>Corviknight croaks from the sidelines. <em>"Feh! If you''re * so put out, then have a * with me. Let''s see how far you''vee!" </em>the raven challenges, standing and raising a glimmering Steel Wing.

    Sceptile turns his eyes to Lee, who sighs, having seen thising.

    "Go down to the training chamber, and keep it light," he orders. "By ''light'', I mean both of you being able to walk back. Dinner is in two hours, so remember that."

    Sceptile inclines his head. <em>"Of course, Lee."</em>

    Corviknight answers with a crisp nod. <em>"I hear and obey."</em>

    "Go on." Lee gestures towards the distant cave leading down to the Draconid training chamber. "Enjoy while you can, we leave for Petalburg in the morning."

    Both Sceptile and Corviknight disappear from their spots. The Grass-type''s departure is silent, while Corviknight blurs away with a loud sonic <em>crack!, </em>almost throwing the nearby Octillery off of his tentacles, and <em>actually </em>throwing Shinx off her paws from the shockwave.

    "<em>Hey!" </em>Shinx cries in rm as she stands up with a wobble.

    Nales res after the racing pair of pokemon, then gently lifts Shinx by her scruff and pulls the kitten close for a grooming.

    Lee shakes his head and looks back down to his notebook, flipping back to his general notes section.

    It''s been getting easier and easier to understand his pokemon over thesest few weeks. He doesn''t verbally understand them one-to-one (except for Nales), but their tones, inflections, and bodynguage are enough to carry a conversation without Nales'' telepathic assistance.

    Lee hasn''t any idea if the TE-rich air is speeding up this particr process, or if he''s naturally getting the hang of deciphering pokemon cries, but it added yet another potential study to the back burner.

    With Corvi and Sceptile, he can hold full discussions onplex subjects with only a little stumbling. He even imagines a posh tone for Corvi.

    Sylveon and Octillery are harder, but the gist of what they want to convey gets across.

    Shinx Lee''s still trying to puzzle out. The kitten has the sharpest memory of anyone he''s ever met, and she learns new words and their meanings easily, but she constantly makes new sounds with odd grammar, fouling up Lee''s learning of her speech. He''s learned the basics, like "Hungry", "Tired", "Pick me up" and whatnot, but it''ll still be a while before he and his baby can talk properly.

    ''<em>Not the worst problem to have, if I''m being honest,'' </em>Lee muses, jotting down a few new verbal idiosyncrasies he noticed from Sceptile.

    On the topic of Sceptile, Lee can''t help but flip back to his Grass-type''s notebook section and grin like a loon.

    Standing at six-foot-eight and weighing nearly two-hundred pounds in lean muscle, Sceptile is firmly in the top percentile for physique for his kind. He''s no freak outlier like Corviknight, but he''s still huge. Like he did as a Grovyle, Sceptile still makes the thin, leafy swords of his sh attacks as long as he is tall, and with his long arms, that gives Sceptile an absurd ten feet of reach inbat.

    They haven''t even touched on his tail and its fan of ded leaves, or the seeds on Sceptile''s back that experts say are explosive<em>.</em>

    Sceptile''s raw speed and mid-air control needs no hype; it''s in a league of its own, as Lee''s pok��dex now lists Extreme Speed in Sceptile''s repertoire.

    Closing the notebook, Lee walks on over to where the rest of his pokemon lie by the outer wall of the hut, and sits down between Nales and Sylveon.

    Sylveon lightly leans into Lee''s side, while Shinx shakes herself from Nales and trundles into hisp. Shinx makes herselffortable, then shuts her eyes with a content smile and purrs away.

    Octillery, touch-shy as he is, burbles a quick <em>"Wake me for dinner"</em> and touches his ball on Lee''s belt, retreating inside with a sh.

    "Wake him for dinner, huh?" Lee mutters to no one in particr, a little tired himself. "I wouldn''t mind a nap myself after everything today,"

    "<em>Did the * * use a dead woman''s * words to * our guest?" </em>Sylveon asks as she wraps a ribbon around Lee''s wrist. The disapproval in her words is stark even if Lee can only puzzle out half of them, and she cuts her blue eyes over to S, who is still sleeping off the worst of his injuries a dozen yards from them.

    The dragon hasn''t stirred a bit since hended and curled up, not counting his light snoring.

    "One did," Lee replies, closing his eyes and leaning his head back into the mossy covering of the hut. "It doesn''t seem like that was a popr choice, and I think Elder Taxus is going to catch hell from the other elders for that stunt."

    "<em>He''d better��" </em>Nales grumbles aloud. <em>"Danae was on our side from the beginning, and Juniper''s inaction is understandable, if unappreciated. Taxus'' objections were outright foolish, however."</em>

    Lee mulls her words over. "To y devil''s advocate for a moment, I do get Taxus'' reservations; he doesn''t want any old person to be able to use mega-evos and potentially hurt themselves or others with it. Imagine a worst-case-scenario like multiple Maxies."

    Nine frowns. Lee can''t see it with his eyes closed, but he can feel her lips pull downward. <em>"That is an unfounded fear given the rarity of the stones."</em>

    ''<em>And what about Aster and S?'' </em>Lee mentally retorts, not wanting to disturb the sleeping dragon by speaking Aster''s name out loud.

    "<em>...Unfortunate outliers," </em>Nine replies after a long moment. <em>"If we keep the true nature of Mega Evolution to ourselves, it will remain a non-issue."</em>

    "No secret remains a secret forever," is Lee''s blithe response.

    The fox at Lee''s side growls and nips one of his fingers. <em>"Perhaps you do need a nap if you''re this argumentative."</em>

    "Ow!" Lee cracks open an eye and theatrically waves his bitten finger. "Don''t mistake this as me taking Taxus'' side. He definitely deserves an ass-kicking after his little stunt, I''m just saying I get why he did it."

    "<em>When we have an argument, you''re supposed to cave and take my side." </em>Nales huffs, but she can''t hide the fond amusement that pours from her being into his.

    Lee smiles back and closes his eyes again. "If I do that, then there''s no way we''re beating the marriage allegations."

    Nales rolls her eyes and rests her chin on his knee.

    Taking a deep breath, Lee lets himself drift off.

    <em>Eyes of red, piercing as can be.</em>

    <em>Mantle of gold, majestic as can be.</em>

    <em>A fanged mouth speaking, damning as can be.</em>

    <em>In a void of neither light nor dark.</em>

    <em>The great maw of teeth opens once more, inhuman lips forming words meant for he alone.</em>

    <em>It says unto him �C</em>

    "<em><strong>I -"</strong></em>

    Lee suddenly startles awake when a roar reverberates around the cavern. Blinking his bleary eyes, he sighs.

    That damn dream again. He can barely close his eyes without seeing it.

    Looking around, it seems like Nine, Sylveon, and Shinx have cleared out, letting him nap in peace for��

    He nces up at the sun peaking above the crater.

    ��Maybe half an hour.

    The noise did more than startle him awake, as he hears the hut''s door m, and Nales is at his side in a hurry. The fox looks up, then shakes her head in exasperation.

    Standing and stretching, Lee follows her eyes.

    Flying down towards them is Zinnia astride her Smence. Most of the dragon''s wounds are gone, so Zinnia must have stopped by the Draconid clinic before returning. The next thing he notices is Smence''s saddle. Even from the air, he can make out swirling, tribal designs pressed into the leather, and spies quite a bit of extra length on the saddle straps tucked away.

    ''<em>Maybe Smence is going to keep growing, and the saddle needs room for adjustment?'' </em>Lee theorizes to himself.

    As Zinnia and Smence are touching down, Lee finally sizes up Smence and gets an appreciation for howrge the dragon is.

    Smence didn''t look like muchpared to the Goliath that is S, but in a vacuum, he''s imposing to say the least. The ground rumbles lightly as Smencends, and Lee can only assume the dragon weighs a half-ton at minimum. From tail tip to nose, he looks to be pushing twenty feet long, and he towers over Lee even without his neck fully extended.

    "Hey there, sleepy!" Zinnia hops off of Smence with a grin. "Sorry for waking you, but a couple of the crater nesters wanted to give Smence a hard time as we wereing in," she says, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the cavern entrance high above. "Nothing that screaming ''sit down, chump'' at a hundred and forty decibels can''t fix."

    Lee crosses his arms and smiles. "Dragon diplomacy sure is simple stuff, huh?" He asks, looking Zinnia up and down. "New duds?"

    The dragon tamer nts her hands on her hips and gives him a smile. "I thought that after giving Aster back her cloak, I was due for a change. What do you think?"

    Zinnia''s open-back shirt is no more, reced with a normal red tank-top with a ck jacket bearing w-designs on the sleeves. Her rope belt was also surrendered, reced with something more standard. Her shorts and sandals look to be unchanged, however.

    "Not bad." Lee nods along, his eyes trailing down to her too-short shirt, which exposes her navel. He reaches out and pokes her stomach with a finger. "Aren''t you going to get cold?"

    She ps his hand away. "No! Who ever heard of a Draconid who gets cold?"

    "<em>I get the feeling that we will in the near future,"</em> Nales quips as Lee lets out a yawn.

    Zinnia rolls her eyes as Smence lets out a rumblyugh deep in his throat. "You''re supposed to be on my side, big guy," she throws over her shoulder before returning her attention to Lee. "You were out pretty good there. Did you get enough sleepst night?"

    "Plenty." Lee yawns once more. "It sucks that you came in when you did, though. I was having that weird dream again, and I almost heard what the figure was saying."

    "Geez, again?" Zinnia''s mirthful face falls into something concerned. "That''s every night this week."

    "I don''t suppose you have any suggestions?" Lee asks, leaning back into the hut. "It started up when we came down here, and doesn''t seem to happen when I sleep outside of Meteor Falls. This ce is some kind of catalyst for it."

    Zinnia is silent for a moment as she rubs her chin. She looks between Lee and Nales, to the glittering walls around them, then to the hut. "You said you almost heard it this time?"

    A nod is Lee''s answer.

    "Maybe��" Zinnia looks over towards the smallke in the center-most part of the great cavern, where the glowing meteorite at theke bed shoots out rainbow rays. "Try sleeping or meditating out here, closer to the central meteorite," she begins, pointing a finger at the clear bowl of water. "<em>Something </em>is obviously trying to reach out to you through either the cavern itself or the Dragon TE, and having solid walls around you," she then turns her finger to the hut, "might be just enough of a hindrance to stop it."

    Lee shares a nce with Nales. <em>''Worth a shot?''</em>

    ''<em>It''s probably best to not snub whatever force that is so desperately trying to contact us,'' </em>Nales reluctantly agrees. <em>''I </em><em><strong>will </strong></em><em>be with you, however.''</em>

    Smiling, Lee reaches down and rubs the fox between her ears. <em>''I wouldn''t dream of going alone.''</em>

    Several hourster, after everyone has dined and settled in for the night, Lee and Nales quietly exit the hut and trot over to thekeside within the cavern. With them are Brendan and Latias.

    Coming to a stop at the edge of theke, Lee looks down at the shining stone illuminating the waters below. "You didn''t need toe, Brendan."

    The boy, with Latias in tow, puts his hands on his hips and gives Lee a hard look. "C''mon, you think we''re going to let you do this alone? Latias is a great psychic, and if whatever is trying to talk to you decides to act up, she can rough them up no problem."

    Latias croons bashfully at the praise, looking away with a small, pleased smile.

    ''<em>Be that as it may, remain on standby until you are </em><em><strong>absolutely </strong></em><em>certain we need help.'' </em>Nales'' stern words are projected for Brendan and Latias to also hear. <em>''We do not know who is attempting contact, and why they would use a method as unorthodox as dreams. Their persistence implies urgency, and we''ve ignored them long enough to foster possible resentment. Undue hostility has no ce here.''</em>

    Brendan flinches slightly at her words. "Yes, ma''am,"

    Nales nods briskly, then sits and turns to Lee. <em>''Beloved?''</em>

    Taking a deep breath, Lee sits down himself and scoots closer to Nine, leaning his head forward.

    The golden fox leans forward herself, meeting Lee in the middle as their foreheads touch.

    Both still their breathing, using the meditation exercises Anabel provided during theirst meeting. As they do so, each gently pulls on the mind of the other, until their beings touch just the barest amount.

    Slowly, Lee''s senses begin to fade, until all that is left is himself and his dearest friend.

    When Lee opens his eyes, he''s not in the Meteorfall Crater anymore. In fact, where is he? He looks around, but nothing seems familiar other than the vixen at his side. It''s almost like -

    Oh, right. He and Nales are meditating together. That''s why nothing around him makes sense.

    "You figure I''d be used to this by now." Lee smiles despite himself. With a bit of focus, the space around him morphs.

    One moment, they''re surrounded by ckness, and the next, they''re in the backyard of Lee''s childhood home in an Ohio suburb.

    The details of the scene are blurry, and the neighbors'' houses are just smears of color that change every time he looks away, but it''s familiar enough to befortable. He just wishes that-

    Nales noses his side. "Don''t worry about getting everything correct in one go, Lee," she murmurs, no distinction between her thoughts and words. "Anabel said this mindscape business is a work in progress for everyone, even for experts," she says with a smile.

    "I guess you''re right," Lee concedes, sitting in the grass and pulling Nales close. Her ever-flowing love feels like a soothing, physical heat under his fingers. "How long do you think we''ll be waiting for�� whoever it is?"

    Nales leans into his side and shrugs. "I wouldn''t know."

    For a time, they stay here, saying nothing and just basking in Lee''s old, smudgy memory.

    "Say, Love?" Lee speaks up. "If we ever get the chance, let''s head to-" He stops as he leans back and looks up.

    <em>Eyes of red, piercing as can be.</em>

    <em>Mantle of gold, majestic as can be.</em>

    <em>A fanged mouth speaking, damning as can be.</em>

    <em>In a void of neither light nor dark.</em>

    <em>The great maw of teeth opens once more, inhuman lips forming words meant for he alone.</em>

    <em>It says unto him �C</em>

    "<strong>I have been awaiting this moment, Lee Henson,"</strong>

    Lee stumbles backwards, somehow standing and tripping over nothing as Nales bursts into motion and stands protectively over him, her fur bristling and teeth bared.

    Even knowing that he''s in his own head�� or Nales'' head? Either way, Lee rubs his eyes, but the nostalgic scene is gone, reced with�� With��

    He can''t hope to describe what he sees around them now. It''s dark, yet not. It''s devoid of color, but the colors are so vivid that they burn to look at.

    Above he and Nales is a twisting shape that somehow takes up the entire void around them, yet remains distinct amidst the not-dark. Lee sees the thing no matter what direction he turns his head. On either side, great wings of writhing ck and red encircle them, cutting off all routes of escape.

    Lee''s stomach turns to ice, and he��

    No, wait. That''s not his fear. Nales is quaking on her paws, paralyzed by such terror that all she can do is stand over Lee and try to keep her emotions from leaking into him. It''s a fear so pure, so instinctual, that all thoughts other than escape flee her.

    They need to run from this thing.

    Lee takes fistfuls of Nales''s fur to pull her away with him, but no matter which way he turns, the shape remains in front of him. With a dry gulp, he looks up to face the beast head-on.

    Giratina, antithesis of Arceus, stares down at them with eyes the color of fresh blood.

    "<strong>We''ve much to speak about, the three of us."</strong>

    <strong>End of Act 2</strong>

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Act 3: Chapter 1

    "We''ve much to speak about, the three of us."

    "We do?" are the first words to blurt from Lee''s mouth.

    Above, the great, shifting shadow leans in closer, looming over the trembling man and fox.

    "Yes."

    Lee licks his lips, but finds that they remain dry, much like his throat. His shaking hands hold Ninetales tightly, trying to soothe the unsettlingly intense terror ripping through her. "I-I take it you were the one trying to reach out to me? To us? Over the last few weeks?"

    As he speaks, Lee vainly tries to inspect the dark shape that he knows is Giratina, but looks nothing like how his memory says Giratina should look. No matter what angle, what feature he focuses on, the mind-bending form before him remains painful to look at.

    "Indeed."

    Giratina''s blood-red irises, of which Lee sees two, but swears there are more, shift between them.

    "You are owed answers. Answers I would have given freely upon the beginning."

    The black wyrm shifts its piercing eyes away, and when Lee and Nine turn their heads to follow the baleful gaze, they find naught but more dark. Then Giratina returns its attention to them.

    "Twas not my wish to leave you with so little, but I am not The Original One, my Father and Brother. Blessings and boons aplenty are not within my sphere. I am His antithesis, born to balance scales. Create I cannot, only transform, cycling old into new."

    Lee shakes his head, timidly looking up into the red eyes once more. "I don''t understand what you''re talking about. Are you�� Are you the one who brought me back to life? Are you the reason I am here?"

    He thinks harder, trying to connect Giratina''s words to his new life, and his mind goes back to the very first day, when he discovered Vulpix in his pocket�� And noticed the data in his emulator corrupted.

    No, not corrupted. Missing. Displaced.

    Ninetales, who follows his thoughts, gasps softly, her eyes going wide.

    "Did you create Ninetales?" Lee quietly asks.

    The golden, mandible-like jaw below Giratina''s eyes flexes slightly, and the great dragon regards Lee and Ninetales with a tilt of its head.

    "I do not create, only recycle."

    Despite Giratina''s words, the unspoken yes to all of Lee''s questions is plain. There is a tiny, selfish part of Lee that flares with reactionary resentment, cursing Giratina for putting him through so much when he could be peacefully dead alongside his family and friends. If the god before him had kept to itself, then so much heartache would have been neatly sidestepped.

    The warm fur pressed to his side reminds him what he has gained in return, however. Lee holds Ninetales close, balming her frayed nerves with his presence.

    "Why?" is all Lee can ask.

    Giratina''s mandibles shiver, producing no sound.

    "I am Giratina, The Antithesis, The Renegade, The Opposite Side of the Great Scale. We are all part of His Plan, one of delicate balance and lockstep. His Plan is perfect, and leads to perfection, just as He is, but all worlds of monsters and men are discord."

    Black wings are unfurled, like how a man might spread his arms for emphasis.

    "The Original One is static, unbending, for perfection is an unchanging state. The solution to all problems He faces is to create, to gift, to combine, but never take, for such an action is unthinkable to Him. His Plan is absolute, but even He could not predict the actions of his children, both fleeting and perpetual, nor could He intuit the consequence of birthing Will, Knowledge, and Emotion to bequeath upon them. None could."

    The wings fold.

    "The variables are beyond countless, but the Plan cannot be allowed to deviate; all must play their part to see it done. Already, He has exerted himself to correct the path, but it will not be enough. Another push, from another direction, was required."

    The dots begin to connect, and the cold relaxation that settles over Lee is even worse than the chilled dark all around. "I''m that push, aren''t I?"

    Giratina''s stare is inscrutable. Is it annoyance? Sympathy? Some emotion behind them? Or is it nothing at all?

    "Just as I balance scales, so do you."

    "Why?" Lee asks again. His heart thunders, and he knows he should be lightheaded, but here in this place, all but the feeling of Ninetales'' fur seems muted. "What''s so special about me?"

    "Nothing."

    The curt answer is so jarring, so unexpected, that both Lee and Ninetales blink in confusion, prompting the great wyrm to continue.

    "I am The Antimatter Pokemon, The Antithesis to The Original One. All He creates, I one day take."

    Giratina curls around Lee and Ninetales, wrapping them in coils of dark as thick as ink. The darkness is so oppressive that all that can be seen is the hellish eyes hovering close.

    Neither Lee nor Ninetales can hope to look away, no matter how much they wish to.

    "I am known by countless names across all times and places. Giratina, The Ferryman, The Reaper, The Gray Man upon his Gray Horse. I am them, and they are me. From the first heartbeat to the last, all walk hand-in-hand with me."

    Giratina leans in so close that a single, man-sized eye takes up all of Lee''s vision.

    "So too have I walked with you, Lee Henson. I know all that can be known about you, and you were not outstanding. You were not my first choice."

    ''What?'' Lee blinks once more, shock rendering him mute. His stomach swirls with emotions, and he''s upset that one is disappointment. One bomb after another, yet still�� He looks down at his hands.

    They''re shaking, but the adrenaline isn''t there.

    "You dare!" Ninetales snarls, anger returning her voice to her. Her fear forgotten, she glares into Giratina''s eyes with pure affront. "After the trials my trainer has endured, at your hand no less, you dare insult him like that? Lee is the very definition of an outstanding human! What is your game, fiend? Speak!"

    Giratina turns a cool eye to the bristling fox.

    "Quiet."

    Just like that, it''s as if Nine''s jaws are glued shut. Try as she might to speak, her mouth simply won''t move. She bares her teeth, but they don''t part.

    "Mistake not my words as insults. They are merely facts."

    "If I wasn''t your first choice��" Lee murmurs, looking down at his boots and the dark floor below as he grapples with the reveal. "Why pick me, then?"

    Giratina backs away slightly, so it can stare at him with both eyes.

    "You were what was available when the point of no return was determined, when an acceptable crossroads of circumstance was stumbled upon. Mine hand was stayed, perhaps too long. The Plan could not suffer an overcorrection, necessitating a gamble."

    Giratina''s voice drops, but Lee doesn''t mistake the quieter tone with gentleness. He''s not sure the being before him is capable of such.

    "The Ideal is one who performs with no aid. Without an Ideal, you presented an opportunity. You would have to make do."

    Lee gulps, his mind whirling. "Did anything I do, has anything I''ve done mattered? Is it all just fate that you laid out for me?"

    Meeting his friends, meeting his pokemon, fighting Magma and Aqua��

    Is it all predetermined? Do his choices even matter? Or is it all set in stone?

    Then, an even more horrifying thought comes to him. "Did Ninetales even get a say on whether she would like me or not?"

    "Lee!" Ninetales turns to him, aghast. In a flash, he''s wrapped in golden tails that hug him tight. "My choice to love you is one all my own! Never say such a thing again!"

    The sudden, intense surge of raw yet firm adoration that pours from Ninetales into him warms Lee to the core, eating the cold within his chest and limbs like it was never there. If he were to hold her any tighter, they might well fuse.

    Giratina twists in a way that makes Lee''s eyes hurt.

    "Fate? Nay, I write no such thing, for fate bends like a reed in the winds of change. All who wield Will, Emotion, and Knowledge throw fate to and fro with their wingbeats. I control naught."

    "It is for this reason you were a gamble��"

    Giratina''s eyes narrow, casting a fell red light.

    Then the cloying dark is broken by a single thin ray, shining down above.

    Lee looks up, wincing as the bright mote cuts through the space and stings his eyes.

    "��One whose success exceeds all expectations. The Plan lurches forward ahead of schedule. Could you be the ones?"

    The lights above grow more intense, more beams of sun banishing the cold and gloom. Everything slowly grows brighter, and Lee looks down at his hands.

    His immaterial body is beginning to fade, and real sensation slowly returns, as his fingers and toes prickle with phantom needles. Likewise, he feels the same sensation in nine phantom tails not his own.

    "Even upon sacred ground, where boundaries are thin, we''ve little time to speak."

    Giratina slinks backwards, away from the light that beats down onto Lee and Ninetales, forming a round pillar.

    "Your journey began in the early morn, and now the noon sun shines."

    "Wait!" Ninetales cries, frantically looking between her now-phantasmal legs and the shadow looming above. "What is this ''plan'' you keep speaking of, and how do we fit in?"

    "March forward, and fear not the dark of the night to come."

    Lee tries to repeat Nine''s question, to ask more of his own, but nothing comes from his mouth.

    The light is blinding now. Its warmth is burning.

    "A fitting reward for One awaits the next day."

    Everything goes white.

    <hr>

    "-e do something? They''ve been out for like an hour."

    "Meditation sometimes takes time. We should just wait for - Hey! They''re moving!"

    Lee cracks his eyes open with a grimace, finding the light reflecting off of the lake in the Meteor Falls crater to be unusually harsh. Not only that, his back is stiff and his forehead is sweaty.

    ''I was just sitting forehead-to-forehead with Ninetales for an hour, apparently.'' He grunts and pulls away from Ninetales to stand.

    Ninetales, meanwhile, takes a little longer to stand. Like Lee, she blinks her eyes until they adjust to the sunlight streaming in from above, and does a full-body stretch.

    "So! Details!" Zinnia wastes no time stepping away from Brendan and Latias and into Lee''s personal space, a grin on her face. "What did you see? Was it some kinda Psychic? A Ghost? Some kinda pokemon crying for help through the dream world?"

    Lee doesn''t answer right away, still digesting everything himself. He looks up, at the sun peering down through the entrance of the crater.

    ''Began in the morning, and now it''s noon. Was that literal, or metaphorical? For all the answers we got, every question answered was replaced with yet another question.''

    Ninetales huffs as she shakes herself awake and takes her usual place on his right. ''Metaphorical, certainly. How to interpret it is anyone''s guess, however.'' A beat passes, and the fox continues. ''We should keep what we saw to ourselves. The story of Earth and its demise is one thing, but this is�� Of a magnitude somehow greater. Even now, I wonder if it was real, or simply the most vivid dream to ever be had.''

    ''Brendan and Zinnia are trustworthy, though. We told them about me, about Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza. Is this really that much bigger?''

    ''I believe that it''s less about trustworthiness, and more of safety, Beloved.'' Nine noses his hand and looks up at him with her bright red eyes. ''Giratina, if that was Giratina, is��'' She pauses and shivers lightly, leaning into his side, memories of the cold and dark, not unlike The End tripping her. ''...Something else. If such a secret were to leak��''

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Lee sighs. ''I still disagree, but we''ll keep it to ourselves for now and talk about this another time, okay?''

    The vixen isn''t pleased by the reply, but nonetheless nods.

    Lee looks back down to Zinnia''s eager face and smiles thinly. "What we saw was�� personal. Can we talk about it some other time?"

    The Draconid looks a little put out, while Brendan, who stands behind her, crosses his arms and nods.

    "Okay��" Zinnia agrees after a second, but she does lean forward and poke Lee''s chest with a finger. "If you wanna talk or need help, say something, okay? We trust you to speak if we need to know," she says, giving her best stern expression.

    "We will," Lee replies with a smile. "Anyway, before this we were�� We��" He blinks, finding his plans for today a little muddled in his head. "Ah, I guess that took more out of me than I expected. What were we doing today?"

    "Packing," Brendan helpfully supplies, stepping closer with Latias hovering at his side. "Then we were going to fly to Petalburg tomorrow."

    Lee snaps his fingers as everything comes back to him. "Right, right, let''s get on with it. The earlier we get up and fly, the faster we get cell signal. The faster we get a signal, the faster we can book our matches at the Petalburg gym."

    That puts an eager grin on the boy''s face. "C''mon, Latias!" He turns and runs back to the hut. "We gotta pack, then run back to the village and pick up Marshtomp!"

    Latias croons in agreement and follows behind, flying hot on Brendan''s heels.

    "Heh." Zinnia watches the pair go fondly. "He''s gonna change his tune when his dad blows up his phone over catching a legend."

    "I''m just glad it''s not me giving Nigel conniptions for once," Lee comments.

    ''You and Brendan are nothing. One has to wonder if Professor Oak has a pacemaker yet, what with Ash Ketchum''s record.'' Nine smirks, projecting her mental voice so Zinnia can hear.

    As one, Lee, Zinnia, and Ninetales start the walk back to the hut to pack up their own things, and as they do, another conversation passes between Lee and his fox.

    ''Nine, about what Giratina said��''

    ''Hmm?''

    ''Does it bother you at all? How you were born? We finally know how, and��'' Lee mentally trails off. ''I know it bothers me. It''s confirmation that you were��''

    Made as a gift.

    Given no choice.

    There are numerous reasons why Giratina''s words left Lee with buzzing, uncertain thoughts, but anything that could harm Ninetales concerns him above all else.

    The man feels Ninetales'' emotions swirl in her chest. Frustration, a little uncertainty, and other things, but it eventually calms and Ninetales shakes her head. ''No. I won''t let it affect me, nor how I live,'' she finally says, her mental voice resolute.

    The vixen looks up at him, and her eyes are so intense it almost stops him in his tracks. ''I meant what I said in Lavaridge. I care not what force spawned me; I''ve decided my own course, and that course is one at your side. Banish any doubts about my love for you, for I know it''s real, just as yours is for me. This is what I want.''

    Lee knows he''ll choke up if he tries to speak amid the tide of emotion flowing from Ninetales, and so all he can do is stroke her between the ears with an unsteady hand.

    ''It''s also comforting, in an odd way,'' Ninetales continues, looking up and opening the door of the hut with a flare of her telekinesis. ''To know the purpose of my birth and the purpose I have chosen for myself are one and the same. To love and be loved; a splendid existence, no?''

    ''Yeah, I suppose so.'' Lee tries to smile, but it doesn''t quite make it.

    You were not my first choice.

    You were a gamble.

    Could you be the ones?

    A fitting reward for One awaits the next day.

    There will be little sleep to be had tonight.

    <hr>

    For the entire next morning, Lee is glazed-eyed, running on autopilot as he goes about his routine of bathing, getting dressed, and making breakfast for everyone, having slept poorly and still pondering the encounter from the previous day.

    ''What went off the rails and forced Giratina to do everything that it did? Magma and Aqua?''

    ''What is The Plan? How do we fit into it?''

    ''A fitting reward for One, with emphasis on One. What does that mean?''

    It''s all left the man unusually grumpy, and it must be showing on his face, because everyone but his own pokemon give him a wide berth.

    As the sun rises just high enough to peek into the Meteorfall Crater, everyone is packed and ready, standing outside the hut for the last time by their respective mounts as they make their final pre-flight checks.

    "You sure that you want to ride Latias to Petalburg, Brendan?" Zinnia asks from Salamence''s back with a raised eyebrow, both her and Salamence watching Brendan adjust one of the saddle straps on the jet-like dragon. "You''re going to catch a lot of eyes, even with Salamence and Corviknight there."

    "Everyone is going to find out about Latias eventually," Brendan says back with a confident smile. "We wanna do it on our own terms, right girl?" he asks, directing his question to Latias.

    The red dragon smiles bashfully and nods her head with a low croon.

    "Just be sure to get your dad on the horn as soon as you can so Monty can run damage control online," Lee mutters just loud enough for everyone to hear. He clambers up onto Corviknight''s back and gets comfortable in the saddle after finishing his own last checks. "You''re going to set Battlenet on fire once we land."

    Both Brendan and Zinnia look at each other, then back to Lee. "You sure you don''t want to hold off and take a nap or something, Lee?" Zinnia asks, looking not into his eyes, but rather at the bags under them. "We''re fine with waiting."

    Beneath him, Corviknight clicks his beak and looks over his shoulder at Lee, tossing his own concern into the ring.

    Nothing needs to be said for Nine. Lee can feel her opinion on the matter just fine.

    Lee waves them off and takes a deep breath. "I''m fine," he says, hiding a yawn as he takes his radio headset from its saddle pocket and dons it. "I slept a little rough, but a good flight will wake me up. If I''m still tired, I''ll crash at the hotel in Petalburg."

    "''Crash'' isn''t the word I''d use when we''re about to go flying, Dolittle," Zinnia snickers, but nonetheless lets it go. "Don''t conk out and fall, or I''ll have Salamence carry you in his teeth!"

    The dragon smirks and snaps his jaws for emphasis. The sound of his maw closing is like a steel trap going off.

    Brendan finishes adjusting Latias'' saddle and mounts up. Compared to the first time he flew, the boy looks much less green around the gills as Latias smoothly ascends into the air.

    Salamence spreads his wings eagerly and takes to the air with one flap, flattening and uprooting some of the hardy shrubs on the crater floor in his excitement to fly. He and Zinnia overtake Latias, taking point in their three-unit formation.

    Lee smiles as Corvi follows suit, his black wings sending Lee''s stomach to his toes with just one wingbeat. The ground rushes away, and the cool air washes over them both, chasing away the funk that had its claws sunk into him.

    ''Flying will never get old.''

    With Salamence in the lead, Latias in the middle, and Corviknight bringing up the rear, they all rise up and out of the crater and past the nesting dragons on the face of the plateau, none daring to accost Latias or Salamence. Several of them give Corviknight considering looks, but ultimately none cause problems.

    Leveling out under the overcast of clouds, the trio turn south and start their trip in earnest. At Salamence''s leisurely pace, it''d be a few hours to Petalburg.

    Before long, Lee''s thoughts turn back to the previous day, and the meeting in that dark place with that dark thing. ''Not his first choice�� I never thought myself special, but��''

    Hearing such a thing still stung.

    ''If Giratina went with his first choice, would they have gotten Nine? Or another pokemon? Would things have turned out better? What sort of ''opportunity crossroad'' let Giratina revive me?''

    ''Lee, enough!''

    Startled out of his thoughts, Lee turns his head to his belted pokeballs, where Nine''s vibrates. Even without telepathy, her irritation would be obvious.

    ''Worry not about ''what if'' for now, Beloved,'' Ninetales continues, her tone softening. ''Such thoughts are poison. We''ve time to ponder later. For now, let us relax. We''ve been through much, and some respite will do us all well.''

    ''Nine, we were given literal divine guidance! Don''t you think we should treat this, you know, seriously?''

    ''We should,'' Nine agrees easily. ''However, you do no one any favors by letting yourself become stressed out. I''m not telling you to forget all that we heard, I am only saying we should pace ourselves. We''ve trained long and hard these last few weeks, and I believe the fruits of our labors will see us through the trials ahead. Worry not��''

    Across Lee''s neck and cheek, warm, phantom fur eases the tension in his shoulders with its touch.

    ''We are together, and together, no challenge is too great.''

    On reflex, Lee almost pulls Ninetales'' mind into his for an embrace, but stops short. Even with the saddle straps holding his legs in place, going blissfully catatonic mid-flight would be a poor idea.

    ''You''re right, as usual.'' Lee smiles to himself. ''Later, then.''

    ''Later,'' the fox agrees happily.

    The conversation slips into idle chatter between them, about the remaining gyms, about the buzz Brendan is going to be wound up in, and about other little things. Eventually, Ninetales excuses herself for a nap and goes quiet, leaving Lee to his thoughts once more. The lack of invigorating Dragon TE in the air leaves him feeling a bit lethargic, and he wishes he could sleep like Ninetales, but alas, that will have to wait until he''s not being battered by the wind thousands of feet in the air.

    Looking up at the clouds, he goes back to last night, before bed.

    <hr>

    As the sun sets, bathing the crater in dark, Lee and Ninetales find themselves outside the hut and in the company of the largest dragon they have ever seen.

    "How are you doing, Sala?"

    Cracking open an irritated eye, Sala raises his head, only needing to do so halfway before he''s level with Lee. The great dragon grumbles something, his growl rumbling the ground enough to make Lee''s bones vibrate.

    ''He says he''ll be leaving tomorrow morning to return to his "post",'' Ninetales provides, giving Sala a sidelong glance. ''I''m assuming he means Aster''s grave.''

    "I see��" Lee murmurs. "It must be lonely up there, don''t you reckon, Sala?"

    Sala huffs and lowers his head again.

    ''I would be more lonely being away from her,'' Nine translates, her telepathic voice tinged with melancholy.

    Lee is treated to Ninetales'' second hand imaginings of herself in Sala''s place, and he puts a hand on her head to forestall the chill that wants to overtake her.

    "Sala?" Lee begins quietly. "How did it happen?"

    The dragon''s eyes snap open and stare holes into Lee''s head. Immediately, the temperature around them rises several degrees.

    "I''m not asking to try and hurt you," Lee is quick to add, meeting Sala''s stare with one of his own. It''s tough to not fidget under the dragon''s hostile glare. "I don''t want the same fate to befall us, or Brendan, or Zinnia and your son."

    At the mention of Zinnia and the younger Salamence, Sala''s ire cools, and the giant dragon sags with a tired sigh. He looks at the ground, his eyes searching for something only he can see, then he grumbles once more, letting out sounds akin to tumbling rocks.

    ''Balance and control, we lacked both,'' Ninetales begins, feeding Sala''s words to Lee. ''We were foolish and reckless. I took too much, and my Aster controlled too little. In the euphoria that blinded me, I did not see the peril she was in until it was too late. I consumed that which gave her life like a bird might an insect, whole and unthinkingly.''

    Sala''s growls turn borderline hostile once more, his burning gaze sweeping across both of them.

    ''You will warn Zinnia and my hatchling, to never abandon the stones, not until their hearts beat as one forever more,'' Nine translates. ''I know they have already been told my folly, but you will remind them, again and again. Such is your responsibility as leader of their Flight. If I am forced to stand vigil over another honored grave, yours will be shallow and unmarked.''

    Lee simply smiles, unbothered by the threat. "I promise."

    Sala snorts, then goes to close his eyes once more.

    "Sala, one more thing."

    Jets of annoyed flame shoot from the Salamence''s nostrils, turning twin patches of grass to ash, but he gives Lee his attention.

    "I know we probably have differing opinions on this, but should you be wasting away by Aster''s grave?"

    The dragon''s eyes narrow dangerously, warning Lee to pick his words carefully.

    "Is it what she would want, is what I mean," Lee says, looking down at Ninetales, who is watching Sala warily. "Aster sounded like a selfless woman, the best sort. Would she want you wasting away like you''ve been?"

    The anger drains out of Sala''s visage, replaced once more with a deep weariness. ''I don''t expect you to understand, and I hope you never do,'' Ninetales interprets once more. ''She would not wish this upon me, no, but to even speak to you draws on strength I do not have. I shall wait at her side until we are together once more.''

    Lee looks down at the dragon, no longer seeing him as a titanic force, but as the poor, broken-hearted pokemon he truly is. "Are you sure, Sala? You won''t even try?" An idea strikes Lee, and without hesitation, he springs it. "Zinnia has an open spot on her team roster, and I have a seventh slot. If you want, you can come with us, with Zinnia and your son. Don''t worry about battling or anything, none of us will-"

    ''No,'' Sala cuts Lee off with a growl. ''I don''t care to traipse around a land we saw together and be reminded of what I''ve lost. Zinnia was chosen by my Aster, and has my faith, as does my prodigy hatchling. You needn''t my power, either, as your triumph over me proves. I have chosen my own fate, and I will not be swayed."

    "But-"

    Sala closes his eyes, dismissing them both. ''Goodbye, Lee Henson and Ninetales. I''ve nothing left to say.''

    When they re-emerge from the hut in the morning, Sala is gone.

    <hr>

    ''He would not be convinced by any argument, Beloved. Remember what I said about needlessly asking yourself ''what if?''

    Ninetales'' voice in his skull pulls Lee from his trip down memory lane. He blinks, finding his eyes dry. ''Nine? I thought you were napping?''

    ''I have been for nearly two hours,'' the fox comments dryly. ''You''ve been deep in thought for quite some time.''

    Lee checks the clock built into Corvi''s saddle and feels his eyebrows rise. "Huh, would you look at that? Two hours gone."

    It''s just then that his radio crackles. "This is Kickass Actual to Kiddo and Dolittle. Come in, Kiddo and Dolittle!" Zinnia calls from the head of the pack.

    "Those aren''t our callsigns," Brendan says, his amusement plain in his voice. "And if you''re Kickass Actual, shouldn''t we be Kickass 1 and Kickass 2?"

    "Shush!"

    Rolling his eyes, Lee brings a hand up to his headset. "Lee here. What''s up?" he asks over the wind.

    "We''re closing in on Petalburg," Zinnia sends back. "If you''ve got any second thoughts on riding Latias into town, Brendan, now is the time to land and hop on with me or Lee. We''ll be over Petalburg in five minutes."

    Lee watches Brendan shift on Latias'' saddle, evidently thinking his decision over.

    "Nah. I''m not going to hide Latias like she''s some collectible that I''m scared of getting snatched. It''s better to be confident."

    "Ha!" Zinnia sounds positively tickled by the reply. "Alright then. Wanna touch down in front of the gym then if you''re so confident?"

    "I''m all for it. Lee?"

    There''s an anxious prickle in Lee''s skin at the thought of so much attention, but he ignores it. ''We can''t really go back to being unknown, so I guess loud and proud is the name of the game going forward,'' he thinks, nodding slowly to himself. "If you''re so eager to finally have a megathread on Battlenet, Brendan, then why not? I spaced out and forgot to book my match online, anyway."

    "Shoot! I knew I was forgetting something!" Brendan laments over the radio. The boy takes his phone from his pocket on Latias'' saddle, being extra careful to not drop it, and Lee watches him double take at the device. "Ten missed calls from Dad�� Uh oh."

    Zinnia openly cackles over the radio.

    As Brendan sorts out that family mess, the trio and their mounts advance on Petalburg. In only a few minutes, the city comes into view, and Zinnia busies herself alerting air traffic control of their presence. "ATC! Three coming in!"

    "Petalburg Control here. Ma''am, please use the correct ID and nomenclature for official comms��"

    Looking down, Lee takes in the city as they ride its western flank.

    When they passed through Petalburg on the way to Rustboro all those months ago, the group didn''t even bother to stay the night, opting to instead beeline for the famous Petalburg Woods, where they would fatefully meet Corvisquire and Treecko �� now Corviknight and Sceptile. From above, the city isn''t the sprawl of Mauville or as bustling as Slateport, but neither is it as small as the nearby Oldale or Littleroot.

    Much like the town of Verdanturf, Petalburg hasn''t fought the surrounding nature at all, instead smoothly inserting itself into the natural world. The city is filled with trees and greenery, with a host of footpaths weaving between and alongside the roads.

    ''Besides the Gym and the nature, what else did Petalburg have going on?'' Lee struggles to remember. ''Maybe the Gym is all there is?''

    Ahead, Salamence banks and begins descending, and in response, both Lee and Brendan take the controls on their saddles and have their respective pokemon tighten up their formation, lest they lack the room to land on the street.

    As Lee expected, as they get closer to the ground, fingers begin to point up at them from the people below with cellphone cameras in the mix. Along with the fingers and cameras are expressions of confusion, ones aimed mostly at a certain red dragon with a boy astride her back.

    For every four or five confused people below, though, there is one shocked one.

    The Gym comes into view, and with a deep roar, Salamence startles the people loitering around the entrance into scattering, giving them ample room to land side-by-side.

    Zinnia and Salamence touch down first, rumbling the ground and putting a few cracks in the asphalt as it buckles under the dragon''s bulk. Salamence''s head is held high as Zinnia jumps off his back with a grin. Neither of them bother to give the whispering bystanders any attention.

    Brendan and Latias are next, gently floating down in contrast to Salamence''s careless landing. Latias makes no noise as she hovers, then lowers herself so Brendan can easily slide off of her. The poor dragon shakes with so many unfamiliar eyes on her, however.

    "Thanks for the comfy ride, Lati." Brendan smiles and pulls Latias into a one-armed hug. "You''re the best!"

    Latias looks away bashfully, her nerves forgotten.

    Finally, Lee and Corvi land on Brendan and Latias'' other side with barely a scrape of his talons on the road. Neither under nor overstated, Corvi looks positively regal, in Lee''s opinion.

    Climbing off of Corvi, Lee smiles and gives his raven a pat on his armored breastplate. "Thank you, Corvi."

    Lee gets a single, cool nod in return. ''Ha. I have no idea how he makes such a laid-back gesture seem so dramatic.'' He then casts a glance around the street, taking in the people around with a little trepidation. ''Looks like a huge Corviknight, the native pseudo-legend, and a full-on legend isn''t something you see everyday, eh?''

    Being the troublemaking fox that she is, Ninetales takes that moment to burst free from her pokeball. In a flash of light, she''s at Lee''s side with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. ''It''s like they''ve never seen interesting pokemon before,'' she agrees, mischief in each word as another round of whispers break out.

    Lee can only sigh and flick one of her ears, earning him a retaliatory bite to his pinky.

    As one, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia each return their fliers to their balls and walk into the Gym lobby, trading the hushed street for a room shocked silent.

    Smiling gently, Lee takes point and walks up to the gobsmacked teller at the counter. "Hello. We''d like to register for the next two available Gym slots, please."