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

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 6: Descent

Spoiler:

“Mind passing me a beer?”

The small esky sat next to Charlotte, who sat herself in her camp-chair. It was something Jon had left on Southern Island when he first began training Rayquaza there a little over two and a half years prior. Her and Jon had been strategic with what they brought, knowing they had little capacity on their two flying Pokemon, so made a point of bringing things like food and drinks in bulk. Enough to last the pair a few visits there, when they came every fortnight. There were few Pokemon on the island, and they made sure to secure the food well enough that it wouldn’t be taken. It was during their second weekend when Jon realised they had a little space to bring supplies with them, that he brought a case of beers with him. This was their fifth weekend at Southern Island, with the temperature increasing as they reached summer’s peak, and Jon realised around the start of summer that after a long day of training a potentially deadly Pokemon, a beer was a refreshing vice to have around the campfire, which was largely there to be a source of light, to keep the bugs away, and to cook food over, compared to being used to provide any more warmth than already was there.

“I don’t know how you drink this stuff,” Charlotte said, handing Jon a glass bottle from the esky, which was filled with ice from Milotic’s Ice Beam, shaved and crushed by Blaziken, who had to be careful not to let his flames extend and melt the ice. Jon grinned.

“It definitely is an acquired taste…” Jon remarked as he took it. “The first time I tried one I thought it was disgusting. But once I got used to it, I loved it. That being said, Dylan and Latios didn’t take the time I took to get used to it…”

Jon’s words trailed off as he remembered that Latios was out. He turned to his left, where the Eon Pokemon floated next to him, looking at the beer in his hand. He sighed.

“You mind passing me another one for Wrecking-Ball?” Jon asked, as Charlotte grinned. Jon turned to Latios again. “If we run out because you keep drinking them, you have to carry the next case over, as well as whatever else has to come…”

Latios cried out indignantly, though didn’t rebuke Jon’s offer of the beer, taking it from his trainer once Jon had removed the cap.

“Latios really likes pale ales,” Jon remarked, as Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh at the pair.

“So if it’s an acquired taste, and it tastes like bin juice without that, why go to the effort of getting yourself to tolerate it?”

“Biggest reason is, relatively speaking, it’s weak,” Jon explained casually. “Dad drank a lot, and it brought out the worst in him. So I have a pretty strong aversion to being even a little tipsy. At the same time, our culture is a little too alcohol centric. If you’re in a social situation where everyone is having a drink, and people realise you aren’t touching alcohol, they make up their own minds about why, and seeing as I was a competitive battler, and had the potential to be in the spotlight, I didn’t want rumours spreading that I was a recovering alcoholic or something…”

Jon took a sip, sighing contentedly, before continuing.

“Beer is weak enough that I could have three between dinner and going to sleep, and if they’re evenly spaced, not even have a noticeable effect. Hell, I will feel full and sick from having too full of a stomach before I get drunk off these,” Jon continued. “And if I am out with friends or out for dinner, and I have one of these in my hand, I can easily turn down other drinks without everyone thinking I’m a recovering alcoholic or something.”

“Makes sense,” Charlotte said. “If I managed to get a decent following, I should probably keep that in mind…”

“You already have a bigger fanbase than I did before I took the High Seas Tournament,” Jon remarked. “You and the others are a hell of a lot closer to my level than you realise. Dylan beating me at the start of summer is proof of that…”

“So where would you say we’re at now?”

Jon placed his beer in the cupholder of his foldable camping chair, and leaned back, trying to think.

“I’d say that by the time you guys had finished your first summer, you could have beaten Ethan Caldwell without much of a hassle,” Jon remarked, remembering his semi final match on the S.S. Wishmaker. “By the start of this summer, I think you would have given Avery Miller a run for their money…”

“Avery lost to Cassandra though, and Cassandra had only just gone legit?” Charlotte remarked. “Wouldn’t Avery be on a similar level to Ethan?”

Jon scoffed at the analysis.

“I didn’t see the match live, because I was dealing with other stuff, but I watched replays after Alyssa and I got home. Cassandra did extremely well to beat Avery, but it was sheer luck that she beat them. Avery’s Shaymin was in a form it could only retain during the day, and to all watching, it looked like Victini was out of commission,” Jon explained. “Victini managed to make a final stand, at the exact moment that the sun went down, and Shaymin reverted to its slower form, and wasn’t able to dodge the hit.”

Taking another swig, Jon finished telling the story.

“You know as well as I do that competitive matches don’t ever start at the exact scheduled time. It may be delayed because crowds are taking too long to find their seats, or networks broadcasting may be delayed in being ready. Even the arena being quickly repaired when it is damaged by a ground type move or something,” Jon explained. “Had that match started five minutes earlier, Victini’s second wind would have meant nothing, and Avery would have taken it. And if it started five minutes later, Avery would have not relied as much on Shaymin’s Sky form. Additionally, Avery’s home-field is the contest circuit which means their style of battling will be more out of left field than the Ethan Caldwell’s of the world. Therefore harder to predict and counter. I have a lot of respect for Cass since she came clean, but she got incredibly lucky with the timing of that match with Avery…”

Charlotte thought over Jon’s analysis, as he added one more thing.

“And honestly, unless I were to start battling with Rayquaza, and even then I am not sure it would help, once Deoxys is championship trained, I will have to bust my a** to beat you…” Jon remarked. “Chris too, once Lugia is fully grown…”

“Abbee and Justin?” Charlotte asked. “They have Legendary Pokemon too…”

“Justin has probably been the fastest at learning how best to use his Legendary Pokemon,” Jon remarked. “The way he battles with Regieleki is an art form in and of itself. But he doesn’t have the same drive as you guys. He wants to be strong, and he wants to use his Pokemon in his work when he joins the police. But there is a clear difference between battling competitively with consistent rules and purpose, and battling for something higher stakes…”

Jon considered how best to word this.

“Once Justin joins the police, and is well established there, you and Chris would beat him senseless in a competitive match, no worries. But, as strong as you are, if you were a criminal that he had to apprehend, and Pokemon were brought into the mix, he would have no trouble taking you down in that setting…”

“And Abbee?”

“It’s hard to say,” Jon remarked. “She is definitely a cut above most competitive battlers, both in terms of natural talent and how much she puts in. But she relies a lot on Victini, even in terms of the decisions she makes in battle. Sure, she uses the rest of her team, but name one battle she has won since Victini joined her that he wasn’t involved in…”

“True…” Charlotte remarked.

“Honestly, I think this job she has will be really good for her,” Jon remarked. “She will be a Gym Trainer, using Pokemon she is less familiar with and battling without relying on Victini. If Elesa invests in her, and she is given the opportunity to have some challenging battles with her newer Pokemon, I think she will grow exponentially…”

“And as for Dylan,” Jon said with a grin, as he finished his beer. “He is a tough nut to crack. Offensively he is behind you guys, but he can drag a match on for as long as he needs to take the win, and is hard to get anything past. If he catches a Legendary Pokemon, he will be terrifying…”

Charlotte laughed, not used to hearing Jon refer to any trainer but her as terrifying.

“Do you think we’re making enough progress with Deoxys?” Charlotte asked, thinking about the day's session. Whilst Deoxys was closer to battling at full strength without becoming aggressive, Charlotte couldn’t help but feel there was a large hurdle in their way. As she tried to figure out how to articulate it, Jon managed to voice her concerns.

“We are, but we’re also at a tipping point,” Jon explained. “Deoxys is battling at near one hundred percent. But the Pokemon battling with it haven’t been battling to knock it out like they normally do. And Deoxys is never going to be able to compete like your other Pokemon if it isn’t at peace with the fact that it could take an attack and all of a sudden wake up next time you let it out of its Pokeball…”

Charlotte murmured in agreement as Jon continued.

“This is the dilemma we have really. If we push Deoxys harder with the hits it takes, and it feels threatened, it may lash out and it end badly for one of us or our Pokemon…” Jon remarked. “But if we let it get too used to us pulling punches when we battle it, it could make it all the harder to cross this line when we do eventually try…”

”Can you hear that?”

Latios’ telepathic message took both trainers by surprise, causing them to look towards the Eon Pokemon, who dropped his beer on the soft grass beneath them, before flying into the air, and turning invisible.

“What’s-” Charlotte began, before Jon held up a finger, his demeanour changing in a heartbeat.

Once Latios was in the air, he began sharing his vision with the two trainers below. Still not used to the sensation, Charlotte panicked for a moment when suddenly her vision showed her fifty metres above the ground, however she quickly adjusted to it, and noticed what Latios was staring at. On the edge of the island, visible by the moonlight, was a small, minimal, steel boat. It had an engine on the back of it, however there were also a pair of oars in rings on the side, being tossed by the waves. And walking from the boat were four people, only visible by the dim auras that Latios perceived of them.

”They must have killed the engine and rowed the last few hundred metres so we wouldn’t hear them coming…” Jon said with his thoughts, forwarded by Latios to Charlotte. ”If I didn’t think they were trouble before, I do now…”

”One’s familiar…” Latios said, before slowly and carefully flying closer to the group of four men, his vision continuing to be shared. Jon however, was the first to recognize the one Latios was talking about. Whilst he had heard his name mentioned, he didn’t remember it exactly, instead opting for the nickname Jon gave him, based on the weapon that he was pointing at Jon’s face when they first met.

”Shotgun,” Jon said. ”One of the poachers from the Whirl Islands. The one that escaped. And he has some new friends…”

”What do we do?” Charlotte asked.

”We stay here and fight,” Jon answered. ”Latios, stay invisible and support us from above. If they bring out any guns or unregistered Pokeballs, crush them…”

Latios flew back, finding a position in the air above Jon and Charlotte, where he could still see the four newcomers.

”Charlotte, let’s have some fun…” Jon remarked through Latios’ telepathic channel. ”With Latios preventing them from using weapons or unregistered Pokeballs, this is just a Pokemon battle, and I think we can handle them…”

Surprised by how confident Jon was in the situation, Charlotte nodded, as the pair waited for their unexpected guests to arrive. A few minutes later, when Jon could see from Latios’ perspective they were nearby, he called out.

“Might as well come out where we can see you,” Jon said with a hint of exasperation. “I’d rather get this over with quickly…”

The sound of agitated murmurs was just audible over the sounds of the ocean surrounding the island, and Jon couldn’t help but grin at how much he had shaken them. Finally, the sound of footsteps, with much less effort made in trying to conceal them, pierced the night, as Jon and Charlotte could see from where they sat, four figures emerged from the dark growth of trees that surrounded the clearing they camped in. Jon internally thanked his lucky stars that they had forgotten to bring one of the straps to hang the tarp, which would have now obstructed Latios’ aerial view of the altercation.

“Always the smarta**, aren’t you, Jon?” said a voice familiar to Jon. He couldn’t tell which of the four figures it was speaking, with his vision on the other side of the campfire at a detriment by the bright fireflight. “You never learn…”

“And what exactly do I need to learn?” Jon questioned, though the conviction notably absent in his question.

“When you’re in the losing position…”

Shotgun stepped out into the clearing, now illuminated by the firelight, before continuing.

“See, last time we were on an island together, you had the s**t kicked out of you, and were still running that damn mouth of yours. Even with a gun pointed at your head. It’s infuriating…”

Jon couldn’t help but grin.

“Last time was an isolated incident,” Jon remarked. “You and your little friends got the jump on me, and yeah, your captain got stuck into me. But remember what happened by the time you ran?”

“I heard…” Shotgun remarked, his expression souring at the thought of his captain killed and his old associates being arrested and imprisoned. “But do you really think all we need to get the upper hand over you is the element of surprise?”

“I’d say it’s almost certain,” Jon remarked, before standing from his chair, the empty beer bottle still in his hand.

“So this doesn’t make a difference?” Shotgun asked, before, much to Jon’s disappointment, producing a handgun from a holster on his belt. Before he even had it trained on Jon however, there was a cry of alarm as the gun was ripped from his grip by a seemingly invisible hand, and thrown towards Jon and Charlotte.

“Nowhere near as much as you think…”

Shocked by what they saw, his three associates began raising their own weapons, which they had held pointed towards the ground, ready to raise at a moment’s notice, and one by one, each was ripped from their grip, and tossed away from them, where they would need to get past Jon and Charlotte to get to them.

“You nearly did get the jump on me,” Jon admitted. “But Latios is pretty amazing, and saw you coming not long after you disembarked from that little boat of yours…”

As he said this, Jon had a thought.

“Speaking of which, Latios…” Jon said casually. “You mind dealing with the boat? A Draco Meteor ought to do it…”

Latios cried out from the air above the group, though it was near impossible to determine his location from the sound. A moment later, a draconic purple beam began to charge from a spot in the air, and launch in a downward arc towards the small boat on the edge of the island. The force of the impact created a bang, louder than the attack itself, reminiscent of a meteor striking.

There were cries of shock from Shotgun’s new friends, whom Jon presumed to be fellow poachers themselves, as Jon’s grin widened.

“I see you’ve brought friends along. I have a friend here too actually. You never formally met…” Jon remarked. “Charlotte, this is Shotgun. Shotgun, meet Charlotte, one of my students. She’s pretty terrifying-”

“Terrifying?” Shotgun said with a laugh, seeming to forget that his weapons and boat had all been disposed of. “She’s a kid…”

“It might do you good to not interrupt me…” Jon retorted, feigning indignance. “I was going to say she is terrifying, and has an even more terrifying Pokemon that we want to see battle in a more serious setting…”

Charlotte looked at Jon in shock.

“You want me to set Deoxys on these guys?” Charlotte asked, terrified at the thought of Deoxys potentially killing one of them.

“Not them, but their Pokemon,” Jon said, before turning to Shotgun. “I presume you have Pokemon? Seeing as you don’t have guns or a boat anymore…”

Shotgun looked at Jon, irritated at his arrogance in a situation where he felt Jon should have none.

“You want a battle?” Shotgun asked. “No rules here…”

Shotgun removed two black Pokeballs from his belt, letting the Pokemon out and revealing a Krookodile and Hitmontop. At his beckoning, the other three poachers did the same, letting out two Pokemon each. In addition to Shotgun’s two Pokemon, Charlotte and Jon found themselves face to face with a Magmortar, Nidoqueen, Haxorus, Samurott, Rampardos and Toxtricity.

“Don’t try any tricks with those illegal Pokeballs of yours,” Jon remarked. “Latios has been told to crush any that he sees, and if your hand is in contact with it, it will sting a little…”

Jon turned to Charlotte, who seemed to doubt the situation a little.

“Should I send out another Pokemon as well?” Charlotte asked, as she readied Deoxys Pokeball.

“No, this is the opportunity we need,” Jon remarked. “Let Deoxys know just how serious this battle is, and see how it goes on it’s own…”

Charlotte nodded, before sending out the Pokemon. Deoxys appeared in a flash of light between herself and the oncoming Pokemon that crowded the small clearing. Those on the other side looked at Deoxys, with a sense of unease spreading among them. The Pokemon had never seen anything like it, and Deoxys’ physical appearance was unnerving to say the least. Additionally, their trainers had all seen the footage of the destruction Deoxys had brought to Mossdeep Island on the news. Charlotte felt the now familiar, yet still alien presence in her mind. She couldn’t understand words, but instead, the feeling Deoxys was channelling through the telepathic connection it had created. A feeling of confusion. Asking what was going on.

”The humans mean us harm, and will use the Pokemon to do it…” Charlotte thought, intentionally trying to focus on emotions, and mental images to support the words she attempted to communicate. ”We will fight them, but don’t want to seriously hurt them…”

As soon as Charlotte felt the sense of understanding permeate between them, her thoughts changed from analysis and explanation of the situation Deoxys had found itself in, to tactics. They were outnumbered severely, and whilst they had other Pokemon, Charlotte wanted Deoxys to be the one to handle this. Their first priority was whittling down the number of Pokemon to a more manageable size. Krookodile was going to be the most difficult for Deoxys to deal with, being immune to Psychic attacks. However, Nidoqueen, Hitmontop and Toxtricity were all easy targets…

“Attack form!” Charlotte shouted, as Deoxys body shifted to the semi streamlined, and somewhat pointier offensive form. Charlotte focused on an image of what she wanted from Deoxys, as she gave the next command. “Throw Nidoqueen into Krookodile!”

Before anyone could respond, Nidoqueen was grabbed by an iron-like telekinetic grip, and pulled towards Jon and Charlotte, as Deoxys rose a few feet into the air. Just like Charlotte had visualised, Nidoqueen was whipped back towards them, before its trajectory curved back around above their heads, gaining momentum, before being launched at an unnatural speed at Krookodile, both Pokemon being knocked unconscious instantly by the attack.

Before Charlotte could grin however, she saw Magmortar lining up the cannon-like appendage that made up the bulk of its arm, training it on Deoxys. Whilst it was too late for Deoxys to knock it out like it had Nidoqueen and Krookodile, Deoxys attack form was only a fraction slower than its speed form, and there was still time to react. Before Charlotte could give the instruction, Deoxys raised a telekinetic barrier, which dispersed the Fire Blast attack Magmortar had just launched, blinding all of their opponents with a flaming wall. When it disappeared, one of the trainers cried out.

“It’s gone!”

Taking the opportunity of limited vision, Deoxys had teleported itself into the air, out of sight, causing the Pokemon and their trainers to begin looking around.

“Now!” Charlotte commanded, having given the instruction telepathically.

Inspired by how Latios had managed to capture Deoxys the summer prior, Deoxys, retaining its offensive form, surrounded itself in a telekinetic bubble, which illuminated it in the night sky, before it dove down, crashing heavily into Magmortar, knocking it out, before Deoxys transferred the telekinetic energy from being a tangible, physical barrier, into a concentrated blast, aimed directly at Hitmontop who was attempting to flank the Legendary Pokemon. Hitmontop was unable to dodge the point blank telekinetic blast, being launched backwards, hitting one of the poachers who stood behind it. There was an audible crack as the poachers ribs broke under the pressure, and both the Pokemon and the poacher were thrown to the ground, Hitmontop unconscious already from the sheer impact of the blast. A moment later, another poacher cried in pain, as the black Pokeball he was about to throw was compressed heavily by a telepathic grip, with his hand caught in the crossfire.

“Told you…” Jon said patronisingly, grinning at Deoxys quick work of decimating the opposing force.

Shotgun swore angrily, having both his Pokemon knocked out within the first twenty seconds of the battle, as well as one of his fellow poachers being incapacitated. He looked over to where Jon watched the battle taking place, with a smug grin on his face. He began running towards Jon, unarmed as he was.

”One’s coming for you…” Latios said to Jon, about to intervene.

”I’ve got this…”

Shotgun ran towards Jon from his left, swinging his right fist in a strong, yet predictable wide strike. Jon raised his left arm, taking the brunt of the strike, bruising it heavily, before responding in kind with his own right arm, the difference largely being the empty beer bottle he held. The bottle struck Shotgun above his left eye, shattering, leaving Jon holding the neck and the jagged stump of the body of it, which in the follow through, had cut a line down and across Shotgun’s cheek causing him to scream in pain. Taking the moment’s hesitation, Jon pivoted back a little, before launching a roundhouse kick, aiming low and sweeping across Shotgun’s legs, causing the already uneasy on his feet poacher to crash to the ground, landing in the small shards of broken glass. Jon looked over to where the other two trainers battled, noticing that both had seen what had happened, and instead opted to focus on the battle, one nursing a broken hand.

Deoxys had since knocked out Toxtricity, the part Poison Type Pokemon being extremely susceptible to Psychic attacks, before taking a Dragon Rush attack from Haxorus, Charlotte noting this attack was likely the hardest hit Deoxys had taken since it was captured.

Focusing purely on the instructions she wanted Deoxys to follow, Charlotte wasted no time in commanding Deoxys with a response.

“Teleport!” Charlotte instructed, whilst Deoxys disappeared, reappearing a moment later behind Samurott. “Now Zap Cannon!”

Whilst the attack itself was far too inaccurate to be relied upon in any serious battle, the sheer distance between Deoxys and Samurott, or rather, lack thereof, made it impossible for the attack to miss, as Samurott was shocked more than it had ever been shocked before, and thrown by the impact to the edge of the clearing, as Haxorus struck Deoxys with another Dragon Rush.

“You can take it!” Charlotte shouted, trying to keep Deoxys calm. She knew Jon had a point. If Deoxys could remain calm in a battle against eight Pokemon, none of whom holding back, they had passed the most difficult part of Deoxys training. And so far, everything seemed to be working… “Psycho Boost!”

Deoxys darted backwards, as it charged up the purple orb, which Charlotte had come to understand was an attack only it was capable of. The orb grew in size to be the size of an exercise ball, before Deoxys launched it. It struck Haxorus, who was the first Pokemon in the group to take more than a single attack before fainting.

“Watch out!” Charlotte shouted, as she saw Rampardos darting forward towards Deoxys, hoping to catch it unaware. It’s head was lowered, and Charlotte knew that Rampardos were known for their near indestructible, hard heads. “Zen Headbutt!”

Deoxys turned to face Rampardos, creating a telekinetic shield in front of it, before launching itself at the fastest speed it could manage in this form, head first at Rampardos. The Rock Type Pokemon collided head first against Deoxys telekinetic barrier, slowing to a halt, before being grabbed by an invisible grip, as Nidoqueen was earlier, and being lifted six feet into the air, before it was smashed into the ground beneath them.

“Guillotine!” the poacher commanding Haxorus shouted, knowing that was the only Pokemon left in any position to battle.

“Substitute!” Charlotte commanded. Deoxys disappeared, leaving what looked to be a badly made, bootleg stuffed toy in its place, which Haxorus struck, not having anything else to hit. As the toy disappeared, Deoxys was nowhere to be seen, with only Charlotte, privy to the information through the telepathic link, knowing what to expect.

“Now!”

From the sky above Haxorus, Deoxys charged up the same beam of light that it used to destroy the Space Centre, albeit this iteration being much less powerful, before launching it downwards, striking the Dragon Type, and knocking it out.

The two poachers who remained standing, now with no Pokemon, and their leader, a bloody, whimpering mess on the ground at Jon’s feet, looked anxiously between Jon and Charlotte.

“Surrender, and we’ll tie you up, and leave you here for the authorities to come pick up…” Jon remarked. “Try and use a flying Pokemon to fly away, and Deoxys will do what it did to Haxorus to shoot you out of the sky. And this far out, in the dark like this, you’re more likely to drown out there than find land…”

The two men looked at each other, before agreeing to surrender, as Latios descended, reappearing in front of them, and causing them to both jump in fright at the sight of the Eon Pokemon materialising from thin air.

“Make sure they don’t go anywhere…” Jon remarked, as he made his way to his backpack, which contained the tarp they had packed, but had been unable to hang, due to forgetting one of the straps.

Charlotte called Deoxys back to its Pokeball, though not after giving it all the praise she could to make sure it knew exactly how well it had done, and how happy she was with it, before assisting Jon in dragging Shotgun, and his broken-ribbed comrade to two larger trees, and using the straps to secure them tightly to them.

“What do we do about him?” Charlotte asked quietly, not wanting the pair Latios was minding to hear. She looked down at Shotgun, whose head was bleeding from the bottle-wound.

“I have a first aid kit here,” Jon remarked. “We’ll patch him up enough that he won’t bleed out and die on us…”

“Then what?”

“We head back tonight. I’ll call Steven as soon as we have phone service,” Jon answered. “We should be back in Mossdeep by tomorrow morning, and if Steven arranges a pickup from Slateport or Ever-Grande, these guys should only be here a few hours…”

“What about Southern Island?” Charlotte asked, looking around. “Is this place safe for us to keep doing this?”

Jon stood, and gestured for her to follow, moving out of earshot of those nearby.

“If we have Latios more focused on being a sentry, we would be safe here, and could potentially keep training Deoxys, even if we are followed, like I presume happened with these guys, or something like that…” Jon explained, though Charlotte could sense that wasn’t all.

“What’s the but?”

“Rayquaza…” Jon said, mouthing the word silently. “We can handle idiots like this showing up and send them packing, as you and Deoxys just displayed. But if one of them sees Rayquaza, then I am in a lot of trouble…”

Charlotte realised why Jon was hesitant about coming back. Whilst she had only ever come to Southern Island to train Deoxys, Jon had used it as a place to make sure Latios was safe away from people, as well as a place to train Rayquaza where they wouldn’t be seen by prying eyes.

“So what do we do?” Charlotte asked.

“We get these guys tied up. We get back to the Academy. We catch up on sleep. And we figure out the rest after all that…”

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

Dylan lay in his bed, looking at the ceiling of his room in the lodge as he waited. He had awoken an hour earlier, not knowing when exactly he could enact his plan, so overprepared.

The clock on his phone read 7am, and he figured it would be in the next fifteen minutes. He knew Abbee well enough at this point, and figured that regardless of circumstances, she was a creature of habit.

During that week, Dylan had been shocked to find out his mother had shown up at the Academy, after walking out on Dylan, and leaving him with Bill a decade earlier. However the real shock was the reason why she came. To inform Dylan of a genetic disorder she had been diagnosed with, and that there was a real possibility that he may have inherited, called Neurofibromatosis 2. The effect of this disorder was the deafness in Dylan’s maternal grandmother, and now his mother, and if his father had passed on the faulty gene like his mother had, Dylan knew he would lose his hearing by the time he was fifty.

The shock of it all had rattled Dylan, and the day after, when he had passed Abbee, he had wanted to be alone, to try and process his thoughts on this, giving her the cold shoulder, and lashing out at her when she tried to ask what was going on. He had felt guilty about how he handled it the moment he did, however was not in the headspace to be making amends. Instead, he waited, which led him to this moment.

Abbee would have likely woken up already. He could hear sounds coming from her room next to his, as she was likely getting ready for the day.

”To the slightly prejudiced, telepathic third party, you could almost say what you’re doing is kind of creepy…”

Whilst Dylan didn’t have as much experience with Victini making contact with him as Chris did, he recognized the telepathic voice near instantly and couldn’t help but grin.

”I’m doing this because I want to say sorry to her, so excuse my creepiness…” Dylan retorted. ”But what’s your excuse for poking around in my head?”

Dylan felt a wave of satisfaction flow from Victini through the telepathic channel. Half the reason he acted in this way was out of enjoyment of the friendly back and forth that ensued. Though when people reacted a little less friendly, it was still amusing, albeit slightly less.

”Didn’t realise I needed one,” Victini retorted. ”Arceus gave me the goods to be able to do this, I figured it would be a waste if I didn’t…”

”You don’t need one,” Dylan thought back. ”But having a good excuse may make you seem like less of a creep when people realise you’re poking around in their heads…”

Dylan knew he had won this exchange with Victini, before the Mythical Pokemon even responded.

”Touche…” Victini replied. ”She’s going to be walking out in five… four… three…”

Realising that he was distracted, Dylan, got out of bed, and walked towards the door. He opened it just as Victini finished the countdown, stepping out, and looking over to see Abbee exiting her room as well, Victini sitting on her shoulder. She flashed him an awkward smile, though barely held eye contact like she normally did.

“Hey,” Dylan said cautiously. “Can we talk?”

“Sure…” Abbee replied nervously, before nodding towards Victini on her shoulder. “Do you mind if Victini joins us?”

“He already knows what it’s about,” Dylan retorted, stifling a chuckle as Abbee rolled her eyes, well aware of Victini’s lack of courtesy when it came to using his telepathy. “We’ll go get breakfast, and talk on the way…”

Abbee nodded, thankful that Dylan finally seemed ready to make amends, though given this was the second time that summer he had snapped at her in some way, was a little cautious.

The ground floor of the lodge was empty, with Charlotte being away that weekend with Jon at Southern Island, and Justin and Chris both being more likely to sleep in until a few minutes before breakfast and rush to the dining hall with as little time to spare as possible. Even outside, there were few of the other campers awake, only one or two of the more diligent ones outside, practising with their Pokemon teams. It was Sunday, so there were no classes, and whilst most students did the bulk of their socializing on the weekend, be it on site, or for the older students, going into town for the day, it wasn’t uncommon for some to do some additional training, not wanting to grow complacent come Monday morning.

“About the other day…” Dylan explained. “I’m sorry for being such a d**k when you came upstairs to talk to me…”

Abbee nodded quietly, wanting to hear more, and not risk Dylan thinking he had said enough by accepting the apology.

“Truth is, last Wednesday, my mum showed up out of nowhere, and that in and of itself rattled me,” Dylan explained. “Then I found out why she came, and it tipped me over the edge a little…”

“Justin told me,” Abbee said. “At least, that your mum showed up, and he covered your class. I figured that might have upset you after he told me about it…”

“It wasn’t just that…” Dylan said, trying to figure out how to explain this.

“What was it then?”

The pair were halfway to the lodge, and Dylan stopped walking, focused too much on what he wanted to say, and also knowing that there was nobody within earshot, which ideally meant nobody listening in.

“She came because she is going deaf…” Dylan explained. “It started recently, and seemed out of nowhere. Except her mother went deaf at a similar age, and…”

Abbee’s eyes widened, as she put the pieces together.

“Is it genetic?” she asked, shocked at what Dylan had just told her.

“Yeah…” Dylan said with a sigh, before continuing to walk. Abbee remained still for a second, processing what she heard, before moving to catch up with him.

“Do you know if you will lose your hearing as well?” Abbee asked gently, Dylan shaking his head in response.

“It’s recessive, which means I need to get the faulty gene from both parents. Because she has the disorder, I definitely got it from her. But I never knew who my dad was, so I haven’t got a clue if there is any chance I got it from him,” Dylan answered. “Short of doing tests to find out for sure, if he is deaf, and there isn’t another reason why, it is almost certain I will as well…”

“What if he isn’t?”

“Then at most 50%, as there is always the chance he may be a carrier, and not have the disorder himself,” Dylan continued. “At that point, I’d be looking into his family tree. If he has relatives who have lost their hearing with little to no explanation, there is a better chance that he is a carrier. But if nobody in his family has those symptoms, I should be safe…”

The pair entered the dining room, where they quickly began getting out the food for breakfast. Given that breakfast was usually fruit, toast or cereal, kitchen staff didn’t start until they needed to prepare lunch, with the interns getting the room set up. In a little under half an hour, a group of students would arrive to set tables, however seeing as they were getting the bulk of the food out for their own breakfast, they figured they would get the rest out as well.

As they sat at a table in the empty dining room, breakfast in front of them, as well as a bowl of fruit for Victini, the conversation continued.

“So what do you do now?”

“I find my dad…” Dylan replied simply, as he took a bite from his toast. “Getting tested is expensive, and at this point, I may be able to get a reasonable answer by tracking him down without spending a small fortune…”

Dylan paused for a moment, never having admitted this to anyone.

“I’ve always wanted to know who he is. The furthest back I remember it was just Mum and I, and Bill came into the picture later. Mum refused to talk about him, and I learnt pretty quickly I was wasting my breath asking. So really, he could be anybody…”

“Do you know his name?” Abbee asked, before her tone shifted to a less serious one. “Charlotte and I guessed that Justin and Candice had something going on because he mentioned a Gym Leader while he was in the Crown Tundra. I think with a name, we could find out just about everything there is to know about him…”

Dylan couldn’t help but laugh.

“I don’t,” Dylan said. “Not yet at least…”

“How will you find him?”

“Mum gave me an envelope with his details in it…” Dylan answered. “Sealed it and didn’t say anything more, in case I didn’t want to find out. She figured I may not want to know if there is a near certain chance I will go deaf, and just live life as normal until the day might come that I do…”

“And you haven’t opened it yet?” Abbee asked. “Don’t you want to know?”

“I do, but, I don’t know…” Dylan said, leaning back a little, and stretching his arms behind his head. “I guess right now, my dad could be anyone. An ordinary guy, a celebrity, a famous battler like yours was…”

Abbee nodded in understanding.

“But at the same time, he could be an a**hole, or a criminal, or something worse…” Dylan said, with a weak grin. “It’s ironic. Mum was concerned I may not want to find out whether I have this disorder or not, which is why she sealed the envelope. And I want to find out. But right now, I am more unsure of whether I want to find out who my dad is, and risk finding out he isn’t who I want him to be…”

“So what now then?” Abbee asked, scooping up a spoonful of cereal.

“I guess I try and prepare myself for the worst,” Dylan remarked. “I’d rather be expecting him to be a serial killer, and find he is an accountant than the other way around…”

Abbee couldn’t help but grin at the sentiment.

“You’re a real ray of sunshine, you know that?”

“It’s one of my better qualities…”

“Jon, don’t worry, it’s unlocked!”

The familiar voice from the door took the pair by surprise when they heard it coming from the doorway. They looked over to see Charlotte entering the room, and noticing the pair of them sitting there.

“Hey,” Charlotte said casually as she grabbed a pear from the fruit bowl on her way to the table where Dylan and Abbee sat. “Jon was going to come back with a key to unlock this place, but I see you guys got to it first…”

“Wait, why are you here?” Dylan asked. “You aren’t due back until this evening?”

“Had an incident on Southern Island, so came back early…” Charlotte said casually, before remembering something. She quickly unclipped a Pokeball from her belt. “While I remember, here’s your Flygon.”

Dylan took the Pokeball, though Abbee was not satisfied with her answer.

“What sort of incident…” Abbee asked, sounding more serious than before.

“We were followed. Jon reckons they may have been tailing us a little bit each time. Following us for a little while from Mossdeep one week, then keeping an eye out from Sootopoolis the next time for when we pass over, and so fourth…” Charlotte answered, taking a bite from the fruit in her hand, though not waiting to keep speaking. “You remember the poacher from the Whirl Islands? The one that got away?”

Abbee nodded, the look of shock growing more intense with each passing second.

“He showed up, with three new friends. They brought a boat, killed the engine before we could hear it getting close, and rowed the rest of the way,” Charlotte said casually. “If Latios hadn’t have spotted them, things would have been ugly…”

“Then why are you in such a good mood?” Dylan asked, getting in before Abbee, who seemed like she was going to ask the question, but with more questions aimed towards Charlotte’s mental capacity.

“Because they sent out eight Pokemon to incapacitate us, and Deoxys dealt with them all single-handedly…” Charlotte answered, her grin widening. “We were at the point with Deoxys where it was battling all out, but it had never been against an opponent that wasn’t pulling punches, and we weren’t sure how Deoxys would go staying calm and following orders in a battle where the opponent is trying to knock it out, or worse…”

“And naturally, Jon turned that situation into an assessment of Deoxys training…” Dylan muttered, shocked that Jon was that relaxed about the whole situation. “Was anybody hurt?”

“All the Pokemon were knocked out, and a Hitmontop was thrown into one of the poachers and broke his ribs. Latios was invisible and under orders to crush any illegal Pokeballs they were going to try and throw. So when one of them tried, his hand was broken when Latios used his telekinesis to crush it and the Pokeball,” Charlotte explained as Abbee winced, though knew the worst to come. “And Jon had finished a beer right when they arrived, and since Latios had disarmed all of them, the one from the Whirl Islands, who had a grudge with Jon, swung at him, and Jon smashed the bottle against his head…”

Abbee went white, and even Dylan was surprised, though thinking about it, he knew he shouldn’t be. Whilst Jon, as willing to throw down as he needed to be, wasn’t the sort to unnecessarily brutalize and opponent, he also wasn’t the sort to take away an advantage if he happened to have it.

“We tied them all up on the island, and flew back overnight,” Charlotte remarked. “I’m so freaking tired, but also starving, so figured I’d get something to eat before I get some sleep…”

“So why were they there?” Abbee asked.

“I guess for Latios and Deoxys,” Charlotte remarked. “Both Pokemon are prime targets, and I guess the fact that we bruised their pride last time we saw them, made it a little more appealing to target us…”

“I still don’t get how you’re so cool with this…” Abbee muttered, shocked that less than twelve hours ago, her friends were in a life-or-death battle.

“Because honestly, I was terrified that Deoxys wouldn’t ever be safe to use like my other Pokemon are. We were at a wall and if we failed to cross it, the consequences were bad, but if we put off trying to cross it, it was more likely we’d fail,” Charlotte explained. “I know we’re still far off Deoxys being used in any League competitions, but it was able to face off against eight Pokemon from four trainers, that it knew meant it harm, and took some of the heaviest hits it had taken since we first caught it. But it followed instructions and remained calm the entire time. This is the biggest win we could have asked for…”

“So what now?” Dylan asked.

“Jon called Steven as soon as we had decent service, and he arranged during the night for the authorities to pick up the guys we tied up. They’re all looking at a stint in prison, but the problem is that we can’t prevent them from talking…” Charlotte explained. “Jon and I could still go there, but now the chances that someone will show up are much higher…”

Charlotte began looking around before she continued, making sure nobody else had entered the room.

“And whilst someone showing up likely won’t cause too many problems for Deoxys, Jon can’t be seen with Rayquaza…” Charlotte explained. “Steven is going to make sure that choke orders are placed on Southern Island’s existence in terms of media. But I don’t know if we can risk going back, because if someone finds out that they found where we were going because they followed us, they are more likely to try the same thing…”

Charlotte finished eating the pear, before turning the conversation back to Dylan and Abbee.

“So what are you guys doing up this early on a Sunday?” she asked casually. Abbee turned to Dylan, knowing that for the bulk of the conversation they had before Charlotte arrived, it was not her place to share.

“Nothing really,” Dylan remarked. “Just trying to beat the rush…”

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

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Justin asked, as he watched Lugia recover from taking another hit from Regieleki. Regieleki was intentionally not hitting with lightning anywhere near as strong as it normally did, or was capable of, instead hitting just hard enough to stun Lugia. He and Chris had been practising for the good part of the last hour in the stadium, and it mostly ended relatively the same. Lugia being mildly shocked. Granted, the Legendary Pokemon didn’t seem to mind the shocks, its competitive nature driving it to keep trying, much like its trainer.

“A few more tries, then we will call it a day,” Chris replied. “Let’s go again…”

At Justin’s command, Regieleki darted from one place to another, stopping briefly, before darting again, and after an amount of time known only to Regieleki, it would launch a mild Thundershock attack at Lugia. The purpose of the exercise was to train Lugia on two fronts. Firstly, Lugia’s speed and reaction time. Secondly, using its growing telepathic abilities to predict where Regieleki will attack from and either block the attack with Protect, or launch an attack itself. Regieleki had started at less than half its standard battling speed, and as Lugia managed to succeed in stopping attacks and fighting back, Justin ordered it to act faster and less predictably.

Justin was surprised at how quickly Lugia was improving, but at the same time, that had started to plateau, with Lugia now taking shocks more often than not, with Regieleki well and truly eclipsing it in terms of speed.

The two trainers and their Pokemon attempted the exercise three more times, before Chris conceded that they needed to stop for the afternoon, causing both trainers, after rewarding their Pokemon with attention and food, to call their Legendary Pokemon back to their Pokeballs, and collapsing onto a bench on the side of the battlefield, their muscles having grown stiff from the lack of movement in the last hour.

“Would you mind if we did this every two or three days?” Chris asked Justin as they sat on the bench. “We’re past the halfway point of summer now, and I’ll be competing pretty soon after summer ends. Legendary or not, Lugia is currently the weakest link in my team…”

Chris wasn’t exaggerating, however that was partially due to the sheer strength of the party of mostly dragons he commanded. Dragons themselves were difficult to find and train, but once they were, they were a difficult force to contend with. However, even his Ninetales, that had only hatched as a Vulpix during their first summer, was on a similar level to Lugia, who was simply young and inexperienced in formal battles.

“Sure, if Jon doesn’t mind us using the stadium between his last session for the day and dinner…” Justin replied. However, Chris’ mention of his plans to compete after summer triggered the recollection of Justin’s conversation with Abbee a few days earlier. Chris noticed his friend go silent, and looked at him directly.

“You think he won’t let us do extra training here?” Chris asked, though didn’t wait for an answer. “What, because of what happened with Charlotte, first year? Because that’s well and truly in the past…”

“No, it’s not that…” Justin said, not wanting Chris to think, and by extension, mention there being, any concern that there would be a repeat of what happened during Charlotte’s first summer at the Academy. “I’m just wondering, do you think it might be a better idea to tone down all the talk and planning about competing? It’s just that you and Abbee haven’t been seeing eye to eye on things recently, and…”

“Did Charlotte say something?” Chris asked, remembering the lecture she gave him in the car when they went into town during that week. “Because it’s none of her business, and-”

“It wasn’t Charlotte,” Justin interrupted, wanting to cut of Chris’ momentum before he got too ahead of himself and said or did something stupid. “You and I both know when she has an opinion involving you, she is more likely to tell you about it than someone else…”

“No s**t…” Chris retorted, still a little bitter about the exchange.

“Abbee did,” Justin said reluctantly, as Chris looked at him in shock. “She didn’t mean to! She’s just been struggling with everything, really. We were talking about something else the other day, and she broke down a little and was pretty upset…”

Chris remained silent, as Justin continued.

“Look, Abbee wants you and her to work out, and wants to make that a priority, and is willing to compromise to make that happen…” Justin said cautiously. “But she feels like you’re so focused on competing that you’re not willing to do the same…”

Chris’ temper flared, feeling humiliated that Justin was giving him what he viewed as an intervention.

“You know, I don’t recall asking for your f**king opinion…” Chris said bitterly, as he stood up, his words fuelled by his damaged pride. “Abbee and I’s relationship is none of your goddamn business!”

Justin was taken aback for a moment, however knew that if he didn’t nip this in the bud now, Chris would spiral, just as he had with Dylan.

“You asked for my goddamn opinion when you were interested in her, but didn’t have a clue what to do about it…” Justin retorted. “Don’t you remember, keeping me awake until some unholy hour because you wanted to talk about her?”

Angrily, Chris shoved Justin by the chest, though Justin, similar in height to Chris, and having spent a few sessions with Jon during the summer before and this summer in how to defend himself, kept his footing somewhat easily.

“You asked for my advice because it seemed like you actually gave a damn about my opinion, so I’m telling you now for your sake!” Justin continued, his own temper flaring. “If you’re only going to listen to advice when it’s what you want to hear, then don’t waste my time by asking.”

“Just mind your own goddamn business!” Chris shouted, knowing what Justin said was pretty accurate, but not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right. “Seriously, you’re being a d**k!”

“You know what? I had your girlfriend talking to me in tears, because of issues in your relationship, so yeah, it is my f**king business,” Justin shouted back. “You have two options! You can keep blaming me, Charlotte, and everyone else for the issues in your relationship, and end up sad and alone! Or you can swallow your f**king pride, stop pushing people away who are going out of their way to help you out, and actually f**king do something about it!”

Chris was taken aback by the condemnation in Justin’s words, and how convicted he felt when Justin told him to swallow his pride specifically. Irritated, Justin shoved Chris in the chest, causing him to stumble back, and land sitting on the bench the pair had been sitting on earlier.

“What’s it going to be?” Justin asked, his voice quieter, but the anger still there. “Are you gonna keep pretending everything is fine, and get angry whenever people point out it isn’t, or are you going to listen to me and do something about it…”

Chris was silent, stunned at what had just been said to him. Humiliation swept through him, both from this, and what Charlotte had said to him a few days earlier. He lashed out, slamming his fist against the wall on his right, striking it with a loud thud, before taking a breath.

“I love Abbee, and I want to be with her…” Chris said quietly. “But I’ve wanted to spend my days travelling place to place, and competing, becoming the best there ever was, ever since I was a kid. I’ve wanted to be as good as Clair and Lance, and after I came here, Jon as well. Hell, I want to be better than all of them. And I know that I can’t take any half measures if I want to reach that goal. I can’t compromise on what I know it takes to be the best…”

Justin, having calmed down himself, sat on the bench, albeit giving Chris some more space than before, as he continued.

“Abbee thinks that eventually, things will break down between us if I don’t tone that down. That we’ll just be in two very different places, and things won’t work out,” Chris continued. “And she’s probably right. But probably right isn’t enough for me to be okay with potentially throwing in the towel on what I have dreamt about since I could barely walk…”


“And having the conversation with Abbee about how you will make things work long term and what you can change now to do that, is like throwing in the towel on finding a way to stay with her, while following your dreams…” Justin said, understanding him a little better. He was thankful that he nor Candice didn’t dream of anything as specific as Chris and Abbee did.

Chris nodded.

“I work best under pressure. In everything really. Even in battles,” Chris continued. “But Abbee is the opposite. She struggles under pressure and does whatever she can to make sure she isn’t put under pressure to begin with…”

Justin sighed, before standing. There was only one thing left to say to Chris. Anything else would just make this situation more unclear.

“There are three ways forward,” Justin said. “The first is that you choose to follow through with your goals, at the cost of whatever else may get in their way. The second is that you reassess how important they are to you in light of everything else…”

“And the third?”

“The third is what you’ve been hedging all your bets on. That you come up with a way to do both…” Justin said, but continued before Chris could take that as encouragement to keep doing what he was doing. “But that is going to be a hell of a lot harder, and you need to have Abbee on your side with that...”

Chris sighed, as Justin concluded, turning and leaving the stadium.

“Right now, you have a choice, and if you don’t man up and make one yourself, it will be made for you. Don’t waste that…”

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

“You really did a number on that guy…”

Steven, Jon and Latios sat in the lounge of Jon and Alyssa’s house, talking quietly as the TV on mute showed a news story of a Former Indigo League Elite Four member going missing. The clock was at midnight, and Alyssa and Amelia were both asleep. Given Jon’s overnight flight back to Mossdeep, he, like Charlotte, had spent the bulk of the day sleeping, and had only woken up in the mid afternoon, leaving him wide awake. Steven, having spent the bulk of the day working to make sure that the four poachers were detained, and pre-emptively sending out choke orders to all news outlets to prevent them from publishing the location of Jon Drake and Charlotte Jones during that weekend. It was after ten in the evening when he finally was able to relax, and talk to Jon in person about what had happened the evening before.

“He was coming for me, and I had a bottle,” Jon retorted. “He had a gun before and if Latios hadn’t have dealt with that, he would have done a bigger number on me…”

“I have no doubt about that…” Steven agreed, drinking his beer. “You know, I barely touched this stuff before I met you…”

“Is that a complaint?”

“Nope…” Steven said, eyeing the bottle. “Just an observation…”

The pair sat in relative silence, before Steven spoke.

“So what are you going to do now?” Steven asked. “Have Latios act as sentry on Southern Island while you train Deoxys?”

Jon took a sip, contemplating whether he was making the right decision. Finally, he spoke.

“With your permission, I won’t…” Jon answered. “Not yet at least…”

“When have you ever waited for my permission?” Steven joked, however Jon’s demeanour remained the same.

“There is a lot at stake here…”

Steven nodded, with a sigh of exasperated agreement, before Jon continued.

“We need the choke order on the media, so that if they find out about Southern Island, it is still somewhat safe. But the fact we have put a choke order on them means that people are going to be asking where we were, and I’d say we are even more likely to be followed if we go there again…”

Jon took another sip, swallowing the beer, before giving a contented sigh.

“However, Deoxys has just passed a major hurdle, and I worry if Deoxys is in its Pokeball for months while we wait for people to get bored of following us, and we don’t follow this win with Deoxys up well, we may lose the progress we made this weekend…”

Steven choked as he realized what Jon was implying.

“You want to train Deoxys on Mossdeep?” Steven asked in horror. “Not even a year after it nearly wiped out the entire island?”

Jon nodded solemnly, staring at the TV.

“I can’t risk people finding out about Southern Island, because I need it to be safe for me to work with Rayquaza. And the sooner I go back there, the more likely it is to be found…” Jon said. “At the same time, Deoxys needs our attention, and I can’t neglect that, now more than ever…”

“Is Deoxys safe?” Steven asked. “I know you’ve had some wins, but just remember that Mossdeep is the place where it was tortured. It may have some sort of flashback, and rampage again…”

“I don’t think Deoxys is safe, but I think it’s safe enough,” Jon remarked. “Remember, back then, Mossdeep’s two strongest trainers were off the island, leaving only the interns, as well as Tate and Liza. At the same time, we knew nothing of Deoxys capabilities. Now, any time Deoxys is let out of the Masterball, I am there, and here, you won’t be far behind. And the fact Deoxys has been captured means that we don’t need to touch it with the Masterball to put it back. Just activate the return mechanism in range, which Latios could do with his eyes closed…”

“Still… This is a huge ask. You know if anybody found out, you would be crucified by the media?”

“Oh I’m well aware. But frankly, I don’t see another choice. I need to think long term, and Rayquaza needs Southern Island to be as unknown as it is…” Jon said, before nodding towards Latios. “Check this out…”

Latios began sight sharing, though instead of showing his vision at the time, showed a memory, watching from the sky above as Deoxys, under Charlotte’s instruction, wiped out the eight Pokemon that they battled on Southern Island.

“You’re right about Charlotte,” Steven said in awe. “She is terrifying…”

Jon chuckled, before turning Steven’s attention elsewhere.

“Latios’ emotion-sense has grown as he has learnt to communicate with Deoxys. Deoxys' emotions used to be this weird mess of colors I wouldn’t even be able to describe,” Jon explained. “Remember when we first had it on the dining room table?”

Steven nodded, before remembering that Jon couldn’t see him.

“Yeah, I remember…”

“I was relatively calm during this situation, since I knew Latios had disarmed all of them and was keeping an eye on us,” Jon said, as Steven noticed Jon’s somewhat strong pale blue aura. “Now look at Deoxys…”

Steven looked at Deoxys, who had just rammed itself, encased in a telekinetic bubble, into Magmortar. Whilst there were other strange colors in Deoxys’ aura, the bulk of it was the same pale blue as Jon’s, albeit much stronger.

“Deoxys was more calm during this than you were…” Steven remarked.

“I mean, I’m not always the most calm anyway, as you’re well aware…” Jon explained. “But given the fact it was facing four trainers who wanted to capture it, and kill Charlotte and myself to not leave any witnesses, using eight powerful Pokemon that were trying harder to knock it out than any it had faced since that night last summer, if this doesn’t show Deoxys is safe enough to have on Mossdeep Island, nothing ever will…”

The battle ended, as Latios stopped sharing his vision, and both trainers found themselves back in Jon’s lounge.

“Look, I’ll take your word for it. That was pretty convincing…” Steven remarked. “But what if people find out you’re training Deoxys on the island? Or even worse, something goes wrong…”

“I’ll wear it,” Jon explained. “Though if you could arrange for the agreement I made in the trial to be adjusted to allow it, I’d appreciate that. That way it’s just the PR fallout I have to deal with, and not have to worry about the government kicking in my door and taking Deoxys…”

“I’ll do my best…” Steven said, before going to say something else, but hesitating.

“Spill it,” Jon said, noticing the pause. “What’s got you worried?”

“Other than the fact you want to train a Pokemon that nearly destroyed the island in your trainer school?” Steven asked, as Jon snorted at the comment. “Rayquaza, if I’m being honest…”

Jon sighed.

“Yeah, I get what you mean…”

“What is the plan for Rayquaza, long term?” Steven asked. “When I asked you to capture it, I wasn’t anticipating you not being able to get to Southern Island for nine months while the military were watching you, or not being able to go for a few more because of this s**t with the poachers…”

Steven took a long swig, before continuing.

“I guess when I asked you to catch it, I would have thought by the time three years had passed, we might be in a slightly different position…”

“You’re right about that,” Jon retorted, before thinking over his thought process.

“Originally the plan was to capture it, train it to not cause trouble, and then release it. Three years tops…” Jon explained. “But this s**t with the military really threw a spanner in the works.”

“Do you trust Rayquaza?” Steven asked.

“To follow orders, yes…” Jon explained. “But Rayquaza is a strong Pokemon and loves to put its strength to the test. And after spending the last two and a half years with me, battling only my Pokemon and occasionally one of the interns, I am worried that if I release it now, it will cause trouble again. Not because it’s p**sed, but because it’s restless after being cooped up for the last two and a half years…”

“I hadn’t considered that…” Steven remarked, as Jon nodded.

“Really, I think before I can release Rayquaza, I need to capture it legitimately, and battle with it enough to appease it’s appetite for battle. Maybe even return to competing, and compete with Rayquaza instead of Latios for a little while…” Jon explained. “Problem is that even if we plant more false sightings, bringing it back to Hoenn, and I capture it here, it could raise questions…”

“You need to get out of Hoenn…” Steven agreed. “While I plant more fake sightings that lead it to where you are going to be…”

“Exactly,” Jon answered. “And right now, I am not sure when I will be leaving Hoenn next…”

Steven murmured in agreement, as the two trainers, and Latios continued drinking their beers.

“I’m glad I asked you to help…” Steven said. “Honestly, I don’t know if anyone else could have handled Rayquaza the way you have…”

“I wish someone else could,” Jon laughed. “The stress of having an illegal Legendary Pokemon will make me bald by the time I’m thirty-five…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

First time in months I did two episodes in a week!

Another one I wasn't expecting to enjoy writing as much as I did but surprised myself with. Also, as of tomorrow, character art is due in two months. Hoping for it to be sooner as I am so keen!

[[Desolate Divine]]

@Alolan Muk @Kantonian Muk @Noblejanobii @Shruikan

Hey all, just a quick message I wanted to send.

You may or may not know that the Eon Academy is set during the summers, each season being a new year, and Season 1 being set a year after the S.S. Wishmaker. This means Season 4 will be set during Spiritwater. I mentioned this to Neo a while back, but for Season 4, I am going to retell Spiritwater, from a more narrative and less RP perspective. The contents of the RP itself will be a third roughly in the middle, with the start being the Diamond Ladies tipping off Jon and the league, and the end being the events Neo detailed in the prologue he wrote for Spiritwater.

Having kept up with Eon Academy, Neo has given informed consent to take creative liberty with his characters in Season 4. This isn't me asking the rest of you for the same. Currently my plan is to have the story be of limited perspective, from those of my characters and Neos. For example if there is a conversation between Avery and Jimmy with none of mine or Neo's characters around, I won't include it as without me taking creative liberty with your characters, it would be inconsistent with my style of writing. This does mean that things such as Luneth and Jimmy's role in dismantling the netherclysm (I think that is what it's called) spell will be largely brushed over, as mine and Neo's characters were all elsewhere. Additionally I will avoid having them do anything that they didn't explicitly do in the RP.

At the same time, it is looking like it will be another three or so months before I start writing, so if you wanted to give informed consent; feel free to give Eon Academy a read and if you trust me to take some creative liberty in the retelling of Spiritwater, I am happy to expand more with your characters in the non RP sections of the story. Feel free to hit me up on Discord (my inbox here is full 99% of the time) if you wanna talk or have any questions of my plans. Granted I'd only focus on Jimmy, Avery and Luneth as I know little of your other Spiritwater characters.

Cheers.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 7: Unload

Spoiler:

“So there was a Nidoking-” Justin asked.

“Nidoqueen,” Charlotte corrected, as Justin rolled his eyes.

“They’re practically the same Pokemon…” Justin retorted.

“Technically they’re pretty different,” Dylan interjected. “They’re the same species, sure, but Nidoqueen is much bulkier and able to take a hit more, while Nidoking is able to hit harder but take less hits…”

“Which makes this all the more impressive…” Charlotte added.

“Whatever,” Justin said. “So a Nidoqueen, Hitmontop, Haxorus, Samurott, Krookodile, Magmortar, and what else?”

“A Toxtricity and Rampardos,” Charlotte explained. “And guess how long it took Deoxys to knock all of them out?”

“Five minutes?” Justin asked.

“Two…”

Both Dylan and Justin’s eyes widened.

“You mean to tell me that Deoxys was wiping out a Pokemon every fifteen seconds…” Dylan said in near disbelief.

“Don’t get me wrong, these idiots weren’t battling well at all. They’re probably more used to sending out Pokemon to intimidate people into complying, and if they send out a Pokemon, ganging up on them,” Charlotte answered. “And even when it’s using its Attack Form instead of its Speed form, it would not be much slower than Justin’s Ninjask…”

“Goddamn…” Justin muttered, remembering the night the five interns spent holding off the Pokemon. “I’m starting to wonder how it didn’t wipe us out…”

“It didn’t wipe us out, because it was attacking out of blind rage…” Dylan answered. “Think about it. Deoxys followed Charlotte’s every order on Southern Island. It was calm, and following Charlotte’s instructions…”

Charlotte nodded.

“And could you imagine if the military had won in the hearing and taken it?” Charlotte asked. “I know they would have struggled to get it to follow orders, but if they eventually did, Deoxys would be a weapon of mass destruction…”

The trio sat in the dining room, on Monday morning of the sixth week of summer, at 7:50am. Students were starting to filter in for breakfast, whilst the group of students, led by Chris and Abbee this morning, who were preparing the room, were getting the room set up for the morning meal.

“Well, it’s a good thing we won the hearing…” Dylan remarked. “Hell, now I’m the only one out of the five of us without a Legendary Pokemon.”

“At this rate, one of the students might get one before you…” Charlotte teased, as Dylan laughed.

“Really, I’m not that fussed.”

“It’s good to see you’re acting like yourself again,” Justin noted towards Dylan. “We practically didn’t see you for a few days towards the end of last week…”

Charlotte looked between Dylan and Justin, having noticed herself that Dylan had been keeping to himself a lot, though wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence or not.

“Yeah, I guess I just needed some time to come to terms with some stuff…” Dylan replied, before noticing Charlotte’s puzzled expression. “Last Wednesday, my mum, who I haven’t heard from in ten years since she walked out, showed up here unannounced, with some news that had me a little rattled…”

It was Justin’s turn to be confused, having known about Dylan’s mum, but not heard anything about any news.

“What news?”

“She was diagnosed with this disorder, with a long name I can’t pronounce off the top of my head,” Dylan explained, forcing himself to sound less worried about it all than he actually was. “The major effect of it is that she is going deaf, and will be completely deaf before she is forty-five. But the reason she was telling me was because the disorder was genetic…”

Charlotte and Justin both went silent hearing this, as Dylan continued, the room around them filling with campers.

“I always knew my grandmother was deaf, but Mum said that she had worked in a factory during her younger years, and they presumed her deafness was because of the loud machinery and the lack of hearing protection…” Dylan continued, before Charlotte finally managed to bring herself to ask the question both her and Justin were wondering.

“Does this mean you’ve got it too?” Charlotte asked. Dylan sighed, causing her and Justin to worry.

“It’s hard to say right now,” Dylan answered. “It could go either way at this point. I’m going to find out, but there’s something I would need to do first that I’ve been putting off, and I don’t know that I’m ready to do that yet…”

“Who else knows?” Justin asked, still shocked by the revelation.

“Alyssa was there when Mum told me, and she told Jon,” Dylan answered. “I told Abbee because the day after, I was pretty upset by all this and blew her off pretty badly, and felt like she deserved an explanation. And now, you guys…”

Neither of his friends referenced the fact that Chris didn’t know. Whilst there had been relative peace between Chris and Dylan since the day Justin filmed the commercial, which was now airing on all free-to-air TV channels, that was due to them not having to interact with one another. Even when all five interns were in the lodge together, they would not speak in any way that the other had any need or reason to respond. At this point, the other three interns had stopped walking on egg-shells around the pair, accepting this as the new norm.

Before Charlotte could ask what he was putting off, their attention was pulled to Jon, calling out for all eyes to be on him, as she realised that the dining room was now at capacity.

“If nearly everyone is here, I have an announcement to make!” Jon called out, getting the attention of all students present. Dylan looked up towards Jon, wondering what he was announcing, as there was little planned by Jon for the Eon Academy that Dylan wasn’t aware of first.

Once the group eating had quieted down enough that Jon didn’t have to yell to be heard, he grinned and continued.

“It’s come to my attention that most of the activities that involve all Eon Academy students together, are usually educational seminars. Last year, Chris and Charlotte did host a Capture The Flag tournament, however that was largely to do with settling a dispute between them, and there are too many of us here this year for that to be viable,” Jon explained. “So instead, I figured that with over a hundred of us here this summer, we could throw a hell of a party…”

Justin grinned at Charlotte and Dylan, as Jon continued.

“So, on the Friday night of the tenth week of summer, we will have a cheesy prom-style dance!” Jon announced, to mixed reactions, largely excitement from all those except the fourteen to sixteen year old boys who thought liking that would be too uncool.

“I know that you weren’t aware of any sort of formal event when you packed for the summer, and as such, I have made arrangements with a few clothing hire businesses on the island to rent out some outfits, at no cost to you,” Jon explained, as Charlotte noticed Alyssa walking into the dining room, waiting by the door, and watching Jon with a worried look. “Additionally, I am well aware of my accelerating age, and slight struggle to know what is hip to you young people, so am looking for volunteers to help with running the event. Things like choosing the menu, decorating the main hall, and choosing music. Have a think about it, and let me know if you’re interested. As you were…”

“This is new…” Dylan remarked, as Justin laughed.

“He is right though…” Justin said. “We do a lot of stuff in our teams, since they are smaller and easier to manage, and the only room that can handle everyone is here and the stadium. So doing a big, fun event with everyone would be good…”

Charlotte’s attention however was distracted by Jon speaking briefly to Alyssa, before heading outside, whilst Alyssa quickly walked towards the trio.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Dylan, can I talk to you outside?”

The tone was that of someone who, having worked in media, was a master of faking a calm demeanour, but was trying to hide something.

“Sure,” Dylan said, standing, and walking towards the door. “Is everything alright?”

“We’ll talk outside…”

Dylan walked outside, where Jon waited for the pair of them, confused by his sudden summons from Alyssa.

“Liss, what’s wrong?” Jon asked, sounding confused more than anything. Alyssa gestured to them a few metres away from the door, and waited for a few students late for breakfast to pass. When she was sure that nobody could see or hear them, she spoke.

“Jon, I’m sorry,” Alyssa said. “It’s Jack…”

Jon’s eyes widened, realising what Alyssa was getting at.

“Wendy was out doing the shopping, and while she was out, he had a heart-attack…” Alyssa began, as Jon was forced to come to terms with what she was saying.

“But,” Jon stuttered. “His watch should have called for an ambulance when it detected a fall…”

The last time Jon, Alyssa, Amelia and Dylan had visited Jon’s grandparents, Jack had recently had a fall, and was not able to reach a phone to call for help. Jon had bought him a smart watch, which Jack struggled to use most of the controls on, for the sole purpose that if it detected Jack falling over, it would automatically call for help.

Dylan didn’t know what to say, as he saw Jon’s eyes begin to fill with tears, and Alyssa begin to sob, both at the shock of losing Jack, and seeing her husband break down.

“Wendy had left before Jack woke up, to try and get a parking space near the shops…” Alyssa said, choking on the words. “He was getting dressed when it happened, and hadn’t taken the watch off the charger yet…”

Jon moved forward, hugging Alyssa and holding her tight, as he sobbed quietly. Dylan, shocked at this news, felt a deep sense of sadness hearing it. He had only met Jack a small handful of times over the last two years, but already felt the loss. Even though Dylan wasn’t really part of Jon and Alyssa’s family, Jack had treated him from the beginning as if he were his own flesh and blood, not hesitating in voicing his amazement of Dylan’s natural talent in raising Pokemon. And just as much as the sadness was hearing of Jack’s death, it was also from seeing Jon and Alyssa so broken and pained at their loss. Something he hadn’t seen, or even imagined seeing, from the pair, who had been a solid rock for him in the last two years…

“I’ll call Steven…” Dylan said, quieter than he intended, getting Jon and Alyssa’s attention. “He and I can run the Academy for a week or two, while you two go to Kanto…”

“Thank you,” Alyssa said, as she let go of Jon and hugged Dylan tightly, something he wasn’t overly used to. However, amidst the shock and sadness of the morning’s events, she hadn’t noticed the same thing that Jon had.

“Us two?” Jon asked. “You’re not coming?”

“You guys are his family, and I,” Dylan said, not having thought through his choice of words. “I work for you. The best thing I could do for Jack is make sure you have no reason to worry about things back here...”

Jon was shocked into silence, at Dylan’s choice.

"Dylan, you have every right to be there, and don't think for a second that he considered you any less than family," Jon said. "He would have set his Flareon on you for saying that, and then me for good measure for letting you think that…"

"Dylan, what my somewhat blunt husband is trying to ask..." Alyssa said as Jon chuckled despite himself. "Do you want to come?"

"But what about the Academy?" Dylan asked. "We have a hundred students here…"

"Steven can handle it,” Jon retorted, surprising Dylan with a grin, contrary to his eyes, red from the tears. “If the Hoenn Champion can’t handle running this place for a week, I need to give us both a pay rise…”

Dylan couldn’t help but laugh at Jon’s assurance.

“I’ll come then…”

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

Considering it was the middle of summer, the backyard of Jack and Wendy’s small house in the Vermillion City Retirement Village was colder than expected. Jon and Dylan sat on chairs in the backyard, where a couple of years prior, Jon sat with Jack, the latter appraising his Pokemon, and being shocked at the secret that Jon had shared with him, of catching the Legendary Rayquaza, under the Hoenn government’s noses, and not getting caught. As Jon remembered that conversation, he found himself glad he took the chance, and shared that secret with Jack. Amelia sat on his lap, watching Jack’s Flareon who sat curled up in a small, round bed on the concrete, enjoying the sun’s rays. Whilst the Pokemon looked content, Jon could tell Flareon was mourning the loss of its partner, having been at home with Jack when he passed away. Whilst it was still somewhat nimble for a Pokemon of its age, being older than Jon himself, Jon noticed shortly after they arrived in Vermillion, and first came to see Wendy, that Flareon was noticeably less lively.

“You mind if I join you?”

Dylan turned to see Daniel, Jon’s father, standing by the sliding door from the house, though Jon’s chair was facing away from the door. Dylan briefly looked towards Jon, to see if there was any indication he didn’t want this, though saw nothing, and figured Jon would have happily told Daniel no if that’s how he felt.

“Go ahead,” Dylan said awkwardly, knowing that he and Jon had sat in relative silence for most of the time they sat out there, and Jon just not being in the mood to chat. Dylan nodded towards the empty chair that faced Jon, and Daniel made his way there. He sat down on the empty chair, before reaching his hand out to shake Dylan’s hand.

“It’s good to see you Dylan,” Daniel said, trying to cover up the awkwardness in his tone with a casual demeanour, as Dylan shook his hand. “How have you been?”

Dylan nodded, not wanting to come across as impolite. Truth was, he didn’t know how to act around Daniel. Jon had made it abundantly clear that whilst he was letting Daniel be in his life again, he hadn’t forgiven him. When the pair were in the same room, there was a clear tension in the air, and Dylan didn’t think that was unjustified. At the same time, Dylan only knew of Daniel what he had heard from Jon about his childhood, and the few times he had met him, and honestly, the two seemed to clash. Whilst he heard that Daniel had gotten clean from the drugs and alcohol during his time in prison, and come to regret his actions before his arrest, he honestly struggled to see how the person sitting in the backyard with him and Jon, who seemed likeable enough, was the same one that had abused Jon as a child. By extension, he couldn’t help but wonder if anybody would have that same internal conflict about his own stepdad, Bill.

“I’m glad you were all able to come,” Daniel began, however Jon didn’t give him a moment to continue.

“You think we’d miss it?” Jon asked, his tone remaining neutral, though far from friendly.

“I think,” Daniel said, choosing his words wisely, “that making the trek here from Mossdeep with no notice is no small task…”

“Steven’s handling things back home,” Dylan said, trying to ease some of the tension, and take the conversation somewhere a little more civil. “We weren’t able to get flights to Saffron at short notice, but managed to get them to Goldenrod, and take the train here. So it worked out.”

Daniel nodded, appreciating the effort Dylan was putting in. Jon took a deep breath, before lifting Amelia from his lap, who was watching Flareon with great curiosity, and handing her to Dylan.

“You mind taking Lili for me?” Jon asked Dylan, avoiding looking at Daniel. “I’m going to go check on Liss.”

“Sure,” Dylan remarked, used to keeping an eye on Jon and Alyssa’s daughter when both were busy. He was curious to see what their relationship would be like when she was a little older, and actually understood who Dylan was and why he lived with them.

Jon thanked Dylan, before heading inside the house, closing the sliding door a little harder than he intended to. Flareon stirred for a second at the sound, looking up towards the door, before deeming it as unimportant, and returning back to its snooze.

Daniel sighed, as Dylan sat awkwardly, with Amelia on his lap, who was looking at the Pokeballs attached to Dylan’s belt. He would remove them before the funeral that afternoon, them not fitting with the black formalwear that he wore, however knew he’d likely carry Metagross and Dusknoir’s Pokeballs in their small, shrunken forms in his pocket. Given the fact they were attacked last time they left Hoenn, and Jon and Charlotte had been attacked in one of the safest places in Hoenn a little only a week earlier, it seemed irresponsible not to, and he knew Jon, upset as he was at his grandfather’s sudden passing, would be doing the same.

“I wish I knew what I could do for him…” Daniel said quietly. “But there is a very real chance the best thing I could do for him is to just not have anything to do with him. And that scares me…”

Dylan was initially silent, having known that feeling well, not just with Bill, but his mum as well. She had said that if not for the genetic disorder, she would have left him alone and not come to see him, and honestly, at the time, he would have preferred that…

“I think he’s just juggling a lot right now…” Dylan offered. “I know Jon well enough to know that when he has a problem, he isn’t normally the sort to keep it to himself. Normally, he’ll happily tell anyone what’s on his mind…”

Daniel chuckled, seeming to enjoy hearing that about his son.

“I didn’t realise my son was the Jon Drake I saw on the news,” Daniel explained, as Dylan nodded in understanding, well aware of the pseudonym Jon lived under. “I remember seeing his interview after the High Seas Tournament, telling all the people that were abusing the Diamond Ladies after they came clean, that if they weren’t victims themselves, to go…”

Daniel realised Lili was watching him curiously and stopped himself from finishing the quote, with Dylan unable to help but chuckle at the near miss.

“Anyway, I remember seeing that and having a lot of respect for him being able to tell it how it is. Then when I heard my son had come to see me in prison, and I realised that he was the guy on TV, I was glad that he had made a life for himself, but also knew that he wouldn’t hesitate in telling me what he thought of me…” Daniel continued. “I was expecting to be given a verbal beating, but instead, he was just quiet. Has been since…”

He paused for a second, choosing his words carefully.

“I want to be there for my son, during times like this, but I guess I just don’t have the first idea how to do that…”

Daniel sighed again, before looking at Dylan.

“I know I have no right to ask, and he probably wouldn’t be okay with me involving you like this,” Daniel said. “But you seem to understand him pretty well. What do you think?”

Dylan was shocked that Daniel was asking him about this, and Daniel seemed to see it.

“If you’d rather not talk about this, it’s fine…” Daniel said, before looking back towards the house. “It’s just that I haven’t done a good thing for my son his entire life, and now, the time when he probably needs people around him most, and I feel like there is nothing I can do…”

“It’s fine…” Dylan replied quickly. “I guess I just feel like you’re giving me too much credit…”

“I mean, look who he’s asked to mind his daughter…” Daniel replied, nodding towards Amelia. “I think if he trusts you enough to ask that so casually, you must be in a pretty good spot…”

Dylan wondered if there was a hint of jealousy in Daniel’s statement, knowing that Jon trusted him more with his daughter than Daniel. However he figured there was no harm in telling Daniel this.

“Honestly, from what I’ve seen of Jon that time you came to Mossdeep, and now, I think he is just unsure. He isn’t the sort to run his mouth if he isn’t certain of something, so when he is this quiet, it’s usually because he is just not sure…” Dylan said. “Normally that isn’t common. Hell, one of the others from the Academy was with him on the weekend, training a dangerous Pokemon off site, and they were attacked. She told me he remained calm the entire time, even when they had four guys with guns coming for them…”

Daniel looked at Dylan, surprise across his face, having not heard this.

“Honestly, I think that losing his grandpa so suddenly has taken those things he is unsure of, and dialled it up to eleven. If it were anything else he wasn’t sure of, he’d be acting the same,” Dylan answered. “In this case, it’s you…”

Daniel nodded, understanding Dylan’s explanation of it.

“That makes me feel a little better. Unsure means there’s still a chance for things to change…” Daniel said, forcing a grin, before changing the subject. “Do you have much to do with your dad?”

Dylan was well aware that Daniel knew of his situation with Bill, and the fact that his mum had walked out, leaving Dylan with Bill, though Daniel had assumed Dylan’s parents had split up while he was young or something of the like.

“I actually haven’t met him,” Dylan admitted. “I don’t even know his name, and from what I heard, he wouldn’t even know I exist…”

“Do you want to meet him?” Daniel asked, well aware of the existence of sons who would rather not see their fathers.

“I do, but…” Dylan began, before changing track. “I have his name in a sealed envelope that my mum gave me. I just haven’t got around to opening yet…”

Daniel remained silent, knowing he had already asked some personal questions, and figured that Dylan would share if he wanted to.

“It’s just that once I find out who he is, that’s it. I can’t undo that…” Dylan explained. “And if he isn’t what I expect, I may find myself wishing I didn’t know…”

There was an awkward silence for a moment, which Dylan inadvertently rushed to fill.

“I mean, I will definitely open it soon,” Dylan added. “I just need a little more time…”

Daniel nodded, as Flareon stood up, and made his way slowly towards the door into the house. Daniel walked over, opening the door to let his late father’s Pokemon partner inside, before returning to his seat.

“By all means, do what you think is right,” Daniel said. “But take it from someone who lost fifteen years of time with his own dad because of his own mistakes, and lost him less than two years after. You never know just how much time you have left with him…”

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

Jon made his way to the bathroom, where Alyssa, having gotten dressed at the hotel, but opting to put on make-up at Jack and Wendy’s before the service, was getting ready. The bathroom was through the door at the end of the hall, with a doorway either side. The one on the left was Jack and Wendy’s bedroom, and the one on the right, was the spare room, which Jack had turned into a trophy room for his own battling career.

Whilst he had planned to see how Alyssa was doing, he felt himself drawn to the spare room, and instead of going towards the bathroom, turned right instead, opening the door slowly.

The door creaked, and as it opened, slowly let light into the dark room. Given the amount of old photos that were at risk of fading if exposed too often to sunlight, Jack kept the block-out blinds on the window closed practically all of the time, the room only lit when someone was in there and turned on the light. Jon slowly walked in, taking in the room around him. It had been many years since Jon had been in this room. Before his grandparents moved into the retirement village, Jack had this room set up largely the same in their previous house, where Jon had lived for a few years before he left home at sixteen to travel. Whilst he would return frequently between trips, it was usually short, with little time to spend with Jack, looking over his own achievements, especially when he had already seen most of it when he lived with his grandparents. When Jon and Alyssa became a couple, his visits became fewer, Jon now splitting his time between competitions between his grandparents, and his girlfriend, and once they married, it became even fewer, Jon having his own home to return to. Jon had only returned to Kanto once or twice a year since the S.S. Wishmaker incident, and the visits were usually short, spent catching up, as opposed to reminiscing.

Jon walked towards the other side of the room, where a large photo was framed and hung on the wall. The photo was coloured, though Jon guessed it was early days of colour film based on Jack’s age. In the photo was Jack, in his mid to late twenties, with his Pokemon team. Next to him sat Flareon, looking much younger than it did now, and on his other side, standing a few inches shorter than Jack himself was his Blastoise. Next to Blastoise was Raichu and Machamp, and next to Flareon was Steelix and Tyranitar. It took Jon a moment to recognise that the photo was taken in the back yard arena of Jack and Wendy’s old house, where Jack had taught Jon how to battle many years earlier.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the door creaking open, and turned to see Flareon, pushing the door open with his nose, and wandering in, sniffing the air and seeming to recognize the smell. Flareon walked to his side, rubbing his head against Jon’s leg, before Jon picked up the elderly Pokemon, and held it in front of the picture.

“Sad how things change, isn’t it…” Jon said quietly to the Pokemon, letting it take in the faces of the friends it had lost. Flareon sniffed at the photo, before crying out softly, as Jon walked it over to the empty chair in the corner, placing the Pokemon there. As he did however, he noticed a small, foldable table nearby, with something that seemed much newer than the rest of the contents of the room. A scrapbook, bound in leather, with no text on the front.

Cautiously, Jon opened it up, and found himself staring at a photo he didn’t even know existed. A picture of he and Jack in the backyard, many years earlier, with Jolteon and Flareon, training, and by the look of it, Jolteon looking a little worse for wear, with Jack lecturing Jon on some mistake he had just made. Despite himself, he chuckled at the photo, before turning the page, and finding more. The photos transitioned to being of Jack training Jon, to Jon competing at small events, where he remembered his grandparents watching in the crowd.

After a few more pages, the photos were less common, Jon realising this was when he left home to compete elsewhere, where instead, cut-outs of newspaper articles were placed, listing the winners of various tournaments that Jon had competed in.

As he expected, about a third of the way through the book, Jon found a folded newspaper clipping glued into the book, and upon opening it, had his suspicions confirmed when he saw a front page article about the first High Seas Tournament being taken by a relatively unknown trainer called Jon Drake. The next few pages contained various professional photos from Jon’s matches against Ethan Caldwell and Cassandra Silvers, as well as various articles discussing the battle, and finally, Jon found himself reading an article, which discussed the opening of The Eon Academy. From there, the articles were less about Jon, with more about his students. An excerpt of Lauren Mendez’s thesis detailing the confirmed existence of Regieleki, and the likely existence of Regidrago was there, in addition to more published results, this time, of tournaments that Chris and Charlotte had competed in. Towards the end were articles detailing Justin and Chris destroying the meteor that nearly hit Mossdeep City, and from there, numerous articles about the Deoxys incident, the Whirl Islands incident, and finally the hearing.

Jon was two thirds of the way through the book in front of him when he found the last addition that Jack had placed in it, only starting to realise how long he had been crying for.

”Jon Drake wins hearing to save Eon Academy. Minister Hill disgraced.”

Every page after that was empty, leaving Jon with a knot in his stomach, at the thought that his grandfather wouldn’t be there to see his next accomplishment, whatever it may be.

Jon’s attention was pulled from the scrapbook by the creak of the door opening. Whilst he wasn’t sure who it was, he didn’t turn, not wanting anyone to see him in this state. The door closed, and he heard the familiar quiet, yet purposeful steps he recognized as that of Alyssa, who walked beside him, and wrapped her arms around him tight. As much as he tried to hold it in, he found himself choking up again, causing Alyssa’s grip to tighten. She said nothing, both knowing there was little she could say that would make the situation better, and knowing that Jon probably didn’t want to be told everything was going to be okay. Finally he managed to find the words.

“I knew he wasn’t as young as he used to be, but I thought we’d have another few years…” Jon said quietly. “Some time when s**t isn’t going wrong, and keeping me from coming here to see him…”

“He knew why you couldn’t make it,” Alyssa consoled. “Honestly, when he came to visit last summer, and saw what you had built back home, he looked so proud…”

Jon went quiet, while Alyssa considered how to approach the question she was wanting to ask.

“Will you be okay during the service?”

Whilst Alyssa hadn’t mentioned any specific part, Jon knew what she was referring to. He and Daniel were both giving the eulogy at the funeral that afternoon. Daniel was speaking of the first half of Jack’s life, whilst Jon was speaking on the second half. And whilst Jon had volunteered, she now wondered how he would go delivering his part of the eulogy.

Jon nodded, wiping his sleeve against his eyes.

“I’ll do it,” Jon remarked. “I owe him that much…”

Alyssa nodded, though hoping beyond hope that this wouldn’t be too much for him.

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

The church in which the service was held was stuffy, making it all the more difficult for Jon to focus, as he sat in the front row seat of the hall, alongside his family, as well as Jack’s Flareon. Initially, Jon had been shocked to see how many people had attended to pay their respects to his grandfather, even recognizing a couple of former Johto and Kanto Gym leaders and Elite Four members. Whilst he had known his grandfather had a following during his competitive years, he didn’t realise how many people still remembered him after so many years out of the spotlight.

The room itself was a large room with mud-brick walls, held up by what someone had told Jon to be former wharf posts. Whilst the look was unique, and impressive, the mud bricks acted like a giant oven, and whilst the temperature outside wasn’t uncomfortably hot, the week leading up to the funeral had been one of the hottest on record, with the building retaining the bulk of that heat. Whilst there were ceiling fans circulating the hot air, they did little, with the room too large for conventional air-conditioning systems to have much of an effect. Latios floated in the air, invisible to all present, as to be there, and not distract others, though made a point of avoiding the rotating fans.

In front of him, on the stage, Daniel stood behind a lectern, speaking into a microphone, and sharing with those present about Jack’s life. However Jon was struggling to focus on what was being said, the sense of loss that permeated through him seeming to dull his senses and motivation.

“Now, I’m going to hand over to my son Ryan, who will speak more to the second half of Dad’s life…”

Jon heard the words, and for a moment, didn’t register them, until he felt Alyssa’s hand on his forearm. He looked up, and saw Daniel looking down at him, as he made his way down the steps that led to the platform where he had been speaking.

“You’ve got this,” Alyssa whispered, as she stood up, Jon standing a moment after, and the pair made their way towards the steps leading up to the platform, Jon to share about his grandfather, and Alyssa to be there as support for him.

He made his way to the lectern, pulling out a folded sheet of paper from the inner pocket of his jacket, and placed it on the lectern, taking a moment to find his place. He took a deep breath, looking for a moment into the microphone mounted in front of him, and from there into the somewhat crowded hall.

“As Daniel just said, I’m Ryan, Jack’s grandson, though you may also know me as Jon Drake…”

There was a light murmur from some of those present, some who had noticed Jon before, though not completely recognizing him dressed in a suit and not wearing the signature beanie that he normally wore. In the front row, he couldn’t help but notice Daniel’s shoulder’s slump slightly, being referred to by his first name. When there was silence again, Jon continued.

“In 1983, after competing for the good part of thirty years, Grandpa retired from competitive battling. After travelling around Johto, and later on, Kanto, pretty aggressively for such a long time, he wanted to make a priority of spending time with his family, choosing to remain in Vermillion City, taking on more casual work, helping out at the gym there, the Vermillion City Trainer School, and occasionally taking trainers under his wing at home, training them in the backyard of the house he had worked so hard to build,” Jon shared. “Once Daniel left home, and Grandma retired as well, he retired properly, spending a lot of time at home, hosting friends and family when they visited Vermillion City, and travelling when they could. Grandpa in particular wanted to see and learn more about new Pokemon that he hadn’t seen before. Even when I was catching Pokemon myself, every visit would begin with Grandpa wanting to see my new Pokemon, and make sure I was looking after all of them. And he’d be the first to tell me if I wasn’t…”

There was a moment of laughter, and despite himself, Jon couldn’t help but smile weakly.

“In 1988, I was born, and even though we lived in Goldenrod City, and didn’t get to see each other often, he took to being a grandpa like he had been doing it all his life. I always looked forward to when we’d see him and Grandma, and when I was eleven, they gave me my first Pokemon. An Eevee, bred from his own Flareon, that evolved into the Jolteon I battle alongside today,” Jon continued. “Then, in 2002, Grandpa and Grandma took me in when I needed somewhere to stay, without a second thought…”

Jon noticed Daniel shift uncomfortably at the reference, however tried to ignore it. He had considered not being as open as he was about this, however decided against it, viewing his grandparents willingness to take him in as a credit to them, and not wanting that swept under the rug for the sake of his dad’s pride.

“I was fourteen at the time, and even though he and Grandma should have been doing the things retired couples do, they took me in, going back to being there for school awards nights, helping me with homework, and teaching me how to be a functioning adult,” Jon explained. “And not once did they ever let me feel like I was being a burden to them by being there…”

As the speech became more personal, Jon felt himself tense up a little, as Alyssa’s arm around his shoulder tightened.

“You’ve got this…” Alyssa whispered, as Jon forced back the tears that were fighting to emerge. He took a breath before continuing.

“A month after I moved in with Grandma and Grandpa, I found a couple of old tapes of Grandpa’s battling, and didn’t realise until then how well renowned he was. I begged him to train me, and sure enough, he did,” Jon said. “Everything I know about battling that helped me get to where I am now, and everything I teach my students, I learnt from Grandpa…”

Jon considered his next words carefully, knowing that they were effectively the legacy of the man who he respected more than anyone else in the world.

“Not just battling though. Grandpa was there for me at a time when I could not have felt more alone in the world, and if not for him and Grandma, I honestly am scared to think of where I would be right now,” Jon said. “He didn’t just teach me how to be a good battler and Pokemon trainer. I lived with him for two years before I left home to compete myself, and in that time, and after, he taught me what it means to be a good man, a good husband and a good father. He taught me about personal responsibility, both to myself, and the world I live in. He taught me the importance of owning my own mistakes, and rising from them, and when other people stumble, to make sure that justice is served, but they are given the opportunity to rise from their mistakes themselves…”

Jon couldn’t help but remember the time he visited Jack and Wendy by himself after the first summer of the Eon Academy, having been asked by Daniel to vouch for his release on parole, and the words Jack spoke.

“He taught me to trust my own sense of what is right, even when all ways forward seem like bad ones, and to be at peace with the decisions I make…”

Realising how heavy the eulogy was becoming, even for a funeral, Jon changed direction slightly, opting to speak more of Jack’s qualities that were more obvious to those outside of his household.

“Grandpa had this uncanny ability to connect with people, regardless of who they are,” Jon continued. “When I introduced Alyssa to him and Grandma, you would have thought that he had known her for years. They got on like a house on fire. And when Dylan moved in with us, and met Grandpa for the first time, Grandpa didn’t hesitate in treating him like Dylan was his own grandson, no ifs, ands, or buts. Last summer, he visited the Eon Academy, wanting to see what we had built back home in Hoenn, and connected with all the interns there, sharing his wisdom and teaching them something new…”

As Jon read the next line of his notes, realising what he was going to be saying next, his eyes filled with tears, as he looked from there to the seats, where Amelia sat with Dylan, watching him, and somewhat confused by the occasion.

“And I’m so thankful that even if she is still young, he got to meet, and be a part of my daughter’s life. His great-granddaughter…” Jon said through a sob, as Alyssa rubbed his back. He quickly wiped his eyes dry with his sleeve, attempting to compose himself.

“Jack was one of the best battlers of his time, and anyone who disagrees with me about that can challenge me on the battlefield to prove it,” Jon said, making sure his tone came across as humorous, and was thankful when there was a light chuckle from those watching. “But he didn’t want the fame and fortune that came with that skill. He could have easily been a member of the Elite Four, and I think if I were to battle him in his prime, I would be humbled pretty seriously…”

Jon allowed space for another laugh, before continuing.

“But he didn’t want that. He wanted a simple life with his family, and I understand that, now more than ever…” Jon said. “But at the same time, I want everyone to know his name. Not for the skill he showed as a trainer, but for the type of man that he was. I know he wouldn’t like the attention, but considering the legacy he worked so hard to leave, I can’t think of a person who deserves to be known and remembered more than Jack Mason…”

There was a polite round of applause, as Jon thanked those for attending, before he and Alyssa made their way back to their seats, as the minister from the church hosting the funeral introduced the photo tribute that had been put together, and Jon found his concentration slipping once more, as it did before he was called up to speak.

The next few hours were a blur to Jon. Once the funeral came to a close, himself, Daniel, Dylan, and a few others carried Jack's casket to the hearse parked out the front of the building, before following it themselves to the Vermillion City Cemetery for the burial. Once that was over, the wake continued back at the church, where Jon was flooded with condolences, as well as the odd praise for his work in recent years, and though Jon responded politely, by the time the wake was over, he couldn’t remember who he had spoken to. It wasn’t until the end of the wake, when the last of the stragglers had gone, that he was pulled from this fog, by a voice he didn’t want to hear.

“You spoke well,” Daniel said to Jon, causing him to regain his focus. Jon’s expression remained fairly neutral, not having the energy or motivation to fake civility. “Dad would have been even more proud than he already was…”

Jon nodded, though didn’t reply, nor make eye contact. Daniel sighed internally, having it confirmed that Jon wasn’t going to make this easy for him, though didn’t blame him.

“Can you and I get a beer?” Daniel asked, knowing that Jon wouldn’t appreciate him dancing around the subject. Jon looked at him, shocked, and slightly irritated. “All of this, shows me just how quickly things can change, and I know I have no right to ask this, but I’d like to sit down, and talk with my son, not in a visitation room…”

Angry at Daniel springing this on him at such a time as this, Jon wanted to walk away, knowing that he had little he wanted to say to Daniel. However, he was reminded of his own words that he gave in Jack’s eulogy. That Jack taught him the importance of giving people the chance to rise from their own mistakes.

“One beer,” Jon said coldly, already wishing he could be anywhere else.

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

Given the fact it was five in the afternoon on a Monday, the bar the pair sat in was quiet, which they both appreciated. Jon had found a booth, whilst Daniel had made his way to the bar, returning with two full glasses of beer, handing one to Jon, and retaining the other for himself. As Jon drank his own, and saw Daniel drinking his, he asked the question that had been on his mind since Daniel asked about getting a beer.

“Should you be drinking?” Jon asked, not out of concern, but also making a point of not being accusatory with his question.

“It’s alcohol free,” Daniel replied. “I have a few friends in Vermillion who like to meet up here, so I have an agreement with the bartender. If I order a beer, he pours one of the zero-alcohol ones into a glass for me, and people are none-the-wiser.”

He took a sip, before speaking again.

“Doesn’t taste the same, but honestly, if it means I can do things like this, that is fine with me…” Daniel remarked, though Jon didn’t respond, instead having another swig of his own. Whilst he wanted to say it was probably stupid for Daniel, a recovered alcoholic to come to a bar, he also knew it had been nearly eighteen months since he was released, and chances are, this was not a new phenomenon. If Daniel had been here for at least a year for social gatherings, and coping with alcohol-free beer, then chances are, this was not going to cause him to relapse. At least, Jon hoped…

Finally, Jon asked the other question that had been on his mind since Daniel first asked if they could get a beer.

“Why are we here?” Jon asked. “Grandma is at home after her husband’s funeral, and we’re at some bar, having a drink…”

“Dylan and Alyssa are both there with her, and can help her for an hour,” Daniel answered. “We will be back before the sun goes down. Probably well and truly before…”

“That doesn’t answer my question…”

Daniel sighed, as deep down, a repressed part of him craved a real drink, though made sure to fight that want.

“Because we both lost someone important to us. And this won’t be the last time…”

Jon stared intently at Daniel, as he continued.

“Before we know it, you and your family will be the only family I have left. And I know it’s selfish of me to want this, and I don’t deserve it, but I want to be a part of your lives…” Daniel said, as Jon remained silent. “And here’s the thing…”

The lead up surprised Jon, leaving him unsure of where Daniel was going with this.

“You have more right than anyone to have an axe to grind with me. To tell me exactly what you think of me. But you never did,” Daniel explained. “When you first saw me in prison, I was prepared to be told just how much of a piece of s**t I am. How I ruined your life, and how it’s my fault that your mother was killed. But you didn’t say anything. I knew you were still rightfully angry with me, but you never told me exactly what you thought…”

Jon couldn’t help but groan, as he rolled his eyes.

“So what, you think that we have a beer together, and I tell you just how much I hate you, and we go home as happy families?” Jon asked sarcastically, putting his beer down. “F**k this, I’m going back…”

“Jon!” Daniel said, his tone louder and more forceful than it had been since Jon had met him as an adult. Jon couldn’t help but remember the numerous times he heard Daniel shout his name as a child, although it was Ryan instead back then, usually before he’d get hit. Jon turned to face Daniel, a bitter rage burning in his eyes.

“Are you honestly content with the way things are between us right now?” Daniel asked. “Because we both know there is no undoing what happened. So is rejecting any opportunity to even consider things being better between making you feel any better?”

Daniel stood up, and met Jon’s gaze.

“Honestly, if you’re honest-to-God, happy to write off anything being better between us, then I will walk out of here as well, and won’t expect any more from you…” Daniel said. “But I don’t think that’s the sort of person you are…”

Jon met Daniel’s gaze, forcing back the memories it brought to him from his childhood to maintain it. Finally, he spoke.

“F**k it,” he muttered, before he sat down, albeit aggressively in his seat in the booth they shared. “You want me to put it all out on the table?”

His tone was sarcastic, which Daniel didn’t expect much more than, as he sat down opposite Jon.

“Let’s have our little therapeutic unload,” Jon said sarcastically. “Firstly, I think you have absolutely no right to want anything between you and I, or you and my family. What you do have right now, you have from my good graces, and not a damn thing else, and you keep saying ’I have no right to ask this’, but mustn’t believe that too much, because you keep f**king trying!”

“But while I’m in the mood for sharing, let’s talk,” Jon continued, the sarcasm becoming even more abrasive. “It was fine for me as a kid, lying to the people at the hospital, because I was scared that if I told them the truth, I’d wind up there the next night, and that was if I was lucky. I loved waking up in the middle of the night to gunshots, and finding out from the police who showed up that Mum was dead, and you had run off…”

Jon put down his glass, and began rolling up his sleeves, revealing his tattooed forearms.

“I loved spending thousands getting some bikie-looking dude to spend hours poking a tiny needle into my skin, to hide the scars from you getting s**tfaced, or worse, and changing my name from the one I shared with and inherited from the man I respected most in this world, to hide from the man I should have respected most…” Jon continued, the sarcasm fading without him even realising as his voice began to rise. “It was so easy for me to spend years telling my wife that I don’t want to have kids yet, because I don’t want them to have to maintain my lies so you wouldn’t find us!”

“And now, the person I would do anything to be able to have a beer with right now, the one who picked up the slack for you, is gone, and you’re the one I’m here with…” Jon said, gaining a little more control of himself, but his tone remaining bitter. “And honestly, I wish…”

Jon stopped himself from finishing the sentence, however Daniel knew exactly what he was going to say.

“You wish it was your grandpa with you now, after my funeral…”

Jon looked at Daniel, forcing himself to hide the shock he felt that he had even thought that, let alone tried to say it.

“And honestly, if I could swap places with Dad right now, I would in a heartbeat…”

Jon looked down at his beer glass, which was now only a quarter full, as Jack continued.

“I know I’ve caused nothing but problems for you, and if I could swap places with Dad to try and set things right, I would. I owe you that much,” Daniel continued. “But the fact is I can’t. No matter how hard we both wish I could…”

Jon took another swig, emptying his glass, as Daniel continued.

“But chances are, in ten or fifteen years, I will be the only extended family you have, and you will be all I have left…” Daniel said. “So I’m begging you, to give me the opportunity to do everything I possibly can to try and have some sort of healthy relationship with my son and his family…”

Daniel went silent, and looked down at his glass, taking a sip of his own drink, as an awkward silence filled the space between them. Jon, still bitter about being put in this position, and reeling from the loss of his grandfather, didn’t want to oblige his father.

However, as he looked at the broken man who sat in front of him, staring into a half empty glass of alcohol-free beer, he couldn’t help but ask the question of what his grandfather would want him to do, knowing the answer, albeit, not liking it. He sighed.

“You can start by getting us another round,” Jon said, pushing his empty glass towards Daniel. “And never trying to play therapist like that again…”

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

Three days after the funeral, Jon, Alyssa, Dylan and Amelia left Vermillion City, returning their rental car to the depot in Saffron City, before taking the Magnet Train back to Goldenrod City in Johto, where their flight would depart from to take them back home to Hoenn, after a week away. However, there was a long enough gap between their train arriving in Goldenrod and their flight leaving for Jon to make one last stop on the way home…

“Why are you here Jon?”

Jon was slightly surprised to hear that Lance had dropped the the hell as he sat opposite the former Indigo League Champion in the visitation room, which was ironically the same one he had visited his father in years earlier.

“I didn’t get a chance to properly thank you for what you did at the trial,” Jon answered, with little expression one way or the other. “Fact is that it wasn’t looking like we would be able to keep Deoxys out of the military’s hands, and now that we have trained it somewhat, it is becoming terrifyingly obvious how bad it would have been if they took possession of it…”

Lance scowled, before answering.

“I told you before,” Lance remarked. “I didn’t do it to help you. I did it to screw over Mark Hill, and it worked…”

Jon shrugged, having not expected more from Lance.

“But seriously, why are you here?” Lance asked again, confusing Jon slightly until he continued. “Don’t you have that summer program you’re supposed to be running back in Hoenn? Why are you here in Johto, trying to blow smoke up my a**?”

“Believe me, I got no smoke to blow up your a**, Lance,” Jon remarked. “I’m passing through here after a funeral in Kanto. Steven is keeping the Academy running, with the help of Chris, and the other interns. I actually saw a few of your associates from the Johto League at the funeral. Pryce namely, though I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself…”

This seemed to take Lance by surprise a little.

“Whose funeral would both you and Pryce be attending?” Lance asked, more with disbelief than curiosity. Jon expected nothing less from the disgraced Champion.

“My grandfather, Jack Mason,” Jon replied, though noticed a slight sense of recognition in Lance.

“Did he compete in Johto?” Lance asked, surprising Jon with the sincerity of the question, and the fact his tone lacked the chill that it had every time Jon saw Lance in this place. “The name is familiar…”

“He competed in the sixties and seventies, largely in Goldenrod, and retired in the early eighties to Vermillion,” Jon answered. Something seemed to click with Lance, as he let out a chuckle, despite himself.

“I saw a few of his battles when I was a kid,” Lance replied, taking Jon by surprise. “It must have been just before he retired. During school breaks, my parents used to take me into Goldenrod to watch the local tournaments. I only remembered because his style was so different to everyone else's. Makes sense where you get it…”

Jon remained silent, and was shocked when Lance kept the conversation going.

“Is that what you’re teaching Chris?”

“Not as much these days. He already has it pretty much mastered. Honestly, he is pretty close to beating me, so I think he’d beat you as well, no stress,” Jon remarked, earning an eye-roll from Lance. “Really, there is a tiny hole in his tactics that I am trying to teach him to work past. After that, he will be pretty unstoppable…”

“Especially with that Lugia of his…” Lance added, causing Jon to nod. Shocked at how civil the pair were being, and how agreeable Lance was at this point, though Jon knew they were far from being on good terms, Jon tried his luck, asking a question that had been on his mind in Lance’s case for a while, though more frequent having spoken to Daniel recently.

“If you were to get out of this place today, here and now…” Jon asked. “What would you do?”

Lance seemed taken by surprise at the question, and Jon was expecting to be told to go f**k himself. However, Lance spoke calmly.

“I’ll earn my reputation back, whatever it takes…”

Jon felt his skin crawl at how Lance finished his answer, however had to ask the question.

“How will you do that?”

Lance thought over this a moment, though looked suspiciously at Jon. Jon gave nothing away, waiting for Lance to answer the question.

“As Champion, I had things I stood for,” Lance explained. “And regardless of whether you think they are right or wrong, everything I did, I did because of what I stood for…”

Jon was surprised at how much he actually understood what Lance was saying. Whilst he hadn’t forgiven Lance for his attempted murder of Violet and Jarena, and the fact that he had destroyed the plan that could have prevented the existence of witchcraft being made public, he could see what Lance was saying.

“And when I get out, I am going to make people see that,” Lance answered. “Whether they want to or not…”

[[Desolate Divine]]

It isn't often I get to write an entire episode that focuses on Jon. Takes me back to S.S. Wishmaker days...

But Season 3 is reaching its final arc, which I am keen for, before the Epilogues, which I am also keen for, and then Spiritwater, which I am very keen for...

54 days until the commissions are due. Granted, the turnaround time is a week, so I am hoping that 54 days is when the last is due, and I will start to see them weekly in like two weeks. Whether I release them at that point or not is another story. I plan on releasing them in order based on which character shines most in a episode so if Charlotte is planned to release first, but I only have Jon's sent to me when I get to that episode, then I gotta reassess. But honestly, I am so keen for these pictures.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3: Episode 8: Challenge

Spoiler:

It was the Tuesday after Jon, Alyssa, Amelia and Dylan returned to Hoenn, during the eighth week of summer, when just like a fortnight before, Dylan, Justin and Charlotte found themselves sitting around a table in the dining room during the lunch hour between classes finishing in the morning, and two groups spending an hour each with Jon, doing practical and specialised training. Whilst Charlotte and Dylan’s teams had been rostered on for setting up the dining room for lunch, it was a small task, not taking more than ten minutes with the sheer amount of people they had between the two groups. Chris and Abbee however, had both gone to the lodge after their morning classes, skipping lunch with everyone else.

“How does it feel being back home?” Justin asked Dylan, before taking a bite from his sandwich. Dylan had been back for a few days at this point, however Justin, knowing how much Dylan liked his space when he had a lot going on, had not spoken to Dylan much until Dylan had approached him.

“Honestly, it barely feels like I left,” Dylan answered. “I’d wonder if I had dreamt it all if I wasn’t still catching up on figuring out what was taught while we were gone.”

“I think Jon’s in the same boat,” Charlotte remarked. “Yesterday afternoon, a bit of time during training was spent establishing what we did while he was gone.”

Dylan nodded before he asked the question he had kept forgetting to ask until then.

“So how did you cover us all while we were gone?” Dylan asked. When Alyssa had first told him and Jon of Jack’s passing, Dylan had volunteered to remain at the Academy to help keep things running smoothly, which Jon soon dismissed, making it abundantly clear that if Dylan wanted to come to the funeral in Kanto, he shouldn’t worry about the Academy.

“A bit of chopping and changing,” Justin remarked. “Steven took over your Raising Pokemon class, and while you were gone, I handled his Pokemon Knowledge classes. Then Abbee handled Trainer Career, deciding to move the section on Social Media forward to that week, since she knows very little about insurance companies like Alyssa had planned to teach on…”

“I handled Tactics and Strategy, and then they’d put what they learnt from me to practise against Chris when he did Practical Training,” Charlotte remarked. “In all honesty, as exhausting as it was running classes, and when we weren’t, being with our groups during their classes, we did okay. If Jon, Alyssa and Steven were out of action, us four and you could probably keep the place running for a few days…”

Dylan wasn’t surprised at how well his fellow interns had handled things while they were gone. Granted, from what Justin and Charlotte said, it didn’t seem like nobody was running a class they couldn’t handle well and truly.

“How did you go with Pokemon Knowledge?” Dylan asked Justin. “That seems like a bit of a tough one…”

“I thought the same too, and was wondering why Steven told me to handle it, since I wouldn’t have been able to tell you differences between a Nidoking and Nidoqueen outside of their appearances…” Justin explained. “But Steven told me instead of looking at individual Pokemon, to do what I do when I battle, and instead of looking at the Pokemon itself, look at the small things that give away what the Pokemon can do, and teach them how to do that…”

“That’s what Steven told your group about you when he and Jon trained them to wipe us out last summer,” Dylan remarked. “That your strength is being able to see a Pokemon in action and know more about it than its basic appearance and types. That’s why your opponent hinged their strategy on blocking your vision…”

Dylan nodded, though Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh.

“Why include yourself in that us? You were the only one who wasn’t beaten…” Charlotte commented with a grin.

“I mean, it wasn’t easy. They were trying hard, and my usual tricks didn’t work…” Dylan replied, before having a brief thought. “How’s Abbee doing?”

Honestly, Dylan had been worried about her, given how rocky things were between her and Chris this summer, and how much she wanted things to work with him. However, he was ashamed to admit that he had let that concern slip in the last few weeks, given what had happened.

“She’s doing alright,” Charlotte said. “Just been really busy, but honestly, I think that busyness is good for her.”

“More busy than the rest of you?” Dylan asked, slightly surprised. Justin nodded.

“Remember Jon announced that prom that we’re doing on week ten?” Justin asked. “He asked for volunteers to help make it happen, but before anything else could happen, you guys heard about his grandpa and had left for Kanto. So Abbee stepped up and took responsibility for that.”

Dylan was initially surprised, but realised he shouldn’t be. When it was his eighteenth birthday a few summers before, Abbee was one of the people who had taken charge to organise a party for him, and like himself to a degree, Abbee had a tendency to distract herself with work from things that may be troubling her.

“The only thing that Jon had arranged at that point were the businesses who would rent out outfits for people to wear for it, so Steven made some calls to businesses on the island, and figured out which ones Jon was talking about,” Charlotte continued. “Nothing else had been planned, so during dinner the next night, Abbee got a sign-up sheet out, got some people to volunteer, and has spent most of her free time since working with a few of them at a time to organise different parts of the night…”

“It should be a good party then,” Dylan mused, as Justin nodded in agreement.

“I could use a good night,” Justin remarked. “I was hoping the lack of TV in this place would stop the students here seeing my commercial, but a few found it online, and I’ve been getting jokes left, right and centre…”

Dylan groaned in empathy, as Charlotte couldn’t help but grin.

“I don’t know what you expected…” Charlotte remarked.

“I didn’t expect to be onscreen, telling people to go to coc.com,” Justin retorted, not bothering to change how he verbalised the website from it’s somewhat phallic pronunciation. “Honestly, don’t people spend thousands to go to college to not make that mistake?”

“So what do you do when you have people coming up to you making jokes?” Dylan asked, and was surprised when Justin grinned.

“I pull out my phone, and show them the twenty-five thousand dollar transfer on my bank statement…” Justin said, causing Charlotte to laugh. “That usually shuts them up…”

Before anything else could be said, a group of three students approached the table they sat at, Dylan recognizing them as students in Chris’ group, that he didn’t know the names of, which was fair given there were a hundred campers this summer.

“Can we help you?” Charlotte asked politely, unsure why the trio had come to their table, and what had them so excited. She noticed a tablet in the hands of one of them.

“We were just wondering, are you guys gonna do it?” one of the students said, earning a puzzled look from the three interns.

“Do what, exactly?” Justin asked, not following. The trio of students seemed shocked that none of the interns in front of them seemed to know what they were talking about.

“You guys haven’t seen the video?”

“What video?” Charlotte asked. As if on cue, the one with the tablet walked over, placing the tablet on the table, and hitting play on a video that had been preloaded. The three interns watched in shock, as the video played, before coming to a close.

“Can I borrow this?” Dylan asked. “To show Jon and the others…”

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

“So what did you want to talk about?”

Abbee sat at a couch in the lodge, her laptop in front of her with a few printed A4 sheets of paper, with different styles of decoration on them, which she was using as inspiration for the prom that would be held in a fortnight when she asked this of Chris, who sat on the couch opposite her. Truth was, she had a hunch of what it was, however, knowing that this conversation in particular probably would require more of her than what she had been in a position to give the last few weeks, covering Alyssa’s classes and organising the prom, had intentionally put it off until she had the energy for it. He had tried to speak to her about all this during breakfast, however given that Chris struggled to get out of bed any earlier than he explicitly had to, it was nearing ten minutes until classes started, and there wasn’t enough time, Abbee had told him she would be working in the lodge during lunch, and to talk to her then, resulting in the discussion the pair were having now.

Thinking carefully about how he worded this, he paused for a moment before speaking.

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry…”

“I’m going to need you to be a little more specific than that,” Abbee said, partially joking. The partial sincerity of it was that between Chris’ avoidance of discussing their future, and in some case, lied to get out of it, as well as his grudge with Dylan, which until recently had been putting a barrier between Abbee and her best friend, Chris had a number of things from that summer he would be right in apologising for.

“I’m sorry about how things have played out whenever we talk about what happens after summer,” Chris answered. “About how I booked tournaments that meant I couldn’t see you for Christmas or New Years, and signed up for one on your birthday. And how every time you’ve asked how we will make this work when it seems like we’re going in different directions, I’ve just avoided the question, and expected you to be cool with that…”

Abbee was slightly surprised to hear this, at this point having partially given up on her and Chris being able to have this discussion, and figuring if she wanted the relationship to work, she just had to accept that Chris wasn’t going to think that far ahead. She closed her laptop, and looked over at Chris, giving him her full attention.

“And if you are okay with it, I guess I wanted to talk to you about it all…” Chris said, almost sounding embarrassed at how direct, and in a way, vulnerable he was being. “If you still want to talk about this…”

Abbee breathed a sigh of relief, that Chris finally seemed to understand what was going through her head. Deciding not to make Chris do all the work with this conversation, she asked the question that had been plaguing her for weeks at this point.

“Our goals pull us in two different directions, and while we might be able to make it work for a little while, things working out between us long term seem unlikely if nothing changes…” Abbee explained. “It’s one thing if I only see my boyfriend a few times a year, and as much as I’d rather things be different, I can live with that. But what if we want to get married, or something like that? What can we both do to make that work?”

Abbee was thankful when Chris’ gaze didn’t waver at the challenging question, and he actually started speaking, not seeming like he was avoiding anything.

“I’ve been thinking about this, and the way I see it, I have three options,” Chris explained. “The first, is that I accept the fact that to make things work, I might have to compromise on my dreams. Accept the fact that the things I want at this exact moment to be doing in ten years, might not be realistic in the grand scheme of things. Things change, and I might need to accept that I can’t do everything I have dreamt of doing…”

Abbee nodded, understanding what Chris was saying.

“The second option is that I go all in on my goals, and accept the fact that if I truly want to do what I have my sights set on, I may need to give up other things…” Chris said, his voice getting quieter. “And that may be us agreeing that things just aren’t looking like they have a chance of working out, and trying to just be friends, and support each other in whatever we do in that way…”

Abbee felt her heart sink a little at those words, though was thankful when Chris followed that up with another statement.

“But I don’t want to do that…” Chris added, to Abbee’s relief, before continuing. “And that leaves option number three…”

Before he could continue, the door to the lodge burst open, as Dylan hurried into the building, and into the lounge, carrying a locked tablet, and followed by Charlotte and Justin, Charlotte with a menacing grin on her face.

“Do you mind?” Chris asked, his irritation at all three, but directing all of it towards Dylan. “We were having a private talk here!”

“We all live here, and this is a communal space,” Dylan replied irritably in response. “If you want to have a private talk in our lounge, don’t get s**ty when people come in…”

Chris’ temper flared, as he stood to his feet quickly.

“I preferred you when you weren’t a patronising d****ebag,” Chris remarked, as Abbee stood up as well.

“Chris, cut it out,” Charlotte groaned. “If you’d stop stroking your ego, you might actually wanna hear this…”

“We’ll talk later,” Abbee said quietly to Chris, annoyed at how he had handled the intrusion, though wanting to actually have this conversation later, and not have it derailed by them arguing about this. She turned to Dylan, Charlotte and Justin. “What’s going on?”

“We’ll show you the video with Jon in the stadium,” Dylan answered. “He will be training Justin’s group soon, and if we explain it to you here and now, we won’t be able to show him before the session starts…”

“Dylan’s right,” Justin added. “There’s too much to explain now, and not enough time to show Jon and talk this out if we gotta explain it all twice. Come with us…”

The trio left, and Abbee moved to follow them, noticing a bitter look on Chris’ face.

“You’ve been wanting to talk about this for weeks…” Chris said, somewhat disappointed.

“I doubt anything is going to change between now and tonight,” Abbee replied. “Dylan wouldn’t have been so pushy if it wasn’t important, so let’s hear him out, and continue this after…”

She waited for a moment, as Chris sighed, before following her out of the lodge, and catching up to the other three interns as they walked briskly towards the stadium.

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

"I am former Sinnoh Champion, and founder of the College of the North Wind, Camilla Blakely. And alongside the top five students of my college, I have this message for Jon Drake and his Eon Academy. I would like to invite you and your five original students, to come visit the College of the North Wind in Jubilife City, Sinnoh at the end of summer…”

The five interns and Jon stood around the borrowed tablet, where on screen, stood a woman in her early fifties, under a spotlight on what appeared to be a pitch black Pokemon battlefield. Suddenly, on the far left side of the screen, a few metres behind where Camilla stood, another spotlight switched on, revealing a girl in her early twenties, standing in front of what appeared to be a Legendary Pokemon that Justin had never seen before, that was bulky, and seemed to be made of liquid metal.

”I’m Sophie Williams, and I challenge Justin Collins to a battle…”

“Wait, this is happening?” Chris asked, before being promptly shushed by Charlotte. The next light came on, revealing the next trainer. Next to her was a Legendary Pokemon that Charlotte had seen before, though didn’t know much about at all. Zeraora.

”I’m Beth Thomas, and I challenge Charlotte Jones…”

The next trainer, this one standing in the middle of the line, was revealed, and Chris didn’t recognize the large equine Pokemon that stood next to her, seemingly made of ice.

”I’m Natasha King, and I challenge Christopher Kingswood…”

“That Ice Type will make you regret getting so many dragons,” Justin joked, as the next trainer was revealed, this one being a man in his mid twenties, and sitting atop his shoulder was a Shaymin.

”I’m Matt Campbell, and I challenge Abbee Strauss…”

“Victini will love having another crack at a Shaymin…” Jon remarked, as Abbee couldn’t help but grin, wishing she had Victini out of the Pokeball to see this. Finally the trainer on the far right was revealed, Dylan knowing this one was his opponent, and being slightly surprised at the Pokemon next to them. He had heard myths of Cresselia, though knew little fact of it.

”I’m Brad Jenkins, and I challenge Dylan Squier…”

Finally the camera focused on Camilla, who looked rather young for her age, though Jon had little doubt that given the amount of fame and fortune she had amassed, she had work done to cling to her youth.

”And I challenge Jon Drake…” Camilla said, before the loud roar of a Legendary Pokemon erupted in the stadium, and Suicune landed seemingly out of nowhere, behind Camilla and walking forward next to her. ”And to make this challenge interesting, I propose a fifteen-thousand dollar wager, payable to the winning school…”

Jon whistled hearing the amount as Camilla continued.

”We hope you will accept our challenge, and meet us in Jubilife in the last weekend of September…”

The video ended, leaving the group in stunned silence.

“She really likes the theatrics,” Justin commented, breaking the silence.

“Of course. You know this is all glorified advertising right?” Charlotte asked Justin. “We’ve been making news for the last year or two, and she’s trying to cash in on that…”

“And compared to the twenty-five thousand you were paid to be in that Coronet Outdoor and Camping commercial, fifteen thousand spent if her team loses is pretty cheap,” Dylan added.

“So what do we do?” Abbee asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Chris answered. “We accept the challenge…”

“Hold on a minute Chris,” Jon interjected. “She didn’t just challenge you, but everyone here…”

“And?”

“And you can’t speak for them,” Jon answered. “Abbee starts her new job after summer, and Justin probably has to prepare for his next year of university. Trainers don’t have to accept every challenge that comes their way, and they challenged all of us.”

Jon looked around at the five trainers who stood in front of him expectantly.

“We either do this together, or not at all,” Jon said. “Chris, I take it you’re in…”

“Hell yeah…”

Jon nodded, and turned to Charlotte.

“What about you?” he asked. Charlotte laughed at the very question.

“I live in Jubilife, so it’s a no brainer for me,” Charlotte answered. “I don’t think I could show my face back there if I didn’t accept the challenge.”

Jon grinned at Charlotte’s reasoning, though knew she was just as competitive as Chris, and wouldn’t let him accept the challenge while she rejected it. He looked towards Justin.

“Justin?”

Justin thought it over quickly.

“I think I can slot this in between finishing here, and classes starting in October…” Justin said. “I don’t wanna be the one to make us turn this down…”

“I’m in too…” Abbee remarked. “I’m going to be holding back in battles at the gym until next summer. I want one last one where I can go all out!”

“Damn right!” Chris shouted enthusiastically, leaving Jon looking towards Dylan. He didn’t have to say anything, Dylan knowing he was next.

“I don’t have a Legendary Pokemon, so I’m going to be at a disadvantage,” Dylan said, before looking to Jon. “You have a stake in this bigger than us. If we lose this challenge, the Academy’s reputation may suffer for it. So I’m leaving it up to you. Do you trust me to compete at a disadvantage?”

“With my life,” Jon replied instantly and earnestly, earning a shocked look from those around, even Chris. “You aren’t that same kid who lost his first battle here. You now battle best when the odds are stacked against you. So if you’re willing to try, I want you to give this your all…”

Dylan nodded, appreciating Jon’s praise. However he raised the question.

“My point remains. You have a bigger stake in this than us,” Dylan asked. “Do you want to accept Camilla’s challenge…”

“Dylan makes a good point…” Justin said, before speaking a little too quickly without thinking. “I mean, Camilla is a former champion, and trained at least a dozen Elite Four members. Charlotte said at the Firehouse even Jon would struggle against her…”

Justin realised what he had said, as Jon glanced over at Charlotte, who seemed a little stunned at Justin mentioning that in front of Jon.

“Ye of little faith?” Jon asked jokingly, as Charlotte rolled her eyes.

“Do you think you can take her?” Charlotte asked. “She was the Sinnoh Champion when your grandpa was giving you your first lessons. And since then, has trained the current champion and a fair few Elite Four…”

“I think I’m willing to give it a try,” Jon remarked. “And I think I may just surprise her…”

“How so?” Charlotte asked, though was surprised when Chris had the answer.

“How many people outside of this room have seen Jon actually battle at a hundred percent?” Chris asked, earning a nod from Jon. “Like, he was practically unknown before he beat Cassandra Silvers, and seeing as that was, like, her second match without cheating, I doubt Jon broke much of a sweat…”

Chris looked to Jon for confirmation, and Jon merely shrugged, a grin across his face, providing Chris with little evidence to back up his point.

“There’s barely anything online of Jon’s own battles before the S.S. Wishmaker. Really, the biggest indicator to the outside world of what he is capable of, is what people have seen and heard of us…” Chris continued. “And what was it he said to us when he gave us the Mega Stones?”

“Our best advantage is being underestimated…” Dylan answered, surprising everyone that he was willing to answer Chris’ question.

“Really, the only battle that shows what you can really do, that is online, is when you beat Steven in the live-stream…” Chris said to Jon. “I think Camilla might just be underestimating you. And that might be all you need to turn this around…”

Jon grinned, before turning to Charlotte, and gesturing at Chris.

“Why don’t you have this much faith in me?” Jon asked, patronisingly, as Charlotte groaned.

“So we’re all in?” Justin asked. Jon nodded.

“Everyone gather round,” Jon instructed. “If you haven’t done your hair properly this morning, that’s tough luck because we’re gonna be on camera…”

Jon tilted the tablet, so the front facing camera was pointing towards himself, and the five interns, before opening the camera app and pressing record.

“Hey Camilla,” Jon said enthusiastically to the camera. “I apologise for the lack of theatrics, but I figured you’d want to hear from us sooner rather than later…”

It took a lot of effort for the interns to not laugh at the subtle dig towards the video that Camilla had made to challenge them, as Jon continued.

“We accept your challenge on one condition,” Jon explained. “We don’t need your money, and are sure you don’t need ours. So let's say the loser donates that money instead to the charity of the winner's choice. That way, everyone wins…”

The tactic was smart. Even if the Eon Academy lost the challenge, they would not lose too much face, with Jon being the one to propose such a charitable idea.

“If this term is acceptable to you, we will begin training immediately, and see you at the College of the North Wind at the end of summer…”

Jon finished the recording, before sending it to his own phone, knowing the tablet didn’t belong to Dylan.

“I’ll get this uploaded, and start playing the media to get all the publicity we can out of this…” Jon remarked. “Training starts at 3pm today…”

“Training?” Chris asked.

“You heard what I told Camilla. Training starts immediately,” Jon explained, before turning to Abbee and Dylan. “The day before your group has training with me, you guys will train with me after group training is over. So Abbee and Dylan, since your groups are training with me tomorrow afternoon, you two will train with me at three and four this afternoon respectively. Tomorrow will be Chris and Charlotte, and so forth…”

“Just like old times,” Abbee remarked, remembering the individual training they did in their first year.

“What about the students?” Dylan asked, his mind struggling to not think about work. “Surely this will have some sort of side effect, having an entire group's leader taken away for an hour, twice a day?”

“Good point,” Jon remarked, taking a moment to think it over. “We will make your training sessions open to the students to watch. It’s not like you will be practising using Mega Evolution or anything that they can’t see…”

“But what if they film something and post it online?” Justin asked, well aware of how the internet could be a royal pain in the a**. “Give away what we have planned…”

“All phones will be placed in a box on entry, so there is no recording of anything,” Jon remarked. “Besides, this is optional, for those who are a little more studious and wanting to get everything they can out of this summer. So I think you will find they won’t be jeopardising the opportunity to sit in on and learn from this…”

Before any other questions or concerns could be raised, the sound of voices from the foyer outside the stadium began to filter through, showing they were out of time.

“Any other concerns can be addressed during extra training,” Jon remarked. “For now, get ready to train harder than ever…”

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

Whilst Justin’s group had their session with Jon before Chris’, leaving both him and Abbee free, as soon as Abbee left the stadium, she was approached by two very enthusiastic fourteen year old girls who had both signed up to help with decoration for the prom, and whilst Abbee did want to continue her conversation with Chris, she didn’t want to be worried about Chris needing to get to training in time, or discourage the two students who had put in a heap of extra time and effort to come up with ideas for the prom. She quickly and quietly told Chris they would talk after dinner, before following the two students to the hall, where they began describing what they wanted to do in terms of decoration.

Once Justin’s team finished their hour, it was time for Chris’ team, and once their hour was over, Abbee was scheduled to have her first individual training session with Jon in two years, though had a dozen spectators watching. During this session, Jon spent most of the time focusing on tactics that revolved around Abbee’s non-legendary Pokemon, given her slight dependence on Victini. Finally, when her hour had finished, Dylan had begun training with Jon, focusing on building up Dylan’s offensive capabilities, to bring them to the same level as his defensive skills. It was an hour after dinner, when Abbee and Chris found themselves walking along the fence line of the property, given the fair point Dylan had made about how the lodge was communal for all interns, and not the best place for a private conversation. Whilst the fence line of the property was technically more public, the property was large, and as it got darker, they were less likely to be interrupted.

There was an awkward silence, as neither really knew how to press resume on their conversation that had been interrupted that afternoon.

“You never told me the third option,” Abbee said, diving right into it. Chris nodded.

“The third option is the one I want to take…” Chris answered. “But I can’t take it if you’re not on board with it…”

Abbee remained silent, wanting to hear what he was thinking, and Chris continued.

“The third option is the one I was trying to take by avoiding this conversation,” Chris continued. “I don’t slow down on following my dreams, and any potential bumps in the road, we cross when we get there…”

Abbee couldn’t help but sigh as Chris continued, seeming not to notice.

“I’ve dreamt ever since I was a kid of travelling the world, competing and being the best I can be. Of becoming a legend in my own right. And I know what I need to do if I want to have a chance of making that a reality, which is why I’ve been so hell bent on competing…” Chris explained. “But I love you, and as much as I want to compete, and become a living legend, I want to be with you…”

Abbee stopped walking, focusing on what Chris was saying, and feeling more scared for their future with every word.

“And honestly, the reason I’ve been avoiding the conversation altogether, is because I feel like us talking about this, is just us throwing in the towel on having both, when we haven’t even reached the point of needing to consider that yet…” Chris continued. “So I guess what I am asking is that we try and make things work the way they are, and handle any speed bumps when we actually get to them…”

Chris looked towards Abbee, who was getting harder to see, being backlit by the setting sun behind her, and wasn’t speaking.

“Abbee?”

Abbee sighed, and looked at her feet, kicking the ground beneath them.

“Abbee…” Chris said again. “Can you speak to me?”

“Chris,” Abbee began, though wishing she could be anywhere but there. “I understand what you’re saying, really…”

Chris went silent, as he realised that Abbee wasn’t on board.

“I get that you want us to cross this bridge when we get there, but that doesn’t change the fact that if we go ahead the way we both individually plan to, without anything changing, the harder it will be to change things, and realistically, we won’t last…” Abbee said. “If I’m wanting to settle down and actually have a home, and you will settle for nothing less than to travel and compete all over the world, and both of us aren’t willing to give a little to make this work, then there is no way that we are going to last…”

“Abbee,” Chris said, though she didn’t let him finish.

“And honestly, if we are in this relationship, with one, or both of us reasonably expecting it to fail, chances are it will,” Abbee said, as she began to choke up, her eyes welling with tears. “And if we aren’t in this relationship for the point of it actually working out long term, hell, I’ll say it, getting married, and being together forever, then we are just together for the sake of breaking up, and the longer it takes to get there, the more it will hurt for both of us…”

“What are you saying, Abbee?” Chris asked, though deep down, he knew the answer.

“I don’t want to get in the way of your dreams. You’ve made it clear how important they are to you, and I’d hate myself if we were old and retired, and you felt like you settled for less than you wanted from life to be with me…” Abbee answered. “I want you to achieve everything you aspire to. But at the same time, I want to know that the person I am with, could be the person I spend the rest of my life with. And short of me getting in the way of what you want to feel that way, I don’t know how we can make this work…”

“Are you breaking up with me?” Chris asked, his own voice breaking a little having asked the question.

“This isn’t what I wanted, really…” Abbee tried to justify. “But I can’t let this go on, and pretend everything is okay, when really I believe it’s just going to blow up in our faces, even worse…”

“Are you breaking up with me?” Chris asked again, enunciating his words, however Abbee remained silent, answering simply with a nod.

“I’m sorry,” Abbee said. “Really…”

Before Chris could respond, Abbee turned away, and walked towards the lodge, leaving Chris in silence, to try and come to terms with what had just happened…

[[Desolate Divine]]

This episode was shorter than expected, and I had more free time this weekend than expected. At this rate, I may have Season 3 finished before the commissions arrive. RIP. But glad to be making progress.

[Neo Emolga]

All caught up again!

And…

Spoiler:

Dang, you keep these episodes ending on very spicy notes!

Without a doubt, Shotgun and his band of poacher hooligans are idiots. I mean I could slightly understand taking a swing at Jon and trying to nab his legendaries and those of the interns the first time they tried it, but trying yet again even after the captain’s head got turned into a brainy jigsaw puzzle was just asking for it. And to interrupt a nice beer gathering no less! Clearly unacceptable!

Jack’s funeral was a pretty somber moment. Again, these events are definitely powerful and unexpected, much like the way they hit in real life when everything seems fine and in this case, things were looking up with the announcement of the prom party. I can see why Jon is prone to punching jaws and walls in. The amount of stress this guy soaks in is definitely peaking constantly.

The challenge from the College of the North Wind is definitely interesting. You’ve got an academy rivalry going now and I’m curious to see what becomes of it. Camillia definitely seems really haughty about the whole proposition, and I’m hoping it nips her in the butt. Justin was right, that definitely was overdoing it in the theatrics! xD

Also, I’m not surprised to see Abbee break up with Chris. Chris, I think, wanted to have his cake and eat it too even though it just wasn’t possible. Given, being stuck in a situation like that is very hard to choose, but you’ve got to choose or the decision will be made for you, and usually not in the way you’re expecting. I definitely can’t blame Abbee for making the call to break up with him, though.

Glad to have caught up again, and I’m definitely looking forward to the events of Spiritwater being captured in this great story! I mentioned a lot of positive points earlier, but one I didn’t quite touch base on and it definitely comes out in full swing here is how human these characters are. I’ve read many stories and fan fictions and they don’t compare to the amount of emotions, tension, and critical life decisions these characters deal with and need to reflect upon when it comes to the present and the future. You can sense their happiness, their anger, their frustration, and their sadness. And you do an awesome job capturing those fine details and really making each of these characters feel like real people and remind us of people we know in real life that behave the same way and have had to deal with similar issues.

Great work on another nice new batch of episodes!

[[Desolate Divine]]

Spoiler:

Dang, you keep these episodes ending on very spicy notes!

Without a doubt, Shotgun and his band of poacher hooligans are idiots. I mean I could slightly understand taking a swing at Jon and trying to nab his legendaries and those of the interns the first time they tried it, but trying yet again even after the captain’s head got turned into a brainy jigsaw puzzle was just asking for it. And to interrupt a nice beer gathering no less! Clearly unacceptable!

Yeah, Shotgun is far from the brightest. He relies very heavily on his namesake and without it, he is pretty useless. Even with it, the element of surprise was what gave him an edge during their last encounter. Honestly, Shotgun being a bumbling idiot who doesn't understand how much of an idiot he is, is largely to do two things. Firstly, to show just how much of a fluke it was they got the better of Jon as easily as they did last time, and secondly, to put what is coming and the danger that will be present in season 4 and 5 into perspective. I will give the hint now, I don't plan on there being any more firearms used by antagonists. They will be using other assets and will be much more terrifying.

Jack’s funeral was a pretty somber moment. Again, these events are definitely powerful and unexpected, much like the way they hit in real life when everything seems fine and in this case, things were looking up with the announcement of the prom party. I can see why Jon is prone to punching jaws and walls in. The amount of stress this guy soaks in is definitely peaking constantly.

Funnily enough, a lot of my freelance work as an audio engineer is working at funerals. As such I have been to more funerals in my life than birthday parties. So I'm curious to know whether that played heavily into how I wrote them. The church where the service was set was basically the church I work out of, even down to the stuffiness from previous hot days and bad cooling. But one day Jon will get a break. When I'm done with him XD

The challenge from the College of the North Wind is definitely interesting. You’ve got an academy rivalry going now and I’m curious to see what becomes of it. Camillia definitely seems really haughty about the whole proposition, and I’m hoping it nips her in the butt. Justin was right, that definitely was overdoing it in the theatrics! xD

Very haughty indeed, however, she has every right to be. In terms of competitive battles, this will be the hardest Jon and his interns have ever faced. Honestly, I reckon that by the time these battles are over, the interns will be at Jon's level when he was on the S.S. Wishmaker, and Jon will be at a new height, and still struggling. It's a difficult balance having a character who is exceptional enough that it can drive the story and shift dynamics in the world, but not too strong that they are never challenged. There has been lots of change in the world the last few years stemming from Jon and his skill. Now it's time for him to be pushed to his limit and either rise or fall.

Also, I’m not surprised to see Abbee break up with Chris. Chris, I think, wanted to have his cake and eat it too even though it just wasn’t possible. Given, being stuck in a situation like that is very hard to choose, but you’ve got to choose or the decision will be made for you, and usually not in the way you’re expecting. I definitely can’t blame Abbee for making the call to break up with him, though.

As you may have guessed, this is going to be the start of a bit of a fall for Chris, and will hopefully create some interesting dynamics and parallels, as well as room for growth in just about all characters, which should ripple across through Seasons 4 and 5 as well. It has been tricky writing Chris recently, giving him enough less favourable moments to show he is slipping down a darker path, but not too much, that the reader can't empathize with him. This breakup with Abbee is actually a blessing because it gives me a little more wriggle room to send him down a darker path while keeping him empathizable.

Glad to have caught up again, and I’m definitely looking forward to the events of Spiritwater being captured in this great story! I mentioned a lot of positive points earlier, but one I didn’t quite touch base on and it definitely comes out in full swing here is how human these characters are. I’ve read many stories and fan fictions and they don’t compare to the amount of emotions, tension, and critical life decisions these characters deal with and need to reflect upon when it comes to the present and the future. You can sense their happiness, their anger, their frustration, and their sadness. And you do an awesome job capturing those fine details and really making each of these characters feel like real people and remind us of people we know in real life that behave the same way and have had to deal with similar issues.

Great work on another nice new batch of episodes!

I am so pumped to write Spiritwater. Have a bunch of little flavoursome additions that will take the events that happened in the RP and tie them together a little nicer, as well as set up some good action and resolution that we didn't get to see in completion. I'm so keen.

It's funny, I was talking to Xanthe about the characters a few weeks ago. I sent her the scene when Chris invites Isabelle to come to the beach with them after, and one of the things she praised was how well the characters react to and bounce off one another. I hadn't even considered it. This far in, it is just natural for me to understand how they think and react to things around them, and by extension eachother. So I'm glad to see that is shining through.

Glad you're enjoying it! Uni had started back so my writing time has dropped significantly but I have most of Season 3 prepared in detail and ready to just write.

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 9: Timing

Spoiler:

“Aeroblast, Lugia!”

“Protect!”

Blaziken raised a Protect barrier, blocking the powerful Flying Type attack that was the signature move of the Legendary Pokemon it faced, preventing all damage, as Chris scowled. Despite his Blaziken having easily blocked a potentially match ending attack, Jon was less than impressed.

It was Wednesday afternoon, Jon having finished his group training with the two groups scheduled for that afternoon, and now training individually with Chris, in the lead-up to the challenge issued by the College of the North Wind, and accepted by the Eon Academy. Jon and his five interns had been challenged by Camilla Blakely, the founder of the College of the North Wind, and her top five students. The difference however was that whilst the Eon Academy ran a summer program, with most of the students aged thirteen to eighteen, the College of the North Wind ran during the school year, roughly three times as long, and taught university aged students. Straight off the mark, the Eon Academy representatives were disadvantaged, with the exception of Jon in that respect, however Camilla herself was the former Sinnoh Champion and had been competing since before Jon was born, disadvantaging Jon just as much, if not more, than his students.

In response to accepting the challenge, the agreement was made that they would do extra training, to be up to the task of beating this new opponent. And whilst this worked well in theory, this plan hadn’t accounted for Abbee breaking up with Chris that evening, something Jon had heard through the Academy grapevine, and the emotional effect that was having on them, Chris in particular. Jon was thankful that even though these training sessions were open invite, even the most studious of the students grew bored of watching, and none had shown up to spectate, because Chris was battling far from his best, and Jon needed to pull him up on that.

“Hold it,” Jon called out, raising a hand in case Chris didn’t hear him over the battle. Blaziken relaxed near instantly, whilst Chris took a moment to calm Lugia, the young and still growing Legendary Pokemon a little overexcited.

“Why?” Chris asked. “What’s wrong?”

“In this matchup between Lugia and Blaziken, you’ve used Aeroblast four times, and not one of them has hit,” Jon remarked, his tone slightly disappointed. “I haven’t seen your Pokemon use any move in these sessions that isn’t a direct attack. I’ve trained you to be better than that…”

“Well every time I come up with some sort of strategy, you see through it, and it fails,” Chris answered, trying to hide the embarrassment. “It was the same when I was battling Charlotte last summer, remember? Her and I couldn’t get the upper hand on the other, so we’d focus on hitting harder and faster-”

“That’s not true,” Jon interjected. “Back then, there was still a degree of strategy to your attacks. Now your attacks are impulsive and too aggressive. Don’t you remember how your student beat you last summer?”

Chris remained silent, not having been lectured like this since his first summer at the Academy.

“You also told them that when I battle like this, it lures my opponent to do the same-”

“Chris, don’t bulls**t me. A lesser trainer sure, but I know you’re smart enough to not hedge your bets on these guys doing the same,” Jon replied, his tone firm, but not unfriendly. “I’m trying to help you here. I’d rather you just say you hadn’t noticed, and that you’ll be a bit less impulsive and more tactical, so we could get back to training, than try and bluff your way out…”

Chris sighed, knowing Jon was right, however couldn’t bring himself to admit that. He was a third year Eon Academy student. One of the interns, that Jon had said numerous times was near his own level, and the trainer of a Legendary Pokemon. To be scolded for such a beginner mistake hurt his pride.

“Jon, I’m up against a Legendary Ice Type Pokemon with half my team being dragons!” Chris argued. “Not only that, but Garchomp and Dragonite, two of my heaviest hitters, have secondary weaknesses to it as well. Lugia is disadvantaged against Glastrier as well!”

“And?” Jon asked, noting Chris had done his research on the Legendary Pokemon, learning its name.

“And if I waste half my opportunities to hit it hard building up to some big play that may not even work, then I’m screwed,” Chris pleaded. “Glastrier is the biggest threat, and I’m better off doing whatever I can to put it out of action early.”

“Chris, I know you're smart enough to not really believe that,” Jon answered, his patience starting to wear thin. “You’ve had Lugia, hammering away against my Blaziken, and unable to knock it out. If that tactic isn’t working against my Blaziken with one type disadvantaged and the other double disadvantaged, why will it work when the odds are stacked against you?”

Jon raised a valid point, Chris knew. However…

“Blaziken still hasn’t landed a hit on Lugia either…”

Jon rolled his eyes, before looking towards Blaziken.

“Demonstrate for us…”

With a nod, Blaziken darted to the side, faster than Chris, Lugia or Jon could comprehend, before launching a Shadow Claw attack on Lugia’s flank, stopping it a matter of inches from striking Lugia. Lugia spun around, though before it could respond, Blaziken was gone, having moved to Lugia’s blindspot again to land a second theoretical hit. By the time Jon called Blaziken to stop, the Pokemon had landed five theoretical hits, well and truly enough to take down the powerful Legendary Pokemon.

“Blaziken had been building speed the entire time. If I weren’t giving you the opportunity to see on your own that this hit first, ask questions later tactic isn’t working, Lugia would be knocked out,” Jon explained. “Lugia is strong, sure, but it’s bulkier than it is strong. You’d have beat Blaziken early by using Future Sight, even if it means taking a hit, then stalling with Protect and Recover until Future Sight hit Blaziken…”

Chris’ stomach sank hearing this tactic. It was so simple, and would have beaten Blaziken, who knew next to no moves that would reduce Lugia’s chances of landing an attack. The only way to spare Blaziken, which would have fallen to a single hit, would have been for Jon to switch out another Pokemon, which would ruin Blaziken’s momentum, which Jon relied on, and if Blaziken were his final Pokemon, sparing it would not have been possible.

“Look, as soon as these battles in Sinnoh are over, I start competing professionally, which means that this challenge is effectively the prequel to my own competitive career,” Chris said. “If I lose this battle, I will have to work twice as hard afterwards to get anywhere, and I’m going into this battle with a pretty big disadvantage…”

“Look, Chris, I think you might be overthinking this a bit,” Jon tried to offer. “This match isn’t anything important. It’s a spectacle. Free advertising for the College of the North Wind, that we decided to cash in on. Don’t let it get you throwing out all the progress you’ve made the last three years. Besides, Dylan is at a worse disadvantage than you are and isn’t letting it get to him this way-”

“Well unlike him, maybe I actually give a s**t about battling!” Chris snapped. He hadn’t intended to, however being put in the same category as Dylan, but with Dylan being on top, had stung. “All this tricky s**t tactics might work for you and him! But it isn’t for me!”

There was an awkward silence in the stadium, as Jon’s brow furrowed at Chris’ outburst. Jon could handle Chris needing a bit of extra convincing of what Jon was trying to teach him. But disrespecting Dylan like that, and belittling the style of battling that Jon taught, that he was taught himself by Jack, was more than Jon was willing to take lying down. He called Blaziken back to his Pokeball.

“Let your Pokemon rest, and be here tonight at nine, ready to battle. Bring your keystone,” Jon said, his tone darkening and making it abundantly clear to Chris that it was in his best interest not to argue with him. “Have I made myself clear?”

Chris, having acted mostly on his perpetually damaged pride, knew this wasn’t the time to argue with Jon.

“Have I made myself clear?” Jon asked again, enunciating the words.

“Clear,” Chris muttered. “I’ll see you at nine…”

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

“I still can’t believe you did that…” Justin said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Did you not think it might end badly?”

“I was worried about it the entire time…” Charlotte replied. “But we had no choice. We couldn’t keep using Southern Island…”

The pair stood outside the main hall, in a very intentional position, where they could see and hear through the open windows of the main building, whilst also being able to keep an eye on the property in general. Generally speaking, Jon liked having a few interns roaming the property at any given time when students had free reign. Given the fact that Chris was training with Jon at the moment, and Abbee and Dylan were in the lodge, working on stuff for the prom, the pair had volunteered to keep an eye out. They’d spend a few more minutes here, before walking elsewhere to make sure everything was running smoothly. As they walked, they talked quietly about the fact that the weekend before, Jon and Charlotte had trained Deoxys in the Eon Academy stadium, instead of taking the potentially deadly Pokemon off site to Southern Island.

“Surely Latios could have just patrolled?” Justin asked, as Charlotte kicked herself. She had found out of Rayquaza being illegally in Jon’s possession most recently, and struggled not to take for granted the fact that Justin still wasn’t aware, not due to any untrustworthiness, but simply no need for him to know.

“It’s more the fact that Southern Island is Latios’ original home, and if there are any Latias in Hoenn, them too,” Charlotte bluffed. “Jon doesn’t want to risk us being followed by someone who can’t mind their own business, now that word got out we were followed somewhere and attacked. He figures if we go there again before people forget about the attack, someone else may find Southern Island, and it may not be safe for any Latios or Latias to live there…”

“Yeah, that makes sense…” Justin replied. “Kind of sad people are that obtrusive that we actually have to worry about this…”

Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief Justin had bought her improvised explanation, and made a mental note to tell Jon and the other interns, so that they didn’t contradict her if Justin mentioned it later. Deep down, she wished Jon would just tell Justin, feeling a little guilty that Justin was the only one not aware, however, if the secret was found out by the wrong people, Jon would be declared an enemy of the state, and having nearly given it away herself, Charlotte understood the responsibility of having that knowledge, and the risk of accidentally saying the wrong thing…

“It’s exhausting though,” Charlotte continued, attempting to draw the conversation away from Southern Island. “Because we don’t want the students to know we’re training Deoxys here, I’ve been sleeping from nine ‘til midnight, waking up, and training with Jon and Deoxys until four in the morning, and then getting back to sleep until seven…”

“Goddamn, how are you still standing?” Justin asked, knowing that Charlotte likely did this Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

“Caffeine…” Charlotte retorted with a grin. “Ungodly amounts of caffeine…”

“Do you think you’ll be able to use Deoxys against the College of the North Wind?” Justin asked. Charlotte’s brow furrowed as she considered it, having had this thought herself since the challenge was issued, and it was made clear how tough their opponent would be. Whilst Dylan had made comments about being disadvantaged not having his own Legendary Pokemon, it had slipped his mind that Charlotte was in the same position, having a Legendary Pokemon herself, that was potentially too dangerous to battle, and not worth hedging bets on.

“It’s hard to say…” Charlotte replied. “Deoxys was completely fine during the battle on Southern Island against those f**kwit poachers…”

Justin couldn’t help but laugh at Charlotte’s damning take on the assailants, that she and Jon had both described as equally likely to blow their own heads off with the guns they carried, given how stupid they had acted…

“But at the same time, even though Deoxys took on eight Pokemon trying to do more than just knock it out, I was battling better than them when I was twelve…” Charlotte explained. “Deoxys handled the pressure of sheer numbers, no sweat. But against a well trained Pokemon, being instructed by someone with more than three brain cells…”

“It’s hard to say…” Justin agreed. Charlotte nodded, however had more to add.

“At the same time, there will always be a hypothetical or potential situation that we aren’t yet familiar with,” Charlotte explained. “I think at some point, I need to take a chance on Deoxys, and against a trainer with their own Legendary Pokemon, in a room with ten other Legendary Pokemon to intervene if things go bad, it may be the best bet to really see where Deoxys is at…”

“Ten other legendary Pokemon?” Justin asked, slightly confused. “You mean nine? Dylan doesn’t have one?”

Charlotte swore internally, having counted Rayquaza in her statement, after nearly blowing the secret nearly five minutes earlier. She began wondering if she should track down a Psychic Pokemon strong enough to wipe part of her memory…

“Sorry, it’s the lack of sleep,” Charlotte said, faking a yawn. “I think I need to have an early night…”

“Nobody would hold it against you,” Justin agreed, before considering another thought. “How do you think we’ll go? Against the College? You’ve lived in Jubilife since you were born, and I’ve spent the last year there, so we’ve both seen a bit of the College…”

“And know just how tough they are?” Charlotte asked, though her tone wasn’t enthusiastic. Justin nodded.

“Between us, I actually went to one of their open days, and saw some of the students battling,” Justin remared. “And it was shocking…”

“Yeah, I’ve seen a bit,” Charlotte remarked. “Even without Legendary Pokemon, they’re tough. So it’s not going to be easy.”

“No s**t,” Justin retorted. “But how do you think we will do?”

“I honestly think you’ve got the best bet,” Charlotte answered, earning a dumbfounded look from Justin. “I’m not kidding…”

“But you and Chris have always been better battlers than me…”

“As much as we shouldn’t be too focused on it, Legendary Pokemon could decide the battles,” Charlotte said. “And of all of us with Legendary Pokemon, with the exception of Jon, you have the best bet on what Regieleki is capable of, and how best to use it in battle.”

“Really?”

“Abbee relies a little too much on Victini’s initiative during battle, and Victini spent a few years being carried with the cheating, so is only really starting to reach his stride and push himself harder,” Charlotte explained. “Lugia is still young, and Chris is great with Dragon Types, but is a little too focused on them, and is still figuring out what Lugia is capable of, and how best to use it in battle. And I can’t even use Deoxys without worrying it will level a building on us if the battle becomes too much…”

“I’m not convinced Regieleki and I have the best odds, but will take your word for it,” Justin joked. “But what about everyone else?”

“I can’t speak for myself, since you guys probably see more than I do, but I think that Dylan is the hardest to predict. He is disadvantaged regardless, but he is also the most likely to come up with some completely out of left field play to take the win from under his opponents nose,” Charlotte replied. “Abbee and Chris are harder to read. Neither of them are themselves at the moment…”

Justin sighed. Given Chris’ reluctance to take definitive action, he sadly wasn’t overly surprised when Abbee broke up with him.

“Chris has been hyper-focused on this challenge since, and has spent most of his free time training,” Justin remarked. “I’ve tried to get him to take a break and do something fun, but his mind is made up…”

“Abbee isn’t much better,” Charlotte retorted. “She’s been spending all her free time with Dylan, working on the prom…”

Justin grimaced hearing this, not out of any ill will towards Dylan, but more so the potential for more conflict. Charlotte gave him a look, having noticed the change.

“I just hope that Dylan spending so much time with her doesn’t cause Chris to start acting out again like he was,” Justin explained, answering Charlotte’s unasked question. “I actually thought that this challenge might get them talking again, since they actually acknowledged each other when we were deciding whether or not to accept it. But now…”

“Dylan won’t cause Chris to do anything,” Charlotte said sternly. “If Chris wants to act out, that is his decision…”

“You know I didn’t mean it that way,” Justin berated. “But you know what I mean?”

Charlotte sighed.

“Yeah, I do,” Charlotte answered. “But they’ve both got their own s**t going on, and if they’re helping each other deal with it, that’s a win in my book, and Chris hasn’t got a leg to stand on if he has a problem with it…”

The pair stopped walking, Charlotte realising that they were near the stadium. Checking her watch, and seeing her session was due to start in twenty minutes, she spoke.

“I might catch the end of Chris’ session,” Charlotte remarked. “Seems pretty quiet, so I think you can manage without me.”

Justin nodded, before turning back towards the main hall.

“I’ll see you at dinner.”

Charlotte made her way towards the stadium, and as she walked through the sliding glass doors into the foyer, was surprised to see Chris walking towards her, heading for the door.

“Don’t you have until four?” Charlotte asked, double checking the time on her phone, noting it was the same as her watch before.

“Tell that to ’My Way Or The Highway’ in there,” Chris answered, angrily, before swearing under his breath. Before Charlotte could answer, he walked out the door, leaving her wondering what had just happened. She turned towards the entrance to the stadium, quickening her pace, where she found Jon, looking over his Pokeballs and putting three aside.

“What’s going on?” Charlotte asked, her tone a little more confrontational than she had intended. Jon looked over at her, and seeing that her expression was more one of concern than the irritation her tone insinuated, gave her the benefit of the doubt.

“Chris refused to take on board what I was saying, and kept arguing with me. Ended up having a go at me, and disrespecting the way I battle,” Jon answered. “I told him to let his Pokemon rest, and meet me here to battle tonight at nine…”

Charlotte groaned. Whilst she wouldn’t have put it past Chris to do this before spending a reasonable amount of time with him at the Academy, she thought he had grown past that. She corrected herself. He had… Unfortunately, his feelings about how things ended with Abbee were causing him to regress.

“He was battling impulsively,” Jon continued. “Next to no strategy, and just hitting with whatever type had an advantage. When I pointed it out, he refused to listen. So I’ll make it clear to him tonight just how far that is going to get him against the College of the North Wind…”

“I agree, he needs to understand that, and he is acting like an idiot,” Charlotte began. “But is beating him senseless a good idea?”

Jon smirked slightly, as Charlotte felt herself flushing red with a slight sense of embarrassment.

“Justin and I are just worried about him,” Charlotte answered. “Abbee and Dylan are keeping each other company, and Abbee seems to be doing okay. But Chris is only really focused on this challenge, and seems to be taking backwards steps…”

“Honestly, it’s hard to say,” Jon explained. “You all need different things to help you guys move forward and grow. That’s something I had to learn pretty quickly during the first summer. What Chris needs is tough love…”

Charlotte understood what Jon was saying, remembering all of their rises and falls during the first summer at the Eon Academy, her own included. She knew that if Jon had responded to her Luxray being injured, or Justin’s seeming lack of concern for his and everyone else’s time, in the same way Jon was handling Chris’ rebellion now, it would have been detrimental for both of them. Additionally, if he had handled Chris’ attitude in the first summer the same way he approached her after Luxray’s injury, he would have had very limited success.

“The tricky thing is that even though this is the best way to handle Chris, it could go either way,” Jon lamented. “I want what’s best for Chris, but he’s an angry, embarrassed seventeen year old who just got dumped by his first girlfriend, and chances are, he just needs time, which we don’t have an excess of at this point…”

Charlotte was reluctant to agree with Jon, but his assessment was accurate, surprising her a little at how well he seemed to know how each of them ticked.

“Enough of that,” Jon answered. “I’ve set aside three Pokemon for my battle with Chris tonight, and I have three Pokemon left to train with you. Let’s make the most of the extra fifteen minutes.”

Charlotte nodded, bringing Luxray’s Pokeball to hand.

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

“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to…”

Abbee sat with her laptop in front of her, plans for the prom on her screen, though not being the recipient of her attention since Dylan sat opposite her in the lounge of the intern’s lodge, a white envelope that looked a little worse for wear, in his hands. Dylan had mentioned he was going to open it, however, when a few minutes has passed, and he seemed no closer, Abbee had spoken up. Victini sat on the coffee table, with a bowl of ice-cream in front of him that seemed comically large given his small stature, watching with interest.

“I do want to open it, really,” Dylan said. “This is my dad in here, and if he is the sort of person I actually want to spend time with, every day I put it off is another I might not get to spend with him…”

Abbee nodded, sombrely, having understood just how quickly things can change, and how important it was to make the most of time with family more than anyone else there.

“And if nothing else, I want to know if I’m safe from this disorder or not…” Dylan answered. “And I know I could just get tested, and be done with it but…”

“But deep down, you want to know who your dad is, and this allows you to not come across as invested if he lets you down…”

“Exactly,” Dylan answered, both thankful that Abbee understood him as well as she did, and a little terrified at how spot on she was with her assessment. He looked over at Victini, who had consumed a concerning amount of ice-cream since last time he had looked over. “You aren’t poking around in my head and telling her are you?”

”And risk missing out on savouring this ice-cream?” Victini replied. ”You humans aren’t as interesting as you let yourselves believe…”

“Well I know that’s bulls**t, considering how often I need to tell you to respect their privacy,” Abbee joked, as Victini grinned, not having an argument for that, and resumed eating his ice-cream. Dylan however, having brought the Mythical Pokemon into the conversation, was curious.

“What do you think of all this?” Dylan asked Victini, taking the Pokemon by surprise. Dylan didn’t talk to Victini too much normally, however Dylan didn’t talk too much in general normally. At first, it was only Abbee he really felt comfortable around, eventually growing the same with Jon, Alyssa and Steven after the first summer at the Academy, and given the hell the they went through since last summer, eventually he felt the same way with Justin, Charlotte and Chris, though the latter eventually burning that bridge.

Victini looked at Dylan slightly puzzled for a moment, before putting the spoon in the bowl, making sure the blade of it dug into the pile of ice cream so it wouldn’t slip and dirty the handle.

”It’s hard for me to say, because I grew up largely alone,” Victini answered. ”You remember what I said about Legendary Pokemon, and how Lugia’s mother died back at the Whirl Islands?”

Dylan nodded. Victini had told them, after swearing them to secrecy, that for Legendary Pokemon, reproduction took a physical, often fatal toll on both parents. Whilst the only logical reason was to keep balance in the ecosystem, preventing too many of a given species of powerful Pokemon from existing in one place at the same time, it was largely the reason that Legendary Pokemon were so incredibly rare.

”I presume my parents died before I was born. I hatched in Unova, and was alone. I spent my early years with other wild Pokemon, but usually it was not for long, since being a Mythical Pokemon, I was targeted by humans, and other Pokemon didn’t want to risk being captured by sticking with me,” Victini explained. ”I eventually met other Legendary Pokemon, and learnt more of who I was, and why I was alone…”

Dylan was surprised the usually chipper and mischievous Pokemon was sharing this much of his own past. Abbee didn’t seem shocked, having heard Victini’s story before.

”Eventually, I didn’t get away. I got caught by some poachers. Think the guys from Whirl Islands but more organized and much less stupid…” Victini continued. ”I found out later, I had been spotted by a human, and rumours were spreading about me in Unova. And some rich guy wanted to add me to his collection, and put a bounty on my head…”

Dylan was surprised to hear this. He knew that Jon had earned Latios’ respect after intervening when another trainer attempted to capture him and wouldn’t let him flee. And he always knew that Legendary Pokemon were targeted. But to hear of bounties being put on an individual Pokemon, for poachers to capture them for a client came as a bit of a shock.

”And I was hours away from being taken by this rich guy to likely live in a cage the rest of my life. Then Cassandra showed up,” Victini explained. ”Violet was wanting to capture a Moltres, and wanted to buy information from the poachers who caught me, so she could find it herself, and brought Cassandra with her as backup in case things got ugly…”

Victini couldn’t help but smile to himself, remembering how he met his former partner.

”I was in this cage, watching these two girls who looked like they’d just walked out of a TV interview, talking to these poachers like they were children, and taking no crap from them. I wanted to hear what was being said, so moved closer to the edge of my cage, and the bottom panel creaked,” Victini recounted. ”Cass saw me, and after a moment, something in her eyes changed. In that moment, she was the person she turned out to be after the S.S. Wishmaker, and at that time, I couldn’t have asked for a better person in my corner…”

“She got you out?” Dylan asked, slightly surprised. He hadn’t met Cassandra personally. None of the interns had, and other than Jon, Alyssa, and even Steven’s descriptions of her, all they heard was what the media had to say about her, Violet and Jarena. Victini grinned.

”She asked how much it would cost for her to take me, and when they told her I had been caught specifically for someone else, she offered double…” Victini said. ”They told her to drop it, and that the buyer they had lined up wouldn’t take kindly to losing me as part of his collection. Then she says ‘well I won’t take too kindly to being denied what I want. The difference is, I’m the one that’s here to let you know just how kindly I’m going to take it…’”

Victini laughed to himself, recalling the meeting.

”He caved, and sold me to Cassandra. She took me home, and let me straight out of the cage, letting me wander around her house, doing whatever I want really. All that she said was that we were in the middle of a city, and there are people everywhere. If I left, I’d likely get caught. Or I could stay with her, and battle with her, granted that was with Violet and Jarena’s help. I’d be comfortable, and have everything I’d ever want,” Victini said. ”And I stuck with her. Right until after the S.S. Wishmaker…”

Realising how much he was missing his former trainer, and how much he wanted to know she was doing okay, Victini looked up.

”I got sidetracked, sorry. I digress…” Victini explained, focusing on Dylan. ”What I was getting at is I grew up not knowing where I came from, and even though standard Pokemon don’t have the difficult that Legendary Pokemon do, it wasn’t uncommon that the Pokemon I met didn’t know where they came from either…”

Considering his words, Victini continued.

”I never thought much about where I came from, because it wasn’t normal for me to know. Or rather, it wasn’t unusual for me not to know. Most of the Pokemon I met didn’t know, so I didn’t have the constant reminder around me that I didn’t…” Victini explained. ”Abbee’s right. It’s your decision. But obviously, it is important to you to know, even if you’re scared that you may wish you didn’t know. And really, I think you’d regret it more if you lost out on time you potentially wanted to spend with your dad, than you would if your dad turned out to not be who you hoped he would be…”

Dylan hadn’t considered Victini’s first point, wondering if the relationship he knew existed between Abbee and her father, and seeing how close Jon was with Jack, were influencing his wanting to know. However, Victini had confirmed what he had been thinking…

Looking down at the envelope, Dylan lifted the far side of the tab, placing his index finger in the gap, and attempting to neatly lift it, without damaging the envelope, for no other reason as that was his attitude whenever any mail arrived for him. However, given the envelope had been sealed weeks earlier, and obviously sealed well, the bond wouldn’t break, as Dylan gave up an pretence of care, and ripped the top of the envelope off.

In front of him was a name. A name he couldn’t have guessed, but honestly, one that caused him to feel a slight sense of comfort, which he quickly dismissed, not wanting to get ahead of himself.

“I am pretty good at finding people online,” Abbee remarked, remembering her and Charlotte discovering Justin had been kissed by Candice. “Do you mind?”

It took Dylan a second to look away from the two words written in his mothers handwriting on the piece of paper.

”Brent Ashton…”

Abbee nodded, before typing on her computer, as Dylan pondered the fact that had his parents been together, he may have been Dylan Ashton. The name seemed odd.

“There are a few Brent Ashtons…” Abbee began, as she opened a half dozen profiles in different tabs. “This one is only thirty, so we can write him off. And this one is old enough to be my grandfather, so I think we can put him as an unlikely maybe-”

Abbee stopped, looking at one profile, her eyes widening.

“What?” Dylan asked, as he stood, moving to sit on the couch next to her.

“If this isn’t him, I will eat my shoe…” Abbee remarked, clicking on the profile picture, enlarging it, and turning the laptop to face Dylan.

Looking closer, Dylan saw the picture was a selfie, taken by a man in front of a medium sized boat. The name for the boat was in the form of upside down text. ’Uh-oh.’

It took Dylan longer than Abbee to see why she thought this was the one. His hair was the same shade of brown as Dylan's, and though cut shorter, just as thick. His eyes, though a different shape, were the same shade of brown as his own, and he wore the same somewhat awkwardly pained smile that Dylan had seen in himself in plenty of photos, much to his dismay during those times.

“I could be wrong,” Abbee said, seeing how engrossed in this Dylan was, and realising she may have been a little too certain. “But you have to admit, he looks a bit like you…”

“I’ll confirm that it’s him before I find him…” Dylan said absently, before closing the profile picture and opening up the about section of the profile.

“He’s a doctor…” Abbee said, somewhat surprised.

“I’m just glad he isn’t a meth dealer…” Dylan joked, noticing the city listed. “He lives in Canalave City…”

“Explains the boat,” Abbee joked, however was cut off by the sound of the door to the lodge opening, and slamming shut behind whoever had entered. The sound was enough for those present to know exactly who had entered, and their guesses were confirmed when Chris, looking the angriest either of them had seen him since Abbee broke up with him the week before, passed by the doorway into the lounge, glancing at Abbee and Dylan, as they sat on the couch, with Abbee’s laptop in front of them. Not wanting confrontation, Abbee had kept her focus on the page open on her laptop, only planning on acknowledging Chris if he acknowledged them. She figured if he didn’t want to talk to her, chance are, he didn’t want her talking to him. Dylan, whilst not going out of his way to stare Chris down, wasn’t as intentional in averting his gaze, and noticed a glare in the brief moment he held eye contact with Chris as he passed.

They heard his loud footsteps climbing up the stairway, before he went to his room, slamming the door behind him. Abbee sighed, before looking at her computer again.

Dylan wanted to ask something along the lines of ’what crawled up his a**’ but decided against it. Though Abbee broke up with Chris, and he had been acting in a less than pleasant manner since, Abbee had told Dylan enough over the last week to know that her decision to break up with Chris wasn’t based on anything he had done in particular, though she was less than thrilled with Chris’ attitude towards Dylan since the incident at the Firehouse. As such, he knew that, whilst not enough to make her angry at him, snide remarks about her now ex would probably leave her feeling uncomfortable.

“Is there anything you wanted me to look for in particular?” Abbee asked, nodding towards her laptop and wanting to change the subject. “Otherwise, you can help me put together the playlist for the prom…”

“I thought you had students volunteering to organise that?” Dylan asked, not realising that Abbee had one more job than he had been aware of.

“I did, but realised pretty quickly that I should probably be responsible for it…” Abbee remarked. “Two out of five songs that were on the playlist they put together weren’t really appropriate for a teenage summer camp, and those are only the ones I know of. I didn’t really feel like going through it with a fine tooth comb, so I’m going to put together the bulk of the playlist myself, and add the more kosher of the suggestions…”

Dylan looked at his watch, realising he had lost track of time.

“I gotta meet up with the group preparing the dining room for dinner,” Dylan explained, before gesturing to Abbee’s laptop, asking for permission. She pivoted it on the table towards him, as he quickly opened Spotify, and created a new playlist before opening the settings. “I just set this to collaborative, so we can both add songs to it. Once the students on duty tonight are set, and I’m just supervising, I’ll add some music to it, but don’t be surprised if it’s mostly punk stuff from before most of these kids were born…”

“Gotta keep it interesting,” Abbee joked. “Thanks for that. It takes the stress off…”

Dylan nodded, before grabbing his phone from the coffee table, and standing to his feet.

“I guess I’ll see you at dinner then?”

“I’ll try and take a break for dinner,” Abbee replied, however Dylan didn’t have a bar of it.

“So I’ll see you at dinner,” Dylan confirmed, as Abbee rolled her eyes, feigning exasperation.

“Dinner then…”

Dylan left, pocketing the letter, and leaving Abbee and Victini, whose bowl of ice cream was now empty, having been licked clean, sitting alone in the lounge. Whilst for a brief moment, Abbee considered going upstairs and trying to talk things out with Chris, she knew she stood little to no chance of curbing this mood he had been in, and her reaching out to him would probably just make it worse. She sighed, before leaning back in her chair. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Victini staring at her.

“You don’t have to hide it,” Abbee said. “I’ve known you long enough to know that my thoughts are never my own when you’re around…”

”I was just thinking I might want to go pay Cass a visit at some point…”

Abbee was slightly surprised to hear Victini mention wanting to see his previous partner, knowing that Victini was largely at peace with their paths having taken them in very different directions. However his next comment made her realise he was joking more than anything.

”I figure she could teach me a few of her tricks,” Victini explained. ”And Chris wouldn’t be able to slam doors as easily if he were a Dunsparce…”

Despite not normally letting herself encourage Victini in teasing her now ex-boyfriend, in giving him the reaction he wanted with these sorts of remarks, she found a smile creeping across her face.

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

“Are you ready?” Jon asked, his voice lacking the friendly tone that usually was present during the training sessions. This was different. He was here to teach Chris a different type of lesson, and Chris was here to prove to Jon he didn’t always know best, granted, very deep down, Chris didn’t really believe that. However he was past the point of admitting he was wrong that afternoon.

“Are you?” Chris replied. Jon’s expression didn’t shift from the neutrality he wore on his face.

“Pick a Pokemon,” Jon replied, not dignifying Chris’ question with a response. Jon had already selected a Pokeball from his belt. Chris obliged, choosing a Pokemon, before Jon called for the start of the match.

”Begin!”

Both trainers sent out their Pokemon, and whilst Jon was hardly surprised to see Lugia, Chris was a little surprised to see Scizor. Jon rarely opened with the Bug and Steel type Pokemon, given its major weakness to fire, granted, Jon’s most famous win was for when Scizor beat Victini in a single blow.

Remembering Jon’s build up for Scizor to wipe the floor with Victini back on the S.S. Wishmaker, Chris decided not to give Jon the chance to do the same. If Jon was preparing for one big attack, Chris would disrupt that by going on the offensive.

“Dragon Rush!” Chris shouted. Lugia became encased in a draconic aura, roaring intimidatingly, and launching itself towards Scizor, who didn’t attempt to block the hit.

“Scizor, Double Team!” Jon shouted, as he did something Chris hadn’t expected. He pressed the keystone he wore on the ring on his right hand. This was the first Chris had heard of Jon purchasing a Mega Stone for Scizor, expecting to see it used on Blaziken.

Scizor erupted into a chromatic light, emerging a little taller, and whilst slightly more armoured, considerably more armed, with its two claws both changing shape to look like a pair of vicious jaws. As soon as the light dissipated, Scizor split into multiple copies, all but the original being spectral and non tangible. Chris grinned to himself. Though he didn’t have the Key Stone back then, this was the same tactic Jon pulled on Cassandra, and he wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Dragon Rush!” Chris shouted. “The three on the right!”

The perk of Lugia being one of the largest Pokemon Chris had seen, was the fact that physical attacks that relied on a full body charge had a larger area of impact, and whilst Scizor was now one of a dozen identical copies, Lugia was big enough to knock down multiple with a single blow if Chris timed the attack right that the copies were nearby.

“Now!”

Lugia, having charged up the attack, lunged forward, striking three of the Scizors revealing the one on the right to be the original, taking a small amount of damage, before Double Team took effect again.

“That’s better than what you were doing today, but I know you can do better than that!” Jon called out to Chris, who flushed with anger. “Ominous Wind!”

A spectral breeze blew through the arena, causing the hair on the back of Chris’ neck to stand on end, and causing pain to Lugia, however it was relatively minor compared to what Chris was expecting. This wasn’t what he foresaw. Ominous Wind, whilst a Ghost Type move, and by extension advantageous against Lugia, was relatively weak. Sure, it was affected by Scizor’s Tactician ability, however even then, the fact Scizor wasn’t a Ghost Type meant it was far from the best option.

Chris began to wonder if this tactic Jon was using was simply to spook him. He was already on edge, due to the effect of the attack unnerving him, and Jon was making little sense with his decisions, however seemed to composed for this to be a mistake.

Realising he was overthinking, Chris opted to do what he could to beat Scizor early.

“Aeroblast!”

Lugia launched a beam of white-gold light from its jaws, which shot across four of the Scizors on the field, revealing all of them to be copies, causing him to swear under his breath.

“Ominous Wind again!”

Chris again felt the uneasy sensation of the spectral wind passing through the battlefield, and again, Lugia taking a small amount of damage. Considering Jon had berated him this afternoon for using the same, relatively unsuccessful attack in succession, he wondered what his teacher was playing at. It wasn’t until he noticed Scizor speed up that he remembered Ominous Wind’s secondary effect. The one in ten chance it may boost all of the users attributes. Offensive, Defensive, and Speed…

“One more time!” Jon called out. “And this time, hold it until Lugia drops!”

Lugia, being not much better of an attacker than Scizor, with no Fire Type moves at its disposal, now proved to be little threat to Scizor with its improved defensive capabilities, and Chris now knew exactly what Jon was doing. Scizor could effectively keep the attack damaging Lugia, and potentially empowering Scizor, as Lugia tried and failed to knock Scizor down. He knew his best bet was to withdraw Lugia. However, if there was a chance he could prove to Jon he was right in his attitude towards the upcoming challenge, he wanted to take it.

“Aeroblast!” Chris commanded, to Jon’s dismay. The powerful, signature move of Lugia, struck Scizor, who was now making no attempt to dodge it, instead focusing on its continuous attack, directly. However, Scizor barely flinched, as Lugia’s strength was sapped by the phantom wind, before it fell, Scizor’s attributes increasing further.

“S**t…” Chris muttered, though Jon wasn’t in the mood.

“Return Lugia, and send out another Pokemon,” Jon commanded, not wanting to be spending his evening doing this, but knowing Chris needed to be humbled.

“Yeah, yeah…” Chris retorted bitterly, before sending out his next Pokemon. “Charizard, your turn!”

Jon was hardly shocked when Charizard appeared, making the most of Scizor’s glaring weakness to fire. However, he had a plan.

“Flamethrower!” Chris said, as he pressed his keystone, just as Jon expected. Charizard erupted into a colourful light, emerging in the familiar blue and black form that Chris had battled against Abbee with after their arrival that summer. Charizard roared, launching a jet of blue flame at Scizor.

“Swagger!” Jon commanded. Shocking Chris, Scizor didn’t attempt to dodge, instead letting out a taunt, which aggravated Charizard, confusing it, whilst improving its attack power. Chris then realised that given the boosts to its speed, Scizor should have acted first. However, Jon had intentionally hesitated, giving Chris the opening move, though he didn’t know why.

“Flame Charge!” Chris commanded, making the most of Charizard’s Tough Claws ability, and the boost to its attack power from Scizor’s last move. Despite the confusion, Charizard exhald blue flames, covering itself before it launched at full speed towards Scizor.

“Protect!”

Scizor managed to raise a barrier to block the attack just in time, as Charizard stepped back, readying its next move. Now it was at the ideal distance for the same attack again, close enough to strike Scizor at full speed, before the velocity of the attack itself would drop over distance.

“Flame Charge again!”

Charizard readied another attack, however was unable to focus on a target through the confusion, missing Scizor completely and crashing into the ground. This was what Jon was waiting for.

“Assurance!”

Scizor launched itself at Charizard, swiping brutally with one of its heavy claws, and striking Charizard on the back of the head while it tried to recover from the crash it just suffered. Charizard collapsed, all signs of consciousness gone.

Chris yelled out something indistinguishable in his anger, before returning Charizard to its Pokeball, and sending out his final Pokemon. Garchomp. The Ground and Dragon Type roared aggressively towards Scizor, who remained calm, much like his trainer.

“Agility!” Jon commanded, causing Scizor’s already concerning speed to double. Knowing he couldn’t keep doing the same thing anymore, Chris opted for a different tactic.

“Dual Chop!” Chris commanded. Though the attack was weaker, it was a multi-strike move, and if Garchomp couldn’t last the first, there was always the chance he could land the second.

The fins on Garchomp’s arms glowed, as it launched towards Scizor, swiping with its left then right, however, Scizor was too quick, dodging both attacks with ease.

“Mimic!”

Chris watched in horror as Scizor replicated the last attack it saw Garchomp use, its own blades glowing the same way Garchomp’s fins did, before, with deadly speed, launching itself at Garchomp, striking the Pokemon twice, though Garchomp was unconscious before the second strike hit.

Chris remained silent as he called back Garchomp, knowing the match was over, before Jon approached him. Whilst Chris had expected him to gloat, and he was pleasantly surprised when he didn’t, that wasn’t enough to affect his soured mood.

“When did you get a Mega Stone for Scizor?” Chris asked, his tone more accusing than curious.

“Does it matter?” Jon asked, answering before Chris could. “Me deciding to Mega Evolve Scizor instead of Blaziken is less of a surprise than your opponent’s other Pokemon will be. You only know of her Glastrier, and before they issued the challenge, the College of the North Wind removed any public information posted online of our opponents teams. Besides, the only difference between my Scizor and Mega Scizor, are a few of the numbers in terms of stats. The ability, typing and move pool are all the same…”

“What could I have even done to beat you?” Chris asked angrily. “I started off disadvantaged with Lugia against Scizor, and by the time I got Charizard out, Scizor was already wiping the floor with me!”

“And you think that won’t happen during your battle?” Jon asked. “You said yourself that your Dragonite and Garchomp will have a tough time against Glastrier…”

Chris seethed as Jon continued, answering the question.

“You could have used Protect to buy Charizard time to finish Mega Evolving before it attacked,” Jon remarked. “Remember what Dylan picked up last time? That there is a delay between the light disappearing, and their power being where it should be?”

Chris took a deep, pained breath, hearing Dylan being mentioned in this lecture.

“I used Swagger when I did because I knew that the attack Charizard used right after it Mega Evolved would be no stronger than normal, and that Scizor could survive it. And I used Swagger because I knew you would try and take down Scizor as soon as you could, and wouldn’t defend against it…” Jon lectured. “You started thinking more when you had Garchomp use Dual Chop, but at that point it was too late…”

Chris remained silent, as Jon called Scizor back.

“Take a break from our one-on-one practise until you’re willing to actually listen to me,” Jon said evenly. “Otherwise, we’re both wasting our time here…”

Chris’ eyes widened, as he met Jon’s gaze, boring down on him.

“How am I supposed to train for the challenge then?” he asked, his voice and tone rising in anger.

“You can use the stadium when it’s free,” Jon answered simply. “You could even ask Justin or Charlotte to train with you. But I’m not going to waste my time teaching someone who doesn’t want to be told they are wrong…”

Chris muttered a string of insults under his breath, before turning and making his way to the door. Jon sighed to himself as he watched his furious student leave. He didn’t enjoy doing this to Chris. However, he knew that Chris had been rattled to his core over the last few weeks, and was now facing the wrong way. The only thing that would set him straight would be to rattle him again, though Jon wouldn’t know the result of that until it may be too late.

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

Abbee groaned from fatigue when she finally walked back into the lodge. It was half past nine that evening, having left for dinner shortly before six, however after dinner, she had a half dozen students, all involved in some way or another with the prom, wanting a few minutes of her time to go over what they had organised.

She walked into the lounge, where Dylan sat in front of his laptop, staring at the screen, as she dropped onto the couch opposite him, and sighed. To her slight surprise, Dylan didn’t speak. Instead, kept looking at whatever was on the screen in front of him. It was then she noticed how pale he was, and the cold fear that clouded his eyes.

“Dylan, what’s wrong?” Abbee asked, causing him to look up, however he seemed unable to find the words. She got up, and moved to sit next to him, and see what he was looking at. On Dylan’s screen was his biological father’s Facebook profile, the one she had found earlier that day. However, he had a photo opened, showing Brent, however looking a couple of years younger, and two other men. One much older, that Abbee had a hunch may have been his father, Dylan’s grandfather, the other who looked a little older. The trio were dressed in Alolan shirts, holding beers, and smiling happily at the camera. The caption read ’Surprise 40th Birthday Party’.

“Is that your grandfather?” Abbee asked, and Dylan nodded. Whilst there was still the chance that this Brent happened to look a lot like Dylan, and not be his father, they both believed that chance to be extremely slim, and spoke as such.

“My uncle too…” he said quietly. However his voice didn’t come across as happy with this information. Far from it…

“What’s the problem?” Abbee asked. Dylan nodded to the photo.

“Look at his ear…”

Unsure what could have shaken Dylan so much, Abbee looked closer, first at Brent’s ear, then his fathers. It wasn’t until she looked at that of Dylan’s uncle that she saw it. Barely visible, due to being the same colour as his skin, was a hearing aid, sitting over his ear.

“Does this mean…”

“It means that right now, my odds of going deaf are higher…” Dylan muttered, not taking his eyes off the photo, looking for some reason to think he may be mistaken.

“He could have lost his hearing another way?” Abbee offered. “Maybe he works around loud machinery, or something like that?”

“He barely looks to be forty-five in this photo,” Dylan said, shooting down Abbee’s idea. “He’d probably have tinnitus, where he constantly hears a ringing noise, sure. But to have hearing loss to the point of needing a hearing aid…”

Dylan wasn’t wrong. Whilst there was a chance Abbee was right, they both knew that the chance of this man’s deafness being caused by environmental factors was low.

“So say that his deafness is caused by the same thing your mums is…” Abbee asked. “What are the odds?”

Somewhat thankful Abbee wasn’t trying to convince him otherwise, Dylan spoke, albeit, a little more calmly and certainly.

“If he has NF2, he needed to inherit the gene from both parents. But seeing as his dad doesn’t seem to have any signs of hearing loss, it means he is a carrier…” Dylan said, not having done too much thinking of this since. He clicked out of the image, and began looking through old photos, thanking whatever God was up there that Brent’s generation weren’t too good at securing their profile from strangers. Finally he found another photo with Brent and his father, as well as with a woman who they presumed to be Brent’s mother. Dylan looked closely at her ears, trying to spot some indication of a hearing aid, and was thankful when he realised there wasn’t one.

“If this is their mum, she is likely a carrier too. And Brent’s brother got really unlucky and got both faulty genes,” Dylan explained, before trying to do the numbers. “My mum has to pass on one of the two faulty genes I’d need to get this disorder. And I can safely guess that both Brent’s parents are carriers, which means…”

Dylan pulled a loose sheet of paper and a pen that had been left there by Abbee when she worked that afternoon, and began scribbling furiously trying to figure out the numbers.

“Brent has a one in four chance of having it himself, a one in four chance of not getting any of the faulty genes, and a one in two chance of being a carrier. Granted I see no indicator that he is deaf, so can safely eliminate the possibility he has it…” Dylan explained. “So that is a two in three chance he is a carrier of the fault gene, and a fifty/fifty chance he passed it on to me. So based on what we know now…”

“One in three…” Abbee muttered, having studied probability in her maths classes that year. Dylan nodded.

“That’s too high for me to be okay with all of this…” Dylan muttered, as he closed his laptop, albeit, a little too forcefully. Whilst the chances of having this disorder were lower than his chances of not, a one in three chance forced him to consider not being able to hear the voices of his future wife and children, potentially for the majority of his adult life. He leaned back in the couch, as his voice trailed off, and Abbee saw the warning signs of Dylan just shutting down, in the same way he did after he first found out about all of this, and how he did when he returned from his stepdads house the last time he went there.

“Dylan,” Abbee said, her tone being more forceful than she normally was. “You’ve got to do something. You can’t just accept this…”

“What do I do then?” Dylan asked bitterly. “What do I do when there is a thirty-three percent chance my own DNA is working against me…”

“You go to Canalave, and you meet Brent…” Abbee said. Dylan remained silent, dwelling on his own thoughts, so she continued. “Think about it. How much of the calculations you have done are based on assumptions?”

She grabbed Dylan’s laptop, opening it, and taking him by surprise when she unlocked it.

“How did you do that?” Dylan asked, being pulled from his funk by the shock.

“You left it here when you went to Kanto, and Steven needed your notes to find out where your class was at,” Abbee remarked. “The hint was SpiritNumber, and after a lot of trial and error, I realised it was Dusknoir477…”

This was the first that Dylan knew Abbee could get into his laptop, and she clicked back onto the photo of Brent and his parents.

“This is the only photo of Brent’s mother you found? It’s a safe guess she is his mother, but I also thought that Bill was your dad originally…” Abbee remarked, as Dylan couldn’t help but scowl, but took the point. “She likely is his mother, but may be his stepmother, or not even related at all…”

Dylan hadn’t considered that, and Abbee continued.

“You’ve assumed that because she isn’t wearing a hearing aid in this picture, she has no hearing loss. She could be deaf, and just isn’t wearing it for the photo. Or maybe it is past the point of a hearing aid helping…”

“Well in that case, my odds are even worse…” Dylan pouted.

“You’ve also assumed that if your uncle is deaf, it’s because he has NF2,” Abbee remarked. “Your whole assessment of the family’s genetics is based on the assumption that this is the only explanation for his deafness…”

Abbee opened a new tab in the web browser, before searching ’Causes of Deafness’.

“Genetics. Loud noises. Illness. Medication side-effects. Infection…” Abbee read out from the first article.

“You expect me to just hope that one of them is the reason he is deaf?”

“Dylan, I think you’re great, but by God, you can be dense…” Abbee groaned, earning a raised eyebrow from Dylan. “I’m saying I think you should go find Brent, and find out, instead of assuming things and damning yourself based on that! You don’t even know for sure that he is your dad!”

Abbee quickly opened Google Maps, and punched in a route from The College of the North Wind, to Canalave City.

“You could be there within six hours of us finishing this challenge in Jubilife…” Abbee remarked.

Dylan remained silent, considering what Abbee had said.

“Go talk to Jon, now,” Abbee ordered, knowing that Dylan needed a shove forward for his own sake, and that if she didn’t, he would not help himself. “I saw him heading towards the stadium. Organise with him to spend another few days in Sinnoh, and go to Canalave…”

Dylan sighed. He knew Abbee was right. His biggest hesitation was the same one that caused him to take nearly a month to open the envelope. Once he found out, he couldn’t unlearn it…

He stood, making his way to the door, and walking out silently, leaving Abbee hoping he had listened to her. When he was outside, he paused for a second, and put his hands in his pockets, making sure he hadn’t forgotten his phone, figuring if he’d be asking Jon if he could stay a few more days in Sinnoh, he should be showing him the pictures that were informing his decision. His phone was in his right, however in his left, he found something unfamiliar. Pulling it out, it took him a second to recognise the crumpled form of the letter, which had Brent’s name on it. However, as he saw it, he remembered what Nicole had said before she left.

“I won’t contact you again, but if you ever want to talk, I left my contact details in that envelope as well.”

Dylan flipped the piece of paper over, and found a phone number. Stepping away from the building, so Abbee wouldn’t overhear him, Dylan opened his phone, and quickly screenshotted the profile picture from Brent’s Facebook, before attaching it to a message addressed to the number on the page, then calling it.

”Hello, Nicole speaking,” said a now familiar voice on the other side of the line, though Dylan was still unused to hearing it.

“It’s me,” Dylan said. “Dylan…”

There was a pause, as Nicole seemed to work through the shock.

”Dylan, how are you?”

“I’m fine,” Dylan said shortly, not calling for small talk, though lying through his teeth. “I just sent you a photo, because I want to be sure…”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and Dylan could hear the sounds of the grip on the phone being adjusted, and the call being set to hands-free.

“Is this him?” Dylan asked. He knew Abbee was right. The whole thought process, which led Dylan to where he was right now, hinged on the fact that this Brent Ashton was the Brent Ashton Nicole was referring to.

After a brief pause, Nicole answered.

“This is him…”

Dylan groaned internally, knowing that the first assumption he had made was correct, and therefore his worries being one step closer to coming to pass.

“I’ve got to go,” Dylan said, not in the mood for Nicole to think he is ready to make amends with her, and try to chat. “Thanks…”

Before she could reply, Dylan hung up, feeling a knot in his stomach as he walked towards the stadium.


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

“Grassy Terrain!” Charlotte called out to her Roserade, who cried out, before launching hundreds of small seeds into the battlefield between her and Justin’s Greninja.

“You think I’m going to fall for that trick?” Justin laughed. “Maybe the first time, but it’s no secret now that’s got a bit of Leech Seed hidden in there…”

Charlotte couldn’t help but grin, as Justin commanded Greninja to use Extrasensory, however, not at Roserade, but instead, the lush, glowing grass that separated them. As expected, the light telekinetic pressure that Greninja exuded was enough to trigger the traps, causing explosions of thorny vines into thin air in multiple sections of the grass to appear.

The pair had been practising together, both unsure they were ready to take on the College of the North Wind in three weeks, and opting to practise against one another. Whilst Charlotte generally speaking was a better battler, Justin had Regieleki, and after eighteen months with the Legendary Pokemon, was using it to its full potential. Charlotte knew the stadium was being used by Jon and Chris, and when Justin suggested they train that evening, she mentioned this, though didn’t tell Justin why, so that he’d agree to train outside. She had noticed a few minutes earlier the sounds of battle had stopped coming from the stadium, and having tried to listen carefully, had heard the sounds of Garchomp, Charizard and Lugia, though not any of Jon’s louder Pokemon. She had a hunch she knew why.

As they battled, Dylan passed them, and whilst Justin didn’t see Dylan, his back turned, Charlotte waved a greeting to him, causing Justin to turn. However, Dylan didn’t seem to notice, intent on his path towards the stadium.

Dylan passed the pair, not noticing that they were even there, being that deep in his own thoughts. The stadium was in sight, and he could see the lights were on, and figured Jon hadn’t left yet. He walked towards the sliding doors, and was taken by surprise when he bumped into Chris, accidentally nudging the smaller trainer with his shoulder as he rounded the corner to walk through the door. Both trainers stopped for a moment, and from her vantage point, Charlotte had stopped focusing on the battle to see what happened between Chris and Dylan, Justin noticing this and turning to watch as well.

“Are you right?” Chris asked antagonistically, his voice raised. He had told Dylan weeks earlier that they weren’t cool, and for everyone else's sake, he just wouldn’t have anything to do with him. However, his bruised ego and damaged pride were interfering with that intention.

Normally Dylan would have apologised, however given the headspace he was in, as well as how little he wanted to talk to Chris at the best of times these days, he instead sidestepped and walked past him through the doors. Angry at being ignored, and feeling looked down on by Dylan, after having Jon unintentionally praise Dylan whilst criticising him after his loss, Chris called out.

“Hey, a**hole! I asked you a question!” Chris called out angrily. “You deaf or something?”

“Oh f**k…” Charlotte muttered, having heard that remark from where she and Justin battled. Whilst Chris had no way of knowing this, he had made the worst possible remark to Dylan at that time. She started walking towards Chris, though knew she’d probably be too late.

Dylan, who was only a metre and a half past Chris at this point, stopped, and turned to face Chris, with a cold fire burning in his eyes.

Having heard the exchange himself, Jon had walked out of the arena, and entered the foyer in time to see Dylan grab Chris by the collar with his left hand, and slam his right fist into Chris’ eye socket.

“Dylan!” Charlotte shouted, starting to run towards him, as she saw him pulling his fist back for another hit, while Chris tore at Dylan’s hand on his shirt with his left hand, to no avail, and punching Dylan in the torso with his right hand, who in this blind rage, didn’t seem to notice it.

Charlotte reached the pair in the doorway, grabbing Dylan’s hand, attempting to free Chris, whilst Justin, who arrived a second later, grabbed Chris’ right hand. Jon joined them as soon as he could, grabbing Dylan’s raised right arm, and though shocked at how much he struggled to hold it in place.

“Dylan!” Jon shouted angrily. “Let go of him!”

Seeming to return to his senses, Jon felt the tension in Dylan’s arm disappear, as he lowered it, before letting go of Chris’ shirt.

“What the f**k is your problem?!” Chris screamed at Dylan, before attempting to rush him, and being held back by Justin.

“Chris, go get some ice on your face,” Jon said. When Chris tried to object, Jon flashed him a glare. “Walk away now, or I’ll hold you just as responsible for this…”

“Come on, let’s go,” Charlotte said, grabbing Chris’ sleeve and pulling him towards the dining hall, where she knew ice packs were kept in the freezer. Whilst she knew Chris had been less than pleasant to Dylan, and his comment just then was antagonistic in itself, it had far from warranted Dylan’s reaction. Chris wasn’t without fault, however this fight escalated so drastically by Dylan’s hand.

“This isn’t over,” Chris muttered as he started to walk away.

“It is,” Jon replied. “Go.”

Charlotte and Chris left, leaving Justin, Jon and Dylan.

“Justin, can you go make sure that nobody was around to see this?” Jon asked, thinking of the younger students, who were supposed to follow their team leader’s example. “If they have, can you ask them to keep it to themselves until I can talk to them about it?”

Justin nodded, before leaving Dylan, who remained silent, and Jon standing in the foyer. Jon turned his angry gaze onto Dylan.

“Stadium. Now…”

Dylan sighed, entering the stadium, as Jon followed, closing the door behind him. Dylan sat on one of the benches on the side of the battlefield, waiting for Jon to rip into him.

“What the f**k was that?” Jon asked, his tone indicative he was not in the mood to be lied to.

“I don’t even know…” Dylan said, his voice breaking up a little. “Everything, I guess. All at once, tipping over…”

Jon, whilst still furious at what Dylan had just done, found himself starting to worry.

“Has something happened?” Jon asked, his voice concerned, though not losing the edge that it had held most of that evening…

“I opened the envelope,” Dylan answered, as Jon started to picture why Dylan had exploded the way he did. “And I found him on Facebook…”

“You know it’s him?” Jon asked. Dylan nodded.

“I sent Mum a photo, and she confirmed it…” Dylan answered.

“He’s not what you expected?” Jon asked, well aware of how it felt being bitterly disappointed in his father.

“It’s not that,” Dylan answered. “I found a photo with him and his brother, and his brother has a hearing aid…”

Suddenly, it clicked for Jon what was going through Dylan’s mind. Why Dylan exploded after Chris asked him if he was deaf…

Jon sighed, and spoke again, his voice now what Dylan was used to.

“And you’re worried your dad’s family might have the same condition?” Jon asked, more sympathetic this time. Dylan nodded.

“Abbee thinks he might have gone deaf because of something else. But if it’s something like loud noise, a hearing aid is pretty extreme…” Dylan answered quietly. “If he is deaf because he has NF2, then I have a one in three chance of having it myself…”

Jon sighed, hearing this revelation. Alyssa had told Jon weeks ago of the news Dylan’s mum brought with her, and whilst Jon and Dylan had spoken of it in passing, it was largely in reference to the fact that Dylan may have it, but never anything deeper, such as how Dylan felt about all of this. Jon figured he had people his own age around who he probably felt more comfortable confiding in.

“Do you want to get tested?” Jon asked. “I know it’s not cheap, but we can find a way to make it happen…”

“Not yet,” Dylan answered. “That’s why I came here…”

Jon wasn’t sure where Dylan was going, so Dylan continued.

“My dad lives in Canalave City, in Sinnoh,” Dylan explained. “After the challenge in Jubilife, I was wanting to spend a few more days in Sinnoh and meet him…”

“Of course,” Jon answered. “I’ll be taking a few weeks off from Academy work once summer is over, and I wanted you to do the same thing. You’re an adult, so if you want to spend some of that time in Canalave, you don’t need my permission…”

Dylan nodded, as Jon sighed again.

“But, I can’t just let what happened slide,” Jon continued, hardly happy about this himself. “I know Chris has been less than pleasant towards you this summer, and before Abbee broke up with him, I thought he’d have grown out of it by now. And I know that you’ve got a lot going on, with barely any time alone to figure stuff out. But fact is that you assaulted another intern. He’s going to have a black eye, and everyone is going to know he was in a fight. And it’s not fair on Chris for us to keep this whole thing private when really, you were the one who started the fight…”

Dylan nodded, understanding Jon’s reasoning. If Chris didn’t have any physical marks to show he had been in the fight, Jon could swear both trainers to secrecy and have a little more flexibility in how he responded to it. However, if Jon attempted to keep the whole thing on the downlow, people would still know Chris was involved, and he was more likely to be viewed as the instigator.

“For the rest of the summer, you’ll be responsible for all of Chris’ supervisory tasks. Things like keeping an eye on things while students have free time, supervising duty groups, weekend activities and seminars, you’ll be taking all of Chris’ shifts,” Jon explained. “And this is your first and only warning. If this happens again, I have to let you go…”

The thought of losing his job at the Academy terrified Dylan, though he knew Jon was right. This was a camp where teenagers as they were, children, attended, and one violent incident could potentially be explained as an isolated incident under extenuating circumstances. Any more however, couldn’t.

“In terms of Chris, I think between the punch to the head you gave him, and the new one Charlotte is going to tear him, that anything more from me will be excessive. I already taught him a lesson tonight, which is why he was in such a bad mood,” Jon explained. “Give him space, and don’t let this happen again…”

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

“I’m going to kick his f**king teeth in…” Chris muttered as he sat in the kitchen next to the dining room, Charlotte holding an ice-pack wrapped in a dish towel on his already bruised face. “Honestly, where does he get off doing that…”

“Drop it,” Charlotte said sternly. “Jon’s dealing with him. If you go and pick a fight with him, you’ll be the one in trouble for it, and honestly, my money would be on him…”

Chris swore under his breath, before wincing at another wave of pain from his eye. By the time he and Charlotte arrived at the dining hall, it was swollen, making it difficult for Chris to see.

“Stop playing the victim Chris, really,” Charlotte lectured, tired herself of how Chris had been acting.

“I’m the one with a f**king black eye!”

“And you honestly think you don’t deserve it, just a little?” Charlotte asked. Chris’ expression didn’t change, so she continued. “You’ve been a d**k to him since the s**t at the Firehouse, and going on about it because he upset your girlfriend. Well guess what? She was over it within a few hours, and isn’t your girlfriend anymore, so that excuse for your grudge is now obviously bulls**t!”

“Watch it,” Chris said angrily, not wanting to have this conversation about Abbee.

“And given what you said to him, I don’t blame him for trying to knock you out-” Charlotte began, though realising she said too much. Chris noticed her stop speaking, and looked at her confused.

“I barely said anything?” Chris asked irritably. “Nothing worth going full f**king psycho on me for!”

“His mum showed up here after walking out ten years ago, a month ago,” Charlotte hissed angrily, regretting already telling Chris Dylan’s personal business, but sick of Chris’ reasoning and excuses. “She came to tell him she had been diagnosed with some genetic disorder that was making her go deaf, and chances are, Dylan may have it. If he does, he will be deaf by the time he is forty-five, and he’s tried to hide it, but it scares the s**t out of him…”

Chris took a moment to see the link between what Charlotte had said, and his fight with Chris, until he remembered what he had said to Dylan.

“You deaf or something?”

Chris groaned, and Charlotte knew he realised what was going on.

“He told you about this?” Chris asked.

“He told all of us,” Charlotte replied. “He probably would have told you as well if you weren’t being such an a** all summer…”

Chris couldn’t hide the shame he felt.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Chris said, ashamed that he pushed the one button that probably would have hurt Dylan the most right about now.

“No, I’m not,” Charlotte answered, handing Chris the ice pack. “Get your s**t together, because none of us want to be picking sides…”

Charlotte stood from her seat, and left the room, closing the door behind her. On the other side, she heard an angry yell from Chris, and the crash of the ice-pack he was holding, being thrown across the room in frustration. She sighed as she walked back to the lodge. A year earlier, she had feelings for him, which she had lied to herself about until it was too late. Chris was interested in Abbee, and before long, they were together. Since then, she had repressed them, in the interest of her friendship with both. Now he and Abbee weren’t together anymore, but Chris was hardly the same person she had feelings for a year ago.

“Nothing I can do…” Charlotte muttered, unaware she said the exact same thing when she overheard Chris talking to Justin about Abbee, in the Safari Zone a year earlier…