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

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 5 Episode 2: Grudge Match

Spoiler:

Jon grinned smugly as Abbee sent Victini onto the battlefield. He knew why she had waited until now. His Scizor had just beaten Abbee’s Gardevoir, one of Abbee’s least experienced Pokemon. She had captured it as a Ralts during her second summer at the Academy, three years prior, and having worked at Elesa’s Gym the last few years, had intentionally kept it as a Kirlia, using the plethora of electric moves it could learn to provide a challenge for matches where Abbee was forced to hold back. However, given her being offered the Gym Leader position, she had decided to let the Pokemon evolve. Alongside her Ampharos and Electivire, another Pokemon she had captured and trained for her role in Nimbasa City Gym, Gardevoir levelled out her battling team, any combination of the three providing enough of a challenge, with Victini being an extra level of difficulty for those who wanted it.

Given Gardevoir’s lack of experience, and its partial Fairy typing, Scizor made short work of Gardevoir, and now Abbee was sending out her third and final Pokemon. Jon however, was on his second.

“Scizor, Baton Pass!” Jon commanded, as he returned Scizor to its Pokeball. Victini glared at Jon, expecting this to happen, as Jon sent out his third Pokemon, Blaziken.

“Goddamn it!” Victini yelled, only understood by Jon, who couldn’t help but grin, and Abbee, who could have sworn Victini was less aggressive during battle before she dated Chris, sighed.

It was Thursday afternoon of the first week of the Eon Academy’s summer program. Abbee’s team had just begun their session training with Jon that afternoon. Having explained the concept of patience in a battle, he had invited Abbee to join him for a demonstration match.

Abbee had opened with Poliwrath, with Jon sending out Nidoking to begin with. Despite being at a type advantage, Nidoking dispatched Poliwrath quickly, causing Abbee to send out Gardevoir. Her reasoning was that Gardevoir, despite being her least experienced Pokemon, would be able to dispatch of Nidoking whilst buffing its own attack power. Additionally she knew Jon relied a little too much on Blaziken, the viability of which in battle was proportional to how early it is sent out. This had been part of Abbee’s reasoning to send out Poliwrath as her first Pokemon.

However, subverting expectations Jon, instead of sending Blaziken out as his second Pokemon, sent out Scizor, and then even further, sent out Blaziken as his third Pokemon.

“Shadow Claw!” Jon commanded as Abbee ordered a Psychic attack from Victini.

With blinding speed, Blaziken rushed at Victini, one of its claws engulfed in a spectral light, slashing at the Pokemon, before quickly dodging Victini’s own attack.

Jon watched intently as Victini, growing more frustrated, acted with no orders. Whilst there was a chance Abbee could be commanding him via his telepathy, Jon knew that these days it was more natural for the two to speak verbally, and given Victini's own frustration, it was more likely that he had just let that get the better of him.

One point of growth for Victini since joining Abbee in training under Jon, was relying less on V-Create, the move that came most naturally to the Mythical Pokemon, and using other moves in a pinch. However, Victini was still acting rashly, and had not made that much better of a decision with move choice.

Jon could see that instead of flames forming a V from Victini's crown, they engulfed the entire Pokemon, as it rocketed towards Blaziken.

"Take the hit!" Jon ordered. "Then Assurance!"

With a crash, Victini slammed into Blaziken, the Fire Type choosing not to dodge the attack, causing Victini to take recoil damage. In a flash, Blaziken's fist became coated in a dark aura, as it used the force of Victini's impact to launch itself into a spin, circling around Victini and slamming its fist into Victini at the same time he felt the impact of his own attack.

Victini collapsed to the ground, before weakly attempting to stand to his feet. Normally, even with the sheer amount of recoil damage Victini took, that one attack wouldn't be enough to put Victini out of commission, even if it were super effective however…

"Abbee, I recommend you forfeit for Victini's sake," Jon called out, as Victini still struggled to his feet. "Blaziken still has too much fight left in him, and even if Victini does beat it, I still have Scizor…"

Abbee nodded in agreement. Though she was supportive in Victini's pursuit of a rematch with Scizor, she also knew that even if Victini were to beat Blaziken in this state, Scizor would simply humiliate him.

"Victini, we're forfeiting," Abbee called out, as Victini looked back at her in disbelief. "It's only a practice match. You'll get him next time…"

Victini glared at Jon, before walking slowly back towards Abbee. Jon grinned at Abbee, who shrugged, trying to hide her own grin. She didn't blame Jon for withdrawing Scizor. They both remembered how Victini beat Matt Campbell's Shaymin two summers earlier at the College of the North Wind, battling much more ferociously than normal, purely to prove that his win against Avery Miller's Shaymin wasn't a hollow victory. If the dial had been cranked up to eleven for that battle, Victini having another crack at Scizor would send that same dial to a hundred.

"Before we get into the patience part, what did you all notice about Abbee and I's battle?" Jon said, addressing the thirty five students that were part of Abbee's team. There was silence for a moment, before one of the older students spoke.

"Abbee's opening play was to capitalise on your habit of using Blaziken early?" Rose, Jon and Alyssa's niece, now sixteen years old and in her third summer at the Academy, answered. "But you didn't let it stop you from using Blaziken altogether…"

Jon nodded, before grinning at Abbee.

"Cheers for that. It helped me illustrate the point…"

Having a hunch she knew what he was talking about, she nodded, though didn't say anything further, on the chance she was wrong as Jon continued.

"This is where patience comes into it. When Gardevoir knocked out Nidoking, and I sent out Scizor, Scizor could have quite easily finished Gardevoir off with a Bullet Punch, and a lot of trainers don't see past the circumstances right in front of them," Jon explained. "But fact was that once Gardevoir was beaten, Abbee still had one Pokemon left to use, and has two Pokemon on her team, both maybe capable of giving Scizor a hard time if given the chance…"

Victini glared at Jon who responded with a friendly grin.

"When Rose talked about my habit of using Blaziken early, she was referring to its Speed Boost Ability, which increases its speed as the battle progresses, and in order to make the best use of it, I tend to send out Blaziken as my opening Pokemon, or normally, my second at the latest. Between that and its wide move pool, it is usually a good play. The trade-off, as Abbee has shown, is that it is predictable, so I need to make sure I have contingencies in place in that event…"

Jon grabbed the remote that sat on a small table next to him, lowering the screen for the projector, before turning it on. The projector quickly lit up, showing a recording of the battle he and Abbee had just finished. He pressed fast forward until the screen showed Gardevoir beating Nidoking, and Jon responding by sending out Scizor.

"At this point, I still wanted to use Blaziken because of how versatile it is, however, to send it in against Gardevoir would have been far from ideal, as it would be too disadvantaged without the time for Speed Boost to activate, and given how ineffective Power-Up Punch would be, that also made sending Blaziken out as my second a bad idea. Which meant if I wanted to use Blaziken, it had to be my third," Jon explained. "So instead, I sent out Scizor, who would not struggle to beat Gardevoir, with a Bullet Punch or two and it's Technician Ability, and would resist most of Gardevoir's attacks, meaning there was no real urgency. But instead of rushing to beat Gardevoir, I made the most of the low-risk match up, in order to give my third Pokemon, be it Blaziken, or something else, a better chance…"

Jon pressed play and all present watched as Gardevoir, who was quicker than Scizor, used Recover, regaining some energy, before Scizor used Agility, gaining in Speed, and following up with a Sword's Dance. On screen, Gardevoir used Mystical Fire, which Scizor managed to avoid the bulk of, only being grazed before hitting Gardevoir with a Bullet Punch, knocking it out. Jon pressed pause again.

"At this point, I now have a Pokemon that is faster than any Pokemon Abbee will send out, and more attack power," Jon explained. "If Abbee sent out something that Scizor could handle, Scizor was equipped to deal with it. And if she sent out something that might give Scizor a hard time, it will be able to Baton Pass to another Pokemon to handle it. Meanwhile, had I just had Scizor go straight for the knock out when Abbee sent out Gardevoir, Blaziken would have gone up against Victini slower off the mark, and likely been knocked out before it could land a hit…"

Jon meant no offence to Victini with his might, only to stir the Pokemon that he was on good terms with. Victini however, had had enough. He walked over to Jon, standing at his feet, looking up at him.

"Jon," Victini said telepathically, including all present in the conversation. "I formally challenge Scizor to a one on one battle, once I've had time to recover from this one…"

There were murmurs and grins from those watching as Jon stifled a smirk. Abbee shook her head in disbelief. She and Victini had a close bond, however, when Victini was feeling especially competitive, he tended to forget who was the trainer and who was the Pokemon.

"I refuse," Jon answered simply.

"I'm challenging Scizor, not you, but if you think Scizor needs your commands to stand a chance, I'll allow you to give orders…"

Victini was aiming for Jon's pride, however Jon simply grinned.

"If Scizor were to injure somebody during the course of a battle, as it's trainer I'd be held responsible, just like if you were injured in the course of a battle, it would be Abbee's responsibility to fund treatment," Jon explained, returning the blow by implying Victini would be injured and not Scizor. "As such, I have the right to accept or reject any challenges on Scizor's behalf."

Victini flushed red, as Jon knelt down, speaking quietly to the Mythical Pokemon.

"Victini, I'm not going to indulge you in a one on one grudge match because you demand it," Jon said quietly. "I get that you have something you want to prove, and it's admirable. I am seeing the same thing in Cass, and considering where the two of you were when I met you, I am glad to see you both so determined to prove you can win legitimately. But just because you have something to prove, I'm not obligated to accept any sort or challenge…"

"It sounds like you're scared…" Victini answered verbally, as Jon chuckled.

"Victini, I am among the most famous battlers in the world, yet even I couldn't just go to Ever Grande City and formally challenge Steven. I'd have to beat the Elite Four to prove I'm worth Steven's time in a formal challenge," Jon explained, before being interrupted by Victini.

"Abbee is the Nimbasa City Gym Leader," Victini retorted.

"Abbee will be the Nimbasa City Gym Leader," Jon said, lowering his tone further and giving Victini a meaningful look. It wasn't public knowledge yet that Elesa was retiring and whilst the only people present who could understand Victini were Jon and Abbee, he didn't want Victini to say something to someone else who didn't know, or to someone who did, and they are overheard replying to the comment. "And Abbee hasn't challenged Scizor. You have."

Standing up, and effectively ending the conversation, Jon began pairing off students to have one on one practise matches, with a focus on making the most of lower risk situations. Abbee, after returning Victini to his Pokeball, quickly helped him, and once the older students who were tasked with helping Abbee run the team were given their tasks, Abbee approached Jon.

"Don't you think you're teasing Victini a little too much?" Abbee asked. "I know he respects you, but I've never seen him so frustrated…"

Jon gave a smug grin, causing Abbee to roll her eyes. She had been his student long enough to know when he was setting them up for something.

"Okay, spill it," Abbee said, her tone hardening. "Why are you antagonising Victini and being so difficult?"

Like her Pokemon before, Jon gave Abbee a meaningful look before lowering his tone and making sure nobody overheard her.

"Can you keep a secret?" Jon asked.

"I kept Rayquaza a secret for three years," Abbee retorted with a grin.

"Not from a telepath…"

"How can I keep a secret from a telepath?" Abbee asked.

"Don't let yourself think about this when he is around," Jon explained. "It's how I kept my stash of beers from being found by Latios…"

Abbee nodded as Jon continued.

"Victini has something to prove, and honestly, I wouldn't be doing him any favours if I accepted his challenge and let him beat Scizor senseless," Jon said. "Sure, he'd be loving it, but how long until he finds some other thing he must do to prove himself? Technically, Scizor beat him because I trained it and commanded it, so next he will want to beat me, which is fine. But even if he does that, what next?"

"Honestly, I don't know…"

"Does Victini blame himself for what happened to you in Alola?"

The question took Abbee by surprise, as did the change in Jon's tone. Her silence however answered the question.

"Short of another situation that I hope you never find yourself in again, once Victini starts fixating on that, and trying to prove to himself he is strong enough to make sure that never happens again, he will be getting into dangerous territory," Jon continued. "He may never be able to do that…"

"So you just won't let him get there by making sure he never gets past this Scizor hang-up?"

Jon shook his head.

"If I just let him have a crack at Scizor, he is happy for a few weeks, maybe months, but it won't last. Because honestly, take away our history, a Legendary, Fire-type Pokemon, that has beaten Mega Rayquaza before, beating a Scizor isn't a huge achievement…" Jon said. "But if I make it so difficult for him to even get the opportunity, and make sure that the achievement is purely from his own initiative and cunning, I'm hoping that this achievement may be able to keep him satisfied for a fair while…"

A million thoughts raced through Abbee's mind, as she processed Jon's plan.

"So you'll let him have a crack at Scizor before the summer is over?"

"If I absolutely have to," Jon answered. "I'm hoping before then, Victini will have made it happen regardless of what I do…"

Abbee considered Jon's reasoning.

"Can I at least help him?" Abbee asked as Jon considered the question.

"As long as it doesn't take away from his sense of achievement," Jon answered. "Try and let him take as much responsibility as possible…"

Abbee nodded, though dreaded trying to keep this a secret from Victini.

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

”Dylan…”

The voice sounded distant, as Dylan quickly became aware of his surroundings. On the wall was a painting of a large, bird Pokemon with rainbow colored wings. The image was largely stylised, and Dylan knew that the subject of it would look vastly different, should he ever meet the Pokemon himself. However, he recognised the Legendary Pokemon as Ho-Oh.

“Dylan, is everything alright?”

Dylan looked over to Dr. Tanner, who had just taken a seat on a comfortable looking leather armchair, having just reentered the room.

“Yeah, sorry,” Dylan answered quickly. “Got lost in my thoughts…”

He nodded towards the painting.

“I only just noticed it,” Dylan said. “Are you from Johto? They tend to have the most focus on Ho-Oh in terms of mythology.”

Dr. Tanner shook her head.

“I grew up in Petalburg,” she answered. “But the myths of Ho-Oh are associated heavily with healing and rebirth. It’s believed the original Raikou, Entei and Suicune were all Pokemon that perished in a fire. A Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon, which Ho-Oh resurrected. I guess the sentimental part of me likes the idea of someone emerging stronger from a situation that once left them broken…”

Dr. Tanner was one of Hoenn’s best psychologists, whom Jon was thankful lived on Mossdeep Island when the discussion of Dylan seeking professional help came up. She was in her early fifties, and during the first session, when she and Dylan had attempted to get to know each other a little better, had told him that she was divorced, but had two adult children, the youngest a few years older than him. She had also mentioned that both were fans of his, which causing Dylan to cringe a little, not being too fond of the publicity he inadvertently received being affiliated with the Eon Academy.

“So you were telling me before that the summer program has started?”

They were twenty minutes into Dylan’s fifty minute session, however another patient had arrived in a frantic state, having gone to get a prescription filled, only to find that the pharmacy, which had been sent a digital copy of the prescription, had lost the record. Normally, Dr. Tanner wouldn’t have interrupted a session, however given the nature of the medication the patient was prescribed, and Dylan’s relatively easy-going nature, especially when compared to other patients, she had quickly left the room in order to quickly send a new prescription to the pharmacy, promising Dylan she’d make up the time at the end.

“Yeah, the other interns arrived a week and a half ago, and the students arrived Sunday afternoon,” Dylan answered. “Program is in full swing.”

Dr. Tanner nodded in understanding.

“How are you finding time?” she asked. “Are you managing it well?”

“As well as I normally do. Better even,” Dylan explained. “The summers themselves, unless a Deoxys attacks the place, tend to be less work than the month or two prior.”

Dr. Tanner took some notes, something Dylan had quickly realised was not indicative of him revealing some deep psychological issue he carried very early on, as he continued.

“There are things that we can’t really do in terms of preparation until a month beforehand. We had to close registrations really early this year, because we were at capacity, and everyone else got put on a waiting list, but they have until a month before the summer to cancel and receive a full refund, and their place gets given to the top of the queue,” Dylan continued. “So things like allocating cabins, training teams, timetables and such, all happen in that last month when we know we aren’t going to be switching people around. Then, by the time summer comes, and the other interns have arrived, most of our work is running our classes and training sessions, and making sure our teams aren’t doing anything stupid, which we now have subordinates to handle the latter…”

“Did you tell the others about your news?”

Dylan tried for a moment to hide his apprehension towards the question, before remembering, not for the first time, that this session, whilst not out of pocket, was costing $250, and hiding things that were obviously bothering him was just wasting that. Dr. Tanner, as if she could read his mind, grinned.

“I did, but honestly, it wasn’t a huge deal,” Dylan said. “The others had news as well, and it all got swept up together…”

“What sort of news?”

“Justin has finished his degree, pending final marks, and has been accepted into the Sinnoh P.D. Chris has decided he wants to be the first to conquer all seven regional leagues, and is going to do it in a year,” Dylan explained, as Dr. Tanner showed the first hint of shock that session hearing of Chris’ ambition. “Charlotte has been offered a guaranteed spot in next summer’s High Seas Tournament, and Abbee is going to be replacing Elesa as Nimbasa City Gym Leader. So it’s going to be the last summer for all of them…”

“Not yourself?” Dr. Tanner asked, clicking instantly to his exclusion of himself from the statement.

“I might not be able to get finance for the property,” Dylan said, recovering quickly. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself when the bank are the ones to make the decision…”

Dr. Tanner gave Dylan a meaningful look, before deciding not to pursue it any further.

“Have you been sleeping well?”

Knowing he’d be pushing his luck being dishonest any more than he had been, Dylan shook his head.

“Even when what’s going on at home doesn’t keep me awake, when I do sleep, it’s always rough…” Dylan answered quietly. “On a good night, I see Giratina destroying the hospital, and people being mowed down by witches left, right and centre. On a bad night, I see Abbee…”

Dr. Tanner didn’t need clarification on what he saw of Abbee. She knew what had happened in Alola whilst the battle at the Megamart took place.

“And Brianna isn’t there. Or if she is, she just laughs and leaves Abbee to die…” Dylan continued. “Victini is there, and he blames me, because Abbee wanted to leave earlier, but I didn’t. Then Jon arrives, and he blames me as well…”

“And it’s the same every time?”

“More or less, but it’s been worse lately,” Dylan answered. “Same s**t, different smell…”

Dr. Tanner nodded in understanding, before laying down her clipboard.

“If I had to take a guess as to why, I’d put it as a mixture of two things…” Dr. Tanner explained. “The first being that with every day that passes, you are closer to the anniversary of the Spiritwater Crisis. Instead of your own thoughts and conversations with your comrades from Alola reminding you and bringing all this to mind, it’s the fact that by this time next month, it will be on every news report and on the front page of every newspaper. ’Spiritwater, one year on…’”

“And the second reason?”

Dr. Tanner considered her words before speaking.

“I am going to ask a question, but I want to make it abundantly clear that the fact I am asking does not mean I in any way am implying one thing or another,” Dr. Tanner explained. Dylan nodded prompting her to continue. “Do you genuinely believe that if you had agreed with Abbee, and left to join the fight earlier, that Jon wouldn’t have been cursed?”

Dylan considered denying it but decided that straight up denial would speak for itself.

“I don’t know that he would have,” Dylan answered, as Dr. Tanner nodded in assent, before continuing.

“Despite the fact that by that logic, I’d be even more correct in saying you don’t know that he wouldn’t have been cursed, I’m not going to labour the point. It is meaningless for me to tell you that what happened to Jon is not on you, because you have no reason to believe me. I wasn’t there, and to dumb down our professional relationship to a stupid level, you see me in order to help you feel better, so even if I didn’t believe that it wasn’t your fault, I’d still be telling you it’s not your responsibility,” Dr. Tanner continued. “There are other people who are in a much better position to help you see that with their words and time than me, so I won’t waste your time…”

“I’m not sure I see how this is relevant…” Dylan said with a hint of confusion.

“I haven’t made my actual point yet,” Dr. Tanner retorted with a grin. “You said it yourself that you don’t know that Jon would have been cursed if you had joined the fight earlier, which by extension means that no matter how much you might blame yourself, you also don’t know that he wouldn’t have. Effectively, you’re feeling guilt for something that logically speaking, you know you shouldn’t feel guilt for. So instead, the guilt you feel like you need to feel for Jon being cursed, you instead channel into something that you are more sure of your convictions in…”

“Abbee…” Dylan said quietly, as Dr. Tanner nodded, seeing his understanding.

“And you’ve said yourself, Jon’s condition has been getting worse,” Dr. Tanner continued. “As it does you’re forced to see the damage this curse has done. And you want to blame yourself, but know that really, you don’t know for sure this isn’t your fault. So instead, your mind wanders to what else you’re blaming yourself for, that you cannot convince yourself of otherwise…”

“So what do I do then?” Dylan asked, his tone growing exasperated. “Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I slept through the night…”

“Honestly, as painful as it may be, I think you need to talk to Jon about when he was cursed,” Dr. Tanner explained. “A lot of this seems to stem from an inner conflict, of knowing you shouldn’t blame yourself for his curse, but blaming yourself anyway. If you were to actually hear first hand what it was like there, it may hurt, but it might be enough for you to realise that you couldn’t have done anything more for Jon.”

“And if that doesn’t help?”

“In the next six months, we will pass the first anniversary of the Spiritwater Crisis, you will be leaving the Academy, and not seeing first hand the effect of this on Jon. And from what you’ve told me, he may be able to be medicated for his seizures after the summer,” Dr. Tanner answered. “Honestly, you’re being sucked in to the worst of it, but if you can grit your teeth and bear it, you’ll find things will improve…”

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

"Begin!" Cassandra called out, before her and Charlotte both sent out a Pokemon. The flash of light faded and Cassandra breathed a sigh of relief. In front of Charlotte was her Magmortar and in front of herself was Marche, Cassandra's own Sandslash. She grinned, and didn't hesitate before giving her first command.

"Bulldoze!"

"Barrier!" Charlotte ordered at the same time. Cassandra was shocked that despite Magmortar's bulky frame, it was faster than Marche, using Psychic power to reinforce its own defence. Bulldoze struck, however instead of knocking Magmortar out like it normally would have, Magmortar was instead knocked back, worn out but easily still standing.

Cassandra hesitated for a moment, before giving her next instruction.

"Swords Dance Marche!"

The Sandslash cried out, as its attack power doubled, effectively negating Magmortar's Barrier. However, Charlotte had waited to give Magmortar its order, and the Pokemon was ready to obey the moment she gave the word.

"Scary Face!"

Magmortar's grin turned into something menacing, as it glared at the Sandslash, unnerving the Pokemon and reducing its speed. Charlotte however was ready for her next moves.

"Lava Plume, followed by Flamethrower!"

Magmortar unleashed a wide-spread wave of flame, which quickly engulfed Marche, causing it to flinch. In that moment, Magmortar released a second torrent, this one for more precise, which hit the Sandslash and knocked it out.

Cassandra looked in shock at Marche who lay on the ground. She had been able to give two commands before Marche fell, whilst Charlotte had given four.

In her training with Jon, she had faced plenty of different trainers in the nine months, and had held her ground. In the last month or two, she had begun winning more of her matches than she was losing against trainers outside of the Academy. But not even Jon had beaten her Pokemon so quickly in the opening moves of a match.

"Okay, so how did you do that?" Cassandra asked. She had approached Charlotte for a training match, knowing that her reputation as a battler was terrifying and had hoped to learn from her. And despite losing so spectacularly, this just proved to her how much Charlotte, despite being eight years her junior, could teach her.

Charlotte grinned.

"Two reasons that was an easy win," Charlotte explained casually. "First is the opening move. The first move both trainers make will make or break the battle. Even if that isn't true all the time, treat it as if it is."

"So I didn't make a good opening move?" Cassandra asked as Charlotte shook her head.

"It wasn't a bad opening move, but I made a better one, and that came down to two things. The first was that I knew that Magmortar was faster than Sandslash, so chances were all but certain that Magmortar would move before Marche," Charlotte explained. "That knowledge will come with experience. Be it classes here, learning about different Pokemon, or battles you have like this one…"

Cassandra nodded in understanding.

"And the second?"

"The second thing that made my opening move better, and the second reason why this was an easy win, are actually one and the same," Charlotte continued. "You have a tell…"

"A tell?"

"A subconscious but visible behaviour that indicates what you're about to do," Charlotte explained. "It's subtle but it's something a lot of trainers do, and because you did, I had a good idea of what moves you were about to make before you even made them…"

Cassandra's eyes widened at this.

"So effectively I could make more informed decisions, and account for what you were going to order Marche to do," Charlotte concluded.

"What is this tell?"

Charlotte considered answering it however, asked herself what Jon would do before grinning in a way that Cassandra knew would infuriate her.

"I'll let you figure it out," Charlotte said. "If I tell you, you'll try and cover it. But if I don't and tell you to figure it out, you'll be forced to look closer at other trainers and their idiosyncrasies, as well as your own, and be better for it…"

Cassandra sighed as she called Marche back to its Pokeball. Charlotte grinned, calling Magmortar back as well.

"Let's keep going," Charlotte explained, nodding to the mounted cameras around the room. "You can get the footage later and review it."

Cassandra nodded, before sending out Ace the Ampharos, as Charlotte simultaneously sent out her Milotic. Despite the clear type advantage however, she had a hunch the match would not be very different to the first.

The training session had started as soon as Abbee's group had finished at 5pm, and ran for half an hour, seeing as all of Cassandra's Pokemon were knocked out by that point. When it was over and she had retrieved the recording from the stadium's camera system, she made her way to Jon and Alyssa's cottage, knocking on the back door that led into the kitchen. A few moments later, it was answered by Jon, who invited her in.

"It's fine," Cassandra said, knowing she'd be quick. "Just wanted to know whether I could borrow your car?"

"Sure, not like I'm driving it," Jon said, somehow upbeat, yet sardonically, referring to having his driver's licence taken from him due to the risk of seizures. "One of these days though, I should teach you how to ride the bike…"

Jon's motorcycle remained under a cover since October, for the same reason his licence had been removed. It had been purchased brand new by the League during the mission in Alola, being a less conspicuous form of transport than Latios, and given the fact that Latios became a target, that decision had proven to be a good one in hindsight. Jon had offered, in lieu of the full payment for his role, to take partial payment and keep the bike, which the League had accepted. However by the time it was transported to Mossdeep, the curse had triggered and Jon hadn't been able to ride it since he was in Alola.

"Maybe after summer," Cassandra replied, both excited and anxious at the thought of learning to ride it. "I just need to get to the Pokemon Centre. I had a training session with Charlotte-"

She stopped as a wide grin crossed Jon's face, and realised he knew that all of Cassandra's Pokemon were likely unconscious.

"Say no more," Jon said, though seemed to have a thought. "Though, I have a better idea…"

Cassandra nodded for him to continue, curious as to what it was.

"The Pokemon Centre isn't the only place on the island with a healing machine. The Gym has one too," Jon explained. "And it just so happens that I was planning on training with Steven there tonight, and was wondering how to get there…"

Normally Dylan or Alyssa would drive Jon, however Dylan had not yet returned from his appointment and Alyssa was trying to finish a work piece before the deadline. Jon considered taking Latios, however, given his own fame, being sighted would likely result in being flooded by fans. Even worse, would be if the public realised that the High Seas Champion and the Hoenn Champion had a weekly training match in the Gym.

Cassandra grinned at Jon attempting to be subtle.

"I'll tag along," Cassandra agreed.


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

"How are we doing?" Victini asked Abbee, who grinned.

"Forty thousand tweets and counting…" Abbee replied. They sat at a table in the dining room, which was seeming a little too crowded given the amount of students at the Eon Academy that summer, surrounded by students who were on their own phones, browsing Twitter for the hashtags that Abbee and Victini had managed to get trending.

#VictiniVsScizorRematch
#SSWishmakerGrudgeMatch
#JusticeForVictini

It was Victini's idea to use Jon's renown against him, and Abbee's to do that by using hashtags. She had got them started on her own account, and, knowing the password for Dylan's, had crept onto his to share them as well. Between them, as well as those at the Academy they had talked into sharing it, they had reached fifteen thousand tweets. It wasn't until Abbee bribed Justin into making a post himself with the hashtags that it sky-rocketed to thirty-five thousand. Charlotte had since seen it and shared it as well, putting them at the fourty-thousand mark.

"Do you think he'll see it?" Abbee asked.

"He'll see it…"

Abbee turned to see Violet walking over to join the table. She shifted aside, allowing room for the fellow intern to join her.

"Cass is driving him to his training match with Steven tonight," Violet said, albeit a little quieter so people wouldn't start asking why Jon needed to be driven around. "I drove the other week and he has the radio set to Planet Golem religiously. And in their evening update, they go over what's trending…"

"If only we could get in on a billboard…" Victini muttered as Abbee's eyes widened. She looked at Violet.

"What time does Jon usually leave?" Abbee asked Violet.

"Between six-thirty and seven," Violet answered, unsure what Abbee had in mind. She quickly got up, scooping up Victini.

"The Mossdeep Freeway has a digital billboard with an Eon Academy advertisement on it…" Abbee said, as Violet remembered seeing it. "Dylan rented the space when we got back from Alola last year, and got a year's worth of advertising with unlimited revisions. He did it all through a web-portal…"

Violet grinned at what Abbee was hinting towards, as the trio quickly left the dining hall, making their way to the lodge, Abbee leading the way upstairs into Dylan's room. As expected, his laptop was on the desk. Abbee opened it before typing in her birthday when asked for the PIN. The computer unlocked, welcoming her, as she opened the web browser and began typing the web address of the advertising agency that owned the billboard.

"Dylan is nefarious for leaving his passwords saved on his computer. Probably because he doesn't expect me to take advantage of that…" Abbee explained. She opened the login page for the website and Violet grinned to see Dylan's email address prefilled and a long string of asterisks in the password field. "Bingo…"

Knowing Dylan would be back soon, Abbee quickly found a photo of Victini online, trimming it from its background, and placing it in a banner, before getting a photo of Jon and Scizor from the High Seas Tournament, and adding that in. Finally, were the hashtags.

#VictiniVsScizorRematch

#SSWishmakerGrudgeMatch

#JusticeForVictini


"It's not pretty…" Abbee said with a grin as Violet nodded in agreement. "But it gets the point across."

"How long will it take to update?" Violet asked as Abbee returned to the web-portal and uploaded the image.

"Should be instant…"

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

"This is Planet Golem, Hoenn's home of all things rock!"

The radio played quietly as Cassandra drove Jon's car down the Mossdeep Freeway, towards the exit that would take them to the Mossdeep Gym.

"Maybe if you're here, I can convince Steven to head to the bar after training like we used to," Jon said. "He's been going straight home after, which takes away half the fun…"

Despite the fact Jon couldn't drink for the time being, he enjoyed the atmosphere of the bar he and Steven frequented after their training sessions. Steven however, didn't want to drink in front of Jon and knew Jon would not let Steven deprive himself on his behalf.

"Maybe," Cassandra replied. "But I don't want to be off site too long. It's one thing to get the senior students to keep an eye on my team while I go get my Pokemon healed. It's another to do that so I can gallivant around with you and Steven…"

Jon chuckled at the description of their usual tame, one or two beers at the bar, as gallivanting.

"So how did your training with Charlotte go?" Jon asked.

"It was over before I knew it, and not because I was having the time of my life…" Cassandra retorted. Jon grinned.

"She is terrifying…"

Cassandra went to respond, however could hear the radio presenter faintly through the car speakers.

"And trending at numbers one through three in the last hour, is something from Hoenn's own Jon Drake, and his Eon Academy!"

"Jon, have you checked Twitter lately?" Cassandra asked as she turned up the radio.

"Not for a few hours?" Jon asked, as he realised what was going on. "I disabled notifications after your little stunt in Alola, and realised I preferred them being off…"

"Helped along by his premier students, #VictiniVsScizorRematch, #SSWishmakerGrudgeMatch and #JusticeForVictini are trending in the top three spots," the radio presenter explained. "It seems that the Victini, who was formerly trained by Cassandra Silvers, is out to prove that it's humiliating loss against Jon Drake's Scizor in the grand final of the first High Seas Tournament was a fluke on Scizor's behalf, and is doing whatever it can to make that rematch happen…"

"Was Victini like this when he was with you?" Jon asked. "He seemed a lot more relaxed and less obsessive…"

"Not until we beat Avery then lost to you…" Cassandra answered with a grin. "You and Scizor created this monster…"

"We are now accepting callers to discuss this," the presenter continued. "You're on the air with Planet Golem. What do you have to say about all this?"

Cassandra tried to listen to the caller, who began harping on about how Jon owes Victini this rematch, especially considering Scizor had the opportunity to use both Double Team and Swords Dance before Victini even entered the field. However her attention was diverted by the changing of the digital billboard above the freeway. What was an advertisement for Pokemon food, had changed to the next promotion in its rotation.

"Jon…"

Jon's attention, which had been on the caller, was drawn to what Cassandra was looking at as she slowed down, and pulled over into the emergency stop lane of the freeway. On the giant screen was a banner containing a picture of Victini, as well as a photo of Jon and Scizor from the High Seas Tournament Grand Final, and the three hashtags.

"Goddamn…" Jon muttered. Whilst he had told Abbee that Victini would need to force the battle to happen, this wasn't what he had expected. He quickly grabbed his phone, and turned down the radio before typing in a number.

"Who're you calling?" Cassandra asked. Jon didn't answer, however spoke into the phone.

"Planet Golem? This is Jon Drake himself. Put me on air…"

Cassandra grabbed her wireless earbuds from her pocket, which she had brought so she could watch the recording while she waited for Jon and Steven to finish their training session and turned them on, before opening Planet Golem's website on her phone and listening to the broadcast.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just been informed that we have Jon Drake himself on the line. Jon, what do you have to say about all of this?"

"I have a bit to say… David…" Jon said, only just remembering the name of the presenter in time. "But it comes down to this; as first High Seas Champion, and the trainer of the Legendary Pokemon Latios, Rayquaza and Giratina, if I were to simply accept the challenge of anyone who posts on Twitter, I wouldn't have time to do anything else. I get five challenges on Twitter a day from people who hide behind keyboards as it is, knowing that I wouldn't actually accept it…"

"Some would argue that as someone who calls themself a Pokemon Trainer, it is your obligation to accept any challenge. I've heard rumours of those who treat eye contact as the acceptance of a challenge…"

"I am the High Seas Champion and trainer of three Legendary Pokemon, but even I couldn't just demand a formal match from Steven Stone," Jon answered back knowing full well of the irony of the fact he was on his way to a practise match with Steven. "I'd still have to best the Hoenn Elite Four before Steven would be obligated to meet my challenge. In the same way, I am not obligated to meet every challenge. If I were challenged by Avery Miller or Freddy Davis, I'd meet those challenges regardless out of good faith, given the complexity of the first High Seas Tournament. But outside of that, I will only meet the challenges I choose to meet."

"So what would it take for Victini to force your hand into accepting his challenge?" the presenter asked. "You said yourself, Steven Stone would be obligated to accept your challenge if you beat the Elite Four. What are your conditions?"

Jon grinned.

"If Victini wants a crack at Scizor, then he needs to beat my own Elite Four. My four strongest Pokemon. Blaziken, Latios, Rayquaza and Giratina…"

There was silence on the air as the presenter listened in shock.

"Then he can have a crack at Scizor…"

Jon knew that Victini, as strong as he was, could not beat all four of these Pokemon. All of them resisted at least one, some both, of his types. Instead, he hoped that Victini would instead, think less directly about this, and come up with a more creative solution to outsmart him.

"Until then, I will not meet Victini's challenge…"

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

It was after dinner when Chris and Justin collapsed onto the couch in the intern lodge. Despite both not having team training with Jon that afternoon, Chris had been taking a class each day that week, alongside Cassandra, with whom there seemed to be awkward tension, whilst Justin was dealing with behavioural issues amongst some of the younger students in his team almost all day.

"For what it's worth, we'll probably miss this, come next summer," Justin joked as Chris just groaned. He honestly didn't mind the teaching work or the amount of it. It was just exhausting. Though it didn't help that he always felt on edge around Cassandra.

I’m aware,” Chris answered. “If I drank, I’d be needing one after today…”

The answer surprised Justin a little.

“You don’t drink?”

“After the s**tshow back in Jubilife on my birthday? That is to say, not for a while.” Chris asked rhetorically. “I made an a** of myself, got us thrown out of the bar, vomited more than I ever have in my life, and woke up on your couch waiting for the sweet embrace of death to spare me from the hangover I had…”

“That pretty much sums it up…” Justin agreed. “Maybe there is hope you’ll grow up like the rest of us…”

Chris pulled a face in a childish implication of impersonating Justin, before both, despite their exhaustion, laughed.

“So what’s got you so tired?” Chris asked. “You haven’t taught today? And you teach alongside Steven Stone of all people. I imagine he’d be taking the lead, and you’d be assisting him?”

“Actually, he leaves the bulk to me, and fills gaps I may leave,” Justin answered. “Steven says that unless I’m a beat cop the rest of my life, moving up the chain of command will require me to be able to coordinate and lead teams. So he figures that it's good experience being the point of contact for the students, and the authority figure…”

“But you didn’t teach today?”

“I teach three classes Monday, two Wednesday and one Friday,” Justin explained. “Nah, today, I think all of the younger students in my team got together and snorted a fat line of white powder in the morning, because they were bouncing off the walls all day…”

Chris grinned.

“Now that you mention it, they did seem hyperactive this morning,” Chris answered, remembering the class he ran for Justin’s team. Justin sighed in response. “Do you think you got your point across?”

Justin scoffed.

“Doubt it,” Justin said before grinning. “But I don’t think they’ll be a problem after tonight…”

Chris gave Justin a look of fake concern.

“You aren’t going to abduct them and tie them to the rocks on the beach in their sleep or something, are you?”

“No, but they’d probably rather that to what I have planned,” Justin joked. “Abbee needed a favour, so I asked her if, when Dylan gets back, she could convince him to put on the grumpy face and scare them straight…”

Despite finding Justin’s solution amusing, Chris remained silent at the reference of Abbee, Dylan, and their relationship. Dylan would be a good person to scare some sense into them. His large frame, tall stature, as well as his relative silence and visibly serious nature would be enough to get the point across. And if that didn’t, the nightmare monster that lived in his shadow would…

“What favour?” Chris asked, curious. He knew both Justin and Abbee well enough to know that they wouldn’t be bargaining if they needed help from each other unless it was something the other necessarily wouldn’t want to do, and even then, both were still more likely to help out than Dylan, Charlotte, or Chris himself.

“She is trying to get a few hashtags trending, so asked if I could make some posts to give them a boost,” Justin said, before adding cynically, “because for some f**ked up reason, I’m somehow the most famous out of the five of us…”

Curious, Chris withdrew his phone from his pocket, having not had a chance for hours to check. He pressed the home button, lighting up the lockscreen, where he was quickly distracted by the half dozen missed calls and text messages.

Clair.

“What the…” Chris said without realising, as Justin looked over.

“Everything alright?”

“My sister has been trying to get me all afternoon,” Chris answered. “Normally I don’t hear from her more than once a week…”

Without waiting for an answer, Chris stood to his feet, as he called Clair. He was incapable of standing still on the phone, with longer calls usually resulting in him walking laps in whatever room he was in.

”Chris, what is the point in having a mobile phone, if you don’t answer it?” Clair asked as soon as she answered the phone. Chris’ face flushed red. Despite the fact that Clair was almost ten years older than Chris, and now both were adults, with Clair getting closer to being thirty by the day, they still found it easier to bicker with one-another than have a serious conversation.

“Clair, I have a job,” Chris retorted sarcastically. “One that doesn’t hinge on people showing up once every few days for a challenge, and pay me to browse twitter the rest of the time…”

Justin winced at Chris’ harsh words, despite Chris having made clear earlier that he and Clair, despite not being close in the traditional sense, generally got along very well, even if their conversations turned to cheap shots at one another.

“Funny you talk about that, because if you want to keep your job, it would have helped to answer the phone,” Clair said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, the Gym’s insurance wouldn’t cover any employees working with Pokemon that don’t have a licence, and I imagine the Eon Academy’s would be the same…”

Chris was confused for a moment, until Justin noticed his face go white.

“Oh s**t…”

”Yeah, your League registration has expired,” Clair confirmed. ”Three months ago. I’m surprised you didn’t know…”

“I’ve been at the College of the North Wind,” Chris answered. “I stayed onsite, and they have their own healing machine and PC system…”

“The renewal letter arrived months ago, but Dad accidentally dropped it down the side of the fridge and forgot about it,” Clair continued. ”I don’t know why you haven’t registered to have it sent to your email…”

“Clair, save the lecture,” Chris answered exasperatedly. “How bad is it?”

”Well, the letter said you’re in the overdue phase, which means if you submit the renewal, you will be fine,” Clair explained. ”The bad news is the cutoff for the renewal is Saturday, and any later, your licence will be revoked, and you’ll need to go through the entire application again…”

The application process for League registration tended to take around three months, which Chris didn't want to have to suffer through again.

“Okay, so I’ll just log in now and submit the renewal?”

”Let me finish,” Clair retorted. ”If you do that, it will take three business days to process, and considering tomorrow is Friday, it will be too late by the time it is processed…”

“S**t…” Chris muttered. “Surely you can pull some strings, being a Gym Leader and get it fast-tracked?”

”I can’t, but I found out something interesting…” Clair explained. ”During business hours, Pokemon Centres can process the renewals in person, and instantly…”

“So if I want to start my trip as soon as summer is over…”

”You have to get to a Pokemon Centre during business hours tomorrow, and get this sorted out…” Clair finished. ”Otherwise, Second To None will be Second To Unregistration…”

“Is there anything else I need?” Chris asked, hoping that he wouldn’t need documents like his birth certificate. “ID or anything?”

”Your driver’s licence will prove it’s you,” Clair answered. ”And you’ll need a witness to sign the renewal if you want it processed instantly. Someone not employed by the Pokemon Centre, or related to you…”

A few minutes later, Chris ended the call, before looking at Justin.

“I need a favour…”


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

As Jon and Steven got to the end of their practise match, with Scizor facing Claydol, Cassandra sat on a bench to the side of the battlefield, tablet on her lap as she watched through the recording of her battle with Charlotte for the twelfth time. Specifically, the opening match. Marche versus Magmortar.

The app allowed the footage from multiple cameras to be overlaid in whatever format Cassandra wanted, and she had the largest segment of the screen focused on her, with others showing Charlotte and the two Pokemon. She pressed play again, and watched as Magmortar increased its defence with Barrier, absorbing most of Marche’s attack, before striking it in rapid succession, knocking it out. The match had taken less than fifteen seconds, which Cassandra hadn’t realised until she watched the footage of it earlier that evening.

“Goddamn…”

Cassandra looked up, to see Jon looking over her shoulder, and watching the footage of Marche being beaten in record time.

“Steven, check this out!” Jon called, as Steven walked towards the pair.

“Glad I’m providing some quality entertainment,” Cassandra remarked, though still rewound the footage, allowing Steven to see the matchup that ended as quickly as it began.

“Goddamn…” Steven agreed, as Jon grinned.

“We know that it wasn’t through lack of skill that you lost. More so, the fact that she is-”

“Terrifying…” Cassandra nodded. “Believe me, I witnessed that first hand…”

At Jon’s prompting, Cassandra handed him the tablet, before he quickly reshuffled the windows, opening other camera angles on them, before he and Steven watched again in awe.

“Honestly Jon, at the rate she is improving, I think this is your last summer where you can confidently say you’re better than her,” Steven said, surprising Cassandra a little.

“There’s nothing confident about it,” Jon agreed. “Though if she is that close to me, she isn’t much further from you…”

“I’m well aware…”

The pair watched, however as they did, grew more confused.

“Cass, I don’t think I could have even beaten you that quickly…” Jon said, sounding puzzled. “Do you know how Charlotte beat you?”

“She said her opening move was better, and that she was able to make that better opening move, because I have a tell,” Cassandra said, as Jon looked at her confused, though Steven seemed to understand. “Some behaviour she noticed which indicated what I was going to do. Said that this one is common among trainers, and when she noticed it, it gave her an idea of what I was going to do, so she could react before I even made a move.”

“Did she tell you what the tell was?” Jon asked. Cassandra shook her head.

“She said that if she told me, I’d just learn to hide it. But if she didn’t, I’d be forced to analyse my own patterns, and get into the habit of analysing other trainers as well, and that I’d be better off for it,” Cassandra explained, nodding to the tablet. “That’s why I am watching that opening match on repeat. I did something there that gave her the match, but honestly, I have no clue what…”

“She’s your student, through and through,” Steven admitted to Jon, referring to Charlotte not telling Cassandra what exactly her tell was, whilst Jon watched the clip again. Cassandra wasn’t wrong. She gave a total of two orders, and nothing seemed to stand out in her behaviour, even to someone as experienced as he was. Granted, whilst he was not one to shy away from mind games in a battle, identifying miniscule patterns like Charlotte had in this case, was beyond him. Jon looked to Cassandra, handing her the tablet.

“Do you want her to tell you?”

“Honestly, no,” Cassandra admitted. “She is right. Figuring this out on my own will help develop skills similar to what she has.”

Jon nodded, satisfied, though Cassandra continued.

“However, I might ask for a little direction,” Cassandra added. “Because it seems like I’m making no progress here…”

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

Cassandra awoke early the next morning, making a cup of coffee, and finding a comfortable spot on the couch in the intern’s lounge. Despite the fact that she tried to convince herself that she hadn’t become reliant on the comforts of living as a human, she knew that, especially in the last year, she had become very reliant on good coffee, and should she ever decide to become an Eevee again, she’d need to figure out a way to use Shadowcraft in order to brew the drink that had become part of her morning ritual.

The tablet sat on the coffee table in front of her, however this time, instead of her battle with Charlotte the afternoon before, she was watching tournament battles between Charlotte and other competitors from the last two years. Specifically, the battles that Charlotte managed to have the first Pokemon beaten as quickly as she had against Cassandra. Dylan was the next to wake, followed by Jarena, then Justin. However, after not being able to find out what Charlotte may have seen in her, she changed tactics, instead, settling for a recording of Charlotte battling Chris, which resulted in a tie.

“Trying to find some weakness?”

Charlotte sat on the couch next to her, having awoken, and heard the audio of the battle downstairs.

“Trying to figure out what this tell is,” Cassandra explained. “Or, if I can, what I am doing that Chris isn’t, that gives you the edge.”

Charlotte grinned, as Cassandra continued.

“You’re right, I’d be better off if I figured it out myself, but I’m getting nowhere,” Cassandra admitted. “So can you give me a hint? Some idea of what I’m looking for?”

Charlotte pondered the question for a moment, before deciding on a way to address this.

“I’d start taking notes,” Charlotte started, as Cassandra quickly put her coffee down and opened up the voice recorder on her phone. She nodded, as Charlotte continued. “All but the most experienced students will have the same tell as you when battling against you. But even the most experienced would have it against Jon, Steven and the five of us who’ve been here since the start…”

Cassandra nodded, as Charlotte thought for a moment.

“I would have the same thing if I weren’t aware of it, but I manage to hide it, regardless of who I battle. Chris on the other hand would only have this tell battling against Jon, and only if it weren’t a battle where he had something to lose. Dylan’s style of battling means that he doesn’t have it. None of the five of us would have it against any of the students, though Abbee and Justin would only have it against Jon, myself and Chris,” Charlotte explained. “Abbee, however, has a slightly different way of battling to the other four of us, and that makes up for it at times. Check out her battle against Matt Campbell for that difference. As for Justin, he’d only have it if he isn’t currently working through some sort of tactic. As for you, I know for sure you’d have it against me, and likely Dylan as well. Abbee and Justin, maybe, but not as likely as you would against myself, Jon and Dylan. As for Chris, I don’t think you’d have the tell against him…”

Cassandra ended the recording, still trying to process what Charlotte had just said.

“So have you watched all these combinations and identified these patterns?” Cassandra asked, still shocked that Charlotte was able to rattle off such a comprehensive list. Charlotte shook her head.

“I don’t need to. In terms of Jon and the other four, I know them well enough to know when they would and wouldn’t fall into the trap,” Charlotte explained. “If you want to see it first hand, Chris, Justin and Dylan all have their team training against Jon, and I can guarantee there will be battles between at least one of them and Jon. If Chris and Jon battle, and Chris doesn’t treat it just like a practice match, he will do it. Justin will against Jon if he doesn’t have a detailed plan he is using in place, and Dylan won’t at all.”

“What about Jon?”

Charlotte grinned, almost menacingly.

“I’ve never seen him do it, but I want to be the first to make him do it…”

Cassandra had one word going through her head at the answer.

”Terrifying…”

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

“Damn it…” Violet muttered, as she tossed her phone onto the couch, with only just enough restraint to ensure it wouldn’t bounce off, and smash on the floor. She was up to her tenth call over the last three days, and whilst she hadn’t expected an answer, that didn’t make the situation any less frustrating.

“If they wanna be immature about it all, screw ‘em,” Jarena offered. “The only reason their cushy, middle-class lives are going on unaffected enough that they can ignore you, is because of what we did in Alola…”

“I’m not calling them because I want to make amends,” Violet answered, as she sat on the couch, picking up her phone again to draft an email. “I called him once, and he picked up because he didn’t recognise the number. He only stayed on the line long enough to tell me how much of a disappointment I was. I’m done begging for forgiveness, and permission to live my life. I’ve apologised, and reached out. If they want to keep acting like this, that’s on them…”

“So why are you trying to reach out to them then?” Jarena asked. This whole thing seemed foreign to her. Despite the initial awkwardness, her family didn’t hold any resentment towards her, more so unsurprised that the years of fame, before her apparent death, were, for lack of better words, a giant prank. Cassandra’s family, whilst not as chill about everything that happened as Jarena’s, relatively speaking, were still willing to talk about it. Violet’s parents, Barry and Natalya Radcliffe, however, were refusing to even answer phone calls.

“Why the effort?” Jarena asked from where she sat in the lounge. “Obviously you aren’t pleased about this…”

“There are only two things you can be certain of in life,” Violet said, stating the old adage. “Death and taxes…”

“Did someone die?” Jarena asked. Violet shook her head.

“That’d be easier to deal with,” Violet joked morbidly, earning a stifled laugh from her friend. “No, my tax return is due…”

“Weren’t they due months ago?” Jarena asked, remembering that she and Cassandra had visited an accountant in Mossdeep together.

“They were, but I got an extension,” Violet said with a sigh. “Remember how you needed to re-register with the Hoenn Taxation Office after we came back?”

Jarena nodded, recalling how weird it was, going through the process of coming back from the dead, in terms of logistics, such as opening a new bank account.

“Well, you needed ID to do that, right? Like your birth certificate? Same as getting another driver’s licence,” Violet continued as Jarena nodded. “Well my parents have mine, and don’t listen long enough to understand that they’re screwing me over by refusing to cooperate. I got an extension on my tax return to give me time to work things out with them, but I’m running out of time…”

“Could you try calling them from Jon’s phone?” Jarena asked. “Or get someone else to call them? Heck, even get a new one issued?”

“I’d hoped that this could be enough to open the door a little with them, and now it’s too late to get a new one,” Violet answered. “And they’d hang up the moment that they knew it was me, or about me…”

“Could Latios reenact the S.S. Wishmaker?” Jarena half joked. “Fly to Johto over the weekend, sneak in while invisible and steal your birth certificate?”

Violet laughed at the recollection, though shook her head.

“Honestly, I want to handle this myself. I don’t want to run to Jon to bail me out whenever things are tricky,” Violet answered. “However, there’s not much I can do from here, and I’m sure as hell not flying all the way to Johto just because my parents won’t cooperate. But I’m getting nowhere with phone calls and emails…”

Violet’s words trailed off as she had a thought. Jarena had proposed using Latios’ own extraordinary talents, his supersonic flight, telepathy and invisibility to solve the problem. But Latios wasn’t the only one with extraordinary talents. And whilst she hadn’t used hers to have an effect over a huge distance like this, she knew of someone else who had.

“Is Willow around?”

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

The grounds of the Eon Academy were oddly quiet, as all the students were in their second period classes. Two thirds were in the two rooms of the main hall, where Justin and Steven taught Pokemon Knowledge, whilst Cassandra and Chris were teaching Tactics and Strategy. In the Stadium, Jon and Charlotte coached the remaining third of the students in Practical Training. Whilst Abbee remained in her room, preparing for her Trainer Career class that would be occurring in the following period, and Violet and Jarena discussed Violet’s predicament with her parents, Dylan and Willow stood by the small hole in a garden bed that he had dug, which contained a lockbox.

“So before I perform this spell, run me through the way all this works…” Willow said. “Just because if we do this wrong, we may be burying a time-bomb…”

Dylan nodded.

“So you have placed a Shadowcraft circle encasing the property, which acts as a giant tripwire?” Dylan asked. Willow nodded in confirmation.

“Think less tripwire, and more like a dome-shaped membrane,” Willow explained. “An invisible membrane that will detect anyone crossing through it, be it on foot, in the air, or even underground…”

“And the activation of that is conditional to the intent of the person crossing in,” Dylan continued, a hint of a question in his voice.

“Exactly. If they enter through with ill intent towards the Academy or any of its inhabitants, that will trigger the activation of the spell, which in turn, will trigger the conditional light illusion spell…” Willow concluded. “So in practice, if an intruder were to cross the boundary, then they would be surrounded by a pillar of light, which will go through any obstacles, visible only to us staff members…”

Dylan grinned.

“And to power it, we take a leaf out of Brianna’s book…”

Inside the lockbox that sat in the hole was a diamond. It was nowhere near the size of the diamonds Brianna Levine had used in Alola, however for their purposes, a spell that would largely remain dormant, and when triggered, only produce light, a small diamond was more than enough.

“The diamond will be enchanted to absorb any residual energy from Shadowcraft performed on the property, storing it until the detection spell is triggered,” Willow explained. “And in order to prevent the diamond being overloaded with energy, it will have a hybrid enchantment, causing it to leak energy out when it is near capacity. Which will be visible in how this garden grows…”

“One question,” Dylan explained. “What’s to stop someone just digging up the lockbox and taking the diamond?”

Willow considered the question. She hadn’t placed any sort of spell on the lockbox in the current schematic, which meant she could enchant it however she pleased.

“I’ll put a mild curse on it,” Willow answered simply. “One that will give them the insuppressible need to find a bathroom.”

“Won’t that curse be gone once it’s triggered?” Dylan asked.

“It will be, but honestly we only need to buy a little time…”

“Why’s that?”

“Because being within the boundary, wanting to disable what is effectively our security system, is ill intent towards the Academy, which will make it impossible to remain hidden from us for long…”

Dylan nodded in understanding.

“So are we ready?” Willow asked, as she began placing a series of reagents in the lockbox surrounding the diamond. Copper coins on one side, with a few blank keys from the hardware store on the other side of the diamond, chosen for their galvanised metal construction, before coating the entire contents of the box with salt. Dylan nodded.

Willow removed a scrap of paper from her pocket, which contained the long winded and detailed incantation for the complex spell that she was about to perform. After a few moments reading through it, she took a deep breath, and began reciting it, allowing the Shadowcraft to pull energy from the void, affecting the world around her.

The entire incantation took a little over a minute, as the contents of the lockbox began to glow. When the glow dissipated, the reagents that surrounded the diamond were gone, leaving the diamond which seemed to sparkle a little more than it did prior.

“I’m really glad you figured out that spell for the diamond,” Dylan noted. “I think all of us who were in Alola will sleep a little better for it…”

“It only took nine months,” Willow remarked sarcastically. “Granted, the first three months were trying to convince the League to loan me the evidence they confiscated…”

In addition to Willow’s own tomes and belongings that she had been forced to leave at the Megamart, all Shadowcraft related items found were confiscated by the League after the battle was over. Despite Willow’s crimes being pardoned for her role in betraying Agatha, and helping to capture Marshadow, the League were hesitant to return her belongings to her, and even more hesitant to provide copies of other tomes, including Agatha’s own handwritten notes.

The tipping point, in which an agreement was made, was the need for translation for the League. Most of the older, more advanced tomes, were transcribed in ancient Shadowcraft glyphs, and whilst government linguists would eventually be able to translate them given enough time, the very near brush with failure in Alola had the League on edge, wanting to know whether the confiscated items contained details of even worse horrors than Endkath and the Netherlink. As such, an agreement was made, in which Willow, under heavy supervision, was allowed to go through the confiscated material, translating the script, and if the contents were not deemed dangerous, to retain a copy.

The notes that Willow had been allowed to keep, had not contained the exact spell that Brianna had used on the diamonds in Alola, though she knew this would be the case. If Agatha had known the spell herself, she would have used it to keep the dark clouds and winds in place, without tying up a large portion of her force keeping the spell active.

However, given Willow’s own understanding of Shadowcraft, alongside the collective notes of all Shadowcraft users confiscated by the League, with enough time, she was able to recreate the spell, leading to this point.

Once Willow had cursed the lockbox, Dylan carefully began to bury it in the garden bed, making sure not to touch it, and risk the effect of the curse, in relative silence. After a moment though, he spoke.

“Willow, I was wondering something…”

Willow looked towards Dylan, having heard the change of tone. He wasn’t looking at her, instead looking at the ground where he was burying the lockbox. However, his face wasn’t the usual, occupied expression he had when he worked. Instead, it was pained.

“What’s up?” Willow asked, trying not to sound too concerned. It was no secret amongst those who lived at the Eon Academy that Dylan was seeking a psychologist, given the trauma of Alola. The pair were friendly, and had been since returning to Hoenn. But Dylan’s tone was different…

“I was wondering… if you could tell me about the battle in Alola,” Dylan said, before adding quietly. “When Jon was cursed…”

Willow remained silent, unsure if she would be doing more harm by telling him. She knew that half of Dylan’s own pain from Alola was guilt. Guilt for Abbee’s extremely close brush with death, and guilt for not being there to help her and Jon during the battle with Giratina and Marshadow. Understanding the silence, Dylan continued.

“My psych told me that deep down, I know that even if I was there with you guys, Jon might have still been cursed, but I still blame myself…” Dylan explained. “And because of that, I just channel the guilt towards what happened with Abbee. Because of that, she told me I should talk to Jon about it, and hear what happened first hand. Actually find out what happened…”

Willow understood Dylan’s words, and by extension, why he didn’t speak to Jon about this, despite having known Jon for four years at this point, and herself only one. He didn’t want Jon to worry about him. Just like Jon didn’t want Dylan worrying about him.

”You two couldn’t be more alike if you tried…” Willow thought to herself. She considered how best to address this, and spoke.

“Jon and I were only together for a few minutes of the fight. We had waited until the battle between Giratina and that thing that Aaron turned himself into to be over, or until it would force us to intervene, like if it were going to move towards Heahea City. Jon also wanted to wait until Agatha was occupied, seeing as her joining the fight would cause it to end the same way it did at the hospital the day before,” Willow recounted. “Once Giratina won, and Jon got word Agatha was occupied fighting the Diamond Ladies, we intervened before Nicodemus and his force were able to heal it too much. Strike while the iron is hot, and all that. At first it was us against Giratina, Nicodemus, a few witches, and a heap of Ghost Pokemon…”

Dylan felt his stomach sink hearing just how outnumbered the pair were.

“Rayquaza was keeping Giratina busy, whilst Nicodemus was coming for me. Jon directed Blaziken, Nidoking and Jolteon to dispatch a large group of the Ghost Pokemon, and once they were down, had them hold back the witches. That’s when Marshadow appeared…”

Willow’s hand dropped down to her belt where Marshadow’s Pokeball was clipped. Despite Marshadow being far easier to rehabilitate than Giratina, especially when Willow removed the curse similar to the one Agatha had placed on Giratina, she still felt anxious looking back to that day.

“Latios managed to split Marshadow and Giratina up, and myself, Latias and Latios moved the battle with Marshadow elsewhere. Nicodemus went to follow us, but Jon got in his way and fought him, causing a bit of a stalemate, whilst his Pokemon kept the witches busy, and Rayquaza fought Giratina,” Willow explained. “I couldn’t see anything but Giratina and Rayquaza after that. Rayquaza got the upper hand, but when Brianna’s diamond overloaded and accelerated the Netherlink, it empowered Giratina. But by that point, Jon had been cursed…”

Dylan remained silent hearing this. Had he been there, Darkrai would have been able to put the witches, Nicodemus included, to sleep.

“There’s something you have to remember…”

Dylan looked up, making eye contact with Willow for the first time since.

“I didn’t know what was happening there, but I could see the shack where you and Abbee were from where I was battling Marshadow. I had no clue you were even there…” Willow explained. “Abbee wanted to leave, and help Jon, but you didn’t want to disobey orders, and risk Brianna becoming a bigger threat, right?”

“Yeah…” Dylan said quietly, wishing he didn’t have to remember that conversation.

“Well even if you did listen to her, you would have crossed paths with Latios, Latias and myself battling Marshadow before you reached Jon,” Willow explained. “Giratina wasn’t the only one being empowered by the Netherlink. Marshadow was as well, and even though Latios and Latias were both battling it, it was a battle of attrition at best, moving towards a losing battle…”

“You captured Marshadow in the end,” Dylan protested, though Willow shook her head.

“Only because Jirachi closed the Netherlink. Fact is, we were losing, and could only lose until the Netherlink closed, and Marshadow returned to normal. Latios was doing everything he could just to keep the battle going with both of them against Marshadow, because he knew the moment he or Latias fell, the fight was over,” Willow explained. “You would have crossed paths with us before getting near Jon, and fact is, even if we eventually won, we would have needed your help too much for you to leave us to fight Marshadow alone. Even if you and Abbee joining the fight would have allowed us to capture or kill Marshadow with the Netherlink still active, you would not have gotten to Jon in time to prevent Nicodemus from cursing him…”

“We might have thought Jon was in more danger,” Dylan offered, though surprisingly, knew he didn’t believe his own words. “Or we would have split up. Abbee would have fought with you, and I with Jon.”

“I know you care too much about Abbee to have left her with me whilst you helped Jon,” Willow said gently. “And the fact you’re feeling this way is proof enough that you wouldn’t have left me to fight Marshadow alone…”

Dylan remained silent.

“I was in Eon Squad HQ when Jon gave you the orders to try and find Brianna’s diamonds. You were only not part of the fight, because you followed Jon’s orders. And because you did the right thing and followed his orders, there is no way you would have been able to stop Jon being cursed,” Willow concluded. “The person who shoulders the blame for this is Agatha, and she got what she deserved. This isn’t your fault…”

“Willow!”

Willow looked over to see Violet and Jarena approaching. She quickly looked back to Dylan.

“I’m happy to talk about this whenever you need to. Whatever it takes to help you understand that you’re not to blame,” Willow said quietly, so only Dylan could hear. “Just don’t keep all this to yourself, okay?”

Dylan nodded, as Violet and Jarena arrived, looking down at the freshly dug earth.

“You’ve done it?” Jarena asked, having had the plan explained to her by Dylan months earlier. Willow nodded.

“We have the best security system on the planet,” Willow said proudly, trying to hide the seriousness of the conversation she had just had with Dylan.

“Well, as much as I’d love to give you a break, I need your help,” Violet said. “I need to know how to perform a spell that Agatha used…”

There was silence, as Willow looked at Violet in shock.

“Nothing nasty,” Violet reassured. “At least, nothing inherently nasty…”

“What spell?” Willow asked, shocked that anything her former mistress did could be considered not nasty.

“The one she used to cause us all to have the dream…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
“Sorry, but no,” Jon said as Chris felt his stomach sink.

“Justin has his licence though?” Chris retorted, his own licence only being for a motorcycle. “And he’d be a safe driver.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Jon agreed. “It’s our insurance that has a problem with it…”

Chris and Justin stood before Jon in the arena, as Justin’s team, who had just finished their afternoon training session with Jon filtered out of the Stadium. Dylan, whose team was next to train with Jon that afternoon, had entered, and quietly walked over to see what the discussion was about.

“The insurance for mine and Alyssa’s cars require the driver to be twenty-one or over,” Jon explained. “And Justin is a few months shy of that. If you were to be in an accident, you’d have no insurance…”

Chris sighed as Jon continued.

“The only person under twenty-one that was likely to drive either of our cars was Dylan, but he had his own car, and is twenty-one now anyway,” Jon explained, nodding towards Dylan.

“You can borrow my car if you want,” Dylan said, addressing the offer to Justin, which, despite himself, caused Chris to breathe a sigh of relief, however Justin was cautious to not get too ahead of himself.

“I appreciate it, but I can’t drive your car,” Justin answered. “I can only drive an automatic…”

Chris groaned, having his recently renewed hopes dashed by Justin’s inability to work a clutch and gear shift, something he knew how to do from riding his motorcycle.

“How can you not drive a manual?” Chris asked, as Justin shrugged.

“I only got my licence to help my chances with the police force, and all their cars are automatic,” Justin explained. “Lessons were cheaper, and I could get my licence sooner…”

“Sorry guys,” Jon said. “Maybe see if Jarena is free to drive you? Cass has her team's session after Dylan, so she’s busy, and Violet has had some hiccups getting her licence back.”

“Charlotte can drive a manual,” Dylan added.

Chris looked between the pair, and considered his options. If both Jon and Dylan’s cars were on site, it meant that Charlotte and Jarena were both likely at the Academy. However, he had no clue where, or if either could drive them. Besides, Justin had agreed to the favour, and he didn’t want to pull them away from whatever they had planned for the afternoon. However, he had another idea.

“Jon, do you have a set of riding gear?” Chris asked, knowing the answer. He had purchased a set in Alola for riding around Akala Island. “A set that could fit Justin?”

Jon realised what Chris was thinking, and nodded.

“Alyssa knows where it is,” Jon said, as he noticed Dylan’s group beginning to filter in. “Go ask her for it, and tell her I gave the all clear…”

With a grin, Chris grabbed Justin’s shirt by the shoulder and pulled as he began to run out of the Stadium, knowing they were burning the limited time they had left.

“You know it’s illegal for someone who has had their motorbike licence for less than three years to carry a pillion passenger?” Dylan said quietly.

“Why should I know?” Jon asked, feigning ignorance, though fooling nobody. “Those laws weren’t in place when I got my licence…”

Understanding why Jon allowed it, Dylan nodded, though Jon looked at him curiously.

“How do you know?” Jon asked. Dylan shrugged.

“Your bike is gathering dust,” Dylan said. “I figured I’d look into getting my licence.”

“Why not?” Jon asked rhetorically, though knew why. It was the same reason he didn’t offer for Chris to take his bike, knowing it would handle carrying both himself and Justin better than Chris’ low-powered bike, which he was required to have for his first three years riding. Jon’s was illegal for Chris to ride, and even if Jon could pretend he didn’t know the current laws for new riders, if Chris were to crash it, aside from the risk of serious injury, Jon’s insurance wouldn’t cover someone illegally riding it, and if he were willing to take that risk, he would allow Justin to drive his car. For Dylan to be able to ride it, he’d need to learn to ride on something less powerful and still wait three years, by which point, Jon hoped he would be in Unova.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Justin asked ten minutes later, as Chris tossed him Jon’s riding jacket and pants.

“No,” Chris answered simply. “But not being a good idea doesn’t automatically make it a bad idea…”

“Let me rephrase this,” Justin asked. “Are you sure this isn’t a bad idea…”

“It’s the best we have,” Chris said, as Justin put the clothes on over his current shorts and singlet that he wore. “I’ll take it easy getting there, so we’ll be fine…”

“Isn’t it illegal practically everywhere for provisional licence holders to take a passenger?”

“Very.”

“And you aren’t worried about getting caught?” Justin said, slightly concerned at Chris’ recklessness. “You don’t exactly have many points left…”

Justin wasn’t wrong. Given how much Chris rode during his travels, and how easy it was for the bike to pull past traffic, he had a few speeding fines, meaning that two more traffic violations, and he’d be without his licence.

“I’ve been at the College of the North Wind for six months, and haven’t gotten a fine in that time. By the time I leave here, I’ll have most of my points back,” Chris explained, as Justin began lacing up a pair of heavy boots. “Besides, my licence is from Johto, which means that the number plate recognition software of Hoenn cops won’t give an instant read. I don’t have to wear high-vis anymore, so unless they pull me over and check my licence, they have no way of knowing I’m on a provisional licence…”

Justin remained quiet, as he stood. Chris sighed.

“Look, I know this goes against your superior moral code, being a future cop and all,” Chris teased. “But it’s a tiny risk to take now, to not put my entire project on hold. Besides, you studied a law degree, and most people who do that make a living by having no moral code, so if it’s really bugging you, pretend you’re a lawyer instead of a wannabe cop…”

Justin couldn’t help but snort at Chris’ obnoxious comment, but got the point he made. Taking this risk was Chris’ best bet to not have his project delayed.

“If I get caught, the worst that will happen is I lose my licence for three months. In which case, I’ll have it back by the time I get to Galar…”

“Okay, I’ll stop questioning you,” Justin said, raising his hands to stop Chris from continuing to sell the plan. “Just focus on not getting us killed…”

Less than an hour later, Justin climbed off the back of Chris’ motorbike, wondering how Jon could enjoy the experience of riding it, and how Chris could happily travel entire regions on it. Chris, who had already climbed off and removed his helmet, walked towards the door, Justin following him.

“Lose the helmet,” Chris said quickly. “Take it from me, they flip their s**t if you walk in with a helmet. Thinking you’re going to hold the place up or something…”

Justin wondered what Chris had done to have him be so aware of the need to remove his helmet, though figured, had he not been warned, he would have done the same thing.

“I’ll meet you in there,” Justin said, as Chris nodded, walking through the automatic doors. Deciding it was too hot to keep the riding gear on, Justin quickly removed his borrowed helmet, followed by the jacket, pants, and even the boots, opting to walk into the Pokemon Centre barefoot. Whilst there was the risk of the gear being stolen, Justin figured that all it would take is a tweet to let the thief know the gear they stole belonged to Jon Drake, for it to be returned anonymously under threat of retribution, so he left it on the motorbike.

A few minutes later, Justin entered, to find Chris standing by the counter, signing his name on a form as the attendant waited. He looked over to see Justin, before ushering him to join him.

“All that’s left is for you to witness it,” Chris said, handing Justin the pen and sliding the form towards him, pointing where Justin needed to sign. He quickly scribbled his messy signature, before writing the date in the next box, and giving the form to the attendant.

“So that’s sorted?” Chris asked. “My registration is renewed?”

“I’ll process it now, and the computer system will verify everything is in order,” the attendant explained. “Once that’s done, your registration is renewed.”

“And how long will that take?”

“About half an hour,” the attendant explained. Chris looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 3:50pm, and whilst the Pokemon Centre was open 24/7 for healing Pokemon, for official business such as this, business hours ended at 4:30.

“And if something is wrong?” Chris asked. “I’d only have ten minutes to fix it, and I need this done today…”

The attendant looked between Chris and Justin, before sighing.

“Look, if something is wrong, and you can fix it before 4:30, I’ll stay behind to confirm it’s worked,” the attendant answered. “But let’s try and avoid that…”

Without another word, the attendant left, as Chris and Justin made their way to some seats in the waiting room, Chris half breathing a sigh of relief. As both trainers collapsed into their seats, Justin smirked.

“So Second To None isn’t delayed…”

“If all this goes forward smoothly,” Chris answered. “And if I’ve learnt anything from the last four years, you should never expect it to…”

Justin nodded in agreement before counting out when things went drastically wrong.

“Lance sending guys after Jon, Meteor Falls caving in, Deoxys attacking,” Justin recited, as he counted on his fingers. “Poachers at the Whirl Islands, the Department of Defence trying to take the Academy, those witches coming after us, Lance escaping, and the rest of the Spiritwater Crisis… Am I missing anything?”

“I think you got the bulk of it…” Chris said in agreement. “Honestly, I signed up that first summer because I wanted to know what actually happened on the S.S. Wishmaker with Lance, and whether Jon was the piece of s**t Lance had been trying to convince us that he was. I didn’t expect things to go the way they did…”

“I don’t think anyone did,” Justin agreed as Chris went quiet for a moment. Justin nudged his friend, noticing the space. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Chris said. “Honestly, I was just thinking about where I’d be if I hadn’t come here that first summer. I sure as hell know that I wouldn’t be doing STN if I hadn’t…”

“You’re not wrong…” Justin said in agreement. “I don’t know where I’d be. I doubt anywhere worthwhile though…”

“Well I can tell you one thing for sure,” Chris said, as he couldn’t help but grin. “You wouldn’t be so famous that the High Seas Tournament tried to recruit you…”

“Well if we’re going down that path,” Justin said. “Charlotte would have left you behind years ago…”

“She already has,” Chris said with a laugh, as Justin looked at him in shock.

“You two are at the same level, aren’t you?” Justin retorted in confusion. “It’s always been that one of you pulls ahead and the other catches up, then pulls ahead themself…”

“Not anymore,” Chris said. “In tournament battles, Charlotte has been better than me for almost a year now. Our battle last summer was a fluke. I managed to catch her by surprise and force a tie. But if I hadn’t, she’d have beaten me. This is why I’m completing STN…”

Chris cracked his knuckles, as Justin cringed at the sound, before continuing.

“Fact is, if I try and make it as a competitive battler in the same scene as her, I’ll only ever be her equal at best, and her runner up at worst. She’s just got me beat,” Chris admitted. “She has a level of skill that I don’t, and by the time I have that, she’d be further ahead anyway. But there is something I have her beaten in…”

“Being a stubborn pain in the a**?” Justin asked, as Chris rolled his eyes.

“Sheer grit, though part of that is stubbornness…” Chris answered, realising the uncomfortable level of truth in Justin’s answer. “Charlotte’s a better battler, but she’s too level headed to consider attempting something as stupidly ambitious as STN. She wouldn’t risk wasting a year of her life, chasing a glorified title, when she could be getting stronger and making a name for herself in the competitive circuit. But I guess I’m just reckless enough to give it a try…”

Justin couldn’t help but shake his head. He had known Chris since Day 0 at the Academy, and had known that his pride would not let him fall behind Charlotte. So to hear Chris happily admit that she is the superior battler, and that he was choosing a path to allow himself to escape her shadow, shocked him. Even more so, was the fact that Chris admitted this with no resignation or bitterness, but humour and optimism.

“So the plan is Galar first?” Justin asked. Chris nodded.

“Kalos after that, then Unova,” Chris explained. “Sinnoh next, then Hoenn, before Johto, then Kanto…”

“When will you be in Sinnoh?”

“I’ll ideally be arriving in early February, and making my way through the Gyms. I need to beat one every six days on average to keep on schedule,” Chris explained.

Justin quickly did the numbers. He would start at the Sinnoh Police Academy in Jubilife City in September, and remain there a little over six months. After which, he would likely be stationed at Snowpoint City, being his first preference, which very few other officers would be willing to be stationed at.

“So if Snowpoint is the last Gym, you’ll probably be arriving there a week or two after I move there…” Justin said, as he double checked his numbers. Chris grinned.

“We’ll have to grab a drink then,” Chris explained. “Because by then, I’ll have beaten three Pokemon Leagues, and be well on my way to beating my fourth, and I’ll want to celebrate. That and you becoming a cop, but I think my reason is a little more exciting…”

“A**hole,” Justin joked, though, knowing how different life would be for all of them come September, was already looking forward to it.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
“So what have you found?” Cassandra asked as she sat on a couch in the empty main hall, with the exception of one other person. The projector was on, however with no source selected, it projected a blue screen.

“Footage,” Steven answered, as he handed her a portable hard drive. “I’m glad that Jon wanted to show the five this…”

Cassandra gave Steven a puzzled look, however he simply sat on the couch, nodding for her to take the hard drive to the projector. She obliged, and as she plugged it in, the media reader sparked to life on screen, displaying five files. One for each of the original five interns.

That evening during dinner, Steven had found Cassandra furiously scanning through notes and watching recordings of various battles. After telling Steven of Charlotte’s cryptic analysis of all the interns, Steven had an idea, telling Cassandra to meet him in the main hall after the campers were in their cabins for the evening. By this point, Charlotte had him curious too, and he knew of something that between the pair of them, may help crack Charlotte’s riddle.

“Three years ago, Dylan had the idea of capturing all the Pokemon that the Academy has, so Jon bought a metric crap ton of Pokeballs, and sent the five interns around Hoenn for a week to capture as many Pokemon as they could,” Steven explained. “And while they were gone, Jon wanted to teach them a lesson…”

“What sort of lesson?”

“By that point the five of them would never lose to their students in a serious battle. Jon however, would beat them without too much difficulty, which is where the problem lay,” Steven explained. “They were honestly a lot closer to Jon and my level than they realised at that point, even with only Abbee and Justin having Legendary Pokemon. But Jon had identified in all but Dylan, some very easy weaknesses to exploit. They weren’t obvious, but if they were identified, they could be beaten quite easily. But because they only ever lost to Jon, and fact is, he ranks amongst champions, they didn’t learn anything by losing to him. They’d just write it off as ’of course I’d lose to Jon’...”

Cassandra nodded, her intrigue growing at what this footage contained, as Steven continued.

“So to make it obvious just how exploitable these weaknesses were, while they were gone, Jon decided to spend that weeks team training sessions going through footage of the five interns battling with a fine tooth comb, helping the students to learn to analyse a trainer, and identify weaknesses that they could then exploit,” Steven explained. “Then, at the end of the week, when the five returned home, a student from each of their teams challenged them, and all but one of the five were beaten…”

“That one being Charlotte?” Cassandra asked as Steven grinned.

“Dylan…”

Cassandra’s eyes widened. She knew that Charlotte didn’t have Deoxys at this point, however she was still a formidable battler without Deoxys.

“I’m not showing you this to give you a silver bullet to beat Charlotte,” Steven said. “Even if Charlotte still had this same weakness, I know you don’t want to rely on that. But I figure if Charlotte has given you some cryptic analysis of everyone, hearing someone else's thoughts might help you line the pieces up…”

Cassandra nodded in agreement. Before pressing play, she grabbed a nearby whiteboard, and divided it up into five sections, each containing a name of one of the five interns. She quickly wrote Charlotte’s analysis of their battling, specifically who by her estimates, would have the tell she identified in Cassandra, against each trainer. Steven couldn’t help but find what he was seeing amusing, likening Cassandra’s furious note taking to a meme he had seen of a television character by a wall of posters, pins and string, deep in a supposed conspiracy theory. When Cassandra was ready, she pressed play, and began watching through the footage Steven had provided. The footage itself was a mixture of Jon lecturing each team, with battle footage from battles earlier in the summer superimposed, paused at crucial moments so Jon’s commentary explained what they were seeing.

“Charlotte’s biggest strength in battle is lulling her opponent into a false sense of security, when really they are just falling into her trap, as well as her uncanny ability to predict what her opponent is trying to do. Most battles she spectates, she can see what moves are being used, and figure out what the person ordering them is trying to do,” Jon on screen said as he explained to Charlotte’s team, which at the time consisted of seven people, compared to the thirty-five this summer.

“He’s got that right,” Cassandra remarked as Jon explained how Charlotte sent out her Roserade, correctly predicting Jon would open with Nidoking, which Cassandra remembered he did on the S.S. Wishmaker five years earlier. The explanation continued to how she used the advantageous matchup to buy time in order to ruin Jon’s strategy with Blaziken, and after Roserade had beaten Nidoking, she had chosen to have Roserade use Venom Drench on Blaziken, knowing that long term, it would do more damage than simply attacking Blaziken. From there, Jon managed to beat her Milotic, before Charlotte’s Drifblim finished off Blaziken, before forcing a draw with Jon’s Absol.

“This is a goldmine…” Cassandra muttered as Steven nodded.

“Even at this point, Charlotte was a championship level trainer, as was Chris, and the other three were at least at Gym Leader level,” Steven noted. “But it gets better…”

Jon on screen explained that by acting in a way that was completely against what Charlotte expected, he was able to rattle her into acting against her own plan. Whilst she didn’t understand exactly what he meant, her eyes widened when it got pointed out that despite the fact Blaziken fainted, it had not taken a single damaging hit the entire battle, with all of the damage it took being from the poison, and had Charlotte just stuck to her initial strategy, and stalled Milotic with Protect and Recover, Blaziken would have fainted with Milotic being unharmed.

Despite trying her best to not rely too much on what she heard in this, wanting to beat Charlotte by identifying her own weakness and preventing Charlotte from exploiting them, she couldn’t help but take note of one thing Jon said.

“Don’t let her talent in predicting how things will go weigh you down…”

When the video was finished, Steven clicked onto the next one, which was Abbee. This was the one Cassandra was looking forward to seeing most, second only to Charlotte’s, not because of her own history with Victini, but the asterisk next to Abbee’s name every time it appeared on the whiteboard.

"None of the five of us would have it against any of the students, though Abbee and Justin would only have it against Jon, myself and Chris,” Charlotte had explained. “Abbee, however, has a slightly different way of battling to the other four of us, and that makes up for it at times.”

“Abbee’s main strengths are her creativity and ingenuity, as well as the close bond she has with Victini, who can telepathically communicate with her, and will,” Jon on screen explained, and as he did, Cassandra felt a flicker of understanding, only for a moment. She knew they were onto something. In his peripheral vision, Steven saw Cassandra lean forward, concentrating hard on what was in front of them, as he explained the strategy Justin had used against himself the day before, and how Abbee had countered it. However, it wasn’t until Jon explained how Victini cost he and Abbee a win against Dylan by acting of his own volition that it clicked.

“That’s the asterisk,” Cassandra said to Steven, as she quickly paused it. The opened her phone, finding the battle between Abbee and Matt Campbell that Charlotte had referenced. Steven waited in silence, knowing that Cassandra was on the verge of a breakthrough. Cassandra quickly jumped through the battle, finding a section with Jon and Camilla’s commentary.

“Shaymin is following every one of Matt’s orders, while Victini is making his own decisions half the time…” Camilla’s voice said from Cassandra’s phone

“And?” Jon asked.

“You saw what happened before with Hydreigon when it stopped following orders…”

“This could not be any more different. Victini isn’t acting on his own because he is disregarding orders. He is acting on his own because Abbee trusts him to make the snap decisions at a moment's notice. And Victini trusts Abbee to plan ahead and give him a winning path. Which is better teamwork than Victini just following Abbee’s instructions,” said Jon’s stern voice from the phone.

“The thing that Charlotte said, which makes Abbee different, is the fact that when Victini is on the field, he makes half the decisions. She doesn’t just order him around, like almost every other trainer, but let’s Victini do what he thinks needs to be done,” Cassandra explained. “She lets him handle himself in a battle, whilst she looks more to the bigger picture to guide his decisions…”

Steven nodded. Whilst he didn’t know what Charlotte had been referencing, this was something that made Abbee unique amongst most trainers. Whilst Jon had a tendency to let Latios make decisions, Latios usually followed orders to the letter in battle, and followed Jon’s lead.

As the video detailing Abbee’s battling style came to an end, Steven took the remote.

“Honestly, I don’t think Justin’s is going to be any help,” he explained. “Nor Dylans…”

“How so?”

Steven nodded towards the whiteboard.

“If we’re trying to identify a pattern, you need variance. According to Charlotte, Justin would have this tell against herself, Chris and Jon. Justin won’t have it unless he has a detailed plan, but honestly, that’s too vague, and I was the one to deliver the lecture for Justin’s team, as I had spent some time with him during the winter before,” Steven explained. “And Charlotte reckons that Dylan doesn’t have this tell, which means no matter what we see, we won’t see Dylan showing and not showing this tell…”

“So Chris?”

“There are enough factors to Chris having it that if we can identify what those factors really are, we can identify the tell, like you did with Abbee,” Steven said. Cassandra looked over to the whiteboard. According to Charlotte, Cassandra wouldn’t have the tell against Chris, and Chris would only have it against Jon, and only in a match where he didn’t have something to lose. There was something that confused Cassandra though. Of all the people there who were more experienced battlers than herself, she’d not have the tell against Chris of all people.

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

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

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

“Pause it…”

The words left her mouth before she even knew she was saying it, however she needed a moment to think.

“Chris goes on the offensive completely when he is under pressure, because he is too competitive,” Cassandra repeated. “Or at least he did back then…”

“He has grown past letting his competitiveness dictate his decisions,” Steven noted, as Cassandra nodded.

“But according to Charlotte, not his subconscious,” Cassandra explained. “She said Chris will have this tell when he isn’t battling with something to lose. But when he is battling herself or Jon, and has something to lose, he has the tell. And we just heard he has a history of letting the pressure he is under, and his own competitiveness adjust his actions…”

Steven nodded in agreement, as Cassandra lent forward, trying to piece everything she had heard together.

”When he is under pressure, and wants nothing more than to win, he goes extremely on the offensive, not using any tactics other than brute force…”

The words echoed through Cassandra’s head. She knew this was important, but didn’t know how. Trying to avoid spiralling into a dead end, she opened her phone to the footage of her own match with Charlotte, and pressed the cast button, causing the video to appear on the projector, before she pressed play.

On screen, Marche followed her command, rushing in towards Magmortar with a Bulldoze attack, which Magmortar took, assisting itself with a Barrier attack. Cassandra then ordered a Swords Dance attack, after which, she did not get to call another move. Swords Dance was the last attack Marche made before Magmortar finished it off. She quickly rewound in silence, as Steven watched intently, wondering if Cassandra was becoming too obsessed with this. As she pressed play, she watched closely, considering what she heard of Chris’ battling as she analysed the footage.

“I see it…” Cassandra said, as Steven’s head whipped around to look at her. “I know what the tell is…”

Steven waited in silence, as Cassandra considered this tell, and what she knew about the other trainers.

“Come on, don’t leave me hanging!” Steven pleaded after a few seconds.

“When I am in a battle I don’t think I can win, I do what Chris does, or did,” Cassandra said correcting herself. “I don’t hesitate when I order an offensive move…”

She rewound and pressed play. On screen the match began, and Cassandra, without waiting for an invitation, ordered a Bulldoze attack.
“I mean, sure, if that’s the case, it makes sense Charlotte ordered a Barrier attack,” Steven said, sounding unconvinced. “But that isn’t enough to give her an edge?”

“It isn’t,” Cassandra agreed. “But the flip side of that is that if I am not going on the offensive, I hesitate before giving the order…”

The pressed play again, and on screen, clear as day, there was a moment of stillness, before Cassandra called out for Marche to use Swords Dance.

“Charlotte heard the hesitation, and knew that Magmortar was safe for a moment, so instead of using Protect, or buffing its defence to block an attack, she had Magmortar use Scary Face to slow Marche down, and buy her some free hits,” Cassandra explained. “If I had just ordered another offensive move, she’d have played defence. But she knew I wouldn’t, so struck then…”

“That is very specific…” Steven said. “I mean, if what you’re saying is true, then it makes sense how she beat you so quickly. But surely there is something more likely than that…”

“When Abbee commands Victini, half of their communication is telepathic, and Victini will act on his own far more often than any other Pokemon would, so Charlotte would not be able to use this against Abbee. Abbee may be silent, and Victini is readying a huge attack, and she wouldn’t know,” Cassandra continued, processing all of this as she spoke. “Dylan doesn’t give the tell, but that’s because defensively speaking, he is unshakable. He isn’t as offensively talented as the other four, but his defence is that solid, that he can buy time to whittle down his opponent, so it makes sense Charlotte can’t use this trick on Dylan. His defensive battling is just as intentional as his offensive, if not more…”

Steven began to realise just how right Cassandra was as he considered these words.

“As for Chris, his tendency to go on the offensive under pressure means that he would not be in the position where he is in a battle he doesn’t know he would win and act defensively. Even if he doesn’t just resort to offensive attacks anymore, I’m willing to bet the impulsiveness is still there to some degree, and he wouldn’t hesitate on a single move…”

“Goddamn…” Steven muttered, knowing that Cassandra had cracked it. “She is reading her opponents that much?”

“She’s terrifying…” Cassandra agreed. “But there is one thing I don’t understand…”

“What’s that?”

“By this logic, I’d have this tell against you, Jon and the five interns. But Charlotte reckons I wouldn’t have it against Chris…”

Steven considered Cassandra’s question, and though he had a hunch, he knew it wasn’t his place to say.

“I think Charlotte needs to be the one to answer that…”

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

“So we have everything?” Violet asked, as Willow did a quick count of all the materials in their room, before nodding. The spell they were about to perform was not a simple one, and they didn’t want to mess it up. Needing the floor space, they had disassembled Violet’s bed, leaving the frame stacked in neat pieces and the mattress leaned up against the wall. On the floor were flattened cardboard boxes taped together to make a strong enough surface that they could walk on without putting holes in it, and drawn on that was a large, circular glyph, the inside edge of which was lined with other strange symbols. Like numbers on a clock, various reagents were strategically placed. The circle itself glowed with an eerie purple pulsing light.

“So when I perform the incantation, I will pass out…” Violet asked.

“I think so,” Willow explained. “I never performed this spell myself, but I did ask Agatha about it early on, before I realised she was a lunatic…”

Jarena listened quietly to the pair as Violet nodded.

“Once you’ve passed out, effectively you will be in a dream world that you have complete control over. You can’t affect anything outside of the dream world, nor can you prevent whoever you pull into it from waking up. But you will be practically a god inside this world…”

“How are you going to do this?” Jarena asked. “Try and scare him into giving it to you?”

“I considered it, but no, I don’t think that would work too well,” Violet explained. “Most of the time I know I am dreaming, and can even wake myself up from them if they go bad. If my dad is the same, then if I make this dream terrifying, he will just wake himself up. Especially if he knows that the me in his dream isn’t just a figment of his subconscious…”

The digital clock on the desk read 1:30am, however, as Violet said the words, she had a thought.

“Though, I may be overthinking this…” she muttered, before looking back at Jarena. “Leave it with me…”

Jarena nodded, though before she could answer a voice called out from the other side of the door.

“Are you guys planning an apocalypse in there?”

The voice belonged to Justin, who had heard voice from his room below, and wandered up stairs to see what had the three witches awake at this late hour, only to see a steady pulsing light emanating from under Violet’s door.

“Because one of those this year was more than enough,” Justin continued, as Violet couldn’t help but laugh.

“No apocalypse,” Violet assured. “Think of it as a Witch Slumber Party, complete with Shadowcraft Prank Calls…”

Justin chuckled to himself, before making his way back to the stairs.

“Carry on…”

“You ready?” Willow asked. Violet nodded her head.

“Jarena, hold me upright, and when I pass out, lay me down,” Violet explained. “So I don’t disturb the reagents…”

Jarena moved into position, as Willow handed Violet the transcribed incantation.

“Whenever you’re ready…”

Violet nodded, before beginning to quietly recite the incantation. It was medium length, and her focus wandered a little as she wondered what would happen to her once she recited the final word. However, as the final word left her mouth, her body went limp, as she instantly fell unconscious, Jarena struggling with the sudden lack of any resistance holding her friend upright. She quickly lay her down, as inside Violet’s mind, the work began.

She found herself in a black space, disembodied, yet sensing all around her. As Willow had told her, she forced herself to remember the moments before passing out, so as to not induce panic at the odd sensation, before slowly beginning to focus. She considered what sort of dream she wanted to form before she pulled her father into it, however, knew the sort of person he was. Like most, he was vastly more comfortable in a place he knew well. She considered having it be her childhood home, however thought of somewhere even better.

Her strained relationship with her father stemmed from the fact that ninety percent of the time he was away from home as a travelling sales rep. When she was in her early teens, he received a promotion, putting him in a management position in the company’s head office in Olivine City, however despite the fact he now rarely had to travel compared to his previous role, he seemed even more distant. She remembered one of the few occasions she had been in his large office, and how comfortable he was there.

Forcing herself to remember the basic details, she focused on constructing the black space into a rough copy of her fathers corner office, placing the furniture and picture frames in the places she remembered them being. She didn’t focus on detail, knowing that in a dream, nothing is quite as it is in reality, and that his own memory would fill in the blanks when he arrived. Finally, when the office was ready, she focused her thoughts into creating a form for herself. She considered making herself a child, hoping to appeal to some sort of paternal instinct, but figured that wouldn’t work. He was never around when she was a kid anyway, so why would he care if he was speaking to the child version of her now?

Instead, she opted for a form she knew he was at one point or another, proud of.

Her hair was shorter than it was in the waking world, and much better cared for, with Violet these days opting to let it grow out a little longer since returning to the human world. She wore an expensive, glossy black leather jacket, that has cost her at the time more than the car she was considering buying now that she had saved some money from her job at the Academy. She wore a pair of black jeans, that despite not appearing to be anything special, had cost more than her father earned in a week, and a pair of black shoes which she recalled buying to wear to a TV appearance, and had not touched again until she sold them later in order to try and cover her debts. She looked in the mirror that hung on a wall of the office, and was shocked at the fact that she looked exactly the same as she did a week before the S.S. Wishmaker incident.

“Geez…” Violet muttered in distaste, as she spun slightly to view her outfit. “Did I always look this pretentious?”

Knowing that she had no reason to wait any longer, she began reciting the next part of the spell, which she had memorised prior, which, if he were asleep, would bring her father into this dream. After a few moments, she blinked, and found the room she was in, suddenly much more detailed, with the gaps filled in by the memories of Barry Radcliffe who stood before her. He wore his usual work attire, a pair of dark blue slacks and a white button up shirt under a blue tie. He looked around the room, then at Violet. A look of disdain crossed his face, as he muttered something under his breath.

“I just want to talk,” Violet said calmly.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Barry said, as he began walking towards the door. Violet remained still, letting him. He opened it, and to his shock, there was no busy work floor outside, only blackness.

“Hear me out, and I’ll leave you alone,” Violet said. “I’ll stop calling you, and I won’t do this again…”

Barry didn’t bother trying to understand what Violet was saying about his situation, and instead snorted with derision.

“You’re a figment of my imagination,” Barry retorted. “You aren’t real…”

“Don’t you remember how Agatha gathered all the witches in Alola? How I knew what she was planning so I could tip off the League?” Violet asked, as Barry looked at her confused, before understanding dawned on him. “This place might not be real, but I am…”

“What have you done?” Barry asked, though Violet ignored the question, knowing that every second that passed was a second before her father realised he could wake himself up, and left.

“You weren’t taking my calls, and I needed to talk to you…” Violet explained. “So I figured I’d use my talents to get a hold of you…”

Violet moved towards her fathers desk, and sat in the large office chair, staring him down for a minute.

“If you’re not willing to look past my mistakes, then that’s your decision, and I won’t waste our time trying to play happy families,” Violet explained. “We’re past that. All I want is to be able to live my life, and even if we aren’t on good terms, I had hoped you’d at least be civil enough to hear me out. Honestly, all I wanted was for you to send me my birth certificate, so I can get my driver’s licence, do my taxes, and just live my own life. You do that, and honestly, I’ll do everything I can to just leave you alone, seeing as it’s obvious that’s all you want…”

“And if I don’t?” Barry said. “If this is just a dream, I can just wake myself up…”

“You’re right, you can…” Violet said, as she stood up. “But if you don’t do this for me, if you keep being difficult just to spite me, I’ll do the same thing…”

As she finished her words, the floor around Barry began to crumble away, as the walls became engulfed in flames.

“I won’t keep calling you on the phone, because I’m sick of hearing your voicemail,” Violet said simply. “Instead, I’ll visit you every night. And the difference between this dream and your others, is that you’re not in control of this place. I am…”

With a loud bang, the desk in front of her and the chair behind her vaporised into particles of light, exploding outwards, as Violet herself began to rise into the air, arms outstretched. Vicious tendrils of light materialised in the blackness, whizzing past Barry’s face, towards Violet’s hand.

“You might be able to get yourself out of this dream. But as long as you need to sleep, and I know you will eventually, I’ll just be able to pull you back in…” Violet said coldly. “And my imagination is the only limiting factor of what these dreams can be…”

There was a vicious roar in the distance, that Violet recognised to be that of Giratina, as Barry’s head whipped around to where it came from. By the time he looked back, Violet was gone, until he turned around, and found himself staring face to face into her intense green eyes. He stumbled back in shock, forgetting the ground had collapsed away from the area around him, and fell. However, as he fell into the blackness, he saw he was falling towards the same room he had just fallen from. Violet raised a hand to catch him in mid air and prevent him from falling into an endless cycle.

“I don’t want to do this,” Violet said. “I’m past using Shadowcraft to manipulate and intimidate people, but you’ve left me no choice…”

Barry looked around in shock, before settling his sights on her.

“You just want your birth certificate?” he asked quietly.

“Not even the actual document. A scan sent to me…”

Barry sighed indignantly, before glaring at Violet.

“I’ll send it through in the morning…”

With her purpose fulfilled, Violet changed the scene to her childhood home as she remembered it. The kitchen specifically. Additionally, she let her appearance reflect how she looked now.

“Thank you…” Violet said, before considering her next words.

“I won’t call you again unless it’s important. So if I do, pick up the damn phone, so I don’t have to go to all this trouble again,” Violet said. “But if you do decide you want to try and work things out, you know where to find me…”

Barry remained silent, as Violet stared him down, though knew she was now wasting her time.

“Goodbye Dad…”

With that, she opened her eyes, ending the spell.

“Did it work?” Willow asked. Violet stretched her cramped limbs, before nodding.

“I think so. I think I got my point across,” Violet answered with a yawn. “I’ll find out in the morning…”

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

“So what if I were to catch Latios away from Jon, and try and convince him to throw his battle?”

Victini asked the question as he and Abbee sat at the dining room table in the kitchen of the intern’s lodge. It was shortly before 8am Saturday morning, and having heard Jon’s conditions for allowing Victini to battle Scizor, they were trying to figure out whether meeting them would even be possible.

“You remember two years ago when Rose accidentally got the spare room in the lodge infested with bugs?” Abbee recalled. “Latios was about to tell Jon until you stopped him…”

Victini remembered that day, and nodded gravely. Abbee was right. Just like he was loyal to her, Latios was loyal to Jon…

“Wait a minute,” Victini said, as he remembered something else from the day. “Remember how we stopped him from telling Jon?”

Abbee shook her head.

“I threatened to tell Jon about the keg he had stolen,” Victini explained. “Latios loves Jon, but he also loves beer, and I think if we were to bribe Latios…”

Abbee smirked at Victini’s idea.

“And worse comes to worst, I think if we could get Latias in our corner, she may be able to help convince him to help you out,” Abbee suggested…

As Chris walked down the stairs, he could hear Abbee talking, and Victini replying verbally, seeing as Abbee gained the ability to understand him last summer. He had been planning on making a cup of coffee before he went to the dining hall, where students would soon be making their way to prepare breakfast, however stopped. Every time he had seen Abbee since they broke up, it had been in a group. Especially in the last week. And whilst Dylan would more than likely just go about his business and pretend Chris wasn’t there, which Chris was equally willing to do, he knew Abbee wouldn’t.

He considered skipping coffee, or making some excuse to chat to Jon in the morning, knowing that Jon would offer him one if he went up to the house to talk. However he realised he was being ridiculous. It was the end of the first week of summer, and would not be the last time he’d face this situation. And additionally, by the end of the year, he’d be in Nimbasa City, battling Abbee as Nimbasa City Gym Leader, and if he couldn’t get his head out of his own thoughts now, he’d struggle to beat her then. He sighed silently, before walking into the dining room, with obvious intention towards the kitchen.

“Morning,” Abbee said casually, as she looked at the notebook in front of her, which had strategies for beating Blaziken, Latios, Rayquaza and Giratina half scribbled.

“Morning,” Chris replied, as he made his way into the kitchen through the door on the other side of the dining room. He entered as he made his way towards the coffee machine, pressing the power button, causing the boiler to heat up.

“Blaziken gives us a few options,” Abbee said to Victini. “If it enters the battle late, Stored Power would be the best way to handle it, seeing as you’d be using buffs to survive the match.”

Abbee began scribbling though had a thought.

“Though it might pay to taunt it first, since that would be an obvious play, and would be decimated by a Protect or even an Endure…”

“What if Blaziken comes out first?” Victini asked, and whilst Chris could hear him, he couldn’t understand.

“Out of the gate, you’re faster than Blaziken for about one attack,” Abbee answered. “Future Sight. That way if Blaziken reduces your power, or buffs its own defences, it’ll still take a big hit…”

The machine beeped, as it finished preparing Chris’ coffee. He grabbed the mug, before walking out.

“Hey, Chris…”

Chris stopped, as some of his coffee spilled forward over the edge of the mug, burning his hands slightly. He swore under his breath, and quickly put his lightly burnt finger to his mouth, before turning around.

“Sorry,” Abbee said with a weak grin. “Just wondering if you knew much about Rayquaza? Seeing as you used to go to Southern Island with Jon and all that. That and you know more about Dragon Pokemon than even Dylan…”

Chris placed his coffee on the table, grabbing a leather coaster so the hot mug and spilt contents wouldn’t damage the wooden finish of the tabletop, before considering the question.

“Honestly, I don’t know much that could help you. That was years ago,” Chris said, trying to think of anything he knew. “Dragon type moves are only super effective against other dragons, and Victini would handle flying moves, so you don’t need to worry too much about those. But I’m pretty sure Rayquaza knows at least one or two Dark Type moves and maybe a Rock Type one as well…”

Abbee began taking notes, as Chris continued.

“If this were a normal battle, I’d tell you to not bother with Victini against Rayquaza and to use Glaceon instead. I’d eat my shoe if Glaceon weren’t beaten by it, but given its Ice typing, it would really make an impact on Rayquaza,” Chris continued. “But you gotta use Victini so that’s redundant…”

Abbee remained silent, as her and Victini looked at each other, Chris figuring they were strategizing telepathically. He looked between the pair, and then Abbee’s notes. Giratina had nothing but question marks around it, which confirmed Chris’ theory. Victini couldn’t beat all four of these Pokemon in succession.

“Look,” Chris said, his tone becoming a little more serious. “Don’t you think you’re making this harder for yourself?”

Abbee and Victini looked at Chris, somewhat puzzled.

“Jon’s making it hard,” Abbee said, as Victini nodded in agreement. “He set the Elite Four challenge…”

“And that’s the only way Victini will have a chance at Scizor?” Chris asked. Abbee nodded, though halfway through, seemed to doubt herself, and lose conviction in her nodding.

Victini cried something irritably out, and Abbee translated.

“He says ‘what’re you getting at?’”

“I’m saying that in my team’s sessions with Jon, I am used for the demonstration every time, and battle Jon three times a week. Justin does the same thing, so I assume you do as well?” Chris asked. Abbee nodded.

“The problem is that every time Victini is out at the same time as Scizor, Jon Baton Passes Scizor out to something that beats Victini….”

“And you honestly think that if Victini can’t beat whatever gets Baton Passed out to face him, he can beat all four of those Pokemon, then finish off Scizor?” Chris asked plainly. The question wasn’t meant to offend, though Victini glared at Chris for doubting him. “Look, all I’m saying is you’re planning to pit Victini against four Pokemon, two of which Jon never uses in training sessions, and are amongst the most powerful Pokemon in the world, alone, when you could have a three on three match in your session, and if you play your cards right, have Victini and Scizor battle, both Pokemon fresh and ready to go. Logically, it makes no sense…”

“You’re right…” Abbee said, shocked that she hadn’t looked at it that way.

“Honestly, I think Jon set that challenge to distract you,” Chris added as he sipped his coffee.

“Distract us from what?” Victini asked. Chris shrugged, before standing up.

“It’s not that hard to force a match to go a certain way,” Chris answered simply. “I’ve done it before, and it worked a treat…”

Knowing that any more information would take away from their own sense of accomplishment, Chris left them to figure it out, knowing that last time he helped in this way, they figured it out on their own.

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
“So you’re ready?” Charlotte called out, holding a Pokeball in hand. Cassandra could see it wasn’t the Master Ball that she knew housed Deoxys, though also knew that Charlotte wouldn’t send out Deoxys in a practice match against Cassandra just yet. Cassandra nodded. She readied her own Pokeball.

It was the lunch hour of Monday during the second week of the summer, with Charlotte’s team set to take to the field to train with Jon. From 1pm, the stadium would be occupied for afternoon training sessions, and not free until 5pm, and whilst Cassandra could wait until then, she knew that Jon would have Charlotte’s Pokemon too exhausted for a training match with Cassandra after, whilst, given Charlotte’s prowess, her Pokemon could likely handle a battle with Cassandra and then go into training with Jon.

“Let’s do this,” Cassandra explained. “Then I need to round up my team…”

All the interns had been told to have their teams gathered together and ready before the second afternoon training session, though the order didn’t come from Jon. Instead, each of the interns was told to make sure Jon wasn’t aware…

“Count of three then,” Charlotte said with a grin, before beginning to count.

”One.”

”Two.”

”Three!”

Cassandra threw her Pokeball forward revealing Gale the Frosmoth, as Charlotte sent out her Gengar. Whilst Cassandra was thankful that Gengar was the least experienced of Charlotte’s Pokemon, she also knew that Gengar were very tricky Pokemon, and that they had a double resistance to Bug type moves.

“Curse!” Charlotte ordered.

“Quiver Dance!” Cassandra responded instantly. Whilst she didn’t want to give away that she had identified the tell, she figured that an exception to it would be the opening move. Given the time between choosing the Pokemon and the match starting, there was time for her to think over the move then, before calling it as the match started, instead of hesitating to rethink it. Charlotte, if she had noticed, didn’t give anything away.

Gengar, at the cost of its own energy, placed a curse on Gale, who quickly flew a quick path through the air, as its Speed as well as offensive and defensive power for special moves increased. However, within seconds, its energy left it, leaving it far more exhausted than the opening round of the battle should. However, Cassandra now had an edge. Gale was faster than Gengar, and would be able to attack again before Gengar could strike.

Gengar was still a very quick Pokemon however, darting in and out of shadows, and Cassandra knew that her next move, whilst being fairly accurate, may not be enough to land the hit she was after. She needed Gengar to stop moving even for a second.

“Gale!” Cassandra called out, before intentionally holding her tongue for a second. “Icy Wind!”

“Shadow Ball!” Charlotte called out over the top of Cassandra’s order for Icy Wind, however the moment the words left her mouth, she seemed to know something was off.

Gengar stopped its evasive manoeuvres for a split second to line up a Shadow Ball, however was met by an icy gust of wind from Gale’s sub-freezing wings. It still managed to land the hit with Shadow Ball, weakening Gale further, as did the subsequent effect of the curse, however, the surprise attack was enough to slow down Gengar, and buy Gale a chance for one last follow-up hit.

“Giga Drain!” Cassandra ordered, as Gale launched a bright green orb from its wings, striking Gengar directly. Despite the type disadvantage, Gengar was weakened by its own use of curse, as well as the Icy Wind that had been enhanced by Quiver Dance. Gengar collapsed as Gale’s energy was restored, only to be lost again to the Curse.

“You’ve figured it out,” Charlotte called out with a grin as she returned Gengar to it’s Pokeball.

“You thought I was going to pull back instead of that Icy Wind?” Cassandra asked, as Charlotte nodded.

“If I knew you were going to try and land a big hit, I’d have played defensively and tried to have Gengar avoid it,” Charlotte explained. “Especially since I’d used half its energy to place the curse. Still, I thought it’d be weeks before you figured that out…”

“Steven helped me by showing me footage of you, Abbee and Chris, and Jon analysing all of you,” Cassandra answered. “Between that and what you told me the other day, I figured it out. There’s just one thing I couldn’t figure out.”

“What’s that?”

“Why do you think I’d not have the tell against Chris?” Cassandra asked. “I do it in battles I don’t think I can win, and I know that Chris would wipe the floor with me in a serious battle, just like you would…”

Charlotte’s expression flattened.

“I probably should have kept my mouth shut…” Charlotte muttered to herself as Cassandra gave her a puzzled look. “You sure you want the answer to that? You might not want to hear it…”

“If it helps me understand my own battling better, then I want to hear it.”

Charlotte nodded, before considering her words.

“You don’t show the tell against Chris because the fact you won’t beat him isn’t what’s on your mind when you battle him. Even in a serious battle against me, you know that it’s just a Pokemon battle, against me, but honestly, I don’t think you’d be like that in a battle against Chris…”

“And why is that?”

“Because when you look at Chris, you see the guy who tried to kill your best friends…”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Charlotte said the words and Cassandra looked at her in shock.

“I know that Chris isn’t Lance,” Cassandra protested, as Charlotte held up a hand to silence her, a gesture she had subconsciously picked up from Jon.

“I’m not saying you have some grudge with Chris because of what Lance did. I know you wouldn’t do that,” Charlotte explained. “But honestly, I’d have to be blind to not see that you are a hell of a lot more comfortable around the other four of us than you are with Chris…”

Cassandra’s shoulders slumped as she knew she couldn’t argue with Charlotte there.

“Jon told me that Lance’s biggest weakness is his pride, and I know Chris shares that with him. He’s one of my best friends, so I’d know,” Charlotte said, smirking at the fact that she had just referred to Chris that way. “But I also know that Chris does everything he can to not let that take him down the same path as Lance. I also know, having seen them both battle, than they are both talented trainers, both with an uncanny skill with Dragon Type Pokemon. Heck, sometimes when I see Chris battle with his Dragonite or Charizard, I see a young Lance…”

Cassandra sighed, as Charlotte grinned.

“I know you’re not just holding what Lance did against Chris. All I am saying is that when you battle him, I’d bet anything that in your mind, you’re battling the trainer who attacked Violet and Jarena, without even realising it,” Charlotte explained. “And honestly, I think that’s going to help you grow as a trainer…”

“How so?” Cassandra asked, her attention piqued by Charlotte’s comment.

“You hesitate making certain moves when you battle me because there is a level of uncertainty. You’re uncertain you’re making the right move by not going on the offensive,” Charlotte explained. “But if I’m right, you won’t hesitate making any move when battling Chris, and I can tell you, if you want to stand a chance at beating him, relying only on offensive tactics will get you nowhere. So maybe you should use Chris as a training dummy, to practise your more strategic plays. He’ll wipe the floor with you most of the time, but if you can get used to a few combos of strategic moves without hesitating against him, then you will be able to apply that to anyone else…”

Charlotte checked her watch, seeing her students would be arriving before too long. Whilst they had time for another round, she figured it would not be as beneficial as letting Cassandra think over what she said.

“Keep an eye on what Abbee does during her session this afternoon,” Charlotte noted, having had Abbee seek her out to work on her plan. “The tactic she is using is one that we saw Chris use three years ago. Honestly, you could learn just as much from him as you could from me…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****
"Everyone take a seat," Jon called out to the thirty five students in the stadium. It was only the beginning of the second week and the students already knew that Jon would not be starting the session until they were quiet. And given this was the opportunity to learn from Jon directly in their weekly schedule, within a few days, they had mastered the act of listening silently. At least, Abbee's group had.

As the students made their way to the seating, Abbee remained on the battlefield. Chris had been right. At some point in every session, Jon would have a practise battle with Abbee to demonstrate a concept or tactic before the students would be grouped to practise it themselves.

"This week will be a crash course in control tactics. Specifically tactics that control the flow of the battle by limiting your opponents options," Jon explained, as Abbee forced herself to hide her grin. "And by extension, how to identify and avoid being trapped by them."

"He's gonna see control tactics…" Victini said telepathically from where he sat on Abbee's shoulder. For a moment, Abbee broke, letting a grin cross her face.

Jon went into a brief lecture, discussing moves such as Rage Powder, Follow Me, or Spotlight, which when used in a double battle, can force all attacks to be made against a bulky Pokemon, leaving a less resilient but harder hitting Pokemon to wreak havoc without risk of damage. He then show footage of the battle between Chris and Charlotte in Goldenrod City the summer before, where Chris managed to force a tie on Charlotte by having Lugia use Imprison, prevent Deoxys from using any shared moves, the most important of which were energy recovery moves. Lastly he showed the battle between Dylan and Brad Jenkins two years prior, in which Dylan had his Dusknoir use Skill Swap on Brad's Cresselia, stealing its Levitate ability and by extension, dismantling Brad's entire strategy which revolved around his Garchomp using Earthquake to hit both opponents whilst Cresselia avoided the hit. At the same time, Dylan was using Ally Switch and Protect to keep both Pokemon from taking match ending blows. When he was done he looked to Abbee.

"You got any ideas for control tactics?" Jon asked.

"I have one or two," Abbee answered plainly as Victini struggled to remain neutral. Jon nodded.

"In that case, for the demonstration, you try and use them against me and I'll try and counter them."

Abbee nodded, stepping to her line on the end of the battlefield.

"Let's do this then…"

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

"Guys, you gotta keep quiet!" Justin hissed at the group of boys in his group that were gathered by the door to the Stadium. "If they're too quiet inside and they hear you, Jon will ask questions!"

Chris, Charlotte, Dylan, Justin and Cassandra were all in on the plan. Victini wanted a public grudge match with Scizor, and Abbee was certain that she could force that during their training session battle. And given how public of an affair they had made it on Twitter, it was only right that they get a big audience. As such, each intern over the last two days had been informing every member of their team of two things. The first, to gather by the stadium entrance once Abbee's team were inside and Jon's focus was on them, and to make sure Jon didn't hear about this.

"Are they almost ready?" Cassandra asked Dylan. He held his phone in front of him, patched into the stadium's security cameras.

"He's still lecturing…" Dylan answered. Charlotte nodded.

"It was the longest goddamn lecture he has done in one of these sessions," Charlotte said, having had the same session before.

Chris, having not considered the fact Charlotte would know the content, had an idea.

"Can you tell how far through the lecture he is?" Chris asked. Charlotte answered by directing a question to Dylan.

"Can you see what video he is playing?"

"My battle from the College of the North Wind," Dylan answered. Charlotte nodded.

"Well that's the last video, and considering how quickly you wiped the floor with Brad, it'll be over soon."

The interns began quietly letting their students nearby know that they would be going in soon, and to wait for Dylan's signal.

Dylan watched on the security cameras as the video ended, before Abbee and Jon spoke for a brief moment, and Abbee made her way to her place on the battlefield.

"That's our cue," Dylan said. "Let's head in…"

Inside, Abbee had selected her first Pokeball, as had Jon, when everyone's attention was piqued by the sound of footsteps entering the seated sections of the stadium. Jon looked up in confusion at the near two hundred people entering and finding seats.

"Can I help you?" Jon called out, confused by the sudden influx of spectators.

"Just here for the show," Justin retorted "Pretend we're not here…"

Jon looked from Justin, to Charlotte and Cassandra, where they stood by the barrier to get the best view, to Dylan, who had his phone in front of him, working furiously on something. Unbeknownst to Jon, he had logged in to the Eon Academy's twitter account, and was about to live stream the security camera footage of the battle. Jon looked to Abbee, who couldn't help but grin.

"Come on Jon," she called out. "They're waiting for the demonstration…"

Jon knew this was an attempt to have Victini battle Scizor, however wasn't sure what Abbee had planned. Regardless, he breathed an internal sigh of relief that he had chosen the team of Pokemon for this session that he did, given he now had nine to choose from instead of the six he had for many years prior.

"Begin!"

Abbee threw her first Pokeball forward, revealing Ariados as her opening Pokemon. Jon lobbed his, having opted for Nidoking.

"Earth Power Nidoking!" Jon ordered.

"Sticky Web!" Abbee retaliated.

Despite the distance between the two Pokemon, Nidoking's attack struck, as he roared and mounds of earth erupted from the stone floor of the battlefield underneath Ariados. Weathering the hit, Ariados spat thin strands of sticky silk, which dispersed through the air scattering on the ground surrounding Nidoking. The large Pokemon was slowed by the hazard, allowing Ariados time to follow through with a follow up attack.

"Leech Life," Abbee ordered, hoping to deal some damage whilst also restoring some of her Pokemon's energy.

Ariados darted forward before leaping bodily into Nidoking, sinking it's fangs into the Pokemon and sapping it's strength.

"Now Psychic!" Abbee commanded. Using a form of hypnotism, Ariados unleashed a barrage of telepathic signal on Nidoking, causing it to cry out in pain. However, Ariados had remained still for too long, giving Jon a opportunity to retaliate.

"Flamethrower!"

Despite not being a Fire Type, Nidoking was capable of learning the powerful fire move if taught, and Jon had made use of this before. The flames erupted from Nidoking's jaws, striking Ariados and knocking it out.

"Abbee has used a very useful trick, where if your Pokemon is the slower of the two, but you are able to slow the opposing Pokemon down enough, you will be able to get an instant follow up attack," Jon explained. "However she left Ariados in Nidoking's range a little too long."

"Keep talking Jon," Victini said telepathically to Abbee. "You haven't seen nothing yet…"

Abbee selected her next Pokemon opting for Glaceon. Despite Nidoking normally being the faster of the pair, Sticky Web had slowed it, allowing Glaceon to strike first.

"Hail!" Abbee ordered. Glaceon cried out as a fine mist of powdered snow erupted from its hide, and a supernatural hail began to fall from the ceiling. As it did, Glaceon's outline seemed to shimmer and lose shape temporarily, as it's Snow Cloak ability took effect.

"Double Kick!"

Nidoking rushed forward, descending on Glaceon and striking it with two kicks, both of which hit the Ice Type Pokemon hard, however not hard enough to put it down. Additionally, Nidoking had just put itself in close quarters with Glaceon, allowing it to use a heavy hitting move, without risk of missing.

"Blizzard!"

A freezing, spectral wind kicked up, catching the falling chunks of ice, and sending them flying towards Nidoking. The large Pokemon resisted the attack for a moment, before collapsing to its knees, unable to run, given the webbing that restricted its movement, and unable to fight anymore.

"What was that about hanging out in attack range too long?" Abbee called out, earning a chorus of laughter from the crowd. Jon smirked at her, before sending out his next Pokemon. Abbee felt her heart rate rise as she saw the Pokemon she knew he would send out to taunt her, and even more, her Mythical partner that sat on her shoulder.

Scizor entered the battlefield, and with no hesitation, both trainers resumed their match, with spectators cheering far more than they would for a standard practise battle.

"Scizor, Double Team!" Jon ordered, as Scizor split into multiple spectral copies.

From the stands Charlotte watched in confusion.

"What the-" she muttered under her breath. Hearing the comment Cassandra looked over.

"What's up?"

"Scizor has Technician, like my Roserade which means weaker moves to a certain point will actually have double power, and I know for sure Bullet Punch is affected by that…" Charlotte explained. "Bullet Punch would also bypass Sticky Web, and likely knock Glaceon out in one hit. So why didn't he use that?"

"Maybe he knows that he can beat Glaceon easily, so is making the most of this low risk opportunity?" Cassandra suggested, having learnt early on that that was one of Jon's favourite plays. Charlotte shook her head.

"Abbee only has one Pokemon left at this point, and given the audience, Jon knows it would be Victini to have his grudge match with Scizor," Charlotte explained. "Scizor and Absol are the only Pokemon he runs a Double Team tactic with, because both of them are glass cannons, and even with a type advantage, Jon wouldn't use Absol against Victini if he had the choice. He'd likely use Latios or Blaziken, in which case Scizor would be better off using Agility or Swords Dance before Baton Passing out, not Double Team…"

Charlotte's brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what Jon was playing at. He wasn't the sort to just use the wrong move. This was intentional, but Charlotte had never seen him use Scizor in this way against Abbee. What worried her more was that Abbee didn't seem to see anything wrong with this, being that focused on her own plan.

"You really know Jon's tactics that well?" Cassandra asked.

"He's been my teacher for four years. You pick up a thing or two after that long," Charlotte answered. "Dylan knows him even better…"

Abbee watched unphased as copies of Scizor flooded the battlefield, instead grinning, before giving a single word command.

"Roar…"

Jon felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised what Abbee had just done.

Glaceon, despite its small frame, let out a terrifying roar, causing Scizor to retreat to Jon, forcing Jon to withdraw it for now and send out another Pokemon.

"Abbee has used a brilliant trick, making use of the fact that we only use three Pokemon each. By beating my first Pokemon and using Roar on my second, I am now forced to commit my third Pokemon now, giving Abbee the tactical advantage when it comes time for her to choose her third," Jon explained. "I'm guessing that her plan is to beat whatever Pokemon I send out now, so that Scizor can't Baton Pass out when Victini comes out to play. Very good control tactics…"

"Damn straight!" Victini said telepathically, projecting the signal to all in the room, inciting another burst of cheering.

"That's brilliant," Cassandra said softly, as she understood what Abbee had done, admiring her former partner's Trainer.

"She learnt that tactic from Chris," Charlotte explained. "He used it to beat Dylan in our second year. And obviously, Jon didn't remember…"

"Well Abbee… Victini…" Jon said, letting the Pokemon's name hang in the air. "You've made a very bold assumption. That you can beat my next Pokemon…"

Jon threw a Pokeball forward and there was a collective gasp as the Pokemon was revealed.

Seven meters from nose to tail, with a tough emerald green hide and piercing yellow eyes in jet black sockets, Rayquaza stared down Glaceon, who seemed almost like a child's toy in comparison. The very air went still, and the Hail stopped falling as Rayquaza's Air Lock ability took effect.

"S**t…" Chris muttered, as he took a step forward to get a better view. He knew that Jon would fight tooth and nail the moment he knew what Abbee was trying to make happen. However Rayquaza was not what he expected.

"Rayquaza!" Jon commanded. "Destroy the Sticky Web!"

Rayquaza roared in confirmation, eager to battle with such a large crowd to see, and let off a Dragon Breath attack, spreading it across the ground where Ariados' web remained. The ground ignited with a quick succession of explosions, which Glaceon managed to dodge before Abbee gave her next instruction.

"Aurora Beam!" Abbee ordered. Whilst it was not Glaceon's strongest Ice Type attack, Rayquaza's double weakness to ice made up for it, and the secondary effect of reducing Rayquaza's attack power, would help Victini immensely.

"Guys, we are seeing history being made right now…" Justin said quietly. "This is Jon's first public battle with Rayquaza, that isn't a life or death situation…"

Dylan nodded in agreement as he watched the comments flood in on the live steam, in support of both sides.

Rayquaza took the hit, roaring in anger before focusing its attention on Glaceon.

"V-Create!"

All watching were shocked when it wasn't Abbee that gave the order, but Jon, causing Victini to look at him in puzzlement. However, Victini's eyes widened when Rayquaza's own crown ignited into a large, flaming V, as the Legendary Pokemon dived towards Glaceon.

"You poser!" Victini yelled out verbally, Abbee being the only one close enough to hear and understand him. "That's my move! Get your own!"

"Victini…" Abbee said knowingly, helping Victini to see the irony of what he just said…

Despite Glaceon having a snowflake's chance in hell of remaining standing after this attack, this worked in their favour. If Jon had actually taught Rayquaza Victini's signature move, it would have the same drawbacks. A massive cut to defensive ability and speed. Abbee wasn't the only one to realise this.

"Either Jon has lost his mind in the theatrics, or he is up to something…" Cassandra said to Charlotte, who grinned.

"You're really becoming one of us," Charlotte joked. "What have you noticed?"

"V-Create costs the Pokemon that uses it its resilience and speed. Effectively, Jon could have used any other move to finish off Glaceon, but he chose one that was self destructive…" Cassandra explained, knowing the details of her former partner's signature attack.

Charlotte considered her words and what she had seen before.

"He is definitely planning something. Between that and the Double Team, something is up…"

Rayquaza slammed into Glaceon, knocking the Pokemon unconscious before it even hit the ground, forcing Abbee to withdraw it, and Victini to hop down from her shoulder.

"I never knew how much I wanted this rematch until now…" Victini called out to Rayquaza, as he rolled his head back, stretching his neck.

"Latios isn't here to help you this time…" Rayquaza sneered.

"Good," Victini retorted. "I don't need his help any more to beat your a**..."

"Victini!" Abbee called out in shock at how antagonistic Victini was being, and chalking it up to Chris' influence. Rayquaza however was amused.

"Big talk for a little Pokemon," Rayquaza answered. "Let's see if you can follow it through…"

"You ready?" said Victini's voice in Abbee's mind.

"Ready when you are," Abbee replied with her thoughts. "Remember, let Rayquaza come to you…"

Knowing that Rayquaza was just as deadly from a distance, Abbee knew it would need some incentive to come in close.

"Psychic!" Abbee ordered. Victini's eyes flashed white as a telepathic wave struck Rayquaza, causing it to feel sharp sensations of pain in its mind.

"Dragon Breath!"

Rayquaza heard Jon's command, before launching a sharp, direct stream of flame towards Victini. Given Victini's superior speed and Rayquaza's diminished speed, it was able to raise a telekinetic barrier to disperse the flames outwards, blocking his own vision.

"Extreme Speed!" Jon commanded Rayquaza. Before Victini could see what was happening, the Legendary Pokemon shot forward at blistering speed, colliding with Victini. However, this was the opportunity he and Abbee had been waiting for.

"Now Victini, Glaciate!"

One of the perks of Abbee's job was living in the region where the mythology surrounding Victini was strongest. And when Elesa, as a surprise for Abbee, had brought in an expert from Castalia University on Unova Mythology, the pair learnt the extent of Victini's abilities. Specifically, that Victini was capable of learning the signature attacks of the three Legendary Dragons of Unova…

Whilst all the attacks were powerful in their own right, they were best left a secret, for a situation like this.

As Rayquaza struck Victini, the air surrounding them froze to far below freezing point, and blew back at Rayquaza with a vicious chill. Whilst Glaciate was the weakest of the five moves, it's true strength was the ability to slow down the target with every hit.

With Rayquaza stunned by the hit, Abbee knew that Victini would be tempted to overdo it before the real fight.

"Charge Beam!" Abbee commanded, knowing Victini was well practised in this attack from their time at Nimbasa City's Electric Type Gym. The attack itself was relatively weak, more so used to increase Victini's offensive power. However given Rayquaza's own compromised defences from V-Create, and the attacks it had already taken, Rayquaza took the electric attack, passing out from the shock, and collapsing on the ground.

"Goddamn…" Cassandra muttered, seeing the victory that Victini had just won. She knew that Jon had made a call earlier that gave Rayquaza the disadvantage, but despite this, Victini still seemed to have plenty of energy left, and she had little doubt that in a serious one on one battle, he would beat Rayquaza even with Jon battling properly.

There was silence for a moment before cheers erupted and Jon returned Rayquaza to its Pokeball, seeming far too content with the way this battle was progressing. Cassandra knew more than ever that he was up to something.

The cheers continued when Jon sent out his final Pokemon. Scizor. The red Bug-Steel type materialised again, and Victini glared at it.

"No running away this time!" Victini called out, however Scizor remained eerily silent. Without waiting for the order, Victini leapt forward, his crown igniting into a flaming V, and rocketed towards Scizor with a V-Create.

"Protect!" Jon ordered as Scizor silently raised a Protect barrier, which took the attack. "Then Double Team!"

In the blink of an eye, Scizor had split into multiple copies again, dispersing across the field as Victini lost track of his target.

"Something doesn't add up," Charlotte said, growing frustrated. She could tell there was one simple thing she didn't know, which is what made none of this make sense, though couldn't figure it out. "Victini hasn't been slowed, even by that V-Create, seeing as it didn't hit. And Scizor is slower than Victini off the mark. So how did Scizor act so quickly?"

Cassandra considered the question, as well as what Charlotte had said before, and felt her stomach sink as she realised what Jon was doing. A glance over to Dylan, to see the disappointed look on his face confirmed it.

"He's going to kill you Jon…" Cassandra muttered, earning a look from Charlotte. "Just watch…"

Victini attempted to telepathically lock in on Scizor, like he had on the S.S. Wishmaker, and was shocked when he couldn't find the consciousness like last time. Knowing that every moment he wasted was a moment Scizor could use to knock him out like last time, he readied another V-Create, aiming for one of the Scizors, only to hit a copy which vaporised upon impact.

Abbee watched as Victini grew confused, and knew that despite this being Victini's battle, she needed to take control of the situation.

"Victini!" She yelled. "Incinerate!"

Regaining his focus, Victini roared out in anger, as a wave of flames pulsed outwards in all directions, striking copies and vaporising them.

"Protect!"

Jon gave the order as Scizor raised a barrier just in time to block the oncoming flames. However all the copies were gone, and Victini wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice.

"Agility!" Jon commanded, before Abbee gave her next order.

"Work Up!"

Victini couldn't help but grin, knowing that when the pair had spent the last two days scheming, they had decided to employ another older tactic that had worked well for them. Work Up had no visible effect, so nobody would suspect a thing if Victini used another almost invisible move instead.

"Slash!" Jon ordered. Scizor darted in at blinding speed to melee range with Victini, slicing it with one of its claws. Charlotte looked at Cassandra confused, as to why Jon used Slash instead of Night Slash or Brutal Swing, but Cassandra just nodded to the battlefield knowing Jon wouldn't keep this up much longer, and that this decision had confirmed her theory.

"Flame Charge!" Abbee ordered. Victini encased himself in flames, before launching himself at Scizor, who with uncanny speed, dodged the attack, though remained within striking distance.

"V-Create!"

Victini's crown flared to life, as it rocketed at higher speed towards Scizor, who, unable to dodge this faster attack, responded to Jon's call to use Protect by raising a barrier. And whilst V-Create was successfully stopped, the Future Sight attack Victini had created earlier faced no resistance. Scizor was struck by a telekinetic blast from behind, and in that instant, seemed to lose form. Victini wondered for a moment if he had accidentally killed the Pokemon, before realising he now stood face to face with something he had never seen before.

A bipedal Pokemon with flowing white fur with red streaks and tips. Sharp claws adorned its paws as it stared at Victini intently, with menacing red and yellow eyes.

"What the hell is that?!" Charlotte yelled, unable to comprehend what she had just seen. Jon answered her question, however.

"Zoroark! Shadow Ball!"

Zoroark cried out as a spectral orb launched from its jaws, knocking Victini back, who was too stunned to dodge the attack.

"Jon had Scizor use evasive moves instead of offensive ones-" Charlotte began.

"Because it wasn't Scizor. It was Zoroark using its illusion ability to pretend to be Scizor…" Cassandra finished. "That's why Scizor seemed too fast…"

"Focus Blast!" Abbee ordered, as Victini snapped back to attention, forwarding his rage at being tricked towards the strange Zoroark. He charged up the bright blue orb that made up the Fighting Type move, and launched it, as Zoroark descended on the Mythical Pokemon. Focus Blast, however, phased straight through Zoroark, striking the barrier on the other side of the field, as Zoroark descended on Victini.

"Shadow Claw!" Jon ordered. Zoroark's deadly claws became engulfed in a spectral energy, as it slashed at Victini, knocking it back. Victini was sent flying in the air, and crashed to the ground, unconscious, and unsure of what just happened.

Jon walked towards Abbee who looked between the odd Zoroark, and her unconscious partner in shock.

"This is what I was talking about…" Jon said to her. "Keep planning like this, and Victini will get his rematch…"

"You know that you just added that Zoroark to his list, right?" Abbee replied, realising just how long this summer was going to be…