The Eon Academy [S.S. Wishmaker Side-Story]

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 2 Episode 7 is done, and I think to date, this was the one I enjoyed writing the most, especially given the fact I wasn't planning on splitting this episode into two parts. Hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 2 Episode 8: Regrets (Part 1)

Spoiler:

It was 7am when Jon found himself standing in the empty dining room, preparing a cup of coffee. The interns had left the property an hour earlier in Dylan’s car, not to be returning for nearly another week as they spent a week travelling across Hoenn, capturing Pokemon for the Academy to use for practical training.

Jon had managed to run the Academy by himself the year before, with occasional help from Steven and Alyssa, however that was five students attending. This year there were thirty-nine students including the four who were interns, and Dylan, Steven and Alyssa were all staff now. With the interns gone, this would prove to be a challenge. But Jon already had ideas…

As the coffee brewed, he pulled the microphone for the PA system from the counter where it sat, and pressed the button. On a normal day there were students who were consistently late to breakfast, if not for their team leaders harassing them to get out of bed. Not wanting to go to different cabins to wake students up himself, he had his own way of dealing with this.

“Good morning Eon Academy students!” Jon said loudly and enthusiastically. “As many of you are aware, your team leaders are gone this week in order to capture some Pokemon that we plan to use in future summer programs, which means you get the pleasure of me being directly responsible for you all this week.”

All across the campsite, students who were still asleep began to stir, complaining about the early wake-up call.

“In order to facilitate a peaceful start to the day, each morning at 7am, I will be playing different sounds from nature, all recorded by various people in our very own Hoenn Region, as you all wake up, stopping it when everyone has arrived in the dining hall for breakfast,” Jon explained, making sure to hold in his laugh. “This morning's track will be a pod of Wailord during mating season…”

Before pressing play on his phone, Jon spoke into the microphone one more time.

“Additionally, during this week, we will not use the existing clean-up roster, and instead, clean-up duty for a given meal will be given to the last team to have all their members present for the meal. See you all soon…”

Jon pressed play, before the odd mating calls of Wailord began to play through the camp-site’s PA system. He grabbed his coffee and sat down, before feeling a familiar presence in his mind. He closed his eyes, and found himself looking down at the campsite from Latios’ point of view, where students started to frantically run out of their cabins, trying to find their teammates who were liable to sleep in. Jon was more thankful than ever for Latios’ ability to see emotions as auras, as he sipped his coffee…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“You ready to go?” Dylan asked, as Abbee climbed into the backseat of the car, alongside Charlotte and Chris. Justin sat in the passenger seat next to Dylan, still seeming half asleep from the early morning.

“Ready,” Abbee replied, as she buckled in before transferring the variety of Pokeballs she had bought for herself into her backpack, careful to keep them separate from the more expensive variety Jon had supplied her with.

It was 9:30am in Lilycove City, which seemed to only start waking up, though they had arrived there half an hour earlier, leaving the Eon Academy at Mossdeep City and taking a ferry shortly after 6:30am.

They had arrived in Lilycove a little before 9am, before getting breakfast, which Abbee left a little early, having explained to the group the advice Candice had given her. If she wanted to become a Gym Leader, the first step was having enough capable Pokemon of each type that she could find work as a Gym Trainer with any typing. Which meant she was going to have to capture a fair few Pokemon for herself, and this would be the perfect opportunity to do it.

“Are any of you guys going to try and catch something for yourselves as well?” Abbee asked, as Dylan turned onto the freeway leaving Lilycove.

“Probably not,” Charlotte yawned, having been awake since she was woken by a nightmare at 3am, “Milotic is still not as strong as the rest of my team, and needs my focus. I wouldn’t be able to do that properly with a new Pokemon.

Justin had fallen asleep in the front seat, and Chris was the next to speak.

“Maybe if the right Pokemon shows up, I will consider it,” Chris explained. “There is nothing I am specifically looking for, but I’m open to catching a new Pokemon or two…”

“What about you Dylan?” Abbee asked. “Got any Pokemon you want to catch for yourself?”

“Maybe…” Dylan replied. “It’s a little out of the way though, so it might have to wait for another time…”

The route Jon had mapped out for the interns was one Dylan was slightly familiar with. Having gone to different camps around Hoenn each summer, whichever would keep him away from home the longest, he had visited Lilycove, Lavaridge and Fallarbor, so the trip through the northern half of Hoenn was one he had done before. However he hadn’t seen most of the southern end of the region, and was somewhat looking forward to seeing the rest of Hoenn, even if only passing through.

Hoenn itself was renowned for how well it balanced the quality of life for both Pokemon, and the humans who wanted to capture them. There were well maintained freeways connecting the cities, allowing for somewhat easy travel, with large fences either side, containing sprawling regional reserves, with only a small portion of the reserves themselves accessible to the general public to capture Pokemon. It was nearing 10am when Dylan found the exit on the freeway he had been looking for before taking it, and driving up a winding road, where the scenery became gradually denser, and the sight of the odd Pokemon was becoming more apparent. Dylan explained in more detail the way they would proceed as they drove.

“I’ve spent the last few days making a spreadsheet with Pokemon that are sighted in the areas we are going,” Dylan explained. “It’s on the cloud, so I’ll forward you all a copy. As soon as you catch a Pokemon, mark it as caught on the spreadsheet, and we should get a notification. A double or two is okay, but I think Jon wouldn’t be too happy if we used three quarters of the Pokeballs on Zigzagoons…”

Justin had begun to stir as Chris looked over to Charlotte at the other side of the rear seat.

“Since you and I haven’t had a clear winner in our last few battles, how about a bet?”

“Here we go…” Abbee muttered from the middle seat between the pair.

“Who can catch the most individual Pokemon?” Charlotte asked. “I’m game, but are you after your date with Justin last year?”

“Leave me out of this,” Justin murmured groggily, as he began to look around.

“We’ll keep it simple,” Chris replied, disregarding Justin. “Winner gets to cash in by swapping a shift for Saturday Seminars, no arguments.”

Whilst Charlotte didn’t really care too much about there being an actual prize, being able to get Chris to cover one of her shifts did appeal to her, and having to potentially switch with Chris at his beck and call wasn’t too much of a punishment for losing.

“Deal,” Charlotte said, as she started plotting how she would win. There were limited amounts of Pokemon in each area to catch, and their competition was about unique Pokemon. Which meant the faster she caught a Pokemon, the easier it would be to pull ahead. She decided to focus on the common Pokemon, capturing them before Chris could, as they were worth the same in their little game, but if she captured all the common Pokemon, Chris would be stuck looking for the rarer ones, giving him a disadvantage. Little did she know, Chris was thinking the exact same thing.

Dylan parked the car in a gravel car park. He grabbed his own bag full of Pokeballs from the tub of the ute, before making sure the hard lid was locked.

“It’s 10:30 now,” Dylan explained. “Did you all download that hiking app I sent you?”

There was a murmur in the affirmative from the group whilst Dylan continued.

“I got you to download it because the maps are offline, and once you activate it, even without data, it will track your movement and plot it to the map,” Dylan explained. “If you get lost, you can follow it back the way you came.”

Once it was clear that Dylan didn’t have anything to add, Chris sprinted from the carpark towards the nearest set of trees, causing Charlotte to sigh, as she lightly jogged in a different direction.

“I guess they’re motivated?” Abbee said to Dylan.

“As long as it doesn’t drive them to do something stupid…” Dylan muttered, earning a chuckle from Justin. “Even if the four of you are employed by the Eon Academy, I’m still the only adult here, so if something happens, I’m gonna be responsible.”

“They’ll be fine,” Abbee replied. “Chris only went into Shoal Cave that one time.”

Dylan sighed, before making his way towards another area of the reserve.

“Stay safe,” he called out to Abbee and Justin, leaving the pair to decide which way to go.

“North or south?” Justin asked, as Abbee looked between the two sections.

“North,” Abbee replied. “See you in an hour…”

The pair went their separate ways, as Abbee let Victini and Ariados out of their Pokeballs. Ariados to help her catch any Pokemon she set her sights on, and Victini to keep her company.

”Why is Ariados out?” Victini asked Abbee telepathically, as Abbee hoped that Victini had only said that to her.

“To help catch Pokemon…” Abbee thought back.

”Isn’t that my job?” Victini asked, sounding disappointed.

“It will be when we aren’t in the middle of a regional reserve…” Abbee explained. ”I’m pretty sure I’m actually breaking the law slightly even letting you out of your Pokeball here…”

”What’s the worst I could do?” Victini asked, trying to sound reassuring.


”Accidentally cause a giant forest-fire?” Abbee replied. ”Take it as me thinking your fire is too impressive to be contained by a mere forest…”

Victini sighed telepathically, before conceding as the pair continued walking down the trail. It was only another minute before her phone buzzed, informing her one of her teammates had already captured a Pokemon.

“Already?” Abbee said out loud, without even realizing it.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Charlotte quietly stalked the lone Poochyena that wandered through the forestland, seemingly looking for food. She held in her hand one of the Quick Balls that Jon had supplied. Whilst she only had six of them for the entire trip, the others all had the same amount, and if she used them now, she could get ahead of Chris, making it that much harder for him to catch up.

She hadn’t sent out a Pokemon, as it would be harder to remain undetected. The Poochyena was upwind, so wasn’t detecting her scent, however Charlotte wanted to get closer before she attempted to throw the Quick Ball. Whilst they only needed to get within a certain radius of a Pokemon, the element of the whole situation she had the least faith in was her aim.

She stood forward, and cringed when she heard a twig snap under her foot. The Pokemon’s ears perked up, as she quickly hid behind a tree. The Poochyena looked towards the source of the sound, before growling lightly, unsure of where the source of the sound came from, whilst Charlotte was blind to it, whilst hidden behind the tree.

Charlotte took a breath. If she left it any longer, it would leave, even more cautious. She gripped the Quick Ball hard, focusing on the area she last saw Poochyena before hiding, before darting out of the tree. Poochyena had moved slightly towards her, and now having seen her, turned to run, though it was too late. Charlotte threw the Quick Ball, and as quick as Poochyena was, the Quick Ball flew towards it at nearly sixty kilometres per hour. The ball flew just to the left of the fleeing Pokemon, however still managed to reach its activation range, flinging open roughly a meter away from Poochyena, and sucking the Pokemon into it before closing.

Charlotte readied an Ultra Ball as she made her way towards the Quick Ball. If Poochyena escaped, it would have a split second before it would be hit again. The ball shook, before stopping, as Poochyena stopped struggling inside, and the light on it clicked, marking the Pokeball as sealed, and Poochyena unable to escape.

Charlotte sighed as she pocketed the Ultra Ball, pulling out her phone, as she picked up the Pokeball with her free hand. Opening the spreadsheet Dylan had sent her, she found Poochyena listed, and marked it captured. However as she pressed the confirm button, her phone buzzed with a notification, Charlotte catching one word of it at first.

Chris.

“Don’t tell me,” she muttered, as she opened the spreadsheet, worried that her and Chris had both captured the same Pokemon.

Chris has captured Zigzagoon.

She breathed a sigh of relief, though not completely at ease, knowing that Zigzagoon was just as common around here as Poochyena. Remembering the guidebook she read, her next best bet in this area was a Shuppet or a Duskull, though if she could find water, Tentacool and Wingull were even more common. She continued ahead, listening for the sound of running water…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Of course…” Dylan muttered, having to stifle a grin. His phone had received two notifications simultaneously, marking Chris as catching a Zigzagoon, and Charlotte catching a Poochyena. Two of the most common Pokemon in the area. Dylan had a hunch that would be how they proceeded, and was glad he took it upon himself to try and find a rarer Pokemon. In this case, Kecleon.

The colour changing Pokemon was difficult to find, but not impossible, and whilst the Pokemon blended into its surroundings to near perfection, the red stripe along its belly didn’t change colour. This was what Dylan kept an eye out for, as he walked through the reserve. He felt a chill down the back of his neck, before turning, and seeing his Dusknoir floating behind him. Whilst he knew it was his Pokemon, the sudden appearance still caused him to jump.

“You have to scare me like that?” Dylan asked, as the Ghost type Pokemon seemed to laugh. “Did you find one?”

Dylan had sent Dusknoir to try and find a Kecleon for him. Being a ghost type and capable of phasing through solid matter, made it a capable stalker, not making a single sound as it followed its prey, and able to move quickly if at risk of being spotted without giving up its stealthy advantage.

Dusknoir nodded, before gliding through the air to Dylan’s left, as Dylan followed as quietly as he could, hoping not to give himself and Dusknoir away before he found his near invisible target.

It took a few minutes for the pair to find their mark. Dylan couldn’t see it at first, but eventually noticed a floating red stripe amongst the branches of a nearby tree.

“Mean Look,” Dylan said quietly. Dusknoir sunk into the ground, leaving Dylan alone, and Dylan saw the red stripe in the tree go completely still, expecting something. In the blink of an eye, Dusknoir emerged from the ground at the base of the tree, and floated up quickly, stopping in front of Kecleon before it could react, and staring it down. Dusknoir’s eye flashed red, as Kecleon was now unable to attempt to escape.

Kecleon turned visible, responding with a scratch attack, however the move didn’t affect Dusknoir. Knowing he needed to take this opportunity, Dylan called out his next move.

“Ice Punch!”

Dusknoir landed the icy punch, knocking Kecleon out of the tree who soon regained its footing. Dylan’s next move would be the one to answer a question about this Pokemon. Dylan knew that Kecleon mostly had the Colour Change ability, which causes their type to shift based on which moves it is hit by. However, some had an ability called Protean, which shifted its type based on the attack it uses, like Justin’s Greninja. Kecleon is normally a Normal Type, and unable to take damage from Ghost attacks. If it had Colour Change, it should now be an Ice Type, and if it has Protean, it will still be normal.

“Shadow Punch!”

Dusknoir darted forward, hitting Kecleon with a ghostly fist. The attack landed, which meant Kecleon should now be a Ghost Type, and susceptible to Dusknoir’s attacks.

Kecleon responded using Lick, which was now stronger due to it being a Ghost type itself, however Dusknoir wasn’t overly affected by the attack, instead launching another Shadow Punch attack, knocking Kecleon back.

Whilst Kecleon was distracted, Dylan threw an Ultra Ball. Kecleon was sucked into the Pokeball, before it clicked shut, the Pokemon not putting up a fight.

“Nice work…” Dylan said to Dusknoir, before opening the spreadsheet on his phone to register the catch. It was still 10:55, and Dylan hadn’t wandered too far from the meeting place. He looked back towards Dusknoir. “Want to try and catch something else?”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It took Abbee half an hour to find a Pokemon she wanted to capture for herself. Wanting to heed Candice’s advice, but not give herself too much work, she was focusing on Pokemon that were either dual-types, or evolved to be dual-types. And after about twenty minutes of wandering around, she found one. Or at least, she could smell one…


”Are you sure you want this one?” Victini asked, as he blocked his nose, the complaints becoming more frequent the closer they got to it. ”I’m sure there are plenty of others that have two types that won’t empty a room…”

“Once it gets used to me, it shouldn’t smell anymore,” Abbee explained, having researched heavily which Pokemon she wanted to catch for herself. She had seen how versatile Charlotte’s Roserade was in battle, and whilst she did like the Pokemon, wanted to try using something a little different.

Abbee with Victini on her shoulder, and Ariados by her side, crept forward, before finding a small pond, and the Pokemon she was looking for drinking from it. Gloom.

Abbee readied one of her own Quick Balls that she had bought, tossing it at Gloom who didn’t see it coming. Within seconds Gloom had been captured, and Abbee had the first of her new Pokemon to train.

Before she could say anything however, she was interrupted by the sound of rustling coming from the trees nearby.

“Ariados,” Abbee said quietly, nodding towards the source of the noise, as Ariados shifted its attention. After a few moments the source of the noise revealed itself. An Oddish, that stopped dead in its tracks, before crying out, looking between Abbee and the pond.

“Sticky Web-” Abbee began, before Victini put his paw over her mouth, silencing her more by the shock than any sort of physical restraint. Ariados looked up at Abbee, surprised that she had been cut off.

”Wait…” Victini said. ”It’s asking if we have seen its sister…”

Abbee looked at the Oddish, feeling a pang of guilt. Whilst the large majority of Pokemon bond well with their trainers, and live happy lives, this part of capturing Pokemon was something that she couldn’t look past completely. What sort of lives the Pokemon had before.

Victini hopped down from Abbee’s shoulder, shooting Ariados a glare to stay back, before walking slowly towards Oddish. Abbee watched as Victini tried to speak to the Oddish, wishing she could understand the language of Pokemon like those that Victini mentioned who retained the ability after being transformed on the S.S. Wishmaker.

Victini pointed at Abbee, and the Pokeball she held, before flexing to demonstrate something. Victini then addressed Oddish again who looked back at Abbee with a mixture of awe and fear.

“What did you tell it?” Abbee called out.

“I told it that you caught its sister because you want to be friends with her and make her big and strong,” Victini replied. “I’ve asked it if it has any other family and it says no. So I am trying to explain to it that it can come with you, be able to see its sister, and maybe become strong itself…”

Abbee couldn’t help but be thankful that she had a Pokemon she could communicate with as well as she did with Victini.

The Oddish looked between Victini and Abbee, before waddling over towards Abbee and glaring at her, before letting out a slight growl.

“What’s it saying?” Abbee asked.

“It said it will come with you, but if this is a scam, it will use Toxic on you as soon as it learns how to…”

Abbee laughed, surprising the Oddish slightly.

“You’ve got a deal,” Abbee said to the Oddish, wishing she could open Gloom’s Pokeball, now sealed because she had six Pokemon on her already. “I’ll let you see your sister as soon as I can, so you know I’m telling the truth…”

Oddish nodded wearily, as Abbee got a Pokeball out that was registered to the Eon Academy. She had been considering having her Pokemon stay there once Dylan had the storage set up properly, instead of the League Facility that the general public used, and now figured if she did that, Gloom and Oddish could be together even when Abbee wasn’t at the Academy. Tapping it gently against Oddish, the Pokemon was converted into light, before being sucked into the Pokeball, not resisting at all.


“It is comfortable in a Pokeball, isn’t it?” Abbee asked Victini, not sure how to feel anymore.

”Extremely. Granted, I wouldn’t want to live in it, but I wouldn’t necessarily mind a day or two of R&R in the Pokeball.”

Remembering what Dylan had told them, Abbee opened her phone to the spreadsheet, to see that Justin had captured a Shuppet, Dylan had captured a Kecleon, Charlotte a Poochyena and a Wingull, and Chris a Zigzagoon and a Duskull. She quickly punched in that she had captured Oddish for the Academy, before realizing she only had twenty minutes before she was supposed to meet back with the others.

“We’d better run if we’re gonna make it back in time,” Abbee said, before Victini jumped up, grabbing hold of her top, and climbing up onto her shoulder.

“You mean, you’d better run,” Victini said. ”I wouldn’t want to risk accidentally torching the forest…”

Abbee rolled her eyes at Victini’s sarcasm.

“Are you being petty?”

“I’m a Mythical Pokemon. We can’t be petty. Now march!”

Abbee laughed, before beginning a light jog towards where Dylan’s car was parked. Ariados, being naturally faster than her, ran ahead, soon out of sight of its trainer.

It was a few minutes later when Abbee realized the mistake in letting Ariados run ahead, hearing Charlotte scream from the trees ahead of her.

“Sorry!” Abbee called out apologetically, to Charlotte when she came into sight, whom she had forgotten was terrified of large bugs like Ariados. Ariados kept its distance, wondering why Charlotte seemed so spooked.

“Abbee, I’m not usually an advocate for Pokemon being kept on leashes,” Charlotte said shakily. “But that makes me consider changing my mind…”

“Oh come on, he’s adorable!” Abbee said, patronizing Charlotte slightly. “Ariados, show her your smile!”

Ariados lifted its head, to make its mouth, and the small teeth inside it that were usually obscured by its pincers visible. Charlotte shuddered, before Abbee put Ariados back into his Pokeball.

“Better?” Abbee asked.

“Much…”

As the pair walked back along the track to the carpark, Victini spoke telepathically to the pair, though addressing Charlotte.

”I find it interesting that somebody as tough as you is terrified by a little bug…”

Abbee stifled a laugh, as Charlotte glared at Victini.

”I find it interesting that for a Mythical Pokemon, which everyone attributes to being wiser than normal Pokemon, you don’t seem to understand when your opinion is wanted, necessary, or neither…”

”I’m well aware,” Victini retorted. [/i]”I just decided to grace you with it anyway.”[/i]

Charlotte rolled her eyes at Victini obviously trying to get a reaction out of her for his own amusement, as the trio continued to walk in silence. Except for Victini.

”You’re welcome.”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“What’s wrong Charlotte?” Chris called out as Abbee and Charlotte emerged from the trail to find the three boys waiting by the car. “Run into a Caterpie?”

Abbee felt Victini climb down from her, and her belt become slightly lighter, a Pokeball missing. As Charlotte sighed, Victini crept along the ground with the Pokeball, making his way behind Chris, before pressing the button. Ariados manifested behind Chris, with the trainer none the wiser. Abbee couldn’t help but grin. She made a point of obviously looking past Chris.

“Smile,” she said to Ariados. Slightly confused, Chris turned around, before finding himself staring into the teeth laden mouth of Ariados, before jumping back towards Abbee and Charlotte.

“F**k!” he shouted as Charlotte burst into laughter.

“Forget what I said before Victini,” Charlotte called out. “You’re not too bad…”

Victini grinned, before pressing the button on the Pokeball, and taking it back to Abbee, as Dylan cleared his throat, obviously trying to get the attention of the somewhat more carefree interns.

“Anyway, we have captured most of the Pokemon that can be found in this area,” Dylan explained. “Next stop is the Safari Zone, but I might leave that with the four of you, as there is somewhere nearby I was wanting to visit...”

Justin looked over at Dylan, who just a few hours earlier had mentioned not wanting Charlotte and Chris doing something stupid while he was responsible for them, more or less.

“I mean, I don’t mind if you gotta go somewhere else, but is that a good idea?” Justin asked. “I think we can look after ourselves, but you said it yourself, you’re the adult here?”

“For what it’s worth, it’s not you I have reason to be worried about,” Dylan retorted. “Unless some dude is being an a**hole to a waitress in the Safari Zone.”

Chris started laughing, before Charlotte pointed out that Dylan was referring to him being the one he had to worry about.

“But I do think you’re capable of behaving yourselves without my direct supervision for a few hours. And you do do something stupid, I’ll tell Jon everything…” Dylan said looking at Chris directly. Chris groaned, as Charlotte looked at him, then to Justin and Abbee, who both shrugged.

“I’ll behave…” Chris muttered.

“Good,” Dylan explained. “I think you guys should be fine without me for a round at the Safari Zone anyway. I mean, they let twelve year olds go through on their own…”

“Gee, thanks.” Charlotte retorted dryly, though knew Dylan was mostly winding them up.

“So where are you headed?” Justin asked.

“Mt. Pyre,” Dylan explained. “I caught my Duskull there, but there was another Pokemon there I wanted to catch when I was younger, but figured I probably shouldn’t. Now though, I think I can.”

“You mind if I tag along?” Abbee asked. Dylan looked at her slightly surprised. He thought for sure she’d want to stick with Chris. “The Safari Zone has a lot of Pokemon native to Johto, and I’ve never seen Mt. Pyre.”

“If these guys reckon they can handle the Safari Zone with the three of them, I’m okay with it,” Dylan said.

“Oh, we can handle it…” Chris said menacingly, “We’re at a tie currently, so less competition for the Pokemon should help us break it quite nicely…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The sun was high in the sky when Dylan parked the car at the Safari Zone. Having spent the trip there telling Charlotte, Chris and Justin, though intending it nearly all for Chris, about how they were representing the Eon Academy and by extension, Jon Drake, he was as satisfied as he could be that they would behave themselves.

Leaving the car, Dylan and Abbee began the short walk to the ferry station that would take them to the small island of Mt. Pyre, where Dylan hoped to catch a Pokemon for himself. The ferry itself was smaller than others Dylan had seen, most notably the ferries that travel to and from Mossdeep Island. It was purely for pedestrian traffic, with no need for cars on Mt. Pyre.

As the pair stood by the guardrail of the ferry, Abbee decided to ask Dylan what Pokemon he was after.

“A Vulpix,” Dylan explained. “I’ve wanted one ever since I was a kid, one of the Kantonian ones, but last time I was here, catching one would have been a bad idea…”

“How come?” Abbee asked, wondering what prevented Dylan from catching one, if he wanted one badly enough to make the detour out here, leaving the other three by themselves to potentially create a situation.

“Bill,” Dylan explained. “I don’t want a Vulpix as a battler, but more as a pet or companion. A Pokemon to keep out of the Pokeball more often than not. But to do that meant that Bill had options if he didn’t want to take his problems out on me…”

“You think he’d hit a Pokemon?” Abbee asked, shocked though not surprised.

“I wouldn’t put it past him. I mean he had no issue hitting me…” Dylan retorted, “And it’d be even worse if the Vulpix decided to defend itself, or me…”

“You had other Pokemon though, didn’t you?”

“The League offered free trainer school to kids after school, so the Pokemon that I had were ones I used to battle, so I’d have reason to let them out of their Pokeballs somewhere safe,” Dylan explained. “They never left their Pokeball when I was at home. I didn’t trust Bill enough…”

Abbee grimaced at the thought, thinking over just how different her childhood was to Dylan’s. The idea of her father ever laying a finger on her or Tyler seemed to foreign and incomprehensible. When Abbee wanted to start training her own Pokemon, there was little stopping her, and she got her first Pokemon, a Cyndaquil, when she was only twelve years old, and she barely kept it in the Pokeball, even though it nearly set her bed on fire more times than she cared to remember. Meanwhile, Dylan had grown up living in fear of his stepdad, to the point of only getting Pokemon that he could battle with, so he knew they would be safe.

“And Jon doesn’t mind you having a pet Pokemon?” Abbee asked, though being pretty sure Jon wouldn’t deprive Dylan of something like this. Dylan couldn’t help but laugh to himself. “You live in the house with him and Alyssa the rest of the year don’t you?”

“He doesn’t mind. And it would hardly be a change. There is nearly always a Pokemon out. Alyssa’s Alolan Vulpix, Yuki, is practically a pet herself, and spends a lot of time outside her Pokeball, and Serena, Alyssa’s Gardevoir, occasionally keeps an eye on Amelia when Alyssa is busy,” Dylan explained. “And Amelia already loves Pokemon. Especially Latios. Jon can’t leave his belt lying around, because Amelia has learnt which Pokeball on it is Latios’ and has pressed the button a few times so she can see him.”

Abbee laughed at the image of Latios looking confused at the infant girl who had already learnt how to summon him.

“She’s definitely Jon’s daughter.”

“And Latios is surprisingly good with kids,” Dylan explained. “Probably helps that he is a big kid himself when he wants to be. Though did you hear what happened last Christmas?”

“Nope?”

“So between us, Jon decided it wasn’t worth doing my last one on one training session last summer, since he knew I wasn’t really a big fan of battling, and preferred raising Pokemon. Instead, he and I had a beer together since I’d just turned eighteen, and he had the idea to give Latios one, after checking with me that it wouldn’t be bad for him,” Dylan explained. “Turns out Latios really likes beer…”

“This can’t end well…” Abbee said jokingly.

“Well, come Christmas, Jon bought Latios a case, and warned him not to drink it all at once,” Dylan said. “Latios didn’t think it would be too bad, and had too many too quickly when Jon wasn’t looking…”

“Oh God…”

“He fell asleep on the roof of the lodge we lived in last summer with a hangover…” Dylan laughed. “I had to have Metagross levitate Jon up there with a big drum of water so Latios could get hydrated and shake it off. He didn’t touch it again for months…”

Abbee couldn’t help but giggle, before a question came to mind.

“What’s it like living with Jon and Alyssa?” Abbee asked. “Like, Jon has his image to the public, and we got to see a different side of him. No, more we got to see who he actually is, compared to who everyone else says. But even then, the rest of us are just four kids he was teaching for a summer. But he invited you into his home…”

Dylan pondered the question a little.

“It’s strange, you know? You said it yourself, that we only saw a part of him last summer, so it was a bit of an adjustment,” Dylan said, trying to figure out how to word it. “The thing that struck me most was how much he cares about his family. I know that like fifty percent of marriages these days end in divorce, but I see the way he and Alyssa are around one another, and it gives me a little hope that that statistic can improve. Or even how he is with Lili.”

“Lili?”

“That’s what he and Alyssa call Amelia,” Dylan explained. “There were times last summer I wondered if the Academy was taking up too much of Jon’s time, and putting more work on Alyssa, but really, when Jon isn’t working, he is always making sure that he is pulling his weight, and giving Alyssa a break, and it never seems like its a chore for him. Even if it’s changing her dirty diapers, he just seems to love being able to spend time with her, and give Alyssa one less thing to worry about…”

Abbee smiled at the sentiment. Whilst she couldn’t remember much of when her mother was still alive, she knew her Dad was similar. Nothing was a chore to make things easier for the love of his life.

“I guess I can understand why he is so focused on his family, given his upbringing,” Abbee remarked, feeling bittersweet. It was definitely good that such a hard experience brought out the best, but also sad that it took something like that to do it. Dylan seemed surprised.

“You know about that?”

Realizing she may have spoken a little too easily about Jon’s business, she was thankful the others weren’t around.

“Alyssa told me,” Abbee admitted. “When she came with me back to Johto. Jon had mentioned losing his parents at about my age, but I had never heard him mention it before, so asked Alyssa, and she told me about his dad…”

“Well, even his dad is important to him, in a weird way,” Dylan explained. “Jon actually advocated for him to get parole. He got released in March, and visited Mossdeep in April to meet Alyssa and Amelia. I actually met him myself, and it was weird.”

“He forgave him?” Abbee asked, shocked to hear this.

“No, at least, not yet. Maybe one day…” Dylan answered. “Jon isn’t ready to forgive, but is willing to try and get to the point where one day he might be able to. He wants to give his dad the chance to prove he deserves to be forgiven. And that means letting him back into his life…”

“What was he like?”

“Hard to say given how awkward it was…” Dylan said. “He was friendly enough, but he seemed nervous, and just really sad. He only stayed one night. He had dinner in the house, and slept in the lodge, but Jon didn’t sleep a wink that night. I left my room to get a drink, and he was just sitting blankly at the kitchen table…”

Dylan went quiet thinking about the conversation.

“He asked me what I thought, whether I thought he was being too easy on his dad, or being too hard on him, before changing his mind, and apologizing…” Dylan elaborated. “He said it wasn’t my dilemma, and he shouldn’t be dragging me into it.”

“Goddamn,” Abbee muttered, surprised to hear that Jon was capable of questioning himself so heavily, before trying to shift the subject. “What about for you? How is it living there?”

“Honestly, it’s a life I had given up on ever having…” Dylan said quietly, as he looked at Mt. Pyre, now growing larger in the distance. “I always assumed that I’d have to find a job that pays well enough for me to move out, and live in some s**ty sharehouse because its all I could afford. I never thought I’d have a home with someone who isn’t family, but treats me like I am. A place where I’m safe…”

Abbee felt the same bittersweet feeling she felt hearing about how Jon was with his wife and daughter. Happy to hear Dylan had found a home, where he felt like he was part of a family, but heartbroken that it took years of abuse, and Jon taking him in to feel that way…

Abbee sighed, as she placed an arm around Dylan, nearly struggling to reach around his larger frame as she looked out at Mt. Pyre with him.

“It’s a good thing there are some good people out there,” Abbee said quietly. “Because without them, life would just be too s**ty…”

Dylan chuckled at the sentiment, as he tried to suppress the feelings that were emerging, spending this much time talking so sincerely with Abbee.

“It really is…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

It was 12:30 in the dining room at the Eon Academy, as Jon watched the students eat lunch. Charlotte’s group were the ones who ended up on clean-up duty for breakfast, due to one of them sleeping in, and had all shown up early to lunch, with the last person to arrive being a member of Justin’s group, putting them on clean-up duty for lunch.

Whilst Jon didn’t tell them this, he only planned on using his new method of figuring out who is on clean-up until it got to the point where everyone was showing up on time, at which point he would nominate a group to keep the amount of tidying during the week even. But they didn’t need to know that yet.

“You aren’t the most popular right now…” Steven said as he approached Jon.

“Am I ever?” Jon retorted, as Steven rolled his eyes. “They’re learning quickly. On any given day we have five students who wander in late to any given meal. This is the second meal we have had this week and it is down to two…”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t working,” Steven chuckled. “Just noting I had a few students in Team Roserade in my class who had a bit to say about you using collective punishment, and how it is a war crime under some convention…”

“You’re the Hoenn Champion, and you don’t know what convention they are talking about?” Jon asked, slightly surprised. “It’s the Lumiose convention.”

“Right now, in this context, it doesn’t matter if I don’t know it…” Steven retorted, “Thing is that they know it.”

Jon laughed at the faux apprehensiveness of Steven’s remark.

“I don’t consider it punishment,” Jon explained. “I consider it a good mix of character building, skill development and life lessons, based on circumstances that determine who needs it the most…”

“You ever thought about getting into law?” Steven asked. “You talk enough s**t to…”

“Not necessarily, but hey, maybe one day I can represent myself…”

“Please don’t.”

Jon grinned, before continuing.

“Anyway, they won’t be too peeved with me for long…” Jon said, before projecting his voice to the rest of the room. “Everyone! Can I have your attention please!”

Steven watched, wondering where Jon was going with this.

“Your team leaders are gone for the week, as you’re well aware. The five of them are all exceptional trainers in their own right, and have reached the level they are at through hard work and ingenuity,” Jon explained. “This is something I think all of you are capable of, which is why afternoon training this week will have a slightly different focus…”

Steven seemed puzzled at where Jon was going, as Jon’s grin widened.

“Whilst your team leaders aren’t here, afternoon training will be focusing on you guys learning how you can beat them in a legitimate battle. I will be going over your team leader’s battling styles, what makes them exceptional trainers, and what you can learn from them,” Jon explained. “And by extension, where they need to improve, and how you can exploit that, to give them a hell of a shock when they return at the end of the week.”

There were excited murmurs from the tables with students as Steven turned to Jon.

“You’re enjoying this way too much…” Steven said. “Do you really think any of your team leaders will lose to one of the newer students? I mean Justin beat you earlier this year, didn’t he?”

“He had six months to train without me having a clue where he was going,” Jon explained, as Steven cut him off.

“So did you…”

“That is true, but anybody would be at a disadvantage against an undiscovered Legendary Pokemon,” Jon retorted. “Anyway, he had six months. I reckon I can get at least one trainer from each group to the point of being able to beat their leader in six days…”

“Big claim,” Steven said with a grin. “I hope you can make good on it, because that would be very interesting to see…”

“Oh it will be…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The time on the top of Chris’ phone read 1:15pm, as Chris added a Pokemon he had captured to the spreadsheet. It was his eighth in the Safari Challenge, and putting him back at a tie with Charlotte, both trainers now on ten Pokemon captured each. Justin meanwhile had captured six Pokemon himself. Chris looked through Charlotte’s capture list, and couldn’t help but laugh at the fact it contained Pinsir, Heracross and Spinarak, all of whom were Bug Types, and far from Charlotte’s favourite. He half wished he could have been there to watch as she tried to capture when whilst keeping her distance, and being ready to flee herself at a moments notice.

The Safari Challenge had begun at noon, where the trio were given thirty specialized Safari Balls each, having to leave their own Pokemon and Pokeballs. At first they thought they might be in a situation, as Dylan was the one carrying the Eon Academy’s Hoenn Business Card, that he would use to register any extra Pokeballs to the Eon Academy, and by default the Safari Balls would be registered to them, however after briefly explaining why they were there, the clerk was able to copy the registration information from one of the Pokeballs that Jon had bought to the Safari Balls they would be using.

The challenge had fifteen minutes left, and based on the fact that Chris hadn’t seen a Pokemon they hadn’t captured yet in over ten minutes, he figured this would be the only challenge they did.

As he walked, he heard the sound of something moving in some bushes nearby. He slowed to a stop, and watching as the leaves on the outside of the bushes moved, readying a Safari Ball. There wasn’t an exhaustive list published of what Pokemon were available in the Safari Zone, and Jon had mentioned prior that they make a considerable amount of money on people participating on the basis of rumours. Every few years word might spread that some rare, non-native Pokemon has been released in the Safari Zone, and regardless of whether or not it is true, the Safari Zone remains silent, allowing it to bring in customers. So Chris had no idea what was in the bush, except for one thing. This Pokemon must be big.

Not taking any chances, Chris took a breath, before throwing the Pokeball into the bushes. However, instead of the sound of the Pokeball opening, Chris heard something else.

“S**t!” Justin yelled from the bushes, as he walked out, clutching his healing nose in one hand, and the Safari Ball in another, seeing Chris. He threw the ball back at Chris, hard, before yelling. “Do you just throw these things at anything that moves?!”

“Sorry…” Chris said apologetically. “I thought you were a big Pokemon.”

“Well I’m just someone whose nose you almost re-broke!” Justin said irritably, before lifting his hand off his nose, revealing a small amount of blood.

“S**t, are you okay?” Chris asked, making his way towards Justin, who took a breath, starting to calm down.

“Look, it’s fine,” Justin said, as he pulled a tissue from his pocket to wipe the blood from his face. “It didn’t hit hard, and the splint took most of the force. Just hurt like hell…”

Now that Justin had calmed down, enough Chris asked the question that had been on his mind since he realized it was Justin in the bushes.

“What were you doing in the bushes?”

“It’s hot and I’ve been outside the last hour and a bit, so I’ve been drinking lots of water…” Justin explained. “What goes in must come out, and I couldn’t find a bathroom. That and there are security cameras everywhere…”

Chris groaned as he realized that Justin was just trying to relieve himself only to be met with a Safari Ball to the broken nose. Justin sighed, as he looked at his watch.

“We should head back to the main gate anyway,” Justin said. “I think we’ve caught everything here that is worth catching.”

The pair walked back towards the main gate, following the signs that directed them in relative silence, until Justin’s phone got a notification.

“Did one of the others catch something?” Chris asked, pre-emptively pulling out his own phone to see no notification present.

“Nah, it’s Candice,” Justin said casually, as he opened the message that had just arrived. After he read the message and rattled off a quick reply, Chris spoke.

“So what’s the deal with you two?” Chris asked. “Like, is she actually your girlfriend now?”

“It’s tricky…”

“What, you don’t even know?” Chris asked.

“Of course I know…” Justin muttered. “She had to leave right after we agreed that we didn’t want to wait any longer, so we couldn’t really talk about it in person, so on Saturday night when she got back to Snowpoint, we video called for a few hours and talked it out. I say it’s tricky, because there isn’t really a clear cut label for her and I right now…”

“So what are you and her?”

“I mean, we’re together, but I’m not eighteen for another few months, and she turned twenty-one back in April. It’s all legal and stuff, but as a Gym Leader, she is somewhat in the spotlight, and if it came out that we were together, it would cause her problems,” Justin said. “She’s willing to risk the hit to her reputation, but I don’t want the media to say the sorts of things about her they would if it came out she was in a relationship with a seventeen year old, even if it is above reproach. So yeah, we are together, but the only people we don’t mind knowing are the ones who know us well enough to understand why we aren’t exactly public about it…”

“So she’s your secret girlfriend?” Chris asked casually, as Justin rolled his eyes at how serious he wasn’t being about it.

“I guess that’s the best way to put it,” Justin replied. “Candice is my secret girlfriend.”

“She is aware of that isn’t she?” Chris asked jokingly. “I don’t think it counts if it's news to her…”

“What do you think a**hole…” Justin muttered, stifling a laugh as the pair continued to walk, in relative silence, Chris seeming deep in thought.

“Sorry for going off on you before,” Justin said. “I should have just looked harder for a bathroom.”

“It’s cool,” Chris replied, before returning to the quiet state he had been in, confusing Justin even more.

“Then why are you being so weird?” Justin asked, genuinely surprised. “I thought you were p**sed off at me?”

“No, I was wrong before,” Chris said. “It could have been anyone in the bushes, and it could have been worse. I shouldn’t have thrown a Pokeball at a Pokemon I couldn’t see.”

“That doesn’t answer the question of why you’re being so weird…”

Chris sighed, as he stopped walking.

“I guess I just don’t get how it happened,” Chris said.

“Gee, thanks,” Justin retorted as he stopped to face Chris.

“You know that’s not what I mean. How you went from being friends with her, to being with her…”

“Honestly, I don’t know. It kind of just happened…” Justin said. “I mean, we spent nearly a week together in Galar, and wound up spending most of the time we could talking there…”

“Obviously there's more than that,” Chris replied. “If it were just talking then I’d have had more girlfriends than hot meals…”

“Because you don’t know when to close your mouth?” Justin retorted, as Chris chuckled. “I didn’t think you cared that much about whether or not you have a girlfriend?”

“It’s not that I really want a girlfriend specifically…” Chris said, feeling embarrassed even alluding to it. The sense of embarrassment rose as Justin seemed to figure it out.

“Abbee?” Justin asked, his suspicions confirmed by Chris’ expression shifting even more. “Why?”

“What, do you think there’s something wrong with her?” Chris asked, suddenly sounding defensive.

“Of course not. Abbee is great. I couldn’t fault her if I tried,” Justin reassured. “I just can’t say that I expected you to be interested in her before last week.”

“I guess, I feel like I can be myself around her, and that she accepts me for who I am…” Chris said quietly, as he started walking again. “And even though that is the case, being around her makes me want to be more. Not out of feeling like I’m not good enough or anything, but because she is just so great, and it just makes me want to be better…”

The pair walked in silence as Justin thought over what Chris had said, and tried to think over how exactly he and Candice found themselves in the place they were in.

“When we were in Galar, Steven saw how close Candice and I had gotten and said something to me. That the circumstances were unusual, and eventually the situation we were in would come to an end. We’d go from being with each other twenty-four seven, on an adventure into the mysterious unknown, to going back to our normal lives. Myself as a student, and herself as a Gym Leader. He warned me to be careful to not become too accustomed to the way things were, too attached, because it couldn’t last.”

Thinking back to his time in the Crown Tundra, Justin cringed a little remembering how he reacted to it.

“I didn’t take it too well, and ended up actually avoiding Candice a bit, because I was just too confused about it all. Candice noticed, and ended up asking me why I was being so weird, and I broke,” Justin said. “I told her the truth, or at least some of it. That I’d enjoyed spending time with her, but wondered if we were setting ourselves up to be disappointed when the time eventually came that we’d have to go home. Whether we’d even be in touch a year from then...”

“That sounds like an ultimatum…”

“It wasn’t,” Justin said very quickly. “She told me that she felt the same way, and had been avoiding thinking about it. It was Christmas Day so she invited me to come to Snowpoint for next Christmas, and said that she’d come visit Mossdeep during summer, and that if we didn’t keep in touch, it would be crazy awkward, so we really had to-”

“That’s nice and all, but things are different with Abbee and I-”

“Let me finish,” Justin said exasperatedly. “You asked for my advice so I’m giving it to you…”

Chris was surprised to hear Justin being so assertive with him but took him at his word.

“If I didn’t man up and be real with her, even though I didn’t tell her everything then and there, chances are, I would be sitting here wanting to send her a message because we haven’t spoken in months, wondering if I’m coming across as desperate, and her being just as miserable as I am,” Justin explained. “If you can’t find the nerve to be honest with her, and expect what you want to just fall out of the sky into your lap, then you will be waiting forever, and disappointed. Show some backbone and be real with her, even if it’s just for a moment. Show her you think highly enough of her to take a chance and put your pride on the line…”

“What if she doesn’t think the same of me?” Chris said quietly, it becoming clear to Justin that this was his biggest hurdle. “Being rejected is hard enough on its own, but what if her knowing I feel this way about her changes things?”

“You said yourself you can be yourself around her, and that she accepts you the way you are…” Justin said as he started walking towards the gate, leaving Chris behind. “I know Abbee well enough that she wouldn’t hold it against you if you worked up the nerve to be honest with her. Give her some credit…”

Chris silently followed Justin. The advice was what he needed to hear, but not necessarily what he wanted. The pair made their way towards the gate, as unbeknownst to them Charlotte did her best to wipe the tears from her eyes, and emerged from the nearby shrub after Chris and Justin were gone, where she had heard everything being said.

“Nothing I can do…” she muttered to herself, feeling like a hypocrite for being as hard on Dylan as she had been, when she was just as guilty. Abbee had asked Charlotte weeks ago about Chris, and she had been too proud to admit anything. Just like Dylan, she had the opportunity to have set events on a different path, and didn’t take it. And now she regretted it…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Are you sure we have the time?” Abbee asked as she looked at her watch, reading 1pm. “Aren’t we already behind schedule?”

“Their Safari Challenge started at noon, and goes for ninety minutes. By the time they get the Pokemon processed, return the extra safari balls, and transfer the Pokemon back to the Academy, it will be after 2pm…” Dylan explained. “Jon’s itinerary is a guide more than anything else. As long as we reach the Pokemon Centre by lock-up, and catch enough Pokemon, we can shift the schedule a little. And we’ve already caught thirty Pokemon…”

“Wait, what?” Abbee asked, getting her phone out to see for herself.

“It’s because of the Safari Zone. Nowhere else in Hoenn has that many different Pokemon available,” Dylan said. “At a guess, it’s going to be lower numbers for the rest of the day, because the areas we are going through have mostly the same Pokemon. Then tomorrow onwards they will start a little higher, then start to decline.”

They had spent the last fifteen minutes halfway up Mt. Pyre, where Dylan had managed to capture for himself a Litwick, the Pokemon being rare in Hoenn, and one he had always liked, wanting a Chandelure for his battling team. However they were yet to find a Vulpix.

“So you’re thinking of becoming a Gym Leader?” Dylan asked, as they continued to look around the reserve that consisted of the midway section of the mountain.

“I need to finish school first. Certainly gonna try,” Abbee retorted. “Not forever, but I think I’d enjoy it for a while. Good experience, and stable work, as well as good publicity.”

Abbee wandered towards a large rock that blocked her view of the area to the side, looking past it.

“I do want to try competing in proper tournaments,” Abbee explained. “Chris and Charlotte are definitely going to be doing that, and that’s what Dad did. But I want to be able to do it because it's what I want to do. I don’t want to go into tournaments knowing that if I don’t win I can’t afford to keep the electricity on. I figure if I work as a Gym Leader, I can save some money, and become more well known. Ideally I might get sponsored pretty early when I shift to competing myself, so I can compete for the fun of it, not out of necessity.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Dylan replied, as he opened his bag, and removed a small container containing some soft Pokemon food, Abbee presumed that he had made specifically for a Vulpix.

“What about you?” Abbee asked. “It seems like a pretty sweet gig at the Academy?”

“It is, really,” Dylan said, as he looked around, spotting a gap in a nearby rockface that had some black marks around the edge. He placed a few pieces of the food near the entrance, before fanning the odor of it into the gap, and backing away, leaving a trail of it a few meters away, before finding somewhere to sit. Realizing what he was doing, Abbee gave him some space, sitting a few meters away from him.

“It’s a good job. Jon pushes me out of my comfort zone. Something like teaching, I never thought I’d be able to do, and I am learning heaps doing the research to figure out what to teach, and making sure I am knowledgeable enough about it,” Dylan explained. “Also lots of opportunities to learn new skills. I’m no carpenter, or computer engineer, but you saw what I was able to do with the storage room…”

“You’ve definitely picked up some skills since last year,” Abbee commented.

“I’ll definitely be there a while. A few more years at least,” Dylan continued. “But eventually I do want to leave the Academy. Mossdeep Island. Heck, maybe even Hoenn…”

“What will you do then?”

Dylan went to answer, before noticing movement in the gap in the rock face, as a small dark red head popped out, and began sniffing at the food, before biting off the edge of it to sample. It then wolfed down the rest of the bite sized piece, before noticing another not too far. Abbee sat silently, as Dylan grabbed a piece from the container in his lap. Slowly, the Vulpix made its way out of the rock face, eating each piece of food it came across, until it found the next one was being held by Dylan. He placed the piece he was holding on the ground, before getting another out. Slowly, Vulpix moved towards him, quickly grabbing the piece of food, and darting back a few feet to eat, not taking its eyes off Dylan.

Abbee watched in awe as Dylan kept giving the Pokemon food, as it slowly became more comfortable with him. Eventually Vulpix took the food from Dylan’s hand, however before too long, it was eating it straight out of Dylan’s palm, and eventually, Dylan was able to scratch it behind the ears as it ate. The food in the container diminished to nothing, as Vulpix cried out, but didn’t seem to recoil at all when Dylan attempted to pet the Pokemon again. Satisfied, Dylan got an empty Pokeball of his own, and pressed it to Vulpix, who didn’t seem to resist being captured, the Pokeball clicking shut instantly.

“Couldn’t you have lured it out and had Dusknoir trap it?” Abbee asked, as she approached, looking at Dylan who stared at the Pokeball with a smile. “It would have been easier.”

“For a Pokemon I’m battling with, sure. Battling Pokemon work hard, and it makes them strong. Before too long they come to enjoy the challenge because they know their trainer is striving to make them stronger,” Dylan explained. “But I want Vulpix to have a simple, relaxed life. And luring it out only to trap it, and battle it with a much stronger Pokemon until it’s too weak to fight back is a bad start to it…”

Dylan stood, repacking his bag, before the pair began the descent down the mountain.

“I think I want to be a breeder,” Dylan explained, answering Abbee’s question. “There is more beyond that, but I think being a breeder is the start of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The way trainers capture Pokemon from the wild is a bit of an ethical gray area,” Dylan explained. “In some ways, the Pokemon wind up stronger and healthier when they are trained by humans, and live longer lives. But on the flip side, we don’t know what their lives were like before. I don’t know if this Vulpix has parents who are now worried about it. That is part of the reason breeders exist. They can provide Pokemon for trainers without disrupting the lives of wild Pokemon, and also try and provide Pokemon with traits that suit what trainers are after. Granted, that system isn’t moderated enough, and there are a lot of neglected Pokemon that are simply not what the breeder was after…”

“I guess I would love to see the culture of Pokemon training change. Instead of tearing a wild Pokemon from the life it has, it being normal for a trainer to get their Pokemon as an egg from a breeder, and raise it themselves,” Dylan explained. “If the standard for getting Pokemon was through breeders rather than catching them, then breeders would be able to find homes for the Pokemon that they breed that aren’t what they are specifically trying to breed for. If someone wants a pet Vulpix, they could go to a breeder and adopt one that has been bred but isn’t suited for battling, instead of coming here to remove one from its natural home, and leaving one to sit in a Pokeball for far too long.”

“But isn’t that what you just did?” Abbee asked, realizing she came across much harsher than she intended. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that…”

“No, you’re right,” Dylan explained. “The problem is that the current culture is to catch Pokemon instead of breeding them, and currently, breeders choose to breed more Pokemon than they can help provide fulfilling lives for. And I think that knowingly doing that is worse than capturing a wild Pokemon. So I don’t want to support it…”

Abbee understood somewhat where Dylan was coming from, though had the immediate question come to mind about whether Dylan was doing more harm by letting one more Vulpix from a breeder be neglected, in favour of taking one from the wild. She didn’t voice this question though Dylan could tell what she was thinking.

“I get my reasoning is far from perfect. Unfortunately, the system is that messed up that I have to choose between what I see to be two evils. I can support a breeder and a system that brings more Pokemon into the world than people are willing to provide homes for, for the sake of profit, or I can catch my own, and provide it with a better life than it would have in the wild, whilst not putting money into the broken system,” Dylan explained. “Sometimes, and this is one of those times, there isn’t a clear cut right way, and we can only do the best we can.”

“I understand,” Abbee said. “So how do you think you will do that? Change the system I mean?”

“First step would to become a good enough breeder that you professionals would rather have a Pokemon bred for you than try and catch one from the wild. At the same time, try and get my message out there that there is a better way for us as a Pokemon partnered society to live, if only we’d understand how broken the current system is,” Dylan explained. “I don’t know how I would go about it practically, but I certainly want to try…”

The pair had descended to the lower part of the mountain, which contained the graves of Pokemon, and made their way towards the ferry that was due to leave in the next twenty minutes.

“Well, once you’re set up, I will make a point of coming to you for Pokemon, instead of catching them myself,” Abbee said. “And recommend it to my millions of fans when I am famous and on everybody’s TV screen.”

“I’m sure you will.”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
“There are only two Pokemon on this Route that we aren’t going to be able to catch if we don’t catch now…” Dylan explained as he drove down the highway leaving Fortree City. “Feebas, and Tropius.”

Dylan and Abbee returned to Dylan’s car where Chris, Charlotte and Justin were waiting for them at 2pm, before driving west, then north. They stopped for half an hour in a reserve on Route 120, catching a Pokemon each, putting the group’s total to thirty-five Pokemon, not counting the ones that Abbee and Dylan had captured for themselves. They had a late lunch at 3:30pm in Fortree City, before departing.

“Should be an easy afternoon then.” Justin said, as he looked through Dylan’s meticulously organized spreadsheet. “There’s only two Pokemon that we won’t have another chance at in Route 118, so realistically, we only need to catch four more Pokemon today to be doing pretty well.”

Charlotte sat behind the driver’s seat with her head resting against the window. Abbee sat next to her, noticing how unaware she seemed.

“You okay?” Abbee asked, as Charlotte jumped slightly.

“Yeah, sorry,” Charlotte said quietly. “Lack of sleep is getting to me…”

Really, she was thinking over what she overheard earlier today. Dylan had said that he could see something going on between Abbee and Chris, and whilst she could see Abbee was interested in him, and understood why Dylan was upset, she had hoped to the point of clouding her own perception that Chris just was oblivious and not interested in Abbee. Now, there was no way of convincing herself otherwise.

“I think we should split up,” Chris explained. “Justin, Abbee and Dylan go look for Feebas, and Charlotte and myself look for Tropius.”

Justin found himself wondering why Chris was intentionally splitting himself and Abbee up again, seeing as most of the afternoon Abbee was with Dylan. If he did like Abbee, it wasn’t a good look nominating himself to be on a team with another girl. Charlotte also found it surprising.

“I mean, sure,” Charlotte said, “But why?”

“We are still tied. Eleven Pokemon each, and if we are on separate teams in this route, it will just continue” Chris explained. “And if we make Feebas the tie-breaker, I am putting myself at a disadvantage, because you’ve already caught one…”

“Of course…” Dylan muttered, remembering their bet. “Any objections?”

There was a general murmur of approval from the group as they continued along the meticulously maintained highway, watching the reserves either side of them rush past.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“Team Roserade…” Jon said to the seven students who sat on foldable chairs in front of him, pretending not to notice Steven who stood at the back, curious to see Jon’s analysis of his interns. They were in the arena, with the lights dimmed, and a large projector screen having been lowered from the roof. Jon pressed a button on a clicker as the black screen shifted to a dramatized file of Charlotte. “This is Charlotte Jones, your team leader…”

The students laughed a little at how serious the file was, listing her name, her Pokemon, and looking like a police report from a movie.

“Whilst Charlotte seems to not be able to get better than a draw when she battles against Chris, I would say your team has the biggest challenge ahead of them if you wish to beat Charlotte in a Pokemon battle,” Jon explained. “Charlotte’s biggest strength in battle is lulling her opponent into a false sense of security, when really they are just falling into her trap, as well as her uncanny ability to predict what her opponent is trying to do. Most battles she spectates, she can see what moves are being used, and figure out what the person ordering them is trying to do.”

Pressing the button on his clicker to move to the next slide, Jon brought up the footage from the battle he had with Charlotte during the first day at the Academy.

“When Charlotte battled me, she predicted that I would open with Nidoking, so sent out Roserade. She knew that I would rather not risk her getting a free hit by me changing my Pokemon, and also knew that Nidoking wasn’t a threat, so put Nidoking to sleep, before using Toxic Spikes, which in and of itself was genius. She knew that I would want to send out Blaziken at some point or other, and Blaziken becomes more dangerous the longer it is on the battlefield, so it would more likely than not be sent out next,” Jon explained. “By using Toxic Spikes, she essentially limited how long I can stall using Blaziken to build up its power. Once Roserade took down Nidoking, as predicted, I sent out Blaziken, which was poisoned by the spikes, but had a significant advantage against Roserade. Charlotte responded by having Roserade use Venom Drench. Who knows why?”

Christy, the oldest member of Charlotte’s group, put her hand up. Jon nodded towards her.

“Because any damage Roserade could do before being beaten was going to be minimal at best. So the limited time Roserade had left was best spent preventing Blaziken from getting too strong before the poison could do its work…”

“Excellent,” Jon said. “Charlotte has taught you well.”

“Venom Drench only works on poisoned targets, but is incredibly accurate, and will reduce speed and offense, both physical and special. Instead of wasting time trying to knock Blaziken out in a situation where Roserade had a snowflake’s chance in hell, she instead gave her next Pokemon an advantage, making Blaziken’s Speed Boost redundant for a little while, whilst forcing me to either choose to attack whilst weakened, or use a less than ideal move in order to get back the advantage I had, and waste Blaziken’s limited time.” Jon explained. “Once Roserade was out, Charlotte sent out Miltoic, and at that point, I managed to even the playing field, though I will go into detail about that later. Blaziken took down Milotic and was still standing and Charlotte sent out Drifblim, and played me like a fiddle…”

“Last year, Charlotte beat Chris with her Drifblim, by allowing it to get burnt by Chris’ Charizard. It activated an ability it had called Flare Boost, which increases the offensive power of its special attacks when it is burnt. So by sending it out against Blaziken, she thought she bought herself a free turn, as I was not going to risk using a fire move and burning Drifblim, and fighting moves were ineffective,” Jon continued. “I had Blaziken use Thunder Punch instead, though Drifblim used Minimize to dodge it before Blaziken fell to the poison. Which led me to the dilemma of whether I should use Absol, Jolteon or Scizor. Scizor was the worst option, as it is susceptible to Fire Type moves, and I had seen Drifblim use Will-O-Wisp to burn a target, then Hex to deal more damage. Jolteon and Absol both had type advantages, however Jolteon’s biggest strength is its speed, and if Drifblim used a Destiny Bond attack when Jolteon is about to hit it, and can’t turn back, both Pokemon would be knocked out. Meanwhile, Absol was resistant to most of Drifblim’s attacks, and had better attack power, so was in a better position to take a cautiously offensive approach towards Drifblim.”

“What about Latios?” Curtis, the youngest boy in the team asked.

“The whole purpose of the match was to show what sort of things you will learn here, and using Latios would have been detrimental to that,” Jon explained. “By no means did I go easy on Charlotte. It just means I didn’t give myself an advantage that would be a detriment to the point of the battle.”

“Anyway, I intentionally let Drifblim go first, to try and gauge what Charlotte was doing, and she had Drifblim use Explosion, which on its own wasn’t enough to knock out Absol,” Jon continued. “However, since last year, she had changed Drifblim’s ability with an item to Aftermath, causing extra damage to be dealt when Drifblim faints. She knew she was more likely to lose than win, so forced a tie.”

There wasn’t much of a reaction from the team to that, and Jon partially understood.

“Here is where Charlotte went well in that battle. She played to my own human nature, knowing that I would base some of my decisions on what I know of her, and used it both to inform her own decisions, though not relying on it too much to the point where she became predictable, but more so used it to limit what I could do. She used a tactic that was completely new and refused to settle for me winning,” Jon explained. “Her weakness in the battle however was becoming a little too comfortable when she had the upper hand, and relying too much on her own predictions.”

Jon pressed the button, causing a screenshot from the Blaziken and Milotic matchup.

“Blaziken was weakened and on a timer at this point, so Charlotte expected me to try and dish out as much damage as I could as soon as possible. But more than that, she didn’t expect me to stall like I normally would,” Jon said. “Between that and thinking Milotic had it in the bag, she made a couple of calls that were not the best, and Blaziken was able to take Milotic down.”

“What would you have done then?” Wesley, the oldest boy of Charlotte’s group asked.

“Stuck to the original plan,” Jon answered. “Toxic Spikes poisons a Pokemon, and the poison gets worse the more time passes. Watch this…”

The screen changed to a clip of the battle, starting from Blaziken entering the battlefield, and being poisoned. First it took a Venom Drench attack from Roserade before knocking it out. Charlotte sent out Miltoic, and Blaziken used Bulk Up, whilst Milotic attempted to Scald, which Blaziken then dodged, seeing as Bulk-Up didn’t require too much of its focus. Milotic used another Scald attack, which Blaziken blocked with Protect, simultaneously gaining speed, before using Power-Up Punch to strike Milotic, and increase its own power, before using its superior speed to dodge the Wrap attack, speeding up even more, before unleashing a reckless Close Combat attack. Milotic fell, before being replaced by Drifblim, which Blaziken attempted to hit with Thunder Punch, which Drifblim dodged with Minimize. The clip ended.

“Notice anything interesting about that clip?” Jon asked with a grin.

There was silence for a second, until Stacey, a fourteen year old, seemed to understand what Jon was saying.

“Blaziken fainted without taking a single damaging hit from Charlotte’s Pokemon…”

“Bingo…” Jon said, his grin widening. “Charlotte got spooked by me stalling and acting in a way completely against her prediction, and her own strategy, and went on the offensive. However, if she had have stalled as much as I did, Blaziken would have fainted pretty soon anyway, and Milotic would be nearly unharmed. It knows Protect, and even though you can’t rely on it to take every hit, even a Thunder Punch wouldn’t have beaten Milotic in a single hit. Between Protect and Recover, Milotic could have outlasted Blaziken until the poison that she set up early on.”

“So if we want to beat Charlotte…” Krista, aged fifteen, asked with great anticipation.

“Don’t let her talent in predicting how things will go weigh you down,” Jon explained. “If I hadn't gotten so caught up in not using Fire Type moves against Drifblim, and Blaziken just used Flare Blitz, I could have won then and there if it landed.”

Jon gestured to the screen, where Blaziken lay on the ground unconscious from the poison.

“Instead, if she backs you into a corner that seems to only have one way out, do the last thing she expects. Even if nothing more than to just throw her off her game a little, and make her a little less confident in her mind games,” Jon explained, “That’s not to say do something stupid. Just think of the last thing she would expect you to do, and make every second count…"

Jon had used twenty of the fifty-five minutes of the session with his lecture, and in the remaining time, paired the students, having one be the Jon who was in a difficult situation, and the other be the Charlotte who had set up a difficult situation. With Jon and Steven’s advice, each of the Charlotte’s came up with a different predicament for the Jon’s to find themselves in. Usually it was something that severely limited their options, most of the students able to strategize something like this themselves after Jack’s lecture a few weeks earlier, with Chris as the training dummy. And from there, the Jon’s would have to come up with some completely unexpected way of turning the situation around. Very few were able to, most notably, Darcy who had a Gengar with most of its attack power lowered by the opponents first Pokemon using Momento, was able to beat the opponents second Pokemon by hitting them with Hypnosis to buy time, using Mean Look to trap the opposing Pokemon, and then using Perish Song, before buying time with a mixture of Protect, Phantom Force and Endure for Perish Song to knock both Pokemon out.

The students left at 1:55, and in the five minutes before Abbee’s group arrived, Steven approached Jon.

“I think your interns are going to have a bone to pick with you when they get back…” Steven said with a grin, imagining the look on Charlotte’s face when her group members all seem to know how to have an edge over her.

“The whole point of this summer is for them to learn,” Jon explained. “They have learnt part of what makes Charlotte so formidable, and also how to defend against that. I think that will give them an edge over most other trainers in their age group.”

“No doubt,” Steven laughed. “But don’t be surprised if I take pity on them, and give them a crash course on how to specifically beat you, down to your own psychology.”

“Trust me, the way they are going, they probably don’t need it…”

Team Victini were next for the afternoons training, and Jon admitted to Steven that he struggled to analyze Abbee a little more than the other trainers, as she had shown the most improvement this year.

“It’s to be expected,” Jon added. “She had Victini join her team at the end of last year, and it was right after Richard died. Because of that, I am pretty sure she hadn’t had an overly challenging battle with Victini until she battled Dylan at the start of this summer. She didn’t have to struggle in a battle, and by extension rise above it until she came back here...”

As Team Victini arrived, Rose, Jon’s niece, approached him with a sense of excitement.

“Beth just said that they might actually be able to beat Charlotte,” Rose asked. “Is that true?”

“If they can’t beat her, they will at least be able to give her a hell of a scare by the time she comes back…” Jon said with a smirk.

After a few moments for the excitement of Abbee’s team to die down, Jon pressed the button on his clicker, causing the slide to shift to a file of Abbee. The younger students looked between Jon and the screen in awe, eager to learn how to beat Abbee.

“Abbee Strauss. Your team leader,” Jon said, making a show of it, as Steven sighed from the sidelines where he watched. “A strong trainer in her own right, and definitely likely to make a name for herself in the competitive battling scene. But not without her own weaknesses.”

“Abbee’s main strengths are her creativity and ingenuity, as well as the close bond she has with Victini, who can telepathically communicate with her, and will,” Jon explained, as he clicked the button, showing the footage of Abbee beating Justin on the day the new students arrived. “The day before, Justin had beaten me in a battle, and I wasn’t holding back at all.”

After Abbee’s win against Justin, Jon made a point of having her talk through how she went about winning, curious to hear her take on the battle. That’s where she mentioned Chris’ vague advice before, and Victini’s instructions during the battle with Greninja, and Jon found himself appreciating even more her creativity.

On the screen, Victini faced Alakazam, on a paused frame.

“Justin’s Alakazam is a tank that doubles as the harbinger of chaos,” Jon explained, as Steven burst into laughter hearing this description. “Alakazam is intentionally slower than it should be, and a lot bulkier. The way Justin uses it, and actually used it to nearly beat me single-handedly is to use moves like Speed Swap or Trick Room to swap its speed with its opponent, before buffing its own defence while its opponent attempts to whittle it down. That’s when Justin really messes you up.”

“Alakazam has an ability called Synchronize, which means if gets some sort of status affliction, the opponent gets it as well. So when Alakazam’s energy gets low, Justin has it use Rest to put itself, and by extension, its opponent, to sleep, before using Sleep Talk to act mostly unaffected,” Jon continued. “It’s a solid strategy, and can be hard to combat, and that’s not even accounting for Regieleki. But Abbee did, having never run the countermeasure before that day...”

Jon took a moment to think of how to word this so it wouldn’t raise questions that could result in his imprisonment.

“That day, before the battle, Chris gave Abbee some advice. He had known of Victini using a certain move that could help Victini beat Alakazam and Regieleki, back when Victini was with his last trainer. He didn’t tell Abbee which move he was thinking of, but instead told Abbee to ask Victini about that battle…” Jon said, albeit cautiously, as Steven shot him a nervous glance, knowing which battle Jon was referencing. “In less than an hour, Abbee had taken that vague advice, and turned it into a perfect counter to a tactic that had beaten me the day before…”

Jon pressed play, causing the video to start, as he explained certain moves.

“Victini was faster than Alakazam, and the very first thing Victini did was use Skill Swap to switch its own Ability with Alakazam. Victini’s ability increases its own accuracy, which would benefit Alakazam, however Alakazam’s ability being transferred to Victini shifted the entire course of the battle,” Jon explained. “Not only can Alakazam now not put Victini to sleep using Rest, if Victini were to be paralyzed or poisoned, whoever Justin has out later would suffer the same, with the exception of type immunities. In her first move, Abbee has thrown a massive spanner in the works for Justin.”

“Alakazam then used Speed Swap to switch speed with Victini, and then used Cosmic Power to boost its defense. This is where Abbee’s ingenuity starts to shine. Victini knows Speed Swap, and it would have been easy to just use it again and balance the tables back to the way they should be. But Abbee had Victini do something smarter,” Jon explained, as he paused the video. “Abbee had Victini use Trick Room instead. Anyone have an idea why?”

There was silence among the room, which Jon expected. He wasn’t even sure if Steven knew Victini well enough to be able to pick why this move was genius.

“Victini has two signature moves, the main one people know about is V-Create. And V-Create is immensely powerful, however, has a cost. After being used, it reduces Victini’s speed and resilience,” Jon explained. “Speed Swap only switches the core speed attribute. If a move slows down the speed, that doesn’t transfer. Trick Room however completely twists the dimensions, so by using V-Create inside Trick Room, it is actually speeding Victini up, as long as Trick Room is active.”

Jon pressed play again.

“Justin kept trying to push his original plan, by using Cosmic Power again to increase Alakazam’s resilience, and I think this is because he knows that Victini is making itself more susceptible to be knocked out by using V-Create,” Jon explained. “And Victini used V-Create again. And so it continued. Alakazam used another Cosmic Power, and Victini used V-Create, which was probably the last one it could handle. At this point, Justin needed to buy time for Trick Room to run out, however, under the pressure he made a mistake, though I am not sure it would have made a difference at this point, because Abbee seemed to know how to capitalize on it.”

“Alakazam used Rest, which may have put it back to full health, however put it to sleep. Abbee took advantage of this, by having Victini use Encore…” Jon said, pausing the video. “This was brilliant, because firstly, it prevents Alakazam from using Sleep Talk and dishing out damage like it normally would. And secondly, Alakazam was going to wake up before the effect of Encore wore off, so the moment it did wake up, it would put itself back to sleep. And if she timed it right, she could repeat this as many times as she wanted. She essentially bought herself enough time to give herself every edge she wanted.”

Jon’s grin widened as he pressed play again.

“Victini managed to use Work-Up twice, before Alakazam woke up, however was forced to use Rest again, and Victini then used a third Work-Up, before using Guard Swap, switching Alakazam’s highly boosted defence for its own weakened constitution,” Jon explained. “At this point, both Encore and Trick Room wore off, and Alakazam was able to start using Sleep Talk, however the move it ended up using was Psychic, and did nearly nothing to Victini. Victini used Trick Room again to make itself faster, before using Flame Crash to knock Alakazam out cold.”

“So at this point you have a Mythical Pokemon that has most of its energy, as well has its offensive and defensive power cranked like crazy, and Justin knew his best bet was to try and level the playing field. Anyone know why he sent out Greninja?” Jon asked as he paused the video again.

“It has some higher priority moves that can bypass Victini's speed and Trick Room?” asked Melissa, the sixteen year-old who battled with Charlotte during Capture the Flag.

“That would definitely help if Justin’s plans succeeded, but right now, the damage those moves did would be negligible at best,” Jon answered. Rose was the next to speak up, knowing that Jon would be looking for something specific.

“Does Greninja have a move that would get rid of Victini’s buffs?” she asked.

“Only one move exists to do that, and Greninja knows it. Haze,” Jon explained pressing play. “The only thing is that Victini is in a position to knock Greninja out in a single hit, and is currently faster, so Justin opted to stall until Trick Room wore off again.”

On the screen, Victini used Thunderbolt, which was blocked by Protect. Greninja then dodged another Thunderbolt, before Jon paused it.

“Here is where Abbee’s bond with Victini helped her,” Jon explained. “Abbee told Victini to use Thunderbolt, because Victini telepathically told her to give that order. Justin heard it, and had Greninja use Protect in anticipation, except Victini didn’t use Thunderbolt. He used Future Sight. Then Abbee turned the tables by using Taunt.”

Jon pressed play again, where Victini appeared to fail to use Thunderbolt, and Greninja protected against nothing. After Taunt was used, Greninja used Hydro Pump, which hit Victini directly, though didn’t deal much damage given the boosts to defence.

“Now Abbee had blocked Justin from wiping Victini’s stat boosts, and had set up an attack that would knock Greninja out, and just had to buy time,” Jon explained, as Greninja used Hydro Pump, which was then blocked by Victini using Protect. “Buy time for Future Sight to hit.”

On screen, Greninja was hit by an attack out of nowhere, and knocked out, before Jon on screen explained what happened so that it wasn’t assumed Abbee had cheated. Then Justin sent out Regieleki.

“And here is when it all pays off,” Jon explained. “Regieleki uses Zap Cannon, which in all honesty, was its best bet, as even if the damage was negligible, it would paralyze Victini if it landed, and potentially prevent it from moving. On top of that, if it hit, this would provide Victini with paralysis, that would not transfer to Regieleki, via Victini's stolen Synchronize ability.”

Regieleki launched a powerful bolt of lightning that Victini was not able to dodge. However it wasn’t enough to knock Victini out, and whilst Victini was paralyzed, it didn’t need to move to use its final move.

“Who knows exactly what Stored Power does?” Jon asked, as Abbee gave the command on screen.

“It converts buffs into psychic power,” Max answered.

“Correct. In terms of sheer power, that attack was stronger than an Explosion attack,” Jon explained. “On top of that, it was a Psychic move used by a Psychic Pokemon that increased its offensive output. I did the maths, and I am pretty sure that one attack was four times as strong as an Explosion attack. Regieleki never stood a chance…”

There was a moment of silence, before Jon continued.

“So those are Abbee’s strengths. She can take a small bit of new information, in this case, some moves that she didn’t know Victini could use, and come up with something completely new. And she has a partner Pokemon that has a killer instinct, can think for himself, and communicate with Abbee quickly during a battle,” Jon explained. “But she has her weaknesses, and now we are going to talk about them.”

“The day before, Abbee lost against Dylan, for two main reasons. The first, was that she relied too much on Victini making calls for himself in a pinch, and in this case, Victini made a decision that was detrimental,” Jon explained, pressing his clicker. The screen shifted to a short video of Dylan about to have his weakened Dusknoir use Destiny Bond, but Dusknoir being knocked out by a V-Create from Victini before it could use the move. “Any idea what mistake Victini made here?”

“V-Create was overkill?” Elsie asked, “Dusknoir seemed pretty weak.”

“Exactly,” Jon answered. “Most of Victini’s moves could have knocked out Dusknoir, but Victini was most comfortable with V-Create and it was the move it could use easiest at a moment’s notice. So Victini used that, slowing itself down, reducing its own defences, and putting it that much closer to its limit. Abbee lost this battle, and one reason was that Victini entered the final match up weakened, and with one less V-Create in its arsenal, when it really didn’t need to. Had Victini used Flame Crash on Dusknoir, Victini would have then been up to beating Metagross next and winning the battle…”

“Granted, I told Abbee and Victini of this, and I know they’re working hard to get Victini just as capable of using other moves as he is V-Create, but that sort of thing would take months, and the more pressure Victini is under, the more likely he is to slip and do something over the top,” Jon continued. “Abbee’s other weakness in battle is actually quite common amongst trainers. If she gets rattled, she is liable to focus on the wrong parts of the battle.”

The slide shifted to Dusknoir using Curse on Poliwrath, and Poliwrath convulsing from it. It was the same scene that they had seen when Dylan battled Chris on the first day.

“One of Abbee’s Pokemon was cursed during the battle, and went down quickly after that,” Jon explained. “So when Victini was battling Metagross, disadvantaged by its liberal use of V-Create, Abbee was shaken by the curse, and when Metagross, started to stall and went on the defensive, it caused Abbee to focus too much on that, and just try and knock Metagross out with desperate, brute strength, when really she was capable of beating it in a less direct, more effective way, even if she wasn’t aware of some of Victini’s moves herself.”

“What would you have done?” Sean asked, thinking Jon was being a bit critical of Abbee.

“Victini had all its energy for most of the battle with Metagross,” Jon explained. “If I were in her position, and weren’t aware of the moves she used to win against Justin, I would have used Work-Up, and then Final Gambit.”

“But doesn’t that knock out the user?” Jude asked.

“It does. But I’d take a tie over a loss, and if I were convinced I couldn’t win it, I’d settle for a guaranteed tie over a win if I were lucky.” Jon answered, before turning his attention to the rest of the class. “Based on what I have just told you, what would be a good strategy to beat Abbee?”

“Put the pressure on her?” Alicia replied.

“That’s half of it. You want to put as much pressure on her as you can. The other half is to get into her head. Rattle her,” Jon explained. “Once you have done that, wait for her to make a bad call, and use that to blow the match right open…”

Jon paired off the students to focus on tactics that are designed to put pressure on their opponent. The most common tactic employed was to poison the opponent and stall for time, however Jon found himself impressed by Rose, who had her Sableye use Mean Look to prevent its opponent from leaving the battle until one of them faints, before using Will O Wisp to burn the target, Detect to dodge any incoming attacks and buy time, and Disable to prevent the opposing Pokemon from healing itself or recovering health. All of these moves acting first by Sableye’s Prankster ability.

“Are you sure you aren’t going too far with this analysis?” Steven asked later that afternoon, as he helped Jon put away the foldable chairs the students had been sitting on. “The advice you gave them for beating Abbee is pretty brutal…”

“They’re my students, and I want them to improve,” Jon said simply, as he folded another chair, though Steven remained unconvinced.

“So are your interns. They’re your students too…” Steven replied, sighing.

“That’s what I just said…”

Steven raised his eyebrows hearing this, and turned to face Jon.

“You’re trying to teach the interns a lesson or something?” Steven asked.

Jon remained silent as he put the chair he was holding into the store room, knowing it would drive Steven crazy to now know what Jon was planning.

“Okay, I admit I may have been a bit too critical,” Steven said, though wishing he didn’t have to give Jon the satisfaction to get any answers. “Remember, now they are my students too.”

Jon barked out a laugh.

“Touche…” Jon retorted.

“So what’re you really doing?” Steven asked. “While you’re pretending to be teaching the others how to beat them?”

“Firstly, no pretending about it. I want the other students to be able to beat them. Knowing tactics is one thing, but implementing them takes a serious degree of skill, since your opponent isn’t going to do what you want them to,” Jon explained. “The interns are strong. Much stronger than I was at their age. But they do have some pretty major weaknesses that if identified, can be exploited by any trainer that is good enough to compete against them.”

“And if you tried to make them aware by battling yourself…” Steven continued, realizing where Jon was leading.

“They would see the loss as nothing but the difference in skill and experience,” Jon explained. ”Yeah, Jon beat me, but what else should I expect?”

“So humble,” Steven teased.

“Truth is they’re a lot closer to my level than they realize. I’ve just had more time to analyse their battling than they have mine. I mean, Justin thrashed me back when he first arrived, and I hadn’t seen his new way of battling,” Jon explained. “Anyway, if I make these weaknesses obvious, they wouldn’t see the loss as a result of their weakness, but instead my supposed strength. But if these weaknesses were exploited by someone that they are ahead of…”

Steven thought over what Jon said. Especially for Charlotte and Chris, Steven knew this would motivate them to improve.

“It’s a win-win,” Jon explained, having a hunch this is what Steven was realizing. “The students will learn the value of analysis and ingenuity, and the interns will realize exactly where they need to improve.”

“You know it drives me up the wall when you do that?” Steven asked.

“Do what?”

“Hold back just the right amount of information for me to think you’re being an idiot or an a**hole…”

“Maybe I thought you’d know me well enough by now to just bypass the whole idiot and a**hole assumption, and know I have a plan,” Jon retorted.

“I would, except you do act like an idiot and an a**hole enough of the time that I can’t really rule out completely…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

Episode 8 is done (finally), though it is part 1 of what I am expecting to be 3, but wouldn't be surprised if it were 4... Goddamn.

I am kinda hooked on Cyberpunk right now, but am hoping that now I am back into the groove of writing (and past one of the hardest parts to write in the chapter) that I can balance the two a little better.

Enjoy

[Neo Emolga]

Whew... finally I've caught up. What a ride, but it's been great! The whole story feels like one of those TV series on Netflix that really hooks you in and pushes you to binge-watch (or read in this case). Been meaning to catch up for a while now, but I definitely slipped behind a bit.

I love the idea of having capture the flag, but with Pokémon. The idea is brilliant and now I'd love to see a game with that kind of basis. I also loved the way Jon has been getting the students to cooperate while the interns are busy catching Pokémon. That definitely made me chuckle, and the way Jon and Steven heckle each other is great, too.

Victini is also such a great, lovable character with a lot of charm. The way you handle his comical personality is perfect.

I also like how the story has a perfect blend of intense battles, intrigue, drama, humor, and even a bit of mystery here and there to make it a really fun read that doesn't overdo it in any one area. I would say that and its amazing cast of characters and their unique personalities and aspirations make this a really solid and enjoyable story. Awesome and fantastic work all around!

[[Desolate Divine]]

Cheers! Between is I am keen to get the interns back to the Academy. Mostly because it is difficult to come up with content while they are catching Pokemon that doesn't just feel like filler haha

But glad you're enjoying it. And there is some stuff coming up that you're gonna really enjoy!

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 2 Episode 9: Collapse (Part 2)

Spoiler:

“Nightmares?”

Charlotte was pulled from her drowsy thoughts as she sat in the common room of the Pokemon Centre's second floor accommodation. The clock read 7am, however she had been awake since 5:30, and chose to wait in the common room, as to not risk waking Abbee who would probably sleep until 7:55, with the plan being to leave Mauville at 8am. Dylan sat on the couch opposite her, sporting the shorts and singlet that he slept in during summer months.

“Surprisingly, no,” Charlotte replied. “Slept like a log last night, and didn’t dream at all.”

“So why the early start?” Dylan asked, remaining unconvinced.

“Even without them last night, my sleeping pattern is still messed up…” Charlotte explained. “I usually wake up from the nightmares at around the same time every morning and can’t get back to sleep, so my whole sleep pattern has shifted. The nightmares used to be sporadic, but now are at about the same time every night.”

As Charlotte mentioned this, Dylan felt unease as he put the pieces together. His original theory was that a Pokemon was causing Charlotte’s nightmares, and had borrowed Latios to try and determine if that theory was correct. However, within a two kilometre radius of the Academy during one of Charlotte’s nightmares, Latios couldn’t detect a Pokemon that might be causing it, which caused Dylan to dismiss his theory. However, hearing that the first night she had spent away from Mossdeep had been peaceful, and that the nightmares are waking her up at a similar enough time consistently enough to shift her entire sleeping pattern just made his disproven theory seem more likely.

“What’s up?” Charlotte, asked, noticing Dylan concentrating hard on something.

“Nothing…” Dylan said.

“Bulls**t it’s nothing,” Charlotte retorted. “You’re easier to read than you realize.”

Dylan sighed, remembering Charlotte’s tough love from the week before.

“You know how I was looking into your nightmares?” Dylan asked. “Do you know what I was looking for specifically?”

“Not really, Abbee went silent once she realized I was trying to get her to spill,” Charlotte answered. “Something to do with Latios?”

“My theory was that a Psychic Type Pokemon was nearby and using telepathy or a Nightmare attack on you. More likely the first since Nightmare attacks only work on Pokemon most of the time,” Dylan explained. “Of those two options, telepathy would have a bigger operating range. Latios is an incredibly powerful telepath, so I spent some time with him working out his telepathic range. Latios should be the most powerful telepath on the island, if a Pokemon is giving you nightmares, it would need to be within that range. Something like two kilometers. But we found nothing…”

“And now, I get off the island and sleep peacefully?” Charlotte asked, following along.

“Between that and the fact the nightmares wake you up at the same time every morning?” Dylan asked. “Do you know much about sleep?”

“I knew I was good at it before this summer…” Charlotte joked.

“When you go to sleep at night, you go through sleep cycles, each lasting roughly ninety minutes each, and each of these cycles is made up of four phases, with most dreams occurring during the fourth phase of the cycle,” Dylan explained. “You go through four to six cycles a night, and dream mostly in the fourth phase of each of those cycles. Yet you’re having the same nightmare at the same time, when really, if it were all internal, you should be waking up at various points in the night, mathematically speaking…”

“So you still think a Pokemon is causing them?” Charlotte asked.

“I really hope not,” Dylan replied. “Because if Latios could not detect this Pokemon whilst you were having a nightmare, this means we are dealing with a more powerful psychic Pokemon than even Latios. But the question it also raises is why you?”

Thinking about when the nightmares started, Charlotte had an idea, and mentioned it to Dylan, though was surprised when he had already thought of it.

“Jon said that the thing we found on the beach was likely a Pokemon…” Charlotte said, “I was the one to pick it up, and carry it back to the Academy?”

“I asked Steven to look into it when I was doing my own investigation,” Dylan answered. “He told me the Space Center transferred it to Unova pretty quickly after, because there is a facility there better equipped to investigate it.”

“Better than the Hoenn Space Center?” Charlotte asked, not aware of a specialized facility in Unova.

“Must be,” Dylan explained. “Whilst the object came from space, if it is a Pokemon, the Space Center probably isn't equipped for that. They could probably track different objects orbiting us with pinpoint accuracy, but in terms of learning about an undiscovered Pokemon, they aren’t suited for it.”

Dylan went silent as he thought about the implications of what he had heard. As unlikely as it was, there was a powerful psychic on Mossdeep, telepathically causing trouble. Whilst it was impossible, he wished he had known last night, because if this Pokemon were unable to target Charlotte like it usually does, chances are it may find a new target.

“I’m gonna give Jon a call,” Dylan said. “I’m worried that if you’re not there, whatever is causing the nightmares might target someone else…”

“What can Jon do if it does?”

“Have Latios keep watch until we get back and can investigate further,” Dylan explained. “Latios should be able to tell if someone is having a nightmare with his ability to perceive emotions, and might even be able to read the thoughts of the person having the nightmares. If nothing else, we can confirm that something is going on, and get some help from the League when we get back…”

Dylan stood, making his way to his room, and calling Jon. It was 7:20, and Dylan knew he would be awake.

”Dylan, how was the first day?” Jon asked as he answered the phone.

“We caught thirty-seven Pokemon yesterday, and deposited them all last night,” Dylan answered, “Didn’t you check the tub in the storage room?”

“Meant to, but ended up having an early night,” Jon replied. ”Running the Academy without you guys is more tiring than I expected…

“Anyway, have you got a minute?” Dylan asked.

”Of course. What’s up?”

“Remember how I borrowed Latios to look into Charlotte’s nightmares? You remember why specifically?”

”You thought a Pokemon might be using telepathy or something to cause her nightmares?”

“Yeah,” Dylan said. “I tested Latios’ telepathic range, because Latios is the strongest telepath on the island, and that would give us a radius that the potential Pokemon had to be in. If Latios couldn’t telepathically link further than two kilometers, then the Pokemon causing it would be within that same radius. Except Latios scoured that range when Charlotte was having a nightmare, and couldn’t find anything, so we figured I was barking up the wrong tree…”

”But something’s happened to change your mind?” Jon asked.

“Charlotte had her first night without nightmares last night, and she mentioned that they have synchronized every night, to the point where even without them, she will wake up at the same time,” Dylan explained. “Which is more reason to believe that a Pokemon is causing this…”

The other end of the line was silent for a moment.

”You think there is something more powerful than Latios causing these nightmares?”

“I hadn’t considered it back then, because there was still a decent chance this was all in Charlotte’s head. More chances of that than what you’re saying. But now…”

”Now it doesn’t seem too unlikely,” Jon concluded.

“I’m worried that without Charlotte there, this thing may go after one of the younger students,” Dylan explained. “Is Latios still wanting to try and be a spy?”

”Yeah. I’ll have him do night watch again, and see if he can pick anyone being targeted,” Jon said. ”I’ll have a chat to Steven, and see if he can look through the League’s logs on Legendary Pokemon, to see if any known Psychic Types have been spotted in the area.”

“Do you want us to head back?”

Jon was silent for a moment, and Dylan repeated himself, thinking the call had cut out.

”No, keep doing what you’re doing. Right now, things are okay here, and if we are right, Charlotte deserves a break from this,” Jon answered. ”But be ready to come back pretty quickly if need be.”

“Should we avoid Meteor Falls tomorrow then?” Dylan asked, “Phone service is bound to be sketchy there.”

”You shouldn’t take more than a few hours to get through it and get reception back. And if I am desperate to get a hold of you, Latios could get there and find you pretty quickly to pass on a message. But hold off telling the others…”

“How come?” Dylan asked, slightly surprised that Jon was wanting him to keep it from them.

”Chances are nothing will happen that will need you back here. You and I are just the sort of people who prefer to be prepared for the absolute worst. Another kid might start having nightmares, but considering Charlotte has been having them for weeks, and nothing worse is happening, I think we should be okay,” Jon said. ”It’s not worth worrying about right now. I will handle things here, and do some digging. You guys just focus on the job at hand.”

“Keep in touch,” Dylan said, before ending the call, really hoping that if something bad had to happen, it wouldn’t happen while they were all gone…

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
“So are you gonna say something to her?” Justin asked, as he sat on the bed he had just made, whilst he waited for Chris to pack the last of his clothes.

“Say what?” Chris asked, as he forced the zip on his backpack shut.

“You know what,” Justin said with a sigh. He mostly wanted Chris to bite the bullet so that he wouldn’t keep coming to him asking for advice. Not that Justin disliked Chris asking, but more that he didn’t want to risk giving him bad advice, and also, instead of keeping Justin awake playing on his Nintendo Switch, last night, Chris kept Justin awake with continuous questions. That being said, even if Chris did say something to Abbee, and it went according to plan, he’d still probably ask Justin way too many questions, albeit, a slightly different type…

“If the right opportunity comes up, I will try…”

Justin groaned internally. He had been awake until 2am that morning with Chris’ constant chatter about Abbee, and if he was being so uncertain about actually doing anything about it, Justin knew that he was in for another rough night…

“The right opportunity will never come up,” Justin lectured. “You gotta make it happen.”

“Why are you so invested in this?” Chris asked, and Justin noticed his expression shift, worrying he had realized Justin’s actual reason for being so invested.

“Is it so you can make fun of me in front of the others like I would about you and Candice?”

Justin hid a sigh of relief at Chris’ incorrect judgement. He did want Chris to feel like he could trust him. He just wanted him to trust him during less unholy hours…

“Got me,” Justin bluffed. “I have content lined up and everything, but kinda hinges on everyone knowing…”

“Like?”

“That’d ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?” Justin retorted, thankful that Chris seemed to not be invested enough to ask anymore questions.

The pair did a final sweep of their room, knowing that if it weren’t up to scratch they would have a mark placed on their Trainer Cards, and too many would result in them having to pay for accommodation at Pokemon Centres.

Half an hour later, after a rushed breakfast, the group were in Dylan’s car, this time, Abbee sitting in the front seat, dozed off whilst loosely holding Victini in her arms, as he poked his head above the door card, and looked out the window at the landscape rushing past. In the back seat, Justin sat in the middle, whilst Charlotte sat behind Dylan, and Chris behind Abbee.

The drive itself was mostly quiet. Dylan had the radio on, though kept it quiet so Abbee could sleep, but the rock music was still audible enough. Charlotte’s mind seemed elsewhere, whilst Justin was sending texts, with Chris noticing he seemed to be angling the phone intentionally so that Chris wouldn’t be able to see the screen.

Chris was the first to break the relative silence.

“Hey, is that a Ho-oh?!” Chris called out, pointing out the driver’s side window. Dylan glanced out the window, but had to keep focused on the road in front of him, as Charlotte seemed to regain her senses, and look, though with a surprising lack of enthusiasm. It wasn’t her Chris was trying to distract though.

Justin’s head spun around, as he tried to glance the imaginary Rainbow Pokemon Chris had mentioned, and in that moment, when his grip loosened a little on the phone, Chris grabbed it from his hand, careful not to press the lock button on the side.

“Hey, what the hell?!” Justin said irritably, causing Abbee to stir in the front seat.

“He’s been texting Candice,” Chris announced, as Charlotte rolled her eyes at what was coming next. Justin sighed, though didn’t protest any further, knowing the reaction was just what Chris wanted, and really, not caring too much if the others knew what was said between them. Though part of him looked forward to seeing how Chris would react to digging himself into an awkward hole.

“’Morning beautiful’,” Chris said, deepening his voice, before changing to a higher pitched one. ”’You’re not too bad yourself. Morning!’ and there’s a little smiley face with hearts for eyes.”

“Come on Chris, he’s being sweet, and she obviously appreciates it,” Abbee said with a yawn, as Chris continued, unphased.

“’How did you sleep?’” Chris said in his Justin voice, before switching to his Candice voice. “’So well! I don’t need to be at the Gym until 10, and I think I will just stay in bed for another hour. What about you?’”

This was it. The moment Justin had somewhat been looking forward to. Poetic justice.

“’Pretty average… Chris kept me awake until like 2am-’” Chris began using his Justin voice, though it had returned to normal by the time he realized what he was reading. Dylan stifled a laugh from the driver’s seat.

“Karma’s a b***h,” Charlotte said smugly, as Justin took his phone back off Chris.

“What was he doing to keep you awake?” Abbee asked, seeming a little more alert.

“He was watching stupid YouTube videos,” Justin lied, before glaring at Chris. “The one with that orange with the dude’s face being stupid.”

“Yeah…” Chris affirmed, thankful that Justin didn’t decide to get back at him.

There were a few moments of silence, before Chris felt something lightly pushing against his mind.

”You’ve got a good friend there…” Victini said telepathically, Chris hoped only to himself. He looked into the passenger side mirror, and could see Victini looking out the window as he was before, but was starting to realize he was faking it slightly.

”What do you want, pint size?” Chris retorted, having slowly learnt this summer that Victini tends to pick on him a little because he enjoys the banter that Chris provides back.

“To let you know that I could tell everyone in this car exactly why you were keeping Justin awake all night… If I felt like it…”

Chris tensed up a little, Justin glancing at him, noticing it due to the closeness of the slightly cramped rear seat.

”How do you know?” Chris asked.

”I’m a telepath, genius…” Victini retorted. ”I caught you making googly eyes at my trainer last night during dinner, and peeked in that head of yours to see if you’d had a stroke or something…”

”So what, this is you telling me to stay away from your trainer?”

”No, she’s a big girl, and can make her own decisions,” Victini replied casually. ”Just letting you know that I know, and the only reason everyone else in this car doesn’t is my good graces…”

”You’re such a good friend…” Chris retorted sarcastically.

”I wasn’t finished…” Victini interrupted. ”Just letting you know that I know, and the only reason everyone else doesn’t is because I’m a good guy. And that if you hurt her, I will dig up one of my last trainers spell books, and figure out how to turn you into a Dunsparce.”

”That is… Oddly specific…” Chris answered slowly. ”Why Dunsparce?”

”When Jon met the Diamond Ladies, he mentioned not wanting them to turn him into a Dunsparce. So I figured that would work well as incentive…” Victini explained casually. ”But that’s all I wanted to say. Good chat.”

”Good chat…” Chris replied, unsure of what the hell just happened.

The afternoon before had been slightly uneventful. The only new Pokemon they had captured after lunch were the Tropius that Chris had captured, though Charlotte had by that point not really cared too much about whether or not she beat him, as well as the Feebas that Dylan managed to track down, with Abbee capturing a Carvanha for herself. After that, a few more doubles of Pokemon were captured, and the team caught a ferry to cross the river running through Route 118, arriving in Mauville in the mid-evening. Whilst their original plan was to see the sights whilst they were in one of Hoenn’s largest cities, they wound up getting dinner at a ramen restaurant in the Mauville food court, before returning to the Pokemon Center by 9pm, most of the group having retired to their rooms by 10pm.

The group had captured thirty-seven different Pokemon yesterday, however that was largely due to the Safari Zone, as well as some of the Pokemon being common across all of Hoenn. If they were efficient, Dylan didn’t expect to catch more than a third of that, unless there were some Pokemon he hadn’t planned on encountering in the areas they would be focusing on.

“We’re almost there…” Dylan called out as he drove. “Did you all pack extra water for today like I told you to?”

“Extra water?” Chris asked. “I only used like three-quarters of the water I brought for yesterday? That's not enough?”

“You do know where we’re headed today right?” Dylan asked.

“Towards Fallarbor?” Chris asked. “On the other side of Mt. Chimney?”

“Do you know where we are stopping on the way?” Charlotte asked, realizing how unprepared Chris was.

“Reserves like yesterday…” Chris answered.

“Reserves, yes, but the first one isn’t like yesterday…” Dylan replied. “We’re gonna be on the edge of the Route 111 desert.”

“Wait, there’s a desert in Route 111?”

“I wouldn’t have mentioned it if there wasn’t,” Dylan replied.

“How is that possible?” Chris asked. “Hoenn’s tropical?”

“It’s an anomaly,” Dylan answered. “The desert is surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides, with a small gap in them at the top and bottom. Water in the oceans on either side of Hoenn evaporates and becomes clouds, before being blown across the region...”

“Okay, I follow so far,” Chris prompted.

“Well, when the wind reaches these mountains, it can only go upwards, carrying the clouds…” Dylan explained, hoping Chris would understand on his own, though realizing he was going to have to spell it out. Abbee and Justin were both thankful, as they, whilst aware of the existence of the desert, didn’t know how it came about. “The clouds are blown higher up, where it’s colder, and the evaporated water condenses, causing rain only on the coastal sides of the mountains…”

“So it never rains there?” Chris asked, “What about the gaps in the north and south? Clouds don’t get blown through there?”

“On the odd occasion they do, it means jack-s**t ninety-nine percent of the time,” Dylan replied. “The mountains direct the wind straight through. Clouds just get blown from one entrance straight through to the other. If it’s a cold enough day and the wind stops suddenly enough, you might get a little bit of rain, but not enough to prevent that enclosed area from being an arid wasteland…”

“How do you know all this?” Abbee asked, this not being the first time this summer Dylan had impressed her with his wealth of obscure knowledge.

“7th grade geography,” Dylan said as he focused on the road in front of him. “Just like you’d have learnt about the Lake of Rage, or Charlotte would have learnt about Mt. Coronet, I’m from Hoenn, so we learnt about it in school.”

“Back up a minute,” Chris interjected, Dylan rolling his eyes at Chris unintentionally cutting short one of the few conversations he and Abbee had these days. “We’re only going to be there a few hours, right? Surely yesterday’s supply will be fine?”

“I wouldn’t risk it…” Dylan replied. “It’s the middle of summer, in a desert with no moisture in the air, and sheer rock faces either side to retain the heat of the sun. You’ll be walking through sand which is probably twice as draining than the paths we are used to…”

Chris groaned at the thought.

“So what, it’s either risk dehydrating in the desert, or wait by the car?” Chris asked.

“Normally, that would be the case,” Dylan said smugly. “But luckily I’m the one organizing this trip, and I’ve overprepared…”

“What, you have a thousand litres of water in the tub?” Chris asked, pointing his thumb out the back window.

“Two-hundred litre drum filled with it. Got a tap and everything,” Dylan answered. “I’ll leave you with the key for the hard-lid and the tailgate. Don’t go too far into the desert, and come top up your water once you’ve drank half of it. That isn’t a suggestion…”

“You had this set up from the get go?” Chris asked. “Why torment me?”

“I still owe you for all the nights you kept me awake back at the Academy…” Dylan answered, though only telling half the truth, slightly ashamed at how petty he was being. Granted, Chris seemed to accept the reasoning.

They arrived at the carpark that was on the edge of the small, isolated desert an hour later, and as they did yesterday, quickly got ready to go capture Pokemon.

“Don’t go in too far,” Dylan reiterated to Chris, as he looked towards the twenty meter wide break in the mountains that served as one of the two entrances into the desert. “Keep that entrance in visual range at all times.”

“What if there’s a sandstorm and I can’t see more than three feet in front of me?”

“Then you better hope to God that you are within three feet of the entrance before it hits,” Dylan retorted, before realizing he was being pretty harsh on Chris. “Look, I’m saying it for your benefit. The mountains are dotted with caves, and the rest of us have enough water to wait out a sandstorm if one were to hit. If you’re too far in and a sandstorm hits, you’ll risk getting lost trying to find cover, and dehydrating. But if you keep the entrance in sight at all times, you’ll always be able to get out, and get water from the car.”

“He’s right, Chris,” Charlotte said. “It sucks, but we can’t risk things going pear-shaped. Especially for one of us minors.”

“Fine, but I want to know everywhere else exactly where we are going on this trip,” Chris replied. “I don’t want to be unprepared again.”

“Check your messages then,” Dylan said. “I sent a detailed itinerary on Friday with all the stops. That’s how these guys knew to stock up on water.”

When the four trainers who would be heading deeper into the desert decided to pair off, Charlotte was slightly surprised when Dylan suggested her and Abbee go together to the north, whilst he and Justin travelled east, and Chris would remain near the entrance. She had originally assumed he would pair himself up with Abbee, though that was more out of her own hope than anything else.

However, Charlotte quickly assumed that unlike herself, who had berated him the week before, Dylan was a little more at peace, or at least resigned to the fact that Chris was interested in Abbee, and whilst she didn’t know for sure, she was sure Abbee felt the same way.

The pair walked north, trudging through the loose and shifting sand.

“Tired?” Abbee asked. “You’ve barely said a word since we split off from the others.”

Again, Charlotte wondered if she was too hard on Dylan with the advice she gave him the week before, or whether she just needed to follow her own advice better. She had warned Dylan that Abbee would be able to tell something was up if he didn’t get it together, and now Abbee was questioning her.

“Yeah, sorry,” Charlotte replied. She was tired, but that wasn’t the reason for her silence. “I slept all night, but the nightmares have woken me up before dawn every morning enough that I just woke up early again today…”

As the pair walked, Charlotte spoke, wanting to take the attention off herself.

“What about you?” Charlotte asked. “Something on your mind? You’re just as quiet today as I am.”

Abbee laughed a little.

“Just trying to go over the list of Pokemon I want to catch in my head,” Abbee asked. “Between us, I barely had a chance to battle during the year where it was actually a challenge, so I want to make sure I have caught every Pokemon I want to train this week, since summer is my best chance to train them well.”

Charlotte was slightly surprised to hear this from Abbee. She had expected to see her in tournaments after last summer, especially given how motivated she was after her dad’s death. So when the school year passed without hearing of Abbee competing, Charlotte had been surprised. She also found herself realizing just how much of her friend's life outside of the Eon Academy she didn’t know.

“Seriously? You didn’t battle much between summers?” Charlotte asked.

With Victini in her corner, Abbee posed a serious challenge to both Charlotte and Chris, as did Justin. Whilst it was fairly even with who would win during a battle between her and Abbee, that was largely due to Abbee having more powerful Pokemon, but Charlotte being a little more skilled in handling her Pokemon, and strategizing. Whilst Abbee could come up with a countermeasure fairly quickly once she had a rough idea of the circumstances, Charlotte was better at manipulating the flow of the battle, and cornering her opponents. Whilst neither of them said anything, if Abbee didn’t have Victini, and Justin didn’t have Regieleki, Charlotte and Chris would definitely be winning more often than not against them. Charlotte figured if the odds were evened, and her and Chris captured a Legendary Pokemon each, they would regain their upper hand they had last year. She understood why Justin didn’t compete during the last year. He wanted to join the police eventually, and as good experience and income as competing in tournaments, even at their age could be, it would put his name, his face, and his Pokemon on display, and that much information in the public isn’t ideal for a cop. But Abbee on the other hand, Charlotte couldn’t understand why she, for lack of better words, slacked off.

“I’d battle with Tyler twice a week in the backyard,” Abbee answered. “He’s on hiatus from competing, and doesn’t want to lose his edge, so I’d battle him. Then once a term or so, my school would host a tournament for their students, and I participated in a few of them.”

Charlotte was familiar with the school tournaments. Her school would run them as well. However, not long after she began competing professionally, they adjusted the rules, barring students who were currently signed up for an upcoming League tournament from participating. Their reasoning was that they wanted those who were competing professionally to be focusing their training on excelling during the more important tournaments, though it was obvious that the school were trying to prevent students from not signing up due to the humiliating losses a fair few suffered at Charlotte’s hand. Her friends had referred to the rule as The CJ Amendment.

“Tyler any good?”

“It’s hard to say. I hadn’t battled with him before last summer, because by the time I got my first Pokemon, he had already been travelling and competing for nearly three years,” Abbee explained. “Our first match, I beat him quite easily, which shocked him more than anything else. Then our next few he won, but once I started to get a feel for how he battled, it became pretty unpredictable. I offered to not use Victini, but he refused. Said that he won’t get that option if we battled in a tournament, so he shouldn’t coddle himself during training. I’d say in terms of skill, we’re close to even, but he has me beat in experience, and it makes a difference.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Charlotte said. “Still, I was surprised when I didn’t see you competing last year…”

“Yeah, I want to compete eventually,” Abbee explained, “But I don’t want to rely on competing to survive. That’s part of the reason why I want to become a Gym Leader. If I can set myself up with more stable work for a few years out of school, have a qualification, and work enough to survive, without competing, I can compete purely for the enjoyment of it. If I win a tournament, great, I can pay off my house faster. If not, well as long as I had fun, it’s a win.”

“You’re already talking about mortgages?”

“I mean, I only have one year of school left, and the sooner I get my own house, the sooner I can pay it off and actually own it,” Abbee replied. “Our house in Goldenrod is paid off, and I own half of it, with both Mum and Dad gone. But I’m not quite sure I want to live there after I graduate…”

Abbee went quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to articulate her thoughts.

“Dad saved all his winnings for years to buy that land and build that house, for his family to live in. Then Mum died, and Tyler basically moved out when he was sixteen, so for years it was just Dad and I. And now Tyler is back at home, but only because he has to look after me, and once I graduate, he will go back to what he was doing…” Abbee explained. “If I stay, it’ll be just me in this big, empty house, where all the other people it was built for are now gone…”

Realizing that she was now practically complaining that the house that she now owns as part of an inherited estate which would financially set her up for life, she quickly backtracked.

“Not that I’m not incredibly thankful for how hard Dad worked to give us that house, or the fact that I can still live there-” Abbee said quickly.

“No, don’t apologize,” Charlotte said. “I understand. Or at least I think I do…”

“Yeah…” Abbee replied. “I don’t think I could ever bring myself to sell it. Even if Tyler wanted to buy me out, I don’t think I could, but I get the feeling he feels the same way about living there. He adored Mum, and now that Dad’s gone, I understand exactly why he started travelling as soon as he could.”

“So what would you do then?”

“I don’t think I could bring myself to rent it out,” Abbee explained. “Truth is, if Tyler is okay with it, once we both move out, I might leave it empty. Have it be a place to stay when we come visit Mum and Dad’s graves in Goldenrod. Or do what Jon does with the lodge at the Academy, and have it be a place where once Tyler and I have our own families, we can have Christmas and stuff together.”

The pair continued their walk, looking around for the Pokemon they were wanting to catch.

“So what’re your plans now?” Abbee asked, knowing that Charlotte had finished high school a month or two prior. “You going to focus on competing?”

“Hell yeah…” Charlotte said with a grin. “They only run the Junior Tournaments during weekends with public holidays, and short breaks from school so that teenagers aren’t skipping school to compete. But when I turn eighteen next April, there’ll be tournaments pretty much every two weeks if I’m willing to travel for them. Annoys the crap out of me that I have to wait nearly a year after graduating to compete though…”

“So what will you do during that year?”

“Compete in all the junior tournaments I can. Travel a bit. Train as much as I can, this time without hurting my Pokemon,” Charlotte answered. “Even if Chris and I are still dead even by the end of summer, he has a year left of school, and I’ll have all the time in the world…”

Abbee scoffed a little at the fact that Charlotte had shown the most excitement since arriving in the desert at the idea of having more time to improve than Chris. Before Abbee could comment, Charlotte placed her hand over Abbee’s mouth to silence her, before gesturing to the path in front of them. Though somewhat difficult to see amidst the sand, floating around a large rock that seemed to have piqued its interest, was a Baltoy.

“The only Pokemon we have that won’t be slowed down by the sand is my Drifblim, and it’s more of a suicide bomber right now…” Charlotte said. “We need to corner this thing, and capture it without a battle…”

Abbee nodded, as she looked around. To their left was the rocky cliff face of the mountains that enclosed the desert, however every other direction was a sandy wasteland.

“I’ll go wide and come at it from the north,” Abbee explained. “You wait for me to get its attention, and throw a Pokeball at it from behind.”

Charlotte nodded, withdrawing a Quick Ball from her bag, as Abbee made her way east, trying to circle around it. Charlotte flattened herself against the uncomfortably warm cliff wall, and began inching closer towards the Baltoy, settling for a spot close enough that she could get a good aim at the Pokemon, without being too close to tip it off to her presence. A few minutes passed before she saw the outline of a person coming from the north.

Abbee made her way towards the Baltoy, moving slowly. Her goal was to move slowly enough that she intrigued the Pokemon enough to not move, and give her a little time before it decided to flee. As she did, Charlotte readied the Pokeball.

Except Baltoy wasn’t intrigued. Instead, it fled east. Abbee sighed, before noticing Charlotte darting from her hiding place after it.

“Where are you going?” Abbee called out, trying to follow after her.

“We’ve been walking nearly forty minutes, and haven’t seen a Pokemon!” Charlotte called back, “I’m not letting this one get away!”

Abbee groaned, before running after Charlotte, knowing she was right, but knowing already how much her legs were going to ache. As she followed Charlotte’s footprints through the sand, and began to notice empty Pokeballs nearby, which she began to collect. First was a Quick Ball, followed by three Great Balls, and then six Ultra Balls. After another ten minutes, she finally caught up to Charlotte who stood panting heavily, holding a Timer Ball with a tight grip.

“Caught it,” she wheezed, before opening her bag and getting one of the large bottles of water she had packed.

“Nice job,” Abbee retorted, before putting the Pokeballs into Charlotte’s open bag. “I think we might have time to catch one more Pokemon here.”

Charlotte nodded, as Abbee had an idea, calling out Victini.

”So you want my help, now that you know I won’t start a forest fire?” Victini asked jokingly, looking around at the sand that surrounded them.

“I do, because you’re the only one who can help me with this…” Abbee explained. “How good is your telepathy?”

”Not as good as Latios, but better than your average Psychic type?” Victini replied.

“Think you could be a Pokemon radar and find any hidden Pokemon nearby?”

“You couldn’t have thought of that before when we wandered aimlessly?” Charlotte asked, realizing that neither of them had considered it, though Charlotte had no Psychic type Pokemon herself.

“I prefer to think of it as bonding time,” Abbee retorted, as Victini’s eyes flashed with light for a moment, before the small Pokemon pointed south.

”That way,” Victini said. [i]”There is a small cluster of Pokemon near there.”

“Water source?” Charlotte asked. “Maybe an oasis?”

“Not sure, but it’s on the way back, so it’s probably our best option,” Abbee answered, as she logged the capture. As she opened the spreadsheet, she saw that Dylan had captured a Trapinch, and Justin a Cacnea. This was good for her. It meant that if her and Charlotte ran into a Cacnea, she could catch one for herself, and not be depriving the Academy, who was funding this little Hoenn Regional Tour, of it. It was the only Pokemon in the desert she particularly wanted to catch.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Charlotte and Abbee were the last to arrive at Dylan’s car. They had made their way south, and their suspicions were proven correct by the oasis they found, surrounded by wild Pokemon, including a Cacnea. As Abbee captured herself a Cacnea, Charlotte had been notified that Chris captured a Sandshrew, meaning that there were no more Pokemon here that they wanted to catch.

“Catch anything for yourself?” Chris asked as he sat on the tailgate when Abbee approached with Charlotte.

“Just a Cacnea,” Abbee explained, breathing a sigh of relief at how drastically cooler the car park was. With a little more moisture in the air, and no cliffs absorbing and reflecting heat, it was much more comfortable. As they got closer to the car, they realized the engine was running.

“We holding you guys up?” Charlotte called out, loud enough for Dylan who was sitting in the drivers seat to hear. He rolled down his window to reply.

“No hold-up,” Dylan answered, “It’s just hot, and Justin and I wanted the air conditioner…”

“You have an air-conditioned car, and you wait outside?” Abbee asked Chris, who had dropped down from the tailgate, and closed it and the hard lid behind him.

“What can I say? It’s a nice day,” Chris retorted. “Good view.”

”Smooth,” Charlotte thought to herself sarcastically, as Abbee stifled a grin, before making her way to the front seat.

“Wait, I just realized something…” Justin explained as the others climbed into Dylan’s car.

“What’s that?” Abbee asked.

“We’re on the road for five days. I got the front seat yesterday, you got it today. Chris and Charlotte can figure out who gets it the next two days,” Justin explained. “Who gets it on the fifth day?”

“You’re asking about the front seat?” Charlotte asked, “What are you, twelve?”

“Oh, so you don’t care if I take your day for the front seat?” Justin retorted, knowing she was well aware of how cramped and warm having five people crammed into a normal sized car was.

“F**k off,” Charlotte retorted jokingly, as Chris looked at her surprised, as she was usually lecturing him for his cursing. “What? There are no kids around…”

“Point remains,” Justin said. “Who gets the front seat on Friday?”

“I think it’s quite obvious…” Chris answered, his tone slightly concerning.

“Oh yeah?” Abbee asked, expecting this to not be a good idea. “Who?”

“Dylan gets it,” Chris answered.

“And who drives?” Charlotte asked, though Dylan answered before Chris could respond.

“Chris, I would go swimming with Justin’s Regieleki before I let you drive this thing…”

“I’ll remember that,” Chris retorted. “What about whoever catches the most Pokemon by then?”

“When you and Charlotte have a head start because we figured we’d let you do most of the work if you really wanted to?” Justin asked. “Hard pass. Any other ideas?”

“Person who comes up with the best idea to decide, gets the front seat?” Dylan asked jokingly.

“You just had to be meta about it, didn’t you?” Chris asked.

“Well it’s my car, so I could just pick,” Dylan answered. “Or auction it off to the highest bidder…”

“You had to pull that card?” Abbee asked, surprising the others by the fact that she seemed invested in the discussion.

“It comes with the eight hundred a year I pay to register it…”

The silence that permeated the car hours before was long gone, as the group suggested different ideas, until Justin got their attention.

“In all seriousness, if anyone should pick how we decide who gets it, it’s Dylan,” Justin explained. “Martyrdom aside, he was right. It is his car.”

“You’re not too bad Justin,” Dylan retorted. “Favourite dude in this car.”

Chris jokingly, yet not holding back, gave Dylan’s seat a shove.

“In all seriousness, I will figure it out tonight. How we decide it…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
“So you want to beat the trainer of a previously undiscovered Legendary Pokemon…”

It was 1pm Tuesday afternoon, and as per his schedule, this was Jon’s time to train with Justin’s team, though this week Justin wasn’t there. As he did yesterday, Steven joined Jon, even though he taught no classes that day. He insisted he had nothing to do that afternoon, and was making sure Jon wasn’t going too far with his psycho analysis of the Eon Academy interns, though really, Steven didn’t want to admit the fact that he enjoyed seeing Jon analyse battles play-by-play, and break them down.

“As you probably heard from people in Team Victini and Team Roserade, I tend to go back to the footage of a few of their matches,” Jon explained. “For Justin, we won’t be relying on footage, but instead a match that I wasn’t even there for…”

Jon flashed Steven a grin, which had the Hoenn Champion feeling uneasy as Jon continued.

“And whilst we don’t have footage for it, Steven was present when Justin captured Regieleki, and will run this session with some insight as to Justin’s way of battling.”

Jon had not spoken to Steven about this, and had only had the idea of using Steven’s expertise with Justin when he saw Steven arrive, and make his way to the back of the folded seats a few minutes earlier. He sighed lightly, and made his way towards Jon.

“I’m going to kick your a** later…” Steven muttered through gritted teeth as Jon made a point of stifling a laugh. He turned to face the students, whilst quickly trying to think through what he would say.

“As Jon mentioned, I was there when Justin captured Regieleki. Myself and Justin were part of an expedition team with two other trainers and a researcher, attempting to discover a new Legendary Pokemon in the southern region of Galar known as the Crown Tundra. We knew where the Pokemon was, however we also knew we couldn’t unlock its hiding place without capturing Regirock, Regice and Registeel,” Steven explained. “Myself, and the other two trainers were there to capture Regirock, Regice and Registeel, and Justin was there to capture whatever Pokemon lay in waiting in the temple that these three Pokemon unlocked.”

Thinking briefly over his next sentence, Steven continued to address the trainers in the room.

“You are all in my Pokemon knowledge class, and whilst he is very subtle about it, one of Justin’s greatest strengths is his ability to predict things about Pokemon based on minimal observation,” Steven said. “When he prepared to battle Regieleki, all he knew was that it was an electric type, and that it was probably going to be extremely fast. With that, he formulated a strategy that guaranteed his win, and was practically identical to the one he eventually used to beat Jon.”

Steven turned to Jon, deciding to put him on the spot, as the students murmured amongst themselves. There had been rumours that Justin had beaten Jon, though nobody had seen Jon lose a serious battle that summer, and figured it was all hearsay.

“You think you could get the footage of Justin beating you ready?” Steven asked. “From what I heard, the strategy was almost identical…”

“Give me a few minutes,” Jon said, before walking to the laptop that was on a table nearby, and plugged into the projector. Steven turned to face the class again.

“Because Justin didn’t know much about Regieleki, the first thing he did was was buy himself time to learn about the Pokemon he was battling against,” Steven explained. “He sent out Ninjask, because it was nearly as fast as Regieleki out of the gate, and unless Regieleki had Speed Boost like Ninjask, all it would take is a few seconds before Ninjask was faster. And Justin made sure that was the case by having Ninjask use Protect to buy it enough time to outspeed Regieleki.”

Trying his hardest to remember the battle, Steven continued.

“Because he wasn’t limited to three Pokemon, Justin used the entire first round of the battle to learn about Regieleki. He already had a strategy in mind, but left enough of it open to change at a moment's notice,” Steven said. “He eventually Baton Passed Ninjask out, but not before learning that Regieleki has Magnet Rise, negating its only weakness, as well as as an ability that increases the power of its electric type moves.”

“Video’s ready,” Jon called out.

“Chuck it on.”

On the screen appeared Justin’s Alakazam facing up against Jon’s Jolteon.

“When Justin battled Regieleki, Ninjask Baton Passed out to Alakazam after Speed Boost increased its speed. The thing is, before the battle, Justin had used items on Alakazam to lower its speed to the absolute bare minimum, whilst fortifying its defence, and as far as we are aware, the only thing that has changed is that Justin has focused Alakazam’s training so that its defence is even better than when I saw it battle,” Steven explained. “Once Alakazam was on the battlefield, Justin had it use Speed Swap, and because boosts to speed such as Speed Boost aren’t affected by it, Alakazam wound up with Regieleki’s freakish natural speed, retaining its buffs from Ninjask, whilst Regieleki wound up with Alakazam’s slowness,” Steven explained, as the screen showed Alakazam using Speed Swap on Jon’s Jolteon, having shaken off a hit from Jolteon’s Shadow Ball. “In Justin’s battle with Jon, he had Alakazam take a few more hits, using Calm Mind and Recover to buy time, however didn’t take that much of a risk with Regieleki, instead opting to use Rest sooner rather than later.”

On screen, Alakazam used Rest, putting itself to sleep and regaining its energy. At the same time Jolteon fell asleep. Justin commanded Alakazam to use Sleep Talk, until Alakazam used an offensive attack to knock out Jolteon.

“Another strength of Justin’s is apparent right here,” Steven explained. “Against Jon, he took a risk using an unpredictable move like Sleep Talk to try and have Alakazam wipe out Jolteon, and it paid off. But against Regieleki, Justin didn't take that risk, instead opting to use a Full Heal to awaken Alakazam, and Baton Pass to the next Pokemon in his strategy…”

Jon hit fast forward, showing in double speed Alakazam knocking out Jon’s Absol, before Latios entered the field, knocking Alakazam out, though not without taking a heavy hit itself, before Justin sent out Greninja.

“Against Regieleki, Alakazam Baton Passed to Greninja, and against Jon, Justin also followed with Greninja, both battles planning to do the same thing. Give himself an edge before a final wipeout attack,” Steven commentated as Greninja used Soak on Latios, turning it into a Water Type, before being withdrawn and replaced by Regieleki. “It was at this point that Jon realized he was screwed. Against Regieleki, Justin sent out Lucario, who copied Regieleki’s ability with Role Play, before using Calm Mind to boost its attack and defence power, and trying to get Regieleki to use a more powerful attack. Once Regieleki used Zap Cannon, Lucario used Copycat, using Zap Cannon itself, and knocking Regieleki out in a single hit. And when he beat Jon, he just sent out Regieleki, and had it use an electric move that would trap Latios and deal continuous damage, knocking it out.”

On screen, Regieleki used Thunder Cage on Latios, knocking the Legendary Pokemon out. Jon sighed slightly, as Steven chuckled, figuring they were now even of Jon putting him on the spot.

“So Justin’s strengths are his ability to figure out a Pokemon’s characteristics during a battle and adjust his tactics on the fly, as well as knowing which risks are worth taking,” Steven explained. “But this whole explanation also showcased a major weakness, and you all would have seen this in effect very soon after…”

“He tried to use the same strategy against Abbee the day we arrived, and Abbee beat him…” Noah said.

“Exactly. Whilst he has the talent to come up with new and creative tactics, when he knows one works well, he tends to become a little one-note,” Steven explained. “Justin could have given Abbee much more of a fight, had he not tried to make use of the same strategy Abbee saw him use to beat Jon the day before.”

“But short of watching every one of his matches, how do we exploit that?” Brent, a seventeen year old from Justin’s team asked.

“You don’t,” Steven answered. “Or at least you don’t rely on it. If you happen to be in a position where you recognize what he is doing and can exploit it, take that opportunity, though he could be setting a trap…”

“Then how do we beat him?” Kayla, Team Regieleki’s youngest member asked, almost pleadingly. Jon couldn’t help but be amused at how eager the students were to beat their mentors.

“Instead of exploiting his weaknesses, you prevent him from using his strengths…” Corey, one of the older boys, answered, as Steven nodded, impressed that Corey was putting the pieces together so quickly.

“Exactly,” Steven answered. “Justin’s weakness isn’t one you can exploit at a moment’s notice. So instead, you prevent him from fighting to his strengths…”

“Any ideas how you do that?” Jon asked the group of students. They took a while to think it over, before a few spoke up.

“Limit his visibility?” Sarah asked. ”Something like Smoke Screen so that Justin can’t see what our Pokemon are doing, or are capable of?”

“Also, training our Pokemon to act on non-verbal cues?” Melody, Sarah’s friend, added to the conversation.

“Very good,” Steven answered. “Both of those would prevent Justin from tailoring his tactics to that battle as well as he is capable of.”

“You mentioned he could be luring us into a trap by using a familiar tactic?” Jordan asked. “What if we were to lure him into a trap? Set him up to use a tactic we are familiar with, that we can then exploit?”

“Risky, but if you pull it off, you’d definitely give him hell,” Jon answered. “Charlotte is exceptionally good at that, so I’d recommend getting some advice from her if you want to go down that road...”

After the lecture started to die down, the students spent a few minutes with their Pokemon, coming up with non-verbal tactics, and focusing on reducing visibility, before training against one-another. Whilst some failed spectacularly, having never worked with non-verbal cues before, others impressed Jon and Steven in particular. Melody had taken inspiration from Victini’s sneaky Future Sight attack, commanding her Altaria to use Sing, when really, it was using Perish Song…

As the students practiced, Steven noticed Jon with an expression that he had heard Jon refer to as a s**t-eating grin.

“Spill it…” Steven said quietly.

“Admit it, this is fun,” Jon answered. “Setting these guys up to beat their mentors…”

“It has been somewhat enjoyable, I’ll admit…”

Jon’s expression didn’t falter, somehow growing more intense.

“You have something else to say?”

“Just that you’re now just as guilty as I am, and I’ll make sure Justin knows that you’re the reason his students were able to beat him…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Dylan walked slowly, keeping his wits about him as he attempted to spot any new Pokemon. Ahead of him, Chris looked to the skies, attempting to track their target.

The fact that when the group decided to split up, Dylan went with Chris, was not suggested by anyone for any reasons less than practicality. Put simply, there were only two Pokemon on Route 113 for the group to capture, which would put their total for the trip up to forty-five. Skarmory, and Spinda.

Spinda wasn’t going to pose much of a challenge to capture. Skarmory on the other hand would be more difficult. Dylan had done his research and knew that it liked to rest in small, flat outcrops on cliff faces. Abbee herself had no flying Pokemon, and whilst Charlotte and Justin had Drifblim and Ninjask, they were too slow and too weak in terms of offensive power for the job of forcing a Skarmory low enough for the group to attempt to catch. Chris however had Charizard and Dragonite, whom alongside Dylan’s Flygon, could bring a Skarmory low enough for Dusknoir to trap it with Mean Look, and Dylan capture it.

Practically speaking, the split made the most sense. Dylan and Chris together would have little to no trouble capturing a Skarmory in theory. However it had been nearly forty minutes without a word outside of one asking the other if they’d seen anything.

“What happens if we can’t find one?” Chris asked, finally breaking the silence, and looking at the time on his phone, which read 2pm.

“Then that’s just one less Pokemon,” Dylan answered quickly. “I’d be surprised though. People spot Skarmory flying overhead all the time here…”

The pair continued their near silent march, awkwardly walking in a large circle around the northern end of Route 113. Whilst they were staying in Fallarbor Town on the western end, Dylan had parked on the eastern edge and the further they wandered from the car, the further they’d then need to walk back.

Dylan remained silent, watching the skies himself for a shimmer of sunlight reflecting off what he could only describe as a stainless steel-plated bird. His attention was pulled by Chris talking again.

“I’m sorry for keeping you awake with the gaming and stuff back at the Academy,” Chris said, seemingly out of nowhere. “I actually love gaming, but make a point of keeping away from it during the school year and tournament seasons, so when I am on break, I tend to lose the plot a bit. Then when I got a switch I could bring with me, it kinda got out of hand…”

Dylan was surprised to hear Chris offering an apology, not being coerced in any way, and sounding sincere about it.

“Anyway, I’ll give Justin the switch to hold onto when we get back. Or leave it set up in the common area so I can’t use it all night,” Chris continued after realizing Dylan wasn’t going to respond just yet, used to Dylan’s quiet nature from the year before. “The new students will probably appreciate that.”

“Thanks…” Dylan said, confusion evident in his voice. “But what brought this on?”

“No offense, but it’s pretty obvious you have beef with me…” Chris answered. “I totally get I probably deserved it, and it only seems recent, so figured the forced late nights were probably the reason…”

Dylan felt a pang of guilt hearing Chris say this, especially coming to terms with the supposed fact he deserved it. Whilst Dylan hadn’t been intending it, the part of him that was jealous of the bond Chris and Abbee seemed to have surfaced. Not directly, but in the odd comments Dylan made, or how much more critical he was of Chris than the others, with the fact that Chris tended to be the most careless providing a good excuse for him to throw the odd verbal jab.

“What makes you say I have beef?” Dylan asked, trying to sound casual, feeling worse by the second. Even though there was only two years between them in age, Dylan was supposed to be the adult. And at the Eon Academy, he was supposed to be looking out for the students, Chris included.

Chris stopped, and looked at Dylan somewhat confused.

“When someone who talks as much as I do, and as much s**t as I do, finds reason to open their mouth, you learn pretty quickly not to take all of it seriously. But when someone who talks as little as you tend to does, then you learn pretty quickly that they are worth listening to…” Chris said, before seeming to have an idea. “Think of it this way. I’m like an uzi. Lots of bullets shot very quickly, sprayed everywhere and very few actually hitting their mark. You’re more like a sniper. Only shoots when they have to, and when they do, it hits exactly where it needs to…”

Dylan began to understand what Chris was trying to say.

“It just seems like since we’ve left, most of the time you’ve had something to say, it’s been pointing out something dumb I’ve said or done…” Chris answered. “And don’t get me wrong, I get that I probably warrant that, and with Jon not here, it falls to you. But if I’m noticing that, maybe I need to take the hint and get my s**t together a little. It’s not fair on you, and if you’re only able to focus on keeping me in line, it’s not fair on the others either…”

Thoughts raced through Dylan’s mind. Particularly how he could alleviate Chris’ worries without giving away why Dylan had been as harsh on him as he had been. Charlotte’s advice the week before was valuable. That he needed to be more grateful for the friend he had in Abbee, than disappointed that she was interested in someone else. And if he wanted to keep her as a friend, her finding out that he had been unintentionally singling out a guy purely because he thought she was interested in him was going to be counter productive.

The real challenge however was how perceptive Chris had just revealed himself to be. Dylan had severely underestimated him, and if Chris were able to sense everything he had just mentioned, Dylan had little doubt Chris would see through all but the best cover-ups.

“Look, I appreciate the apology, really,” Dylan responded. “But I haven’t got an axe to grind with you…”

“Really…” Chris replied, sounding unconvinced. “You haven’t seemed yourself since we left, except when I asked Abbee last night about Mt. Pyre, she didn’t seem to notice you being any different…”

Internally, Dylan breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’ve just been a bit on edge…” Dylan answered. “This is the biggest job Jon has trusted me with. Between that, a few later nights than I was hoping for, and working a bit too much last week, I was feeling burnt out before the trip even started. But being able to take a few hours, and go and catch some Pokemon for myself was enough of a break to clear my head a bit…”

Chris was silent as he said this.

“And, to my embarrassment, I took that burnout and frustration out on you…” Dylan said, hoping Chris wouldn’t see through what he was saying. “It was immature and unprofessional of me, so for that, I’m sorry…”

“No bulls**t?” Chris asked.

“None,” Dylan lied.

“I appreciate you saying that…” Chris said. “Justin and Abbee are now both able to go toe to toe with Charlotte and I because of those Legendary Pokemon, and I haven’t been able to beat Charlotte in a year now. That and you’ve become a teacher, groundskeeper and Pokemon carer all mixed into one… I kinda can’t help but feel that everyone else is growing up, and I’m just stuck in the same place, being left behind. If not for wanting to win that bet with Charlotte, and capturing everything I can, I’d almost be wondering whether you guys would be better off not having to look after me, and focusing on the job at hand….”

“I didn’t suggest we team up now, just so we could walk in awkward silence…” Dylan retorted.

“I mean, you suggested it more for my Charizard and Dragonite…”

“Both of which are temperamental Pokemon, and difficult to command well. I learned that in the last year…” Dylan explained. “Just take the damn compliment, so we can cut the awkward, sentimental s**t, and get back to work…”

Dylan wasn’t usually that blunt, and Abbee would have probably considered slapping him for saying that, however noticed a grin hit Chris’ face. Now Dylan was speaking his language...

“Sure. Let’s catch this stainless-steel prick…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
There was a ten minute break between Justin’s group finishing their one-on-one training, and Chris’ arriving. As Jon got the next video ready, Steven pulled him from his concentration.

“Any word from the five of them?” Steven asked. “How’re they going?”

“Dylan called in this morning, and at that point, they’d captured thirty-seven Pokemon,” Jon answered apprehensively, though his tone betrayed him.

“That sounds like a really good start…” Steven responded, slightly confused.

“No it is,” Jon said, backtracking slightly. “Sorry, Dylan gave me some other news that is a little concerning…”

“Something I should be worried about?”

“Remember when he asked you to look into that thing you took to the space centre?” Jon asked. “It was because Charlotte was having nightmares that didn’t seem natural. And Dylan had Latios telepathically scouring the area for a Pokemon that could be causing it…”

“Yeah, I remember,” Steven explained. “Has he figured something else out?”

“Yes and no. Before he had Latios try and find the Pokemon, he tested Latios’ telepathic range, because the chances of there being a more powerful Psychic type on the island with a better range than him were astronomical. You found out the thing got transferred, and Latios found nothing, so Dylan scratched the Pokemon theory…” Jon explained. “Except the first night that Charlotte was off the island, she stopped having nightmares…”

Steven started to understand.

“It does give credibility to Dylan’s original theory…” Steven affirmed.

“And if that theory is correct, it means that the reason Latios didn’t pick up on this Pokemon is because it was far enough away that it is even stronger than Latios…” Jon explained. “Do you know of any other Psychic Legendary Pokemon in Hoenn?”

Steven tried to recall the last time he had looked over the list.

“The only captured Psychic Type Legendary Pokemon in Hoenn permanently is Latios. A Latias was captured in Hoenn in the last few years. Maybe a relative of Latios?”

“Doubt it,” Jon answered. “Latios doesn’t remember much of his childhood, however he remembers being on Southern Island alone…”

“And I doubt Latias is doing this. Latios are known to be stronger, and your training puts your Latios in a class of his own,” Steven explained. “Jimmy Kendo travels a lot for work, and myths about Jirachi seemed to originate from Hoenn? In terms of possibility, Jirachi could theoretically use its wish power to have a telepathic range that covers entire regions, but even considering what it did on the S.S. Wishmaker, I don’t see it as a strong possibility.”

“Surprisingly, I agree,” Jon replied. “Jirachi himself wasn’t a bad Pokemon back then, just extremely emotionally immature with no training. If a Pokemon is doing this, they’d have to be either nefarious, or emotionally scarred. Neither of those fit Jirachi’s M.O.”

“Exactly,” Steven said with a nod. “I can’t speak for wild Legendary Pokemon, but a lot of the Psychic Type ones aren’t migratory, and the ones that are, we tend to have a pretty solid trail of where they’ve been…”

“So logically speaking then, even if this development makes Dylan’s theory more viable, it is still not as likely as this all being in her head…” Jon concluded, Steven nodding in agreement. “I understand this, but just can’t shake the feeling something is wrong…”

“I know what you mean…” Steven replied grimly.

Before the conversation could continue, Chris team were beginning to wander into the stadium.

“We’ll talk more later…” Jon said, before greeting the group of students, trying to not give away that something was bothering him.

As Jon began the lecture, Steven found a seat at the back, where Jon noticed him opening his phone.

“You all want to beat Chris, don’t you?” Jon asked the students. “In terms of skill, Chris is tied for the strongest trainer here, and that puts a pretty big target on his back…”

“You guys have the shortest lecture from me, because Chris’ weakness is the simplest to exploit…” Jon explained. “Simple to explain and understand, but incredibly difficult to apply.”

Jon could see the group of students getting excited, and noticed a look of concern on Steven’s face, though for once, not directed at him, but instead what he was reading on his phone…

“Chris has lost the occasional match to Abbee and Justin, though they do both possess powerful Legendary Pokemon. However, in terms of skill, Chris is a little ahead of him, and Charlotte is his match,” Jon explained. “But every battle they have had since last year has resulted in a tie, and that is because of Chris’ weakness…”

“Come on, tell us already!” Ben, one of Chris’ students who had started to take after him, called out. Jon couldn’t help but grin at the enthusiasm.

“Chris’ weakness is that he is too damn competitive,” Jon explained. “When he is under pressure, and wants nothing more than to win, he goes extremely on the offensive, not using any tactics other than brute force. That’s why he and Charlotte have tied every time…”

“How come Charlotte doesn’t beat him then?” Imogen asked. “You said she is his match, and he loses his head when it gets really hard? Shouldn’t Charlotte beat him?”

“If that were all, yes…” Jon said with a grin, genuinely amused at the phenomenon. “Except if you aren’t aware of it, this weakness is infectious. Even though Charlotte is one of the most cunning trainers I know, the moment Chris slips into this habit of his, she slips into it as well. Abbee and Justin have fallen prey to it a few times as well, but Charlotte in particular is the one it spreads to the easiest…”

“So really, there are four steps to beating Chris,” Jon explained. “Step one, put up a hell of a fight. Don’t give up an inch of room. Be a brick wall that using normal tactics, he can’t knock down…”

“Step two, wait for him to start acting without thinking. For his moves to be purely aggressive. That’s your moment. Step three, keep your cool, and don’t get caught up doing the same thing,” Jon explained. “And step four is simply wait for him to screw up, and exploit that…”

There was a murmur of excitement from the students, and Jon found himself beginning to laugh a little at the enthusiasm.

“What’s so funny?” Tommy asked, noticing Jon’s amused expression.

“I don’t think you realize just how difficult this is…” Jon explained. “Charlotte is the one who slips into his unintentional trap the most, because she is the one who is most likely to last long enough, and put up enough of a fight to get him to that state. Chris is no slouch. You saw how easily he gave himself the advantage against Dylan. And the first person to realize what he was doing was Charlotte…”

“I mean, Chris is tough, sure, but your gramps beat him with borrowed Pokemon…” Gwen interjected.

“That’s not a testament to Chris’ lack of skill, but more a testament to Grandpa’s wealth of experience,” Jon explained. “Beating Chris is simple because it’s easy to understand how to beat him. But actually being good enough to pull it off? That is no easy task…”

“So how would you do it?” Nora asked.

“No one size fits all solutions really. Some ideas will work well, others will fail miserably,” Jon explained. “Off the top of my head, I’d say have a Pokemon that can tank extremely well, and go for the long game. If you can do something like burning or poisoning his Pokemon, it will put him on a timer, and the closer to zero it gets, to more pressure he will be under, and the more he is likely to mess up. But that’s just one way…”

The class paired off after that, with a very general point to master during their training. Coming up with tactics, and trying to identify their opponent’s own strategies. Fact was that if they couldn’t survive Chris’ own tactics, then there was little to no point discussing what to do once Chris got to the point of losing his cool.

When the lecture was over, Jon noticed Steven seeming to be on edge, waiting for the last student to finish chatting and leave. In his hand he held his phone.

“You look like you’re gonna burst…” Jon called out, as Steven approached him.

“I wish I didn’t…” Steven said grimly. “I had a hunch we were missing something, so I sent some emails…”

“I swear, if the league cut my funding because they are convinced my training is giving a teenage girl chronic nightmares…” Jon retorted.

“Jon, this is serious. We were right. At least, that something isn’t right here…” Steven explained. “Do you know which governing body oversees the Mossdeep Space Centre?”

“No…”

“I didn’t either. I knew they were funded and managed by some section of government, but never really needed to know any more…” Steven explained. “But I just found out, that subsection of the government that funds and controls it? It’s the Hoenn military…”

Jon groaned hearing this, remembering eighteen months earlier, when he and Cassandra had to go on their incredibly risky mission to capture Rayquaza, before the military decided to resolve the issues Rayquaza had with nearby aircraft by killing it. Steven had objected, and been arrested for it.

“I still can’t believe there were no repercussions for them taking you into custody…” Jon muttered.

“They have the power to do that if they believe someone is a threat to regional security. Has been that way for sixty years…” Steven retorted. “Was fine until they elected a s**tbag a**hole as Minister for Defense…”

Steven opened an email, showing a document with a classified stamp over it.

“Should I be seeing this?” Jon asked jokingly.

“You have an illegal Legendary Pokemon hidden in your house…” Steven explained. “That I bribed you into capturing to interfere with the Hoenn Military. I think classified stamps are the least of our concerns…”

Jon looked at the document, and soon realized it was a transfer request, dated to weeks before, requesting the extra-terrestrial object that Steven had brought to the Space Centre be transferred to the Unova Extra-terrestrial Research Facility for further investigation.

“What am I looking at?” Jon asked.

“You seriously haven’t noticed?” Steven asked.

Looking closer, Jon could see it. The top half of the document which was a blank application form, and the bottom half which was to be filled in when processed and approved shared the same name. Mark Hill.

“This Mark Hill guy wrote the request for it to be transferred it, before approving it himself…” Jon pointed out, “Who is this guy?”

“The s**tbag a**hole that is our Minister of Defense…” Steven said bitterly. “He got voted in because he promised results, and retained his job because he delivered, which sounds great if you ignore the fact that he is so heavy handed and excessive in his methods that he can’t help but get results…”

“This the a**hole who wanted to have Rayquaza killed?” Jon asked. “The one who locked you up?”

“One and the same…” Steven explained. “Either way, if I knew he was the person overseeing the Space Centre, I’d have thrown that thing in the ocean before taking it there… Even living on the same island as a facility he controls makes me sick…”

“So what does this mean?”

“It could have nothing to do with Charlotte’s nightmares. But even if it doesn’t, the fact that he is going out of his way to ship this thing off to Unova, writing and processing the forms himself, stinks…” Steven answered. “He has no reason to not have his assistant write the forms, and let someone on a lower pay grade approve it. This guy earns more in an hour than most people earn in a day, and wouldn’t waste his time doing his own paperwork like this, unless he either had something to gain from it, or didn’t want people asking questions…”

“So what’re you going to do?” Jon asked.

“Can I stay in the lodge here until Friday afternoon?” Steven asked. “Knowing Hill, if he finds out I requested these documents, he will find some reason to have me detained, but only if he can do it without any witnesses. I live alone, so chances are he would try and send some guys to my house to take me in, but surrounded by kids from all over the world, he wouldn’t risk the PR nightmare…”

“Of course,” Jon replied. “But what happens Friday?”

“I’ll head to Slateport and confront him myself…” Steven answered. “But before then, can I borrow Latios for a few hours?”

“I know he is a good wrecking ball, but I’d rather not have my Pokemon confiscated…”

“Not for that,” Steven interjected. “With enough practise, Latios could pinpoint Dylan in a crowd from about a kilometer, right?”

“About that.”

“Well when I go to Slateport, I will check in with you every hour,” Steven explained. “If I stop checking in, I want you to come to Slateport, and bring Latios. I will get some practise with Latios so he can pinpoint my mind from a decent distance, and that way if I get detained again, I can communicate with you…”

“And what do I do then?”

“Leak to the media that the Minister for Défense has forcibly detained the Hoenn Champion for asking questions about some questionable paperwork…” Steven explained. “I couldn’t pull that card last time because the media had demonized Rayquaza and the public would have probably been scared enough to agree with the military killing it. But now, if I disappear out of nowhere, and those allegations are made, then it would put them into a very difficult position. Possibly even destroy Hill’s reputation and cost him his job…”

“It almost seems like you want him to detain you…” Jon commented.

“I mean, if this works, I’ll happily be locked up for a few days,” Steven joked. “But really, if this bad feeling I have is anything to go off, and this is linked to Charlotte’s nightmares in some weird way, I am scared to see what happens…”

“If anyone asks, you’re having dinner with myself and Alyssa every night while we plan for next summer,” Jon suggested. “Stay in the house until after the students are in bed, and head to the lodge then. The students may realize something is up if they realize you’re staying here…”

“Actually, do you think I could borrow Latios tonight as well?” Steven asked. “If my house is being watched, he will know, and be able to sneak in and grab some clothes to get through the next few days…”

“Sure,” Jon replied, remembering Latios’ affinity for espionage. “He’d love that…”
************************************************** ************************************************** *****


“So did you catch any more Pokemon for yourself?” Chris asked Abbee, as the group sat around a table in a small curry restaurant, waiting for their dinner to arrive.

“Three,” Abbee answered. “A Cacnea, Numel and a Skarmory today.”

“Wait, how did you catch a Skarmory?” Dylan asked. Whilst he and Chris had to walk back to where Dylan had parked his car on the eastern edge of Route 113, Abbee, Charlotte and Justin all were closer to town, so made their way there on foot, only meeting up with Chris and Dylan at the restaurant.

“A well timed hit,” Abbee explained. “We spotted one roosting on a ledge halfway up a cliff. When Victini uses V-Create, it propels him forward. So Victini used Work-Up a few times, then V-Create to rocket himself into Skarmory and knock it down. The fall wasn’t too high, but high enough to stun it a little, so that it couldn’t escape the Pokeball.”

“So did you figure out how you’re going to decide who gets the front seat on Friday?” Charlotte asked Dylan, changing the topic.

“I did…” Dylan said with a grin. “I’m thinking of a number between one and a thousand…”

“Really?” Abbee asked, feigning exasperation. “So we just gotta keep guessing until one of us gets it?”

“Nope,” Dylan replied. “One guess each. Closest gets it. Otherwise, you’d be pestering me all week.”

There was a collective groan from the others around the table, as Dylan wrote a number on a napkin, and flipped it over. Chris was the first to answer.

“Two-hundred and forty-nine,” Chris said.

“Eight-hundred and ninety-four,” Justin added.

“Four-hundred and ninety-four,” Abbee contributed.

Dylan looked over at Charlotte, who was the only one not to choose.

“Got a number?” Dylan asked.

“Smooth,” Chris called out, as Justin groaned at how bad the joke was.

“Three-hundred and eighty-six…” Charlotte said.

There was silence, as Dylan began looking around for the waiter that may be bringing their food. He looked back and saw four sets of eyes staring at him, in great anticipation.

“You want to know now?” Dylan asked jokingly. The collective groan resumed, as Dylan got his phone out, quickly doing some calculations, and making sure to keep the screen out of Chris’ view.

“So in fourth place, was Justin, out by roughly four hundred,” Dylan began, intentionally being vague so that they wouldn’t figure out the number before the big reveal. “In third place, out by roughly 200, was Chris…”

Realizing that there wasn’t a better way to reveal the winner at this point, he simply lifted the napkin revealing the number he had written prior.

491.

There was a moment of comprehension, before everyone looked at Abbee, shocked.

“Are you sure Victini isn’t hidden under the table, reading Dylan’s thoughts and transferring them to you?” Chris asked.

“He is sore after hitting Skarmory so hard, so is in his Pokeball,” Abbee explained. “I just figured that the closer I was to five hundred, the more likely I’d be to be closest. But you guys were all being specific, and didn’t wanna be a buzzkill…”

“Well, you got within three…” Dylan said, equally shocked, though now not trying to hide it. “0.3%...”

“Why four-hundred and ninety-one?” Justin asked. “Surely that isn’t just random?”

“Last three numbers of my mobile number…” Dylan replied with a grin, inciting a third collective groan.

“So what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?” Chris asked Dylan. “I don’t want a repeat of the desert today…”

“We head west, then south, down Route 114. Well make a brief stop in Meteor Falls on foot, before heading back the way we came, and making the drive around the mountain,” Dylan explained. “From there we will drive down Route 115, and stop in a reserve there, before spending the night in Rustboro City.”

“How big is it compared to Mauville?” Abbee asked.

“Bigger,” Dylan answered. “In terms of area, it’s about the size of Mossdeep, but its more densely built than Mauville is, if that makes sense…”

“Sounds like Goldenrod?” Chris interjected, turning to Abbee. “Should be like home.”

“Sounds like Lumiose as well, where I’m from,” Justin added. “And Jubilife, where I’ll be living next year…”

Charlotte’s eyes darted towards Justin.

“You’re moving to Jubilife?” Charlotte asked, remembering her and Abbee were not sure what Justin planned to do now that he, like Charlotte, had finished high school. “What’re you doing there?”

“Studying at Jubilife University,” Justin explained. “I’m still only seventeen, and the Sinnoh Police Department don’t usually hire anyone younger than twenty-one, so I figured I’d get a degree before enlisting…”

“What degree?” Abbee asked, curious to know what Justin would fill three years with, when his goal is to become a cop.

“Bachelor of Law,” Justin said casually, as a waiter arrived and began putting various bowls of rice, curries and breads on the table in front of them. He began scooping rice onto his plate, unaware of the four sets of eyes, looking at him in shock.

“Bachelor of Law at Jubilife University is a freaking hard course to get into…” Charlotte said. “The guys in the top of my class were freaking out about whether they could get in. Are you sure you’ll get accepted?”

“I already have been,” Justin said, looking up and realizing that the table were focused on him, and demanding an explanation. “I got the email offering me the place the day Candice left, but had other things on my mind…”

“Right…” Chris said sarcastically.

“I didn’t think offers were being made until the end of summer?” Charlotte asked.

“They aren’t,” Justin explained. “But because I helped Lauren capture Regieleki last year, and the university is getting a bunch of credit for it, they were willing to offer me a place even if my marks were a little below the minimum. Lauren put in a really good word for me, so they sent me an early offer…”

“Still, isn’t a three year degree in law overkill if you wanna become a cop?” Dylan asked.

“Definitely, but I figure if I’m planning on enforcing law, and have to do something for three or four years, it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing to actually have a solid understanding about said laws,” Justin explained. “Besides, I may not be able to be in the police force forever. I might get injured or something, and need to leave. I still want to do something worthwhile and make a difference.”

“Candice must be pretty happy about that?” Abbee asked.

“Stoked,” Justin replied between mouthfuls of his meal. “It’s a half day's drive from Snowpoint to Jubilife, so we can visit each other on weekends and during breaks, instead of having to time Candice taking a week off from the gym.”

“Well, congratulations,” Dylan said, raising his glass slightly towards Justin.

“Thanks,” Justin said awkwardly. “But it isn’t that big of a deal…”

Chris rolled his eyes, as everyone else began to dig into their food.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The clock on the wall in the room Chris and Justin shared read midnight, as Chris lay awake, listening to Justin’s light snoring from the bed on the other side of the room. After seeing how tired was, and Justin’s messages to Candice about how Chris kept him awake until some ungodly hour, Chris made a point of keeping his thoughts about Abbee to himself, and letting Justin get some sleep.

Chris however couldn’t seem to find the solace of sleep.

“I’m nearly halfway through this damn trip, and I haven’t even had five minutes alone with her…” Chris muttered to himself. He knew that if he didn’t talk to her before they arrived back at Mossdeep, finding a chance to talk to her without other people listening in or pestering them would be difficult.

“Goddamn it, show some backbone…” Chris muttered to himself, before rolling over. He had gone to bed an hour and a half before, and was no more tired than he was then.

Justin groaned, seeming to stir from Chris’ monologue, before going back to sleep, causing Chris to sigh. He had already kept Justin awake way too many times, and decided that it wasn’t worth risking waking him up.

Putting on a pair of socks, Chris unplugged his phone, and grabbed a set of headphones, before quietly leaving his room in the Pokemon Centre, making his way out to the lounge that was surrounded by all the bunk rooms, and finding a couch that seemed comfortable.

His goal was to distract himself from Abbee, hoping it would make him tired and help him sleep. He opened YouTube, finding the Junior League’s Channel, where all of the recorded matches from the tournaments he participated in during the year were posted.

He hadn’t beaten Charlotte in nearly a year, and hadn’t lost to her either, and whilst they were well and truly into their second summer at the academy, and had both grown in that time, they were still equally matched. However, Charlotte had finished high school, and Chris hadn’t. She was going to have time to pull ahead, and will be competing in the adult tournaments for six months before he could. If he couldn’t pull ahead now, chances are, she would get the lead, and hold it.

Chris began watching through the footage of their first match after last summer, taking notes after, before watching through the next. After he finished the third match, he noticed something familiar in the suggested videos. The thumbnail from the live stream Jon had organized last summer. He was surprised to see the video had surpassed a million views.

Chris clicked the thumbnail, and began watching through the live-stream. First was the battle between Charlotte and Abbee, where Charlotte took the win, before his own battle with Justin, where he won. After that was Abbee’s battle with Dylan, with Abbee taking the victory, then his own battle against Charlotte, where he lost, and finally Dylan and Justin tying in the final match. Then the real show. Jon Drake against Steven Stone.

Chris hadn’t realized how much time had passed, and noticed the clock at the top of his screen reading 2am, as he watched himself and Abbee commentating Jon and Steven’s match.

”F**k…” Chris on screen muttered, as Abbee on screen gently slapped him on the arm. However as Abbee on screen made contact, Chris felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

“F**k!” he said loudly in shock, turning around to see Abbee under the dim light of the illuminated exit sign and his phone’s screen, in her pyjamas. Her eyes had widened, as they both realized that Chris had loudly swore while everyone else was sleeping, or at least had been.

“Sorry…” Abbee whispered. “I didn’t mean to scare you…”

“It’s fine,” Chris said. “What’re you doing up?”

“Victini missed dinner because he was sore from the hit he did on Skarmory,” Abbee explained. “He’s pretty hungry, so I figured I’d find a vending machine or something…”

”Don’t do anything stupid…” said Victini’s voice in Chris’ head. ”Remember… Dunsparce…”

Chris shook off Victini’s telepathic comments from Abbee’s room, as Abbee noticed what was on Chris’ phone.

“You’re watching the livestream?” Abbee asked, nodding towards Chris’ phone.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep,” Chris answered. “Figured I’d do something productive. I haven’t been able to beat Charlotte in a year, so wanted to see how she beat me…”

“I should probably start doing that…” Abbee said, thinking over her last few battles.

“The live-stream is a good start,” Chris suggested. “The camera crew got just about every angle…”

“I haven’t watched it yet…” Abbee said quietly. “That was the day dad died, and I’ve kind of been putting it off…”

Chris was silent for a second, kicking himself for forgetting that was the same day. They had literally gotten back to the lodge, and within an hour, Abbee had turned on the TV and seen the news story.

“I’m sorry, I should have remembered…”

“Don’t be. You’re right,” Abbee explained. “I beat Dylan, but Charlotte beat me with a little too much ease. Looking over that footage would be a good idea…”

Chris thought over what was keeping him awake. The fact he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Abbee alone since the week before. Now, by a stroke of luck, or fate, which he wasn’t sure he believed in, he had that chance.

He opened his mouth to speak, but felt something. A very faint pressure on his mind with a sense of amusement…

Victini.

Chris sighed to himself.

“Everything okay?” Abbee asked, noticing the sigh.

“Yeah, I just lost track of time out here…” Chris said. “I’m gonna try and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning…”


Chris pressed the lock button on his phone, turning off the screen, and darkening the space around them a little more.

“Sleep well,” Abbee said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You too. Night…”

Chris made his way back to his room, creeping quietly into bed, still aware of the presence of Victini in his mind.

“Come on Chris…” Victini said telepathically. ”This is actually getting hard to watch…”

”Nobody asked you to watch…”

”But I chose to anyway…” Victini replied, his amusement growing by the second.

”You know, I wonder what Abbee would think if she knew you were trying to scare guys off who are interested in her…” Chris retorted.

”Maybe if someone likes her, I want them to show some backbone, and ask her out even if they are being mocked by her guardian angel whilst that happens…”

”Guardian demon more like it…”

”I can neither confirm nor deny…” Victini replied.

He felt Victini’s presence start to fade, however had a thought.

”Wait, Victini…” Chris called out in his thoughts.

“What?”

”I realized something…”

”Well make it quick. I want to sleep…”

“You weren’t that hungry were you…” Chris said. ”You just knew I was out there and wanted to see me squirm…”

“You wanted an opportunity, and I gave you one. You didn’t take it. Don’t say I do nothing for you…”

”A**hole…”


************************************************** ************************************************** *****

“You all have the Meteor Falls map downloaded?” Dylan asked the group. Charlotte sat in the front seat, whilst Chris, Abbee and Justin sat in the back. “Once we are in the cave, phone signal won’t get through.

“Of course…” Chris replied, earning a laugh from Justin, considering Chris couldn’t go far into the desert the day before due to his lack of preparation.

“Good…”

They were driving down a bumpy dirt road that took them to a carpark towards the caves entrance. Whilst Meteor Falls had paths through the caves to Route 115 on the other side, it was for pedestrian traffic only. Instead, a road carved into the side of the mountain went around the north side, taking them to Route 115.

The morning had been eventful, having stopped at a reserve on Route 114, and the group catching five Pokemon, putting their total up to fifty four Pokemon, with Chris and Charlotte tied for nineteen Pokemon each.

A few minutes passed before Dylan finally stopped the car, and the group emerged, the three in the back stretching out their cramped limbs as they took in the fresh air.

“There is one entrance on this side of the mountain, however multiple on the other,” Dylan explained. “Tourists kept getting lost here, so the government started at this natural entrance, and instead of blocking off the caves that leave the main path through the mountain, excavated them so that if someone did wander from the path, they could at least follow the track they are on, and get out the other side.”

“Does that mean it’s impossible to get lost?” Justin asked.

“Not impossible,” Dylan answered. “Just very difficult…”

The group left their packs in the tub of Dylan’s car, though not before removing flashlights from them, as well as a small amount of Pokeballs, and making their way towards the large entrance to the cave.

Whilst they were expecting the path to be the same width as the entrance, those who hadn’t been there before, which was everyone but Dylan, were shocked to see that after twenty or so meters, the tunnel opened up into a large room, that barely seemed natural, though had no signs of human intervention, outside of the odd sets of steps, and markings on entrances to side caverns.

The thing that surprised them were the sheer amount of Pokemon in the large cavern. Not that there were a lot, but more so the size of the cavern meant that Pokemon at the other end of it were in the open, and hadn’t seemed to notice them yet.

“I can see most of the Pokemon on our list here…” Dylan said, as he moved his flashlight around the cavern. He thought over splitting the group. Whilst he was trying to make a point of not being petty about Chris and Abbee, that didn’t mean he enjoyed the fact that the most practical way of splitting the group involved putting Chris and Abbee together. “I’ll go try and catch a Zubat, which shouldn’t be too hard in this place. Justin and Charlotte, you two try and catch a Solrock, and Chris and Abbee, you two try and catch a Lunatone. Keep a Psychic Type Pokemon out at all times, and use them to communicate. Stay in this room for now. We clear?”

“Wait, why do you get to go for the easy one?” Chris asked. “I could throw a rock with my eyes closed in a place like this and hit a Zubat…”

“Because if I gave Charlotte the task of catching Zubat, you’d complain she has an advantage, and vice versa…” Dylan retorted. “You don’t have a Psychic Type, and neither does Charlotte. Abbee has Victini and Justin has Alakazam. This way both of your teams have a Psychic Pokemon to communicate, and a Legendary Pokemon if things get hairy.”

“And what do you have if things get hairy?” Abbee asked.

“The four of you to make like hell and back me up if the s**t hits the fan,” Dylan answered. “And no legal guardian to sue the Eon Academy if I get hurt…”

“Sounds reasonable,” Chris answered, far from complaining about this, though wishing Dylan didn’t directly tell them to have Victini out of his Pokeball…

“Meet back here in half an hour…”

That half hour wasn’t exactly the alone time Chris had hoped for. Between Victini third-wheeling whilst simultaneously being a smarta** in the telepathic connection he seemed to be having with Chris more and more these days, as well as having to creep in near silence to not scare off the Pokemon they were tracking, very little had the opportunity to be said. Outside of Chris stopping Abbee to point out the draconic cries coming from a nearby tunnel, almost nothing was said between them. However that tunnel did pique Chris’ interest…

“Are we on a tight schedule?” Chris asked Dylan as the five trainer reconvened.

“I’ve allowed a little extra time,” Dylan answered. “Why’s that?”

“This is the only place in Hoenn to catch Bagon, and I wouldn’t mind adding a Salamence to my team…”

“Remind me to catch an ice-type,” Charlotte commented, noting the major weakness that most of Chris’ Pokemon seemed to share.

“Anyway, there is a tunnel near where Abbee and I caught Lunatone, that I think may have some sort of Dragon Type,” Chris explained. “I figured I’d like to try my luck…”

“If we don’t have a clear deadline, I don’t mind spending another hour here,” Justin interjected. “Kalos has nothing like this, so I’d enjoy seeing a bit more of it.”

Dylan thought this over, then looked to Charlotte and Abbee.

“If we do go check out this tunnel, I want us to go as a group. If we get separated in here, not even Victini could telepathically send a message through the rock walls here. There is a cave in, or some other reason we need to follow the tunnel through to the other side, I want us all to be together.” Dylan explained. “All for one and one for all. You two got any objections to going further in?”

“I’m fine with it,” Charlotte answered, Abbee nodding in agreement. Dylan turned to Chris.

“An hour,” Dylan said. “If we haven’t found one before then, we go back…”

“Deal…”

The group made their way towards where Chris and Abbee had captured a Lunatone before, and as they got closer, the unmistakable cries of Dragon Pokemon became more and more apparent. They entered the tunnel, following it for forty meters, before it opened into another room itself. Whilst the sounds they were following became louder, they were still in another room, which they guessed the tunnel at the end of the cavern they were in led to.

“Didn’t you say they dug out all the tunnels to be linear, so people don’t get lost?” Justin asked, as he moved his flashlight across the walls of the cavern.

“Yeah,” Dylan answered, looking ahead at the tunnel they were heading towards.

“So what, do all of these tunnels in the walls wind their way towards the other side?”

Unsure of what Justin was talking about, Dylan looked over to where his flashlight was illuminating and saw various tunnels, no taller than five feet, dotting the walls. On the edge of the room were large, brittle looking stones, that almost appeared hollow...

“God, that’d hurt your back…” Charlotte said, as she noticed them as well. Dylan crouched down, rubbing his fingertips over the ground beneath him. It was dusty, with his shoe sinking half a centimetre into it, however underneath it was smooth. Far too smooth to be natural. As if it was grinded down...

“S**t,” Dylan muttered, before raising his voice. “It’s a Golem’s nest!”

Justin’s eyes widened as he realized the tunnels in the wall were the perfect size for the rock type Pokemon.

“Are Golem territorial?” Chris asked.

“Extremely,” Dylan answered, as he heard a rumbling beginning to approach. “And they already know we are here. They can sense the disturbances in the dust…”

“Do we run?” Abbee asked, as the rumbling got louder.

“Too late!” Dylan called out. “Justin, you and I tank. Charlotte, try and keep us from being overrun, and get us some light. Chris and Abbee, you guys go on the offensive!”

There were consecutive flashes of light, as the team sent out Metagross, Alakazam, Roserade, Garchomp and Victini. Charlotte commanded Roserade to use Grassy Terrain, which caused an ominously glowing, lush grass to burst from the ground beneath them, and on the edge of the round grassy patch, leech seeds were hidden, waiting to be sprung.

The chamber was illuminated with a green tinge, and Abbee was the first to spot their opponents.

“There!” she called out, pointing to a tunnel, where a large boulder seemed to roll out, and begin rolling circles around them group, avoiding the circle of grass beneath them. Within seconds, five more had emerged from other tunnels, and were menacingly circling them.

“Metagross, link with us all telepathically,” Dylan commanded, knowing Metagross’ combined four brains could calculate faster than a supercomputer, and Alakazam has an IQ that exceeds five thousand. With them linked telepathically, they would theoretically be able to see, comprehend, and respond faster than any human or Pokemon is capable of. “If we’re gonna survive this, we need to be working together…”

As the circle of rolling Golem began to shrink, Dylan called out his last instruction to the group.

“Try to keep collateral to a minimum,” Dylan shouted out. “You know your roles! Now go!”

The first Golem to attempt an attack was the one that was hit the hardest. It changed its course, rolling at full speed towards Alakazam, who, with Metagross’ assistance, stopped it in its tracks telekinetically, before raising it a foot in the air, and launching it backwards with deadly force and accuracy, back into one of the many tunnels it emerged from, knocked unconscious by the sheer force of the psychic blast. Another attempted to roll between Garchomp and Metagross, aiming for Roserade who stood a few feet back, however triggered a hidden Leech Seed. Vines erupted, tangling themselves around the Pokemon’s limbs, as its own rotation was used to tangle it further, before Metagross launched a downwards Meteor Mash, the Pokemon going still from the sheer force.

A third Golem was pulled from its course, as Garchomp used Earth Power, jutting out a section of earth in front of the Golem to create a ramp, causing Golem to jump into the air. As Garchomp finished the Earth Power, it quickly spun around, as Victini jumped into the air, on an intentional collision course with the dragon’s tail. The tail hit Victini, launching him into the air, as he became encased in flame. However, unlike other times the Mythical Pokemon had used V Create, the flames seemed contained. As he flew through the air towards his target, Victini could feel the telekinetic pressure Alakazam was exerting on the him, compressing him, Victini only understanding and exerting his own telekinetic pressure outwards to not be crushed by it because of the telepathic link. As Victini made contact with the third Golem, Alakazam released the telekinetic compression it was using, causing Victini’s V-Create to make contact more explosively than normal. Golem was launched upwards into the corner of the cavern, which shook violently with the contact.

“Careful!” Dylan shouted amidst the chaos, though understood how hard it would be to win this without using such excessive force.

Feeling Metagross’ prompting in its mind, Roserade launched a Petal Dance attack, which Metagross guided with its telekinesis, homing it in on the fourth Golem, which was still rolling around the group. The attack hit, leaf by individual leaf, causing the large Pokemon to wobble like a tyre, and roll off course into a nearby wall.

Victini landed from his explosive V-Create, and managed to use endure just in time to take the brunt of the attack, though taking a large amount of damage himself.

”Thanks for slowing it down…” Victini heard Garchomp say audibly, before the Pokemon that had just hit him was smashed into by Garchomp using Dragon Rush.

The sixth Golem, realizing it was now on its own, and having to battle five much stronger Pokemon than itself alone, cried out angrily, before leaving down the tunnel it came through. The battle was over, and whilst sighs of relief, as well as cries of triumph from the Pokemon filled the air, Dylan found himself wondering what to do next. He understood Chris wanting to try and catch a Pokemon here, especially if this were its only natural habitat in Hoenn. But what were the chances of finding themselves in the same position they had just been in? Or worse...

“Can you guys call your Pokemon back?” Dylan asked, as he struggled to make the decision about whether it was too risky. “I’m trying to figure something out, but can barely hear myself think…”

Dylan called back Metagross, as Chris, Justin and Charlotte called back Garchomp, Alakazam and Roserade. Only Abbee kept Victini out of his Pokeball, who had wandered over to one of the hollow boulders near the entrance to the cavern to see what it was, and realized it was the shedded exterior of a Golem.

“Onward?” Chris asked with a grin, proud that the five of them beat the Golem in their own territory that easy.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out…” Dylan answered. “If Golem have turned a man-made tunnel through the mountain into their nest, then it’s not unlikely other, stronger Pokemon have done the same…”

“I mean, it wasn’t too hard to send them packing?” Justin commented.

“Because we realized before that we were in danger,” Dylan interjected. “Next time, we might not be so lucky…”

“Come on…” Chris pleaded. “What could be more dangerous in here than a herd of angry Golem?”

“A flight of Salamence…” Dylan responded. “If this is the only place you can catch Bagon in Hoenn, this means that it is a Salamence nest…”

As the pair debated whether or not to turn back, Justin noticed something. A soft rumbling.

“Guys…” he began, before being interrupted by a loud crack…

The trainers looked up, as Justin pointed his light to the source of the sound, and saw a large jagged line appear in the ceiling of the cavern above them, a result of the Golem’s tunnels taking away from the structural integrity, and it becoming apparent from the hard hits the walls had taken in the battle before. Dylan’s face lost all colour as the crack grew, moving towards the tunnel they entered from. Whilst the tunnel they were originally planning on leaving this room through seemed untouched, if they were to go there, they risked getting trapped...

“Cave in!” Dylan shouted. “Quick, to the entrance!”

Justin was the closest to the entrance, and darted towards it, scooping up Victini as he went into the tunnel that lead to the main cavern, with Charlotte close behind him. Dylan was next, with Chris and Abbee trailing behind him. As they ran, large slabs of stone, the size of the Golem they just battled, began to fall from the ceiling.

Victini struggled in Justin’s grip, knowing his trainer was at the back of the group, before jumping out of his arms.

“Don’t be stupid!” Justin said, though unable to stop running himself without blocking the path for the others. Ignoring him, Victini darted back towards Abbee, slipping between Charlotte’s ankles.

As Chris was about to step into the tunnel, he turned to make sure Abbee was still behind him, which was where he saw it. A moving reflection of the dim green light from Roserade’s grassy terrain, in the air above them, and falling.

As Victini bumped into Dylan’s shins, he watched in shock as he saw Chris launch himself into Abbee, knocking the pair of them back into the danger-zone, but saving her from being crushed by the large chunk of rock he had noticed, and saw the cracks start to reach the end of the tunnel they were in.

Victini knew that his telekinesis wasn’t enough to prevent the room from caving in. In the split second between realizing what Chris was doing, and the pair of them hitting the ground, prone and likely to be crushed, Victini, locking eyes with Abbee launched a telekinetic blast, throwing the falling Chris and Abbee ten meters back, into the safety of the tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern. Before Victini could see if Abbee was okay, his sight of her was cut off by the end of the tunnel caving in before the cracks stopped spreading, leaving them relatively safe.

Dylan couldn’t say a word. He was motionless, as Justin spoke.

“Dylan… Where are Chris and Abbee?”

He and Charlotte hadn’t been in a position to see what happened. Charlotte went white.

“They aren’t still in there, are they?” Charlotte asked, holding back a sob. Dylan remained silent, unable to comprehend what had just happened. He took a sharp breath, before finally seeming to find his voice. “Are they?!”

“No, f**k, no!” Dylan shouted, as he scrambled towards the rocks that blocked their path, clawing at them with his bare hands… “This is my fault…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

Part 2 of the Hoenn Regional Tour is up, and damn it is getting intense!

Got an assignment due, but too keen to finish this, so will hopefully have another part done next week!

[Neo Emolga]

Oh man, now that's a cliffhanger!

Ah, man how I love what you've done with Victini's character. It's golden and always clever and comical. And I'm quite curious to see if the students are going to be able to triumph against their mentors and what will come of them learning their strategies. The way you're able to keep the reader guessing and then throw the unexpected at us is fantastic. That's just one of the many things that keeps me going.

The mystery surrounding Charlotte's nightmares and the Hoenn military is definitely getting VERY interesting. My guess is...

Spoiler:

I'm suspecting Deoxys is involved here, but that's my only hunch at the moment.

As always, keep up the great work, I'm itching to see how all of these fascinating subplots roll out and how things ultimately come together.

[[Desolate Divine]]

I need to do more cliffehangers! Even if plot armour makes it pretty clear how it will play out!

Really glad haha the risk of using another persons character is that you take it down too different of a path, and I have taken Victini down a slightly more sarcastic and smart-a** path, but if you approve, then I am glad!

How the students apply what Jon has taught them will be something I am keen to write, and the implications of that.

Speaking of implications, that is another thing that I am extremely keen to write about in terms of Charlotte's nightmares, the Hoenn military, and the other points that are yet to come! Season 2 has been a little difficult for me to write, as I know that I gotta balance the general summer camp stuff with the heavier, more out there stuff (or you essentially end up with a Riverdale situation where they just wind up in a vortex of out there stuff, and it just becomes a dumpster fire that you only watch because you're this far, so why not?), but things are starting to reach their climax and resolution, which will be a lot of fun to write...

[[Desolate Divine]]

Will try and get the next episode in this week! I have the bulk of it there and the difficult to write stuff mostly done! One more battle then it can get posted! Crazy keen! I just need to plan out some details and write the damn thing...