Borne of Caution (Pokemon Isekai)

"Again!"

All around a charred and torn-up stump of drift wood sticking out of partially glassed sand, fireballs the size of fists slowly bloom into existence one-by-one, forming a floating minefield of flames. Then as one, the fireballs converge onto the stump and explode. Most explode as one, but several are out of sync, detonating either early or late, but either way it makes a bright flash in the early morning on the beach. When the smoke clears, even more of the stump is blown away.

With Treecko's guidance, Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia had cut the travel through the Petalburg Woods to a mere two days, and after rising before the sun on the third day, made it to the small port town along Route 104 that serves as the nearest ferry point to Dewford. With hours to spare before the ferry arrives, the group split up to do their own thing.

Naturally, Lee took the free time to train his pokemon on an abandoned part of the nearby beach.

"Nice work, love," Lee says, grinning down to Vulpix as he writes down a number of notes in his notebook.

Custom Techniques - Vulpix

#1

N̶a̶m̶e̶:̶ H̶e̶l̶l̶z̶o̶n̶e̶ G̶r̶e̶n̶a̶d̶e̶

Name: Convergence

-Fire-type

Description: Fireballs spontaneously manifest around target and converge, exploding for Fire damage.

+Leaves little room to dodge.

+Strikes all points of foe, negating need to aim for weakpoints

-Slower than Protect. Current speed can be dodged by faster foes that aren't surprised.

Notes:

Requires pyrokinesis. (See - Vulpix bio notes)

Power good. Need to work on explosion sync, projectile speed, and energy consumption. Don't use in serious battles.

The vixen simply nods in reply, too busy hiding her panting behind deep breaths.

"Alrighty, Corvisquire." He calls up to the bird pokemon hovering above him. He quickly turns the page in his notebook to a dog-eared page marked 'Problem Child' "You're up! Same as last time!"

Corvisquire caws loudly and reels his glowing wings back, throwing them forward a second later and hurling a barrage of Swift rays forward.

The starry projectiles fly not at the charred driftwood, but to an X drawn in the sand about forty feet behind it. As they pass the driftwood, however, the stars suddenly try to turn back to the driftwood target. Many of them crash into each other and others can't turn in time, hitting the sand with loud pops or flying wide. When the fliers try to turn around a second time, many lose power and fade away. Only a small handful of the stars actually hit the rear of the target.

The crow pokemon screeches in frustration at yet another failure, making Lee wince. "Easy, Corvi. We've only been at this for a few days. You'll get the hang of it," he says, looking down at his notes.

Testing: Problem Child

Swift, Scary Face, Taunt, and Extremespeed ripe for abuse.

Other moves need more research

He looks further down.

Swift #1 (Course Alter?)

Much like Vulpix's pyrokinesis, Swift relies on user focus to designate target. Mechanism that enables course correction currently unknown but seems autonomous once target is set. More testing needed. Current goal: Enable course alter mid flight.

Test #A1

4 hours of practice. Corvisquire instructed to visualize Swift changing course mid-flight. Inconclusive.

Test #A2

3 hours of practice. Corvisquire instructed to intently visualize Swift changing course mid-flight. Inconclusive.

Test #A3

3 hours of practice. Corvisquire given instruction to fire at one spot but focus intently on another 1 second later. Inconclusive.

Test #A4

4 hours of practice. Course deviation seen at hour 2 after Corvisquire given instruction to fire at one spot but focus intently on another 1 second later. Turning speed of Swift too slow to land at new target.

Test #A5

3 hours of practice. See Test 4

Test #A5

2.5 hours of practice. See Test 4

Test #A6

3.5 hours of practice. Swift can now change targets after being fired. Note: Swift rapidly loses power and thus speed and homing after 7.4 secs flight time. Working to resolve this. Not battle ready.

Test #B1

...

Lee jots his findings down as Corvisquire lands before him in a huff.

Test #B1

1.5 hours of practice. Attempts to make Swift turn 180 degrees achieve mixed results. Some lose power, others cannot turn fast enough, and others collide. Less drastic maneuvers can land with decreased power. Effective flight time: 7.7 secs. Max flight time: 9.8 secs. Not battle ready

"Now-"

Lee doesn't even need to finish his sentence as a green blur rushes forward from his side, kicking up sand with each step. The blur slows down several feet away from the target just enough to make out Treecko's form with his tail glowing.

"Tree..."

He blurs again, this time in a whirl.

"Ko!"

The tree gecko's muscular tail lashes out, blowing through the driftwood stump in a burst of charred mulch and harsh crack of wood.

Lee's fingers find Treecko's section in the notebook with practiced ease. Looking down, he's greeted with two entire pages filled with notes and training logs, even with Treecko's currently limited moveset. The sight makes worry swirl in his stomach.

Treecko is still working himself towards a burnout. Just a week ago he was just getting the hang of Quick Attack, and now he can casually use Quick Attack as a movement option like Vulpix. He's even rapidly closing the speed gap between himself and the vixen, as the games of 'tag' Lee had them 'play' over the past week or so are getting more and more even.

"Excellent work, Treecko," Lee says, forcing a smile to his face as he writes 'Pound is more akin to Slam now'. "That would knock around a pokemon twice your size easy, I would think."

Treecko crosses his arms and peers at the destroyed driftwood, then to Lee. Treecko's gleaming yellow eyes focus on his trainer's smile, and Treecko slowly frowns and chews on his twig in response.

Lee feels his smile falter and clears his throat before looking away. 'Of course he's perceptive enough to see that you're upset, dumbass. You can't lie to a creature with sharp instincts like that. What is this? Amateur hour?' He berates himself. "So I think thats good for some early morning practice. We've been out here for..." He glances over to the east at the sunrise, then to the town in the distance. "Probably an hour or two. Lets head back to town and see what the others are up to as a team, yeah?"

Corvisquire's sour look and up-turned beak already tell Lee what the crow's opinion is, so he is returned to his pokeball.

Treecko looks equally disgruntled, but steps forward and takes a spot next to his trainer.

The most surprising one is Vulpix, who looks up to Lee with a yip, and a silent request to be returned to her ball.

'You sure, love? Are you feeling okay?' Lee sends back, trying not to let worry bleed through his words.

Vulpix is quiet for a moment. From the border between her mind and his, Lee can feel Vulpix's brain working overtime to try and formulate something in English rather than just a feeling.

'I ** * *** t****. Yo* ****d *i** **** T*e****?'

The end result is a heavily garbled mess more akin to radio static than any language. The brains of most pokemon just aren't suited to rigid human language, and it shows especially with Vulpix. Just receiving the message makes his head throb. The man quickly responds with a telepathic burst of understanding after he puzzles out the message with the urges and feelings she could not filter out, the message being she's tired and wants him to spend time with Treecko. The strain of human speech begins to give her a headache, so Lee quickly shuts down any further attempts.

'We'll talk later, okay?' He sends to her, pulling her pokeball from his belt.

Idly, Lee feels his respect rise for other non-Psychic telepaths able to 'speak' in fluent English. If it's hard for a pokemon as intelligent as Vulpix, who has just recently started after months of constant conversation with him, then any pokemon with any proficiency must be truly genius.

"You deserve the rest, Vulpix. Return." Lee replies aloud with a nervous smile, mostly for Treecko's benefit as he returns the vixen to her ball. The pokeball muffles the constant connection between the man and fox, sending an uneasy shiver up his spine.

He feels... vulnerable.

Lee forces the feelings away and turns to Treecko. "Looks like it's you and me for now, bud. Take care of me, yeah?"

The gecko answers with a simple nod.

--------------------------------

The tiny port town along Route 104 most definitely was just a single house that belonged to Mr. Briney in the games, and Lee struggles to recall if it was featured in the anime at all, but if it was, it had to have been small.

Sans the bustling port, the town (or more appropriately, village) could not have been home to more than three-hundred people, and it showed. A number of the buildings between the bright gift shops and restaurants meant to drain money from travelers and the boardwalk were built in an older, utilitarian style meant for lifespan rather than aesthetics. There isn't even a proper Pokemon Center, but rather a small clinic that proudly boasts the employment of a Nurse Joy on their dated website. If not for the beach backdrop, the town would have been rather ugly beyond the tourist area.

Lee and Treecko stroll into the town at a sedate pace, and Lee is silently relieved to see Treecko's fouled mood and narrow-eyed expression improve somewhat after the walk. He thinks back to Vulpix's words earlier.

'I...don't think I've bonded with Treecko or Covisquire very much at all,' Lee frowns to himself. 'At least with Corvisquire I have the excuse of him being uncooperative, which I need to address sooner rather than later, but with Treecko...'

Unbidden, all the moments and triumphs Treecko would have spent with Ash flash through his mind, and each one makes Lee's stomach tighten. The two would have become friends, and Treecko would go on to become a pokemon able to compete with legends, maybe even surpassing Ash's Charizard if not for the unfair type advantage.

He stole Treecko, plain and simple.

'But after making that childish promise and that stupid speech, I can't just let him go.' And a smaller, greedier part of him doesn't want to let the potential legend go. Lee glances down to the aloof little lizard. All the training in such a short time and the religious use of Quick Attack have refined Treecko's movements, even just walking, into a prowl rather than a simple gait. The only limiting factor holding his movements back from being seamless is his young body.

Already, he's standing out. A few of the smaller pokemon Lee and Treecko pass in the town eyeball Treecko with wariness.

'He's not having a good time with us, with me. I know he feels like I'm stifling him, like I'm going back on my promise,' A bead of sweat rolls down Lee's forehead, stinging the eye it drips into until he wipes it away. 'But...' All the times Treecko has worked himself to exhaustion struggling against Vulpix, Corvisquire, Marshtomp, Shelgon, and even himself as he practiced Quick Attack until his legs refused to move come to Lee at once, driving a painful spike of self-loathing into his chest. 'And I keep letting him do it some days, then fight to deny him on others. Fuck, to him I can't even make up my mind. What do I do?' Again, he glances at his pokemon.

If Treecko notices his trainer's slow nervous breakdown, he keeps it to himself.

'Maybe just be consistent and give him what he wants for once? Or are you afraid he'll see through your words and realize that you're an underhanded shit that just wants to use him? You weren't even fair in catching him.' A snide voice in the back of the zoologist's mind taunts. 'You're holding him back.'

Lee grits his teeth and takes a deep breath.

"Treecko?"

The gecko pokemon lazily turns his eyes to look up at Lee as the pair stop in the street.

"How about we head deeper into town and see if anyone wants a battle or two? We've still got an hour before we need to meet with Brendan and Zinnia."

"Tree..?" Treecko initially perks up and gives Lee his full attention, but frowns afterward, suspicion bleeding onto his usually cool face as expected.

"Really, I mean it," Lee hastily defends the offer, trying hard to not be flustered. The lack of Vulpix there to help him straighten his thoughts makes it a chore. "Look, you've been working hard... Too hard I think."

Treecko's jaw tightens.

"But!" Lee jumps back in. "But, I, uh... haven't been the most supportive of your desire to become strong. I wasn't lying when I said I saw how much potential you have, and that we're alike, I just have some hang ups that maybe I need to get over. I haven't been a good trainer to you, and I want to correct that."

The green lizard turns fully to Lee and regards him carefully. For a long minute, Lee has to force himself to meet his pokemon's piercing, judging gaze without faltering. If he so much as twitches, all his credibility goes out the window.

Finally, Treecko offers him a slow nod.

Relief washes away the tension coiled inside of the man, and he feels his face pull upward into a smile. "Thank you. Now, lets get going. The competition isn't going to thrash itself."

For the first time since the gecko pokemon came into his care, Treecko smiles.

The rest of the jaunt to the edge of the to port town is done without the previous oppressive silence. "I really am proud of you, you know," Lee remarks as they approach the port and the beach. In the distance, he can spy a few battle grounds in the sand, and he even sees Brendan and Marshtomp battling a girl with a Poliwhirl. "You've grown by leaps and bounds and I know you punch above your weight class. It won't be long before you're one-shotting opponents."

Treecko crosses his arms and silently takes in the praise, but the upturn of his lips tells Lee that he's pleased with what he hears. As they approach the beach battlefields, though, his eyes lock onto Marshtomp.

The Poliwhirl across the field from the mudfish pokemon is in rough shape, bruises littering his body and one arm limp from an injury. The tadpole pokemon takes great heaving breaths, trying desperately to catch his breath as his panicked trainer looks around at the watching people and bites her lip in indecision.

Sans some scuffs and a single bruise on his cheek, Marshtomp is unharmed and not even winded. Behind him, Brendan smirks.

"Marshtomp, Take Down!"

Marshtomp tenses his legs, then rockets forward with a nerve-shattering cry, the sand exploding under his feet.

The girl behind Poliwhirl can't get an order out fast enough before Marshtomp impacts her pokemon with bone-crushing force, throwing up a plume of sand.

Treecko averts his eyes as his smile falls into a scowl. Neither he nor Lee need to look to know the outcome of Poliwhirl and Marshtomp clashing again.

Lee grumbles and keeps walking. "Don't compare yourself to him, Treecko. I told you Marshtomp is a freak. Soon enough you'll be smacking him around."

The pair take up residence at the end of one of the empty fields, making the challenge open to everyone around. It only takes several minutes before a pretty young girl in a sundress approaches with a surly-looking Zangoose as her heels.

"Hiya!" She greets with a bright smile. "I'm Laura, and this is Goosey,"

The Zangoose visibly twitches at the nickname.

"Lee is the name, and this is Treecko as you could probably guess," Lee introduces himself as Treecko silently takes his side of the field. "One on one?"

"Sure thing! Goosy is my only pokemon anyway," The teen trainer replies.

One of the gathering spectators, a boy clad in swimming trunks, steps up to the referee position. "Treecko versus Zangoose, is everyone ready?"

"Yep!" Laura answers with a smile.

"Ready," Lee mutters, steeling his nerves as he watches Zangoose lower his stance and ready his wicked-looking claws. 'Be safe, Treecko.'

"Begin!"

"Goosey, Crush Claw!" Laura cries.

"Move in and counter with Pound," Lee instructs a second later.

Zangoose rushes forward, one paw held high in a telegraphed slash as his claws glow.

Treecko walks forward almost leisurely, watching the approaching Crush Claw with dismissal. The instant Zangoose's paw begins to descend towards him, the wood gecko pokemon twists around the blow and leaps over a follow-up slash aimed at his legs. With a twist of his hips, Treecko turns mid-air, his tail glowing.

Laura's eyes widen. "Goosey, duck!"

The words are too late, as Treecko's tail slams into the side of Zangoose's head like a club of muscle and sinew, throwing the mongoose pokemon to the sand in a daze. Before the opposing pokemon or trainer can even think of recovering, Treecko opens his jaw and sucks in great globs of yellow life energy from Zangoose with Absorb, making Zangoose yowl and writhe in pain.

Zangoose rises to his hindlegs and jumps back out of Absorbs range, glaring at Treecko with one eye beginning to swell into a painful shiner from Pound. Without an order for his trainer, Zangoose lashes out with another Crush Claw, missing as Treecko weaves around the swipe with ease. Poor Zangoose is rewarded with a Pound to his stomach that makes him double over with a grunt after another missed attack.

Slowly, Lee feels his heart calming. Treecko is doing fine. Why was he worried before? One thing he knows for certain, is that Treecko needs this, the feeling of being a winner.

"Treecko, Quick Attack into Pound, send him flying!"

Treecko crouches, his form coated in an angry aura of white. Then he flickers forward like a spear of green.

It'll be the first win of many.

Treecko's fourth opponent, a persistent and now very bruised Numel, finally falls with a groan to the sand, unable to fight further.

On Lee's side of the field, Treecko pants harshly and stands from a crouch. His medley of scuffs, cuts, and burns are ignored and he doesn't bother listening to the cheers of the onlookers. This isn't for them, it's for him.

Behind him, Lee can't help but grin at how fulfilled Treecko looks. He holds his head high as the passed-out Numel before him is recalled by his dejected beach bro trainer. As Lee walks forward to meet the other trainer for a handshake, he stops for a second to give Treecko a congratulatory pat on the head.

The gecko still swipes at Lee's hand, but it lacks any venom.

"Geez, dude," the other trainer, a tall and tanned beach-goer begins as he and Lee break off their handshake. "I didn't think a Grass-type could beat a Fire-type like that..."

"Well, Numel has a Ground subtype, so Absorb let us stay in the game long enough for Treecko to land a few solid hits," Lee replies, unshouldering his bag and digging inside of it. "Your Numel is well trained and as far as I can tell, exceptionally healthy. My compliments to you," he says, fishing out a berry case. He takes an Oran berry from inside and tosses it to his pokemon, who catches the little fruit and takes a bite. 'I should see if there is a berry vendor in town. I'm low on Oran.'

The other trainer grins. "Thanks bro. I try." With a last farewell, he turns and leaves in the direction of town.

Lee pulls his phone from his pocket and flicks the power button, noting the time of 7:37AM. "Huh, time flies. The ferry should be here in a bit..." Glancing around, he notices that Brendan and Marshtomp are gone, likely to the pier to wait for the ferry. "Ready to go?" He turns to Treecko, whose injuries are now partially faded as he finishes his Oran.

Treecko answers with a simple nod and falls into step beside Lee.

As they walk, the scarred man looks down at his pokemon, mentally conjuring the image of him just an hour ago as well. It's like night and day, silently amazing the man.

Where Treecko previously walked with a subtle tension to his shoulders and his gaze locked forward, he now walks with a much looser gait and allows his eyes to lazily wander as they cross the beach towards a set of stairs leading up to the raised pier, where a large boat begins pulling in.

'I know it'll take more than just a few good battles for him and I to actually be on good terms,' the thought is sobering to Lee when it strikes him. 'But letting him work his frustrations out and feel the results of all his work has to be a good start..?'

As they crest the stairs onto the wooden boardwalk that leads to the pier, both man and pokemon spot Brendan and Zinnia before one of the colorful shopping stands that line the boardwalk, one marked with a bold sign saying "Taste of Kanto." Zinnia turns, and when her eyes fall on them, she waves them over.

'What is that I'm smelling?' Lee wonders and he and Treecko approach the stand. Something vaguely fishy and mouth-watering fills the air, and a half-forgotten taste ghosts along his tongue.

"About time you got here," Zinnia says through a mouthful of whatever she's eating. One hand rests on her hip, and the other holds a skewer of three fried balls. She thrusts the skewer his way. "Here, got you some breakfast."

"Erm, thanks," is his unsure reply as he takes the offered food. "What is this?"

"It's takoyaki, my good man! A treat beloved in beautiful Kanto!"

Lee turns to the voice, seeing an older, apron-clad man of vaguely asian descent behind the stand smiling at him. Seeing Lee's eyes on him, the man continues. "Succulent Dewford octopus and traditional Kanto fillings come together in a crispy batter shell for a treat sure to please! Give it a try!"

'Octopus?' Lee blinks. Looking past the owner of the stand, he sees a Machamp in a too-small apron that he somehow missed. The Machamp in the rear of the stand expertly chops and dices a whole octopus with one set of arms while the other set mixes up a batter blend.

The sight of the octopus, the exact same as it would be back on Earth, is nothing short of jarring. There were several of the intelligent little critters back in the zoo's aquarium, all of them crowd pleasers, and he remembers his mother freakout when a freshly dispatched octopus twitched in her meal at a japanese restaurant some years ago.

The warm memories of the zoo and his family vanish with a stabbing pain in his chest that robs him of his breath.

'Remember them all you want, Lee. The zoo is nuclear ash now, and lie to yourself like you always do, lie to yourself about mom and dad escaping. They're all gone.'

You can never go back.

"Sir? If you're a vegetarian, we do have meat-free takoyaki."

Lee blinks and realizes he's been staring at the octopus Machamp was working on. His heart races and his hands feel clammy. "Oh." He sucks in a breath and mentally reaches out to Vulpix, only to get a numb mental thread through her pokeball. He fights to stifle the ache in his chest and swallows the rising bile in his throat that his churning stomach forces up. "Uh, no no, thats fine," he offers the concerned stand owner an awkward smile and steadfastly ignores the raised eyebrows from his friends. "Just thinking, is all. I, uh didn't realize there was an octopus farm in Dewford?"

If the stand owner notices the deflection for what it is, he does not comment on it. Instead, he just smiles again. "Sure is! Dewford is a prime spot for seafood, second only to Slateport here in Hoenn. If you kids are headed to Dewford, then be sure to sample some!"

"We will!" Brendan polishes off the last octopus ball on the end of his skewer with gusto. "If anything they have is half as good as this, then it'll be a hundred precent worth it. Hey, Lee? What was that ju-Ow!" The boy is cut off by an unsubtle elbow and glare from Zinnia.

The man quickly takes the offered lull and laughs. "Thank you, my young friend! If you go to Dewford's Gilded Seaking restaurant, tell them Nagi and Machamp sent you!" The now named Nagi exclaims. He starts when Machamp turns and taps his shoulder. "Oh! And something for your vegetarian friend, too!" He takes an offered skewer with two takoyaki handed to him by his Machamp and leans over the stand, presenting it to Treecko. He takes it with a silent nod of thanks before biting into the treat.

A loud boat whistle cuts off any further conversation, making everyone turn towards the now docked boat on the pier.

"We should probably get going," Zinnia says whats on everyone's mind. "C'mon!"

She races off, but not before catching Lee's eyes with a look he can't place. Brendan follows just behind her. Lee makes to follow but turns to Nagi and Machamp at the last second. "Thanks for the food, sir."

He laughs. "Thank your girlfriend, boyo. She paid for it after all."

"We're not-" The boat whistle drowns out Lee's denial, making him sigh. "Whatever, thanks anyway," he says, turning and speedwalking to the boat with Treecko easily keeping pace. He looks down at the Kanto treat in his hand, and his stomach protests at the thought of food. 'Damn.' He throws the skewer up in the air, and a Wingull is quick to dive from the sky and grab it before it can fall. Its almost like the trips to the Florida gulf he and his family would take way back when, when they'd feed the seagulls out on the beach. Then they'd-

You can never go back. They're all gone.

Lee falters, drawing Treecko's attention. "A-Ah... Sorry, Treecko," he murmurs, stopping beside an empty stand at out the view of others and bending over, placing his hands on his knees and taking great, heaving breaths. Twice he's almost sick again, and no matter how much oxygen he takes in, his chest is still painfully tight and his head is light. Black begins to bloom at the edges of his vision and his ears ring with the roar of a waterfall.

You can never go back. They're all gone.

Why did he agree to put Vulpix away? Why? He tries to grasp the thin psychic thread leading to her, but it fails again and again, slipping through his weak grasp like smoke would bare hands.

Vulpix. Help me. Please. Make it stop.

"Treecko!"

The scarred man is shocked from his trance when a small paw slaps him across his face with enough force to knock him to the ground. He blinks and raises a hand to his unmarred cheek, rubbing the stinging spot. "What the fuck?"

Lee blinks the spots away from his vision and looks up to Treecko, feeling his heart sink.

The gecko pokemon stands with a shaking forearm still extended from where he struck his trainer. He chews on his twig, almost biting through it, but it's his eyes that give his feelings away the most.

Treecko's eyes are wide and with his pupils fully contracted, making them dark slits against a sea of yellow. The stares are Lee with an expression so out of place on him that it takes the man a moment to place it.

It's fear. The same fear tell that other reptiles use.

'One step forward and one giant leap back. Nice one, Lee.'

"Oh, oh shit. I didn't mean to...freak out like that, I'm sorry." Lee gulps and looks away, unable to meet Treecko's gaze any longer.

At the words I'm sorry, Treecko seems to come back to life, shaking his head and leveling his trainer with a much steadier look, one demanding an explanation.

'Shit.'

"I..." Lee trails off, rethinking his words. "It's..." Again, he stops.

'This is too fast. I wanted to fix this over the course of weeks. Why is this happening?'

"Treecko," he starts slowly and unsurely. "Remember the day we met those weeks ago? I told you then, and then again today, that you and I are a lot alike. We both know what it's like to lose our homes, our lives, and the difficulty of starting over from nothing."

Treecko's jaw sets and his brows furrow at the reminder.

"The thing is," Lee sucks in a deep breath of air, the previous pain in his chest gone.

Go on. Lie to him again. Do it.

Lee grits his teeth and banishes the thought, blurting what's on his mind before he can second guess himself. "I'm not as strong as you are when it comes to dealing with it. I'm a weak man propped up by expectations, childish dreams, and companions much more resilient than I, companions like you, because if I don't keep moving forward I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. You would have been better off in another trainer's hands, but my greedy ass saw how much potential you have and now I do an about-face and fucking stifle you because I'm afraid you'll hurt yourself and burn out! If I lose someone else, I am going need a long fucking stay in the nuthouse!" His voice rises to an open scream near the end, drawing the gaze of passing people, but he can't find the willpower to care. He slumps against the pier railing behind him and pants, utterly drained. "There you go, Treecko. Thats me, your coward trainer. Say the word and I'll break your pokeball. You'll be free again."

For a long moment, The gecko stares at Lee with a blank expression, which is somehow worse than any yelling or scorn. "Hah, what am I even saying?" Lee pulls Treecko's ball from his belt and opens the empty capsule, hands poised to break it at it's hinge. "I told you I'd get you to the top of the world, and god damn that was an empty promise. You'll get there much faster without me."

A green, scaly paw lands on his hand and stops him from twisting the ball in two. "Treecko?"

The same paw lashes out and catches him right on the unscarred side of his face again, knocking his head to the side. "Fucking..!"

Treecko grabs the front of Lee's jacket and easily pulls the man down to a forehead-to-forehead staring match.

To his shock, the lizard's blazing yellow eyes are filled with unshed tears. His mouth is locked in a grimace so intense that his teeth sheer through his twig, dropping the remains to the ground. The gecko pokemon takes the pokeball from Lee's limp fingers and closes it before shoving it back in his hands.

Lee blinks. "T-Treecko?"

The reptile pokemon turns his eyes back to Lee with a look the man has seen on Vulpix more than once. It's the same vaguely annoyed one she wears right before she washes away whatever he's feeling in favor of adoration and reassurance.

The pokemon then sighs, and in a movement almost too fast to see, rushes in, hugs Lee tightly around his middle, then retreats just as quickly. He picks up his now shortened twig and puts it back in his mouth, chewing on the end as he looks away with practiced indifference. "Ko."

The hollow in the man's chest slowly begins to fill with hope. "You want to stay with us? Even after all this two-faced drama?"

Treecko sniffs, then holds out a paw.

It takes Lee a moment to realize the significance of the act. When it finally hits him, he can practically see the Petalburg woods, the ruined Evertree, and a shadow of himself behind Treecko, who patiently waits with his paw extended.

With a small smile, Lee reaches out and takes the paw in his hand. "Top of the world, together. Don't let me bitch out, okay?" He says, letting go and standing.

Treecko openly smirks at him. Anything further is cut off as the boat whistles again.

"Shit, we need to go," Lee turns toward the boat further down the pier with a worried frown creasing his face. He jumps a little when Treecko hops to his shoulder, resting himself along the top of Lee's backpack rather than draping himself like a scarf as Vulpix would. With his pokemon in place and feeling lighter than he has in weeks, Lee runs to the boat.

'Alrighty, no more drama. Nope. Think about something else... I really need to find one of those farms or animal reserves. They can't be perfect analongs of Earth animals, can they..? That octopus looked exactly as I remembered one through. No one seems interested in publishing anything about non-pokemon beyond the absolute basics. I have to know.' Lee thinks to himself. 'Dewford, don't disappoint.'

It only takes a minute to reach the boat. It's a medium sized cargo ship with faded paint and crewed by obvious career sailors, as one burly man by the lowered ramp checks the ticket of the boarding stragglers.

"They must stop here to offload some cargo and pick people up for a few extra bucks," Lee theorizes to Treecko. "They were certainly cheaper than all the other options."

As Lee and Treecko approach, the sailor holds out a hand to stop them. "Ticket?"

Lee withdraws his phone from his pocket and pulls up the ticket emailed to him, turning the phone around to show the sailor.

He inspects it for a second then waves them along, but not before taking a look at Treecko's roughed up form. "Only warning to ya. No battling on this ship."

"Gotcha."

With that, Lee and Treecko board.

The bunkroom provided to Lee, Treecko, Brendan, and Zinnia is exactly as Lee expected. Spartan, cramped, and musty. The single port hole window is open to try and alleviate the stale smell somewhat, but the success is limited. It has a small bathroom, one bed per corner, and an old TV on an equally old table. Considering the lack of power cord on the TV though, its just a decoration for the next eight hours of their ten hour trip.

"Ugh, I'm going to be sick..."

Brendan groans and holds his stomach when the ship rocks again, rolling over in his bunk and trying desperately not to be sick.

"Yeah, I feel that," Lee murmurs in agreement, mentally kicking himself for not going to a drugstore for motion sickness medicine beforehand. While his stomach isn't revolting as much as Brendan's, seasickness still isn't pleasant.

"Jeez, and I thought I was the only one with a vagina here," Zinnia, now minus her cloak smirks. The tattered brown cape lays in her lap as she sews up a little hole in it.

Brendan, too sick to reply and facing the wall, just raises a hand and presents a certain finger.

Lee rolls his eyes. "You really had us fooled then, Zinnia." He ducks a thrown pillow as Brendan lets out a few chuckles punctuated with an ill groan.

"Sea sickness isn't real, it's all in your head," Zinnia insists. "Once you both try flying on a pokemon, you're going to wish it was this leisurely."

"I'll walk then, thanks," Brendan grumbles.

Lee stands with a stretch and takes a deep breath, feeling his stomach settle somewhat. "Well, I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm going on a walk. Some air sounds nice." He shoulders his bag and Treecko is quick to take up residence on his shoulder. "We'll be back in a bit."

Zinnia opens her mouth to say something, hand raised with an impending question, but she stops herself short. "Yeah, sure. Don't get lost."

With a blink, Lee turns to face her, but by then she's already returned her focus to sewing her cloak. "Right... Will do."

With that, Lee and Treecko exit the room.

The bunkroom leads out into a hallway with a few other doors, each one labeled with a letter and leading to another guest bunkroom. The other wall of the hallway is devoid of doors sans one in the middle labeled 'Deck' that Treecko and Lee walk through, finally taking them to the open starboard side of the deck.

For as far as the eye can see is open blue ocean. The crests of the waves sparkle in the morning light and Water pokemon can be seen near the top of the strikingly clear water. A school of Magikarp swim alongside the boat, their orange hides highlighting them in the water easily. They all scatter when a huge Sharpedo comes out of the gloom of the deeper ocean and makes an unsuccessful pass at them with jaws wide open.

"Hum, so he's back."

Lee and Treecko turn.

Approaching them is one of the cargo ship's sailors, a leaner man with a deep tan. He leans on the ship's railing and watches the shark lazily dive and vanish. "He's been hasslin' us, that Sharpedo. Those Magikarp keep followin' us to get our scraps, and that Sharpedo has been picking them off. Capt'n is worried one of them will panic and evolve. An angry Gyarados would send us to the bottom of the ocean."

A chill runs down Lee's spine. "What? You're awful nonchalant about this."

The sailor shrugs. "Ocean life is like that. I ain't too worried, though. First Mate Johnny's Vaporeon kicked that Sharpedo's rear just a few days ago. If he stirs the Magikarp up too much, she'll probably go down and fix it."

"Vamurrah?"

An odd, throaty mewl comes from just below Lee, making him jump and prompting both he and Treecko to look down.

Standing between his legs and intently watching the water from the side of the ship is a Vaporeon. The pokemon's slick skin and glossy black eyes shine in the sunlight. She blinks, scanning the open ocean by the ship.

"Speak of the devil and all that," the sailor chuckles. "What are you doing startling guests, you soggy biscuit?" He addresses the Vaporeon. "Johnny's not going to be happy."

Other than an ear twitch at her trainer's name, the pokemon ignores him. She flicks her tail then jumps off the ship in a perfect dive, cutting through the surface of the water with nary a splash and vanishing.

For a moment, the pair of men and Treecko watch the water. After a long minute, the Sharpedo appears, rushing away from a blurry blue figure chasing him. The Sharpedo and the blur dart around in the water in an elaborate pattern before Sharpedo breaks away and beelines away from the ship, leaving Vaporeon behind.

Vaporeon lingers in the water for a moment, then turns and leisurely paddles to the ship. Once close, she dives deep underwater, disappearing. Then she rockets straight up out of the water with enough force to land back on the deck.

Lee can't help but smile at the show and comes down to a knee as the Vaporeon approaches him. He holds out a hand and lets the pokemon take a few cautious sniffs, then she smiles and presses her smooth head into his palm. "Vaaa!"

"Strong, stylish, and social. You've got it all, don't you, sis?" Lee asks, silently enjoying the cool, smooth skin of the Vaporeon on his palm.

Behind him, the sailor clicks his tongue. "Don't give that one too big a head now. Johnny can barely keep her under control as is."

Vaporeon sniffs at the sailor's tone before pulling away, walking towards... the wall? No, not the wall...

By the hallway leading back to the starboard bunkrooms, there is a drain grate, probably for flushing away water from high waves. Vaporeon steps on it, then melts into water, phasing through the grate like it's not even there. An instant later, she's gone.

Despite knowing the gamedex entries on a number of pokemon by heart, watching a pokemon spontaneously change her full body-makeup from flesh and blood to just water blows out a little more of Lee's sanity right out of his head. From the corner of his vision, he sees Treecko's own eyes widen a fraction.

"Hey," he begins, turning to the sailor. "Did I just see that?"

The tanned man grunts. "Never seen a Vaporeon before? They all can do that."

The scarred trainer is silent for a moment, mind whirling the possibility of such a power. 'That's so fucked up. That's pyrokinesis levels of broken. I cannot believe I forgot about such a bullshit power until it was literally shoved in my face. I really need to sit down and make a list of what pokemon I want.' Outwardly, Lee clears his throat. "If your First Mate isn't busy, do you think I could talk to him? I think Vaporeon just went to the top of my next capture list."

 

"Thats about everything, lad. I hope the wisdom of old Johnny helps you out." The sea-weathered man sitting across from Lee says as he scratches his salt-n-pepper beard. In his lap, his Vaporeon dozes lightly and barely stirs when he leans back in his desk chair.

Across from the sailor and leaning against the wall of Johnny's quarters, Lee jots down one last line in his notebook, his face locked in a grin. It's less than he had hoped, considering the sailor is a career seaman rather than a full-time trainer, but any info on a rare pokemon like Vaporeon is worth its weight in gold. "Hoho. I knew Vaporeon is a heavyweight contender, but this just cements it. I don't suppose you'd know where I can..."

The old man barks out a harsh laugh. "Son, you can buy a brand new car, or you can buy an Eevee. Aha! Your pale face tells me exactly how you feel about that."

One interesting tidbit Lee learned early on in the world of pokemon, is that cars are expensive. No one needs passenger cars when paved roads are largely restricted to cities, and unpaved roads are much easier to traverse on foot, on a bike, or on a pokemon mount. Motorcycles and scooters exist for towns and cities, but most of the examples Lee could find were little electrically powered things. Lee had to ask if Birch was joking when the subject of his jeep, and subsequently the price, came up one day. He even looked up the model of Oldale's sole taxi and found the price of such a barebones vehicle staggering.

Long and short, if you have a car, you either have serious money or serious debt.

"Well... I'll just have to save up I guess," Lee mutters, mentally counting up his money and coming up laughably short. He steps off the wall, prompting Treecko to rise from his place by his trainer's feet. "Thank you for all the info, sir. It'll be a tremendous help. I hope I didn't take up too much of your time."

"Worry about it none, lad." The old sailor waves him off. "Now off with ye. I gotta get back to it before the Captain wonders where I slinked off to," he lifts his pokemon from his lap and tosses her to his bed, where she doesn't even bother to land on her feet, but rather just flop lazily.

A glance at the wall clock makes Lee's eyes widen. Has he really been here for over an hour? "Right, thanks again. C'mon, Treecko." He turns and starts for the door when he feels Treecko leap to his shoulder. The pair exit and find themselves on the port side of the ship. A stiff and unusually chilled wind washes over the man and pokemon, throwing seawater droplets against them.

Treecko looks up, his eyes widening just the slightest amount. He taps Lee's shoulder and points to the sky in the west, the direction the ship is going. Lee follows Treecko's finger and grimaces.

Rapidly approaching from the horizon is a black, rolling storm. Lightning flashes in the clouds like a demented strobe light in a smokescreen and the faint sound of rolling thunder begins to reach his ears. Over the side of the ship, most of the Water pokemon loitering near the top of the choppy water dive deeper out of sight or turn and begin to swim away from the coming storm.

A door opens then closes behind them, and First Mate Johnny stops by the railing with Lee and Treecko, Vaporeon at his heels. He looks in the direction of the storm with a contemplative expression. "Hmm. Looks like a bad one. Back to your room with ye. Don't need you or green bean there getting swept off the ship and eaten by a Sharpedo. Bad for business and althat."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Lee murmurs. "Back to the hold we go, Treecko."

Treecko just rolls his eyes in reply.

The pair walk back to the guest side of the ship, passing a few other people yet to be corralled by the sailors watching the encroaching storm. "Tch, if worst comes to worst, I'll jump ship and make it there on my Lapras!" One young hotshot tells a pair of crewmembers as Lee and Treecko pass by. "She's won me countless contests, y'know?" He beams.

One of the sailors shakes his head. "A Lapras, eh? Might be the best pokemon for calm waters, but in a storm? Son, the rain is going to make her shell slick, then it takes one good wave to throw you off. After that, you're in the water or on a painful collision course with said shell when you come back down. Do yourself a favor and stay on the boat."

The young trainer gulps and doesn't reply.

When Lee and Treecko return to their cabin, they find Brendan has finally fallen into a nap free of any sea-sickened fits and Zinnia sits upon her bed with her pokemon out. Swablu dozes upon a pillow while Goomy has taken residence on Zinnia's folded cloak at the foot of her bed. Zinnia herself sits behind Shelgon as she polishes his metallic shell with a rag, and judging from the smell, a touch of chemical polishing compound. Shelgon himself rests with his legs folded under his bulk, eyes closed in contentment.

The dragon tamer looks up when Lee closes the door behind him gently. "You took your sweet time," she says quietly. "Get lost?"

"No," Lee answers back in an equally low voice. "Found out that the first mate on this ship has a Vaporeon, so I had to seek him out and ask about her. What a fascinating pokemon, Vaporeon. Unique with powers ripe to be abused in battle. I have to have one."

Zinnia smirks. "Well, better start finding tournaments and competitions to enter. Even an Eevee runt is going to cost you an arm and a leg. The Water stone is an extra kick while you're down, too."

"Don't remind me," Lee grunts.

"So, what are you planning on doing with this hypothetical Vaporeon?" Zinnia asks, going back to polishing Shelgon when the pokemon grumbles his displeasure at her stopping. "Something special?"

"I watched that Vaporeon turn her whole body into water and slip into a drain pipe. That alone makes it worth it to me," Lee begins, resisting the urge to draw his notebook from its place stuffed in his back pocket. "If a Vaporeon can do that, what's stopping them from morphing to water mid-fight to negate incoming blows? Maybe shapeshift mid-battle? Can they control other aspects too, like temperature or matter state? Could a Vaporeon literally turn into vapor and become untouchable? If they can do all this, what is stopping other pokemon from mimicking such a stunt? Could Vulpix turn into a literal ball of flame to dance around attacks? Treecko into a storm of leaves? I have to know how it works!"

Lee covers his mouth when he accidentally raises his voice, but Brendan barely even stirs. When he looks back to Zinnia, she stares at him with her jaw dropped just the slightest amount. "What?"

Zinnia shakes her head and closes her mouth. "Heh. Nothing. I guess I should have expected that from you," she says, her smirk back in place. "Some of that seems a little, ah, fanciful though?"

"I'm sure the prospect of keeping large pokemon was fanciful until someone invented the pokeball, too," Lee shoots back, seating himself on his bed and letting Treecko dismount from his shoulder. "Speaking of pokeballs..."

Lee takes Vulpix and Corvisquire's pokeballs from his belt and pops them open, depositing both pokemon on the floor in flashes of light. Near instantly, his connection to Vulpix is restored and it almost knocks the breath from his lungs. Idly, he's glad he sat down before releasing Vulpix, lest his legs wobble from the sudden drain of tension in his body. It only takes a tiny prod from her mind for his to show the memories of what she's missed.

He feels her rapidly shuffle through the memories like one might do a stack of photographs, taking in each one quickly but thoroughly. Vulpix stops on his heart-to-heart with Treecko with a measure of surprise, physically looking up at him. Then, a gentle, vulpine smile blossoms on her muzzle, and her proud approval flows into his psyche, making Lee's insides grow warm as he grins in reply.

Corvisquire glances between Vulpix and his trainer before looking around, his beak pulling down into a dour frown that quickly transforms into a scowl.

"You don't need to look so down. Corvisquire," Lee says glibly, his grin still in place as he hugs Vulpix to his side. The vixen's fan of tails slowly wag. "Would a hug make you feel better? I've got a free arm over here."

The snap of the crow pokemon's beak makes it obvious what he thinks about the offer and what he would do to said arm.

Before anything else can be said, a crack of thunder makes everyone jump and jolts Brendan awake with a yelp. The whole ship seems to shake from the noise. All eyes turn to the porthole window, where the tropical sun is rapidly being overtaken by black clouds. White-capped waves slowly make the sway of the ship worse.

Overhead, the old PA system crackles to life. "Attention, please," The grainy, gravelly voice of a man echoes all around the ship. "This is your Captain speaking. We're headed through a storm to Dewford that is expected to last several hours. All passengers, please return to your quarters and stay put. All hands, secure cargo and stand by. Thank you." With that, the line dies, leaving the now howling wind as the only sound in the cabin.

Lee releases Vulpix and stands, quickly walking to the window and shutting it, though not fast enough as a raindrop nails him in the eye with unerring accuracy. "Ow! Fucking-!" He rubs his eye and sits back down, almost tripping and landing on Treecko when the ship rocks under him.

With a grumble, Brendan abandons trying to sleep again when the staccato of thunder and rain pelting the ship like bullets makes far too much noise. "Man, I was having a great dream too," he complains, standing and stretching. "What's up with this storm? It was perfectly clear when we left."

"We've been on the water for a couple of hours, shrimpy. Weather out here can turn deadly at the drop of a hat." Zinnia comments blithely. "Gee, I sure hope nothing bad happens to us~!"

"Don't bring that evil in here, woman. I'll toss your ass overboard myself if I don't get at least a week without some dumb adventure," Lee warns with narrowed eyes. "Everyone just hunker down and try to get comfortable. It's going to be a long day."

"Urg, easier said than done," Brendan moans, looking decidedly green when the ship lurches under them. He draws his pokeballs and releases Marshtomp and Shroomish in flashes of light before laying back on his bed. "Lee? Can you feed my pokemon, please? I don't think I can look at any food, even pokechow, without feeling like hurling..."

"That's fine, just relax and rush to the bathroom if you're actually going to puke," Lee stands and grabs Brendan's backpack, unzipping it and reaching inside for Marshtomp and Shroomish's food.

Marshtomp looks at his ill trainer with his brow creased in concern. The mudfish pokemon then turns to Lee with a low, inquiring croon. "Maaash?"

"Caw, ha." Corvisquire answers before Lee can. "Craw!" He finishes with a dry, cackling laugh that plants a frown firmly on Marshtomp's face.

"Ko, Treecko," Treecko speaks up, from his spot lounging on a pillow with his forearms behind his head. His answer is apparently much less inflammatory than Corvisquire's as Marshtomp smiles at him.

Lee turns to his sole flyer with a flat expression. "Can you not pick a fight with everyone?"

Corvisquire has the gall to smirk.

Lunch is a quick affair. Lee feeds both Brendan's pokemon as well as his own, with Zinnia following suit shortly after. Brendan, as expected, eats nothing and just lays on his bed staring at the wall. Zinnia scarfs a wrapped-up sandwich from her bag while Lee forces down a simple granola bar before the rolling of the ship begins to upset his stomach like Brendan's. With food out of the way, all the pokemon huddle on their respective trainer's bed for the rest of the ride.

Lee sits with his back against the wall on his bed, pokedex and notebook in his lap. One earbud hangs from his ear as he busies himself transcribing his verbal pokedex logs into his notebook. He has to rewind the recording several times as he gets lost watching his pokemon from the corner of his eye during this rare idle moment.

Vulpix and Treecko lay by one another, both talking between themselves in various purrs, hisses, and yips broken up by short verses of their species names. Of what they talk about, he has no idea since Vulpix doesn't seem to deem it important enough to give him a telepathic translation. Both pokemon are obviously at ease with each other, but the cool demeanor of both makes it difficult to tell if they're true friends or merely being professional.

Further behind them perched on the edge of the bed, Corvisquire does not deign to give any of them his attention, instead watching the rain pound on the window with as placid an expression as he can manage... Which is to say a resting scowl. In a dull part of Lee's mind, he's faintly amused by watching Corvisquire's head, which like many avians, remains gyroscopically stable while his body rolls with the rest of the ship under it. The crow suddenly seems to realize he's being watched and turns his head, looking at Lee with a narrowed red eye.

"I'm just admiring you, is all. No need to give me the stinkeye," Lee says, raising his hands. "You've got some good sealegs despite being built to fly."

Corvisquire visibly mulls over the words before turning back to the window without a reply.

'At least he didn't get huffy over it. I swear that bird is such a drama queen.'

Vulpix 'overhears' Lee and lets out a short, vulpine snuffle of amusement, drawing a confused look from Treecko when she stops in the middle of their conversation to do so. "Ko?"

It was then that Lee realizes that he and Vulpix have kept her telepathy under wraps since the beginning of their journey, with the only ones who know being Roxanne, Steven Stone, and Birch. "Ah, well, we've been together long enough that I should probably spill this to you and Corvi," Lee begins, drawing both Treecko and Corvisquire's eyes to him. Lee beckons his pokemon closer, forming a little circle before him. "Vulpix has telepathy and she and I use it often. If it seems like we're silently communicating somehow, then we actually are. Keep that to yourselves, yeah?" He asks, looking to Brendan and Zinnia's little camps, who don't seem to notice over the sound of the storm. "I'll tell them when a good opportunity arises."

Treecko nods easily enough and Corvisquire just rolls his eyes. The crow caws out a short, mocking note.

For a second, Lee debates asking Vulpix for clarification, but decides to go out on a limb and ask; "You already knew, didn't you, Corvi?"

The bird answers with another eyeroll.

"I should have guessed. The PokeDex said your kind are plenty intelligent, and you're already a cut above the rest so you probably figured it out quick."

The flattery has the desired effect of making Corvisquire dial back his hostility from badly hidden to merely sour. His resting scowl eases just the slightest amount.

"I don't suppose you'd be open to finally getting a physical?" Lee probes, silently crossing his fingers.

WIth that one sentence, any sort of goodwill he fostered in Corvisquire dies a brutal death as the bird pokemon hops backward and levels Lee with a glare just short of a full-on Scary Face.

'I guess that's a no...'

Both Vulpix and Treecko tense, subtly scooting between Lee and Corvisquire with their eyes locked on the latter. Corvisquire hisses, his feathers ruffling up and talons tearing through the bed comforter like razors through paper. For a single terrible moment, it looks like the three pokemon are about to tear into each other. Then Vulpix and Treecko both jump a little when Lee's hands gently plant themselves on each of their heads.

"Thats fine, Corvi. You don't have to until you're ready," Lee quietly says. He meets the crow's hate-filled red eyes with his own steady gaze. "None of us will force you, and I only want to do so to get a baseline for you, so I can help you grow. We'll do it when you're ready and only when you're ready," He rubs the cool scales of Treecko's head with one hand while the fingers of the other trace the little heart-mark on Vulpix's ear. "Right?"

Vulpix responds with an immediate nod, her hackles falling as she melts into his touch.

Treecko rolls his twig around in his mouth, silently mulling over Lee's words. Then to his trainer's relief, the gecko pokemon backs down as well, looking away from Corvisquire with a dismissive huff.

Slowly, Corvisquire's feathers lower back into place, but he still keeps his piercing eyes cycling between all of them for a minute with his wings tensed to flap.

"Tell you what," Lee breaks the silence again, looking between his pokemon. "Vulpix is due for a check-up. Once we're back on solid land, you can watch and see what the actual procedure is, Corvi. It's nothing invasive or painful, then you can decide. We'll not talk about it anymore until then, okay?"

Corvisquire finally folds his wings back up with an imperious sniff, then turns back to watching the rain.

---------------------------------------------------
The rest of the trip through the storm was turbulent, tense, and generally miserable. The bad weather easily added over two hours to the voyage, changing their arrival from just before 8pm to well after 10pm.

Weary, hungry, and ill-rested, Lee, a shoulder-riding Vulpix, Brendan, and Zinnia trudge off the ship into Dewford's port at the end of the group of passengers. In the distance, Dewford proper illuminates the skyline with city lights.

"Urh, sweet land, I'll never take you for granted again," Brendan moans, falling to his knees on the concrete dock, then down spread-eagle on his belly. "Land, marry me."

"Pretty sure most depictions of Groudon are male, Brendan," Lee says, rolling his shoulders as best he can without jostling Vulpix. One makes a satisfying pop and fills him with a second-long burst of vigor. "I'm sure he'd be flattered, though."

"...Gro-who?" Brendan asks, slowly lifting himself off the ground.

At Zinnia's now intense stare, Lee feels as if he misspoke. "Ah, Groudon. A legendary pokemon said to have created the land and continents. Take that as you will," he says, pointedly ignoring the stares from his friends. He makes a dismissive wave with his hand and quickly continues. "Now, let's get to town and find a hotel, and maybe a place that does late-night take-out. I'm done with today."

He starts walking. After a moment, Brendan and Zinnia's footsteps come from behind as the two fall into step on either side of him. For several minutes their little party walks in silence, and relief muted by exhaustion begins to fill Lee as no more questions come from Brendan or Zinnia.

"So, not many people know about Groudon, let alone so much about it. You're still a pretty fresh trainer, so how did you hear about it?" Zinnia asks, posture innocent but eyes probing.

...Nevermind. He still has enough energy to be nervous.

"Just..." Lee's mouth freezes when Vulpix interrupts his thought by grabbing the words in his mind before they can make it to his mouth. 'Just because I'm a new trainer does not mean I didn't know about pokemon' would have outed him to Brendan, who was there when Oak recited the isolated region story. Before Lee can question just how Vulpix did what she did, he feels her hot breath on his neck as she feeds him a new answer. "Just... some research is all. I did work with Professor Birch for a month before setting out, and he's got a lot of reading material."

If Zinnia is disappointed with the answer, it does not show. Instead, she hums under her breath. "Like that book about my tribe?"

'Fuck off, Zinnia. Why are you doing this when I'm tired?' Lee frowns. "Not exactly. That one..." He stops as Vulpix double checks his answer, then silently approves when it leaves no open ends. "...I found it on a sketchy e-book site. It ended up giving my old phone a virus that a factory reset couldn't fix, so while it was a neat read, I had to trash my phone afterward. Bad trade, all things considered."

That makes Zinnia frown just the slightest amount. "What site?"

"Couldn't tell you. I found it one sleepless night and don't remember."

The draconid woman finally stops asking questions and turns to face forward. A quick glance to Brendan shows the boy isn't listening at all, instead focusing on keeping his dead-tired self moving.

'Lies upon lies upon lies. One day we'll be caught and have to come clean.' Lee tries his hardest to care, but his growling stomach and leaden limbs make even being anxious a hard task. 'It's a problem for another time.'

The three trainers and single pokemon wander from the docks into Dewford, finding it to be larger than Oldale, but definitely smaller than Rustboro. Upscale houses line much of the beach space and one complex near the end by the cliffs must be a resort of some kind. The vibrant nightlife filled with people and bright signs as marks much of the town as a tourist attraction, and it's made even more apparent when Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia step out of a side-street into a main-street lined with bars, restaurants, and shops filled with different curios and all manner of indulgent pleasures. People and pokemon pack the street, their voices mixing with the music all the different locations play and the cheering of a small crowd around a Drowzee street performer, who levitates great balls of water and morphs them into fantastical shapes.

As they walk, Brendan's energy seems to come back with all the excitement around him. His head turns every which way with a smile firmly planted on his face. "Look at all of this! We can't go until we've checked everything out!" A bright candy shop with a Lickitounge painted on the window and a shop offering custom pokeball engravings draw his eyes the most.

Lee pulls his attention away from a rich-smelling tobacco shop when Vulpix nips his ear. 'Yeah yeah, two months cold turkey and all. No need to get bitey. I still want a fancy Cuban, though... Or a cigar from wherever this planet's Cuba is.' He turns to Brendan. "You have fun, hotrod. I'm sticking to my plan of eating and going to bed. I'll text you the hotel and room number. Call if shit gets crazy."

The boy doesn't need any more permission than that and bolts headfirst into the engraving shop, but not before calling back; "You're such an old man! Live a little!"

Lee shakes his head and turns to Zinnia. "You bolting too?"

She opens her mouth to answer, but the ravenous growl of her stomach answers better than any words can. The tanned woman blushes and clears her throat. "A meal sounds good. Lead away."

The pair weave through the crowd further down the road, where the throngs of people thin out somewhat, before slipping into a rustic, open-air bar they don't even bother checking the name of. They find an open table near the back, and after Zinnia throws her cloak over the back of her chair and Vulpix hops off Lee's shoulder, the trainers sit.

"Fucking hell, we're getting a faster boat for the return trip," Lee complains as he feels Vulpix lay across his boots and curl up for a nap. "Twelve hours? Miss me with that."

Zinnia snorts. "Easy for you to say, mister moneybags. I'm not a government goon, so I don't get paid to go out and have fun. I have to source all of my money myself, and I'm not going to blow it on a boat ride of all things when hitching a ride with a cargo ship is way cheaper," she says, propping an below on the table.

Before Lee can reply, a young waitress happens by with a pair of menus. "Hello! Drinks to start?"

"Rum and cola, thanks. Don't be afraid of being heavy-handed with the rum," Lee says, popping open his menu to find some standard sports bar fare inside.

"Hrmmm..." Zinnia glances at the back of the menu where all the drinks are listed. "Tequila Sunrise, please."

The waitress nods and jots everything down on a little notepad. "Could I see your ID, ma'am?"

Zinnia's face sours, much to Lee's silent amusement, before she fishes her wallet out and shows the ID to the waitress, who looks at it closely and smiles. "Thank you!"

With that, she hurries off to another table.

"Why the look? Isn't it a compliment to you that you got ID'd?" Lee asks with a smirk still lingering in his face. 'What's the drinking age in Hoenn? Zinnia is only nineteen-ish if I recall.' He looks past her to the bar and spies a Chatot preening it's wings. It stands upon a sign saying We ID. No under 18. 'Ah.'

"How come you didn't get carded?" Zinnia whines rather than answers. "That's a load of shit."

Lee pats the left side of his face where his scars lay. "These, probably. Adds an instant ten years. Glad they're finally good for something."

Zinnia stares at the burns for a moment. "I never asked. Where did you get those? They almost look like..."

"Burns?" Lee finishes, feeling a sardonic smile pulling uncomfortably at said burns. "They are. Before you ask, let's just say the only thing worse than playing with fire and getting burned, is someone else playing with fire and burning you. An accident, and we'll leave it at that." Under the table, he can feel Vulpix listening closely.

Zinnia frowns at the non-answer.

"Now let me ask you some uncomfortable personal things," Lee leans back in his chair. "What's this mission the draconid tribe put you up to? That e-book had bits of lore and whatnot, but nothing concrete."

The waitress chooses that time to drop their drinks off. A rather plain glass of brown liquor is placed on Lee's side of the table while Zinnia gets a much more flamboyant red and yellow drink in a tall glass. "Anyone ready to order their meals?"

"Sampler for two, please," Lee says, surprising Zinnia as he hands his menu over. He shoots her a look and she too hands in her menu. "All of this on one check, too."

Again, the waitress jots down the order and hurries off. "Back soon!"

"Not that I'm not grateful, but why?" Zinnia blinks.

The scarred man takes a chaste sip of his drink first, smiling when it goes down smooth. "You were just bitching about being broke, and you did get me breakfast so I'm just returning the favor."

"Yeah, but I don't think a three credit snack and a full dinner and drinks really compare," the dragon tamer points out, lifting her own drink for a sip. She smirks. "Mister Henson, are you trying the old wine-n-dine on me? The fastest way to a draconid's heart is her stomach, after all."

"That fruity drink of yours is thirteen credits," Lee deadpans, making Zinnia choke as her eyes bug out. He smiles at the reaction and rests his head in a propped up hand. "Again, you were just bitching about not having money, and I'm a cool guy like that. Besides, I'm married to my job now and I'm certain Vulpix wouldn't be amused if I made googly eyes at another female. Right, love?"

Under the table, Vulpix chuffs.

"See?"

Zinnia grumbles into another sip of her drink. "Funny how you mentioned draconid lore, earlier. I'm actually the Lorekeeper of the Draconid Tribe."

"And what does a lorekeeper do?" Lee asked, an eyebrow raised. "Obviously not anything scholarly like it might suggest since you're out here with us."

When Zinnia doesn't answer, instead looking down at the table with a conflicted expression, Lee relents. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

The tanned woman is silent for another few seconds before answering. "The Lorekeeper... is supposed to be the strongest of the tribe. There aren't a lot of us, so it falls to the Lorekeeper to be strong enough to survive if the rest of the tribe does not, or to undertake special missions for the good of the tribe. That's what I'm doing, currently. The Lorekeeper before me, shes... Not around anymore, and she chose me as the next Lorekeeper before she passed. I and my pokemon have to become strong to fill the shoes she left behind, so the draconids can live through me were something unthinkable to happen."

Suddenly, much of Zinnia's ruthlessness and manic eagerness to battle makes sense. "Swablu would have gained nothing from that battle, so why bother?" Her words from her battle with Ash echo inside Lee's head.

Dying wishes make the most dogmatic people.

Lee nods, swirling his rum in its glass before taking a long pull from it. The liquor is starting to get unpleasantly warm. He sets the glass back down. "She was special to you, the last Lorekeeper?"

Zinnia nods silently, not looking at him.

"What was her name?"

The woman across from him stops halfway through a pull of her Sunrise, the bright colors of it out of place in the somber atmosphere. "Aster," she says after a long moment, her face morphing into a blank mask.

'I thought her Whismer was named Aster? Come to think of it...' Lee thinks back, never recalling such a pokemon in Zinnia's ownership in the weeks he's known her. 'Another timeline thing I fucked up?'

"Aster, huh?" Lee drains the last of his glass. "You're a good trainer, Zinnia. She'd be proud, I think."

Her breath hitches and the stoic mask upon her face cracks, showing something underneath too briefly for Lee to identify. Then without any preamble, she throws her head back and laughs. "Ha! Arceus above, a few sips of tequila and I get all sappy. I was hoping to loosen your lips, not the other way around. How about this, since I didn't get what I want outta you, you've got to help me with something tomorrow."

"A free dinner wasn't enough for you?" Lee asks, shaking his head and holding his hands out in the universally recognized 'really?' pose.

Zinnia easily ignores him and reaches into her back pocket to pull out a crumpled flier. She smooths it out as best she can and hands it to Lee, who takes it and looks it over.

BRAWL ON THE BEACH!

Double Pokemon Battle Tournament!

Bring the whole family! Shops, foodstands, games, music, battles, and more!

Celebrate the new league year with a thrilling tournament on Dewford Island's own white sands! Contestants will battle two-on-two until only one team is left standing! The winner's will receive a shared prize of $10,000 and the bragging rights of being Dewford's best Brawl On The Beach Duo!

The rest of the flier details the rest, like the bands showing up, the restaurants setting up stands, and a little section at the bottom with the usual legal disclaimer.

"Nothing against shrimpy, but I feel like the chances of a win are better if it's you and me," Zinnia says as Lee sets the flier down. "Plus you have to have three pokemon anyway, so unless he has a new one by tomorrow morning, he's out."

"I dunno..." Even with the warming booze in his stomach, Lee still bites his lip as a little flare of anxiety flickers inside him.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Zinnia argues. "I'll even split the prize with you~!"

The scarred man snorts. "You're so generous..."

"But really, I am kinda broke and it's money to put towards that Eevee you want," she presses. "Unless you want to do bitch work for that school, this is the fastest way to get one."

That makes Lee's resistance crumble. With a sigh, he agrees. "Alright, I'm in. I need to register for a gym match and give Vulpix and possibly Corvisquire a check-up first thing tomorrow though."

Zinnia grins. "Fine with me. We need to get proper attire, too, so factor that in."

"...Attire?"

"Duh, look at yourself!"

Lee slowly looks down at his clothes. They're the same camo green jacket, black shirt, jeans, boots, and gloves he normally wears. "Whats wrong with my clothes?"

Zinnia groans and drains the rest of her Sunrise in one unlady-like gulp. "You drive me to drink, you know that? You can't go to a beach like that! You need a speedo and maybe some crocs if you insist on being a nerd."

He glares back at her. "I'll do a lot of things, but wearing crocs and a speedo at once is not one of them."

"Here you are! Sorry for your wait!"

The waitress walks back with a huge tray of assorted bar food and sets it down on their table, making Zinnia's eyes light up.

Lee quickly makes a plate for himself before Zinnia's grabby hands can take everything. "Jeez, woman. Where do you put it all?"

His table partner laughs past a bite of an onion ring. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

 

"Log seven, day thirty-eight. Vulpix and I... suffered our first real defeat today. She was hurt badly, and I..."

There is a long pause in the recording before it cuts off altogether.

"Long seven, day thirty-eight, part two. Sorry about that, professor. Anyway, our winning streak was finally broken. Vulpix suffered from a cracked ulna, several cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, contusions to the head and back, various lacerations, and a concussion. I won't lie, professor, this scared me. The loss stung, but Vulpix's injuries... She'll be back at one-hundred percent in just a few days, which both relieves and awes me. That many injuries on a common animal? One as small as Vulpix? They would be on a long and hard road to recovery if they recovered at all. The whole thing dislodged some... unpleasant memories of home. I had a lioness..."

Again, there is an uncomfortable silence in the recording.

"Animals don't have the same higher brain functions we humans do. Much of it matches up to us, but others are nonsensical, even unthinkable to us. This is going to be greatly simplified or we'll be here all day, so bear with me. In large predators, they often have what's called K-selection reproduction, that's with a capital K, where they produce a small number of very valuable and resource-intensive offspring in response to a stable environment. The opposite, r-selection, is seen often in invertebrates and prey species, who have many 'cheap' offspring, so they can afford to lose several in their usually hostile environment and still continue the species."

"Does that sound callous? Sit down for this next one."

"Lions, one of the big cats I worked with, evolved to thrive in the harsh, arid land of Africa. They've taken an inhospitable environment and mastered it, but such a thing requires some extreme measures... Selective infanticide is one of them."

Birch clicks 'pause' on the recording and wheels his office chair back away from his computer, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling as he pretends Lee's words didn't rattle him. After several long minutes, he sits back up and hits 'play' again.

"To a lion, it makes no sense to keep and invest time into offspring that are unlikely to survive. Some abandon unwanted cubs, others... take a more violent approach. We had an incident back home some months back, after one of my lioness' gave birth to three cubs. Something we could not identify triggered her, and she... One didn't make it."

"It was all too easy to imagine Vulpix... No, I'm not going there right now."

"On a different note, I was surprised to see the healing machines in the Pokemon Center. They were always used as a convenient handwave for healing in the games, as no kid playing a video game would want to wait around for manual treatment and buying healing items all the time would be infeasible. Considering these healing machines, or I guess the proper name is 'Omni-Trauma Units' take much longer and according to Nurse Joy, only work up to a certain dosage before a pokemon's body begins to reject it, it's definitely not a handwave and explains the need for the Pokemon Center needing to address serious injuries manually. Visually, it looks similar to Heal Pulse, so maybe they were inspired by the move? I dunno, I'll research that. I was surprised absolutely none to find that the units are made by Silph Co, who still gives me dystopia megacorp vibes sometimes."

"In other news, I came dangerously close to outing myself as a... foreigner... like a moron. A dragon-tamer named Zinnia, who forced herself in our group, nearly caught me after I blurted some half-remembered line about her tribe, the Draconids. At first, I was reluctant to let her come, but she and her Shelgon were the ones who defeated Vulpix. She and her pokemon are strong, something that may be useful later. As much as the back of my mind is telling me it's a bad idea, the protection she can offer outweighs the risk just the slightest amount."

"We're setting out in the morning, and I've got to get to bed, so that's it for this one. Lee, out."

--------------------------------------------------
"Log eight, day forty-one... Fuck."

"I got my Treecko, and a Corvisquire, both on total accident yesterday. We finally made it to Petalburg Woods and began our way inside. For several hours it was uneventful. Or it was uneventful for Brendan and Zinnia, I was too enchanted by all the pokemon to really notice the time passing. Anyway, we stopped for lunch and Brendan's Shoomish wandered away. We found him by a ransacked Pecha bush, and the owner of said bush was not happy."

"This was the first time I've seen a Corvisquire. I vaguely recall his last form, Corviknight, from promos for the latest game, but other than that, he was a total unknown. I knew my meta knowledge was only going to get more and more unreliable, but this threw me for a loop."

"Corvisquire came down at Brendan and Shroomish like a missile, and in such a cramped clearing, only Vulpix had the agility to fight him, so we did."

"My Pokedex gave it's a little blurb about Corvisquire when I was identifying him, saying that his kind are masters of gauging an opponent. This guy came down, saw three humans, a Vulpix, a Shroomish, a Shelgon, and a Swablu, and decided fighting was a good idea. It didn't take long to figure out why. Even with me and Vulpix going full-tilt, Corvisquire kept pace, even taking a Will-o-Wisp to the back and getting up like nothing happened. It looked like we had the edge, then he busted out Extremespeed."

"I would call Vulpix fast. With Quick Attack, she can move so fast that her features blur together to the naked eye, making her little more than an orange, fox-shaped smear. Normally the whole 'move so fast you vanish' thing is a common occurrence in TV to signify someone moving quickly, but to actually see a pokemon be there one second, then be gone the next with the displaced air cracking loud enough to echo in the woods is... something else. I know there must be some trick to Extremespeed, because if my napkin-math is right, Corvisquire would need to move at roughly mach 50 to become invisible, and super-durability or no, I have a hard time believing a bird would not practically atomize itself at such a speed. The delay between his vanishing and his actual attack landing also points to Extremespeed not being mach 50... Unless physics here are different from my earth's. Shit, that's going to keep me awake."

"Vulpix managed a miracle right before she collapsed, firing off a Fire Spin so huge it was like an orange, F1 tornado spawned from nowhere in the forest. Vulpix's eyes glowed the same color as hellfire, and she somehow shielded me from the attack despite how I should have been fried. Zinnia's Shelgon popped a quick Protect to keep her and Brendan safe. Corvisquire was caught in the whirlwind and had countless burns and contusions to show for it. At the mouth of the tornado, he was thrown almost a fourth of a mile with enough force to make an indent in a tree we found him in. This is where we found the Treecko colony."

"Professor, I'm going to confess something I regret. I caught a Treecko I know was supposed to go to another trainer. The damage Corvisquire's impact did to the tree caused the mammoth thing to fall down. It was a long-dead tree and was on borrowed time, but it was still the home of the Treecko colony. As it fell, the Treecko in question froze up, and Corvisquire was still unconscious at the best of the tree. I threw two hail-mary pokeballs and caught both of them, thus saving them, with pure luck. I could justify keeping Corvisquire, as we beat him one-on-one and letting a dangerous pokemon like him go would be irresponsible, but Treecko..."

"I should have let him go. He wasn't meant to be mine, yet I kept him, because I know he grows to be a Legendary contender, and thats legendary with a capital L. Was that wrong of me?"

"I just... Shit, moving on."

"A gave Treecko a rudimentary physical to get a baseline. Physically he's in good shape, mentally I can't say for sure. He just lost his home, after all. Corvisquire was given a Rawst berry that I had Vulpix sniff out to take the edge off his burns and promptly returned to his ball. He'll need a visit to a Pokemon Center to get back up and running. I'm hoping he's not going to be difficult, but I get the feeling he is. I am sick and tired of this forest so we're going to bed to make haste out of here. Once we're in Rustboro, we'll begin training for our gym match. Lee, out."

--------------------------------------------------
"Long nine, day forty-two. We're in Rustboro and have some non-flammable training grounds to use. I've had Vulpix limited to just control exercises like maintaining a hovering fireball and moving fireballs along short paths as to avoid a forest fire. We're lucky her Fire Spin was so intense it turned everything it touched to ash instantly, or I'd probably have the Rangers jumping up my ass. Our attempts so far to replicate her burst of power in the forest have been... Well, the less said the better."

"I dropped Corvisquire off at the Pokemon Center, and Nurse Joy cleared him after a round or two under the Omnitrauma. The little bird has been... combative to say the least. He's yet to directly disobey me, even in the gym battle we had today. He even ran an unsupervised errand for me by getting my gym registration in my stead, so I'll count my blessings there."

"in the meantime, I had Vulpix and Treecko begin their own training. Vulpix's physical conditioning is at a level I would call adequate, and she continues to gain lean muscle at a steady rate, so we'll likely dial that back some in favor of more pyrokinesis. For reference, one of the few times I could coax her into playing with me, she easily pulled me off my feet with just a jerk of her neck during a tug-of-war with a rope toy. Before we get too in-depth with her pyro powers, I'll have her help me teach Treecko Quick Attack. It's a wonderful movement option as well as being a force multiplier, and would help his rather tame movepool."

"This brings us to the last event of today: my gym battle with Roxanne."

"I went to the Rustboro Trainer School to see about taking a class or two, and Gym Leader Roxanne was there. Rather than have us wait, she offered to let us battle right there if I helped her teach a class and kept an open mind about working with the School in the future."

"Professor, I know you said your sponsorship would open a lot of doors for me, but I didn't realize it would be this many. She took one look at my ID, saw my title, and practically offered whatever I wanted to work for the School. I told her I'd be open to projects here and there but that my primary research belongs to the lab."

Birch sighs in relief and wipes his forehead.

"The battle was something else. I had no idea that gym leaders have two teams, one for challengers and one of their own personal teams. Considering the citadel-like arrangement of all the regions, it makes sense that gym leaders are stronger than they let on since they more or less rule their cities. The mayors and local governments may say whatever they want, I know the League is really in charge with their monopoly on power. Also, they do need to give young trainers a fair chance, or the League tournaments would be barren."

"Anyway, we battled her real team and squeaked out a narrow win. Corvisquire thrashed Roxanne's Geodude with Steel Wing and Extremespeed. Just him having Extremespeed and being a Galar native pokemon makes me think Corvisquire had a prior trainer or let him go, but that's for another time. He was felled by her much more powerful Nosepass, and despite the type disadvantage, I put Vulpix in."

"We held our own, but when it got down to the wire, we had to make a leap of faith. Nosepass's Sandstorm was fouling all of Vulpix's shots because she couldn't see, so using telepathy, I plugged her sight to my eyes so she could fight from the 3rd person. I didn't ex-"

Birch once again pauses the recording and tries to process what he's heard. They pulled the sense-sharing trick, again. No, they pulled an even more extreme version. If Lee is being one hundred percent truthful, then they just performed something impossible.

Telepathy with meaningful communication is only seen in one in a thousand telepathy-capable pokemon, and telepathy with one-to-one understanding is easily fifty times as rare. There was exactly one report of a blind man who owned an Alakazam saying he sometimes saw wispy things when his pokemon was near him, supposedly things Alakazam was looking at, but nothing came of it. Now, full overriding of senses?

"That doesn't happen..." Birch whispers to himself. He swallows, but it doesn't help his suddenly dry throat any. The brains of people and pokemon are just too different. Countless men, all with decades of experience and access to near-infinite League resources, had tried and failed what Lee did casually.

First the pyrokinesis, now this? What did he do differently? It could not have been just an accident. Or was it?

Does... Does Lee even know of such a limitation? That can't be it... can it?

Birch eyeballs the videophone in the corner, now feeling out of his depth. He shakes his head and clicks 'play' again.

He and Lee need to talk soon.

"-ect it to work so well, but we won when her last barrage of Ember hit."

"Then Steven Stone walked up."

Birch feels his blood pressure skyrocket.

"He was, ah, a surprisingly personable guy, all things considered. I guess you get used to being nice to everyone in such a public position of responsibility. He instantly knew Vulpix and I used telepathy and watched her pyrokinesis in action, so I guess our chance of surprising him became an even bigger pipe dream. Jesus. Anyway, thats all for this one. Lee, out."

--------------------------------------------------
"Day forty-six. I should probably start doing these on my phone. My Pokegear? Is Pokegear the name or the brand? Eh, it's a phone. The pokedex is fine as for its own functions, but sending huge media files through this thing takes for fucking ever and kills the battery. Anyway, as I've noted before, Treecko's growth is nothing short of explosive. He's been working hard to master Quick Attack, and now has an adequate grasp after only a few days. He's in excellent shape and health, and I have full intention of helping him stay that way, He throws himself into training with admirable aplomb, but I have fears of him burning out."

There is a short pause.

"We'll... work on that more later. Corvisquire was already powerful at his time of capture and his performance in battle speaks volumes of his abilities. He improves quickly as well, adding power and technique to each of his moves with their repeated use. Now I just wish he would curb his enthusiasm for violence...Again, we're working on it."

"On to other topics, I'm glad that both Treecko and Corvisquire are responding well to their diets. Corvisquire was easy, as I just copied Vulpix's mix with more red meat and some grains substituted with nuts. To ensure healthy armor growth upon his eventual evolution to Corviknight, who I'm told is a Steel-type, I do add some iron supplements in for him. Treecko is where I ran into issues. I was surprised to learn the Treecko line is strictly herbivorous. I guess it makes sense given the Grass typing, but it threw me off. I admit I'm... not well versed with herbivores, as I spent most of my time working with carnivores. His mix should meet all his nutritional and calorie requirements even with his instance on harsh training factored in, but it leaves taste as something to be desired. I'll wrap this up as I've got to go. Brendan's match with the Rustboro gym leader is coming up and my team is about done with lunch. Lee, out."

--------------------------------------------------
"Log eleven, day fifty."

"I don't have a ton to report on this one, as we talked on the phone regarding my 'concerns' a few days ago. We're in-route to Dewford. Recently, I've been working with my pokemon in earnest to create custom moves, as you'll see by the attached file. It's been going well I think. For Vulpix, Convergence still needs more work, and Fox Fire is still in the fanciful dream stage, but we'll get there."

"I've also been training with Corvisquire to further abuse Extremespeed and to try and figure out the secret to Swift's homing ability. We've been able to get Swift to change targets mid-flight, but thats all. It's frustrating Corvi something fierce. In another vein, research by a somewhat unknown researcher from Galar named Doctor Castel suggests the Corviknight line has a smattering of Dark mixed in with their Steel and Flying types. Not much, but enough to be useful. I'm really hoping this is the case. Why? I was re-reading the section in 'Type Advantages for Trainers in a Hurry' regarding how Dark moves normally have a level of homing built into them like Faint Attack and Pursuit, as the Dark energy naturally gravitates toward anything living, or emitting 'aura' I guess. If we can transmigrate Dark energy into Swift, we'll have a seriously difficult move to dodge, see my notes on the custom move: Pursuers."

"Treecko, meanwhile, has been learning Faint Attack from Vulpix. It's taking longer than Quick Attack since Faint Attack is not a move that the Sceptile line learns naturally and this is the first time Treecko has ever had to mold Dark energy, but Vulpix is a patient teacher and Treecko is a stellar student. Fuck, I'm kind of kicking myself for not realizing the potential of such a move before. I know it's not as fast as Extremespeed, but when used, I can't seem to follow the user with my eyes. No one can. It's as if my eyes just slide off of them and my brain just refuses to acknowledge that there is something there. I know there is a word for this but it escapes me right now. If we can apply that effect to projectiles... Anyway, I got to see a Vaporeon in action as she chased away a full-grown Sharpedo harassing the cargo ship taking us to Dewford, then I got to see her melt into a drain as a mass of water. What an unfair, broken ability that I must have. Vaporeon went to the top of my wanted list, and I will have one. I'm going to finish up here and send this before the cell signal gets too weak. Lee, out."

By now, Birch is too tired to be surprised by the revelation of entirely new moves being created and sighs, promising himself he'll be amped up later. He scrolls down the folder with all the audio files to find a single picture and several text files as well.

Clicking on the first one, it's a rather straightforward list of pokemon names written on photo-copied paper, presumably ones that Lee wants. Several are crossed out, and the last one is almost entirely scribbled out.

-More to be added-

Vaporeon

Eevee?

S̶n̶o̶r̶e̶l̶a̶x̶

Flygon

Audino/Chansey/Blissey

Seviper/Zangoose (only one)

Persian

Absol? Research More

Kecleon

Manectric/Luxray

Kangaskhan? Research More

Mienshao

Latias/Latios - Wishful thinking

L̶m̶a̶o̶ B̶r̶a̶i̶x̶e̶n̶

L̶u̶c̶a̶r̶i̶o̶

████wo- Get real

--------------------------------------------------
Birch closes the file then goes to the next one.

--------------------------------------------------
Custom Techniques - Vulpix

#1

Name: Convergence

-Fire-type

Description: Fireballs spontaneously manifest around target and converge, exploding for Fire damage.

+Leaves little room to dodge.

+Strikes all points of foe, negating need to aim for weakpoints

-Slower than Protect. Current speed can be dodged by faster foes that aren't surprised.

Notes:

Requires pyrokinesis. (See - Vulpix bio notes)

Power good. Need to work on explosion sync, projectile speed, and energy consumption. Don't use in serious battles.

#2

Name: Fox Fire (Name not final)

-Fire-type

STILL IN CONCEPTUAL PHASE

Description: Fox-shaped flame clone runs down and engages foe as a separate combatant. Explodes for Fire damage when defeated.

Notes: Vulpix's pyrokinesis has a long way to go before she can exert this level of control midbattle. Very cool, but very impractical (for now)

--------------------------------------------------
Birch whistles to himself as he closes the file. "That's bold, but game-changing if it can be done." He clicks the next one, feeling eager.

--------------------------------------------------
Custom Techniques - Corvisquire

#1

Name: Pursuers

-Dark-type

STILL IN CONCEPTUAL PHASE

Description: N/A

Notes: Swift needs deconstructed first.

--------------------------------------------------
The next file, the one for Treecko, is empty, leaving Birch to lean back in his chair as his throughs swirl a mile a minute.

"Medi?"

He looks up, seeing his Medicham at his office door with aspirin and a glass of water already in his hands.

Birch laughs. "Thank you, old friend. Lee is giving me a headache again and you're right on time. Here, come take a look at this," he says, turning his computer monitor around and opening the files again.

Medicham steps closer and listens to each of the audio files, then looks at the text files with his face as impassive as stone. After a long moment, the pokemon looks between his trainer and the aspirin in his hand, before sighing and tossing the little pills in his own mouth without any shame.

 

"Almost done, love."

Standing still upon their motel bed, Vulpix stares at the wall with her chocolate eyes unfocused as Lee's hands poke and prod her body. From her mind, Lee feels her vague sense of deja vu bleeding over to him.

Beside Lee, Treecko sits quietly in a deep meditative stance, his eyes closed and breathing slow. Were it not for the little corrections he makes to his posture whenever Lee jostles the bed, He would have thought his pokemon to be asleep.

Finally, at the foot of the bed, Corvisquire watches Vulpix's physical with barely veiled distaste, and his wings tensed to flap. Had he teeth, Lee is certain Corvisquire would be bearing them.

Lee gently takes Vulpix's chin and gives her jaw a little squeeze, making her open her mouth and he peers inside with a penlight held in his other hand. Silently, he marvels at the feeling of her powerful jaw muscles under his fingers. One bite and jerk of her neck would rend flesh with ease, he thinks. He'll have to order a bite-force gauge and pick it up at the next Pokemart they visit.

"Teeth, pearly and white. Gums, pink and healthy." Lee smiles, releasing her jaw to pet the curls of fur on her head, drawing a few wags from her tails. The man smiles and picks up the pen and notebook at his side, jotting several notes down.

Weight: 24.6 lbs (+0.9 from last)

Height: 2'3" (Discounting ears)

Muscle formation remains even and consistent. Fur growth even and consistent. Temperature at 112F. Free of illness/parasites. Vulpix bored but alert during the whole process.

Mouth/Teeth: OK

Ears: OK

Eyes: OK

Lungs: OK

Heart: OK

Stomach: OK

"So, that's everything, Corvi," Lee smiles at the crow, taking care to not show his teeth. "A check-up is as easy as can be. If you're up to it, we can do yours."

For a split-second, it seems as if Corvisquire actually considers the offer, then he turns his beak up with a scoff and turns away.

Vulpix levels the crow with a frown for the rude dismissal and Lee tries to not let his disappointment show on his face.

Knock knock!

"It's open!" Lee calls, scooping up the equipment scattered across his bed and depositing it messily into his backpack. The digital scale and thermometer get stuck on each other and require him to shake the whole backpack for them to drop inside.

The door of the tiny motel room opens, revealing a wet, grinning, swimming-trunks clad Brendan with an absolutely beaming Marshtomp behind him. Behind them, Zinnia follows in with several plastic bags held in one hand.

"Are you still couped up in here?" Brendan asks, wiping sand off of his feet before setting further in. "C'mon! The ocean is warm and the beach is open!"

"What he means to say, is that the Brawl on the Beach is starting soon, so up you go!" Zinnia whips one of the bags in her hand at Lee, who fumbles and catches it at the last second. "I guestimated your size since you were too lazy to come with, so sorry not sorry if they're sized wrong."

"I told you, I needed to swing by the gym and register then perform Vulpix's physical," Lee grumbles, still sour that the Dewford gym website was down, necessitating a long, early morning walk there. He opens the bag in his hands and finds a plain pair of dark green swimming trunks and a pair of cheap flip-flops.

Zinnia just turns her nose up mockingly. "What guy turns down the chance to watch their stupidly sexy friend try on bikinis all morning?" She gives her head an exaggerated shake and clicks her tongue in disapproval.

"A guy with dignity, maybe?" Brendan dryly remarks, making Marshtomp chuckle.

Zinnia steps past him, purposely billowing her cloak out to whack Brendan in the face. "I'm using your bathroom to change, then you're up. We've got a tournament to win, so don't take forever!" She slips into the small bathroom at the end of the motel room and shuts the door behind her.

Brendan rubs his smarting cheek with a grumble. "Jeez, what's her damage?" He wonders aloud. Brendan crosses the room to his bed and digs in his backpack, withdrawing three empty pokeballs before stuffing them in his pocket. "Me and Marshtomp are gunna duck out of watching that tournament if it gets boring and go to the Granite Cave," Brendan says, looking back at Lee. "In the meantime, we're going back to the ocean. See ya!" With that, Brendan and Marshtomp zoom off.

Lee shakes his head, then turns when the bathroom door opens.

Out strolls Zinnia, clad in a black and red striped bikini that tightly hugs her figure and leaves little to the imagination, almost seeming a size too small. On her head, a pair of sunglasses sit unused, and her hair tie is absent, letting her roughly hewn hair fall down to her neck. She smiles at him, eyes sparkling with mischief. In the back of his mind, Lee wonders how she has no tan lines before his imagination provides an answer that makes his face grow warm.

A nudge from Vulpix quickly snaps him out of his starring before Zinnia can comment on it. "Yeah, yeah, let me finish cleaning and I'll be along."

--------------------------------------------------------------

In the full-length bathroom mirror wearing just his swimming trunks, Lee silently regards himself.

Never could he be called overweight on earth, as the zoo gave him enough work to do, but the presence of all the food stands and the small food court that all gave discounts to staff sabotaged his poor self-control. He was forever in the boring middle-zone of formless and average. Now, after weeks of walking being his main mode of transport and most of his meals being lean and self-made, he now sports the slightest amount of definition. If he squints, he could almost say he has abs.

'That probably won't last long.'

What truly draws his attention are the marks the now bare parts of his body exposed.

His hands and forearms bear pale, thin, cross-crossing lines of marred flesh that most cat handlers acquire after several years on the job. Some are deeper and more visible, but most are faded with age. His torso and legs have several blemishes caused by young claws and teeth too playful for their own good, and he knows there are one or two small ones on his back. Most of the damage is too minor to see from a distance unless an observer is looking for imperfections, but...

Looking further up his right arm, an ugly, messy bite mark marrs his bicep and wraps around to his tricep, a permanent reminder to a younger, more disrespectful Lee to not overstep bounds.

He had only been under Aasir's mentorship for several months when he got too comfortable on the job and paid for it. Usiku was the name of the old panther who taught him the painful lesson, and it was only Aasir's intervention that let him get away with his arm still mostly in one piece. The older keeper yelled himself hoarse in a livid fury after tending to his idiotic student's wounds.

Lee pushes away the thoughts of his mentor in favor of the present, looking himself over again, self-consciousness rearing its ugly head the longer he inspects himself. Brendan has seen a bit of Lee while uncovered and simply thought all the marks cool as most young boys might.

Zinnia has seen none of them, which is its own bundle of worries, but the sheer number of strangers who will see and judge makes him falter. Surely claw and bite scars upon a trainer when pokemon are normally so docile is a mark of shame?

"Hey!" Zinnia pounds on the bathroom door. "Did you stop to take a dump and fall in? Hurry up already! We've got twenty minutes to be there!"

With a sigh, Lee grabs his wallet and shrunken pokeballs off of the bathroom sink and stuffs them into his pockets. He opens the door to find a surprised Zinnia, who stops with her hand raised to knock again. "No need to bust down the door, I'm here," Lee remarks.

Zinnia looks up and down his body, eyes lingering here and there before she smirks. "I would have figured you more built under that jacket. At least you aren't flabby," she says, reaching out a hand to poke his arm. "Well, c'mon! Times-a wasting!" The dragon tamer nabs her own pokeballs from where they lay on Brendan's bed, which are all attached to a loose belt that she loops around her waist just barely tight enough to not fall from around her hips. She throws the motel door open and saunters off, leaving Lee behind.

He looks over to Vulpix, who watches silently from his bed. "Again, I think you're the only one I can rely on," he says, making to follow after Zinnia.

The vixen snorts and hops to his shoulders when Lee pauses to lock the motel room door behind him. The soft fur across his bare shoulders and neck soothes his worry just a bit.

The pair turn, and find the beach right off the front doorstep, complete with a beating sun, white sands, the sounds of children playing in the waves, and the waves themselves.

Lee looks back at the somewhat ratty motel they rented from with a frown. "This place looked better in the dark. Premium beachfront spot my ass," he grumbles, speeding up to match pace with Zinnia, who glances at him as she pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes.

"Any idea who all is in this tournament? Or is it just locals?" Lee asks as he weaves past a laughing young boy being chased by a Zigzagoon. Looking further down the beach in front of one of the resorts, he sees a large gathering of people and pokemon by a lifeguard tower and can already hear bombastic music. "The flier made this look like a huge thing."

"Brawl on the Beach is to draw tourists in," Zinnia answers bluntly. "Most trainers come for the gym and leave afterward, which doesn't draw a ton of interest since everyone can just watch gym battles on TV. This is to squeeze some of that sweet, sweet moolah out of vacationers and passing trainers. The ten grand prize, band bookings, permits for running the event and all that other stuff?" She guffaws into her hand. "I bet they make that back thirty times over easy just by selling overpriced food and souvenir stand junk."

And indeed, as they get closer to the lifeguard tower sporting a large telescreen saying "Brawl on the Beach", they pass several stands on the outskirts, one of which is selling just hotdogs and beers for an unearthly $5 and $7 respectively. The grinning vendor has a line several beachgoers long.

"God damn," Lee swears. "Go back to the motel to eat, loud and clear."

The pair of trainers and shoulder-riding pokemon slip between the crowd to the lifeguard tower, where a table with a sign saying "registration" taped to the front is set-up under the telescreen. There, an older, rotund man in flower-print swimming trunks and a bored-looking teen girl in a one-piece swimsuit sit behind a pair of laptops. The man is already talking to a pair of boys clutching pokeballs, so the girl perks up as Lee and Zinnia approach. Her eyes glide off of Zinnia to Lee, making them widen as she takes in his visage.

"Zinnia Draconid and Lee Henson, reporting for the tournament," Zinnia grins and takes charge of the conversation from the get-go. "We should be reserved."

Inwardly, Lee feels himself shrinking and fights to keep his face impassive, now acutely aware of how many stares he's getting from Zinnia's announcement.

"O-Oh, sure!" The girl pulls her eyes off of Lee and looks down at her laptop. "Can I see your IDs and the pokeballs of the pokemon you're using?"

Lee wordlessly pulls his pokeballs and ID from his pocket, handing them to the outstretched hand of the attendant girl. She looks at the ID for a moment and types several things down, then holds each pokeball before a scanner on the front of the laptop, which beeps after each pokeball. The girl hands the card and balls back, and repeats the same process with Zinnia.

After typing a few more things into her laptop, sneaking looks at Lee as she does so, the girl clears her throat. "Looks like everything is in order. You're team number fifteen. Everything should be beginning in abo-"

"Goooooood morning Dewford!" The speakers up on the corners of the lifeguard tower blare, echoing up and down the beach. A reedy, middle-aged man dressed like a beach bum with a wide smile and a microphone on the tower waves an arm out to everyone. "It's that time again, time for a Brawl on the Beach!"

The people and pokemon all gathered around cheer, drowning out everything else for a moment.

"We're mixing it up this time, folks," the man on the tower continues. "For this Brawl, we're doing double battles! You heard that right, doubles! Twice the excitement this time! Sixteen teams of two will compete in single-elimination style for ten-thousand credits and the right to be Dewford's Dynamic Duo till the next Brawl!" The man moves to the side to make room as someone else climbs up the steps of the tower. "I'm local radio host Josh Speakmen, and joining me today to commentate on today's tournament is..."

Stepping up beside Speakmen with a charming smile is none other than the Dewford Gym Leader.

"Brawly!"

Again, the crowd gathered under the lifeguard tower cheer, which redoubles when Brawly waves down to everyone.

Lee ignores the crowd in favor of looking at Brawly. The man's excellent physique, tall form, and handsome face make it obvious why a number of girls and even a pokemon or two in the gathering around the tower sport blushes and have eyes only for him. In the corner of his vision, he can see Zinnia rub her chin and eye the Gym Leader appreciatively.

Brawly takes a second microphone offered to him by Speakmen with a smile. "Thank you everyone for the warm welcome!" He says, his surfer bro voice rolling up and down the beach. "This year's Brawl is going to be a blast, I can already feel it. We've got some real talent competing today so this'll be one for the books!" He says. As he talks, his eyes scan the crowd below, stopping on Lee, Vulpix, and Zinnia for a second longer than anyone else.

'That's not ominous at all...'

Vulpix sniffs dismissively from his shoulder. 'Y** ***** *** *u**.'

"Then without further ado, lets get the battles underway!" Speakmen cries, drawing a pokeball. With a toss, the ball flies high and pops open, throwing down a bolt of light into an empty spot in the crowd. Several people back up as a Vibrava materializes in the sand with a buzz of his wings.

'A Vibrava?' Lee blinks 'What's up with this?'

The dragonfly pokemon buzzes his wings again and then dives headfirst into the sand, vanishing with the crunch of displaced earth, then the sand begins to rumble under everyone's feet, prompting a wave of backing up.

The mussed sand vibrates and flattens into a circle almost a hundred feet across, radiating out from the center. On one end, the sand bunches up and forms the borders of a box large enough for two people to stand in with room to spare, and on the other side, another border-box forms. After a second, little flags pop out of the sand in each box, a red one and a blue one. The end result is a clean, circular battlefield.

"Wow..." Lee absently applauds with everyone else as Vibrava emerges out of the sand and flies back up to Speakmen. 'Flygon went up a little more on my list.'

"Let's welcome our first competitors," Speakmen says. "Start the roll!"

On the side of the tower, the telescreen stops scrolling through sponsor logos and displays all the names of the competing trainers. The screen rapidly scrambles them then throws the names into a bracket. The screen highlights the first fight with a red box.

JANE & MANTY

VS

AMIR & DON

Lee feels Zinnia lightly elbow his side and looks over, following her pointing finger to the screen. "Looks like we're battle number four," she says, and indeed, they're slated to fight in the fourth match against a pair of trainers named Deb and Jean.

Speakmen smiles and waves a hand out. "First up is the daughter and father duo from our own Dewford, give it up for Jane and Manty!"

From the people gathered around the ring, a young brunette girl, probably around Brendan's age, and an older man with a laugh-line creased face wave to everyone amid applause and take the blue box.

"And next up is Amir all the way from Unova, and Don of Slateport!"

A pair of teen boys, one sporting a desert tan, and the other in an entirely too-bold speedo take the other box with dramatic waves to the spectators.

"Our first heat will be one pokemon per trainer." Brawly picks up as the crowd quiets down from the competitor announcement. "Once one team has no pokemon left to battle, the opposing team will advance. Trainers, please send out your selections!" Brawly cries as Speakmen returns his Vibrava and withdraws another pokeball.

The girl, Jane, throws out a Greatball. "Go, Pinchy!"

At the same time, her father throws a pokeball of his own, "Wingull!"

On the side of the father and daughter, a Corpish and a Wingull take form. As they send out their pokemon, the boys across from them do the same.

"Dewott, you've got this!" Amir tosses a pokeball with a water drop sticker upon it.

The other boy, Don, whips his pokeball high in the air without an intro.

From their pokeballs, a Dewott and a Swellow take their places on the field, Dewott smirking confidently while Swellow screeches up from above.

"It's Corphish and Wingull versus Dewott and Swellow!" Speakmen calls. "Dewott is a rare and powerful Water pokemon from the far away land of Unova, and Swellow is the fast and furious evolution of Taillow! On the other side we've got Corphish, one of the toughest Water-types around, and Wingull, the high-flying Water and Flying type we all know and love! What are your thoughts on this one, Brawly?" He turns to the Gym Leader.

"Dewott is the one to watch in this match, Josh," Brawly takes over the commentating seamlessly. "As you said, they're rare and powerful pokemon. So much so, Unova's rockin' Professor Juniper gives their younger stage, Oshawott, to her Lab Trainers."

'Rockin?' Lee wonders with his lips twitching up into a smile. 'Honestly? I can't blame him.'

"We're looking at a dynamite first match here! Are all trainers ready?" Speakmen asks into his mic, opening his other pokeball, releasing a Hypno that stands at his side.

"Ready!"

"Ready!"

Both sides call at once.

Speakmen's Hypno raises a hand, and a shimmering dome forms over the ring before fading into invisibility, just like with Brendan's battle in the Rustboro gym.

Idly, Lee wonders if Vulpix will be able to make Psychic barriers one day.

"Begin!"

What follows is a one-sided and somewhat mediocre battle. It's clear that the girl trainer, Jane, only recently got her Corphish as the trainer and pokemon simply can't synergize at all. Wingull is obviously not a dedicated battler, and is quickly picked off by Swellow, leaving Corphish struggling in a 2v1 match. One good Slash attack from Dewott leaves Corphish with a cracked and useless claw, letting Swellow rush in to his lame side for a knock-out Take Down.

"And thats the match!" Speakmen calls. "The winners are the red team!"

The spectators erupt into applause.

Zinnia turns to Lee with a hand on her hip just above her pokeballs. "Those two seemed, eh. Not that great? The winners I mean."

Lee frowns as he watches the teen boys high-five and recall their pokemon. "Dewott fights like a berserker and Swellow's trainer refused to call any attacks unless it was one-hundred percent safe to do so. Quite the dichotomy, but I don't know that such a thing makes for a good battle strategy. One is overtaxing himself and the other is wasting opportunities. Swellow would have been caught in an uneasy one-on-one if Dewott overextended and got nailed by Corphish, who Swellow's trainer refused to engage. If Swellow knew any support moves, at least his time idling would not have been wasted. I could criticize Dewott's trainer more for just brainlessly attacking, but at least he did something." He stops. "I don't mean to shit on a match between some kids and a dad, though. It was fun to watch."

"That's what I was thinking, just in more words," Zinnia laughs. "You're such a nerd."

"I am not..." He grumbles.

The next two matches are much the same, each one taking about ten or so minutes. A Beautifly and Spoink ended up roasted by a Torkoal, whose Clefairy partner stood by running support with Helping Hand and Heal Pulse. A missed Flamethrower from Torkoal splashed against the dome barrier, making for a thrill for the crowd.

The next one was an outright bore until the end. A large Trapinch and a Lotad fought a Sentret and Nincada. The Nincada could barely fight with the harsh sun in it's nocturnal eyes, and a savage Crunch from Trapinch took it out of the fight in a single blow. Sentret's young trainer panicked at the sudden uphill battle and ordered Sentret to run away from his much slower foes and pelt them with Charge Beam. Lotad only needed two hits from Charge Beam to go down, but Trapinch's immunity to Sentret's only ranged attack ment they had to fight for real. The instant Sentret went in for a Fury Swipes attack, foolishly from the front since his trainer did not specify a flanking maneuver, he hesitated right before the attack and took a bone-shattering Crunch for the trouble.

Literally bone-shattering, as there was more than one sickening snap when Trapinch's jaws closed around the rodent pokemon like a steel trap, drawing winces and Oooohhhhh's from the crowd. The on-site Chansey on loan from the Pokemon Center quickly moved in when the match was called and hauled the brutalized Sentrent and distraught trainer away to a medical tent behind the lifeguard tower.

Finally, Lee and Zinnia's match arrives.

ZINNIA & LEE

VS

DEB & JEAN

"Now for our fourth match, we've got Zinnia of Fallarbor, and Lee of Little Root!" Speakmen's voice booms over the PA. "C'mon up!"

Lee ignores his prickle of nervousness and holds his face in a mask of cool as he and Zinnia weave through the spectators, who all turn to look at them. They take their place in the red box. As Speakmen calls for the other trainers, Zinnia leans towards Lee.

"Hey, I'm going to use Goomy, these two don't seem like much," Zinnia whispers as the opponents, both teen girls in bikinis, both probably fifteen or sixteen years of age, take their places and send Lee nervous looks. "Goomy'll be more willing to fight with someone on his side... So long as it's not your bird."

"Up to fight, love?" Lee asks Vulpix, who gives him a vulpine smile. He turns back to Zinnia. "Vulpix then."

Zinnia's smirk turns savage.

"Trainers, please select your pokemon!"

Vulpix leaps from her trainer's shoulder, barely disturbing the sand as she lands and takes a loose, aloof stance. The action only seems to heighten the anxiety of the opposing trainers, who both clutch their pokeballs closely.

Zinnia keeps her manic smile in place as she draws a pokeball and throws it in the ring. "Goomy, time to tear them up!"

The tiny dragon pokemon appears in a flash of light, already looking resigned, then annoyed when the sand sticks to his damp body. A vulpine purr from Vulpix draws his attention, and the little dragon suddenly seems to realize it's not Vulpix that he's going against, but rather with. He draws himself up a little straighter.

"Delcatty, you've got this!" Jean cries, her pokeball flying from her hand.

"Volbeat, go!" Deb follows a second later.

Delcatty and Volbeat materialize on their side of the field. The pair of pokemon meet eyes for a moment and look at their opponents. Delcatty's hackles rise and Volbeat's wings take him several feet up into the air, the lantern on his rear flashing.

"In one corner, we've got Goomy, a rare Dragon-type pokemon, the first one we've seen in this tournament! What a thrill!" Speakmen laughs. "And his partner is a lovely Vulpix! A real spitfire of a pokemon in more than just the figurative sense. This match is going to be hot!" He turns to the girls. "Then we've got Delcatty, don't let the pretty exterior fool you, a Delcatty's claws will send you to a world of hurt! And with Volbeat's literal razzle-dazzle, we might have our most stylish team yet! Any opinions on this one, Brawly?"

Brawly raises his mic and looks right at Lee, making him sigh in resignation. "Yep," Brawly begins. "Considering Lee Henson here, a Lab Trainer under Professor Birch's employ," he points as if it's needed. "Defeated Roxanne's own pokemon while working with a type disadvantage, it's my opinion that Vulpix is the strongest pokemon to set foot in the ring yet, maybe the strongest pokemon in Brawl on the Beach in years."

A number of surrounding people gasp, a few of them raising cellphones and pokenavs to point at Lee and Vulpix. Lee has to seriously fight to keep his face even, but he's sure he's twitched more than once already. It's only Vulpix's silent, telepathic urges for him to keep calm that prevents him from openly shrinking away from the attention.

"And I doubt someone in his company with a Dragon pokemon is anything but a serious trainer as well," Brawly continues, looking at Zinnia as a smile blooms on his face. "I gotta say, I'm definitely going all-out when Lee and I battle at the Gym here in a few days. This is the first battle I've been eager for so far this year." he crosses his arms as more gasps and chatter breaks out. "I'm sorry to say, but Miss Jean and Miss Deb have got a seriously uphill battle here. It's time to ride the wave, or drown."

'Brawly, you motherfucker,' Lee glares up at Brawly with narrowed eyes, making the Gym Leader rock back on his heels, his confusion at the sudden hostility is plain on his face.

If the girls across from Lee and Zinnia looked dismayed before, they're positively petrified now, looking as if a Haunter just flew in their faces. Even their pokemon are measuring up Goomy and Vulpix with great reluctance.

A small part of him is secretly pleased that Vulpix is being regarded with respect, but it's overshadowed by his annoyance courtesy of all the eyes on him. "Lets just get this out of the way," Lee grunts. A second later he kicks himself for his tone when both of the opposing trainers flinch.

"Are both sides ready?"

"Ready!" Zinnia practically roars

"Ready..." Both Jean and Deb murmur.

Hypno's barrier shines to life, locking the pokemon in.

Goomy puffs himself up and Vulpix's muscles tense.

Delcatty's hackles rise once more and Volbeat hovers backward a foot or two, uneasy eyes locked onto Vulpix.

Speakmen draws in a breath, but time seems to slow as Lee reaches out to Vulpix telepathically 'Don't activate Drought, love,' Lee sends to the vixen. 'No need to dry out Goomy. Also, no need to advertise our telepathy. I'll give verbal instructions, but add details here. They want to put us on the spot? Fine, I guess we can't hide forever, so we'll give them a show here before I lose my nerve. We're not going to drag this out, but neither are we going to show our full hand, got it?'

She responds with a flicker of wordless understanding, and time seems to resume with the conversation over.

"Begin!"

"Quick Attack!" Lee calls first. 'Hit Volbeat, then bounce to Delcatty, who is probably the stronger of the two. We'll let Goomy have the weaker 'Mon and help as needed.'

Vulpix goes from still to a streak of orange in hardly a second, flying at Volbeat, who freezes like a deer staring down the headlights of a runaway truck. The firefly pokemon can barely brace himself before Vulpix hits him like a furry cannonball, then he's thrown to the sandy ground with a wheeze when the fox pokemon uses him as a springboard and launches herself at a wide-eyed Delcatty.

"D-Delcatty, duck!" Jean stutters out a half-second too late.

Vulpix shoulder checks Delcatty, who yowls in distress when she's knocked clean off of her paws and into the sand. The impact is so violent that the cat pokemon bounces off the sand and comes to a stop several yards away as Vulpix twists and lands on her paws.

"What a dynamic start!" Speakmen booms. "Vulpix has blitzed both Delcatty and Volbeat! Can Deb and Jean turn this around, or has the tone of the match already been set?"

"Volbeat!" Deb begins, "Help Delca-!"

"Goomy!" Zinnia's much louder voice cows Deb and makes her falter halfway through her command. "Dragon Breath on Volbeat!"

Goomy gurgles and swells up like a balloon, a green glow shining through his skin, then he opens his mouth and unleashes a torrent of crackling green flames right at Volbeat.

The Bug pokemon buzzes and dives out of the way of the flames, but Goomy, much like his teammate Swablu did in her match with Ash's Taillow, quickly fires off another attack with corrected aim. Volbeat can only squeak before he's engulfed in raging dragonfire that covers any noise of pain he might have made.

'Zinnia is ruthless as usual, and it looks like even Goomy can throw some good punches if fired up,' Lee turns his attention back to Vulpix and Delcatty, but keeps Goomy and Volbeat in the corner of his eye.

Delcatty struggles to her feet, blotchy discoloration blooming on her side as she avoids putting weight on one of her forelegs.

"You can do it, Delcatty!" Jean cries. "Use Feint-"

"Confuse Ray," Lee orders simply.

"-Attack! Uh oh..."

Delcatty stalks forward just as Vulpix's eyes begin to glow, and before Delcatty can fade into Feint Attack's curious invisibility, she jolts as Confuse Ray hits and stumbles face-first into the sand, where she flails helplessly.

From the corner of his eye, Lee watches Volbeat zip at Vulpix in a Quick Attack to try and help Delcatty, but...

"Dragon Breath!"

Volbeat cries out as another plume of green flame washes over him and knocks him away.

"Things are looking grim for Delcatty and Volbeat!" Speakmen says as the burnt and battered Volbeat struggles to stand. "Vulpix and Goomy are dominating the match and their opponents can barely muster a defense! They need to get up and get going if they're going to win this!"

'Sorry girls, I hate to be a dick but I need this cash for my Eevee fund,' Lee sighs. He turns his head to Zinnia. "Ready to finish this up?"

Zinnia rubs her chin. "Goomy doesn't have a good finisher unless you want to take both of them out."

"Have him knock Volbeat towards Vulpix, and we'll end it," Lee replies, getting a nod from her.

"Vulpix, Fire Spin."

The vixen's eyes light up the same color as balefire as a wide ring of writhing, spinning flames comes to life along the ground around her with the still struggling and confused Delcatty in the radius. The flames begin to pick up speed, spinning faster and faster, growing more intense...

"Goomy, Watergun just behind Volbeat!" Zinnia orders, her evil smile widening as she watches Fire Spin dramatically begin to spool up. "Throw him into Fire Spin!"

"Volbeat!" Deb struggles to think of an order. "G-Get out of there!"

Her partner Jean just watches with resignation, her head dropping into her hands.

The slug-dragon swells like a balloon again then spits a bowling ball-sized orb of water that hits the ground at Volbeat's side like a bomb, throwing water everywhere and the firefly into the air at Vulpix.

The second Volbeat crosses into the ring of fire from above, the glow in Vulpix's eyes doubles in intensity, then...

A whirling tower of inferno explodes into existence, rising up and splashing against the top of the barrier with both the roar of a wildfire and shrill shriek of a tornado. Sand is dragged into the blazing whirlwind and swiftly turned to glass, making a crystalline ring around the perimeter that glows a molten red.

"Holy smokes!" Speakmen exclaims as the spectators roar along with the fire. "It's like Vulpix opened a portal to the underworld! I would have expected this out of a Charizard, not a little Vulpix! The insanity! I don't think Delcatty and Volbeat are walking away from this one, folks!"

After several seconds of hell on earth, Fire Spin fades and dissipates in wisps of flickering orange, throwing Delcatty and Volbeat carelessly into the sand, thankfully away from any glass. Both pokemon lay limp and coated in burns, unable to fight further. In the middle of the cooling glass ring, Vulpix stands on a little island of sand, her chest rising and falling deeply.

"One! Two! Three!" Speakmen blows an air horn in his other hand. "Thats it! Vulpix and Goomy are the winners!"

Cheers ring out as the barrier falls, letting everyone recall their pokemon. The girls across from Lee and Zinnia dejectedly recall their pokemon, turning to the Chansey already behind them and handing the pokeballs over.

Zinnia recalls Goomy with a wide grin and kisses the ball when the tiny dragon is safely inside. "I knew you could do it!" She cheers. "You just gotta have some confidence in yourself, Goom. You're stronger than you know."

The ball wiggles in her hand.

Lee smiles at the scene as Vulpix retakes her place across his shoulder. "Damn fine job, love," he tells her, smiling a bit wider when she presses her forehead to his unmarred cheek. He reaches up and rubs behind her ear, pulling her a little closer in a facsimile of a hug.

"What an explosive match! What did you think of that one, everyone!?"

Everyone cheers and Lee even sees someone hold up a poster board sign with a hastily drawn Vulpix and Goomy upon it.

"Just like Brawly predicted, Lab Trainer Lee's Vulpix and Zinnia's Goomy aced the fight! All without taking a single hit, to boot!" Speakmen's excitement is almost tangible. "There's a storm overhanging this competition, a firestorm! Can anyone brave it? We'll find out here soon, as we'll be taking a short break to clean up the ring. Standby, everyone!"

Again, Vibrava flies to the center of the ring and dives into the ground with Dig. The ring rumbles, then the sand begins to spiral inward, pulling the glass to the center where it cracks and grinds back to sand as it sinks underground. Vibrava has obviously done this before.

Lee, Vulpix, and Zinnia step back into the spectators, many of whom crowd up close practically bursting with questions and congratulations.

"That was nuts! How does a Vulpix get that strong?" A teenage boy with a surfboard under his arm gapes at them. The Marill at his feet mirrors his expression perfectly.

"Or that fast?" A pretty young woman in a white sundress asks, standing very close. "She was a blur! There one second, gone the next. And that fur of hers is glorious. What's your rate for breeding?"

"Miss Zinnia! Miss Zinnia!" A young girl runs up, weaving through the legs of adults to reach the dragon tamer. "Was that really a dragon? Do you have others? Can I see em?!"

"Hey, guys..." A man and a woman holding hands approach. They're the Trapinch and Lotad trainers from the prior match and both are openly nervous. "So, uh. We're fighting in the next heat. Can you maybe take it easy? We're not pros or anything..."

"You kids ain't half bad!" A round, grinning man clad in a blue alolan shirt and sunglasses steps up. "What were your names again? Lee and Zinnia? It's not everyday you see talent like this."

Zinnia's temper is getting ready to blow as more people crowd them, Lee can see it on her darkening face. For a second, Lee is tempted to let her do it if it'll make all the prying eyes just back up a little!

Vulpix nips his ear, sending him an image of Professor Birch, then his ID card with his title of Laboratory Trainer in sharp relief.

'Shit. It'll look bad for both us and the lab if Zinnia opens her trap.' Lee shuts his eyes and sighs. Then he reopens them and tries to put on his best answer dumb questions from zoo guests face. "Everyone! One at a time, please!" He starts, stopping Zinnia short from yelling "Fuck off" or something equally offensive. "I'll answer everything as best I can till the next match starts. If you still have questions for myself or the Hoenn Pokemon Lab, I can provide you with my email and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

'Which is to say you'll find yourself in my spam folder if what you have to say is stupid.'

"Anyway," Lee points to the surfer boy and his Marill. "Vulpix has been on a harsh training regimen and diet customized down to the calorie from day one to maximize her power for her eventual evolution to Ninetales. Hours upon hours, day in and day out. It asks a lot of both the trainer and pokemon, and not every method works best for everyone. Do your research before making any drastic changes to your pokemon's diet and routine. Next..." He turns to the woman in the sundress, who looks at him with large, hope-filled eyes. "Vulpix and I discussed such a matter awhile ago. She has no interest in breeding for profit, and I certainly won't force the issue," he says, making the woman's face fall.

For roughly ten minutes, Lee, aided by Vulpix and sometimes an irritated Zinnia, field questions from and talk to the small crowd that has gathered around them. As Lee expects, a lot of the questions are asinine or intrusive, which get polite non-answers, but a surprising number of them are fairly intelligent things that it would do a trainer well to know. For several, he has to tell them to email him and he'll get back to them, as he simply does not know, and others he has to keep short, lest they turn into full lectures. Of the handful of business cards Birch gave him, he's down to just two copies after giving out many of them.

"Hey pal, I got a question for ya. Do you think you're hot shit because Brawly called you out?"

The chatter in the group quiets as everyone turns to the person to ask such a bold thing.

Lee follows the voice, turning to the side, where he finds a young, sneering face pointed at him.

Before him stands an older teen boy, perhaps seventeen, with maroon eyes and hair down to his chin. His feet sport simple sandals partially covered by his long, ripped up jeans, and his torso is covered with a black sleeveless shirt. Most of his maroon hair is covered by a loose black beanie, sans a bang that stands up in defiance of gravity. On his left arm, a fingerless metal bracer that would look right at home in a Hot Topic is slotted with four shrunken pokeballs with spots for two more. All in all...

'This kid reeks of teenage angst and too much anime.'

Lee pushes away what he really wants to say and clears his throat. "Honestly? No. I would have preferred to not have all this attention. Since we've been identified now, though, I don't see much reason to hold back."

The teen crosses his arms. "Of course you would have liked to keep the anonymous cool guy thing going. Can't have anyone blowing away your smokescreen, can you?" He shakes his head condescendingly. "That's all people like you have going for them."

Lee's brows meet as he tries to puzzle out what the boy before him means. "Excuse me?"

"You're a privileged, theatrical hack, I can see it even if no one else does," the teen says, his sneer transforming into a full-blown scowl. "You may have dazzled all the dimwits watching this farce of a competition, but I can see you for what you really are," He says before pointing an accusing finger at a startled Vulpix. "Your fox there needed a full ten seconds to charge up that Fire Spin. Looks fancy against no-talent shitters who will wait around to get wiped out, but against a real trainer? You'd be down and out if you stopped for even two seconds."

'He noticed,' Lee feels his eyes narrow as the red-head calls out the failing point of Vulpix's Fire Spin. 'We still can't get the instant, turn-things-to-ash-in-one-touch inferno that she displayed back in Petalburg Woods, but charging it gets closer than a cold cast at the cost of needing to sit still, a death sentence in an even fight. This kid is sharp.'

Zinnia's short fuse finally hits its limit. She scowls right back at the mouthy teen. "Okay, let's see your achievements, smartass. Can you take down a full-tilt Gym Leader working with a type disadvantage the whole time?"

For some reason, that makes him snarl like a feral animal, he turns to Zinnia with loathing etched into his face. "I could if I was some privileged shit who had everything I needed to do so handed to me!" He roars, making several people around him gasp and back up. "Look at you!" He points at Lee, who freezes. "A grown-ass man covered in scars becoming a trainer this late in life? With a rare pokemon no less? Something tells me you failed as a trainer and ran away here to Hoenn. Then you had some buddy in the League get you a pokemon and a fresh start and a free paycheck so you can fake your way to the top, because all that fucking matters anymore is being buddy-buddy with someone in the Pokemon League! I've seen this before, and I know I'll see it again!"

Lee rocks back at the sheer vitriol the teen spews. On his shoulder, Vulpix openly growls, one of her paws sliding down to his pectoral to give better lift-off for a jump. He places a hand on the paw to hold her in place and mentally shakes off the second-hand rage that bleeds from Vulpix to him. "Kid, look, you're making a lot of assumptions, and I think-"

"I don't give a rattata's ass about what you think," The boy interrupts, red eyes blazing. "Backpedal all you want now that you've been found. I'm going to enjoy cutting you down to size when we battle, assuming you make it that far."

Lee is just barely fast enough to catch a livid Zinnia's wrist when she steps forward with a fist cocked back. Hard act or not, the maroon-haired boy flinches and backs up a step.

"Zinnia, don't." Lee orders, releasing her. She rubs her wrist and meets his eyes. "An assault charge is the last thing you need. We'll settle it in the ring."

"Good as new, folks!" Speakmen's voice rolls over everyone as the ring stops rumbling. Vibrava pops out of the ground and flies back to the lifeguard tower. "Now, lets get back to it! Show us the next teams!"

The telescreen highlights the next names.

ANDRE & BENJAMIN

VS

KATE & DEE-ANNE

The teen before Lee and Zinnia snorts. "Looks like I'm up. Watch closely and maybe you'll learn something," he turns and walks toward the ring, everyone parting for him. A few steps in, he stops, and without turning around says; "Oh, and control your bitch, Henson." With that, he keeps walking.

"The fucking audacity of that brat!" Zinnia screams, her fists clenched and face red in fury, marking this as the angriest Lee has ever seen her. "He better hope his ass gets knocked out before we fight him, or so help me there will be no mercy!"

"He was certainly a character..." Lee mutters with a frown, His own flicker of annoyance is overshadowed as he tries to think back and see if he remembers the kid from anywhere. 'He's weirdly familiar. The hair and attitude make me think of Silver, but he lives in Johto and doesn't match looks-wise.' Lee crosses his arms as he ruminates on the identity of the rude kid. 'I don't recall any trainers of note being named Ben or Andre, either.'

"First up, both here in lovely Dewford on vacation from Lilycove City, we've got Kate and Dee-Anne!" Speakmen introduces, pulling everyone's attention back to the ring. A pair of older ladies in conservative beach-wear and sunhats smile and wave as a few cheers are sent their way.

"Next up, we've got last year's literal dark horse, and this year's defending Brawl champ, Dewford's reigning Dark-type specialist, Andre!"

The teen who accosted Lee and Zinnia, now known as Andre, steps into his box as a near equal amount of cheers and boos are sent his way. He smirks and waves mockingly to several of his loudest decriers in particular.

'A Dark-type specialist?' Lee wonders. 'It fits the angsty theme he's got going on. If he won last year...'

Vulpix flicks an ear, tickling him. Her emotions flicker, mostly being disappointment at how easy their match was.

'True, I guess it's not a huge accomplishment if most battles are like the ones we've seen so far, but let's watch to be sure he's not just blowing smoke.'

"And partnered with Andre, we have Benjamin from our own Dewford!"

A short, mousy boy in glasses who looks like he wants to be literally anywhere else reluctantly takes a spot at Andre's side.

"Trainers! Pick your pokemon!"

From Kate and Dee-Anne's side, both ladies throw in pokeballs without an intro, releasing a Plusle and a Minun. Both pokemon let out delighted squeaks at seeing each other.

Benjamin gulps and tosses his pokeball. "Psyduck, standby!"

The ball pops open midair, shooting down a mass of light that collects and forms a Psyduck. The duck pokemon blinks and looks around. When his eyes fall on Andre, Psyduck quacks and openly quakes, his eyes wide.

"Psyduck, it's okay, we're a team this time..." Psyduck's trainer tries to comfort the duck pokemon without any results. Benjamin wrings his hands, and it's unclear if he's trying to calm himself or his pokemon. "Just take it easy, okay?"

Andre smirks. "Do as Ben says, Psyduck. Hell, Ben. Just sit back and let us take care of this," he laughs, raising his pokeball dramatically before flicking his wrist, sending the ball in.

At the apex of it's flight, the pokeball opens with it's distinct pop-hiss and drops a crouching, quadrupedal form into the sand.

Lee feels his heart skip a beat when the light around the pokemon clears.

Slowly standing from it's crouch, an Absol rises to his full height, slowly opening his blood-red eyes as he does so. The eyes snap to Psyduck, who goes totally still, then to Plusle and Minun, who both stiffen and step closer to each other. In an instant, the ring takes on a fearful air.

A bead of sweat unrelated to the Hoenn summer sun runs down Lee's brow as he looks at the pokemon. His bone-white coat is clean, his red-eyes look almost feral in their intensity, and his claws, bladed tail, and most certainly his bladed horn all glitter with a freshly sharpened edge. 'Absol is much more menacing when you see one up close. I want a knifecat, but at the same time I don't.'

"In one corner, we've got Plusle and Minun! A real dynamic duo if there ever was one! In the other, we've got Psyduck, a Water-type with some psychic flair! Last, but most certainly not least, we have Absol, the Disaster pokemon! He was certainly a disaster for all his foes last year, and it doesn't look like thats changed this year. What do you think, Brawly?"

The Gym Leader's expression is one of carefully maintained neutrality, one that doesn't so much as twitch when Andre stares up at him with narrow eyes. After a few seconds, Brawly raises his microphone. "I don't know about this one, Josh. It could go either way. Let's watch and see."

Andre's face twists itself into a rictus of hate.

"Are both sides ready?"

The barrier comes down, locking the pokemon in.

"Ready, I guess," Kate says with her partner nodding.

"Just start already!" Andre yells.

"Begin!"

"As I said, just sit back, Ben," Andre grunts. "Absol, Night Slash!"

Absol unhurriedly stalks forward, his blade humming with a threatening aura of pulsating purple.

"Plusle," Kate, calls her pokemon, making him perk up.

"Minun," Dee-Anne calls her own pokemon, who perks up as well.

"Thundershock!" They both cry as one.

Plusle and Minun mash their plus and minus marked cheeks together, throwing a wave of sparks, then as one, squeak and shoot a screaming bolt of electricity at Absol, who makes no move to dodge. Then at the absolute last second, with the bolt only feet away, Absol moves. He steps out of the way just barely enough to avoid the bolt, which smashes into the barrier with a crackle. He stares at Plusle and Minun with the same placid expression he's had since he was released and keeps walking forward.

"Again!" Both lady trainers order.

Plusle and Minun repeat the same attack with a fierce cry, their whole bodies lighting up in a corona of electricity as they throw an even bigger bolt at Absol.

Just like last time, Absol carelessly sidesteps the bolt with devilish speed, seeming to just teleport several inches out of the way all while never breaking his stride.

Both pokemon opposite of Absol separate and take uneasy steps backward. In the instant they do so, Absol tenses.

The sand explodes under Absol's paws as he charges forward with breakneck speed, barely more than a flicker of ghostly white that reforms as Absol behind the pair. Plusle and Minun only have time to shriek in agony when the Dark-type throws his head and cuts deeply into their backs with Night Slash.

The entire crowd cringes and Oooooohhhhhh's as one.

Another bead of sweat joins the one from earlier on Lee's face. 'The instant they lost face, Absol struck. Definitely a cat-like behavior to have. And that speed! The only pokemon I know that's faster is Corvisquire, and that's only while using Extremespeed...' There was no white aura to indicate a move being used when Absol dodged or charged in, which means... 'That's all-natural speed. Holy shit.'

Plusle hits the sand face down and does not rise, his back slowly weeping red. Only the slow rise and fall of his breathing tells everyone he's alive.

Minun somehow manages to twist midair and land roughly on his paws, his own back sporting a huge laceration. The rodent pokemon pants and shivers, but slowly stands back to his hindlegs, drawing a wave of cheers from the spectators.

"Absol has no chill, as the kids say," Speakmen speaks up. "In just one attack, Plusle is down! Minun is left with a tense one on two match... Well, sort of, if Psyduck steps in. Can Dee-Anne and Minun make a monumental comeback?"

"No, they can't." Andre laughs. "Absol, Night Slash again!"

"Minun, Electro Ball!" Dee-Anne frantically cries. "You can do it, honey!"

Absol doesn't bother playing with this weakened prey, and charges full-tilt. Minun charges up and fires Electro Ball in record time, but Absol ducks the attack instantly and lashes his horn out.

Minun is thrown from his paws again, now with a matching cut on his stomach and unconscious before he even hits the ground. He rolls across the sand, before coming to stop at Psyduck's feet. The duck pokemon looks down at Minun, petrified.

"One! Two! Three!" The horn sounds. "That's it! Absol and Psyduck are the winners with the fastest match yet! Will last year's champ sweep the competition? Or will he find a challenge and really show his stuff? This Brawl is really heating up!"

The Dark-type specialist recalls his Absol with a smirk and pats his partner on the shoulder, then he turns and stares right at Lee and Zinnia, his smirk growing.

At Lee's side, Zinnia grits her teeth. "Smug little shit. I'm going to enjoy beating that Absol into the ground."

It was at that time Lee realizes that his team and Andre's are on opposite sides of the brackets, meaning they can only meet in the finals. He runs his hand through his sweaty hair and lets out a tired breath. "Fun. I know some grand power out there is fucking with me. Would a break be too much to ask for?"

Vulpix just noses his cheek and offers some silent comfort.

--------------------------------------------------------------
The next few matches are a blur, as Lee and Vulpix are too deep in thought forming a strategy to deal with Andre, and the matches themselves just aren't very interesting. Once, he looked up when the crowd got especially riled up, but it was just because a Seel's Icy Wind formed an interesting pattern on the barrier. After what seems to be no time at all, Lee and Zinnia are called again.

ZINNIA & LEE

VS

LANA & TROY

"Lab Trainer Lee and Zinnia, versus Lana and Troy! Trainers! Select your pokemon!"

Across from Lee and Zinnia, Lana and Troy both share looks, Lana's determined while Troy's is resigned, and pull out one pokeball each before throwing in tandem. For Lana, the large Trapinch she used earlier takes to the field, and Troy's Lotad, still sporting a few electrical burns from his hasty healing session, finds his place next to Trapinch.

Zinnia draws her ball next. "Shelgon! We're not wasting time on this one!" She throws the ball, and from it emerges Shelgon in a flash of light. The encased dragon rumbles from within his shell, making the sand around his feet vibrate.

For a second, Lee debates putting Vulpix in, but figures it better for her to save her energy. That in mind, he makes his decision. "Corvisquire! You're next!" He throws the pokeball high, where it snaps open and materializes Corvisquire, who screeches loud enough to make Trapinch and Lotad flinch.

"Lana and Troy start with Trapinch and Lotad again, but Lee and Zinnia switch it up! What pokemon are those two, anyway?"

"Both are powerful mid-stages, Josh." Brawly takes over, watching the pair of pokemon with a growing smile. "Corvisquire will evolve into Corviknight, a huge crow pokemon from Galar, and Shelgon evolves into the dragon pokemon Salamence, the same ace pokemon of Drake, one of Hoenn's most powerful trainers." The comparison to the Elite trainer's pokemon draws a wave of exclamation from the crowd. "Both are serious powerhouses, and I'm frankly not surprised that Lee and Zinnia have them."

"Lets see how this shakes things!" The barrier comes down. "Are all trainers ready?! Begin!"

"Shelgon, Rollout on Trapinch!" Zinnia is the first one to bark.

'When did Shelgon learn Rollout? I guess that leaves us with Lotad,' Lee thinks. "Corvi! Pluck!"

Shelgon pulls his legs into his shell and spins up into a gray blur, kicking up a cloud of sand before rushing at Trapinch.

"Trapinch, catch him with Crunch!" Lana orders.

Trapinch opens his jaws wide and bites down right before Shelgon impacts him, but the dragon pokemon keeps spinning even in Trapinch's hold. The sound of Shelgon's shell grinding against Trapinch's teeth is an awful, ear-splitting din like a circular saw trying to cut into steel, complete with a shower of sparks. It only takes a second for Trapinch's mouth to begin smoking and for the tactical error to show.

Meanwhile, Corvisquire divebombs Lotad too fast for Troy to call an attack, his beak glowing white. Lotad can only try to scramble away from the crow pokemon, but has the breath knocked out of him when Corvisquire lands on his lilypad head.

"Lotad! Use Flail!" Troy desperately calls. "Get him off!"

Lotad begins to glow but loses focus and yelps when Corvisquire digs his talons into the delicate leaf on Lotad's head. Then with a malicious caw, the crow pokemon brings his beak down and harshly bites Lotad again and again, making the pokemon croak and struggle even harder. It only takes three or four bites before the already-damaged Lotad stops struggling and goes limp as the pain sends him into unconsciousness.

Corvisquire stops and hops off of his foe, eyeballing the fallen Lotad with an avian sneer. For half a second, Lee fears Corvisquire will take out his frustration on the already downed Lotad, but despite a few caws and angry flaps of his wings at Lotad, Corvisquire does not strike again.

"And it looks like Lotad is down!" Speakmen cries. "If Trapinch doesn't make a move soon, it looks like he'll be joining Lotad!"

Trapinch finally throws his head to the side and spits out Shelgon, who cancels Rollout to reorient himself, but the damage has already been done. Trapinch groans and shakes his head, the edges of his teeth all worn down and dulled. Shelgon, meanwhile, only has scratches to show for the trouble.

As the knocked out Lotad is recalled, Zinnia keeps the offensive going. "Shelgon! Dragon Pulse!"

"Corvi, Swift!" Lee adds in.

Shelgon's barely visible mouth glows blue with whirling energy, and Corvisquire launches himself up into the air with his wings shining gold. Both pokemon cry and launch their attacks.

"Trapinch, Dig now!" Lana screams.

The antlion pokemon tries to dig underground, but with his teeth raw and painful, he can't move the sand in time and is hit by the whirling beam of dragon energy, then by a mammoth barrage of star-shaped rays, both attacks kicking up earth-rocking explosions. When the resulting plume of sand falls back to the ground, Trapinch is partially buried and unmoving. After several seconds, the match horn sounds.

"Two knockouts within seconds of each other! Corvisquire and Shelgon's fury knows no bounds! Lee and Zinnia advance to the semifinals!" The words are met with cheering and a few more signs being held aloft.

Lana recalls her pokemon and practically falls into Troy's arms in tears. The man in turn glares at Lee and Zinnia.

Lee can only shrug and mouth 'Sorry'. On his shoulder, Vulpix just shakes her head.

The next match, Andre's, is a repeat of his last one. The boy's Absol makes short work of the Cacnea and Rosalia he faces, both falling to a single, savage Night Slash despite their desperate attempts to keep some distance between themselves and the Dark-type. Absol simply dodges every projectile with ease and cuts them down with an instant burst of speed while Benjamin's Psyduck stands still and just stares at his teammate in terror.

After that, the other matches aren't much to talk about. One younger trainer boasted about having a Gyrados, but then stuttered and declined to use it, if he had one at all. His team lost. Eventually, the matches loop back to Zinnia and Lee for the semifinals.

AMIR & DON

VS

ZINNIA & LEE

"It's time for the semifinals! We've had a wonderful tournament now, and it's getting down to the wire! Amir and Don with just Dewott and Swellow have made quick work of their matches so far, but how will they fare against a Lab Trainer and an apparent dragon tamer? For the semifinals, it'll be two pokemon per trainer!"

As they take to the ring, Lee turns to Zinnia. "Hey, this one we should probably plan for. These two aren't pushovers."

Zinnia nibbles on her lower lip. "Think they'll open with Dewott and Swellow again?"

Lee glances at the pair of young trainers. Amir has a cocky smirk on his face, while Don's is more guarded, but certainly not fearful. "Yeah. Dewott and Swellow have only taken minor hits so far, so they'll use them to open. They might even be expecting us to use pokemon we've already used in anticipation of them using different pokemon to catch us in a double fake-out. I'll use Treecko for Dewott if you want to handle Swellow."

The dragon tamer grins and palms a pokeball. "Swablu it is, then."

"Trainers! Make your first selection!"

Everyone draws their hands back, then at once, throws.

On Amir and Don's side, Dewott and Swellow materialize in flashes of light as expected. Dewott makes a show of drawing his scalchops and dropping into a fighting stance while Swellow just hovers with a keen eye watching the field.

Treecko and Swablu form from their own flashes of light. Treecko stands with his forearms crossed and eyes closed, dismissing his opponents without even looking at them. Swablu, meanwhile, looks at Swellow and takes to the air with a chirp.

"It's Treecko and Swablu versus Dewott and Swellow! Are all the trainers ready?" Again, the barrier falls and traps the pokemon inside.

"Ready!" Amir and Don respond at once.

"Ready!" Zinnia and Lee mirror their reply.

"Begin!"

"Treecko, Quick Attack!"

"Swablu! Dragon Pulse!

"Dewott, intercept Treecko with Slash!"

"Swellow! Use Agility to dodge!"

All the pokemon explode into action at once.

Treecko blurs forward, zig-zagging rapidly to try and throw off Dewott, who watches the green blur with caution. The instant Treecko is close enough, Dewott whirls in a full circle with the edges of his left shell whistling through the air right at Treecko's unprotected face.

The wood gecko catches Dewott's wrist before the shell can slice into his muzzle and lashes out with a kick, catching Dewott in the stomach and drawing a grunt from the otter pokemon as he folds slightly. Dewott does not give the opportunity for a second attack and rips his wrist from Treecko's hold, spinning on a single paw and sending his own kick towards Treecko, who narrowly backsteps the blow.

Dewott growls and rushes forward, slashing furiously in a flowing dance that gives Treecko no opening for a counter, forcing him to backpedal with a frown. Once, Dewott surges just a little faster, giving Treecko a shallow cut across his forearm. Treecko scowls in reply and glows white with Quick Attack, stepping dangerously into Dewott's wild attacks and weaving around one, two, three, four slashes to slam an elbow into Dewott's face, making him recoil and clutch his snout. Dewott isn't stunned for long and throws one of his shells, cutting into Treecko's side.

"Treecko! Keep him at arm's length and use Absorb! He'll tire before you do!" Lee calls, too engrossed in the melee to do more than glance at Swablu and Swellow, who are in a furious mid-air dogfight.

Swablu screeches when she's struck with Swellow's blindingly fast Aerial Ace and fires off a retaliatory Dragon Pulse that clips Swellow, burning a thin furrow into his side. The larger bird rapidly circles around as Swablu struggles to keep him in her line of sight.

"Swellow, use Aerial Ace again!"

"Fuck that! Swablu! Hyper Voice!" Zinnia cries.

Lee's eyes widen as Swablu sucks in a deep breath that inflates her small body. "Treecko! Retreat and cover your ears!"

Treecko wastes no time breaking away from Dewott, but not before hitting the Water-type with a split-second Absorb, making Dewott cringe and step back. In a flash, Treecko glows white and returns to Lee's side of the field, tightly covering his ears.

Swablu's beak opens and unleashes an auditory hell.

The whole dome rattles and the sand jumps and dances from the soundwaves. Even with the barrier taking the worst of the edge off, Lee still feels a twinge of phantom pain from Vulpix as she winces and folds her ears back. Many of the spectators back up, their own ears covered.

Much like Ash's Taillow did, the awful noise freezes Swellow midair and wracks the bird with pain, both from the hearing damage and his hollow bones being rattled by the violently vibrating air. Swellow can't even keep his wings flapping and falls harshly to the ground where he writhes in abject agony.

Dewott is hit as well, covering his ears with his mouth open in a scream that Swablu overshadows with ease. The otter sways and falls to his knees

Treecko, even behind Swablu and with ample time to prepare, grits his teeth.

After what seems like an eternity that was probably only a few seconds, Swablu runs out of breath and pants.

Swellow goes limp, his eyes closing as he fades into blissful unconsciousness.

Dewott, meanwhile, stands shakily and picks his shells up, looking between Swablu and Treecko with unfocused eyes.

"What a heinous attack! It downed Swellow with ease! I wouldn't be surprised if people on the other side of the island heard that!"

"Treecko, put him out of his misery," Lee rubs an ear with a frown. "Quick Attack into Pound!"

The wood gecko glows white once more and flies over the sand at Dewott, who brings his shells up in a shaky defense.

"Dewott, Detect!" the now dismayed Amir cries, only for his pokemon to have no reaction.

'His eardrums are probably blown out. Sorry about Zinnia, kid.'

Before the otter can raise his defense, Treecko slips into his now open guard and strikes out with his heavy tail, hitting Dewott in the temple throwing him end over end. The Water-type tumbles to a stop in the sand, knocked out.

"And Dewott is knocked out! Both Don and Amir need to select new pokemon!"

Both teens recall their pokemon slowly. Amir clenches the ball in his hand when Dewott is safely returned and Don murmurs something to Swellow's pokeball too quiet to hear. Don says something to Amir, who looks up. The boys then huddle, talking to each other near soundlessly.

Lee turns to Zinnia with an unamused frown. "Care to warn me next time you try to deafen my pokemon?" He asks, rubbing Vulpix's aching ears.

Zinnia crosses her arms under her bust and raises a brow. "What? And give away the element of surprise?"

"We, your teammates, stop being useful if my pokemon can't hear a word I'm saying."

The draconid rolls her eyes. "Treecko lived. It's fine."

Lee just sighs and shakes his head.

After about ten more seconds, their opponents break their huddle. Don steps forward and clears his throat. "Hey, proctor, commentator guy? We're cutting our losses. Dewott and Swellow were our best pokemon. We forfeit."

The crowd jeers and boos, making Don flinch and Amir just crosses his arms with a dour look upon his face.

"Amir and Don concede defeat!" Speakmen recounts. "Lee and Zinnia are our first finalists!"

"There is no shame in knowing when you're outmatched and bowing out gracefully," Brawly quickly jumps to the rescue of the boys, instantly quieting much of the booing. "Amir and Don went far into the Brawl and both are great trainers with great pokemon. Lets hear it for them, everyone!"

The crowd does a 180 and cheers erupt from everyone... Or almost everyone. From his place in the crowd beside his partner Benjamin, Lee sees Andre's face fall into a deep scowl as he stares up at Brawly with something akin to revulsion.

"And we've moving right along! Let's get the next match underway!"

The telescreen lights up, moving down to the next bracket.

CECIL & ALEX

VS

ANDRE & BENJAMIN

Lee's eyes turn to the trainers named Cecil and Alex. Cecil is almost painfully average, being a man in his twenties or so with a build much like Lee's own. His partner, Alex, is a fair bit shorter and slimmer, almost feminine in his appearance. If not for his lack of shirt paired with his swimming trunks, Lee might have mistaken him for a woman. Both did well in their matches, their Seel and Electrike making a surprisingly good team.

Cecil raises his hand as he and Alex approach, both stopping short of the ring's trainer box with anxious expressions. "Uh... Look, we hate to be buzzkills and all, but we're going to forfeit too." His words draw a collective sound of disappointment and several boos from the watching people.

"We... just don't want our pokemon torn up that bad, is all..." Alex adds in a small voice, unable to meet anyone's eyes and instead staring at the sand.

Lee clicks his tongue and looks over to Zinnia, who gives him a manic smile in return. He looks away from her and to the vixen on his shoulder, who shakes her head in tandem with his.

"Cecil and Alex drop out when faced with last year's champ, advancing Andre and Benjamin to the finals! This is sure to be Brawl on the Beach's best match ever! We'll be taking a short break to get ready, so grab your drinks and snack now!"

The telescreen flashes one final time.

ZINNIA & LEE

VS

ANDRE & BENJAMIN

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Any similarities between real people, living or dead, or places, standing or demolished, in this story are just coincidence.
I am an animal lover, but not exactly an expert. Some biology and behavior referenced in the story may not be 100% accurate, or might even be outright pseudoscience.

Want to support me? See Fuggmann is creating Fiction writing | Patreon

A big thanks to NurseBold, Nicolas H, Max D, and Tim M for being patrons.
And an extra big thanks to Spartanstoryteller for being a special, high-level patron.

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ZINNIA & LEE

VS

ANDRE & BENJAMIN

The crowd around the makeshift ring begins to disperse, most heading to the various food stands around the beach before the final match. On the other side of the ring, Andre is content to stand with his arms crossed as his foot taps the sandy ground impatiently. At his side, Benjamin just twiddles his fingers and looks at the ground.

Lee turns to Zinnia, starting slightly when he sees her actually shivering in anticipation. Her almost crazed ruby eyes are locked with Andre's arrogant maroon in a silent staring match.

Lee shakes his head. "Zinnia, we need to talk before this match,"

With great reluctance, she turns away from the Dark-type specialist to look at Lee, her frown from earlier returning. "About what?"

"About how to deal with that Absol and any other pokemon he has," Lee begins, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding the dragon tamer into turning to try and hide their conversation. "That Absol's speed is insanity. Even if his partner just stands around, this is going to be a tough one and we need to work together if we're going to win this."

Zinnia just laughs. "Sure thing. Wipe the floor with his partner and I'll have Shelgon trash the Absol. They aren't known for taking hits. Easy."

'Really?'

Lee feels his lips pull downward. "Don't blow me off. Andre's pokemon is as quick as Corvisquire when he's using Extremespeed and downed all his opponents in one or two hits. If Andre's other pokemon are half as strong, or god forbid, even better, then we might be toast. There's no consolation prize, so that money you want is gone if we lose."

That seems to make Zinnia stop and think for a moment. After a long few seconds, she says; "Fine, I guess. I still think you're worrying too much. What's your plan? I doubt he's going to open with Absol."

"Probably not," Lee agrees. "We want to remove Benjamin from the equation as quickly as possible so he can't give them a come-from-behind victory, which means stalling Andre to focus him down. It's kind of a dick move, but love and war and all that."

Zinnia nods. "Exactly what I was saying. If you take down his pokemon, I'll have Swablu play keep-away with the brat's pokemon and then we can crush him."

"And then when Absol comes out, we need to play it smart," Lee stresses. "I don't know if we get any substitutions or not, so we'll need to wear him down with anything we have. Burns, poison, paralysis, confusion, whatever we've got to weaken him for when Shelgon or Vulpix take the stage to fight him," he says, raising a hand to pet the vixen on his shoulder.

"And we're back, folks!" Speakmen cries, snapping Lee and Zinnia from their huddle. Everyone quickly begins to gather around the ring for prime viewing spots as the commentator takes a breath. "In the red corner, we've got Hoenn Lab Trainer Lee Henson and the lovely Zinnia Draconid, who have taken the Brawl by storm and made it all the way to the finals! In the blue corner, We've got Dewford's bad boy defending champ Andre and final four finisher from last year Benjamin! Let's hear it for them, everyone!"

The cheers are so loud that echo off the hotels and beach houses lining the beachfront. Out in the ocean, a lone Dewgong pokes its head out of the water to see the commotion.

Andre smirks and steps up to his side of the ring, Benjamin following demurely at his heels.

With a deep breath, Lee steps forward into the red box with Zinnia at his side. "Remember the plan. I'm starting with Treecko," he says quickly, getting a nod from Zinnia.

"This'll be a three on three match with only one sub allowed per trainer," Brawly takes over, gazing down at Andre, who scoffs at him. "Once one side is out of pokemon, the other side will be our winners. Trainers, select your first pokemon!"

As one, Lee, Zinnia, Andre, and Benjamin toss their pokeballs forward.

On the red side, Treecko and Swablu take form. Swablu lets out a tweet and rises into the air as Treecko rolls a shoulder and settles into an uncaring stance.

Across from them, Benjamin's Psyduck takes the sandy field as a large Mightyena emerges from Andre's ball. The dark canine pokemon lets a bone-rattling growl roll from his throat and stares down both Treecko and Swablu, ignoring the nervous Psyduck at his side.

Treecko's eyes narrow as he takes in Mightyena, but he keeps his loose stance rather than squaring up, making Mightyena draw back his lips in a dagger-toothed snarl.

'Shit, I was hoping Andre focused solely on his Absol and left his other pokemon weak,' Lee sighs. The Mightyena's teeth are all pearly white and his coat is sleek and shiny, all hallmarks of being well-raised. At least Andre raises his pokemon well. 'I was hoping a little too hard, I suppose.'

"It's Treecko and Swablu versus Psyduck and Mightyena!" Speakmen announces. A second later, Hypno's barrier comes down, trapping all 4 pokemon inside. "Get ready! In three, two, one...!"

Swablu puffs herself up.

Treecko brings his forearms up in a guard.

Mightyena lowers his body with a growl.

Psyduck cowers.

"Begin!"

"Treecko! Focus down Psyduck! Hit and run with Absorb!" Lee cries.

Zinnia and Andre shout orders at the same time Lee does, but their words get mixed up and are lost to Lee. Their pokemon get the message through.

As one, Treecko, Swablu, and Mightyena explode into action.

Treecko glows white in a Quick Attack and blasts forward at the petrified Psyduck, only to abort his charge and leap over Mightyena, who crosses the distance between them in a single, powerful bound.

Mightyena's flame-coated fangs close around nothing, drawing a growl from him. The canine pokemon turns, only to leap back as to not be hit by Swablu's Take Down.

"Keep going, Treecko!" Lee instructs, feeling his heart begin to race.

"Fire Fang!" Andre replies from across the field, his face set into a smirk. "Take out Treecko!"

Mightyena's mouth bursts into brilliant orange flames, his fangs glowing a searing orange a shade brighter than the flames. He charges Treecko again, only to stop with a skid as Swablu nearly bowls him over again.

"Bitch!" Andre yells, his smirk falling into a scowl. "Fine. You wanna go first? Mightyena, Thunder Fang on Swablu! Roast that bird!"

Zinnia laughs. "Good luck! Swablu! Circle around and use Dragon Pulse!"

Treecko isn't idle as Andre and Zinnia issue new orders and races to the still frozen Psyduck, kicking up plumes of sand with each step.

"P-Psyduck, use Confusion! Quick!" Benjamin cries, wringing his hands as he does so. "He's going to get you!"

The duck pokemon's fearful eyes glow blue, but before any attack can be fired off, Treecko is before him. The wood gecko pokemon twirls, throwing his tail into Psyduck's stomach and doubling poor duck over with a sputter. Treecko then quickly slides behind Psyduck and puts his arms around Psyduck's neck in a chokehold. The psychic duck can only struggle in Treecko's grip before crying out as his life force is stolen by Treecko's Absorb.

'Where did he learn to do a chokehold?' Lee silently asks the fox on his shoulder, only to get the telepathic equivalent of a shrug from her.

"Psyduck! Throw him off now!" Benjamin desperately orders. "You can't let him do this!"

"Tighten your hold, Treecko! Don't let him focus!" Lee orders right back.

Psyduck's struggles increase even as his energy is stolen from him. The duck's eyes glow again, but he gags and lets the glow fade when Treecko's arms strain against his neck and cut off more of his windpipe. The entire time, Absorb keeps sapping away at Psyduck.

Lee takes the spare second to look over at Swablu and Mightyena, silently kicking himself for focusing too much on Treecko.

"Dragon Pulse!"

"Dark Pulse!"

Swablu's whirling ray of Dragon energy crashes against Mightyena's dark beam, both meeting in a stalemate for a second before Dark Pulse begins to push Dragon Pulse back. Mightyena roars below Swablu, more inky blackness pouring from his throat as Dark Pulse blasts through Dragon Pulse, ripping the attack into wispy blue scraps

Swablu trills in alarm and dives, Dark Pulse missing her by inches. The black column of energy slams into the barrier like a runaway truck, rattling the whole thing and drawing a wince from Speakmen's Hypno up in the guard tower.

'Swablu isn't going to be able to keep this up,' Lee grimly realizes, his eyes zeroing in on the rapid rise and fall of Swablu's chest. 'Mightyena is too strong. We need to finish with Ben as soon as possible.'

He turns back just in time to watch Psyduck's struggles weaken to nothing, the duck pokemon going limp in Treecko's hold. Treecko releases his foe, letting him fall to the sand with a soft thump.

"Psyduck is the first to go down!" Speakmen calls, drawing a wave of cheers from the spectators. "What happened to his robust performance from last year? Oh well. Benjamin! Select a new pokemon!"

The bespectacled boy sighs and recalls his downed Psyduck through a little hole in the barrier, sucking the pokemon into the safety of his pokeball in a flash of red light. He murmurs something too quiet to be heard to the ball before placing it on his belt. After a moment of indecision, he grabs another from his belt and throws it, a small hole appearing in the barrier to let the ball in.

With a pop, the ball opens and flies a full-grown Tropius. The great sauropod pokemon raises it's neck to it's full seven foot height and stares down at Treecko. It's gaze strays over to Andre for a moment, an expression Lee cannot place briefly passing by it's face.

"And it looks like Benjamin is done playing around! His ace pokemon Tropius has taken to the field! Can this Grass-type titan be toppled?"

"Tropius! Use Growth!" Benjamin calls.

Tropius growls and unfurls his leafy wings, the appendages shining in the sunlight. A second later, the muscles under Tropius' skin ripple and flex, bulging and turning the already intimidating pokemon into a wall of sharply defined muscle. He stares down at Treecko, who almost takes a step back as he chews anxiously on his twig.

'I can't lose Treecko this early. He can't fight Tropius with is current options,' Lee bites his lip and glances at Swablu and Mightyena for a split second, just in time to watch Swablu shriek and hastily flit away as she's clipped by one of Mightyena's electrified fangs. 'Swablu needs help too. Damn. Looks like I'm burning my only sub.'

"Ref! I'm subbing!" Lee yells up to Speakmen as he draws Treecko's ball. A second later, a hole opens in the dome and lets Lee recall a disgruntled Treecko back to his ball.

"Looks like Lee is substituting his pokemon! Who will he pick to replace Treecko?"

The zoologist ignores the commentator in favor of whispering to Treecko's ball, which shakes in obvious agitation. "I know, pal, but sometimes you gotta retreat from a battle to win the war," he says gently. "You'll get your time to shine. I promise."

The ball goes still, so Lee shrinks it and reaches into his pocket for Corvisquire's ball. With a deep breath, he throws it in, and out comes Corvisquire with a flash of light and a screech to announce himself.

"Corvisquire is back! It's beak and brain versus bulk and brawn!"

The raven pokemon sizes up Tropius only to laugh in his scratchy, throaty voice, making the much larger pokemon frown.

"Don't take him lightly, Corvi!" Lee orders, making the raven pokemon sober up just the slightest amount. "In the air! Hone Claws!

Corvisquire takes to the skies and Tropius is quick to fly upward at him without any prompting from Benjamin.

"Tropius! Stop him with Razor Wind!" Ben orders.

Tropius bellows and flings his front set of wings forward, throwing near-invisible scythes of wind that scream towards Corvisquire.

Corvisquire rolls out of the way agilely, grinding his talons together all the while. As he raises his talons to sharpen his beak, he smirks a vile smirk and waits as Tropius barrels towards him, then drags his claws down his steely beak, drawing sparks that he kicks into the eyes of the passing Tropius.

The large pokemon bellows in pain and screws his eyes shut, throwing his head to try and clear his eyes and he halts and hovers in place.

Lee can't take the time to appreciate just how much of an asshole his pokemon is as he sees Swablu's losing battle in the corner of his eye. "Corvi! Knock Tropius towards Mightyena with Steel Wing!"

"H-Headbutt! Don't let him hit you!" Ben cries, his whole face a rictus of panic.

The bird happily complies and darts up high before coming down like a rocket onto Tropius' back, slamming his shimmering wings into the wrists of Tropius' own wings with a sound like an axe meeting a tree.

Tropius bellows again and starts to fall, but not before whipping his long neck around and driving his head into Corvisquire like a wrecking ball. The raven can only gasp and is thrown off his opponent's back like a missile.

"What a dirty trick from Corvisquire! But it didn't go unpunished!"

Corvisquire's wings shoot out and arrest his momentum before he hits the wall of the barrier, letting him hover mid-air as he takes harsh breaths of air into his abused body. His face slowly falls into a furious scowl.

Tropius, meanwhile, comes down like a meteor at Mightyena as Swablu flies up and makes herself scarce at Zinnia's yelled order, making Andre's eyes widen.

"Mightyena, Detect!" Andre roars. "Then nail Swablu!"

The wolf pokemon's red eyes glimmer with clarity as Tropius falls towards him. Then at the last second, he leaps, twisting his whole body around in an unnatural way, briefly standing on the still falling Tropius as he does so. Then with a tense of his rear legs, Mightyena uses Tropius as a springboard, launching himself right at a wide-eyed Swablu!

Swablu can only screech as electrified fangs wrap around her, electrocuting her as Mightyena lands upon the ground paws-first and shakes her like a ragdoll.

"Swablu!" Zinnia screams, horror written on her face.

After a long second, Mightyena lets the mauled and burned bird go with a swing of his neck, throwing her across the field where she lays still, shuddering as she draws in labored breath.

Tropius, meanwhile, crashes into the sand with a thunderous bang! Sand is thrown everywhere, obscuring the pokemon for a few seconds. As the last of the sand falls, everyone sees the Grass-type slowly rising to his feet, his whole form radiating scorn for the raven pokemon above him.

"Swablu is down! Both teams have lost their first pokemon! Mightyena is barely scratched and took out Swablu in one decisive blow! Meanwhile, Corvisquire and Tropius both have wounds to show in their bout. What will Zinnia's next pokemon be?"

With gritted teeth, Zinnia recalls her wounded pokemon to her ball. Once Swablu is back on Zinnia's belt, her hand flies to Shelgon's ball.

"Zinnia, wait!"

The dragon tamer turns to Lee with a snarl. "Wait? For what?! I'm going to pound that prick into the ground!" She growls, turning to Andre and Ben.

The first boy has the gall to smile at them, and the second one just keeps his expression in a very forced neutral. Ben adjusts his glasses and looks away.

"Remember the plan," Lee insists. "We need to save Shelgon and Vulpix for last. They need to work together to take down Absol."

"Fuck your plan!" Zinnia replies. She almost tears Shelgon's ball off her belt and throws it before Lee can protest further.

In a flash, Shelgon is once again on the field. The Dragon pokemon grumbles and locks eyes with Mightyena, whose hackles rise.

"Stalwart Shelgon takes to the field! Have the tables turned?"

'Dammit all, Zinnia.' Lee sighs, prompting Vulpix to nose his cheek with a quiet whine in her chest.

With the new pokemon on the field, everyone begins moving again, starting with Mightyena.

"Mightyena, Ice Fang!" Andre laughs.

"Shelgon, Smokescreen!" Zinnia counters.

Mightyena's mouth crusts over with a layer of glittering ice too late, as Shelgon blows out a cloud of oily smoke and obscures himself. His squat form vanishes in the cloud of smoke.

The wolf pokemon raises his nose and takes a few sniffs of the air, probably searching for Shelgon, but growls and backs up warily as the smoke rolls closer to him.

Lee's focus is pulled from Shelgon and Mightyena as Tropius grows and rises back into the air, the rear leaf on his left side noticeably limp.

Across the field, Ben gulps and goes on the offensive. "Tropius, Magical Leaf!"

"Corvi! Swift!" Lee cries out in reply.

Tropius swipes a broad, leafy wing forward, throwing a barrage of beautiful rainbow leaves that home in on Corvisquire as if they have a mind of their own.

Corvisquire responds with a screech and throws his gold-coated wings forward, sending out a mammoth wave of shining stars that fly into the Magical Leaves.

The stars and leaves meet with a staccato of pops and explosions, each collision blowing up in a brillant shower of rainbow sparks that draws pointed fingers and cheers from the watching people.

Of the few Magical Leaves that survive Swift, Corvisquire neatly dodges each one a second before impact, and although they all turn to come back at him, all of them lose power and fade before they can strike again.

Tropius isn't so lucky, his bulk and injured wings proving too much to make last minute flight adjustments. The remaining handful of Swift stars explodes against his thick hide, leaving scuffs and burns. To his credit, Tropius barely even winces.

Lee hazards a look to Mightyena and Shelgon just in time to hear the dull thunk of a rattled skull and see a dazed Mightyena thrown from Shelgon's smokescreen. The skin of the wolf pokemon's head is split open from an impact, letting red leak from the wound as he stands on shaky legs.

The smoke begins to fade, revealing Shelgon with a frost-crusted bite mark on his shell. The dragon stalks forward, barely noticing his own wound.

"Shelgon, use Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia laughs, her bloodthirsty grin on full-blast.

"Dark Pulse! Overpower Shelgon!" Andre growls.

Both pokemon open their mouths and charge their attacks. A writhing ball of black and purple forms in Mightyena's maw as Shelgon's Dragon Pulse builds in a flurry of raging blue. Then as one, both pokemon roar and fire.

Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse meet once again, but unlike with Swablu, Dragon Pulse rapidly begins to overpower Dark Pulse without a struggle. Just before Dark Pulse fails, Mightyena snarls and leaps away, but catches Dragon Pulse to his side, burning a furrow into his fur.

Glad that Zinnia is holding off Mightyena, Lee turns his attention back to his battle.

"Tropius! Synthesis!" Ben calls, his face falling further and further into frantic desperation the longer the match goes.

'Shit! No!' Lee's eyes widen. "Corvi! Taunt!"

Tropius flares his leafy wings out, but not before Corvisquire dives at him, giving the sauropod pokemon a peck to his skull before fluttering away, cawing his scratchy laugh the entire time.

The golden glow building around Tropius dies before much, if any damage can be repaired. With a bellow, Tropius flies headfirst at Corvisquire, making Benjamin claw at this hair in frustration below. "Tropius! Snap out of it!" The boy pleads.

Tropius acts as if he hears nothing and flings a leafy wing at the fleeing Corvisquire, launching another wave of Magical Leaf easily twice as large as the last one.

Corvisquire rolls and weaves through the leafy projectiles, a few of them scraping across his ferrous feathers and one even cutting into his side when it corrects its course more than expected. The raven lets out a furious screech, more angry than hurt by the injury, then sharply turns to face the still enraged Tropius.

"Get behind him and use Pluck on his wings! Ground him!" Lee calls up to his pokemon.

"Tropius, please listen to me!" Ben clenches his fists. "Don't let him do it!"

Corvisquire beelines for Tropius, then deftly barrel rolls out of the way of a Headbutt to find himself behind the huge pokemon. The bird lands on the back of his foe and digs his talons in before savagely biting at the wrists of Tropius' wings, forcing a sharp note of pain from his throat. Corvisquire can only get a few bites in before Tropius whips his neck around and bites a surprised Corvisquire, tearing the bird away from his wings and flinging him into the nearby wall of the barrier back-first.

Corvisquire coughs as the wind is knocked out of him for the second time today but quickly flares his wings to maintain a hover. He lets out a wheezy, hacking laugh as Tropus' injured wings struggle to keep the pokemon aloft, forcing him to drop into a rough landing that vibrates the ground.

Lee lets out a breath, silently marveling at how this battle is making his heart race like the battle with Roxanne did. "Corvi, don't let up! Hit and run from the rear with Pluck!"

Corvisquire obliges with a cruel cry.

Devoid of his mobility, Tropius can only struggle as Corvisquire makes several diving-bombing passes at him, each pass leaving the sauropod with another wound that saps at his stamina as his own attacks miss the raven pokemon. Corvisquire is clipped several times by Magical Leaf, but the damage is little more than paper cuts.

"C'mon Tropius! Not like this!" Ben cries, looking perilously close to tears. "Slow Corvisquire down with Sweet Scent!"

Tropius waves his head around as he turns in place to keep Corvisquire in sight, a pink cloud of mist ejecting from the fruit dangling around his neck.

The bird pokemon barrels through the mist, slowing almost none as he digs his beak into his foe's side, making another bloody gouge in his hide. It's only as Corvisquire rises again does he slow down, his avian face slowly easing into something resembling neutrality.

"Shake it off, Corvi!" Lee yells. "He's playing with your head! Don't let him make a fool of you!"

At the words 'make a fool of you' Corvisquire shakes his head and clears his thoughts, his angry glower returning with twice the potency. His screech of rage makes Tropius flinch and even draws the eyes of Andre's battered Mighyena before a Dragon Pulse throws him from his feet.

'Tropius is a tough bastard,' Lee thinks, looking at all the wounds littering his body, wounds inflicted with a super-effective move. 'Making Corvisquire lose face before an audience was his last mistake, though.'

And indeed, Corvisquire looks fit to be tied. His beady eyes glitter with hate at the mere suggestion that he was nearly played.

"Corvisquire, finish him off with Extremespeed," Lee orders.

The raven spreads his wings wide and lets out a loud, haunting cry before flickering out of existence with a loud crack of displaced air.

Tropius can barely brace himself before Corvisquire rams into his side like a tank shell, crossing the distance between them in a single heartbeat.

The sauropod can't even vocalize his pain before he's completely lifted off his feet, carried along by Corvisquire's sheer momentum...

...Right at Mightyena.

"Mightyena, Detect!"

The canine pokemon's eyes widen as his trainer's order comes a second too late to process. Tropius strikes the wolf with a bone-rattling impact, drawing a yelp from him.

Corvisquire's wings snap open and halts his flight as Tropius and Mightyena roll to a stop in a heap. Tropius is still for a moment before slowly struggling to his feet, only to falter and fall back to the ground as consciousness leaves him.

Mightyena, on the other hand, rises and stands on wobbly paws, his teeth gritted in a growl. The canine is coated in burns and bruises with the wound on his head still slowly bleeding. He whips his head to the side to flick away blood that trails too close to an eye. He looks as if a stiff breeze will knock him over.

Andre turns to Benjamin with a fury filled face. "Can you at least try to be useful?!" He screams at the mousy boy, who just flinches and steps away.

"What a move! Corvisquire tips the scales into the red team's favor in a single brutal attack!" Speakmen's excitement amps up the audience even more.

"Extremespeed, huh?" Brawly chimes in, looking at Corvisquire. "That's a powerful move, one thats takes Quick Attack to its highest, most dangerous level. That's a rarity to see on a pokemon that isn't fully evolved."

"Indeed it is!" Speakmen agrees easily, his head nodding along. "Tropius is down! Benjamin! Please select your final pokemon!"

With great reluctance, the smaller boy on the blue side recalls his abused Tropius and draws his final pokeball. He holds it between both hands in what seems to be a prayer before tossing it into the ring.

The pokeball pops open and out floats a purple ball of gas that sprouts a pair of large eyes and a fanged grin. The eyes take in Corvisquire, Shelgon, then Mightyena. Below the eyes, the fanged grin falls into a frown.

"It looks like Ben's last pokemon is Gastly! Does this ghost have the tricks in his non-existent sleeve needed to balance things out?"

Across the field, Andre grabs his partner's arm and pulls him closer, harshly whispering something into his ear. Ben grimaces but slowly nods.

"Shelgon! Rollout! Finish Mightyena off!" Zinnia starts the battle again, pointing to the dark canine.

Shelgon growls and pulls his legs into his battered shell before rolling at Mightyena like a bloodthirsty pinball.

"Mightyena, Ice Fang. Give it your all." Andre quietly orders, his arms crossed.

Mightyena's face tightens into a grim parody of a smile as his teeth are once again coated in ice, then without dodging, he charges headfirst at Shelgon.

The ice-encrusted teeth sink into the whirling shell pokemon, drawing deep, harsh lines in the metallic armor before Mightyena is swept under the Rollout and battered one last time.

There is the cringe-inducing crack of a broken bone as Shelgon bowls over Mightyena, and the Dark-type does not stand afterward, finally succumbing to his numerous injuries and falling unconscious in the sand. Shelgon does an about-face and cancels Rollout, coming to a stop and showing everyone the new gashes in his chewed-up shell.

"Mightyena is out! Shelgon proved to be just a little too much after Swablu wore Mightyena down! What pokemon will Andre call next?

With a sigh, Andre produces Mightyena's pokeball and recalls the wolf in a flash of red.

Lee looks away from his partner's battle at Vulpix's mental prompting, noticing Ben had stopped to watch Mightyena fall as well. For a moment, he debates calling an attack and the boy is unaware, but... "Hey! The battle isn't paused or anything!" Lee warns, making Benjamin jump. "Corvisquire! Steel Wing!"

The raven shrieks and divebombs Gastly, his wings shining with a sharp, metallic sheen.

"Gastly, out of the way!" Ben cries. "You can't get hit! Not now!"

The ghost pokemon moans and partially dematerializes, letting a startled Corvisquire crash painfully into the sand when he passes right through the ghost.

"What?!" Lee exclaims aloud, his jaw-dropping. 'What the fuck? Ghost pokemon can just do that?'

"And Andre's next pokemon is Murkrow! This one is a new addition we didn't see last year!"

Lee glances over, and sure enough, a little black crow with a witch-hat plume of feathers now hovers on the other side of the field.

"Now, Gastly..." Ben lets out a resigned sigh. "Use Curse on Shelgon."

Gastly grimaces as a malicious red aura bursts into life around both he and Shelgon, who roars in agony and seizes on his feet.

"Oh no..." Lee hears Zinnia whisper. In the corner of his eye, he can see her tanned face paling.

"Corvi, stop him!" Lee orders. "Extremespeed into Steel Wing!"

The raven pulls himself from the sand and glares up at the ghost above him. The instant his form begins to flicker, Ben gives Gastly one last order. "Gastly, Destiny Bond!"

Lee blanks out at what he hears save for one word. 'Fuck.'

The ghost's face settles into acceptance as Curse fades, and an instant later he's explosively driven into the sand by Steel Wing, unconscious with a rend running down his ethereal form.

Corvisquire can barely croon over his victory before arcs of violet energy erupt from his being, drawing a horrid, nails-on-chalkboard scream from his throat. The bird writhes and thrashes, desperately trying to escape the torture he's subjected to, even flying up and crashing into the barrier only to fall again. After only a few seconds that seems like hours to Lee, Corvisquire finally gives up and faints, the arcs of violet fading as he falls to the sand and goes still.

"Ohhhh no! Gastly lays a Curse on Shelgon and takes down Corvisquire in a dramatic double-KO! It's all up to Andre to win it, but with both Murkrow and Absol at full health, it might be Lee and Zinnia who are in trouble!" Speakmen exclaims. "Ben, please withdraw Gastly, and Lee, please select a new pokemon!"

Gastly is pulled back into his pokeball as Ben steps back, letting his maroon-headed partner have the entire trainer box.

Lee gulps and recalls his unconscious pokemon, his abused raven returning to his ball in a flash of red. 'Shit, this is looking bad. Shelgon isn't going to last long, and Murkrow just has to run the clock on him. Murkrow needs to go down ASAP to draw Absol out so Vulpix and Shelgon can double team him. Just Vulpix is risky, and Goomy and Treecko won't be enough to fight that monster, I already know that.'

Mind made up, Lee turns to Vulpix, who looks back with her large eyes shining with resolve. "Ready, love?"

Vulpix needs no other prompting and jumps from Lee's shoulder through a hole that opens in the barrier for her. She lands lightly in the sand and coolly looks up at Murkrow, who caws much like Corvisquire might.

"Vulpix takes the stage! Here is where things heat up, folks!"

Before any moves can be called, Shelgon grunts as the red aura of Curse flares up around him, freezing him for a second save for his barely hidden twitches of pain. When the fit passes, he pants harshly.

'Right, we need to be quick. Shelgon is on his last legs. Chase him down with Ember, we can't hide if we're going to win.' Lee growls. "Vulpix! Ember!"

The vixen draws in a short breath and exhales a veritable storm of orange fireballs that all scream towards a very startled Murkrow. Without any prompting from Andre, the crow rises to escape.

"Shelgon, herd him back with Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia quickly jumps in as Murkrow tries to run.

"Double Team, now!" Andre counters.

'Nice try,' Lee widens the channel between himself and Vulpix, easily settling into her psychic grasp. He snakes his will into her pyrokinesis and takes control of half the Embers to ease Vulpix's burden for what comes next. 'There's no running from this.'

Murkrow's form shimmers before countless clones scatter around the ring. Shelgon's Dragon Pulse annihilates several of them, but the real one eludes the attack.

"It looks like Murkrow is content to stay away from the action for a bit! A smart idea cons-hold the phone, what's going on?!"

The watching crowd roars when all the Embers change course and fly as if they have a mind of their own, groups of the fireballs all picking a Murkrow to chase down. Every single Ember that passes through an illusion joins another group until it's three colossal clouds of fire running down three frantic crows.

"Well, that's certainly new..."

"Damn it, what are you doing?!" Andre demands, his eyes wide as he stares at the immobile Vulpix, who ignores him, too engrossed in her task to move. "Murkrow, Detect!"

Like Migtyena, Murkrow's eyes glint with supernatural clarity as the last two illusions are destroyed by the Embers. He twirls mid-air and weaves through the projectile hell around him with impossible grace, Embers missing him by less than an inch and often colliding with each other in explosions of flame.

Lee grits his teeth as the strain of guiding his half of the Embers begins to make his head throb. Likewise, he can feel the maintenance of the Embers beginning to drain Vulpix at an alarming rate. Each second that passes makes the rise and fall of her chest into more of a pant.

'Cut them off. We'll try again later.'

Vulpix obliges with a sharp exhale, making the Embers fade out into naught but sparks, leaving Murkrow hovering above as he catches his breath. The instant the crow pokemon stops moving, though...

"Scary Face, then Dragon Pulse!" Zinnia orders. "Go, Shelgon!"

Shelgon roars and glares up at Murkrow with eyes full of sheer hate, making the bird pokemon choke up and unable to dodge the following blast of Dragon energy. Murkrow is plucked from the air and thrown against the barrier with a burst of loose feathers. He slides down the wall for several feet before he can open his wings and shakily take flight again.

"C'mon! Get at least one hit in!" Andre scowls. "Shadowball!"

Murkrow coughs and opens his beak wide, an orb of squirming purple forming and growing until it's nearly three times as large as Murkrow himself. Then with a loud caw, he sends the ball hurtling down to the spot between Vulpix and Shelgon.

'Move!'

Vulpix's legs tense, then she leaps away in one bound. Shelgon, however, is stuck with a grunt as his Curse flares up again. The Shadowball swallows Shelgon and explodes, a shock wave of curiously cold air washing over the whole ring.

When the smoke clears, cheers ring out as everyone sees Shelgon still standing, albeit barely. His shell is lined with cracks and scratches, his legs shake, and although difficult to tell under his armor, his breaths come in sharp gasps.

The longer he looks, the more Lee feels their chances of victory slipping away. 'Jeez. Okay, new plan...' Lee thinks back to when Murkrow used Detect, and how much of a toll it had on the bird pokemon. 'Chase him down with a small number of Embers, enough to cause damage but not so many that your stamina dies up too quickly. Got it, love? When Detect runs out, we hit him with something big.'

Vulpix silently agrees with a flick of her ear, already drawing in a breath that comes back out as a stream of Embers.

Once again, all the Embers beeline for Murkrow, who turns tail and runs.

"Detect!" Andre orders, a smirk on his face.

'Gotcha.'

The much smaller group of fireballs remain hot on Murkrow's heels, coming in for pass after unsuccessful pass, and each time Murkrow gets away with nothing more than singed feathers. Even with Shelgon firing off Dragon Breath attacks to help, Murkrow escapes unharmed. Rather than just a few seconds of pursuit this time, the fox-guided Embers stay locked on like missiles and keep swooping in regardless of their flight time.

Murkrows dodging becomes more and more jerky and panicked as Andre's smirk falls.

Finally, one fireball tags the bird with an explosion of fire, throwing him off course with a squawk and into the path of another Ember, which explodes against him like the last one. With an unspoken signal from Vulpix, all the remaining fireballs make haste, and all crash into the flailing Murkrow one after another, trapping him in a barrage of fire and pain.

After the last Ember meets it's mark in a burst of flame, a smoking Murkrow falls limp from the sky with his eyes closed.

"Murkrow! Pull up now!" Andre grits his teeth. "It's not over!"

Murkrow does not reply and hits the sand with a sad thump, all consciousness lost.

"That's all she wrote for Murkrow!" Speakmen's words earn cheers from the spectators, a countless number of them now holding up phones and camcorders compared to the handful who were recording the whole battle. "It's just Andre's Absol against four pokemon! This is either a closed battle or a comeback for the books! Andre! Send in your last pokemon!"

Andre's sneer is traded for a sudden calm that immediately makes Lee wary. "Fine. Absol has always had my back and I know he won't fail me here," the teen boy says with absolute certainty, returning his downed Murkrow to his pokeball and drawing the last ball from the black metal gauntlet on his arm.

With deliberate slowness, Andre expands the ball and tosses it with only a flick of his wrist. In a flash of light following the pokeball's distinct snap-hiss sound, Absol materializes in the field with his head bowed eyes closed. His eyes snap open and lock not onto Vulpix or Shelgon, but Lee and Zinnia.

Despite the warmth of the tropical sun high above, Lee feels a cold shiver run down his spine.

"Here we go! That could be the last match of the Brawl on the Beach!"

"Absol, Night Slash." is all Andre says, crossing his arms as he does so.

Just like with every match before, Absol's scythe-like horn glows a sickly violet before he slowly walks forward. His footsteps in the sand seems infinitely louder than any cheering or chatter from the people watching. The red eyes under Absol's brow of white fur watch Vulpix and Shelgon intently, waiting for a single mistake.

Shelgon stiffens as his Curse flares up, and before he can even wince, Absol is behind him with his scythe raised to strike.

Lee's eyes widen, and a single, reactionary thought from him with no words spurs Vulpix into action. She turns at breakneck speed and blasts Absol with a gout of fire.

Absol darts away from the nameless tongue of flame Vulpix shoots, well out of the way before the attack could even hope to hit. Absol lands in a crouch and regards Vulpix with the same flat expression he's held since his first match. It makes the tilt of his head almost mocking.

'Mock this,' Lee grunts. "Will-o-wisp!"

Vulpix's maw opens wide, a ball of white flame blooming to life. She rears her head back and-!

Lee cries out when a white-hot line of pain is drawn across his back, his hand shooting to the wound, only to come back free of any blood. "Wha..."

Vulpix's yowl of agony instantly makes him forget his own pain, and he then realizes why he felt something in the first place.

In the ring, Vulpix falters and shoots Will-o-wisp wide with no hope of recovering it. A deep slash across her back bleeds profusely as Absol stands behind her, his neck already bent in a post-strike stance. Absol then tenses and leaps away without even looking as Shelgon barrels through the spot he occupied just a split second prior.

"Lee!"

The man turns to Zinnia, who levels him with a look of alarm. "Are you okay? What was that about?!"

"Worry about the battle, not me," he answers quickly. "Vulpix! Love! Are you alright?!"

The vixen pants as her coat slowly turns red from the back down from the wound, but she nods without taking her eyes off of Absol.

'How the hell did this pokemon get so quick?' Lee struggles to think of just how much time a pokemon would need to focus on speed alone to get that fast. Then another, more disquieting thought strikes him. 'Or maybe we're just slow?'

"Shelgon, we're taking the offensive! Headbutt!" Zinnia orders with a pointed finger. She gives Lee a very pointed look, once saying 'help me'.

Lee nods back and turns to Vulpix. "Vulpix, you know what to do," he says aloud. Mentally, he sends her: 'Use Baby-Doll Eyes. We need to lower his ability to attack as far as we can.'

"Absol, take them apart. Night Slash," Andre says, even going so far as to close his eyes and smile.

The Dark pokemon leans to the side, letting Shelgon pass him by as his scythe charges with Night Slash.

'Now!'

Vulpix's eyes light up with an eerie pink glow, invisible enfeebling rays shooting from them.

Absol's eyes widen, then without looking at Vulpix, he moves so quickly it looks as if he teleports a foot to the side, sidestepping Baby-Doll Eyes with impossible dexterity. He turns his blank gaze to Vulpix, making the vixen freeze.

'Did he just dodge an invisible priority move without even looking?' Lee feels his head begin to spin and scrambles for an answer.

Absol slowly lowers himself in what has to be a mocking telegraph before stopping and freezing. Then without looking behind him, he sways out of the way of Shelgon's follow-up Headbutt and lashes out with his scythe, carving a furrow in Shelgon's side that draws blood through his armor.

Shelgon stumbles, and Absol takes the opportunity to loose a blindingly fast slash again, slicing through Shelgon's shell like a knife might do through styrofoam.

"Shelgon!" Zinnia screams, her eyes wide and devoid of her usual mirth. "C'mon, baby! Hang in there! Dragon Breath!"

The encapsulated dragon growls and turns, his green flames licking the corners of his mouth.

"Help him, Vulpix!" Lee calls. "Ember! And don't let up."

Vulpix wastes no time in throwing her head forward, launching a blast of Embers that all zig-zag through the air at Absol.

Absol ducks Shelgon's Dragon Breath then rolls to his feet and dances around the cloud of fireballs all desperately flying around like hornets attempting to sting him. Not a single movement is wasted and Absol only ever moves enough to avoid harm, not an inch more.

Vulpix growls and pours more energy into Ember, making the fireballs whiz around like vengeful sprites, but no matter how fast they become, The Disaster pokemon flows like water around them and doesn't even have a singed strand of fur to show for it. Finally, Absol scoffs and charges Night Slash once more. The instant a hole in Vulpix's attack opens, he shoots through it and charges the fox, the sand under his feet exploding from the sheer force of his movement.

Vulpix's eyes shoot wide open as the scythe blade bears down on her, seemingly in slow motion.

"Vulpix!" Lee screams, his heart jumping into his throat.

Absol's neck flexes, and the scythe-like horn falls.

Schink!

...Right into Shelgon's shell.

At the last moment, the dragon forces his way between Absol and Vulpix, catching the horn in his armor, and before Absol can pull away, Shelgon roars and twists his whole body, drawing a wince from Absol as his stuck horn twists his neck.

"Lee, if you've got a big attack, use it now!" Zinnia demands, turning to the scarred man with a grimace. "Don't worry about Shelgon! Just blow this guy away!"

Across the way, Andre frowns. "What? Absol, get out of there!"

Absol begins to struggle, trying to remove the torque on his main weapon so he can disengage, but Shelgon holds strong and fights the Dark-type tooth and nail. Shelgon is wracked by his Curse again, but powers through to keep Absol still.

It takes Lee a moment to process Zinnia's words, but when he does and understands just what she's doing, he gulps and nods. "Vulpix," he calls.

"Use Convergence."

The vixen leaps away, not needing to be told twice. She lands a dozen yards away, her eyes glowing a baleful orange as the ring begins to heat up.

All around Shelgon and Absol, great, rolling balls of fire spawn from nothing, each one rapidly growing and driving the heat in the ring up even further. A few of the awestruck spectators back-up as the heat bleeds through the barrier.

"Absol, get out of there now!" Andre orders, looking worried for the first time in the entire match.

His pokemon struggles harder as the orbs of fire around him and Shelgon grow past the size of soccer balls and begin to creep up on the size of beach balls.

Vulpix pants, her stamina beginning to falter the larger the fireballs under her control become.

'C'mon, love! You can end it right here!' Lee wraps her psyche in a layer of adoration just like she always does to him. 'I know you can!'

The fireballs surge and grow larger than ever.

Absol sees the countless fireballs morph into miniature suns and growls. With a grunt, he slowly begins to overpower Shelgon, who is at his limit. Then with a shrill, haunting cry, Absol lifts Shelgon's entire three-hundred-pound bulk, still stuck to his horn, over his head.

"Fire!" Lee orders.

As one, all the fireballs converge on Absol, exploding like a...

LUNGS BLISTERING

SKIN BU-

Lee growls and forces the bout of vertigo away.

The entire dome shakes from the force of the overcharged Convergence, prompting screams from onlookers. Cracks even spider web along the dome before Speakmen's sweating Hypno repairs the damage.

"H-Holy moly! What in the world was that move, Brawly?!... Brawly?"

The bewildered Gym Leader in the lifeguard tower raises his microphone slowly. "I...am not sure, Josh. It was the first time I've ever seen something like that."

As the smoke begins to clear, there are no pokemon left standing in it. Shelgon, finally knocked out with a shell filled with cracks, lays on his side, but Absol is nowhere to be seen. Off to the side, Vulpix falls to her rear and pants harshly.

'Did we win?'

Ripping pain in his side answer's Lee's question in the worst way.

Vulpix screams as something jagged tears into her flank and throws her against the barrier from the force. An instant later, Absol materializes at her side.

The last of the smoke finally clears, showing Absol panting from his place by Vulpix. The Disaster pokemon is covered in horrible burns and one of his hindlegs is obviously dislocated from how he refuses to put weight on it. His eyes are wide and wild, a far cry from his aloof standing just a few minutes prior, but the most telling thing is his horn.

Or what's left of it.

The keratin weapon has lost it's last few inches, shortening it and leaving the edge ragged. It'll likely take weeks before it grows back. Andre looks devastated on his side of the field.

Vulpix, already running on fumes from bloodloss, her most powerful attack to date, and now a new wound, falls to the ground, her mind dulling not unlike a fitful sleep to Lee.

"Unreal! Absol survives uh... What was it called? Convergence? Whatever it was, he made it out in one piece, taking down both Shelgon and Vulpix against the odds! Zinnia and Lee! Send in your final pokemon!"

Lee numbly holds up Vulpix's ball in a shaking hand and recalls her into it. All that's left are Treecko and Goomy.

Treecko and Goomy against a pokemon that took everything Vulpix could dish out.

For a moment, Lee entertains the thought of surrender. 'But Zinnia would never let me hear the end of it, and Treecko...'

Reluctantly, Lee draws his last pokeball from his pocket, but stops when Zinnia's hand falls onto his. Looking up, he sees her with a wide grin.

"Why so happy?" The man questions with a shake of his head. "You do realize we're about to lose, right?"

"No, we're not!" She grins even wider and withdraws her hand. "I figured out his gimmick!"

That earns a raised eyebrow from Lee. "Gimmick?"

"How Absol dodges everything," the dragon tamer says, bringing her voice down to just above a whisper. "All of the brat's pokemon know Detect, and Absol learns Detect naturally. It gives the pokemon a split second of all-seeing clarity, see?" She gestures with a finger pointed to her eye. "So they can see anything incoming, even things coming from behind. It would stand to reason his best pokemon is the best user of this shared move, right?"

All at once, it clicks into place. "So Absol is using Detect without being ordered to? That's how he avoided taking hits until he was trapped?"

"Yes!" Zinnia wiggles in place happily. "And like with Murkrow, Detect can only be used for so long before the clarity fades, so if we keep Absol on the defensive..."

"We can land a good enough hit to finish him off..." Lee realizes, hope burning in his chest. "Hot damn, Zinnia. Nice detective work."

"Hellooooo, red team? Is your powwow done?"

Lee turns and glares up at Speakmen, who jumps. "J-Just asking is all!"

Taking Treecko's ball in his hand, Lee brings it up to his mouth to whisper: "Stay in sync with Goomy, this one can't be allowed to go on the offensive at all," he murmurs.

The ball wiggles in his hand, drawing a smile from Lee. "Right. Treecko! You're up!"

"Goomy! Finish this!"

Both Lee and Zinnia toss their last pokeballs, which pop open and deposit Treecko and Goomy into their side of the field.

Treecko meets eyes with the nearly-feral Absol and settles into a guarded stance.

Goomy quivers, the only thing keeping him from quitting against this scary pokemon being the fact that it's a two-on-one fight.

"Absol, Night Slash!" Andre orders, forcing a sneer that doesn't quite fit on his face anymore.

"Goomy, Dragon Breath!" Zinnia starts.

"Treecko, Quick Attack into Pound!" Lee follows up a second later.

Goomy balloons up with a green glow, then blasts a gout of green fire at Absol as Treecko circles around in a sprint.

Absol weaves around the Dragon Breath and ducks a swipe from Treecko, only to have to leap to the side to avoid yet another blast of fire. His leap nearly sends him into Treecko's Pound, where he narrowly ducks. Absol then has to jump with a growl to avoid a Water Gun from Goomy that explodes against the sand.

For several long minutes, Absol is stuck in a game of avoiding the other two pokemon, and with each passing second, he tires more and more. Once he tries to rush Treecko, but his wounded hindleg makes him falter and he nearly pays with a Pound to the skull. All the while, Andre grows more and more frustrated.

"Dammit, Absol!" Andre finally blows up, his fists clenched and his face red. "Take one of them out already! Push past the pain and get it done! Remember what is on the line, here!"

Absol grits his teeth and raises his wounded leg at this trainer's words. All the muscles in his lower body flex and ripple at once. Then with a sicking pop, his hip joint is popped back into place.

The action is so unexpected that Goomy stops attacking to gape at the stunt, and Absol homes in on the hesitation instantly.

As little more than a streak of ghostly white, Absol appears before Goomy with his broken scythe raised. An instant later, Goomy is sporting a deep laceration across his middle with an uncomprehending expression, his mucus armor doing nothing to stop the attack. After a split-second, the pain hits and Goomy cries out, writhing and struggling.

Lee can see the brittle hope on Zinnia's face die, her expression falling into resignation.

As Goomy cries out, he accidentally bashes one of his antennae against Absol's leg.

Absol yelps and jumps away, holding his foreleg up with a wince.

Right where Goomy's antennae hit, a barbed stinger oozing a purple substance is sunk into Absol's leg.

"What the hell?" Lee asks, blinking at the Absol as he sways on his feet only to shake his head and correct himself. "Goomy has a stinger?"

"Two, actually," Zinnia glumly replies, returning Goomy to his ball as the little dragon faints. "They're hidden in his antennae. A stab from one is like getting hit by Toxic," she says, looking between Absol and Treecko.

"Why didn't Absol dodge?" Lee wonders aloud

"Who knows. Maybe it's because Goomy didn't intentionally attack?" Zinnia shrugs. "Get ready. Here he comes," she warns.

Lee ignores Speakmen's words about Goomy's withdrawal as Absol rushes Treecko, Night Slash ready. Already, Absol's poisoned movements are positively sluggish since the naked eye can track him.

"Treecko! Run him down until the poison weakens him enough!" The scarred trainer orders as Treecko barely ducks the Night Slash.

"To hell with that!" Andre screams, his face contorted in desperation. "Absol! Full blast! Give him everything you've got!

Absol and Treecko both narrow their eyes. Absol tenses and Treecko is cloaked in the white aura of Quick Attack, then the pokemon rush each other.

Treecko sidesteps a slash that draws a thin red line in his side, then backpedals when Absol flips forward and lashes out with his bladed tail, cleaving through where Treecko's head was a second prior. Then Absol ducks under a kick from Treecko and clamps his razor-sharp teeth into Treecko's ankle, making Treecko wince. Then with a whip of Absol's neck, Treecko is flung away like a toy.

"Absol, Razor Wind!"

Absol draws his broken scythe back and swings his head, throwing screaming wind blades at Treecko

"Treecko, Feint Attack!"

The wood gecko takes a deep breath, then to all the onlookers, vanishes as if he were never there. The Razor Wind attack flies right through where he was without hitting a thing.

Absol pants and scans his eyes around, for one, two, three, four seconds, then rolls out of the way when a thick tail nearly brains him. The instant Treecko is visible, Absol roars and swipes a paw at him, drawing three thick lines across Treecko's torso.

"Don't hold back! Night Slash!"

Treecko leaps away and holds the wounds with gritted teeth. But Absol refuses to give him any rest and charges again, swiping with his paws wreathed in a watered-down Night Slash.

Lee bites his lip as he watches Treecko just barely avoid a grievous, unconsciousness-inducing wound each attack, but he's still nicked and cut a little each time. Each wound weeps just a little bit of red, but enough of them will...

"Wait for an opening, Treecko! He'll tire before you do, so punish every mistake!" Lee calls, desperately hoping he's right.

Absol finally overextends an attack and Treecko quickly slides to his side, tail glowing white as he twirls and goes in for a knockout.

...But the Dark-type just leans out of the way without needing to see the attack, letting Treecko turn a full 180 degrees away from him as the missed Pound bleeds off its momentum.

Absol's scythe glows with a charged Night Slash as the Absol rushes Treecko's turned back with a final burst of flicking speed.

Lee sighs and palms Treecko's ball, but drops it in shock when he sees what happens next.

Treecko twists around the Night Slash with supernatural grace, all without looking. His yellow eyes shine with clarity as he continues his spin and unleashes Pound again.

The Dark-type's eyes widen and he goes to duck, but freezes when a cough with sickly purple froth forces it way from his mouth.

Treecko's tail slams into the side of Absol's head like a club, lifting the Dark-type right off his paws and throwing him harshly to the sand, digging up a trench as he comes to a stop.

For a single heartbeat, everyone is silent. Then Absol twitches and groans, trying to force his way to his paws. After a few seconds of fruitless struggle, Absol finally goes limp, his eyes closing.

Treecko pants from his place just a few yards away from Absol then straightens up with a small smile. A second later, a beautiful white glow overtakes his form.

"No way..." Lee breathes.

Treecko grows inside the shell of white light, gaining over a foot of height as long leaves sprout from his wrists, his head, and his tail. His body loses the young roundedness of youth, replaced with a sleek reptilian form. The glow fades, and Grovyle takes Treecko's place, now with several thin scars on his belly and arms.

Grovyle looks toward Lee with a small smile around the twig in his mouth, and Lee can help but grin like a loon in return.

One. Two. Three.

Speakmen's airhorn blows and the crowd explodes into cheers

"That's one for the record books, everyone! The most thrilling Brawl we've had in years!" Speakmen practically jumps for joy, making the rickety lifeguard tower sway. "I almost can't believe it! It was neck and neck right till the end! Treecko's decisive attack won the day and pushed him to evolve! I bet mister Lee Henson is beside himself with happiness!"

Lee can't help but throw his head back and laugh as Hypno's dome comes down, letting him walk out into the ruined field to Grovyle, his Grovyle.

Grovyle reluctantly lets Lee sweep him up into a hug, crossing his arms and trying his best to look indifferent in the arms of his trainer. After a long second, Lee sets Grovyle down.

"I cannot begin to tell you how proud of you I am," Lee begins to Grovyle, his face starting to hurt from how hard he's smiling. "Not only do you go above and beyond in training, but you also get it done when it counts in battle. I thought for sure we were done for, but you clutched it, bud! You did it!"

Grovyle looks away but retains his smile. Lee is sure that if his reptile anatomy allowed it, Grovyle would have a dusting of embarrassed pink on his cheeks.

"Wow... that was insane."

Lee and Grovyle turn to see Zinnia walking up to them, looking dazed as she glances between them. She snorts, then the snort grows into a goofy full-belly laugh that restores her usual grin to her face. "I gotta say, I made a good choice following you."

The Zoologist rolls his eyes then looks behind Grovyle to see how Andre took his loss.

The boy sits on his knees in the sand, staring down at Absol's pokeball in his hand with shock. The lack of scowl, or sneer, or any other foul expression makes his face seem shockingly young. The maroon-haired teen's head bows and his free hand clenches around nothing. His shoulders begin to shake, from anger or what, Lee isn't sure.

Behind him, the other boy from earlier, his partner Benjamin, steps out of the crowd to place a gentle hand on Andre's shoulder. Benjamin's own face is set into a melancholic frown.

Andre suddenly rises and throws Benjamin's hand off of him before turning and quickly walking away.

In the sand where Andre was kneeling, there are several wet spots.

Lee just sighs and shakes his head.

"Hey! Dynamic Duo!"

Lee and Zinnia both turn, finding a grinning Brawly behind them. "We gotta crown ya! C'mon!" He says, turning and walking back to the lifeguard tower as Lee and Zinnia follow. He beckons them to come up the tower with him, stopping only long enough for Lee and Zinnia to hand off their pokeballs to the Chansey running the medical tent. When at the top, he grabs his microphone again.

"How did you all like that Brawl, everyone?" He speaks as if he didn't already know that answer.

The uproar of everyone below can probably be heard on the other side of the island. Somehow, there are even more signs in the crowd depicting Zinnia, Lee, and their pokemon.

'Fast artists, I guess?'

"I thought so. They'll be talking about this one for years." Brawly smiles. "It's my pleasure to crown Zinnia Draconid and Lee Henson our Dynamic Duo and champs of this year's Brawl on the Beach!"

Lee and Zinnia step forward, Zinnia with infinitely more pep than Lee as the tower lets him see just how many people were watching him. With a gulp, he waves to everyone and tries to look small as Zinnia openly relishes in the attention with a gleaming smile.

"Feel free to rest up here for a bit before going down to your adoring fans," Brawly chuckles as Lee steps back and takes a seat in one of the chairs in the back corner of the tower.

"Will do, thanks," Lee agrees easily. Then a thought strikes him. "Hey, Brawly?"

The Gym Leader perks an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"How do you know that kid, Andre? He was giving you some ugly looks."

When Brawly's face darkens, Lee quickly amends his question. "No need to answer if it's personal, but he was a hell of a trainer and it's got me curious is all."

Brawly is silent for a moment, seemingly chewing on his words. "He... is a friend of the family, and we haven't seen eye-to-eye recently, is all," The taller man says. "He's stubborn in a..." Brawly stops short. "...In an interesting way."

Lee nods, not pressing further. "Gotcha."

The Gym Leader smiles again. "Oh, before I forget, you might want to hit up a drugstore with your prize money."

"Eh?"

"Take a look at yourself," Brawly points at Lee with a snicker. "You're as red as a Corphish. Get the Rawst infused stuff, and you'll be right as rain in a day or two."

Lee looks down at this chest and arms, which are totally red from several hours in the sun. "Well shit."

-------------------------------------
"What? It couldn't have been that rad!"

In the blessedly cool motel room he and Brendan share, Lee smirks at the young boy and tosses another toothpick into the air.

A glowing blade of green slices it cleanly in two.

"Explain this guy, then," He says, pointing to Grovyle, who stands with his Leaf Blade powered up and eyes closed. Lee throws another toothpick from the box he bought at the drugstore at Grovyle, and without opening his eyes, the gecko slices it in two with a flash of green

At the foot of the bed, Vulpix dozes quietly, her back and side wrapped tightly with bandages and a nurse's order to take it easy for several days. The feeling of her being actually asleep rather than unconscious is night and day, a soothing balm to his excitement-frayed nerves. Lee is silently glad her beautiful pelt won't scar up from the cuts.

Corvisquire, meanwhile, remains perched on the back of one of the chintzy motel chairs and broods as he stares outside at the darkened beach. All of Lee's attempts to pull him from his funk have failed so far.

Brendan groans and falls back into his bed, drawing his phone from his pocket as he does so. "Has anyone put it on the Battle Network yet?"

"You can try," Lee shrugs, then winces when the action pulls at his sunburns. "There were a ton of people recording, so it's all going to be crumby phone vids. How did your search for an Aron go?"

"I don't wanna talk about it..." Brendan grumbles. "Geodude and Zubats for days, but not one Aron. I'm going back tomorrow."

"That's the spirit," Lee agrees, but something strikes him as a little odd. 'Not a single Aron? Weird. Oh well, that's tomorrow Lee's problem.'

 

A blade of brilliant green flashes through the air with a quiet hum, slicing half an inch into a large, craggily boulder before stopping. The blade's luster fades, revealing it to be a long leaf attached to the wrist of a scaled paw.

Grovyle frowns and pulls his leaf free, eyeballing the boulder littered with slashes before him with distaste. The rare dead tree around the path to the Granite Cave proved too soft, letting his attack pass through them without much in the way of resistance. A large man-sized rock a bit off the path, however, provided an ample target to sharpen his blade against. Grovyle raises his leafy arm again and charges Leaf Blade, making the leaves glow a bright emerald and stiffen into razors. This time, he growls and does a full, lightning fast spin for even more momentum.

...Only to underbalance and stumble partway, killing his speed as he corrects his course, lest he fall.

Schink!

Leaf Blade stops only a fraction of an inch into the face of the rock.

With a disappointed grunt, Grovyle pulls his leaf from the stone and takes a step back.

A ways behind him, Lee sits with his back against a tree, watching his pokemon diligently train as they wait for Brendan and Zinnia to catch up.

"Don't beat yourself up, pal," Lee smiles encouragingly, looking up away from the Pokedex in his lap. "You've only had both that body and that attack for a day and some change. Try to limit how far you extend your arms and torso without moving a leg back as a counterweight. You'll get the hang of it. You always do."

Grovyle glances back at Lee, and after a second, offers a nod. He raises a humming Leaf Blade and focuses on the rock once more, letting Lee return to notes.

Lee raises his pokedex to his mouth and clicks on the 'record' button. "Log twelve, day fifty-two. Treecko evolved after his nail-biting victory at the tournament yesterday, which won us the whole thing. He proved his sheer talent by taking his dodging skills, refined from several weeks of dodging Swift, and refining them into Detect through observation of Absol, the ace of the other finalist. I even scanned him with my pokedex to confirm that he does indeed know Detect. With the new move, he dodged what would have been a game-ending blow to knock Absol out. Does that count as a win worthy of a grant increase for the lab?"

Lee stops for a second and thinks. "You did say any prestige I bring to the lab means more money from the League, right? Anyway, Grovyle is definitely pleased with his evolution, but it has brought its own set of problems. The sudden increase in mass his body has undergone combined with the reduction in mass from his tail has left him unbalanced. I was hoping instinct would correct this, but apparently not. It's not a huge issue, as Grovyle is nothing short of a kinesthetic genius and is already back to fighting condition. I suspect in the next week or two he'll be back to his previous level of acrobatics and then some."

The man pauses his recording to watch Grovyle tense, then drive his Leaf Blade into the rock again, cutting a deep gouge into its face with a resounding ting that echoes across the trees.

"In other news," Lee begins with a smile as he watches his pokemon. "Vulpix used Convergence in battle for the first time yesterday. It took nearly fifteen seconds to charge up between Vulpix's exhaustion and the stress of the battle, but with Zinnia's Shelgon holding that monster of an Absol still, Convergence wore Absol down enough for Grovyle to secure the win. The move's destructive power is incredible, and it doesn't seem to suffer from the same sort of backfire effect that other charged experimental moves of ours have. I'll have to research the cause of its stability more. Maybe more fireballs charging slowly is the cause? When we know more, we can begin on more moves."

"Lastly for this one, I kind of regret not going over history more during my prep time. I've been focused so hard on training my team that I've ignored everything else, and some idle browsing of Pokepedia last night was a kick to the head," Lee shakes his head and smiles sardonically. "I knew about the main regions and some rough history, but I still have to remind myself sometimes that this isn't a kids game, but real life. I had no idea that there were other regions like Fiore, Almia, Oblivia, Ferrum, Ransei, and a few even smaller ones I can't remember. No idea if they were in any pokemon games or not, and if they were, I didn't play them. I guess it makes sense that Professor Oak didn't seem suspicious when he heard I was from some small, isolationist land devoid of pokemon, kind of like an especially barren Orre. Ransei in particular stuck out to me."

Lee hums and silently wonders how to word this statement. "Ransei caught my eye for being the only region currently engaged in warfare. If Pokepedia is correct, they've been in a civil war raging between a fluctuating number of warlords for years, something I was not expecting at all. The mass embargo and travel ban placed on them from every major region doesn't seem to have slowed things, either. I expected the worst as I read on, but something seemed off. The casualties are practically nonexistent for a place embroiled in war... I can't help but morbidly wonder why? Military tech has obviously stagnated compared to what I'm used to, as America had a hulking military industrial complex, but some well-trained pokemon could cause death on a scale only surpassed by doomsday weapons like..."

Lee stops himself short, his mouth suddenly drying up. He sees Grovyle has stopped practicing Leaf Blade to instead watch his trainer with his arms crossed and a scaly eyeridge raised like an eyebrow. The gecko pokemon rolls his twig around in his mouth, waiting.

The zoologist clears his throat and raises his pokedex again. "Like, uh... Well, it doesn't really matter," he continues quietly, but Grovyle's eyebrow ridge raises a little more and gives away that he can still hear Lee. The man takes a breath. "Anyway, I guess there is also the flipside that factors the feelings of the pokemon in as well. I have no doubt a pokemon could slay a man easily, so the question then becomes 'would they want to?' and I'm guessing no in most cases."

"Hey! Did you have to run so far ahead!?"

Lee turns away from his pokedex and looks down the path to the Granite Cave, seeing Brendan, Marshtomp, and Zinnia walking towards him. Brendan smiles and waves before dashing forward, Marshtomp hot on his heels. Zinnia keeps her leisurely pace.

"That's it for now. Lee, out," Lee hits the 'end' button on his pokedex and stands up, dropping the pokedex back in his pocket. Grovyle leaves his rock to stand by Lee's side as Brendan and Marshtomp skid to a stop before them.

"I didn't run ahead, you guys just took forever," Lee sniffs. "It gave Grovyle and I some time to get a bit of early morning training in."

Brendan just sticks his tongue out at the older trainer, earning him a croaking laugh from Marshtomp.

"So, why are we here again?" Zinnia asks as she finally joins the group. She looks between Lee and Brendan with her arms crossed. "Something about Aron?"

"Yup!" Brendan nods. "Marshtomp and I were here all day yesterday looking for an Aron while you guys were battling. They're a little uncommon, but I should have found one after a few hours at least," the boy trainer says, whipping out his pokedex. On the screen is an Aron with a map of Dewford below it, and the Granite Cave has a red outline on it. "Unless Dad's database is out of date, but the Rangers are really good about their migration reports."

"I just pulled a fresh update this morning, so it's not the database," Lee supplies, pulling out his own pokedex. He goes to Aron's entry and sure enough, the Granite Cave is still highlighted. "Something funny is afoot."

"Hmm..." Zinnia taps her foot and looks up at the clear sky in thought. "Overcatching, maybe? Or an invasive pokemon?"

"If all the Aron were caught, it definitely would have generated an alert to some professor somewhere. I don't think it's that," Brendan shakes his head. "Dunno about any invasive pokemon that would want to hang out in a bog standard cave, though. Other than some ruins inside, there is nothing special about Granite Cave." He then turns to Marshtomp. "Any ideas, pal?"

The mudfish pokemon furrows his brows and rubs his chin in a show of thought, then he leans down and presses both of his palms flat on the ground before tapping the dirt of the path with a hindleg several times. For a long second, he waits, then stands and shrugs, his show of siesmolocation apparently returning no interesting results.

Inspired by Brendan, Lee looks over to Grovyle. "Maybe you can sense something amiss, Grovyle?"

Grovyle shifts his ever-present twig to the corner of his mouth and lifts his head. His long tongue darts out several times, collecting smells that his weaker nostrils surely would miss. He mulls to himself for a moment, then shakes his head.

"That's fine. We'll try again when we're in the cave," Lee smiles.

Zinnia's mouth lifts into a lopsided grin. "I hope you boys are okay with protecting little old me in that cave. Shelgon and Goomy still need to rest, and while Swablu is okay to fight, I'd rather her recover fully first."

'Glad to see she can dial-back the battlelust when her pokemon aren't at 100%.' Lee nods approvingly. "Vulpix is much the same. She still needs a few days to heal, but Grovyle and Corvisquire are ready," he says, silently giving the muted psychic tether to his vixen's pokeball a little tug. A tiny niggling bug of anxiousness still crawls around in his stomach from the idea of Vulpix being down, but the composed wood gecko at his side eases Lee's greatest worries.

"Shroomish took a nasty Bite from a lucky Zubat yesterday, so he needs a day or two," Brendan finishes the little roll call with a frown. "Little jerk ate a Take Down from Marshtomp for the trouble."

"So we've got four-ish battle ready pokemon between all of us. I've got absolute confidence in Grovyle-" said pokemon smirks at the praise "-and Corvisquire, and I know Marshtomp is a beast. Swablu and the others should be able to rest easy," Lee says, crossing his arms with a pleased smile. "Shall we?"

The three trainers and two pokemon begin the rest of the trek down the beaten path to the cave.

"Say, Lee?" Zinnia asks a minute into their walk.

"Hmm?" He replies.

"Who were you talking to when we walked up?"

Lee blinks, his hand dipping into his pocket to fiddle with the pokedex inside. "No one. The Professor wants me to do logs every so often and send them to him so he can pick my brain. The one you caught the tail end of was an update about my team's progress and some stuff I did some light reading on. You two heard of the Ransei region?"

Zinnia shakes her head with a sheepish smile. "Ah, I don't really keep up with news."

"Ransei is a small region that's been at war with itself on and off for almost a hundred years now. It's made of seventeen different kingdoms that refuse to come to an agreement. The various Pokemon Leagues have tried to intervene over the years, but eventually gave up in favor of an embargo and a bunch of sanctions. It hasn't worked since there is no formal blockade and smugglers like to take supplies there and sell them for huge markups." Brendan supplies. He flushes when four pairs of surprised eyes turn to him. "What? I didn't become a trainer at twelve because I wanted to wait, dad held me back two years to tutor me. Geography and politics were included!"

'Huh. So that's why he started late. Birch doesn't get enough credit for how thorough he is.'

"What's so special about this Ransei place that you talked about it in particular?" Zinnia asks as the mouth of the cave comes into view.

"It's the only place that's currently in conflict is all. I know Kanto and Johto clashed briefly like twenty years back, but it was over and done in a few short months with Johto's surrender and minimal casualties. Before that, there is almost nothing bigger than border skirmishes. It's just kinda strange that Ransei has dragged theirs out so long," Lee shrugs. "Anyway..."

The three people and two pokemon stop before the wide entrance to the Granite Cave. It's a massive hole in the side of a large, rocky hill that houses the rest of the cave system, easily large enough to let an Onix slither though. Off to the side, a warning sign bolted to the ground urges trainers entering to be wary and non-trainers to turn around. The sunlight barely penetrates the murky darkness within, and after several yards, everything beyond is pitch black.

Brendan is quick to unshoulder his backpack and zip it open. He dips a hand inside, and a second later withdraws an electric lantern. He flips a switch, and the lantern comes to life with an artificial blue glow.

"Alright! I'm not leaving without an Aron this time!" Brendan grins and steps into the cave. "C'mon!"

Marshtomp croaks and happily follows.

Lee slows for a second and turns to Grovyle. "Stay close to myself and Zinnia, alrighty?" He asks. "I'm sure we're going to piss off more than one pokemon by disturbing them, and you'll make them think twice about taking a swipe at the fragile humans, yeah?"

Grovyle crosses his arms and nods, falling into step right behind Lee and just in front of an amused Zinnia. "My knight in green armor," she snickers.

Brendan leads the train into the Granite Cave, his lantern providing just barely enough light to see ahead.

Lee lets his eyes roam, taking in the sights of the cave.

Just as named, the walls of the cave are all rough granite of different colors, mostly black, white, and gray. Stalactites of ringed granite, like a raccoon's tail, droop from the ceiling, each one glistening with moisture and many holding sleeping Zubats and a single large Golbat. The ground below their feet is worn smooth, probably from the countless visitors and pokemon treading upon it, and an experimental scuff of Lee's boot reveals that it's slick as well. The sounds of dripping water and wind echo all over, making pinpointing the location of individual sounds a chore. The further into the cave they walk, the cooler it becomes.

Zinnia shivers and pulls her cloak a little tighter around herself when a brisk breeze blows past. "Jeeze, I should have brought something a little heavier..."

SIlently, Lee agrees. His jacket, built to breathe and protect from the sun, offers little in the way of warmth. 'I wish Vulpix was well enough to travel outside her ball. She'd keep me warm...'

Brendan just rolls the normally rolled-up sleeves of his shirt down. "Yeah, but it beats the heat I say."

Neither Grovyle or Marshtomp seem bothered by the cold, or atleast Marshtomp isn't. Grovyle's neutral expression slowly falls into a frown as he subtly rubs his forearms. No doubt he'll need to bask in the sun for a while after this adventure, Lee thinks.

The path in the cave trails apart into several smaller, less worn ones with jagged stalagmites jutting from the floor. A pair of Geodude watch the group warilly from behind several of the stalagmites as they pass down the largest and most worn path, one big enough for a large pokemon to squeeze by without breaking any of the granite formations.

Twice, a pokemon irritated by the light and noise approach them from the gloom, one a Sandshrew and the other a Geodude, but both retreat when Grovyle growls and raises a Leaf Blade that hums with barely hidden malice.

"Where exactly are the Aron supposed to be, Brendan?" Lee asks after nearly half an hour following the boy. He looks around to hopefully see a sign of them, like any shed iron armor, but finds nothing.

A drop of water falls from the ceiling onto Brendan's face, making him grunt as he wipes at the spot. "They should be in the deeper parts of the cave, but I went all the way down until the tunnels abruptly ended. No stalagmites with fresh rubbings on them, no bites out of a few iron desposts I found, and no dropped armor. It's like they vanished!"

Lee frowns and looks over to Grovyle. "Can you scent the air again? See if maybe you can find anything else? The smell of unrusted iron is what we're looking for."

Once again, Grovyle tips his head back and flicks his tongue a handful of times. He smacks his lips and furrows his brows, then once more flicks his tongue. The gecko hums to himself and points to the path they're still on.

"Perfect," the man smiles. "You heard him. Lets keep going."

"This is the way I went before, though," Brendan says, crossing his arms as he does so and making the lantern light dance across the walls. "All I found was a wall where the path stopped abruptly."

"Did you bother to look at a map, maybe?" Zinnia snarks with a shiver, looking more and more miserable as time passes.

Brendan scowls. "Yes, and every map said follow this path."

"C'mon, don't fight," Lee sighs. "Lets just go and see this wall. Maybe the map isn't accurate."

The team of five continue walking.

-----------------------------------
"And right here is where it dead-ends!"

Brendan points to a misshapen wall covered in dirt. Just as he said earlier, the tunnel narrows before coming to a sudden stop.

Zinnia steps forward and wipes some of the dirt away from the wall, scrutinizing the lumpy gray stone beneath it. "I don't think this is granite, shrimpy. It almost looks like this wall was put here on purpose."

"That's what I thought, too," Brendan ignores his nickname in favor of glaring at the wall. "But it's not uniform at all like a person made it, and who would go to all the trouble of hauling all this down here anyway?"

Lee leans back on his heels and crosses his arms, scrutinizing the puzzling barrier before them.

It's too rough to have been made on purpose by humans, yet the color of the stone doesn't match the granite of the tunnel around them. A slight breeze blows around him and makes him cross his arms a little tighter for warmth.

'Probably not made by human hands, but maybe a pokemon? Roxanne's Nosepass was able to move obscene amounts of earth with Rock Tomb.'

Marshtomp seems to have an epiphany and blinks with a happy croak. He steps past a bewildered Brendan, the fin on the top of his head quivering. The mud fish inspects several points on the wall, his fin speeding up with each inspection.

"What's he doing?" Zinnia asks, watching the pokemon run his hands over the rough stone.

Brendan suddenly realizes what his pokemon is doing with a grin. "Mudkips can detect changes in water and air flow with their head fin, and Marshtomps are even better at it! If he's picking up on something, then air is escaping through here, meaning..."

Marshtomp draws back, then before anyone can stop him, he gets a running start and launches a Take Down right into the wall.

With a deafening, tunnel-rattling boom, the entire wall blocking the way is knocked down and blown into the next chamber as little more than oversized gravel. Tremors run through the whole tunnel and shake the ground below the group's feet.

Lee yelps and flails, and it's only Zinnia's quick, reflexive grabbing of his arm that keeps him from slipping and falling. Grovyle is even quicker, as he rushes across the slick cave floor and catches Brendan mid-fall before the boy can painfully meet the ground. A flurry of screeching Zubat fly out of the opened path just inches above their heads, no doubt roused by the noise.

After a second, the shaking stops, the dust settles, the Zubat all pass, and the way forward is clear.

...

"Hey, Marshtomp?" Brendan sighs as he pulls himself from Grovyle's hold with a quiet thanks. "Some warning next time? You coulda bought the whole cave down on us..."

The mud fish has the decency to look away shamefully.

Grovyle crosses his arms and glares at Marshtomp. He lets out a rolling hiss and chews on his twig with obvious agitation.

Whatever Grovyle said must be offensive, as Marshtomp's head snaps up to glare right back. He bellows in anger, the sound made all the more intimidating by the echo in the cave.

"Oi!" Lee's voice shuts both pokemon down before any more jabs can be traded. "Both of you cut it out," he orders as both pokemon look up at him. "There will be no infighting down here when you two are our main fighters. Marshtomp made a mistake and knows it, so there is no need to needle him over it, right?" Lee's eyes meet Grovyle's yellow. For several long, unblinking seconds, it looks as if Grovyle won't back down. Then the gecko pokemon finally breaks the staring contest and looks away, muttering something too low to hear.

Too low for anyone other than Marshtomp to hear it at least, as the Water-type looks mollified and replies with a much more calm croak.

"Anything else to add?" Lee asks, turning to Zinnia and Brendan.

"I think you got everything..." Zinnia snorts. She shakes some fallen dust from her hair.

Brendan looks between the opened way and Marshtomp. After a few repeats of this action, he seems to start and turns his eyes to Lee. "Uh, well it worked out this time, but Marshtomp and I will need to talk about busting stuff without warning," he says, trying to steel his expression into one of seriousness as he talks, but it looks somewhat comical on his young face.

Grovyle smirks when Marshtomp visibly cringes at the incoming punishment.

Off to the side, Zinnia smiles behind a hand and tries to play it off as a cough.

"Whatever you say," Lee nods. "Now, your Aron."

They all keep walking, and it's only after spying his own resting face in a passing puddle does Lee realize Brendan was trying to imitate his expression.

'Oh jeez. Don't grow up that fast, kiddo.'

The cleared path leads into an open chamber large enough that the light of Brendan's lantern can't reach all the way to the walls. The air inside is somewhat stale and humid, although the cooled breeze coming from behind them is swiftly changing that. Over the sound of the breeze though, is the sound of rock shuffling over rock.

Grovyle's head snaps to the side and his pupils dilate, staring at something Lee's human eyes can't see in the dark, making his stomach leap into his throat. The Grass pokemon steps forward and takes a stance in front of the humans of the group, with Marshtomp quickly lumbering to his side.

Out of the dark, a large Graveler steps into the light of the lantern.

The pokemon resembles a four-foot tall, knobby boulder on a pair of stubby, rocky legs. From its sides four arms jut out, two on each side that end in two thick fingers and a thumb each.

The pokemon levels them all with a furrow-browed expression and grit teeth. A growl that sounds like rough stones being dragged along each other rattles the bones of the people and pokemon before it.

...Then the Graveler falls forward face-first with a crash that kicks up chips of rock before going still.

"Is... Is it playing dead?" Brendan asks, daring to take a step closer.

Lee wastes no time in putting a hand on Brendan's shoulder, stopping the boy from going any closer to the huge rock pokemon. "Dunno, but let's not get closer. I like my limbs where they are, thanks."

"Uh, boys?" Zinnia slowly raises a finger to point at Graveler. "I think I found out why this guy passed out on us."

Lee and Brendan follow her finger to Graveler's back. Brendan gasps and Lee swears under his breath.

A gigantic bite-mark that looks as if it came from a demented crocodile runs all the way down Graveler's cracked and chipped back. Bits of Graveler's rocky shell are missing, and several white outcroppings stand out in sharp relief to the living boulder's armor.

Lee carefully steps closer to the prone Graveler and gently grabs one of the white protrusions from its back. He freezes when Graveler groans, but when the pokemon does not rise, he slowly pulls the white thing free and steps back to inspect it with Brendan and Zinnia crowding around. Brendan raises the lantern to shed light on the object the older trainer pulled from Graveler.

In Lee's gloved hand is a tooth as long as one of his fingers.

'Oh hell no.'

"A Mawile tooth?"

Lee looks to Zinnia, not stopping her when she picks the tooth up to inspect it. "You know what this is?"

Zinnia nods as she turns the tooth over in her fingers. "Yeah, Mawiles are Fairy-types, the bane of dragons, and a Draconid always knows her enemies well," she says with a smug grin.

"I thought they were Steel-types?" Brendan asks.

"Dual typing. Mawile was thought to be just Steel until a few years ago. No one was sure why Mawiles matched up better than they should have against dragons until Fairy-type was discovered." the dragon tamer corrects. "Anyway, this tooth isn't yellowed at all, and normally it's old teeth that go first, meaning the Mawile who did this is either young or stressed."

"Maybe both," Lee frowns, looking at the other teeth in Graveler's back. "How long was that wall up for? There are a lot of fucky things going on here and I don't like it. C'mon."

Lee, Zinnia, Brendan, Grovyle, and Marshtomp step around the wounded Graveler after Lee gives the rock pokemon a once-over to insure it incurred no fatal damage and resume forward at a slow pace. The two pokemon of the team carefully scan around so as to not be taken off guard again.

"It's too quiet," Zinnia murmurs after a few minutes of slow walking. She wraps her cloak around her a little tighter with a shiver when a breeze, the only noise in the cavern other than their footsteps, blows past. "There is no pokemon other than that hunk of rock behind us."

"And that Mawile, wherever it is," Lee amends, looking around at the darkened cavern. He reaches into his pocket and takes out his cellphone. He opens the menu on the device and turns on its flashlight, making the camera flash LED on the back light up.

The cellphone flashlight reaches much further than Brendan's lantern, faintly illuminating the walls and rock formations they've dodged around for the past several dozen yards. Everywhere the flashlight is pointed to, though, there is no sign of life, making the hairs on Lee's neck stand up. As he moves the light again, something glinting on the ground catches Grovyle's attention.

The lizard pokemon steps away from the group just long enough to grab the object from the floor and return, looking at it closely before offering it to his trainer.

"Thanks, Grovyle," Lee's smile fades as looks down at the bit of metal Grovyle presented to him.

It's little more than partially rusted scrap of iron the size of his palm. It's bent and warped slightly with what looks like a stab through it, splitting the metal on one side.

"Is that Aron armor?" Brendan asks, looking at the scrap in Lee's hand with open curiosity.

"I think so," the older trainer replies as he turns it over to look at the hole in it. It's sized like... "Wait, Zinnia? Do you still have that tooth?"

Zinnia blinks and digs a hand into the Silph pouch at the small of her back. "Yeah, right here," she presents the tooth to Lee, who puts his phone away to take it. It doesn't take long for Zinnia to catch on. "Do you think..?"

Lee slips the tooth into the hole in the iron scrap. The tooth falls to about half the length in, fitting perfectly into the scrap.

"And the mystery deepens," Lee mutters. "The Aron couldn't have been overhunted by a group of Mawile, cound they?"

"A single Mawile," Zinnia jumps in, looking at the evidence in Lee's hand with a careful, ruby eye. "They're solitary pokemon, and I don't think one could decimate an entire population."

"We should keep looking, then." Brendan says, his eyes roaming the dark cavern. "Cus something is not adding up here."

Zinnia slips the iron scrap and the tooth offered to her back in her pouch and Lee takes his phone back out, turning the flashlight back on. "Grovyle? Can you pick up any new scents? Maybe a stronger concentration of iron?" Lee asks

"Oh! And Marshtomp! Do you feel anything big moving through the floor?" Brendan hastily adds an order of his own.

Grovyle once again leans his head back and samples the air as Marshtomp drops to all-fours and stomps on the ground several times. Both pokemon look to the left a moment later. Marshtomp and Brendan are quick to take point as Lee, Grovyle, and Zinnia trail behind.

It only takes a minute and a few stumbles to find what the pair of pokemon were alerted to.

Along the far wall, there is an iron ore deposit that paints the wall a rusty scarlet color, and in the side of the deposit is a small burrow hole, one just barely large enough to let a pokemon under a foot tall walk through or let a slightly larger one crawl through. There are several other holes along the wall that the lantern light reaches, but the granite around the mouth of the one they find is worn smooth right where a pokemon might tread, more so than the others. Off to the side, there is one hole that is worryingly large, large enough for a Lairon.

Lee hazards a look at the large hole, shining his flashlight in. When no luminescent eyes suddenly open to stare back, he peers in closer with Grovyle bringing up his rear.

The walls of the burrow are coated in patches of natural rust, and in the back is a chamber spacious enough for several Lairon with room to spare. The granite and iron ore of the floor in the rear chamber is pulverized into a fine sand, probably for comfort. Lee reaches a hand in and feels around, noting that the burrow is cold.

He crawls back out and turns to Brendan and Zinnia. "It's cold. Whatever was in here, it hasn't been here in quite some time."

"Huh, why vacate a perfectly good nest like this?" Brendan wonders aloud. His eyes fall to the worn burrow entrance. "Maybe..."

The boy holds his lantern to the hole, and deep inside of it, a blazing red eye snaps open.

"Uh oh..."

A thunderous growl ripples through the cavern and glittering teeth become visible in the lantern light within the burrow.

Marshtomp wraps an arm around Brendan's waist and leaps backward, pulling the young trainer away just as a massive pair of jaws bristling with teeth dart out of the hole and snap shut with a sound like a bear-trap deploying. The sound rings over and over in the cavern.

Lee gulps and takes a step back as Grovyle takes a stance with a glowing Leaf Blade ready.

Slowly, a Mawile crawls from the burrow, its gargantuan, salivating jaws held ready as its red eyes regard the humans and pokemon before it carefully. Video games and anime do no justice to Mawile's main weapon, as the croc-like mouth is practically bursting with dagger-like teeth rather than a dinky handful with long open gums. There isn't even enough room for all the teeth, as some of them are crooked or overtaking other teeth. The mouth gnashes, producing a sound like grinding steel and throwing spittle around. The small, humanoid pokemon carefully keeps its back turned to keep its second, much larger mouth aimed at them.

"So you're the one who drove out all the Aron?" Brendan asks with a huff as Marshtomp lets him go and takes his place in front of his young trainer.

The Mawile simply snarls. the action dislodges a tooth that clatters to the floor.

"Well, I'm not leaving this cave empty-handed again!" Brendan scowls. "Marshtomp, get ready!"

"Brendan, are you sure about this?" Lee asks, looking between the Mawile and the now grinning Marshtomp. "Remember what I said about team comps and the pokemon who fill the role, both in terms of their personalities and abilities."

"Oh, I remember," Brendan's grin matches the one on Marshtomp's face. He cranks the lantern brightness to max and sets it on the floor, illuminating a field just big enough to fight in "A Mawile works even better than an Aron. Get ready, Mawile!"

The deceiver pokemon across from them lets loose a shrill roar.

Lee and Zinnia share a look and back up several steps, Grovyle following without turning his back on the wild Mawile.

'I hope you know what you're doing, Brendan.'

"Marshtomp! Water Gun!" Brendan opens.

The mudfish pokemon takes a deep breath, then fires a battering ram of churning water from his throat.

Mawile's eyes widen, and it uses its jaws to grip a nearby rock and pull itself out of danger in just the nick of time. The Water Gun narrowly misses, carving into the ground and deflecting into one of the burrows.

"Again!" Brendan orders. "Don't let Mawile rest!"

Mawile's eyes narrow as Marshtomp's chest swells again. It snaps its jaws shut, then a pink glow shines through its teeth. The lips of the mouth bulge as if trying to keep something inside. When Marshtomp's mouth opens, Mawile responds in kind, opening its mouth with a roar and firing a wispy beam of translucent pink.

Water Gun meets the pink air bullet halfway, throwing water everywhere.

Marshtomp just lets out a gurgling laugh and ups the power of his Water Gun midstream, turning the firehose torrent into an almost solid pillar of liquid.

Mawile's unnamed attack shatters like glass and Water Gun barrels forward like a runaway truck. The dual-type pokemon can only bring its shut jaws to bear as a shield.

With an earth-rattling boom the Water Gun hits Mawile dead-on, throwing water everywhere and launching a wincing Mawile up into the air. It strikes the wall roughly from how hard it was thrown, but lands on its feet with a snarl and only scuffs to show so far.

"Is that all you've got?!" Brendan taunts. Marshtomp bellows in agreement.

Both of Mawile's mouths grit their teeth, making the same screeching steel sound as before. Then with a growl, Mawile rushes Marshtomp with surprising speed.

"Get ready, Marshtomp!"

Marshtomp's grin only gets wider when Mawile whirls around at the last second and throws open it's slathering jaws, which close around Marshtomp from either side like a spring-loaded trap.

Marshtomp's leathery hands shoot out, each one grabbing a single jaw each and stopping Mawile's Bite dead. The teeth dig into Marshtomp's skin, drawing droplets of blood. Mawile strains its jaw muscles, making Marshtomp's arms shake, but the jaws close no further.

"Marshtomp, let's show Lee, Zinnia, and Grovyle your new move!" Brendan laughs. "Use Seismic Toss!"

Mawile's struggles increase with a desperate growl.

"Damn, really?" Lee blinks. "Marshtomp must have had a Fighting-type as a parent. Little bastard is way too strong sometimes."

Grovyle just scoffs.

Back in the battle, Marshtomp bellows and lifts the flailing Mawile over his head by its jaws, then with a savage whirl of his arms, throws the pokemon at the ground head first like a sledgehammer.

An explosion of rock and dust is kicked up when Mawile strikes the ground like an abused toy, forcing the onlookers to cover their eyes. After several seconds, the dust clears, showing Mawile buried in the cracked granite floor head-first all the way to its shoulders. Its mouth of dagger-teeth lays limp, its tongue lolling out.

"Ha! Easy!" Brendan smiles and draws a pokeball. "Here we go!"

The empty ball flies from his hands and strikes Mawile, popping open and sucking the pokemon inside as a cloud of energy. It snaps shut and falls to the ground, wiggling to and fro, to and fro. Then...

Pop!

The ball snaps back open, it's hinge breaking as it does so, and deposits the limp Mawile back on the ground where it remains unconscious and bleeding from a gash in it's skull

Brendan's smile falls and Marshtomp looks bewildered. "What happened?"

'It's not owned, or the pokeball would not have worked at all. Did Brendan just have a dud?' Lee wonders.

Marshtomp frowns and steps a little closer.

Inside Lee's head, he flashes back to Vulpix approaching a 'downed' Bagon. 'Hold up, I've seen this before...!'

"Brendan, it's playing dead!" Zinnia warns a second before Lee can.

Mawile's eyes snap open and its jaws lash out like a snake, biting Marshtomp right around his middle, and drawing a yelp of pain from him. Then with great effort, Mawile raises its captive in its jaws and drives Marshtomp headfirst into the ground much like a bastardized Seismic Toss.

There is no great crash or explosion as Mawile lacks Marshtomp's might, but Marshtomp still hits the floor with his skull, making a cringe-inducing thwack. Mawile grunts and tries to lift its foe again, but a retaliatory Water Gun from Marshtomp loosens the jaws around him and throws Mawile away, letting Marshtomp roughly land on the ground.

Both Lee and Zinnia wince when Marshtomp rises.

Marshtomp's body is a mess of stabs and cuts from the teeth that all slowly ooze red. On the top of his head, his fin is bent and his blue head is dyed purple from a migraine-inducing bruise that slowly swells into an ugly goose-egg. Marshtomp rears back and lets out an absolutely livid bellow, his loudest to date.

"You like to play dirty, huh?" Brendan's face darkens to match his pokemon's fury. "Two can play at that game. I didn't want to bust out the Ground moves to keep it all sportsman-like, but okay. Marshtomp! Mud Bomb!"

Marshtomp lets out a gurgling laugh as his throat bulges, then he opens his mouth and fires a speeding cannonball of earth at Mawile.

Mawile tries to dodge by biting a nearby rock formation and pulling itself away, but is just barely too slow. The super-effective Mud Bomb strikes home and explodes into a plume of damp mud, throwing Mawile end over end until it hits the ground face-first. The fairy tries to rise again, but falters and finally goes limp.

"This time for sure!" Brendan calls, whipping another pokeball at Mawile.

Like the last one, the ball bounces off of the downed pokemon and snaps open, sucking Mawile inside before clattering to the ground. It wiggles back and forth several times, then...

Beep!

The middle button flashes and the ball goes still.

Brendan grins and walks over to the ball. He picks it up and shrinks it down, putting it on his belt by Shroomish's pokeball. "Too easy!" He says, pulling out his pokedex and navigating to his 'owned pokemon' screen if the sounds of his button presses are anything to go by.

Marshtomp grins and takes unsteady steps to his trainer, stopping and faltering over a divot in the ground.

"Oh man, you haven't been this busted up since our last gym battle, buddy," Brendan remarks, putting his pokedex away and unshouldering his bag. He produces an Oran that Marshtomp greedily gobbles down and a Potion that is liberally sprayed over Marshtomp's worst injuries.

"Good battle, Brendan," Lee smiles and walks closer, Grovyle silently shadowing him. "Mawile must be tough, to stand up to Marshtomp so well."

Brendan blushes under the praise as he treats the last of his pokemon's wounds. "Heh. Yeah. She'll do fine once the whole 'playing dead' thing is worked out." He puts his half-empty Potion away and stands again. "You alright to walk, pal?" He asks Marshtomp.

The mudfish rolls his eyes with a playful croak, striking a strongman flexing pose.

"Okay, if our little adventure here is done, can we go back up, please?" Zinnia whines. "It's cold as hell down here!"

"Isn't hell usually hot?" Brendan smirks. The smirk is promptly wiped off when Zinnia's hand darts out and pinches his cheek. "Owowow! Take a joke, woman!" He grumbles and rubs his cheek when he's released. "This is all I wanted to do down here, unless you have something to do, Lee?"

"At the moment, no," Lee shakes his head. "I do kind of want to see the ruins, but I might come back down with just my team and I to make it quick. Let's get going."

-----------------------------------------------------
"This again?!"

Brendan groans and brings his lantern closer to ensure his eyes aren't playing tricks on him, but the lumpy wall remains.

Someone walled up the doorway leading back to the main Granite Cave tunnels again.

With all of them inside.

"Fun..." Zinnia says in a sarcastic drawl. "So there is someone down here doing it and keeping an eye on the door, too. Oh well!" She looks at Brendan. "Mind having your masochist bust down the door?"

Brendan bites his lip and looks at Lee, silently asking permission.

"Not much else we can do..." Lee reluctantly approves. "Go for it."

"You heard 'em, Marshtomp," Brendan tells his pokemon. "Take Down on the wall."

Marshtomp grunts and runs right at the wall with a white aura around his body, crashing through it and throwing stone everywhere on the other side.

Several of the stones ping off of metallic legs.

Lee peers through the opened path and instantly wishes he didn't approve of the dumb idea to break the wall down.

Standing in the middle of the tunnel flanked by several snarling Lairon, is a full-grown Aggron.

The pokemon is huge, easily standing seven feet tall and so wide it almost takes up the entire tunnel. The grey, metallic armor covering its body is pockmarked with rends and scuffs, and its steel claws reflect the light of Brendan's lantern like razors. Each breath from its nose produces rolling plumes of steam in the cold air and an idle whip of its tail makes the earth shudder under their feet. Its blue eyes regard them coldly.

'Oh fuck. Is this guy the one who was sealing the door?'

It was then that Lee noticed the lack of Aron with Aggron and the several Lairon.

'So either they were left behind for safety, or Mawile really did...'

"U-Uh, Lee?" Brendan gulps. "Do you, you know, wanna do the thing you do? The 'not die from an angry pokemon' thing you did with Manectric?"

Lee takes a moment to find his voice. "Heads down, do not make eye contact. Make no noise. All of you."

Without waiting for a reply, Lee slowly steps forward to the front of his group and stops several arm-lengths away from the procession of Steel-types. "Hello, we apologize for intruding on your territory. It was not proper of us. Are you the one who was sealing the way?" The entire time, Lee keeps his unblinking eyes focused just to the side of Aggron's head, not daring to meet the icy blue gaze head-on, and never lets his teeth flash past his lips.

Aggron's low growl is punctuated by a burst of steam from his nostrils.

"I see..." Lee licks his lips to try and wet his dry mouth. "It was to keep someone in, or to keep someone vulnerable out, yes?"

Aggron's growl is the same as last time.

The scarred man resists the urge to blink. "You may be pleased to know that the interloper is gone, driven away by us. Your efforts wore her down. Your nests, your rightful property, are yours again," he says, omitting that Mawile now belongs to Brendan.

The metal behemoth is quiet for a moment, then slowly, he lumbers closer.

Grovyle is in front of Lee in a flash, his Leaf Blade humming and raised to strike. He stares fearlessly at Aggron, and Lee can practically feel his soul exit his body.

Aggron pauses to look at Grovyle, then makes a rolling, reverberating growl in his chest that makes steam shoot between the gaps in his metal mouth. It takes Lee a moment to realize that Aggron is laughing. He steps around the frozen Lee and Grovyle, carelessly breaking stalactites and stalagmites as thick around as small children as he makes a path of his own. He steps past Brendan, Zinnia, and Marshtomp, who move out of his way.

At the entrance of the cavern, Aggron raises his nose and takes several deep sniffs. He makes a deeper growl in his chest and turns an eye to the honor guard of Lairon.

One turns and runs down the tunnel while the rest shuffle past the group and follow Aggron, who lumbers away into the dark.

For several minutes they stay there until the sounds of Aggron's footsteps are gone. "Okay," breathes Lee. "Time to go before they realize their nests are full of water."

-------------------------------------------------------
"Finally!" Brendan stretches his arms in the sunlight. "Time for a break!"

He and Marshtomp collapse in a heap, and Grovyle sits in the sun a short distance away, taking a deep breath and settling into a meditative stance.

Outside the cave, the sun has since fallen past the halfway point, and a look at his phone confirms to Lee that it's two in the afternoon.

He's also missed two calls from Birch in the cell deadzone that is the Granite Cave.

"Great," Lee mutters, opening his phone app.

"Hold on!"

Lee looks up from his phone to Zinnia, who stands before him with her hands on her hips with a frown. "What was that you did with that Aggron?"

"What was what?" Lee asks with his own frown. "I backed down, remained non-aggressive, and vacated his territory ASAP. It's the an- pokemon equivalent of kissing ass."

If Zinnia notices his near-slip, she doesn't show it. "That's not all you did. A pissed off pokemon isn't going to care for platitudes and will make an example out of you. I saw it. That Aggron was well and truly mad. What else did you do?"

"I explained it already," Lee shakes his head. "Why are you so insistent on this?"

Zinnia's mouth opens to answer, but she stops halfway. Then quietly, she says; "Aster could do that too."

"She could do what, too?" Lee asks, slowly becoming frustrated. "I still don't know what 'that' is."

"Talk to pokemon as easily as you."

That makes Lee stop. "I don't follow."

Zinnia sighs. "Aster. She had this way with pokemon, the same way you do. She just understood them and they understood her. She talked a raging Salamence, my Shelgon's sire in fact, down out of a rage that threatened to burn down our village. No one talks down a Salamence, Lee. She did something different from everyone else, and no one could do it like her, not until I met you. You and Aster are alike."

Lee blinks from the sudden info drop. "Well, uh..."

"Who is Aster?"

Both Lee and Zinnia turn, finding Brendan standing by them with big, curious eyes.

"She was the strongest trainer in my tribe and a dear friend of mine before she passed away." Zinnia closes her eyes and schools her face into a mask of neutrality. "She left the duty of Lorekeeper to me, the duty of being the strongest Draconid so that the Draconids could live through the strongest, most likely to survive member if calamity strikes."

'I didn't expect her to share that with Brendan.'

Brendan winces. "Oh, uh, sorry if I brought up any unpleasant memories."

The tanned woman smiles, but her ruby eyes are still dull. "Ha, don't worry about it. I've mourned and moved on. She would hate it if I was mopey over her anyway." She then looks at Lee. "Well if you're clueless about everything, I guess I need to keep following you till I figure it out. Go on, I won't keep you from calling your boss any longer."

"Gee, thanks," Lee rolls his eyes with a small smile and dials Birch, watching as Zinnia goes and sprawls out in the sunlight with a sound of delight.

The phone rings once, twice, then: "Professor Birch speaking."

"Hey professor, it's Lee. Sorry for not answering, I was down in the Granite Cave with no signal." Lee explains.

"Lee! Just the guy I wanted to talk to!" Birch sounds happy. "So, I got done reviewing your latest logs and I want to start off with how pleased I am with your progress. You're making ripples that will one day become huge waves, and your win at Dewford's little local tourney was excellent! Convergence is the talk of a lot of academic circles and forums alike. Take a look at the BattleNet forums sometime, it might be good for a laugh or some inspiration. In particular, Convergence and your Ember stunt with Murkrow shut up a few skeptics of your findings."

"Thanks professor," Lee grins.

"Anyway, I wanted to go over a few things and run a potential study by you and see how you feel about taking it on."

"I'm all ears, lay it on me," The displaced trainer says, slowly pacing under the shade of a tree by the Granite Cave path.

There is the sound of papers being shuffled over the phone. "So your list of wanted pokemon. Can you explain the reasoning behind them?"

"Sure," Lee aggressed, mentally recounting his list as he stares at a Taillow preening itself in a tree. "Vaporeon, I want to research its shapeshifting abilities and I need a Water-type for my team, and Eevee is to get the aforementioned Vaporeon. I wanted a Snorlax, but their upkeep is just too much at this point in my career."

"Wise choice. Trainers have bankrupted themselves feeding their Snorlax before."

"Yep," Lee lets out a short laugh. "Flygon, I want a dragon, but am not super confident in taking on a full dragon dragon yet. Audino and Chansey to help keep everyone in one piece. Seviper and Zangoose are whim picks. Persian and Luxray..." Lee pauses. "They're familiar, and I feel like I could raise one well."

"Ah, like your... what were they called? Lions?"

"Yes," Lee answers shortly. He pushes away the stinging melancholy and clears his throat. "Kangaskhan, I want for research into pokemon breeding and young rearing, but that can wait much like Snorlax. Meinshao..." Lee rubs the back of his head, feeling silly. "I want a Fighting-type, but a mammal that isn't humanoid. Call it a dumb hang-up..."

"No no, I understand," Birch reassures. "Funny circumstances and all."

"Funny circumstances and all," Lee agrees with a sardonic smile. "Latias and Latios are me shooting for the stars. I don't ever expect to find one, but it would be nice."

"I heard that there are regular sightings of Latias and Latios in the island city of Alto Mare off of Johto. If you're serious, that might be a good place to investigate."

'Alto Mare is real? I thought the pokemon movies weren't canon at all...' Lee feels his mouth drop open. "Uh, sure. I'll look into it. Where was I?"

"Braxien and Lucario."

"Right, Braxien was a joke. I can't double-dip when I've already got a fiery fox," Lee laughs to himself. "And Lucario was my first pick over Mienshao, but considering Lucarios are all natural empaths..."

"One under your care would be stressed out all the time," Birch finishes knowingly. "Well, sorry to hear that. Meinshao is still a good pick. Oh! And what is this last one that's scratched out?"

"Last one?"

"Yes. The only letters I can make out are W and O at the end."

Lee is silent for a second to berate his past self for not tearing that out of his notebook. Shit. What is a good answer that Vulpix could come up with? "Uh, I misspelled Glameow and then decided I didn't want one."

"Huh, okay. Thank you, that sheds some light on all this. If your list ever changes, shoot me an updated one, please."

Lee breathes a silent sigh of relief.

"Anyway, onto the study I was talking about. Lee, you should know that the level of telepathy between you and Vulpix is unprecedented. If you can get some official studies done and figure out how to replicate your feat with other pokemon," Birch's voice hardens into a serious tone. "You could redefine the field of pokemon-human relations."

"What?" Lee asks with a furrowed brow. The Taillow he's watching flies away. "I'm not following you."

"Sharing senses with telepathy is impossible."

The scarred trainer takes a second to digest the fact. "But-"

"You and Vulpix do it all the time, yes. It was impossible until you and Vulpix came along. Think of the brains of humans and pokemon as two different computers, one transistor-based and one vacuum-based. Both can do the same basic tasks and resemble each other to a degree, but getting them to communicate without special hardware, in this case, mouths that can speak, can't be done. Sometimes a telepathic pokemon capable of basic things, like relaying raw emotions or images comes long, they aren't too rare. Then there are the really rare ones, ones able to convert their thoughts into understandable language. The talents of these pokemon are coveted, but Vulpix is on a level that only Legends are thought to be capable of. Lee..."

Lee gulps at how severe Birch's tone becomes. He can hear the capital L in Legend.

"You can tell no one of Vulpix's talent. You haven't, have you?"

"No, not a soul."

"Good. Her pyrokinesis is one thing, but sense sharing? If word got out, rich, powerful people would put their whole life-savings on the table to either buy her or pay a thief to steal her. They might even hurt you to get to her. Her talents are unique. This study of ours will be one to determine how she can do all these things with resources I trust without question... If you're okay with doing it."

With a tired sigh, Lee leans back into the tree he's paced past at least twenty times. "I'll need to talk to her first."

"Perfectly fine. Take all the time you want. If you accept, I'll begin making arrangements. Now, onto lighter topics," Birch loses his severe tone in favor of his usual joval one. "Is there anything you need from me?"

Lee thinks for a second. "Know any breeders who would give a discount to a Lab Trainer? Or any study grants the League might offer? I'm not paying forty grand for one pokemon."

 

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Lee squints at the glare of the morning sun in the glass door of the Dewford Gym as he pushes the doors open, making sure to hold it open long enough that a still groggy Zinnia and almost-bouncing Brendan can follow behind him.

Strangely, the anticipation isn't nearly as bad as his first gym battle. Maybe it hasn't fully sunk in that his second Gym challenge is upon him, or maybe Birch's words from the day prior, about Vulpix's telepathy, is still bugging him too much for anything else to get a foothold.

'Rich, powerful people would put their whole life-savings on the table to either buy her or pay a thief to steal her. They might even hurt you to get to her.'

On his shoulder, Vulpix shoos the anxiety away simply by wrapping a little tighter around his neck. '*e c*n ***** ****t s**h ***n** l****,' she telepaths to him. Though much is lost in translation, her intention to soothe him is obvious.

Lee sighs and focuses on the here-and-now.

The Dewford Gym lobby is deserted, as to be expected since Lee took the 7am slot. The Gym is smaller and less extravagant than the Rustboro Gym, and the old but well cared for lobby reflects it. There are several seats off to the side with a few potted plants breaking the lines of chairs up. By the front desk, there is a trophy case filled with glittering gold cups and medals. On the other side of the desk, a table with an old coffee machine sits. Behind the front desk is a door labeled "Staff/Challengers only", offsetting the larger double-doors by the trophy-case saying "Arena Seating".

Zinnia breaks off from the group with a grumble, beelining for the coffee machine as Lee and Brendan walk to the front desk.

"Nervous?" Brendan asks Lee. "Brawly took over for his dad just a few years ago, but he's already considered to be really strong."

"Honestly? Not really..." Lee answers back as they wait before the desk. He leans back on the desk, being careful not to knock a large logbook off the side as he turns to face Brendan. "Whatever happens, happens. I've got confidence in my team."

Brendan gives the older trainer a sidelong look. "You sure? What's actually on your mind?"

The expected reply makes Lee falter some. "Er, nothing, really." At Brendan's raised brow, Lee sighs and relents. "Just an assignment your father gave me. The info is sensitive and I'm just trying to figure out how to best go about it."

The half-truth seems to satisfy the boy, who nods with a smile. "I getcha. If dad is okay with other people knowing, let me know and I'd be glad to help."

"You're a good kid, Brendan," Lee smiles, making the boy grin. "Now, where is the receptionist?"

Lee turns and looks at the front desk, not finding a bell or anything to call someone. He glances down to the logbook that his elbow almost knocked off, and finding his curiosity getting the better of him, he opens it.

Inside is a neat day planner filled with names, trainer IDs, and times. After a quick glance, it seems like Brawly takes six or seven challenges a day if he's in. One repeating name jumps out at him.

Andre.

Brendan looks at the book as well. "Andre? Isn't he the dick who you and Zinnia beat?"

"Yeah," Lee confirms, flipping through a few more pages.

It doesn't take long to find a pattern. Andre is the last match every other day going back for weeks. Turning a few pages forward, he finds the young Dark-type specialist has slots saved weeks in advance.

"The hell?" Lee mutters to himself, feeling Vulpix's bewilderment as well as she peers over his shoulder.

"Ahem..."

Lee, Vulpix, and Brendan freeze, looking away from the logbook as one.

Behind the front desk stands an older woman, probably in her fifties. Her light blue hair is tied back in a ponytail and her eyes, framed by slight wrinkles and a set of bifocals, stare at Lee and Brendan disapprovingly. "Perhaps you could not snoop through our schedule? I would be glad to disclose any relevant details if asked."

Brendan laughs nervously and shuts the book on Lee's behalf. "Ah... Sorry about that..."

The woman still clicks her tongue in disappointment. "See that it doesn't happen again. Now, can I help you two?"

"Yes, I'm Lee Henson and this is Brendan Birch," Lee tries to smile past his embarrassment. "We're scheduled to see Brawly for gym matches this morning?"

The woman makes a show of sharply lifting up the schedule book and slowly thumbing to the latest page. After silently scanning the page, she nods. "You'll be first, Mister Henson, followed by Mister Birch. Take a seat and you'll be called when Brawly is ready."

"Sure thing, ma'am! Thank you!" Lee smiles and quickly leads Brendan away with a hand on his shoulder. The pair take a seat in the corner waiting area as the woman vanishes behind the staff door.

"Jeez, that lady was something..." Brendan murmurs. "Why do you think that Andre guy is on the list so many times?"

"What about the brat?"

Lee, Brendan, and Vulpix look up when Zinnia takes a seat to the right of Brendan, a steaming cup held in her hand. Already, the dragon tamer looks to have much more life to her. She takes another sip from the cup in her hand as she waits for an answer.

"He's booked fights with Brawly for weeks in advance," Lee explains, leaning back in his chair. "Is he really getting beat every time?"

Zinnia shrugs and crushes the empty paper cup in her hand before tossing it in a trash can a few paces away. "Dark-type versus Fighting-type, so probably. Brawly probably knows the little shitheel's Detect gimmick and can counter it."

'Now how does one effectively counter Detect, I wonder. Overwhelming speed? Run the clock like we did? Or is there a trick to beating it without wasting so much energy?' Lee internally muses with only Vulpix privy to his thoughts. "Probably," he agrees with Zinnia aloud.

The conversation peeters out into silence, neither Brendan or Zinnia making an effort to continue. Brendan sits with his two pokeballs in his lap as he pulls out his pokedex. He rapidly flips to the section on common Hoenn Fighting-types as he bounces his knee nervously.

Zinnia, meanwhile, seems content to withdraw her phone from her hip pouch and idly scroll through the news.

With nothing else to do and not wanting to think of the upcoming match, lest he make himself anxious, Lee thinks back to yesterday after the Granite Cave adventure.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Again, Lee is struck by just how normal the squid and octopi in the tanks before him are. One octopus runs a tentacle over the glass, letting Lee see the little suction pads work in sync. He looks away from the glass to the myriad of other tanks in the clean, if dimly lit marina warehouse, finding all manner of unsettlingly familiar sealife. At his feet, Vulpix sits quietly. Lee can feel her displeasure as the fishy smell of the warehouse makes her nose tingle unpleasantly.

Lee's call to Dewford Seafood Outlet the night prior was met with zero resistance from the enthusiastic owner, who accepted Lee's flimsy excuse of wanting to study mundane animals without a second thought. "Our establishment would love to host a trainer and Pokemon researcher of your esteem!" The man enthusiastically agreed, and Lee vaguely recalled his voice among the many he spoke to during the beach tournament. The man even had his employees go out and gather examples from the actual open-air farms that dominate a little corner of Dewford and bring the animals here in display tanks. With Lee, a boy in water waders marked 'DSO' stands several feet behind him, ready to answer any questions the trainer might have.

No doubt this is all a stunt to curry favor with Lee, and thus the much more influential Hoenn Pokemon Lab, but the scarred trainer is grateful nonetheless.

Lee looks down at his notebook, where notes on the animals before him and several crude sketches dominate the page. He slowly walks by the tanks with Vulpix following close, not paying his teenaged farmhand watcher any mind. He passes by a tank containing common bay clams, then a tank containing what looks like several dungeness crabs that scuttle about. Then a thought hits him.

"Say, ah-" Lee turns and looks at the nametag on the teen boy's waders "-Jordan, do you know what species these crabs are?"

The boy jumps, apparently not expected to be addressed. "Oh, uh, these guys? They're just Dewford crabs I think. Some other places have different names for em, though."

Lee frowns at yet another unexplainable similarity. "And the octopi?"

The boy shrugs. "Uh... Dewford octopus?" His answer sounds more like a question.

"Don't feel bad if you can't answer this one, but do you ever see any of these guys in the wild?" Lee gestures to the whole setup of display tanks.

"Well, sometimes," Jordan rubs the back of his head with a hand. "Not often, though. Pokemon gobble up animals pretty fast."

'If that's the case, then how did any animals live long enough to be domesticated? No books or websites seem to know.' Lee feels a headache coming on and sighs. "Right, I should have guessed that. Is it okay with you if I run a quick experiment? It'll involve one of your bay clams being eaten."

"Sure, go ahead. Boss gave you free rein. If you're hungry, though, I can ask a supervisor if I can take you to the marina restaurant."

"Not for me, but thanks for the thought," Lee smiles. He removes one of his gloves and rolls his sleeve up, then reaches a hand into the tank of clams and withdraws one on the smaller side. Then he tosses the little mollusk into the octopus tank.

One of the little invertebrates immediately comes to investigate the clam, it's little tentacles curiously wrapping around the invader. The octopus seems to realize what it has, and shuffles the clam to its mouth. With one venomous bite from the octopus' beak, the clam opens to its doom and is promptly eaten.

"All very standard feeding behavior..." Lee murmurs. "It's almost like nothing changed, it's too perfect..."

----------------------------------------------------------
Lee is drawn from his thoughts when he notices the throngs of people entering the gym heading for the Arena Seating door. Unlike Rustboro, there doesn't seem to be anyone checking tickets.

"Hey hey, guys!"

Beside Lee, Brendan looks up away from his pokedex, then his eyes light up. "Dad!"

Lee looks up as well, finding a smiling Professor Birch standing before them.

"When did you get here, dad?" Brendan can't help but grin like a loon and pocket his Dex and pokeballs before standing to greet his father. "And why?"

"Medicham teleported us this morning," Birch laughs. "Tuckered him out coming all this way, so he's resting right now. I was originally going to come out here to study bird pokemon inhabiting the seaside cliffs, but I figured I would come early to see my son and the lab's cashcow battle in the gym!"

"Oh, cashcow, am I?" Lee snorts and stands. "Gee, professor, glad to know you regard me so highly," he says, sarcasm woven into every word.

"Don't be like that, Lee," Birch mockingly chides. "Your and Miss Zinnia's big win at Dewford's tournament got us a full five percent increase in funding and a flood of independent donations. Keep up the good work, really." The scraggly professor then turns to the still sitting Zinnia with a pleasant smile. "And you must be Zinnia! Thank you for keeping an eye on the boys here."

The tanned woman openly laughs and stands, reaching out to take Birch's hand in a handshake. "It's a fulltime job, really. If your lab has any professional babysitter positions open..." she trails off coyly.

Birch shakes his head. "Afraid not, but it's not often I meet a Dragon-type specialist. If any studies that need dragons with a paycheck come up, I'll have Brendan or Lee pass it along. Now!" He looks back to Lee, Vulpix, and Brendan. "It's been awhile since I've seen a good gym match, so you two give it your all, okay?"

"You know it!" Brendan exclaims while Lee just nods.

'Boss is watching. No pressure...'

"Oh, and before I forget!" Birch suddenly jumps, looking over to Lee. "Did you think over the offer of that study I proposed?"

Lee looks over to the fox on his shoulder, and she hesitates before shrugging her little shoulders. "We're... Still debating it, professor."

"Mister Henson!"

The older woman from before pokes her head out from behind the staff door. "Please come back here so we can get you ready. Your match will begin shortly."

"That's my cue," Lee begins, shaking away the excitement that makes his limbs tremble. "Wish us luck."

"Break a leg!" Zinnia laughs.

"You got this!" Brendan cheers.

Birch just smiles.

With Vulpix astride his shoulder, Lee follows the blue-haired woman behind the staff door to a barren waiting room with little more than a single chair and a small table holding a few water bottles, a box of nausea medicine, and a little box that is a mess of black wires. Just ahead of them is a large door labeled 'Arena'.

"Need anything to settle your stomach?" The still unnamed woman asks, peering at Lee over her glasses as she taps the little box of generic nausea pills with a finger.

Lee shakes his head. "I'm fine, thanks."

She nods. "Very well. One second here..." She turns to the box of wires on the desk and withdraws a little microphone unit, the same sort Lee used when giving lectures to zoo guests. Without bothering to ask, she clips the unit to one of his front pockets and clips the actual microphone to the collar of his shirt. "The range on that little contraption is narrow, so it'll only work in the marked trainer box in the arena. Keep that in mind."

"I will," Lee confirms. After a second of hesitation, Lee keeps speaking. "Ma'am? I know it's not my place to pry, so feel free to not answer, but what was with Andre having so many reserved matches?"

The woman pauses and looks at Lee with narrow eyes. "Why do you wish to know?"

"Well...?" The scarred man struggles to formulate an answer and rubs the back of his head. "Andre was our final opponent in the Brawl on the Beach, and his pokemon were top notch, but he seemed to have some sort of preconceived notions about me before we even battled, something about me being a failed trainer who ran away to Hoenn. That, combined with his obviously sour relationship with Brawly just... has me curious is all."

The woman sighs with disappointment and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Oh, Andre. Must you lash out at everyone who even looks similar to him? The world isn't out to get you." Her murmurs are too quiet for Lee to hear, but Vulpix telepathically feeds him what her ears pick up. Before Lee can puzzle out who 'he' might be, the woman looks up tiredly and pushes her glasses further up her nose. "Let me apologize for anything he might have said. Andre is rough, but he's a good boy at heart."

Lee nods along. "The condition of his pokemon speaks a lot about him."

"Indeed. Where are my manners? My name is Wilma, Brawly's mother, and manager of this gym," the now-named Wilma introduces herself with a slight incline of her head.

"Lee Henson and this is Vulpix, but I suppose you already knew that," Lee returns her courtesy.

Wilma inclines her head once more. "It's not my place to say much. Andre lives here in Dewford with us at the behest of his mother. He insists that he has something to prove in defeating Brawly's full-powered team, hence his spots on the schedule, but considering his fondness of Dark-types..."

"...It's an uphill battle," Lee finishes with a frown. The answers only muddle things more. "I see. Thank you. I won't pry anymore."

"Welcome to the Dewford Gym! Today we've got an exciting lineup of trainers set to face your Gym Leader, Brawly!" A booming voice can be heard over the gym sound system, rattling the room.

There is muffled cheering behind the door leading to the arena.

"Looks like it's beginning," Wilma mutters. "Alright, young man," she addresses Lee. "When your name is called, head on out and stand in the box on your side of the field. The rest is self-explanatory. Ready?"

The zoologist takes a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good. Brawly will not be pulling his punches, so beware," the blue-headed woman warns before she pats his shoulder and leaves back to the front room.

"Our first challenger this morning is a doozy! Coming from Little Root town, we have Lee Henson!"

"Here goes nothing..." Lee sighs and walks out to be greeted by a wave of cheers.

The arena is almost a clone of the Rustboro Gym, only the ground is just hard-packed dirt with no rocks scattered around. The bleachers lining the arena are filled to the brim. Some of the more excited fans hold up signs. A few are for him and his team, and an amusingly large number for Brawly are held up by teen girls. Near the center of the right side, Brendan, The Professor, and Zinnia all sit and applaud Lee's and Vulpix's entrance.

Lee waves up to the crowd, and after a mental nudge to Vulpix, she raises a paw as well, easily doubling the roar of the crowd. 'Huh. This is much easier than the first few times.'

'J*** h**e ***fi**n** ** y*****lf' Vulpix snuffles in wane amusement.

"Not only is he this year's Brawl on the Beach winner, but Lee is also a special researcher and Hoenn Lab Trainer under the esteemed Professor Birch! With Rustboro Gym's Stone badge already in hand, Lee is really going to give Brawly a run for his money!" The commentator's booming voice hypes the crowd up even more.

Off to the sides, a TV camera crew takes their place as a gym aide, and a pair of Drowzee, no doubt there to power the barrier, set up a few paces away. One member of the TV crew even releases a Magnemite from a pokeball, who levitates over the arena with a smaller camera hovering at its side.

Across the way, Brawly grins eagerly at Lee, and Lee can't help but grin back, excitement overwhelming everything else.

Finally, a referee in a black-and-white striped shirt makes his way to the field and clears his throat into his microphone, causing the chatter to die down. "This match will be a two-on-two standard battle between challenger Lee Henson and Gym Leader Brawly. Matches will commence until one team has lost two members. Only the challenger may substitute, and may only do so once. Trainers!" The ref looks between Lee and Brawly. "Please select your first pokemon!"

'No brainer on this one,' Lee thinks, taking Corvisquire's ball and expanding it. "Corvi, you're up!"

At the same time, Brawly takes a ball from his belt and throws it just as Lee does his. "Machoke! I need your help!"

Corvisquire bursts from his ball in a shower of white light, a chilling screech already echoing from his beak. The bird's red eyes gleam with malice as he hovers on their side of the field, eager to tear into a worthy opponent.

Brawly's Machoke appears in a flash of light just like Corvisquire. The Superpower pokemon stands six feet tall and is built like a brickhouse. Bulging muscle ripples under his thick, grey hide, and his five-fingered hands are already clenched into cannonball-like fists. The pokemon takes one look at Corvisquire and sighs in distaste.

"It's wicked speed and mobility versus classic Dewford muscle! Corvisquire dominated his fights in the Brawl, but Machoke is an old hand on Brawly's personal team with a punch that can derail a train! This'll be a nailbiter!"

"Are both trainers ready!?" The referee picks up where the commentator left off.

"Ready!" Brawly calls, his voice echoing through the sound system.

'I really hope that 'derail trains with a punch' line was hyperbole...' Lee takes a deep breath. "Ready!"

The Drowzee off to the side raise their hands and wiggle their fingers, raising a transparent barrier and locking the pokemon in the arena.

"Begin!"

"Corvi! Get up high and use Hone Claws!" Lee orders quickly.

Brawly and Machoke make no move to stop Corvisquire, who quickly rises to the ceiling. When Brawly smirks, Lee instantly hears alarm bells ringing in his head.

As Corvisquire raises his talons to grind them together, Brawly speaks. "Machoke! Rock Tomb!"

'Oh fuck off with that.'

Machoke drives his fingers into the ground, and with an effortless flex of his arm, pulls up a boulder larger than himself. He reels back his arm and throws the enormous rock with the same ease a human might a baseball while Corvisquire is mid-buff. A faint red glow overtakes the boulder, which cracks and splits into five smaller stones that rush the crow pokemon with menacing whistles.

"Abort and duck!" Lee orders frantically.

Corvisquire heeds his words with only a second to spare, sharply diving and twisting to fly between two of the stones he can't dive fast enough to avoid.

The Rock Tomb crashes against the barrier with a thunderous bang!

'Not going to let us buff, huh? Then we'll just have to debuff you instead.'

"Scary Face!" Lee calls out to his pokemon.

Corvisquire is in motion before Brawly or Machoke can react. His already irritated visage takes on a nightmarish twist, his eyes practically shining red. He opens his beak and lets out a shrill, bloodthirsty cry that makes Lee's spine stiffen. The sheer potency of Corvisquire's Scary Face almost makes a weight settle over the arena. From the corner of his eye, Lee spies several of the audience members rock back in fright.

Machoke stiffens and grits his teeth, sweat breaking out on his brow despite his best efforts to maintain his composure.

"Now, Hone Claws!"

"Machoke! Stop him with Rock Tomb!" Brawly is quick to bounce back.

Corvisquire rises once again and grinds his talons together, dropping glittering, metallic sparks below him.

Machoke gasps and suddenly realizes he was given an order. Arm still shaking, he plunges his fingers into the ground and lifts another boulder up before hastily tossing it, but by the time the rock is in the air, Corvisquire finishes sharpening all his natural weaponry and rolls out of the way of Rock Tomb.

"Corvi, move in with Extremespeed! Then Pluck!"

Lee can see Brawly curse under his breath. "Machoke! Be ready with Thunder Punch!

High above, the raven cackles and vanishes in a blinding burst of speed with the crack of displaced air being the only hint something was once there.

Machoke's right fist only just begins to crackle with electricity over before a razor-sharp beak is driven into his back. The Fighting-type pokemon roars in pain and whirls around like a top, his fist lashing out in a backhand.

Corvisquire can't avoid the partially electrified fist in time and takes the blow to his sternum like a cannonball. The raven's eyes bulge as he's thrown all the way into the left barrier wall with a dull thud!, drawing a wince from the onlookers. Corvisquire wheezes and forces his way back to his feet, his face drawn back into a scowl.

"Corvi! You alright?!" Lee asks. When the bird looks at him with an expression that clearly says What do you think?, the man feels a little foolish.

"Man, I knew that Corvisquire was fast, but that's something else..." Brawly says aloud. "Machoke, square up!"

The Fighting-type stands and brings his fists up in a ready stance, now seemingly ignoring the wound in his back.

'Fast huh? Brawly battles that monster Absol all the time though. Does Corvisquire edge him out?' Lee's mind quickly churns. 'Brawly probably didn't start with his ace, no, I'm sure Machoke is not his ace. An ace that has probably clashed with Absol over and over... That in mind...'

"Ref! I'm substituting Corvisquire!" Lee calls to the ref, who just nods and presses a little button on his mic, causing an airhorn to blare out over the speakers

"It looks like Lee is using his substitution!" The commentator calls. "Why sub now? And who will he send in?"

Across the arena, Brawly raises an eyebrow and Machoke lowers his fists just the slightest amount.

'Grovyle still needs to get used to his new body, so you're up, girl,' Lee sends to Vulpix, who mentally reviews his plan with a nod and slides down from his shoulders. He draws Corvisquire's ball and recalls the raven in a flash of red light. The entire time, Corvisquire wears a betrayed, furious expression.

Lee holds the shaking ball close to his mouth. "No need to be so upset, I'm saving you for the tougher battle. You'll get your time to shine," he whispers quietly.

The displeased shaking calms.

"It looks like Lee is sending in Vulpix! How will this little fox compare to Machoke?"

Vulpix calmly walks her way into the arena through a little hole in the barrier that closes behind her, sealing her inside.

"Match restarting in three, two, one..!" The ref sounds the horn again.

"Vulpix, Baby-Doll Eyes!" Lee rapidly orders. 'Then charge Confuse Ray.'

"Machoke, look away!" Brawly reacts near instantly.

Machoke tries to look away as Vulpix's eyes shine an eerie pink, but the move is just too fast and seeing a split second is enough to force Machoke's muscles to slacken. He groans and his shaking becomes visible.

"Bulk Up!" is Brawly's follow up. "Then Karate Chop! No more playing defense!"

Machoke takes a deep breath and flexes every muscle in his body at once, and he's back to looking like Baby-Doll Eyes never hit him. Then he drops down into a runner's stance and charges Vulpix like an Olympic sprinter, eating the distance between them in a scant second.

'Confuse Ray!'

Vulpix smirks a vulpine smirk as her eyes glow yet again.

Machoke can barely even react before he trips in his sudden confusion. He falls face-first to the dirt and his momentum drags him painfully across the ground, digging up a shallow trench behind him. The crowd lets out a collective wince.

"What happened?! Why did Machoke suddenly lose his footing?!"

Brawly face morphs into open surprise.

Did Roxanne not tell him about their telepathy? Oh well, now is not the time to be dwelling on that.

"Vulpix, Will-O-Wisp!"

The vixen plants her feet and opens her mouth, a white-hot orb forming between her jaws. She rears her head back and throws the ball forward with a dramatic flourish.

"Machoke! Listen to my voice! Dodge it!" Brawly orders

Machoke, even in his confused haze realizes the danger and tries to stand. His powerful legs let him leap well over twenty feet to the side, where he lands in a boneless heap with a grunt.

It's for naught, however, as the slow Will-O-Wisp makes a perfect ninety-degree turn to follow.

With a growl, Machoke rolls to his back at Brawly's order. Then; "Machoke! Intercept Will-O-Wisp with Ice Punch!"

Machoke's right fist frosts over with a layer of blue ice, and with either luck or sheer, confusion-overpowering willpower, his fist rockets forward and smashes into Will-O-Wisp with a loud hiss of steam, throwing up a cloud of vapor that obscures him.

Brawly clicks his tongue and sighs.

"Don't let him have any time to breathe! Ember!" Lee follows up.

A barrage of fireballs fly from Vulpix's mouth and spread themselves out into a wide net to cover the entire steam cloud. They fly through the steam with minute hissing sounds, dispersing the mist after just a second, revealing no Machoke there, only a hole in the ground.

'What?'

Neither Lee nor Vulpix can react in time when a huge fist bursts from the ground right below Vulpix, socking her right in the chin so hard that she is sent flying straight up in the air with a yelp.

The crowd roars at the titanic hit.

Lee bites back a cry when his own jaw and teeth suddenly flare with Vulpix's pain, and several of his teeth feel as if they're broken. The tang of non-existent blood coats his tongue. With great reluctance, he closes his side of their telepathic bond just enough to reduce the pain to a minor ache. "V-Vulpix! Reposition with Quick Attack!" Lee grounds out, sending her a mental landing point.

The fox twists midair and pushes away the stars in her vision to zig-zag down to Brawly's side of the field where she lands and tries to shake off the super-effective hit. Lee re-widens their connection and winces when he ghosts over her senses. She was hit so hard that she's seeing double, her ears are ringing, and at least one of her teeth is broken. The rapid swelling in her jaw only makes the tooth pain worse.

'You alright to keep going, love?'

She huffs.

Machoke pulls himself out of the ground and stands tall, his eyes now clear. His right hand is raw and burnt, his torso is a mess of less severe steam burns, and the stab in his back still bleeds, but the pokemon is unbowed. He even flexes his injured arm to the crowd, drawing cheers.

"What a turn! Machoke proves his power with a huge hit using Dig! Poor Vulpix nearly had her lights knocked out!"

Brawly smirks. "You two aren't the only sneaky ones!" He yells across the battlefield to Lee.

He knows, and has nonverbal signals of his own.

Shit.

"Fine then, no stops." Lee grunts. 'Vulpix, get ready,' he sends, falling into her psychic embrace with ease. Lee feels his own body become slightly numb as he pours his being into her. 'Ember!'

Vulpix rears her head back with a quiet breath, and even behind the barrier, Lee can feel the temperature of the arena spike by several degrees. Then she throws her head forward and unleashes a veritable storm of fireballs, easily thrice the volume of before with twice the speed. The sound is akin to an automatic rifle burning through its entire magazine, fitting considering the Embers are little more than bullet-like streaks.

Machoke and Brawly's eyes widen as one, and Machoke is already in motion when Brawly's mouth opens to yell; "Detect! Then close in and cut her off with Revenge!"

Vulpix's large foe leaps to the side, left hand already crackling with red energy, but he's forced back further when the Embers swerve mid-flight to scream right at him. He ducks under one stream only to dance backward as another blasts at his feet. His charged Revenge is used to swat away several fireballs that he isn't fast enough to avoid. Then his back hits the corner of the barrier.

'Gotcha.'

Vulpix and Lee, working in sync, pyrokinetically spread the Embers out in a net spaced perfectly to catch Machoke. As one, all the fireballs descend like demented wasps.

With nowhere to dodge and out of time to use a move, Machoke can only squeeze his eyes shut and raise his arms in defense.

One Ember explodes against his arms and Machoke grits his teeth.

Two, three, four, five, six, and the Fighting-type groans.

Seven, eight, nine, ten, twenty, thirty, and he can't help but cry out as smoke overtakes his form.

Forty, fifty, seventy, and finally the last one strikes and detonates.

"Machoke!" Brawly cries out, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

The crowd waits with bated breath as the smoke slowly clears, and when it does, it shows them all Machoke, slumped against the wall with his eyes closed and body covered in burns.

"Hey, Machoke, buddy! Can you get up!?" Brawly calls, his fists clenched tightly.

Other than the harsh rise and fall of his chest, Machoke does not move.

Three, two, one...

The airhorn overhead sounds and the referee waves his arms. "It's over! Machoke is unable to battle! Vulpix is the winner of round one!"

Lee sighs and drifts away from Vulpix's psyche back to his own as she trots back to their side of the field. His limbs feel the slightest bit unsteady for a moment until he reorients himself. A smile is worn on his face the entire time, however.

The audience erupts into applause and cheering, though Lee can spy a few of the teenaged die-hard Brawly fans adding boos into the noise.

Across the way, the Gym Leader pulls a pokeball from his belt and recalls Machoke in a flash of red. He stares down at the ball blankly, as if he didn't actually expect to lose. Then he huffs out a short laugh and replaces it on his belt, this time taking a greatball from his belt. Even from this distance, Lee can see the top hemisphere of the pokeball is worn down to bare metal in places.

"I gotta hand it to you, Lee. That was something," The surfer smiles. "It shows me I've still got plenty to improve on. Machoke won't go down to a ranged fighter so easily next time. This pokemon, though..." He holds the worn greatball up. "He belonged to my father and was passed down to me when I took the mantle of Gym Leader. He's helped me a lot over the years, and I've stepped away from borrowing his power, but I know when I need help out of a bind."

Lee feels his smile sink a little. "I don't like the sound of that."

Brawly's smile morphs into a wide grin. "It's good to be cautious!" He glances at the ref, who gets the signal.

"Gym Leader Brawly! Please select your next pokemon!"

Brawly throws the greatball past a hole in the barrier. "Hariyama! I need your help!"

The ball bursts open, and a shape wreathed in white light expands onto the field, growing bigger.

And bigger, and bigger...

When the light finally fades, Lee finds himself blinking in disbelief, but the spike of alarm he both feels from Vulpix and sees on her vulpine face tells him his eyes aren't failing him.

Standing over eight feet tall and easily eleven feet wide with his arms spread out, an absolutely gargantuan pokemon stares them down.

The Hariyama before them looks just as Lee remembers them, being a roughly humanoid sumo wrestler of unbelievable proportions. Two-toed feet attached to legs as thick as tree trunks hold a massive torso of pure muscle aloft. His short arms end in wide, flat three-fingered hands perfect for arm-thrusting attacks. But what strikes Lee most is the little details littered across the huge pokemon.

The Hariyama's eyes are framed by faint wrinkles, and the left eye is a blind, foggy white, probably owing to the scar dragged through Hariyama's face. His hands are likewise marked, his palms a menagerie of calluses and scars, leaving almost no unharmed flesh behind.

Lee's dread-filled musings are broken when Hariyama grunts, a low sound that Lee feels in both his and Vulpix's chest. The enormous pokemon puts his palms on his knees and raises a single leg, then he brings it down like a lightning strike, shaking the entire gym. The lights above rattle, someone in the crowd screams, and one of the cameramen falls over. Lee himself bends his knees to not be knocked over.

Hariyama raises his other leg and brings it down again, pulverizing the ground under him and rattling the entire building again. Then with his knees still bent, he plants a hand on the ground, taking a sumo-like ready stance. An almost tangible weight settles over the arena, eerily like standing before Steven Stone's Metagross.

'We're fucked.'

"Get ready," Brawly's smile could light up the arena if Hariyama's preparation accidentally knocked the lights out. "We're going full tilt!"

"Match two, Hariyama vs Vulpix, begin!"

For a moment, no one moves, and it gives Vulpix ample time to pull Lee back into her mind for his added strength.

'Love, while I'm not doubting your abilities, there is no way you can beat him after Machoke nailed you with Dig,' Lee gulps. 'We need to wear him down as much as possible for Corvisquire.'

"Not going to move first, eh?" The Gym Leader nods. "Fine by us. Hariyama! Belly Drum!"

'Fuck! Confuse Ray!'

Vulpix growls and fires off the invisible, sinister ray from her shining eyes.

Hariyama draws his huge hands back, then pounds his own stomach with a series of deep thuds. The sound Belly Drum makes moves something primal inside of Vulpix, and Lee can feel her sudden thrill of fear.

The pupil of Hariyama's one good eye dilates, and a hazy cloak of red energy diffuses from nowhere to cover his form. He slows for a moment as Confuse Ray strikes him, leaving his eye unfocused, but after a single blink, the confusion vanishes and Hariyama finishes Belly Drum with a loud, echoing strike to his own abdomen. The cloak of red, smoky energy surges and crackles.

"From bad to worse," Lee grimaces. 'Vulpix, Ember! Come in on his blind side!'

Like before, Vulpix draws her head back and fires off a stream of Embers more akin to laser bolts than fireballs.

Some rush Hariyama from the right, but the majority of the flames twist and curve into his blindspot.

"Whirlwind!" Brawly orders.

Hariyama's arms are little more than blurs as his flat hands move the air like fans, kicking up rushing currents of tornado-like winds on both sides of him. Vulpix's Embers, even empowered by pokemon and trainer working in tandem, are snuffed out like candles in the face of the Whirlwinds.

Then Hariyama thrusts his arms forward, merging the Whirlwinds and sending a titanic tornado right for Vulpix.

The tornado gains power as it moves, dragging in all manner of dirt and rocks as it howls furiously at the shocked fox. It crosses the arena in less than a second, and by then, the tornado is too big to dodge. Vulpix screws her eyes shut in panic.

"Firespin!" Lee screams, both in body and mind. 'Counter Whirlwind's rotation!'

Vulpix's eyes snap open, shining a hellish orange.

A spiraling inferno pours from Vulpix's throat, and in an instant, Whirlwind is met with a twisting, raging tower of fire that roars just as loud as the Whirlwind shrieks. The two elements meet, and Whirlwind begins to peter out as it feeds the vicious Firespin, which grows into a seething wall of white, spinning hellfire that splashes against the top of the barrier.

Lee can't see Brawly or Hariyama or even hear anything over the din of Firespin, but he does see the attack rush forward and engulf the other side of the field.

Sadly, Vulpix's burst of might runs dry after a scant ten seconds.

Firespin dies near-instantly, leaving a cloud of smoke and deafening silence behind.

When the smoke clears on the Brawly's side of the field, it reveals Hariyama standing with his arms raised and blackened, burn-coated palms out. Grunting, he slowly and painfully pulls his arms back into a ready stance, revealing that his body is pockmarked by smaller, less severe burns that overtook his defense. Around his feet in a perfect V formation is charred dirt and soot, meaning he stopped the Firespin.

Even with the unmistakable power Vulpix displayed in her battle with Corvisquire, Hariyama stopped Firespin.

"Jumping Joltiks, folks! Vulpix unleashed the fire within and turned Whirlwind right back around on Hariyama, but Hariyama was having none of that!" The audience goes wild when the commentator breaks the ice.

Vulpix wavers on her paws, and Lee can easily feel her exhaustion. She pants harshly and falls to her rump.

"Hariyama," Brawly hesitates for a second. "Force Palm!"

The massive sumo pokemon thrusts a hand forward, shooting a screaming shockwave that crosses the field like a tank shell.

Vulpix scrambles up and leaps away, but the explosion Force Palm makes when it hits the ground she was standing on throws her down to her side where she tumbles. Another Force Palm flies from Hariyama's hand and crashes into her like a missile, throwing the limp fox head-first into the barrier with a painful thunk. She slides to the ground, her breathing shallow and body unmoving.

Lee winces. Already he feels the phantom pain in his sternum and head fading, meaning his vixen is in blissful unconsciousness, but it does nothing for the deeper hurt in his chest whenever Vulpix is harmed. 'She's just knocked out. Nothing she can't handle,' he silently reminds himself. With great reluctance, he catches the eyes of the referee and shakes his head.

The airhorn sounds and the referee raises his arm. "Vulpix is unable to battle! Hariyama is the winner of the second match!"

The crowd applauds and cheers. As Lee recalls Vulpix to her ball and near silently murmurs how proud he is of her, he scans the crowd. Almost instantly, he finds who he's looking for.

Brendan, Birch, and Zinnia all sit near the middle of the right side. Brendan's face is one of open shock as if he can't believe what he just saw. Zinnia's is harder to pin, being a combination of surprise and worry rather than the calculating expression she normally wears when viewing an intense battle. Birch...

Birch's eyes are glued to Lee, and in his lap is a notebook with several full pages already flipped. The look is so intense that the younger man looks away.

"Challenger, please select your next pokemon!"

Lee grabs Corvisquire's ball, which wiggles in anticipation. Like before, he holds the ball close to his mouth to whisper to it. "Corvi, whatever you do, take this seriously. This guy tanked Vulpix at her full power, even after hurting himself with Belly Drum. He's torn up, but this is still an uphill fight. If we want to win, we need to play smart, got it?"

The ball goes still.

With a deep breath, Lee reels his hand back. "Go! Corvisquire!"

The ball flies from his hand and releases the raven pokemon, who screeches and flies into the arena when a hole in the barrier opens up for him. He glares down at Hariyama with malicious glee, and Hariyama stares back cooly with his working eye.

"Final match! Corvisquire versus Hariyama! Begin!"

"Swift!" Lee orders to feel out Hariyama.

Corvisquire caws and swipes a golden, glowing wing through the air, throwing a wave of shining stars down at the sumo pokemon.

Hariyama just swats the stars out of the air with a single broad hand when they approach. Some of the burnt flesh on his hand cracks and bleeds when the Swift rays explode against it, but he ultimately seems unbothered.

"Force Palm!" Brawly counters, his smile growing.

Hariyama's massive palm flashes forward, and a rippling shockwave rushes the raven pokemon.

"Corvi! Extremespeed into Pluck! Get out of there!" Lee cries.

The raven vanishes from sight with a crack of displaced air, letting Force Palm smash into the barrier behind where he was.

Hariyama whirls around one hundred and eighty degrees with speed that should have been impossible for a creature of his size, his palm lashing out the instant Corvisquire appears behind him. The raven is so shocked that he loses focus on his Pluck and his beak loses its glow. An instant later, Hariyama's palm strikes him like a battering ram.

Corvisquire is thrown into the barrier without an arc to his flight, crashing into the invisible wall with a bang! that rattles the whole thing and a plume of loose feathers. His eyes bug out from the impact and he can only wheeze in pain. Unlike with the blow from Machoke, Covisquire is much slower to get to his feet.

"Don't let up! Close in and end this with Close Combat!" Brawly orders, even pointing a finger for emphasis.

Hariyama grunts and thunders forward like a locomotive, every step shaking the Gym.

"Corvi, get up!" Lee urges. "C'mon! Don't go down like this!"

Corvisquire's eyes light up hatefully, and with a shrill cry he shoots up into the air away from Hariyama with a single powerful wingbeat.

Hariyama doesn't stop his charge, and with a stomp that rocks the building, he leaps right at the bird pokemon in stark defiance to gravity. His hands shine a baleful red just like the cloak of energy still wrapped around him. He winds up an arm thrust just as Corvisquire flies up higher.

It's almost too quiet to hear, but Hariyama grunts something that makes Corvisquire's entire face twist into a rictus of loathing, and rather than run away out of Close Combat's range, the raven howls and dives right at the sumo pokemon, making Lee's heart sink.

Corvisquire narrowly dodges one arm thrust, but the other one clips his wing with a quiet snap that Lee almost doesn't hear, making Corvisquire spin in the air unevenly. Nonetheless, Corvisquire's beak lights up with sky-blue Flying energy that he brutally drills right into Hariyama's left shoulder, drawing blood.

"Hariyama!" Brawly yells in alarm, his smile dropping for the first time in the match.

The sumo growls and slaps away Corvisquire like one might do a mosquito as gravity takes its hold again and drags him back down.

Corvisquire contorts his body mid-air and flares both his wings, even the broken one, to stop in a hover. His face shows no pain, only seething, burning anger.

Hariyama crashes into the ground feet-first, throwing up a short plume of dust. His good eye glares up at Corvisquire, who stares right back without wavering. Hariyama raises his hands into a ready stance again, but his left arm shakes and sinks ever so slightly.

'Corvi's attack must have nicked something important in his shoulder...' Lee silently theorizes. 'He's blind and now partially lame on that side. We need to take advantage of it now, before Corvi's rage-fueled adrenaline runs dry... Can he safely use Extremespeed? If I dare even imply that he's not fighting-ready, he'll be pissed... More than usual.'

"Corvisquire, Extremespeed!" Lee orders. "Hit him where it hurts!" he says, silently hoping his pokemon knows how to interpret the order.

"Hariyama, behind you!" Brawly yells in advance. "Arm Thrust him into the wall!"

Again, the avian pokemon blurs into motion as if his wing was never injured, and again, Hariyama turns a perfect one-eighty to catch him.

Only this time, Corvisquire appears above him. Before the Fighting-type can defend himself, Corvisquire, cackling like a villain, is upon him. He drives his beak right into the same wound on Hariyama that he created earlier and cruelly twists at whatever he can bite.

The larger pokemon roars in pain, his first sign of weakness the whole match, and swats at Corvisquire, who blurs away again with a cackling laugh. The strength in Hariyama's shaking left arm wanes, and he can't raise it up any higher than his waist.

"Stay angry, Corvi! Win this! Come at him again!" Lee calls, the excitement from earlier beginning to grow in his chest.

"Hariyama, watch your left and above you, that's where they're coming!" Brawly instructs.

'Corvisquire is a little too smart to hit the same location three times in a row.' Lee smiles. 'Hariyama is too slow to keep up, so if he doesn't know where Corvi is going from...'

A caw echoes through the room and Hariyama turns to his left, his good arm blasting forward at nothing. At the same time, a twirling beak shining a sky-blue drills into his upper right arm, savaging the muscle and connective tissue.

'...Then he's going to get picked apart.'

Hariyama growls and swings at Corvisquire, who once again backs off with Extremespeed.

"Bring him down!" Brawly's face is now losing confidence and his fists are balled up. "Whirlwind!"

A broad right hand swipes through the air, kicking up a huge gale, but not anywhere near the tornado that ravaged the arena earlier. With a flick of his wrist, Hariyama throws the Whirlwind forward.

The raging wind tears at the flying blur that is Corvisquire, slowing him enough that his form becomes visible once more. He struggles to not be sucked into the Whirlwind as his broken wing just can't flap with the same power of his unbroken one. The Whirlwind passes and dissipates, but to Lee's despair, he can see Corvisquire's energy beginning to flag. The bird pants and even his ever-present wrath slowly begins to fade

"Force Palm, knock him down!" Brawly's voice shocks Lee out of his thoughts.

Hariyama's eyes narrow in concentration as his right fingers flex, and he throws a shock wave right at the hovering Corvisquire, who just barely dodges by folding his wings and plunging from the sky. Force Palm smacks the barrier with much less force than earlier.

"Corvi, finish him! One more Extremespeed! You can do it!" Lee calls up to the raven.

"No you don't! Defend yourself with Whirlwind!" Brawly counters.

Corvisquire rushes forward just as Hariyama draws his hand back, and that's when Lee knows they lost.

Hariyama spins around, Whirlwind following his palm and wreathing him in a cloak of swirling, protective air.

Then Lee's jaw drops.

Corvisquire pulls up at an angle that rips at his broken wing, making the bird grimace as he flies directly up, abreast the Whirlwind, then he flies over the mouth and drops down right at his foe. He closes his injured wing and holds his good one out, letting the air currents in the Whirlwind spin him up like a drill. His beak bursts into an eye-searingly bright blue just as vibrant as the sky, and then like a screaming missile, he drops onto Hariyama in a full-powered Drill Peck.

The sumo pokemon's eyes widen, and in a last-ditch effort to defend himself, he pulls back his right arm and thrusts it at the raven with a roar.

Beak meets palm, and Flying meets Fighting in a contest as old as the pokemon world.

The whole tornado glows with the clash, crackling red versus screaming blue. Blue overtakes red, and the Flying energy overpowers the Fighting with an explosion that kicks up a huge cloud of dust.

The entire arena holds its breath.

Slowly, the dust settles, and Lee's heart sinks.

Prone on the ground, a broken and battered Corvisquire lay, his eyes closed and unconscious face peaceful. Scattered around the bird are broken stones and loose feathers. Then Lee's eyes look further.

Just as knocked out as his raven, Hariyama lays on the destroyed and cratered ground with only his breathing as any indication that he's alive. Behind Hariyama, Brawly's eyes are wide in boldfaced surprise.

Above, the airhorn sounds.

"That's it! Round three ends in a double knockout! This battle is a draw!" The referee calls.

The audience goes wild, everyone standing, shouting, clapping, and more than a few cellphones are held up, some of which flash with camera lights.

"A... draw?" Lee wonders, his mind flashing back to the League rulebook he is still trying to finish. What was the end result of draws? Was it the challenger's loss? "Damn..."

Slowly, the Gym Leader on the other side of the arena smiles a big, goofy smile. "Wow! That was awesome! Hariyama hasn't had to fight that hard in years!" He draws the battered greatball from his belt and points to his pokemon. "Hariyama, return!"

The behemoth of a pokemon is withdrawn in a flash of red, leaving behind a crater that several grown men could stand in easily without touching shoulders.

Lee licks his lips and mirrors Brawly, taking Corvisquire's ball from his belt before recalling the bird in a flash of red. He shrinks the ball and holds it gently in his hands. "Thank you for going above and beyond, Corvi. Be a pain in my ass all you want, I won't ever give up on you because I know you would do the same for me, even if you deny it..."

A few onlookers audibly go "Awww...", and that's when Lee realizes his mic is still on with a blush. He flips it off and starts walking when the barriers drop and Brawly begins walking to meet him.

Both men meet in the middle of the devastated field. Still grinning widely, the blue-headed trainer claps Lee on the shoulder. "Now that was the battle I wanted. I knew it would be good, just not that good. It's going to be a while before someone tops this one."

Lee sighs and smiles ruefully. "Well, you're getting more here soon, so don't worry too much. We've got a ways to go now that you've seen our best tricks firsthand."

The Gym Leader blinks. "Huh?"

"I'll schedule the next one here in a week or two. We'll win then, it's a promise," Lee smiles and turns to leave for the Pokemon Center, but Brawly doesn't let go of his shoulder.

"I don't know why you're leaving," Brawly's smile grows a little. "You need this first," he says, holding out his hand.

In the surfer's hand is a shining Knuckle Badge

Lee feels his mouth go dry. "Hold on, that was a draw, not a win."

"Maybe," Brawly smirks. "But my Gym Leader authority says I get to choose the win condition for our match, and after a showing like that? You're the winner here, dude. Take it, you earned it."

Slowly, Lee reaches out to take the badge.

"But!"

Lee's hand stops.

Brawly's eyes shine with mischief. "On the condition that I get a rematch next time you're in Dewford."

The scarred trainer lets out a short laugh. "I can do that."

Lee's hand raises the badge up for everyone to see, and the crowd roars their approval.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
"At least four days with no strenuous activity and at least six with no battles, Mister Henson," Dewford's Nurse Joy hands Lee the pokeballs he turned in just half an hour prior. "Your Corvisquire's wing suffered two breaks and he'll be exhausted for at least a full day. Vulpix, however, will be fine with a day or so of rest. Next time..." The nurse's hands fall to her hips and her pretty face frowns. "...Don't push your pokemon so hard."

"I'll try, nurse," Lee promises with a sheepish smile. "For a while there, Corvi was keeping himself in the air by sheer force of anger alone."

The joke seems to go over Nurse Joy's head, but at Lee's side, Zinnia snorts back a laugh. "Hhehe..." She clears her throat. "C'mon," she elbows Lee. "Let's go find a good spot to watch Shrimpy's match."

The pair stroll away from the Center's front desk to a waiting area in the corner with a large, wraparound couch that faces a wall-mounted TV. Several other trainers ranging from young adults to teens watch Brendan's match on the TV closely. Beside one of the trainers, a Ralts sits on the edge of the couch and kicks her feet.

Thankfully, Brendan wasn't upset when Lee left to take care of his pokemon... So long as the older trainer promised to watch the match remotely. Brendan just stuck his tongue out at Zinnia when she left with Lee.

Zinnia and Lee watch Marshtomp overpower Brawly's Hitmonchan when the fists of the two pokemon meet again. Hitmonchan grits his teeth as the grinning Marshtomp pushes him back.

Earlier, Shroomish battled Brawly's Mienfoo and wore down the weasel-like Fighting-type enough that Marshtomp could steamroll him. Now Marshtomp and Brawly's Hitmonchan are locked in a slugfest where Hitmonchan is losing steam. Meanwhile, Marshtomp only gets more eager the more bruises he accumulates.

"Think he'll win?" Zinnia wonders aloud.

"Brendan?" Lee asks with a smile. "Hitmonchan is on borrowed time." He watches Marshtomp take an Ice Punch to the face from Hitmonchan, only to laugh and lash out with a punch of his own that makes Hitmonchan double over.

"Say, Zinnia? That freighter we sailed with last time. Do they do runs to Slateport?

"I think so. Why?" Zinnia turns and blinks at him.

Lee draws his phone from his pocket and opens the browser, typing in the name of the cargo company they rode with. "It's where we're heading next."

 

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'My office has so much wasted space,' Steven Stone silently muses to himself. 'Do I really need an entire floor to myself up here?'

In the extravagant Champion's office at the top of Hoenn's Pokemon League HQ, Steven looks down at the bustling island city of Ever Grande from the wall-spanning window, watching all the people and pokemon below. Looking away to the west, he can see the faintest hint of Sootopolis's top rim on the horizon.

Oh, how he longs to dive deep into the waters of the crater city and find bits of the meteorite that formed said crater over a millennia ago. What secrets and wonder would the meteorite hold? Would it hold an interesting mix of earthly elements, or would it show him something alien and exciting? Alas, the rock-headed members of the Sootopolis city council are adamant that the entire lakebed is a historical landmark and denied his requests to excavate samples.

It would be child's play to overrule them and go anyway, but no one would be amused by a Champion flagrantly abusing their power like that. The Steel specialist shakes his head in disgust, thinking of Unova's Champion, Alder, and the recent scandals the man has been involved in.

"Perhaps when I pass the title to someone else I could go to Sootopolis not as Steven the Champion, but Steven the Devon heir..." He smiles and fingers the mega keystone crowning his lapel pin.

'Ruminating on the meteorite once more?'

The rumbling voice comes not from anywhere in the office, but in his head, making Steven smile a little wider and turn around.

Standing before his desk and gleaming in the sunlight, Metagross regards Steven impassively.

"That I am, friend," Steven smiles a little wider. "A mere sliver of it would tell us so many things about the larger universe out there. It makes my skin tingle just thinking about it!"

If Metagross had eyebrows, Steven is sure one would be raised. 'I understand your fascination,' the pokemon 'says' dryly, but sincerely. 'But perhaps you can daydream another time. You have fifty-four unfinished forms to review, and a meeting with the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four in four minutes and seven seconds.'

Steven looks down at his opulent oak desk. In the corner where his paperwork sits in two piles, the 'In' section has a stack of thick folders several inches high, and the 'Out' has only two.

"I really need to gather a task force to review what gets sent to me. So much of this is junk or just redundant," the Devon heir sighs and sinks into his plush office chair as Metagross just chuckles, a sound so deep it rumbles the floor. Faintly in the back of his mind, Steven feels his pokemon's amusement. It's no greater than a tickle, but the alien feeling, so far removed from what a human might ever feel or even perceive to be emotion, makes his skin break out into goosebumps.

Steven jiggles the mouse of his computer to pull it from sleep mode and opens his email, silently groaning when he finds yet another hundred or so waiting to be read. He ignores them for now and opens his calendar, clicking on a meeting link within. From there, he mutes his microphone and leans back.

Rarely do they ever need his input, and he doubts today will be any different.

Over the next few minutes, several other names pop up on his computer screen. First is Roxanne, ever punctual and the usual leader of these meetings. Petalburg's Norman is next, with Mauville city's Wattson following shortly after, Sootopolis Gym Leader and Steven's best friend, Wallace is next. Dewford's Brawly, Fortree's Winona, and Mossdeep's Liza/Tate pop in one after another. The Elite Four- Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia, and Drake all enter at once, no doubt using a meeting room a few floors below Steven. The only one missing is...

"Is Moore having computer troubles again?" Norman's faintly amused voice asks, the microphone icon by his name flashing.

"Seems like it," Wattson laughs. "The old coot can barely work a toaster."

Sidney's scoff conveys his sneer better than any camera feed could. "Maybe he should retire rather than waste our time."

"No need to be hostile," Roxanne jumps in to play mediator at the first sign of trouble. "I'm sure he'll figure it out."

Just as Rustboro's Gym Leader says that, the name, Moore - Lavaridge, appears on the screen.

"There you go, grandpa. It just needed a reboot I think," the sound of a young woman's voice comes from Moore's icon.

"Thank you, dear. Damn computers, they were easier back then, I swear..." An older man's voice comes from Moore now. "Sorry, everyone! The old confuser was on the fritz!"

"It's no problem, Moore. Thank you," Roxanne says quickly before a certain someone can sling an insult. "If we're all here, let's begin. Moore? You said you had big news?"

"I do!" The old man laughs. "I am both happy and a little sad to announce that I'll be retiring this year and handing the Gym over to my granddaughter, Flannery."

There are murmurs of surprise over the line and even Steven feels one of his eyebrows rise.

"I thought we were the psychic ones here, Tate." Liza giggles

"I have trained her diligently for this day, and she, in turn, has trained her pokemon for the rigors of being a Gym Leader," Moore presses on past Liza's interruption. "All the paperwork is done and just needs to be sent in. In the next month or two, I'll turn her loose to run things on her own. I've even got her here with me to see how we do things. Say hello, dear!"

"Err, hi everyone..." The young woman greets unsurely, getting a few quiet welcomes from several of the other Gym Leaders.

Steven unmutes himself for a moment with a smile. "That's very exciting news, Moore. I have no doubt that Flannery will be a great Gym Leader. We're all going to miss you here in the League, though. You were one of the best Elite Four members and Gym Leaders Hoenn has ever had. I'll have one of my pokemon head out to Lavaridge to pick up your paperwork in the next day or so." He says, muting himself afterward.

"Ohhh, can't wait for the Magcargo mail to get rid of me, eh?" Moore chuckles. "But thank you, Steven. Ty and I are getting old, and it's time to do everything we couldn't when we were young. Wattson! Drake!" Moore suddenly exclaims. "You two are the only ones left of the old guard. Don't let the kids get into trouble, you hear?"

Drake merely grunts, but Wattson lets out a hearty laugh. "What do you take us for?"

"Speaking of new things," Winona leaves off. "We're a month and some change into the new league year. Has anyone had any interesting challengers so far?"

Most answers are negative, with Wallace being the only exception. "Ah! I had a splendid young woman with a beautiful team challenge me just yesterday!"

Steven can almost hear everyone's eyes rolling at his best friend's words.

"Did they win?" Phoebe asks despite everyone knowing the answer.

"They did not, but they were as graceful in defeat as they were in issuing their challenge!"

"Wallace, dear, perhaps tell us when you have a challenger that excels in battle prowess rather than aesthetics..." Glacia dryly says what's on everyone's mind. "Roxanne, Brawly, you two have been silent. Have any trainers of note crossed your path?"

The champion's mind is instantly taken back to several weeks prior when he and Metagross watched one of Roxanne's lessons turned gym challenge live. The scarred, passionate visage of Lee Henson is impossible to forget.

Equally difficult to forget are his pokemon, a rare Vulpix that prevailed against Roxanne's Nosepass with techniques he had never heard of before, and a Corvisquire, a Galarian pokemon Steven had never even seen in person before that day.

The eyes of that Vulpix, even exhausted, burned with unmistakable power. It's only a matter of time before she and Metagross clash, and by then, she'll have matured into a worthy adversary.

"Indeed I have," Roxanne's contemplating voice breaks Steven's thoughts. "Three, to be exact."

Three? Brendan Birch and Lee Henson are surely two of them, but who is the last one?

"The first was an older trainer in his twenties, a Lab Trainer under Professor Birch by the name of Lee Henson," Roxanne begins. "I offered to count a demonstration battle for my class as an official challenge, citing the... lackluster learning material mandated by the League Education Committee. He used a Corvisquire and a Vulpix against my personal team."

That draws a few exclamations from a few of the gathered Gym Leaders. "Lab Trainer, eh?" Wattson hums. "I thought Birch's son was starting this year, and the other slot was going to your daughter, Norman?"

"I decided that May would have more fun on her journey without needing to answer to Nigel, so I am paying for her expenses," Norman answers simply. "It seemed unfair to have Nigel use his only two slots on children anyway. I hope the League board provides him more next year."

"Well, it looks like the professor chose wisely, as both Lee Henson and Brendan Birch defeated my personal team," Roxanne reveals, starting another round of startled chatter. "Lee's fighting style is difficult to pin down, and it seems like he even changed tactics part way through our battle, though he is fond of using status moves to place his team into a favorable position. Corvisquire displayed a mastery of Extremespeed, and his Vulpix was somehow able to control her Fire attacks mid-flight, connecting projectiles even with her line-of-sight obscured. Lee's claims of his research being focused on pokemon moves and techniques certainly hold water."

"Mastery of Extremespeed?" Winona wonders aloud.

"...Controlling Fire moves after launch, hmm?" Moore hums. "Interesting..."

'She didn't tell them about their telepathy?' The champion wonders. 'Well, I'll not rock the boat. If they can cultivate such a skill in such a short amount of time, I think they deserve the advantage.'

"Brendan, meanwhile, is very much his father's son, and played to his pokemon's strengths well," Roxanne continues, ignoring the comments like she would a rowdy class. "He and his Shroomish were content to take the battle slowly, refusing to fall into the trap of moving too fast as many young trainers do. I had to end the first round in a double knockout with Geodude's Self Destruct, lest Shroomish become a thorn in Nosepass's side. His Mudkip evolved mid-battle into Marshtomp, thus rendering Nosepass's electric moves useless. Brendan and Marshtomp capitalized on this and ended the match with Marshtomp's newfound power."

"That's the Birch family for ya," Wattson cuts in. "Be glad most of you weren't Gym Leaders twenty years ago because Nigel Birch was a Gym-sinking terror. You'd play right into his hands without even knowing it and end up crushed. The academic community might give little Nigel the cold shoulder for his short tenure, but none of them would dare slight him to his face." He guffaws. "I bet that kid Brendan had his moves planned several steps in advance just like his pops always did."

"It certainly seemed like it..." Roxanne murmurs. "The last trainer, who just departed for Dewford several days ago is Ash Ketchum."

"Ash?" Norman asks, incredulous.

"I take it you've met him?" Roxanne asks. "Your children were with him and his other friend Brock."

The mic symbol next to Norman's name blips when he bumps something on his desk. "Yes, I've met Ash and Brock, they're good kids. Ash and I had a short practice bout when we were... interrupted by some hooligans calling themselves Team Rocket."

"...So you've met them too..." Roxanne's irritation is almost too quiet to hear.

"We sent them packing and filed a police report," Norman sighs. "I thought they were cosplayers or some practical jokers..."

"The furthest thing, actually. The Rockets were an organized crime ring that terrorized Kanto and Johto for years," Moore openly growls. "Even after they were broken up, cells still pop up here and there. Hoenn police should be on high-alert for them," he says, obviously directing his last line at Steven.

Steven unmutes himself for a moment, "Of course, I'll notify the League Law Enforcement command and the Rangers." He mutes himself again and frowns. 'Why is a foreign gang suddenly encroaching on Hoenn?'

'New victims, new opportunities, escaping law enforcement already looking for them, or just on a whim?' Metagross silently provides. 'The motives of criminals are often illogical and can vary drastically.'

'You're right. We're not letting them get a foothold here though,' Steven's face darkens.

'Certainly not.'

Roxanne clears her throat. "Ash Ketchum is one of Professor Oak's Lab Trainers and proved it in our match. He asked to face my true team, and I agreed even if I was doubtful of his ability. He played to his Seedot's strengths in an unorthodox way, using Rollout, stopping just long enough to cast Absorb, then using Rollout to escape my Geodude's retaliation. We eventually hit Seedot with a Mega Punch for a knockout, but by then Geodude was in no condition to face Ash's Pikachu."

Brawly whistles. "An Electric-type against a Ground-type? That's bold."

"Indeed, but Pikachu's impressive speed and use of Iron Tail secured him the win against Geodude. Nosepass put up a valiant fight, and Pikachu was hurting after their match, but Ash's pragmatic strategy of keeping out of reach with Pikachu's speed and punishing openings with lightning-fast Iron Tail attacks proved effective, even when Nosepass used Sandstorm to try and keep Pikachu at bay."

A contemplative silence descends upon the call, then Dewford's Gym Leader clears his throat and takes the reins. "Guess it's my turn, then." Brawly's smile can be heard in his voice. "My list is more or less the same as Roxanne's. We battled Brendan and Lee just two days ago. Lee's Vulpix and Corvisquire took on Machoke and Hariyama."

"Hariyama?" Drake's gravelly voice speaks for the first time in the meeting. "Which one?"

Brawly laughs. "My dad's starter."

"I didn't think that old mountain was still kicking," The old dragon tamer grunts. "Salamence still remembers him... So the Lee boy lost, then?"

"Nope."

You could hear a pin drop in the following silence.

"Well, it ended in a draw I felt was worth a badge," Brawly hastily explains. "Machoke could only get one good hit on Vulpix before she blew him away with a storm of Embers, and Hariyama weathered a huge Firespin to knock out Vulpix. Hariyama then fought Corvisquire, and the type advantage tipped the scales just a little too much, so Covisquire's last ditch Drill Peck resulted in a double knockout. Hariyama is pushing sixty years old and has slowed down a lot over the years, but he's anything but a pushover," Brawly pauses. "That Corvisquire though...The little dude is hostility distilled into bird form. When he evolves, he's going to be a once-in-a-generation monster."

"I want to see it." Drake grumbles. "Don't bother explaining anymore. Someone play it on your screen. I want to see the other boy, Brendan, too."

It takes a moment, but Brawly shares his screen with everyone else and pulls up the battles that the local TV station captured.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Corvi! Get up high and use Hone Claws!"

"Machoke! Rock Tomb!"

"Corvi, move in with Extremespeed! Then Pluck!"

"Machoke! Be ready with Thunder Punch!"

"It looks like Lee is using his substitution! Why sub now? And who will he send in?"

"Lee is sending in Vulpix! How will this little fox compare to Machoke?"

"Bulk Up! Then Karate Chop! No more playing defense!"

"Ember!"

"What a turn! Machoke proves his power with a huge hit using Dig! Poor Vulpix nearly had her lights knocked out!"

Then the Embers start to fly again.

One Ember explodes against his arms and Machoke grits his teeth.

Two, three, four, five, six, and the Fighting-type groans.

Seven, eight, nine, ten, twenty, thirty, and he can't help but cry out as smoke overtakes his form.

Forty, fifty, seventy, and finally the last one strikes and detonates.

"Machoke!"

An air horn blares. "It's over! Machoke is unable to battle! Vulpix is the winner of round one!"

"This pokemon... He belonged to my father and was passed down to me when I took the mantle of Gym Leader. He's helped me a lot over the years, and I've stepped away from borrowing his power, but I know when I need help out of a bind."

Several of the younger Gym Leaders gasp when they see the huge Hariyama.

"Match two, Hariyama vs Vulpix, begin!"

"Firespin!" An inferno overwhelms the cameras.

"My word..." Moore mutters. Flannery can be heard squeaking behind him.

"Vulpix is unable to battle! Hariyama is the winner of the second match!"

"Final match! Corvisquire versus Hariyama! Begin!"

"Corvisquire, Extremespeed! Hit him where it hurts!"

"Is that Corvisqure fighting and using Extremespeed with a broken wing?" Winona sounds equal parts aghast and disbelieving.

Brawly's answer is quick. "As I said, that bird is powered by raw fury."

"No you don't! Defend yourself with Whirlwind!"

Beak meets palm, and Flying meets Fighting in a contest as old as the pokemon world.

The whole tornado glows with the clash, crackling red versus screaming blue. Blue overtakes red, and the Flying energy overpowers the Fighting with an explosion that kicks up a huge cloud of dust.

"That's it! Round three ends in a double knockout! This match is a draw!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Brawly lets the video end and jumps right into Brendan's match before anyone can comment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shroomish, start this off with Poison Powder!"

"Mienfoo, circle around and use Acrobatics!"

Mienfoo does as instructed, but runs face-first into a cloud of purple when Shroomish throws out Poison Powder from every direction.

"Shroomish, back up and use Leech Seed!"

"End it fast, Mienfoo!"

The chubby Shroomish dances around every strike with a little twirl as his weasel-like opponent grows weaker and weaker. Then in a burst of desperation, the Fighting-type lands a critically placed Acrobatics and knocks Shroomish out.

"Shroomish is unable to battle! Mienfoo is the winner of round one!"

"Go! Marshtomp!"

Wallace gasps. "What a robust Water-type! The good professor certainly picked only the finest pokemon for his child. Look at his height, his muscles, his vibrant color! This Marshtomp is beautiful!" The mightiest Hoenn Gym Leader gushes.

"Fruit…" Sidney murmurs.

"Oh! Mienfoo is down with only one punch! Who will Brawly pick next?"

"Hitmonchan! You're up!"

What follows is a brutal slugfest, where Hitmonchan rapidly loses ground and stamina while Marshtomp only laughs and strikes harder. Even the camera hovering above rattles from the furious exchange.

"Hitmonchan! Ice Punch!"

Marshtomp takes the attack right to the face with barely a flinch. Then he laughs and lashes out with a punch to Hitmonchan's stomach that makes the Fighting-type double over.

Steven can hear a few of the watchers mutter in sympathy for Hitmonchan.

"Marshtomp! Seismic Toss!"

Crash!

"Hitmonchan is unable to battle! Marshtomp is the winner of round three! Marshtomp and Brendan win the challenge!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Brawly lets the video end. "Ah, I admit if I had Machoke or Hariyama, I think I could have beaten Brendan. Hard to say, however, because that Marshtomp was insane."

"Hrm. These two are worth watching, I guess," Sidney clicks his tongue. "Is this meeting over yet? I ain't getting any younger here."

"There was also Dewford's local event, the Brawl on the Beach, where Lee and his partner Zinnia Draconid won."

'Like the Draconids in Meteor Falls?' Steven wonders with only Metagross to hear it.

Drake's attention is instantly captured again. "Draconid?" He asks sharply. "Play it. Skip everything else."

Brawly obliges. "We'll do just the last one, it's the good part."

He opens the video, and everyone, Steven included, watches closely. The champion can't help but notice that Sidney goes suspiciously quiet as soon as a teen boy in black is called to battle Lee and Zinnia.

As soon as they all witness Vulpix's Convergence in action, Steven knows there are wide eyes all around even without a video feed, as he himself blinks owlishly at the attack he's never seen before.

Tate, brother of Liza and one of the Gym Leaders of Mossdeep is quick to ask something. "Mister Moore? I've never heard of that Fire move. Do you know it?"

"...No. No I do not..." The Fire-type master quietly replies. Even Steven is taken aback by the answer.

"Hrm..." Wattson snorts. "Moore, my buddy ol' pal, I don't think old Drake and I can keep that promise about keeping an eye on the youngsters if they're going to be this much trouble."

Drake makes no comment, and Steven knows it's because his eyes are locked on the tanned young woman, Zinnia.

 

Theft at Devon Thwarted.

By: Amelia Thatch

Earlier this week in Rustboro City, where the headquarters of The Devon Corporation is stationed, a gang member from the eco-radicalist group known simply as Aqua attempted to steal experimental Devon technology.

Readers might know Devon for their numerous mining subsidiaries or their wide array of household products, but the company has also dabbled in many trainer-focused technologies such as the PokeNav, new pokeball variants, pokemon medicines, and other tools to aid trainers.

In an official statement delivered from Mr. Joseph Stone, owner and president of Devon Corp, the thief entered into the restricted section of Devon's R&D laboratories by posing as a member of the public and taking one of the weekly tours of non-restricted areas. He then released his Crawdaunt, and after overwhelming on-site security, threatened harm to tour-goers until a security officer relinquished his keycard to the laboratory.

Before the thief could escape, he was confronted by Kanto-born trainer Ash Ketchum, one of Professor Samuel Oak's professional Lab Trainers, and then promptly defeated in an intense pokemon battle. The stolen goods were recovered, but the gang member managed to escape arrest, and the Rustboro PD urges the public to remain alert for suspicious activity.

"While this was a frightening experience, we came out of it without any bloodshed and wiser than before." Joseph Stone said in an interview. "I trust our men, women and 'mons of R.P.D. to catch the perpetrator and bring him to justice. We will also be putting tours of our facility on hold for some time as we review our security procedures and hire additional officers. The safety of both our staff and visitors is paramount."

Mr. Stone declined to comment on what the thief was attempting to steal.

"I couldn't just let him go!" Ash Ketchum was passionate during our interview with him. The twelve-year-old veteran of both the Indigo League and Silver Conference had this to say; "Stealing is wrong, it's as simple as that. I don't know why he was after Devon's technology, but he was up to no good. Being a pokemon trainer has taught me to trust my gut, and my gut said I couldn't let him get away."

The young trainer's take is as down-to-earth as it is refreshing, but Ash declined to answer any further questions and asked Hoenn News Network to contact Professor Samuel Oak for anything further. Ash recently battled Rusboro's Roxanne in a gym challenge, so be sure to click here to see the HNN highlight reel!

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-------------------------------------------------
Lee looks up from his phone when the ship's horn blows, signaling that they're coming into port.

The trip to Slateport via cargo ship proved to be much more leisurely than the ride to Dewford. The weather stayed beautiful and sunny, and Brendan made sure to bring nausea medication this time, meaning he wasn't confined to his bed with a face as green as Grovyle's scales. The rooms were much the same as last time as well.

"Maw!"

"Yeouch!"

The older trainer hisses and plucks the dozing Vulpix from his lap. He deposits both his phone and the drowsy vixen on the lumpy bed, ignoring her telepathic irritation, and hops to his feet.

Over on Brendan's bed, the boy cradles his bleeding hand as his Mawile hisses and backs away. Between them lies a pile of misshapen teeth carefully extracted from Mawile's overcrowded jaws.

Brendan must have tugged on a painful one that isn't ready to come out.

"Timeout, both of you!" Lee frowns and slowly steps closer, keeping a careful eye on this still hissing Mawile as he does so. When she opens her jaws a little wider in a clear threat display, Lee stops his advance and slides over to Brendan.

The younger trainer holds his hand with narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. "What's the deal, Mawile?! I'm trying to help!" He exclaims loudly, his voice cracking somewhat.

Mawile just glares at him with her red eyes and hisses much like a crocodile would, making her sound much larger than she is.

'C'mon...'

"I said enough!" Lee finally raises his voice, stopping both Mawile and Brendan short. Out of the corner of his eye, Lee sees Zinnia finally stop playing with Goomy and pay attention to the commotion. "Zinnia? Can you get my first aid kit from my bag please?"

The woman sets Goomy down on the bed so she can get up to get Lee's bag, but Brendan is quick to protest. "I can dress my own cuts, Lee. I'm not a kid..." the Birch heir grounds out harshly. "If I needed help, I would ask."

Lee doesn't need his bond with Vulpix to notice her irritation with the younger trainer's attitude, as her face portrays her thoughts perfectly. 'Marshtomp and Shroomish were cakewalks, 'Pix,' Lee sends to her. 'He's just a kid, a talented one at that. It's natural that he would get frustrated when he comes across something he can't get right on the first try.'

Vulpix sniffs, but lets the issue drop in favor of laying her head down and dozing off.

'You've been sleeping a lot during the day. Are you feeling okay? Not sleeping well?'

A flicker of dismissal is the only answer.

Lee frowns and makes a mental note to look into it later. Right now, he's got bigger fish to fry. He turns his attention back to Brendan and Mawile. "I understand, Brendan, but sometimes you need help whether you like it or not. Dental work is delicate stuff, and tooth pain is one of the most distressing experiences an ani-pokemon can endure," Lee nearly trips over his words with a grimace. "Go hang out with Vulpix and bandage up your hand while I finish up Mawile's tooth extraction. When she's past the worst of it, I can teach you how to spot a tooth that needs to come out and the safe way to do it, yeah? It's not something you'll have to do often."

For a second, Lee fears that Brendan is going to put up a fight, judging from the glower that darkens his face, but then he sighs and stands from the bed. "Okay... Sorry I didn't notice you were in pain earlier, Mawile," he says quietly, meeting the deceiver pokemon's eyes.

Mawile's face remains blank.

Lee claps Brendan on the shoulder before he can walk off. "You did a good job, Brendan. If we weren't on a rocking ship, I'm sure you would have gotten her fixed up easily," Lee smiles.

The boy trainer returns the smile with a small one of his own.

Brendan takes his bag over to Lee's bed and pulls out a small roll of bandages before sitting down. Vulpix huffs and flicks an ear when the motion awakens her again, but she still crawls into Brendan's lap before shutting her eyes again.

Seeing that she's not needed anymore, Zinnia shrugs and returns to laying back and petting Goomy, who coos and gurgles in delight.

Lee steps back over to his little corner of the ship cabin to grab his own backpack and withdraw his berry case. Popping it open, he shakes his head when he finds that he's low on Oran. Again. He also spares a glance at Brendan and is satisfied to see the boy disinfect the cut across the back of his hand and wrap it tightly.

Walking back to the still wary Mawile, Lee seats himself and shows her the berries in his hand. "I'm going to crush these into a paste and then we'll rub your gums down with it, okay?" He asks slowly. Without waiting for an answer, he sets one down between them. "You can sample one if you want. It's just a normal Oran."

Mawile's distrustful gaze softens slightly, and she steps closer to take the offered berry. She inspects the blue fruit in her little hands carefully, sniffing it a few times, then takes a bite with her smaller, front-facing mouth. The tension in her shoulders eases somewhat.

"See? Easy." Lee smiles, taking care to not display his teeth as usual. After pulling his gloves off, he cups his hands and crushes the other Oran into a thin mush as Mawile watches and munches on her treat. She hesitates when Lee twirls a finger telling her to turn around, but she presents her crooked jaws to him, looking back at him the entire time.

"Modified horns my ass, this is a full mouth..." Lee mutters, looking at all the pearly razors that would make a crocodile green with envy. Her gums are swollen and even bleeding in places, definitely owing to the teeth all trying to overtake each other. Lee dabs his fingers in the blue paste in his hand and gently rubs the Oran mixture along Mawile's gums, stopping for a second whenever she flinches. The entire time, Lee is careful to not let any part of his hand linger between her teeth any longer than needed.

'One bite, and off goes my hand. I can only imagine the sheer power of these teeth if they can rend an Aron to bits and pierce Marshtomp's skin.'

"Hey, Lee? Is Mawile always going to pop teeth out?" Brendan asks, stroking the sleeping fox in his lap.

Lee nods absently as he works. "From what I can tell, yeah," He pokes Mawile's drooling tongue to keep her from licking at the Oran soaking into the roots of her teeth. Then with feather-light touches, he carefully prods her teeth to find loose ones. "She's what's called a polyphyodont."

"A poly phone what?" Zinnia perks her head up off her pillow to blink curiously. Brendan likewise looks lost.

"A polyphyodont is a... pokemon that continually sheds and regrows teeth, usually because they're often used," Lee explains, nearly tripping and saying 'animal' again. He pauses to finger a wiggly tooth, and when Mawile doesn't flinch, he grabs it between his index finger and his thumb and gives it a short tug. With a quiet 'shlick', the tooth comes free and is tossed into the pile. "Normally you see it in certain reptilian and fish pokemon, like the Sharpedo, Garchomp, or Sceptile line, but some mammals like Mawile can be polyphyodonts too. When your teeth are your main mode of attack, it makes sense to be able to replace them when one is damaged. Mawile's mouth is overcrowded at the moment, so this is not the norm."

As he gives his impromptu lecture, Lee's hands keep moving, slowly removing several more loose teeth and dropping them into the pile. Lee stops, then tenderly runs his hands over a few spots where teeth are still trying to grow over each other, but none of the remainders wiggle like they're ready to come out. "Well, it's not perfect, but this should keep the pain down until we get to the Pokemon Center and have a professional perform something more comprehensive. Thank you, Mawile."

The little pokemon tilts her head at being addressed. "Maa?"

"Normally my patients aren't so understanding when I root around in their mouths without proper anesthesia," Lee chuckles and stands, walking to the small bathroom to wash off his hands. "The boat sh-"

"Attention all guests," The old PA system crackles to life, echoing up and down the ship. "This is your captain speaking. We've docked in Slateport. The time is 2:45 PM, and the weather is clear and sunny. Thank you for riding with us, and please disembark on the starboard side."

"...Should be docking any minute," Lee finishes with an eye roll. He flicks the faucet on, cleans his hands off, and dons his gloves again. "Let's roll."

Brendan and Zinnia both withdraw pokeballs. "Mawile, return!" "Goomy, return!"

Both pokemon are recalled back to their balls in flashes of red light. Brendan then shakes Vulpix awake, who yawns and stands, letting Brendan get up to gather his things.

Lee shoulders his bag and lets his fox leap to his shoulder, where she settles but remains awake.

It takes the three trainers only a minute or so to stuff their belongings away and exit their room. Brendan throws open the door leading out and nearly bowls over a Meowth standing in the way.

"Erk! Sorry?" Brendan apologizes when the Meowth rears up on his hind legs and hisses.

The cat pokemon hisses again and scrambles away into another open cabin door, his tail fluffing up as he does so. Then; "Meowth? Were you out there making trouble again?"

Lee and Zinnia step into the hallway just as a man exits the other cabin with the Meowth trailing at his heels. The man smiles at the group. "Hi there. Name's Tyson. Sorry if Meowth was being a pest. He does that." He leans down to stroke the cat pokemon along his back.

The beige cat looks totally unrepentant and just soaks in his trainer's affection with a purr.

The man before them looks to be a young adult, a bit younger than Lee and probably closer to Zinnia's 19 years of age. His brown hair is several inches long and lightly swept back, matching his brown eyes. Garbed in an open, light green jacket, a darker green shirt, simple cargo pants and plain boots, it would be easy to lose him in a crowd.

"No, it's cool. I shouldn't have opened the door so fast," Brendan returns Tyson's smile with a sheepish one of his own. "My name is Brendan Birch, and this is Lee and Zinnia," the Birch heir introduces the group, pointing to Lee and Zinnia in turn.

Zinnia raises a hand in a casual wave. "Heya."

"It's a pleasure, Tyson," Lee nods absently. 'Where have I seen this guy before? I know I have... Some part of the anime? Let's dig, shall we?' "What brings you to Slateport?"

"It's not really Slateport in particular I'm going to," He begins, falling into step with the other three trainers as they continue off the ship. "My hometown is in Mauville, and after blowing the Gym Challenge big time a few years ago, I traveled around and trained my team..." Tyson lets out a wistful sigh. "Wattson curbstomped us, and I... kind of gave up."

Zinnia snorts and crosses her arms. "If you're that much of a quitter, then you're not going to go far in the world, let alone a gym circuit."

'Zinnia!'

Both Brendan and Lee shoot the dragon tamer glares, but Tyson just shakes his head ruefully. "You're not wrong, hence our little sabbatical," he mutters. At his feet. Meowth mewls softly and rubs up against his leg.

The group exits the ship and finds themselves on the sunny deck, making Lee blink his eyes in the bright sun. He turns his head slightly so less sunlight can sting the lines marring his face. When his vision finally adjusts to the sudden brightness, he looks at Slateport and feels his eyebrows rise.

The port city is a true metropolis, with sleek high rise buildings that dominate the skyline and sidewalks packed with people and pokemon. The port is massive, easily dwarfing Dewford's. Tankers, cargo ships, and cruise ships crowd the docks as other ships, smaller boats, and even a number of Water-type pokemon weave between each other in a complex dance. To his amusement, Lee even sees an Empoleon casually towing a small sailboat with a broken mast. The crew of the damaged boat all lean over the side rails with spirits low.

"But I think we're strong enough to make a difference this time. It was arrogant of me to think I could take on Wattson's real team back then, but I believe that my team can do it now." Tyson's bright smile is dazzling like the sun and drags Lee's attention back to the conversation as they descend the ramp to the terminal the cargo ship is moored to. "So I'm on my way home to reunite with my family, beat Wattson, and then challenge the rest of Hoenn."

"Heh, good luck!" Brendan laughs and pats the pokeballs on his belt. "Cuz Lee and I are taking the Gym Challenge too! Both of us already beat Roxanne and Brawly going all out!"

Tyson's eyes widen. "Really?" Do you have the badges?" He asks.

The group steps out into the terminal and several paces away from the ramp before Brendan fishes the badge case from his backpack. With a proud grin, he pops the case open to show the two badges inside.

Tyson almost reaches out, but stops himself short. "May I?"

Grin dropping into an expression of wariness, Brendan mulls it over and slowly nods.

The older trainer lifts the Knuckle Badge from the case and turns it around, his eyes widening even more. "No way..."

Lee steps a little closer to see what Tyson is looking at. Peering over the slightly shorter man's shoulder, he finds a tiny B engraved into the back of the badge. It's outlined in what looks like a laser-etched QR code.

Tyson replaces the badge and picks up the Stone Badge. The back of it has an R engraved into the metal with the same code-like pattern around the letter.

Standing on the tips of her toes, Zinnia looks over Tyson's shoulder to see the little mark as well. "What does that mean?" Zinnia asks, raising a brow.

"You guys don't know...?" Brendan blinks.

"If you beat a Gym Leader," Tyson begins, putting the badge back in Brendan's case. "Then you get a badge, everyone knows that. What a lot of people don't know is if you really beat a Gym Leader, then the badge will have a mark on the back, and that badge qualifies you for the Ever Grande Conference for three years rather than the standard two."

'Note to self. Finish that rulebook. That would have been nice to know...' Lee sighs.

"If it's not too much to ask, could I bother you for a battle?" Tyson asks, catching Lee's eyes with his own. "Sorry if this is too sudden," the brunette man laughs nervously. "But I want to know how well I stack up against trainers who can go toe-to-toe with Gym Leaders."

"I don't see why not," Lee shrugs. "Let's find a battleground."

-----------------------------------------------------------------
The walk to the battleground is a short one, as just off the terminal where the cargo ship landed, there's a large, circular shopping plaza bustling with sailors, tourists, and a dizzying menagerie of pokemon. The center of the plaza is dominated by a towering two-story-tall fountain featuring a slew of stone water pokemon statues spraying jets of crystal-clear water into the shallow pool below, and onto a Slowbro who rests in the cool water half-asleep. Around the massive fountain, several pokemon battlegrounds marked with white paint sit ready to be used.

"Does one on one work for you?" Lee asks as he and Vulpix take his side of their chosen field. "I've still got one down from the battle with Brawly."

Tyson's visage sours when the Gym Leader is mentioned, but he covers it up immediately. "I was about to suggest the same thing!" Tyson calls. His hand throws back his jacket, revealing six pokeballs on his belt that his hand hovers over.

"Brendan?" Lee calls the boy. "Care to ref?"

He smiles. "Sure thing!" Brendan bounds to the side of the arena and clears his throat. "This will be a one-on-one match between Lee of Littleroot and Tyson of Mauville! The battle will end when either pokemon is no longer able to fight. Select your first pokemon!"

A crowd quickly gathers around the arena as the people watching realize a battle is about to start. Already, cellphones and PokeNavs appear in people's hands, ready to capture the action.

Lee draws Grovyle's ball from his belt and enlarges it as Tyson pulls one from his. Reeling his hand back, the zoologist tosses his ball in with Tyson following suit a second later.

"Grovyle! You're up!"

"Donphan! Let's go!"

Grovyle materializes on Lee's side in a crouch, one hand planted against the ground, his eyes closed. Slowly, he rises, shifting his twig to the corner of his mouth and crossing his arms. His eyes snap open, then he dismissively scans the on-lookers, who eat up the dramatic intro with cheers.

Lee shakes his head as he feels Vulpix's exasperation. 'Just let him have his theatrics.'

When the bright white light clears around Tyson's pokemon, it reveals a scowling Donphan.

The squat pokemon resembles an armored elephant just a bit over four feet tall at the highest point of his hunched back. Thick, rock-like armor covers the outside of his trunk and continues up his back, covering both his long ears and tail. Long ivory tusks shine in the sunlight just below Donphan's narrowed eyes. The pokemon's body carries small, discolored scars and chips in his armor here and there, much like the marks across Grovyle's torso.

Donphan raises his trunk and cows the small crowd with a trumpeting, bone-shaking cry that echoes off of the tall Slateport buildings in the distance.

'Huh, that's a fearsome pokemon. Less so than Absol, though. I hope we don't discourage him enough that he gives up again.' Lee shrugs. 'I wish I knew where this Tyson guy was from in the anime, though...'

"Begin!" Brendan chops a hand down.

Tyson's eyes narrow and focus solely on the pokemon in the arena "Focus Energy!" Tyson wastes no time calling out an order.

'Uh oh...' Lee frowns. "Grovyle, circle and use Leaf Blade!"

"Catch and punish him, Donphan!" Tyson's mouth is moving before the last syllable of Lee's order is even out of his mouth.

Donphan lets out another trumpeting cry and raises his trunk, orange energy crackling like lightning around his body briefly. His narrow eyes shine with cruel intent.

At the same time. Grovyle raises his arm, the leaves on his wrist growing into rigid Leaf Blades. Then without needing to be told, the white aura of Quick Attack bursts to life around him before he charges forward as a featureless blur of green, curving to come in on Donphan's left.

Donphan moves.

Before Leaf Blade can tear into Donphan's hide, his trunk comes down like lightning and wraps around Grovyle's wrist in one precise movement, stopping Leaf Blade dead just an inch short of landing. Grovyle seems stunned, then struggles to pull himself free, but Donphan doesn't budge or even look as if he's straining his muscles keeping a hold on Grovyle.

"What the hell?" The words pour from Lee's mouth unbidden. At the side of the arena, even Brendan seems dumbfounded from how easily Grovyle was stopped. Zinnia, who stands further back, looks on with her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline.

Donphan's scowl twists into a malicious smile, and with a simple flex of his trunk, Grovyle's wrist snaps like a dry twig, drawing a collective wince from everyone watching.

The gecko pokemon bites his lip hard enough to draw blood, but does not cry out.

"Other hand, Grovyle! Leaf Blade! Get him off of you!" A cold feeling settles Lee's stomach even as he gives the order.

Grovyle's first Leaf Blade powers down, and the leaves on his free hand, powered by desperation, flare into bright, humming blades.

"Deflect and punish with Fire Fang!" Tyson orders the instant before Grovyle swings.

Donphan's tusks burst into raging, crackling flames, and a simple twist of his trunk redirects Grovyle's attack into the closest tusk.

Leaf Blade and Fire Fang meet with the sound of steel-on-steel, and after a half-second, the Leaf Blade shatters.

The other tusk is then savagely driven into Grovyle's stomach right as Donphan releases the gecko pokemon's broken wrist from his trunk.

Grovyle's high pitched cry -almost screech- of agony is as harsh on Lee's ears as seeing his pokemon in pain is to his heart. Grovyle lands on the concrete ground and skids for several feet, breaking off scales and scraping the soft flesh underneath. He stops nearly at Lee's feet and lays on the ground, panting in short gasps.

Donphan takes a few heavy steps forward and snorts almost dismissively.

With a grimace, Grovyle slowly rises to his feet, cradling his snapped wrist as he glares daggers at the armored pokemon, drawing cheers and shouts of encouragement from the people watching. On his belly is an ugly burn, like a red-hot iron was pressed to his flesh, the leaves on his left arm are ragged and half-gone, and his right arm hangs limply at his side. From his view of Grovyle's back, Lee looks at the mess of scrapes and cuts with a grimace.

Tyson's focused eyes narrow a little further, almost to slits. "Superpower!" he almost roars.

Donphan rushes forward like a bullet-train, each step breaking the concrete ground below him as a shell of blinding red energy forms around him. Under the shell, the elephant pokemon's muscles all bulge with raised veins and ripple in sync with each step.

'Shit shit shit!' Lee panics. "Detect!"

Grovyle's eyes shine with sudden clarity, instantly chasing away the weariness that dominated them before, then with a tensing of his legs, he jumps over Donphan with less than an inch to spare.

Donphan grunts, then stops on a dime and jumps right along with Grovyle, making a shallow crater in the ground from the sheer strength of the leap.

Grovyle's Detect-powered eyes widen, and he rapidly charges Quick Attack to launch himself through the air to safety, but Donphan is just a hair too fast.

Like a boulder hurled from a catapult, Donphan hits Grovyle and dispels both Detect and Quick Attack. Grovyle's head brutally smashes off of Donphan's Superpowered hide, instantly knocking the Grass-type unconscious before he's thrown straight up from the force. At the apex of his flight, nearly as high as the fountain, Grovyle begins to fall, limp and dead to the world.

Lee's hand grabs Grovyle's ball with haste borne of terror, then his arm snaps out as he begins to yell "Return!"

Grovyle is caught by the beam of red and sucked back into his pokeball just ten feet away from a painful meeting with the ground.

Brendan looks between the unscathed Donphan and the spot where Grovyle was about to land with something akin to confusion. "Uhh. Grovyle is unable to battle. Tyson and Donphan are the winners?"

The onlookers break out into applause, but some look disgruntled, and Lee hears one old sailor grumble; "Only a minute? What a waste."

'Did that really take just a minute?' Lee wonders, his head feeling light and stomach-churning. 'How...?'

Vulpix nuzzles herself into the crook of his neck, psychically smothering him in waves of comfort, but it doesn't help.

Across the battleground, Tyson breaks out into a bright smile as Donphan returns to his side. The elephant's scowl drops off, replaced with a bright, bubbly expression that would be right at home on a Phanpy. He reaches his trunk up at his trainer, and Tyson gladly drops to a knee to accept a hug from Donphan. The trainer and pokemon break apart, and after saying something too quiet for Lee to hear, Donphan is returned to his ball.

"Good match, Lee!" Tyson smiles as he walks up with a hand held out. "Sorry if Donphan was a little rough on Grovyle. One of the lessons we learned on the road was to not give any quarter, or we could lose at any time. No hard feelings?"

Lee looks down at the offered hand. A spiteful, childish part of him wants to slap the hand away and tell Tyson to get lost, but after a brief internal struggle, the rational side wins out, if only barely. With a sigh, Lee reaches out and takes Tyson's hand in a weak handshake. "Yeah. No hard feelings..."

If the younger man senses the barely hidden hostility, he doesn't comment on it. Instead, he turns to the still dumbfounded Brendan and the now indifferent Zinnia. "It was nice meeting you all, but I've got to get going to Mauville. I hope we meet again, if not on the road, then in the Ever Grande Conference!"

The crowd disperses as Tyson walks to the north into Slateport proper with a wave behind him, leaving just Lee, Vulpix, Zinnia, and Brendan.

"Pokemon Center?" Zinnia suggests.

As they leave, the Slowbro in the fountain awakens and surveys the destruction of the battleground with a lazy eye. With a slow, almost casual wave of his paw, all the concrete fragments glow a light blue and fly back into their spots like time itself is being reversed, leaving the arena clean and in one piece.

The walk to Slateport's Pokemon Center is brisk and quiet. Vulpix stops trying to comfort Lee about half-way there when it's made apparent that she's being ignored. The vixen instead goes silent, but not before Lee hears a whisper quiet 'So*ry'.

Lee just kicks himself for what feels like the millionth time today.

When they get to the Pokemon Center, Lee swiftly checks-in Grovyle, followed by Brendan handing off Mawile's ball to a dental specialist that Nurse Joy calls from the back of the Center, then the group stops in the lounge area to enjoy some rest away from Slateport's muggy heat.

With a sleeping Vulpix in his lap, Lee leans back into the old couch in the secluded corner of the Center's main room with Zinnia on his right and Brendan on his left. Zinnia busies herself watching a young woman check in her Dratini with Nurse Joy at the front desk while a fidgeting Brendan looks through his pokedex.

Finally, Zinnia breaks the silence with a sharp exhale. "Okay, do you want me to give it to you straight, or spare your feelings and keep my mouth shut?" The dragon tamer looks at Lee. "Because I know which one I want to choose."

Lee blinks at suddenly being addressed. "I don't understand?"

"About why you lost that battle so badly," she says, brushing some hair behind her ear.

"There was nothing that could be done!" Brendan hotly speaks in Lee's defense. "That Donphan was too strong!"

"Brendan."

The boy stops when Zinnia actually uses his name. She crosses her arms and continues. "You've seen it too, and it's best to get it out now." Then she turns back to Lee, who is still lost. "I had my doubts back in Oldale when you said you were a beginner trainer, but as we've traveled, I've come to believe it. Your brains and prep work are top-notch, but you're a mediocre battler, Lee."

The words sting his pride much more than Lee cares to admit, and he struggles to suppress a flicker of anger. "What makes you say that?" He responds, careful to keep his tone neutral.

"You can never seem to settle on a style, for one." Zinnia begins, holding up a single finger. "You're all over the place, and not in a good way. Your pokemon are freaky powerful, probably because of how you care for them, and you rely way too much on that. They can overpower other pokemon easily and battle more-or-less on their own. You've got little tricks that can turn the tide of a fight, yeah, but you make choices that make me scratch my head sometimes."

Lee notices that Brendan doesn't come to his defense, and an unpleasant feeling he can't identify rolls around in his stomach. "And you have a style? I recall you just sort of went wild in Dewford."

Zinnia's face twists into a scowl and Lee instantly knows he misspoke. "You have some gall saying that. This isn't about me, so don't deflect it onto me. I do have a style of battling, and if you want to be like that, I'll be happy to demonstrate it."

A growl interrupts any further words, and everyone looks to the now awake Vulpix, who stands and glowers at Zinnia with her hackles raised.

"And you!" The draconid growls right back at the fire fox. "You're part of the problem! You're telepathic, aren't you?"

"What?" Lee's mind goes blank. "How did you...?"

"Telepathic..?" Brendan parrots in confusion.

Zinnia snorts. "I'm not stupid, so don't insult me by implying I am, Lee. I can put two and two together, and I can research to see what pokemon has what powers. I was just wondering how long you were going to keep it under wraps."

Lee isn't sure how to respond, and the sinking feeling in his stomach is too distracting to think of a reply anyway.

In the back of his mind, Vulpix begins feeding him an explan-

"Right there!" Zinnia's voice startles both Vulpix and Lee out of the mental exchange. The tanned woman points a finger at Vulpix, as if damning her. "You both spaced out for a second. Are you giving him answers and making decisions for him?"

Vulpix's answer is just a glare.

"You are, and you're enabling these bad habits," Zinnia accuses.

Now it's Lee's turn to glare. "Leave Vulpix out of this."

"I will if she stays out of our conversation," Zinnia counters without hesitation. Then she sighs and lets her expression soften just slightly. "Look, I'm not saying all of this just to be an asshole. Just let me finish, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, Zinnia bulldozes on. "One," she holds up a finger again. "You battle like you're just guessing, and you panic and pull last-second tricks when things go wrong. It works because your pokemon are powerful enough to make do, but up against someone with a refined style, or stronger pokemon, or both like that guy Tyson? It's going to fail every time. Two," a second finger rises. "You second guess yourself all the time, then let your pokemon decide for you. You are the trainer in the relationship so you should be the one calling the shots. It's fine to consult your team and stuff, but the roles of trainer and pokemon are the way they are for a reason. You've got to be confident to be a good trainer. Three," now three fingers are held up on her hand. "Stop being afraid of failure."

Affront floods Lee and he can't stop his offended reply. "I'm not."

"You are," Zinnia shoots back, her brows furrowing. "You can deny it all you want, maybe you don't even realize it, but you are. You stumble into battles and flail your way to victory, acting like losing means death. If it was Brendan or I or any other trainer who battled Tyson, we'd shake off the loss in a minute or two, because we know we can't win all the time. You're still moping and it's been nearly an hour."

"Is this the part where you tell me you're a psychiatrist or some shit?" Lee snaps, his emotions finally reaching a boiling point. "Go on. I'm waiting," he says with a sarcastic wave of his hand.

Zinnia's scowl deepens. "Work with Dragons sometime. You'll learn real fast that reading body language is a skill dragon tamers need. A skill that I thought you had, jackass. I guess not since you feel the need to insult my intelligence again." The dragon-tamer stands suddenly. "I dunno what kind of complex you've got, but fix it before it lands you with something worse than those," she points to the burn lines across Lee's face. "I'm going for a walk. Bye." With that, she turns and walks to the exit of the Center with a clipped pace.

"Wait!" Lee's plea stops Zinnia for a moment. "Why did you wait so long to say anything?"

"Why are you still holding things back from us?" She shoots back before quickly making her way out the door.

Lee is quiet for a moment, the anger bubbling in his chest clashing with a sudden surge of melancholy before both burn out, leaving him empty. Then he turns to a very uncomfortable-looking Brendan. "Brendan? Does... Does it seem like I have no idea what I'm doing in battles?"

Vulpix's almost instinctual attempt to telepathically deny the statement is halted when Lee places a palm on her head with a quiet hush.

The boy hesitates, his eyes looking around at anything but Lee's face. "Well... I always thought it was some kind of strategy that was just too complex for me to get. I didn't really know..?"

Slowly, Lee stands and Vulpix hops from his lap to the floor. He tries to think of what to do next, and Vulpix is silent in his mind. After a moment, he says; "I'm going to get a hotel room. I've got some things to think over. I'll text you the address and room number later, okay?"

The boy nods quickly, and Lee begins the aimless walk out of the Center's doors into the streets of Slateport.

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He and Vulpix weave through the people on the sidewalk, looking around without actually seeing anything. Vulpix keeps pace at his feet as they walk, seeming just as lost in thought as her trainer.

After almost thirty minutes of wandering, they come across a chain hotel that Lee's bleary mind judges as 'good enough', and a swipe of his debit card later, he and Vulpix are resting in a two bed hotel room with the lights off and the curtains drawn.

As he lays back in the bed, minus his boots, gloves, and jacket, Lee's mind keeps replaying Zinnia's words over and over again as he stares at the ceiling.

You battle like you're just guessing, and you panic and pull last-second tricks when things go wrong.

You second guess yourself all the time, then let your pokemon decide for you. You are the trainer in the relationship so you should be the one calling the shots.

Stop being afraid of failure.

With a sigh, Lee sits up and crosses his legs, drawing Vulpix's worried eyes from where she rests at his side. "Vulpix? Do you think..."

'You already know what she thinks.'

The former zookeeper stops himself short. "Should I..." He stops again and balls his hands up. "I don't..."

You second guess yourself all the time, then let your pokemon decide for you.

Lee grits his teeth. "Damn it!" he pounds a fist on the bed.

Vulpix watches on, but does not offer any comfort like she usually would. Slowly, she stands and pads her way to the foot of the bed, where Lee's backpack, discarded jacket, and pokeball belt lay. The vixen taps her pokeball with a paw and pulls Corvisquire's ball free with another. Her ball enlarges and sucks her inside as a mass of red light, and Corvisquire's shrunken pokeball freely rolls to rest against Lee's leg.

The action is so unexpected that it takes Lee a moment to process it, but her message to speak to someone else isn't lost to him.

'Does she think she's influencing me in some way? Zinnia's words didn't bug Vulpix that much, did they?' Lee silently ponders, taking Corvisquire's ball in his hand and enlarging it with a push of the button. 'I don't think she's influencing me. What does Zinnia know? She doesn't understand the full story.'

Lee falls back to the bed with a quiet poof from the covers, rolling Corvisquire's ball in his fingers as his jumbled thoughts bounce around in his head. "Maybe I do need someone to talk to about all this. I can barely focus..."

His thumb falls on the pokeball's button, and in a blinding flash of light, the ball pops open and deposits Corvisquire on the bed beside him.

The raven looks even more displeased than usual with his left wing still tightly wrapped with a splint and not due to be freed for another few days. He glances around the darkened room, and upon spying just Lee, who looks at the ceiling rather than him, some of Corvisquire's customary anger is traded for confusion.

"It's just us, Corvi," Lee quietly explains, turning his head enough to see the bird pokemon. "Some stuff happened today, and Vulpix thinks I should talk to someone other than her. Grovyle is hurt and still at the Pokemon Center, otherwise I'm sure he would have volunteered. Sorry for bothering you."

Corvisquire just sighs and sits, already looking disinterested.

"You don't have to respond back, if you could just listen, that would be great," Lee mutters, meeting Corvisquire's red eyes for a moment. The red eyes roll and the raven gives a noncommittal nod. "We battled a guy today, Tyson. It was a one on one between Grovyle and his Donphan, and Grovyle lost without even managing to scratch Donphan."

That gets Corvisquire's attention, making the corvid actually listen to Lee intently.

"It was frustrating, more than anything on our journey yet. I don't know why it bugged me so much," Lee growls. "Brawly could have just as easily said our draw wasn't worth a badge, and I don't think that would have upset me this much… We got to the Pokemon Center after the battle with Tyson and checked-in Grovyle. Brendan, Zinnia, and I sat and talked for a bit, and Zinnia said we lost because..." He pauses. "Because I rely too much on you guys being healthy and powerful, and that I'm not a good trainer for battling. Do you agree with that?"

Corvisquire unhelpfully trills in his throat. The sound is distinctly uncaring.

"Right..." Lee grimaces. "She also said I need to stop being afraid of failing, and that I need to get over it before I end up with something worse than these," he rubs the left side of his face, feeling the scars pull and stretch the healthy skin around them unpleasantly. "Corvi? I know she's told Grovyle bits, but has Vulpix told you where I got these?"

The bird is silent, then shakes his head in negation. If he was paying attention before, then he's truly focused now.

"I haven't told Brendan or Zinnia either, and I'm not sure when I will be ready to, but I know it has to be soon..." Lee takes a deep breath to brace himself. "Before I was a pokemon trainer, I lived in a place without pokemon at all. There, I made a living caring for animals. You know? The creatures that look like pokemon, but lack your spark or intelligence? We got warning when it was already too late that some unknown faction of humans used..." Lee stops as images flash before his eyes, and pushing them away without Vulpix's help is a struggle that makes his fists clench. "Bombs. Flying bombs with enough power to level an entire city. As far as I know, I was the only one to escape and it's a miracle that I did. It's a miracle that Vulpix found me and kept me sane. My animals, friends, and family are gone, and all I got for the trouble was a torn-up face as a bad memento."

Lee once again pauses, memories halting the words in his mouth. "Corvi?" He finally asks, voice little more than a whisper. "I've been thinking about them less and less. I'm just... out of tears I suppose. Or maybe I'm running away from the thoughts, I don't know." When the raven pokemon doesn't reply, Lee continues on before his nerve can give out. "When you evolve into a Corviknight, can you fly me to Littleroot? I want to make a grave for them. Just a little one, so they're not forgotten."

Corvisquire, who has been silent and listening with a blank face the entire time, slowly nods.

"Thank you..." Lee breathes, feeling a little lighter. "I'm sorry to have kept this from you for so long, but I wasn't sure how to say it. Maybe Zinnia is right. Maybe I do need to be more confident, or be more decisive. I'm just not sure how. What I am sure of, is I need to improve. I need to grow so you, Grovyle, and Vulpix can grow."

Corvisquire's scoff is much less venomous than expected.

With reluctance, Lee's hand snakes into his pocket and withdraws his wallet. From it, he pulls a little card he was given weeks ago.

1800-2134-9991

Post Traumatic Stress Specialists of Hoenn.

100% Confidential. All insurance types accepted.

He stares at the card for what feels like hours when really only a minute passes. Then he puts the card away and stuffs his wallet back in his pocket.

"I don't need that," he mutters. "Not yet." Feeling his eyelids grow heavy as the events of the day catch up with him, Lee turns to Corvisquire a bit more. "I'm just going to take a short nap, alright?"

With a sigh, the raven pokemon hops onto the other pillow and stomps a divot into it, then he seats himself and gets comfortable.

"Thanks, Corvi," Lee murmurs as his eyes drift shut.

 

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In the dim morning light that streams in through the mostly-drawn curtain of the hotel window, Lee sits on the edge of his bed and looks down at his hands.

He slept for several hours yesterday until a hungry and annoyed Corvisquire made his displeasure known with a nip to Lee's nose. After feeding the ornery raven and still-quiet Vulpix, Lee made the trek to the Pokemon Center to pick up Grovyle, who was on a no-battle advisory for two days until his wrist finished healing. The gecko pokemon was sullen over his loss, but a good meal perked him up.

He passed Zinnia in the street on the way back, and neither of them exchanged words, or even looked at each other.

The rest of the evening was spent in an uncomfortable silence with his pokemon, then by himself when his team decided to sleep in their balls. He tried to distract himself with a video from one of the Rustboro university courses, but his troubled mind refused to focus. Sleep escaped Lee until nearly midnight as he dwelt on Zinnia's words.

He thinks back to the weeks he's spent with Brendan and Zinnia. It seems like every other day there is a spar between them all, and Lee can count his team's losses on one hand with fingers to spare.

'Style. What did she mean by style?'

Zinnia's battles all come to mind. It always seemed like she was a simple berserker, going full throttle and ruthlessly exploiting any openings. Openings that her pokemon made by using Mist, Smokescreen, Sand Attack, shooting at her foe's feet, and other ways to halt and break momentum so her pokemon can take a low-risk, advantageous position. Then when the opponent exposes any weakness, Zinnia's pokemon move in and strike like vipers, repeating attacks if needed so the moment isn't wasted.

'She does have a style!' Lee blinks as the realization hits him like a train. 'And she sticks to it. Is that how she keeps her flow in battle? What about Brendan?'

Again, he dredges up memories, this time of Brendan's battles. With how often Marshtomp is used, it always looked like Brendan's strategy was to just punch the meat off of anything in front of him, but the more battles he thinks about, the more Lee realizes just how far from the truth that is.

Brendan plays his pokemon's strengths like a master. Marshtomp always keeps a measured pace, his stamina seemingly endless with how he takes his time, giving Brendan all the time in the world to come up with a plan. Each blow is calculated, with Marshtomp taking hits so long as he can retaliate with greater force, and when physical force fails, he backs off to attack from range.

Shroomish meanwhile almost never fights head on at Brendan's order, always patiently waiting for his Poison Powder and Leech Seeds to sap his opponent dry. All his real attacks are to simply make the opposing pokemon back off or to herd them into a more advantageous position.

'Brendan battles like he's playing chess.'

Lee takes his phone off the nightstand and opens his browser. A few taps of his fingers later, and he's signed into BattleNet, looking up Brendan's battles.

The battle with Roxanne was rough, but Brendan showed his tactical prowess there in a subtle way, finishing with a genius non-verbal Bide. The bout with Brawly truly shined, as Brendan kept control of the battle from start to finish. Brawly made a mistake using his inexperienced Mienfoo, and by the time Hitmonchan took to the field, the Gym Leader played into Brendan's hands.

'I never realized that there was such a level of depth to how they battle.' Lee realizes. Then a more sobering thought hits him. 'What else have I missed? Maybe I should take Brendan out to eat or something as a late congratulations. What does he like again?'

Another unpleasant realization is thrust upon him then. He doesn't know what Brendan's favorite food is. Lee bites his lip in concentration. He doesn't know what the younger trainer enjoys eating, or his favorite color, or even his birthday... And the same can be said for his knowledge on Zinnia. The only personal things he knows about her is her love of Dragon types and first choice of drinks.

And the last one is because she explicitly said it, not because he noticed.

'...Oh my God, am I blind or something? How do I not know these things? They're my friends. I should know all of this.' Lee shakes the distressing thought away and focuses back on his earlier problem of a battle style, and what exactly Zinnia meant by it.

'Is this what I'm lacking?' Lee wonders, running his thumb over the cool glass of the cell phone in his hand. 'Would I do better if I had my own way of battling? Like a set of operating procedures?'

Not trusting his bruised ego to present his memories fairly, Lee gulps and types his own name into BattleNet's search bar, finding videos of both the Dewford Gym battle and the beach tournament.

As he watches the videos play out on his phone, Lee feels his heart sink as he picks out countless opportunities he wasted, points where he froze, so many mistakes where he just seems to give a random order. Firespin in the first round of Dewford's tournament was utter overkill, and the last match with Andre's Absol was won because Treecko took charge when Lee himself choked. His way of battling is purely reactive.

'Would I freeze up less if I had a style or procedure?' He silently asks himself again.

He sets the phone on the bed, mind whirling as he rises and gets dressed for the day. Looking at the messy state of the other bed, he concludes that Brendan must have crept in during the night, slept, then left again all before he woke up.

The last thing Lee dons is his pokeball belt, holding Grovyle, Corvisquire... and Vulpix, all of whom elected to sleep in their balls. Grovyle and Corvisquire were obvious considering their injuries, and Vulpix...

Lee gives the thin psychic thread leading to Vulpix's ball a tug with his mind, just to confirm she's there. A second later, the thread is tugged on the other end, drawing a small smile from him.

Knock knock knock!

"Eh? The maid or something?" The zoologist wonders aloud as he turns to the locked hotel door. He walks over and cracks open the door, peering through to see who knocked.

On the other side of the threshold, a disheveled Zinnia stands, nervously wringing a handful of her cloak and looking down at her feet.

Schooling his face into one of careful neutrality, Lee-

"I'm sorry!" Zinnia suddenly blurts, her eyes darting up to meet his. "Can I come in and talk to you?"

Taken aback, Lee absently opens the door the rest of the way and lets the woman in. She slowly steps past him before seating herself heavily on the edge of Lee's bed.

Lee, meanwhile, closes the door and turns to lean against it with his arms crossed, waiting.

For almost a solid minute, neither of them say anything. Lee waits, unsure what to expect while Zinnia balls her hands up in her lap, refusing to look at him.

Finally, she sighs and looks up, startling the former zookeeper with how remorseful she looks. "Lee, I uh..." She trails off and looks away once more, uncharacteristically quiet. "I want to apologize for yesterday. I'm not sorry for saying what I did, but I am sorry for how I said it, and I'm sorry for not saying something sooner. I started traveling with you and Brendan just to see what makes you tick, but..." Zinnia looks up, her shoulders slumped and ruby eyes forlorn. "You've been a nice friend to me even if you are kinda distant. You remind me so much of Aster, and after yesterday, a bit of that image kinda shattered and it made me angry like I lost her again."

She pauses to take a deep breath and seemingly gather her thoughts. "I shouldn't have blown up like that. You're not Aster, and I shouldn't take my issues out on you because you remind me of her. She had no problem sharing whatever was on her mind, and I guess it just frustrated me that you aren't the same."

It's there Lee realizes just why he never seemed to bother learning about Brendan or Zinnia, or why the revelation of their unique manners in pokemon battles surprised him.

Zinnia is more than just 'Zinnia the Lorekeeper' with some flavor text in her background. That first night in Dewford wasn't a lore dump. She can hurt just like you. She is real just like you.

You aren't the protagonist of some game. This is your life now.

The logical part of his brain already knows this, but the sudden acceptance makes Lee's stomach flip and his head light.

Zinnia's head drops into her hands and she runs a hand through her hair. "It's not fair to you, Lee, and I'm sorry. I... still want to be your friend and travel with you, if you'll let me," she says, looking up at him hopefully.

For a moment, Lee sits and debates with himself. Is it worth it to forgive her? The apologies seem genuine, and the longer he waits, the more she fidgets and the more the hope in her eyes begins to fade. Still, she called him mediocre when his win rate is something to behold and worse yet, made Vulpix doubt her relationship with him.

What he and Vulpix have is special. Maybe even unique. Zinnia has no place sticking her nose into it.

...Then he remembers the dragon tamer's words in full, proclaiming that his wins are because of his pokemon's health, not his own ability, and how she never said to totally stop speaking with Vulpix, just to make decisions on his own.

'Have I been getting full of myself without noticing?'

All the arguments Lee's still smarting pride forced into his mouth, primed and ready to tear into Zinnia like razors, crumble and vanish. The anger boiling in his chest cools, leaving him strangely empty. He sighs and rubs the back of his head. "It's... okay, Zinnia," even with his ire extinguished, the words still sting his mouth just a bit. "I don't appreciate how harsh your dressing down was, but I think it opened my eyes a little bit. It would be dumb to throw away our friendship, no matter how flimsy it is, over one fight."

She blinks in surprise and her mouth drops open before she closes her jaws with a quiet click. Then she smiles so brightly that it practically lights up the room. She stands and in one deft movement, pulls Lee into a tight hug.

The sudden hug makes Lee stiffen, but Zinnia doesn't seem to notice as she pulls away, smile still in place. "Thanks, Dolittle. I'm not good with all this emotional stuff as you probably know by now."

'Dolittle?' Is Lee's bemused thought. 'Is Dr. Dolittle even a story here?'

"And it's just Zinnia saying this, not Lorekeeper Zinnia," She continues, looking away as her smile wanes into something a bit more wistful. "If you ever want to talk about anything to someone who isn't a pokemon, I can listen if nothing else. Only when you're ready, though!" Her soft voice rises into a demand at the end, complete with a thin finger pointed at his face.

Lee's chest grows warm, and at the same time, he can't stop the amused half-laugh that escapes through his nose. "Yeah, sure thing. I don't know when I'll be ready to talk, but when I am, I'll let you know."

"Of course!" She exclaims with a grin. "Here, I got this for you, too."

Lee raises an eyebrow when the draconid tribeswoman reaches back into the Silph pouch at the small of her back and withdraws a colorful blue and red ticket. "Oh?"

"This little baby is a ticket to the Battle Tent here in Slateport!" Zinnia says, waving the bit of paper before Lee's eyes. "They've got big prizes for trainers who do well in their battles, and the gimmick in Slateport's Battle Tent is rental pokemon. It'll be good practice to battle with pokemon who aren't naturals in the field like your own."

"Battle Tent, huh?" Lee asks as he takes the offered ticket and looks it over, finding the address, a little serial number, and effective date on its redemption to be from now until next week. 'I kind of forgot about these.'

"Mmhm," Zinnia nods. "Kind of like a mini Battle Frontier with less snobs." She looks around, her smile falling somewhat. "Say, uh, where is your Vulpix?" She asks, looking somewhat nervous again. "I feel like I should apologize to her, too."

Lee's gaze drops down to the pokeballs at his waist, and slowly, he pulls Vulpix's ball free and rolls it between his fingers. "I haven't spoken to her since last night, so I'm not sure what sort of mood she's in."

The dragon tamer grimaces. "Oh."

Regardless, Lee hits the button on the pokeball, making it grow to full size with a low whine before it bursts open.

Instantly, he can feel Vulpix's mind reach out to his before she's even fully materialized, and he gladly embraces the little probe of thought. She hesitates, but then gives in and floods his psyche with rolling waves of love, instantly washing away his lingering worry.

When she fully takes form upon the bed, Vulpix blinks the stars from her eyes before turning her chilled gaze to Zinnia.

To the dragon tamer's credit, she doesn't falter at Vulpix's nearly palpable displeasure. "Hey Vulpix." Zinnia begins awkwardly. "I dunno if you bothered to listen to Lee and I talk, but I wanted to say I'm sorry to you. I shouldn't have gotten snappy with you when you're probably doing the things you do for Lee's sake, right?"

Although Lee can feel a trickle of surprise from her, the vixen's face remains impassive as she gives Zinnia a single clipped nod.

"I still stand by what I said," Zinnia frowns. "I don't think you should be making decisions for Lee when he should be the one to do it, but I could have been nicer about it, so... I'm sorry," she says, swallowing her pride and inclining her head.

Vulpix's frigid anger lessens considerably, but she still turns her nose up at Zinnia in dismissal.

"Well, I don't think she forgives you, not yet, but she's not as upset anymore," Lee supplies, looking between his two friends.

Zinnia's face scrunches up in annoyance, but rather than make a fuss, she just takes a deep breath. "I can live with that for now..." She mutters. "Anyway, enough of this gloomy shit. Shrimpy said he was going to run an errand his dad asked of him, so let's go check out the huge market in the west side of town. It's supposedly got stuff that can't be found anywhere else, and we might find supplies that could be useful in getting your style going. C'mon!"

Before Lee can get a word in, Zinnia seizes his hand with her own and pulls him along with surprising strength, barely giving him enough time to wrap his free hand around one of the straps of his backpack and drag it along.

Vulpix just shakes her head and leaps to Lee's shoulder before either trainer can get too far.

---------------------------------------------------
Outside the hotel, Zinnia releases her ironclad grip on Lee's hand, making him flex his slightly numb fingers until he can feel them again. "No need to break my hand. It's not like I was going anywhere," he says dryly.

Zinnia puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow, the corners of her mouth perking up. "It's hard to tell with you, Dolittle," she says, starting a brisk walk down the sidewalk. Lee follows just beside her as she continues. "You've got three expressions. 'Tiny smile', 'surprised', and 'blank'. It's not often I see something else on that mug of yours."

"Really?" Lee muses aloud. "It might be because anything intensive pulls at these," he says, tapping his index and middle fingers on the left side of his face. "It's probably a subconscious thing now."

Zinnia winces. "Ah... Wow, I really need to stop putting my foot in my mouth..." She mutters.

"It's fine," Lee reassures as they come to a stop at a crosswalk with a few other people waiting to cross. He glances up and down the street, noting the amount of cars on the road and how their numbers are dwarfed by scooters, motorcycles, large delivery vans, and even a few pokemon mounts in traffic. Further down the road, Lee spies a woman astride a Sawsbuck laden with saddlebags, who is stuck trotting behind a slow, miniature car. The deer pokemon snorts and leaps right over the small, slow car with effortless grace. His hooves land on the asphalt with a staccato of cli-cli-clip, then Sawsbuck and his passenger catch up to the rest of traffic easily.

Lee almost doesn't notice the crosswalk signal change until Zinnia is already a few steps ahead of him in the street, forcing him to pick up the pace.

"So what exactly is in the Slateport market?" Lee asks as they walk away from the hotel and resort part of town into Slateport's downtown, where the city is already bustling. He recalls the market in the games sold some unique items, but in a real pokemon world? It could be anything. "Something special I'm assuming."

"More like everything special," Zinnia grins with a bounce in her step. "A big port town like this? It's got a huge market square with everything you could ever imagine. Exotic food, clothes, electronics, jewelry, you name it, and that's just for normal people. You better believe they've got tons for trainers and pokemon too. Maybe you'll even find an interesting pokemon to buy."

The same thought runs through both Lee and Vulpix's heads independently, and Lee feels his lips pull downward into a frown. "Please tell me there are licencing and proper care requirements in place for pokemon merchants..."

"Duh. The city probably wouldn't let them do business otherwise," Zinnia rolls her eyes. "You worry too much, you know that? Just live in the moment sometime!"

"I've got you and Brendan to do that for me," The zoologist smiles, making an effort to make it a little more expressive. The end result is more of a smirk when the left side of his face doesn't quite lift as much as the right. "If I don't worry, who will?"

She smiles again and shakes her head. The expression is rather pretty, now that he looks at her not as Zinnia the 2D party member, but Zinnia, his friend.

'Kinda moronic of me to accept pokemon as more real than other people, or did you help me get over that so quickly that I didn't notice?' Lee silently asks Vulpix, who makes her curious not-purr in a noncommittal reply. 'Eh. We'll make things work either way.'

"You know, now that I know it's telepathy for sure, it's real interesting to see it work, even if I can't tell what's being said." Zinnia suddenly says, pulling Lee and Vulpix from their silent conversation. Both trainer and pokemon look over at the dragon tamer. "What's it like? Er, if you feel like saying," she hastily amends.

Lee carefully thinks over the answer for a moment, remembering Professor Birch's warning. 'I should give her something, though.'

He looks around at the other people on the street, and when satisfied that all of them are too absorbed in their own business, he looks back to an openly curious Zinnia. "Well, it's kind of hard to describe," Lee begins, raising a finger and tapping his temple. "There's no words, just urges, emotions, and sensations. It took a week of constant back-and-forth before Vulpix and I got the hang of understanding each other. Even now, though, not everything is one hundred percent clear. Humans and pokemon have a radically different mental makeup and I have to put myself in Vulpix's shoes for some things to make sense."

Zinnia blinks. "Put yourself in her shoes, huh? How does that work?"

"Again, that's rather hard to put into words," Lee thinks for a moment as they walk. "I just have to stop thinking like a human, and start thinking like a pokemon. Things they see as common and logical are alien to you and I, and you really have to stretch your definition of 'logic' to come to the same conclusions that a pokemon might. You have to take into account how they see the world with their stronger senses, the tools at their disposal to deal with the problems the world throws them, how those senses and tools would be applied to different stimuli, and the knowledge and personality held by the individual pokemon." He leaves out how the intelligence of pokemon makes this much easier than with common animals.

Seeing Zinnia paying rapt attention, Lee continues. "Even then, I'm oversimplifying this by quite a bit. This is all useful not in just telepathy, but in understanding pokemon in general," he punctuates the statement by reaching a hand up and stoking Vulpix's chin, who leans into the hand with a small smile. "Knowing the hows and why of their behaviour, imagining yourself in their place, and emulating said behaviour to better connect with them and aid with communication brings you closer together. With this understanding, you can tailor-fit your care for them as well," he smiles along with Vulpix, letting his fingers trail up to her heart-marked ear.

Zinnia's hand rises to rub her chin as she looks down at the sidewalk. The two continue the walk in an easy silence as Zinnia visibly ponders. As they go, the sidewalk comes more and more packed with people as they approach a street blocked off with bright traffic cones. By the time they reach the blocked street, it's almost shoulder-to-shoulder.

Upon turning the corner, they come face-to-face with something right out of a storybook.

Stands, shops, people, and most importantly pokemon dominate the wide street with a dizzying amount of color and noise. Stands with boisterous, hollering merchants line the street and money changes hands faster than anyone can hope to keep track of. Above, bird pokemon fly to and fro, talons clutching wrapped packages coming in and out of the market. Many of the birds are Delibirds or large fliers like Pidgeots hauling whole pallets with ease. Agile pokemon like a bounding Breloom cut through the crowd without so much as a stumble, carrying their own loads to who-knows-where.

All the stands and stores are filled with everything Zinnia said and more. Jewels, textiles, food, berries, antiques, knick-knacks and other odds and ends with no name. One stand selling clothes has a Gardevoir in a flamboyant orange kimono dancing with supernatural grace to pull in a mass of captivated customers, while another just a few spaces away has a grinning, shiny Sableye coated in enough jewelry for a king holding a sign saying Olaf's Fine Jewelry.

One smaller stall in particular catches Lee's eye, where a young woman with her hair tied back is selling customized pokemon grooming kits all nicely boxed up and ready to go. The young woman has to shout over the flimsy stall next to hers, where an overweight man bellows mightily about his stacks of 'authentic' TMs, all of which have ridiculous names that he shouts without shame. The street opens up into a large plaza absolutely stuffed with people and pokemon further down, where a great Wailord balloon hovers high above, moored to the ground by long cables.

Lee can't help but blink as he takes it all in.

"Hehehehe!" Zinnia's eyes light up and a smile instantly finds its way to her face. "It's even bigger than I heard! C'mon!"

She slips into the crowd easily, and Lee has to swiftly follow, lest he lose sight of the dragon tamer.

Lee and Zinnia flit between stalls rapidly, guided only by Zinnia's whim. When the tanned woman finally seems preoccupied with some rapid-fire haggling with a vendor over a new set of boots, Lee breaks away to visit the stand selling the grooming kits.

As he walks closer, the young woman smiles brightly and beckons him closer. "Welcome! Looking for something to help you pamper your cutie there?" She asks, her loud voice cutting through the din of the market easily.

Lee smiles back, again making an effort to make it large. Again, the right side of his face lifts more, making the smile into more of a smirk. "That I am," he replies, reaching up to stroke a content Vulpix several times. "You wouldn't happen to have kits for reptiles and avians too, would you?"

"Do I?! Of course I've got what you need! Any types in particular?" She asks, her hands already pulling aside a little box labeled "Mammal - Fire".

"Grass for the reptile and Steel for the avian," Lee says. Then a thought strikes him. "Say, in the reptile and avian kits, what's the type-specific stuff you put in there?"

"The reptile kit has a natural scale-lotion that eases shedding and boosts photo receptivity in chlorophyll-rich skin, and the bird kit contains a special feather oil blend that doubles as armor polish along with a rust prevention compound," she rattles off from memory, hands flying to assemble a pair of flattened cardboard boxes that she pulls from behind the stall. "All made by Carla Cosmetics here in Slateport! We ship anywhere in Hoenn for a flat rate if you ever need more!" She swiftly fills each box with bottles, brushes, nail trimmers, and a single instruction sheet from somewhere hidden from Lee's view behind the stall then seals the boxes with colorful stickers saying "Reptile - Grass" and "Bird - Steel". She stacks them on the Mammal box and gives Lee a dazzling smile. "Your total comes to 220 credits, honey."

'Yeesh, that seems a little steep for just some grooming supplies,' Lee frowns, but nonetheless, he pulls his wallet from pocket and hands over his debit card to the eager woman, who scans it with a tablet computer she pulls from under the stand's counter. 'I'll have to learn how to make this stuff myself.'

"Thank you! Stop by again any time!" The grinning vendor hands his card back and pushes the boxes his way.

Lee nods, slipping his card back into his pocket and unshouldering his backpack to drop the boxes into the nearly bottomless bag.

"A pro trainer, eh? Take a look here, sir! I've got what you need to take your battling to the next level!"

Lee's eyes are drawn to the shabby stand next to the one he just bought from, where the overweight, middle-aged man he spied earlier stands with a multitude of CD racks filled with TMs. The man grins widely and clasps his hands together before rubbing them in a decidedly greedy manner. "Come on, friend! A new move to unleash in a battle or to dazzle in a contest will help anyone, but I think a pro like you can truly use these techniques to their maximum!"

With an amused smile, Lee can't help but step closer, sharing a short look with the vixen on his shoulder as he does so. "A new move or two sounds nice. What have you got?"

The vendor grins even wider, showing off a shiny false-tooth. He then plucks a red TM in a simple plastic CD case and holds it up gingerly, as if it's made of glass. "This right here my friend, is a TM for Flamethrower!" He exclaims with building excitement. "This TM was copied from the mightiest Charizard of the Charicific Valley, a fine pokemon belonging to Ash Ketchum, the powerful protege of the legendary Samuel Oak! With this, your Vulpix will be able to melt rock and boil lakes! It's all yours for a measly 3,000 credits!"

Lee hums and taps his foot, making a show of thinking it over. He can see that the red film-like sticker on the 'TM' has a bubble in it from being applied incorrectly, so when Vulpix noses his cheek and feeds him a devious idea, Lee has to suppress a smile. "Do you have anything stronger?"

"Stronger?" The portly merchant asks in confusion, then he recovers after nary a second. "Stronger! Yes my good man, yes! Of course, you need something better! Only the finest for experts of your caliber!" He carelessly replaces the red TM and pulls another one, this one also red, from a different rack. "Now this is something to behold!" He begins. "Fire Blast! The most powerful Fire attack there is! This one was copied from the Infernape of Flint, a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four! One attack from that Infernape can turn a city block into a pit of lava! That power can be yours for just 7000 credits!"

'So he's not heard of Blast Burn then, or he's trying real hard to dupe us...' Lee snorts. "I need something even better. Don't hold back," he forces down a giggle.

The merchant nods slowly, putting the dubious TM back. "I see. You are well learned, then. Let me show you my very best," the man mutters, theatrically pulling a briefcase from under his stand's counter and slowly opening in. He turns the case around, showing a single gold-foil wrapped TM inside resting on a pillow of foam.

"This, my friend, is the Hyper Beam of Lance Blackthorn's Dragonite," The rotund man says with the utmost seriousness. "It will teach your pokemon a terrible power, the power to crumble mountains and reshape the landscape. It's yours... for 20,000 credits."

'Are TMs actually copied from pokemon?' Lee idly wonders. 'What kind of machine does that? That'll be something to research.' Outwardly, he holds his chin and taps his finger in a thinking pose, staring down at the TM as the merchant sweats. "Nah," Lee shrugs. "Thanks for showing me, though."

The man blinks, and the woman running the pokemon grooming stall next to him openly laughs at his expression.

Before the bogus merchant can recover and complain about his time being wasted, a tanned arm wraps around Lee's and pulls him away.

Lee stumbles, nearly throwing Vulpix off, but catches himself before his pokemon can take a spill. He extracts his arm from Zinnia's and levels her with a dry look. "Can you not? I like my arm not dislocated, thanks."

She scoffs. "If a little jolt like that pulled our arm out of its socket, then I'd tell you to find another career. Now c'mon! There is way more in the plaza that we have to see!"

Lee rolls his eyes and in the back of his mind, he can feel Vulpix's lingering hostility for Zinnia flare-up before he silently shushes her. They weave through the throngs of people and out into the main plaza of the Slateport market, where the mass of people have room to thin out.

The plaza of the marketplace is enormous, dwarfing the street entrance easily. Countless stands, stalls, and even a number of parked trucks and vans acting as storefronts form lines up and down the several-block space. The range of people and pokemon is even greater than the entrance.

Zinnia, Vulpix, and Lee walk down one of the first rows of vendors, taking in all the sights and shops.

One of them with a long line is a Smeargle drawing expert caricatures of customers with just his tail and simple canvases. He takes payments on a little phone-like scanner and operates seemingly without a trainer under his simple tent.

Another is a man with a Natu on his shoulder touting the power of his special pokemon supplements into a microphone, and everyone lets out gasps when behind him on a small stage, a smiling Aipom effortlessly lifts a full anvil with just his tail and a happy chitter. Considering the psychic bird on the presenter's shoulder is glowing a faint blue, the ruse is obvious to anyone watching closely.

Just across from the scam artist, a woman with a thick set of glasses dressed in overalls works on something on a bench in the back of her stall, the drill in her hand whining as she bores into something. Her silently hovering Magneton minds customers perusing the various devices and bits of junk on display.

"Where to even begin...?" Lee wonders aloud.

------------------------------------------------
Over the course of the next two hours, the group wanders around the huge market. Lee stops at a fruit stand selling the largest berries he's ever seen, and promptly blows 300 credits on berries alone. One vendor dressed like a stereotypical beatnik is selling evolution stones from the back of a colorful mini-bus, but when Lee sees the multi-thousand credit price tags on the subpar stones, he blanches and promptly turns around. Zinnia, meanwhile, aggressively haggles with all of the shopkeepers they visit, yet never buys a thing. She nearly gets into a shouting match with a burly leatherworker over a fine pokeball belt that she only has a passing interest in. Lee has to physically pull her away before it comes to blows and lead her away.

"Shitty old man," Zinnia grumbles, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "100 credits for a single belt? That's robbery!"

Lee sighs and shakes his head. "Why even bother when you've already got a working belt?" He asks, looking at the red rope around her waist that holds her pokeballs. "Just seems silly to me."

'St**i*, y*u ***n,' Vulpix huffs from her perch, but a scratch on the chin from Lee soothes her ire.

"Can you blame a girl for being thrifty, Dolittle?" Zinnia uncrosses her arms as she weaves around a young family passing by. "I don't like asking the tribe for money, so I've got to make whatever I earn myself last. If I can get a deal though..."

She trails off and stops when they pass a simple canvas tent, where an old, weathered woman clad in a baggy robe sits cross-legged behind a tarp filled with different stones, seemingly asleep.

Zinnia walks over to the tarp with all the stones, crouching down to better look at them.

Lee follows, curiosity piqued. He stops next to the dragon tamer, who is intently scanning all the rocks.

'None of these look special or anything, though I'm no geologist,' the scarred man muses, letting his eyes roam over the collection of rocks. Most of them are common earthy brown-gray colors with lumps and dirt, looking like any old stone that anyone could find outside. None of them seem to be any special mineral or gem.

"Sharp eye."

Lee starts, jostling Vulpix when the elderly shopkeeper suddenly speaks.

Zinnia looks up, grinning as she meets the now open eyes of the older woman. "I wouldn't be a good dragon tamer if I missed the dragons who came before."

'Dragons who came before?'

The old woman inclines her head, dropping a few strands of wispy white hair into her face. "Dragon tamer, hmm? Indeed. Do you know which one you want?"

Zinnia's smile becomes a touch mocking. "Really? Do you need to ask that?"

"I suppose not, but begrudge not an elder with a faltering mind," the shopkeeper clicks her tongue. "You too shall face the same problem one day."

Zinnia says nothing.

The old woman picks up one of the stones, one a bit larger than her hand with an oblong protrusion, and after producing a square of white cloth from her pocket, she wraps the stone up into a neat bundle with deftness unfitting of her age. After setting the bundle down, she reaches into another baggy pocket and produces a large, ancient-looking card scanner that could easily be mistaken for a graphing calculator. "That will be 2000 credits, my dear."

Without even trying to argue, Zinnia fishes her wallet from her back pocket and swipes it through the presented scanner, her grin only growing.

The elderly woman watches the device for a moment, then nods and drops the wrapped-up rock into Zinnia's waiting hand. "Good luck, my dear."

Practically shaking in excitement, the dragon tamer stuffs the bundle safely in her silph pouch and stands back up. "Thanks!"

As she and a bewildered Lee walk away, Lee can't help but ask; "What was that all about?"

Megawatt grin still in place, Zinnia beckons him closer with a finger, then stands on her toes to whisper in his ear. "That was a Tyrunt fossil I just scored."

"What?" Is Lee's instinctual response, and the sudden mental jolt he feels from Vulpix tells him the vixen is just as surprised. He blinks and looks back at the old woman, who looks as if she's nodded off again. No one pays her little store any mind. "She's selling fossils?" He asks, keeping his voice low enough to not carry in the noise of the busy market.

"Yep!" Zinnia replies with a giddy giggle. "I would have said something, but I have no idea what the other ones were, and I don't think you'd want to gamble on one, right?"

"Well, no..." Lee mutters. There aren't any fossil pokemon on his wanted list anyway. "Are you planning on reviving it?"

"Well informed, as usual, Dolittle," his tanned friend laughs. "Yeah, I am. I might have to call in some favors and it might take a while, but I think I can get the little guy revived. Tyrantrum, here I come!" She giggles again and holds her cheeks with a beaming grin, no doubt caught up in the destructive fantasy of having her own T-Rex.

Lee shakes his head and smiles a bit himself. "Give me more to worry about, why don't you?"

"Gladly~!" She replies.

-----------------------------------------------------------
The pair walk further into the heart of Slateport's biggest attraction, and as they do, the shops grow more and more focused on pokemon rather than trainers. Eventually, they stumble right into the corner where all the breeders have set up.

Stalls and stands are sparse, as the breeder corner is dominated by pens containing all sorts of pokemon awaiting adoption. Many of them are pokemon native to Hoenn, with the exotic pokemon in larger, more expensive set-ups complete with artificial terrains and full HVAC systems. Many of them have vehicles parked nearby, instantly giving away how lucrative pokemon breeding can be, or maybe the vehicles are an unfortunate cost of business? The few stands that are set up between the pokemon enclosures are quite...

Lee glances at a little shop between two pens. The sign says 'Dexter's Canid Specialties.', and one of the most eye-catching things is a rack of white vials in a glass-doored refrigerator behind the counter. The shopkeeper's large Mightyena, who sits nearby, looks entirely too pleased when a middle-aged well-to-do woman with a finely groomed Furfrou at her side buys one of the dubious vials.

...Quite interesting?

'Yeah, staying away from that one. I had enough of that as an intern...'

Vulpix growls and wrinkles her snout, constricting her end of the psychic pathway to halt the images leaking over to her.

As they walk deeper into the little corner of the market, Zinnia lightly jabs Lee's side with her elbow and points a finger to a large pen with an old truck parked beside it. "Check it out!"

Lee follows her finger and feels his eyes widen.

Inside the pen are a number of different pokemon, all mammals. He spies a small wisp of a Shinx, several Poochyenas that lay together in a pack, a pair of playing Growlithes, a panting Rockruff that the pen owner is showing to a young blonde girl, a fox-like pokemon from Galar, the name of whom he forgets, and most importantly, two young, healthy-looking Eevees.

A grin finds its way to Lee's face. "Hot damn. Let's go take a look," he says, already in motion.

By the time they get to the gate of the small pen, the breeder running it is showing the young girl who was interested in the Rockruff out. The man smiles and waves as they approach.

The breeder is rather normal in appearance, being a tanned, brown-haired man who looks somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years old. His boots, denim overalls, and flannel shirt all sport bits of dirt and scuffs, and the front pocket of his overalls hold several packets of paper, likely transfer or adoption forms. "Hey there!" He greets with a raised hand. "Name's Leo. Something I can help you all with?" He asks with a friendly smile.

"Sure can," Lee nods his head to the pen. "I couldn't help but notice you have a fine pair of Eevees, a pokemon I've been wanting. Mind if I ask how much you're wanting out of them?"

The pair of pokemon in question sit by the fence of the enclosure, both already wearing resigned, knowing expressions with their ears low.

The breeder winces. "Ah, both are 100,000 credits each, friend."

Lee rocks back at the price while Zinnia's jaw drops. "What?!" The latter squawks. "You could get a house in some places for that money!" She almost yells.

A few of the other breeders set up around Leo don't pay the outburst any mind, Vulpix notes, then sends to Lee. 'Must be a regular occurrence...' He thinks, looking around for himself.

"Both siblings are pure stock sired and born from a pair of Eevee parents without a hint of Ditto in their lineage," Leo explains with his hands raised disarmingly. "Raised on natural diets on top of the prelim training they got when they were young. I was told by the appraiser when I got them that a hundred-and-twenty grand was the lowest I should price them. I want them to go to a loving home, but I can't just throw out an opportunity like this for my business and give them away."

"How... did they come into your possession if you don't mind me prying?" Lee asks, still taken aback by the sticker shock. He crosses his arms and frowns. 'Holy hell. I thought fifty was a lot. Just one of them is twice that.'

"Well, I'm not in the business of breeding Eevees," the breeder begins, looking back at the pokemon in question. "These two came to me when a family friend who is getting on in his years just started getting too old to breed pokemon any longer. A real pro he was, and his ranch churned out high-quality pokemon all the time. He wanted me to have a breeding pair, but I think he forgot in his old age that siblings usually aren't keen on each other like that, especially when both are male."

"That makes sense..." Lee sighs, letting his arms fall to his sides. "Still, that's a lot of money for one pokemon."

Leo mirrors Lee's frown. "Well, I could see if any banks 'round here are willing to offer a loan, but..."

"No, that's okay," Lee shakes his head. "Knowing my luck, they'd try to hit me with something insane like thirty APR for ten years."

'If there is one positive about Earth being a scorched hellhole, it's that all my student debt vanished with it,' he morbidly jokes to himself.

"Murrrew?"

The mewl pulls Lee away from his thoughts. Looking down at the fence of Leo's enclosure, a pair of bright yellow eyes stares back up at him with unbridled curiosity.

"It is getting to be about your dinner time, eh, Shinx?" Leo looks down at the tiny kitten with a smile. He walks a short way to the old pick-up truck, and out of the bed, he withdraws a simple backpack, and after unzipping it, pulls a capped hand-feeding bottle.

The little Shinx's eyes quite literally light up, shining a brilliant gold. The Electric feline resists none when Leo reaches over the fence with one arm and picks...

'Her.' Vulpix silently supplies.

...her up to cradle her to his chest.

With a thumb, the breeder pops the cap off the bottle, letting the little kitten eagerly latch on to the rubber nipple and begin drinking. Shinx settles and contently closes her eyes as she eats. She's almost like a...

'Lion cub...' Lee realizes, captivated. Without even intending to, his mouth begins to move. "What's the story with this one?"

"Oh, Shinx?" Leo asks, looking away from the kitten to meet Lee's stare. "Poor girl was a live birth, but her mother was sickly and Shinx was born several weeks premature. Her mother..." The older man trails off uncomfortably, telling Lee, Zinnia, and Vulpix everything. "Shinx needs a good home, but she'll need a dedicated trainer if she's ever going to grow up healthy and strong. I've had to turn away a few trainers wanting her because I didn't think they would give her the attention she needs."

'She's just like Sefu...' Lee's throat tightens as he remembers the cub he raised by hand. His right hand rubs his left wrist, right where the little lioness would accidentally knead with her claws whenever he fed her.

After the survival of her mother's attempted infanticide, Sefu lost so much weight, looking as small as the Shinx before him. He would encourage the lion cub to eat whenever she could without overfeeding her, just so she would stop being so fragile that he feared she would break when he let her go.

A normal Shinx is usually a few ounces shy of twenty pounds. This poor girl looks like she barely breaks ten, and she looks even smaller being held in a man's arm.

Lee's mouth moves again before he can stop it. "How much are you asking for her?"

He can feel Zinnia's curious look on the side of his head and Vulpix silently asking if he's sure, but the zoologist can't bring himself to care.

Leo's eyes narrow. "550 credits."

"Sold. Where do I-"

"Hold on!" The breeder stops Lee short. His raised voice makes Shinx open her eyes and watch the proceedings with the naked curiosity only a cub could have. "I just told you that this gal needs a lot of TLC, and just looking at you, your friend, and your Vulpix, I can tell you're a battling, traveling sort of guy. Do you really think you can care for a baby like Shinx on the road?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "You know she won't be battle-ready for weeks, maybe months, right?"

Lee scowls and crosses his arms. "If she's never battle-ready that won't bother me."

"Uh-huh. Okay then. Why do you want her?" The breeder shoots back.

"She..." Lee hesitates, acutely aware of Zinnia watching the going-ons closely. With a sigh, the scarred man makes up his mind and spills some of the truth. "She wouldn't be the first cub I've raised by hand. My other cub, she was ripped from me by circumstance, but I'm not exaggerating when I say I raised her from birth. Her mother rejected her for a reason that still escapes me, but I made damn sure she was happy and healthy. I see the same thing here with Shinx. You've got other pokemon to raise and can't give her as much attention as you'd like if Shinx is up for adoption, right?"

Leo deflates somewhat, his hostility dying as he searches Lee's face for any trace of deception. "That I do."

"This is the exact same situation. Shinx needs someone to love her and ensure she's healthy, yes?" Lee nods. "I want to be that someone. I want her to grow up strong. I make my own pokemon food, I monitor my team's health myself, I give them customized regimens, and if it helps my argument any, I am a Lab Trainer under Professor Birch." Idly, Lee feels some distaste waving around his title, but the thought of leaving without tiny Shinx makes his chest tight.

He can do it, damnit.

The breeder is silent for a moment, his eyes flicking between the Shinx in his arms and Lee. "I'm not a shrink or anything, but isn't trying to fill a hole inside you like this unhealthy?"

Vulpix openly growls at the slight, but Lee calmly shushes her with a finger held to her muzzle. "It's not about me, it's about her."

Leo looks down at Shinx again and sighs. For a moment, no one speaks. Then; "Prove it. Here," he says, gently passing Shinx into Lee's arms.

"Merrow?" Shinx mewls piteously when she's moved from one set of arms into one without her bottle, but Lee is quick to take the half-full bottle from Leo and present it to Shinx again. He lays the kitten along his right arm and holds the bottle close with his left, letting the blue and black feline latch on and begin suckling again, her fussing instantly ceasing. Her left paw reaches up absently, her claws finding purchase on the wrist holding the bottle for her

'She really is just like Sefu after all,' Lee silently smiles as Vulpix watches from her spot on his shoulder. With his right hand under Shinx's neck, Lee tenderly massages her neck with his index finger and thumb, helping the premature cub's weak throat muscles swallow.

Sefu needed the same help until she recovered.

The dull roar of the market seems to fade to nothing as Lee focuses intently on Shinx's pace and the gentle rubbing of her throat. After another fourth of the formula in the bottle vanishes into her stomach, Shinx's suckling begins to lose steam and she slowly begins to go limp. Her breathing begins to even out, and from muscle memory, Lee unhurriedly pulls the bottle away, the rubber nipple coming out of her mouth with a quiet pop. Before her head can fall, the hand that was massaging her throat reaches and props her up by her chin, then slowly lowers her head down when it's obvious she's gone to sleep.

*Snap!*

Lee looks over to Zinnia, who is grinning like a loon with her phone held up, the camera facing him. "Now that was adorable, Dolittle!" She gushes, turning her phone around to show the bewildered Lee.

The photo, one of him feeding Shinx with a tranquil and decidedly emasculating expression, is none-too-flattering.

Lee blushes and turns away. "Fuck off," he mutters before looking at Leo, who watches with a neutral expression. "So?"

The breeder chews on his lip for a moment, then he reaches into the middle pocket on his overalls. "Well, I'll need to see your trainer ID and your credit card after that."

Lee's heart soars.

 

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"Okay, I think that's everything!"

Lee leans back against the headboard of his hotel bed, dropping the pen from his cramped right hand with a grimace.

Sitting across from him with her legs crossed, Zinnia grins and collects all the papers scattered across the surface of the bed. She shuffles through them, eyes gliding across Lee's chicken-scratch writing as she slowly nods.

On his own bed, Brendan sits holding his phone - eyes glued to the screen - with most of the trio's pokemon crowded around him. Swablu sits on his shoulder, Goomy upon his bare head, and Shroomish in his lap, with the rest crowded up at his sides. The volume on his phone is courteously set low, so as not to disturb Lee and Zinnia as they study, but Lee can still hear the sounds of a pokemon battle. The only pokemon missing are Corvisquire, who sits by the window watching the stormy, raining sky, and Shinx, who lays sleeping against Lee's leg.

For the last three days the dragon-tamer has quizzed Lee furiously on countless battle-scenarios, ranging from common encounters to once-in-a-lifetime hypotheticals. She challenged him constantly by dictating the pokemon in the scenarios, what moves they know, and what the terrain was like, only letting Lee pick his own team and moves on occasion. All of this in an effort to see what Lee's first thoughts were and to build a profile on his ideal form of battling. She broke up the theory-work with sparring matches where Lee was forced to work around restrictions, such as strictly using attacking moves, no telepathy with Vulpix, direct orders only, swapping teams, and battling against both her and Brendan at once.

'It's been... surprisingly professional. Part of her training as a Lorekeeper, perhaps?'

He also worked on rounding out Grovyle's limited-ranged capability with a Bullet Seed TM that ate into an unfortunate chunk of his savings. It still felt silly putting the button of Grovyle's pokeball into the hole of the TM and watching it spin until the whole disc cracked and crumbled away. Lee always thought that a special machine would be needed picturing a CD player with a slot for a pokeball on top... or something. As silly as it seemed, the results were hard to argue with as, sure enough, his pokemon was now able to spit seeds like a botanical machine gun.

When not training, Lee spent every moment getting Shinx settled in. The small waif of a kitten didn't take long to come out of her shell, and had explored the hotel room thrice-over by now. She tired out easily, but would never turn down any opportunity to play. With Slateport's robust market, it didn't take long to source electrically-insulated toys and top-grade Miltank milk to feed her with. Her physical examination was short, as she simply refused to sit still, but Lee found himself satisfied when the only defect he could find from her premature birth seeming to be her small size.

"Ever the methodical sort, eh, Dolittle?" Zinnia smiles over the papers in her hand. Looking back down, she scans the answers to all the proposed questions one more time with a nod. "Taking it slow and bleeding the foe dry before attacking. It's not a bad plan in most cases, but it falls apart when the other pokemon is too fast and aggressive to play keep-away with. Here is what I propose..." She lays the stack of papers down. "You need to keep training yourself to keep calm and formulate real plans rather than just reacting so you aren't caught on the back foot, or you need to train a dedicated bruiser or two to send in when shit gets crazy. Or both. Both would be best."

Lee frowns. "A dedicated bruiser, huh?" He glances over to Corvisquire, who is busy glaring through the window at a Wingull braving the storm, then to Grovyle, who sits with the other pokemon in a meditative stance rather than watch the battle playing on Brendan's phone. "I know who my prime candidates are, then."

"I thought so," Zinnia replies, a faintly-amused look on her face. "You've been getting better at working under pressure and not just reacting, which is great. You know when you should be using status moves and when to use raw attacks... for the most part. Switching gears between status moves and frontal fighting is still kinda clunky for you, though, so until you can instantly identify when you need to adjust, having a pokemon whose only job is to hit like a truck makes it easier."

"Makes sense..." Lee nods and raises his arms over his head in a mighty stretch, and groaning when he feels his back pop. "Gah, how long have we been here?"

The loud pop rouses the cub cuddled to his side. She blinks her luminescent yellow eyes and stands, arching her back in a stretch of her own, then she looks up at her trainer and paws at his hand when it comes down to rest by her. "Merow?"

"Did I wake you, baby girl?" Lee smiles, rubbing her chin with a finger, the small kitten leaning into his touch and starting to purr. The slight electric charge in her soft fur makes his finger tingle. "Sorry about that."

"We're probably not going to get in any meaningful training today..." Zinnia murmurs, looking out the window as the rain pounds against the glass. Standing, she grabs the remote for the hotel room's TV from the night stand and flips it on. After a moment of scrolling through the channels, she lands on the news and sits back down on the edge of the bed.

"-wers are expected to continue for the rest of the day and into the evening," A well-dressed anchorman on the TV smiles and waves a hand at the map of southern Hoenn behind him. On the map is a blobby mess of green indicating rain over the landscape with Slateport in the heart of it. "Tomorrow will be a muggy one, with highs in the upper eighties, so enjoy the cooldown while you can, everyone."

Brendan looks away from his phone and to the news with his brows furrowed and a frown set on his face. "What are we going to do all day if we can't go outside?"

'That's refreshing to hear a kid say, albeit in a rather depressing way.' Lee snickers and cups the underside of Shinx' head in his hand, petting her cheeks with his pinky and thumb. "R-and-R day it sounds like. Who wants to numb their brains with a movie and order take out?"

Both Brendan and Marshtomp jump up, scattering the other pokemon with a smattering of cries. Grovyle just barely ducks a startled snap of Mawile's jaws from the commotion. "Heck yeah! A break day sounds great! ... Not sure how we're going to get a movie working on this dinosaur, though." The boy points out, motioning to the rather dated CRT TV.

"Don't you worry your little head." Zinnia stands, walking over to the corner where she'd kicked her boots off, taking a moment to slip them back on. "There's a video store down the road not too far from here, so we won't have to be in the rain for very long." Walking over and tapping the old VCR under the TV.

"Places still sell tapes?" Brendan blinks.

After recovering from being so rudely roused by Brendan jumping up, Vulpix sniffs and hops back to Lee's bed away from Brendan's side. She then settles next to Shinx, pulling the cub's attention away from Lee.

When Lee first introduced Shinx to his team, a tiny part of him worried about conflict arising between her and Vulpix due to jealousy, but...

He watches as Shinx cuddles into Vulpix' warm side with a purr, and Vulpix responds by fanning her tails to cover Shinx' thin form. The vixen runs a careful eye over Shinx, then grooms a patch of mussed fur on the cub's head with her tongue, laying it flat. The baby pokemon's pleased purr only increases in volume, and she kneads the covers with her little needle-sharp claws.

...Lee feels a bit silly about his worries now. He hasn't felt even the slightest twinge of jealousy from Vulpix so far.

'Vulpix is a little too mature for games like that. She's a den mother at heart.' He smiles and mentally reaches out to Vulpix. 'You're the best, you know that?'

She gives him a sidelong glance along with an amused snort, and the little pulse of love she returns is wordless.

Out in the physical world, Zinnia turns and gives Brendan a befuddled look. "Yes. Yes, places still sell tapes. Is that actually surprising?"

"It carbon dates you pretty well, grandma." Brendan smirks. Said-smirk dies a grizzly death when Zinnia scowls and rushes over to pull the boy into a headlock. "Gack!" The Birch heir cries, clawing at the arm around his neck. "Lemme go! Marshtomp! Help!"

Marshtomp just stands on the bed and lets out great, croaking guffaws at his trainer's plight.

Shinx huddles further into Vulpix' side from the commotion, watching the going-ons with wide eyes and the fur on her back raised.

Lee shakes his head and gently strokes Shinx across her back, making a few quiet crackles of discharging static as she relaxes some. "Children, please. If you're going to rough-house, do it outside. You're making Shinx anxious."

Zinnia grumbles and lets Brendan go. Brendan, meanwhile, smiles down at the still wide-eyed Shinx. "Sorry about that, girl."

Shinx raises her head and flicks her tongue out to wet her nose, fear totally forgotten after hearing the apology.

'Already beginning to grasp tones and facial expressions,' Lee recalls a video lesson he watched from the Rustboro TS a week prior regarding the rearing of infant pokemon and how in-tune they are with the emotions of everyone around them. 'She should genuinely begin to learn English in the coming weeks.'

Zinnia pulls her pokeballs from her belt and holds them out, aiming at her three pokemon. "Alrighty guys and gal, I doubt you want to be in the rain, so return!"

In a flash of red, Shelgon, Goomy, and Swablu are brought back into their balls.

Brendan is next. He pulls the pokeballs from his belt hanging off the side of his bed and rolls their shrunken travel forms in his hand. "Anyone want to walk with us?"

Marshtomp lets out an affirmative croak, but Mawile hisses at the thought of the rain and Shroomish just shakes his head. Satisfied, Brendan expands their pokeballs and returns the two dissenting pokemon to storage.

Lee stands next, hands already reaching for his pokeballs. "Any takers?"

Vulpix wrinkles her muzzle at the thought of being in the rain. 'No'.

Grovyle shakes his head, and Corvisquire just lets his already dour expression deepen into a scowl.

Seeing the pokeballs being raised, Shinx lets out a mournful mewl and reaches a paw out, melting Lee's heart.

Something else he learned from the RTS online courses? How to care for infant Electric-type mammals. Lesson one was keep them away from water unless you want them to quickly and painfully master suppressing their excess charge.

"I'm sorry, baby girl. You're a little too young to be in the rain. You'll short out and hurt yourself..." The scarred man runs his hand across her head with a feather-light touch. "Maybe next time, okay?"

Before the kitten can protest, Lee returns all four of his pokemon in flashes of light. The sudden dulling of his connection to Vulpix is hesitantly accepted as he gives the psychic thread to her a tug, feeling a comforting tug back in response.

She's still there.

"C'mon boys!" Zinnia throws her cloak on and pulls the wide collar over her head like a hood, casting a shadow over her face. "Time's a-wastin!"

"Hang on!" Brendan complains, throwing his hat on lopsided and shouldering his backpack.

With all three trainers and the singular pokemon prepared, they leave the hotel and walk out into the downpour. It doesn't take long for Brendan, being the lightest dressed, to break into a sprint to try and avoid being soaked. Lee and Zinnia follow after him, while Marshtomp practically skips through the warm rain in delight.

It's only a minute or so of a sodden, splashing run before Zinnia points out the video store in question. "There!" She points a finger at a small, hole-in-the-wall shop in the corner of the block. "That's the place!"

The three trainers quickly file into the store, with Marshtomp remaining out in the street, enjoying the rainfall. The sudden chill of the air conditioning on Lee's wet shoulders makes him wish Vulpix was out of her ball to warm him up.

The inside of the store is small and devoid of customers other than them. Different racks of DVDs and VHS tapes line the walls, and a number of standing racks form aisles. The musty smell, humming fluorescent lights, and tinny music playing overhead is surprisingly nostalgic to Lee's senses.

Near the front of the shop, an older, balding man sits behind the register, leaned back in his creaky chair and snoring away, dead to the world as the rain batters the window behind him. Sitting by him on the counter, a Noctowl turns its head to regard Lee, Brendan, and Zinnia with its red eyes. "Who?"

"We're just browsing right now! Thanks!" Brendan gives the pokemon a friendly smile.

Noctowl bobs his head in what Lee assumes is a nod. "Whooo."

Looking around and following behind Brendan and Zinnia, Lee takes in all the foreign titles and pulls a few tapes from the shelf to inspect the covers. The faded cardboard cover of the tape in his hand has a pair of posing police officers in front of a cruiser, and hanging out of the car window is a panting Growlithe. The tape is titled with a very cheesy "Burning Justice". 'Some kind of buddy-cop drama?'

The more he inspects the tapes, the more it looks like all the movies feature pokemon in some main-character capacity, as expected. He pulls a few more to look at and turns them over to read the backs. One is a very disney-looking fantasy about a lost Cutiefly finding her way home, another is several episodes of anime packed into one tape (complete with an appropriately edgy-looking punk-dressed teen and Bisharp on the cover), and a third is an amusingly low-budget kung-fu flick featuring a Cacturn and Hitmonlee back-to-back, surrounded by various silhouetted humanoid pokemon, entitled "Spike Lee 4" in bold letters, with a caption at the bottom "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Enemy''

'Man, I'm going to look like I've lived under a rock my whole life.' Lee frowns. 'I don't know what any of these movies are. Come to think of it, I've never really stopped training or researching long enough to absorb any kind of Hoenn culture... other than pokemon.' He replaces the tapes and resumes following his companions. 'I'll have to correct that at some point.'

"I haven't seen some of these in years," Zinnia muses aloud, running a finger down the spine of a shelved tape and flicking the dust away. "The Tribe doesn't have much in the way of tech, so the old TV and VCR in the elder's house was always in use. Trips to the nearest town were pretty rare, but the runner always brought tapes back."

Brendan hums to himself in thought. "So you're some kinda film buff?"

"If it's older than thirty or so years, then I guess you could say that," Zinnia barks out a short laugh. "When my pokemon and I weren't beating ourselves into the ground training, we were at the elder's house on that TV. She had to chase us out pretty often."

"Huh..." Lee smiles, filing the interesting tidbit of information away. "Well, any recommendations?"

Zinnia grins. "As a matter of fact..." She flits from shelf to shelf, intently scanning over the titles of everything she finds. Sometimes she pulls tapes from unmarked cardboard sleeves only to quickly put them back. "Aha!" She snatches one sitting on a lonely corner and dusts it off. "I remember this one from when I was a little girl; a real classic. Take a look!"

Lee blinks at the colorful cover thrust into his face and takes a step back to properly look. When he does, his eyes widen a little.

The title of the movie is "Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon." On the cover is a Pikachu and a Piplup in matching blue neckerchiefs, both peering into a treasure chest with excitement. Behind them, a sinister, grinning shadow looms.

'That's a... Pretty extraordinary coincidence.'

"What's it about?" The zoologist asks, despite having an idea as to the answer.

"A girl wakes up one morning in a world with nothing but pokemon as a Pikachu, and she partners with a Piplup to make a rescue team," Zinnia fondly recounts, flipping the tape around to look at the cover herself. "I always thought that would be cool, to be a pokemon."

Brendan doesn't seem as impressed if his flat expression is anything to go by. "PMD is a kids movie, Zinnia."

"I know," the dragon tamer sniffs imperiously. "Perfect for a brat like you and a softie like Dolittle. This is my vote and I'm not changing it."

'Probably time for me to step in.'

"We can get more than one," Lee stops Brendan's retort before he and Zinnia can argue in the store. "We're going to be in all night, so may as well be sure we've got ample entertainment."

That seems to defuse Brendan instantly. He grins and passes Zinnia, beelining for a corner of the store labeled 'Horror'.

"You know he's going to pick out the most bloody, gore-filled thing he can find, right?" Zinnia dryly asks. "Then he's not going to be able to sleep."

"Perfectly honest?" Lee shrugs. "That's fine. It's what boys his age do. I'm just glad he didn't go to that section." He points behind Zinnia, who turns to follow his finger. "I don't think I could explain that to Birch."

Against the back wall and covered by a curtain is a narrow doorway, and pinned to the doorframe is a sign that says Adults Only.

The tanned woman can't help but hold a hand over her mouth and snort, stifling a fit of laughter as her face turns red from the effort, her shoulders shaking from mirth.

Brendan seems to find what he's looking for and plucks a tape from a shelf with a grin. "Got mine."

Lee nods, then turns and grabs the cheesy-looking kung-fu movie he was looking at earlier off the shelf. "Alrighty. Let's get moving before the storm gets worse."

The trio shuffles to the front of the store, where the shopkeeper is still fast asleep. Feeling only slightly foolish, Lee presents the tapes to Noctowl, who picks up a handheld scanner off to the side with obvious familiarity. With the scanner held in his talons, the owl scans all three tapes then bends down and taps a few keys on the register with his beak.

The card reader on the front lights up, and a swipe of his debit card later, Lee is 15 credits poorer.

The register spits out a receipt that Noctowl rips and offers to Lee with a hoot.

"Thanks," Lee smiles and pockets the paper before taking the tapes under his arm. Turning back to Brendan and Zinnia, he nods towards the door. "Any other stops? I'm just going to order dinner and have it brought to our room, so don't worry about food."

Brendan answers first with a shake of his head. "Nah. Let's just get back before..." He stops as he peers out of the glass door to the shop. "Where did Marshtomp go?"

Lee follows the younger trainer's eyes and scans the wet sidewalk, only to find no pokemon. "Not this again..."

Throwing open the door, Brendan steps out into the deserted, rainy street and swivels his head around, but his Marshtomp is nowhere to be found. "Marshtomp! Marshtomp! Hey! Where are you!?" His voice carries far despite the rain, but his starter does not appear.

With a groan, Lee hands the tapes under his arm to Zinnia and steps out after Brendan. "Head back to the hotel, I'll help Brendan."

"Don't have to tell me twice," she grins and stuffs the movies under her cloak. "I'll have some towels ready when you get back, cuz you're going to need them. Have fun in the storm, boys!"

Zinnia turns and runs back down to the hotel, each step kicking up a splash of water.

Lee throws the hood of his jacket up and follows Brendan, who is walking down the road calling for Marshtomp and peering into alleyways.

The pair of trainers travel eastward down the road, both calling for the lost pokemon. Only a few minutes into their search later, and a loud croak catches Lee and Brendan's attention.

Marshtomp appears from around a corner ahead, waving his arms and bellowing frantically.

Brendan sprints ahead, leaving Lee to run behind him trying to catch up. 'Why did Marshtomp just run off like that? Normally he's attached to Brendan at the hip.' Lee wonders.

Both trainers skid to a stop before Marshtomp, who warbles and takes Brendan's hand on one of his own.

"Hey, what are you-" The young Birch almost trips when his pokemon pulls him along. "Hey!"

Pulling his trainer's hand the whole way, Marshtomp leads Lee and Brendan down several blocks, and as they go, the surrounding buildings shift into industrial designs rather than hotels and shops. Finally, Marshtomp takes them down one final turn between two warehouses before letting go and stopping.

Before them stands the Slateport shipyard. Ships of all sorts, cruise ships, freighters, fishing vessels, just too many to count. They dot the water in various states of repair. Large drydocks bearing half-complete vessels that can't hold their own in the water, and warehouses hanging over the water containing who-knows-what. Only a few dock-workers scurry to and fro in the storm, hurrying to get between buildings. A ship's horn blows from out on the water, and the noise combined with the dreary vista of the rain-drenched shipyard makes Lee's spine tingle.

Marshtomp croaks and points to the nearest warehouse, marked with a large 3, and Lee sees just what has Marshtomp so worked up.

Off to the side of the large bay doors on warehouse 3 is a small man door with three people around it. Two stand at the door fumbling with something while a third sits on the wet ground against the side of the warehouse for some reason. With the heavy rainfall, it's near impossible to make out any details of the three.

Marshtomp lets out an urgent growl. He steps behind both trainers and gives them a nudge before squeezing between them and taking point again.

"We're goin' pal, don't worry." Brendan assures with a hand raised in a pacifying manner. "Did you follow these people all the way here?"

The mudfish pokemon nods with an impatient croak.

"C'mon, Lee. If Marshtomp is this upset, it's got to be worth looking into."

Lee just frowns as he takes in the strange scene in the distance. "Alright, sure..." He quietly mutters, and after a second of deliberation, he palms Grovyle's ball and rolls it between his fingers.

The trio crosses the street and walks to the warehouse, where the two people at the man door are too engrossed in their work to notice them, and the third one sitting against the wall seemingly asleep in the downpour doesn't stir.

As they finally get within fifty feet or so of the warehouse, Lee realizes something that makes his hand clench around Grovyle's ball.

The third person, a dockworker in a blue jumpsuit and hard hat, isn't sleeping against the building. No, he's knocked out. The ugly bruise across the left side of his face makes it obvious why he's slumped over.

Brendan's eyes widen when he notices, then his eyes shoot to the pair by the door with a scowl. "It's you two again!"

Both men by the door stiffen and look over their shoulders.

The first one, a tall, muscular man with a plain face and a scar on his chin, scowls when he sees Brendan and Marshtomp.

The second man is shorter with a bearded face and narrow eyes that only narrow further when he sees the trainers behind him. He turns just enough that Lee can see the electronic card lock on the door, now devoid of a faceplate and exposing the wires inside. One wire leads from the lock to a thick, phone-like device in the man's hand.

But the thing that stands out most about them is their blue bandanas, each one boldly emblazoned with an "A" stylised to look like bones.

'Team Aqua...' Lee feels himself sweat even through the pouring rain.

"Take your friend and fuck off, kid!" The first man raises a fist. "This is your only warning."

"You know these two?" Lee quickly asks, not taking his eyes off of the gang members.

Brendan crosses his arms and glares right back at the Aqua grunts. "Yeah, they were loitering around here a few days ago when I was on the way to the Slateport museum, and they kept coming back after the dock workers told them to buzz off. Looks like they were staking the place out for a robbery." The Birch heir steps forward with Marshtomp taking an eager ready stance in front of him. "Both of you give up! In my capacity as a Hoenn Lab Trainer, you're both under arrest for assault and attempted breaking and entering!"

Both Aqua grunts share a look, then as one, they reach into their pockets and draw pokeballs.

Lee hisses out a sigh when he realizes that Brendan intends to drag them both into a fight. "Grovyle! Get ready!" He throws the ball in his hand out, and in a flash of light, the wood gecko pokemon takes form beside Marshtomp with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

'Bruiser, remember. Don't worry about status right now.' The zoologist catches Grovyle's pokeball in his slick fingers when it flies back to him. "Don't hold back, Grovyle!"

Both thugs throw their scuffed pokeballs without any fanfare, and from them emerge a Corphish and a Poochyena.

The Corphish, which resembles a two-foot-tall lobster with large, cartoonishly blank bug-eyes, scowls and burbles, scuttling forward on his six lobster legs and brandishing his pincers at Marshtomp and Grovyle. Lee can't readily recall what signs point to a healthy crustacean and abandons the notion of sizing the lobster up.

The Poochyena, meanwhile, stands steady with his hackles raised, growling loud enough to be heard over the rainfall. His fangs and red eyes gleam in the poor light. While not unhealthy, the pokemon is smaller than average.

'We should probably separate them and pick them off one on one. These pokemon don't look terribly impressive, but if they have decent teamwork, then this could turn into a slog.'

Lee and Brendan meet eyes for a second, and Brendan's small smirk tells Lee he already knows the plan that the older trainer is thinking of. "Marshtomp! Scatter them with Watergun!"

"Grovyle, Feint Attack!" Lee orders a second later, eyes trained on Corphish. "You know who to target!"

Before the Aqua grunts or their pokemon can process the orders of the trainers across from them, Marshtomp's throat swells with water, then he spits a pillar of water like a missile at the asphalt between Corphish and Poochyena.

Poochyena's eyes bug out, and the Dark-type canine just barely manages to jump to the side and out of the way. Corphish, however, is caught in the explosion of water and ripped-up asphalt, which throws him off of his feet like a ragdoll. The lobster pokemon hits the ground and scrapes his shell across it painfully.

No one notices Grovyle's form flickering and vanishing in the excitement.

"Poochyena! Howl and then Bite Marshtomp!" The short, bearded grunt yells.

The muscular grunt's eyes shoot wide open when he sees an invisible shape displacing the rain behind his pokemon. "Corphish, look out behind you!"

The taller grunt's Corphish jumps to his feet and turns on a dime. His lobster claws glow a faint blue and one rises just in time to close around a three-fingered reptilian hand crackling with Dark energy. A moment later, Feint Attack's invisibility fails, and Grovyle melts back into the world. Both pokemon strain against each other, but remain in a deadlock. Grovyle's face is still cool even with the pincer crushing his forearm.

'Not making this mistake twice.' Lee smiles. "Bullet Seed!"

"Fuck! Corphish! Harden!" The grunt trainer counters with gnashed teeth.

Corphish throws Grovyle's arm to the side in a burst of strength, then lets the glow around his claws fade as his shell stiffens and shines as if polished.

Grovyle doesn't stumble at all from having Feint Attack deflected and instead whirls around in a full 360-degree turn, using the momentum given to him by Corphish. He digs his hind claws into the ground and skids to a stop with his maw open wide, then with a sound like a fully automatic pistol, Grovyle unleashes a point-blank Bullet Seed.

Ratatatatatatatat!

The seeds ping off of Corphish's hardened armor with more than a few loudly ricocheting away, leaving scuffs and scratches. Several super-effective seeds hit dead-center, cracking and denting his shell despite Harden, leaving the lobster pokemon reeling. Grovyle looses a final salvo before finally ending his attack, battering Corphish and pushing him back several inches.

Lee takes his eyes off his battle to glance at Brendan's. He's just in time to see the bearded grunt's poor Poochyena take a skull-rattling uppercut from Marshtomp, sending the canine off his paws and up into the air.

"Seismic Toss!"

Before Poochyena can fly away from the uppercut, Marshtomp's other hand shoots up and wraps around one of the Dark-type's hindlegs, stopping him cold. Then with a savage laugh, Marshtomp throws Poochyena down and spikes the unfortunate wolf off the asphalt. Poochyena hits the unforgiving ground with such force that all the air is driven from his lungs in a single explosive wheeze. Behind him, his trainer's face twists in sympathetic pain.

So far, the only injury Marshtomp has is a bite mark on his leg that is just barely bleeding.

"Damn it all, Corphish! Do something!" The taller grunt screams, dread beginning to form on his face. "Back up and use Bubblebeam! Spread it out!"

Slowly leaking ichor from his wounds, Corphish grimaces and hops backwards. He takes a breath as his mouth glows Water-blue.

'Trying to make some distance? I don't think so,' Lee shakes his head. "Detect, then close the gap with Quick Attack!"

Corphish breathes out a wide stream of gleaming, fist-sized bubbles at Grovyle. The lizard pokemon smirks and dances around each bubble, sometimes with only an inch to spare. The wood gecko's eyes, glowing with Detect, leave ghostly trails of yellow in his wake. The missed bubbles slow down as they fly and explode behind Grovyle without effect.

The Water-type strains himself to keep the Bubblebeam going, but after several seconds he begins to shake and his claws sag with fatigue. The instant the Bubblebeam begins to falter, Grovyle cloaks himself in the white aura of Quick Attack and moves as a blur of green, blowing away the water around his feet from the force.

"Leaf Blade!"

"Corphish! Move!"

Shink!

The Aqua grunt's cry is half a second too late, as a Leaf Blade cruelly cuts into his Pokemon's back, cleanly cutting through Corphish's shell and drawing blood.

Corphish stumbles forward with a weak chitter, then finally falls face-first to the ground as his legs give out. He goes limp and pants harshly.

Lee grins. "Good work as usual, Grovyle."

The Grass-type crosses his arms, being just the slightest bit ginger with his bruised wrist, and shifts the twig in his mouth dismissively. Both he and Lee turn to watch the end of Marshtomp's fight.

"No no no! Shit!" The taller grunt presses his back against the door behind him when he sees his pokemon fall. He turns to his partner and shakes the bearded man's shoulder frantically. "We've gotta run!"

"Take Down!"

"Run fucking where?!" The other gangster screams back, and taking his eyes off the battle proves to be a mistake. His Poochyena freezes up in fright when Marshtomp bullrushes him like a train.

Marshtomp smashes into the dark-furred canine in a full-body Take Down, lifting Poochyena up and throwing him back-first into the side of the warehouse with a pained cry. The little wolf's head rebounds off the wall, and he falls to the ground like a sack filled with rocks, out cold.

The bearded Aqua grunt looks between Marshtomp, Grovyle, Brendan, Lee, then his knocked out pokemon with his face going pale.

With the battle over and the elation of a win quickly passing, Lee takes a single step forward with a scowl. "Both of you, on your knees with your hands up. You're finished."

For a moment it looks as if the pair might bolt, then the shorter of the two lets out a shaking sigh and drops to his knees before raising his hands high.

It only takes a growl from Marshtomp to get the larger grunt to quickly drop and give in.

---------------------------------------------------
Just 20 minutes later, the shipyard is lit up with the flashing blue and red lights of parked police cruisers and a single ambulance.

"-and that's about everything..." Lee recounts, watching as the now conscious dockworker is checked over by the paramedics parked nearby. He rolls Grovyle's occupied pokeball in his hand as he talks. "They complied until the first units showed up for an official arrest, one of your guys bagged 'em and tagged 'em, and you know the rest."

Standing before him and Brendan with another officer holding an umbrella for her is Slateport's Officer Jenny, who nods as she jots down Lee's statement in a PD marked notebook. "That's about what I expected..." The woman murmurs with a frown. "We've picked these two up for loitering before, but this is the first time they've really messed enough up to warrant anything other than a catch and release," she sighs and pockets her pen and notebook. "The gang affiliation and sudden willingness to get violent are worrying, too. I didn't think a radical eco group could go this far."

'It's going to get worse before it gets better...' Lee thinks to himself. 'I should shoot Professor Birch an email or something about this. He might be able to pressure his guy in the League after another run-in like this.'

"What's in this warehouse that would drive those guys to assault someone and try to break in?" Brendan crosses his arms and taps his foot. "If these Aqua guys are like that Magma gang, then they're after something for some kinda environmentalist end, right?"

The officer holding the umbrella for Jenny clears his throat. "If I may? A few of these enclosed docks are owned by Captain Stern, and may house submarines and the special deep-sea equipment to go with them. They may have been looking to steal one."

"Possible, but we'll need to interrogate them before we know for certain." Officer Jenny reaches a white-gloved hand into her pocket and withdraws a plastic bag with EVIDENCE emblazoned on the front. Inside is the thick, glass-screened device one of the Aqua thugs was using to hack the lock to the warehouse door. "What I want to know is where they got an electronic lock decrypter. These things are expensive, too expensive for low level gangsters to realistically get, and this one is bleeding edge! The door was unlocked when we disconnected it."

Lee smiles inwardly and seizes the chance Jenny just gave him. "Realistically? They have a wealthy benefactor... or Aqua is something more sinister than just a gang of disgruntled hippies. I'd keep an eye on them, officer, and spread the word to other PDs and agencies to be wary. Who knows what their ultimate goals might be."

Jenny's eyes narrow just the slightest amount. "A rather strong warning, Mr. Henson. Is there something you're not saying?"

"Lee is just a professional worrywart, don't sweat it," Brendan cuts in with a smirk aimed at Lee. "We smoked their pokemon easy, so they're probably nothing worth stressing over."

'And Brendan undoes my work...' Lee holds back a sigh when Jenny relaxes.

"Well, either way, you boys are free to go, and thank you for stepping in this evening." Jenny smiles. "You should head back to wherever you're staying the night and get a change of clothes before you two catch a cold."

---------------------------------------------------
"I can't believe you guys went and got into trouble without me..."

As the end credits of Lee's chosen movie begin to run, Zinnia sulks from her place laying belly-down on Lee's bed. "You could have called me or something," she grumbles, lifting her head out of her hands to look back.

Lee himself sits against the headboard, clad in a sleeveless shirt and sweats. In his lap, Shinx greedily drinks from a warmed bottle of milk held in his hand. "They weren't that strong," the scarred man replies, raising his eyes away from his pokemon to Zinnia. "No grand plans, no employing anything you taught me, just a one-two punch for Grovyle's opponent to go down, and Marshtomp brutalized that poor Poochyena like it was nothing. I think if I called you in for backup, you'd complain about having to be out in the rain for a lackluster battle."

"Maybe," she sniffs and turns her ruby eyes back to the TV.

"Maybe?" Brendan parrots from his bed, surrounded by his pokemon and bundled tightly in nothing but underwear and blankets. The shivering boy blinks incredulously and pulls the covers around him a little tighter. "I froze to the bone out there! It sucked!" He whines. "I think you would have hated it even more!"

Lee just rolls his eyes. Looking back down, he sees Shinx beginning to slow her suckling, and once she comes to a stop, he pulls the almost-empty nipple-capped bottle away from her without any protest. "All done, baby girl?" He asks, setting the bottle on the nightstand.

"Mrrrrew?" Shinx stretches out on Lee's folded legs and rolls to her side, wiggling in delight when a hand comes down to rub her full belly.

The sight alone is enough to make Lee grin. When he lightly drums two fingers on Shinx' middle, she mewls and bats at them with her paws, zapping his hand with little static arcs making quiet *pop pop* sounds.

A sleepy snort drags his attention away from Shinx over to Vulpix, who lays asleep, napping for the third time today.

'Why is she sleeping so much?' Lee's smile slowly falls. 'I know she insists that she's fine, and she's not ill, but what is going on? Is she not getting enough sleep at night? She's not been irritable or anything.' He mulls over the quandary. 'Maybe..?'

Slowly and with as much finesse as he can, Lee reaches across the psychic tether to his fox, then lightly touches her sleeping mind. He worms past the dull shell of sleep around her brain and peers inside.

A barrage of jumbled confusion and uncertainty not his own ricochets around his skull instantly, and Lee has to suppress a wince from the sudden headache that blooms behind his eyes. The feelings are so strong yet so vague that he cannot even assign proper words to most of what Vulpix' unconscious mind feeds him. It's like hearing a language humans cannot hope to reproduce with their vocal chords blasting at jet-engine volume, but in the deluge of psychic noise, Lee hears one thing that stands out in sharp contrast despite being near inaudible.

'Why am I?'

Lee pulls his mind away from his dreaming Vulpix' as if burned. The tiny hole in her hazy mind he gained entry with closes, leaving his brain blessedly quiet once more.

He doesn't really notice Brendan's movie come and pass, too lost in thought to care.

''Why am I?' What did she mean? Why were those words so clear?'

--------------------------------------------------
'Two Aquas got picked up by the cops in Slateport. They were stopped and beaten by a pair of powerful trainers before they could bust open dockside warehouse 3. They were likely after sub parts. Agents are keeping an eye on the area to acquire the sub parts for Magma's use.'

Courtney, right hand of Magma Leader Maxie, rereads the curt report on her laptop screen before standing from her desk. Slowly, the short woman paces around her office.

The Magma Admin's office is spartan at her own request, being little more than a side-cave in the hideout of Team Magma. Her desk, computer, full file cabinets, a stack of books, a bed, and a few personal effects are the only things the purple-haired admin keeps. Once Maxie's plan comes to fruition, then she can allow herself frivolous luxuries.

Courtney's blank eyes, the same hue as her hair, narrow slightly.

The attached video file showed her the battle the Aquas got into, but in reality it was more of a curb stomp. The pair of grunts were par for the course, each with a single pokemon of low to middling ability. They were no better or worse than any of Magma's foot soldiers.

But the speed at which they were flattened left Courtney with a raised eyebrow.

It took only a cursory search to find out that the older trainer, a fearsome man with an equally fearsome Grovyle, is Researcher Lee Henson.

All of his battles on Battlenet showed Courtney a curious hodgepodge of battle-styles and powerful pokemon. A Vulpix, a Grovyle, and a Corvisquire, all of whom hitting freakishly above their weight class. If the Magma admin didn't know better, she would swear that the Vulpix is some sort of pyrokinetic from the intense power and control of her Fire attacks. Despite becoming a trainer so late in life, the man has already defeated two Gym Leaders and boasts an unreal win/loss ratio. The real number of wins could be much higher, as unless one films all of their own battles, many are usually missed.

Returning to her desk, Courtney takes the worn mouse and tabs back over to Henson's Battlenet profile. The scarred, faintly frowning visage on her screen seemed to glare at her, daring her to do something.

Lee Henson is dangerous, and any one of his pokemon would cut swathes through Magma's foot soldiers. Already he's putting his nose where it doesn't belong, even if his actions today benefited Magma.

Dangerous or no, if he dares to interfere with the plan, Courtney will remove him from the picture.

The next trainer, however, interests her much more.

Brendan Birch, the son of Nigel Birch.

The boy is a prodigy, plain and simple. He dominates nearly all of his battles with a brutal cunning hidden behind a bright smile. He takes his time, and knows that sometimes ground must be given before more can be taken. His mind and his pokemon are constantly being honed by the grindstone that is Lee Henson, and only a few short months into his career, he's already toppling Gym Leaders.

The admin navigates to a saved link on her laptop, opening the Battlenet profile of young Birch. She watches the latest battle with what is reported to be his newest pokemon, a Mawile.

Once again, he plays his opponent like a fiddle.

Birch's foe, a trainer in his late teens, sends out a Torkoal, which should have been a clear indicator of who was going to win from type-advantage alone.

Less than two minutes later, Mawile wins with only minor burns to show for it. Mawile uses Attract then feigns fright at Birch's direction to lure the unsuspecting Torkoal closer despite the other trainer's commands to stay put. A sudden, critical Bite right to the head puts Torkoal out of commission.

Brendan Birch battles like she does, and such skill has taken her to the position of Admin in Magma.

They are alike, and thus both can help change everything for the better of humanity. Both can help make Maxie's plan to save the world a reality.

Slowly closing her laptop, Courtney stands and throws the red hood of her uniform over her purple hair.

"...There are arrangements to be made..." She mutters to herself, her feet guiding her to her Leader's office.

 

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“Step up, trainers! Step up! The Battle Tent has fabulous prizes for trainers of all ages if they can brave the challenge! Test your skill and mind with pokemon not your own! Maybe discover a new favorite!”

A smiling man in a colorful suit and tie bounds between onlookers passing by Slateport’s Battle Tent, one hand holding a microphone and the other clutching crumpled tickets. By his feet, a Bellossom duo cheerfully dances in tune with his voice. Behind him is Slateport’s Battle Tent.

‘Tent’ is a total misnomer considering the tent is truly a large, domed building painted an eye-catching red, blue, and white. Bombastic, upbeat music that would be at home in an arcade can be heard through the walls, and people are gathered around the windows, each of which have a TV mounted in them. Non-stop replays of the battles inside play on repeat, thrilling the people standing outside and making passersby slow to watch.

With Vulpix seated on his shoulder and Brendan and Zinnia flanking him, Lee stares down at the Battle Tent ticket in his hand as they all approach.

“Jeez, this place always seems to be busy...” Zinnia pulls her phone from her pocket and presses the side button, frowning at the ‘8:24am’ that stares back.

“It’s one of Slateport’s big attractions,” Brendan begins, crossing his arms behind his head as he walks and takes in the sight of the Tent. “I’d be more surprised if it wasn’t jumping all the time.”

Lee glances down at his ticket again, then to Vulpix, who regards the Battle Tent with a raised brow. It doesn't take telepathy to understand she’s thinking the same thing as him. “I take it they offer more than just battles?”

“I’m pretty sure, yeah.” Zinnia nods as the trio weave through the crowd around the front door and step inside. She lets out a pleased sigh with the AC in the tent blows away the muggy morning air. “It’s probably... oh wow.” She slows to a stop with Brendan gaping next to her.

Lee blinks and looks around, suddenly feeling as if he were ten years old again. Unbidden, a memory of a childhood birthday he spent at an indoor amusement park comes to him in sharp detail.

The inside of the Tent is dominated by a literal arcade, explaining the choice in music that could be heard outside. The darkened room expands out, feeling much larger than it really is. The floor is covered by game cabinets filled with kids, young teens, and pokemon. On the far wall, ticket counting machines and a prize desk filled with all manner of things from cheap toys to pokeballs to TMs of all things to win. Off to the right side, the arcade peters off and leads into a small restaurant and bar where a number of adults sit, some turned in their seats to watch their children.

“Hello. Welcome to the Battle Tent! Is it your first time here? Please take this!”

Lee and co stop staring at the scenery and turn to the voice.

Standing before them and gyrating to the beat of the pounding music, a Ludicolo in an apron stands with a wide smile. His apron is adorned by the white and blue three-pokeball symbol of the Battle Tent, and pockets on the front hold different pamphlets. The dual Grass/Water-type reaches into the middle-most pocket of his apron and thrusts three pamphlets out to the trainers.

Absently, Lee takes the offered papers and gives one to Zinnia and Brendan each. “Hey pal. Did you just talk?”

There is a squawk, and the scarred man looks up.

Sitting on Ludicolo’s broad headleaf is a Chatot who looks at him with narrow-eyed annoyance.

“Erm, sorry about that?” Lee offers with an awkward smile. “Say, sorry if this seems invasive, but did you actually speak or are you mimicking lines? If you’re actually speaking for yourself, do you think I could ask your trainer for a short meeting? I’m a pokemon researcher and-”

The Chatot cuts Lee off with an irritated flare of his wings. “Hello! Welcome to the Battle Tent!”

Vulpix takes this as her cue to nose Lee’s cheek. ‘He d****’t *n*w *** t* sp**k o**er **m*n wo*d*.’ She says.

It takes Lee a moment to decipher the telepathic speech, and when he does, he sighs. ‘Damn.’

“Sorry about Lee here,” Brendan says with a sheepish grin. “He’s a bit of a nerd. We’ll clear out of the doorway now.”

Ludicolo gives a non-committal hum and cheerfully dances over to a young couple who walked in behind them, totally unaffected by Chatot’s sour attitude. “Hello. Welcome to the Battle Tent! Is it your first time here? Please take this!”

A still-grinning Brendan takes point, and Lee, nose in the pamphlet, follows behind him.

Welcome to Slateport’s Battle Tent! A place for trainers of all ages to come and have a great time. Try our arcade with over 200 different games meant to sharpen your skills as a trainer! Hungry? Head on over to our three-star restaurant, the Taste of the Sea bar and grill! We stock only fresh ingredients and have your favorite drinks cold and on-tap! We even have tasty and nutritional pokemon food for all types!

Make an event out of your day here! Talk to our front desk or visit our website to book one of our meeting rooms and get a discount on special package deals for your next birthday or corporate event!

Or maybe you want a real thrill? Head down to our pokemon battle arena and test your skill for fabulous prizes! Here in Slateport, we test your abilities as a trainer using our rental pokemon. How fast can you come up with a plan on the fly? Can you seize an opportunity when it’s bared? Are you good enough to synergize with any pokemon? Prove it here!

F3: VIP Lounge
F2: Staff Office
F1: Arcade/Restaurant
B1: Meeting Rooms
B2: Onsite Pokemon Center/Arena Seating
B3: Battle Arena/Battle Check-in

“Much more comprehensive than I expected...” Lee mumbles. When he looks up, he finds himself at the prize corner of the arcade just as a smiling worker hands Brendan back his debit card and a small bucket of arcade tokens. Zinnia, meanwhile, leans over the glass counter full of prizes with mild interest.

There’s the obvious stuff, like cheap toys and stickers that cost a measly ten tickets. Some of the better stock costs fifty, or a hundred, like an amusingly bad Torchic plushie. The higher-end winnings, like phones, game consoles, and large, quality plushies are at minimum several thousand tickets. Then there are the actual interesting prizes.

Great Balls for fifty thousand tickets, some common TMs ranging between a hundred thousand to three hundred thousand tickets, and evolution stones starting at a mind-boggling million tickets. They all rest behind a case protected with much thicker glass.

Lee quickly runs some math in his head. ‘If a hundred tokens are twenty credits, and assuming you’re good at arcade games and win roughly ten tickets per token... That's twenty thousand credits for one of those stones! That's nearly twice the MSRP of a high purity stone itself!’

The water and fire stones behind the glass are so close yet so far. Already he can imagine Vulpix as a majestic Ninetales, a pokemon so beautiful grown men cry at the sight of her golden-furred form.

In his ear, Lee hears Vulpix chuff at the mental flattery.

...But not for that kind of money.

Zinnia looks up at him and smirks as she stands straight again. “Sticker shock?”

“Scam shock more like...” Lee grumbles.

“C’mon, you two!” Brendan holds up his plastic bucket of tokens and gives it a shake, jingling the shiny coins inside. “It’s not about the prizes, it’s about the fun! Let's go! You can share my tokens!” He eagerly turns and starts walking into the throngs of people bouncing between the games.

Lee looks to a blank-faced Vulpix, then to Zinnia, who looks faintly amused. “After you, Dolittle.”

They follow after Brendan, and as they walk, Lee glances around at the different games.

Many of them are just that: games. A few, however, do actually look like they might benefit trainers on some level. One is a light-gun cabinet, where the player’s ammo has different ‘types’ corresponding to pokemon types, and they can only zap pokemon on screen that would be weak to the ammo typing. Another is a rather basic-looking turn-based battling game almost like the pokemon series on Earth. A different one, where Brendan currently is, is a glorified milk-bottle pitching game probably meant to improve pokeball aim. Small pokemon plushie targets on mechanical arms move erratically, each one numbered. On the side of the machine is a trough where the ‘pokeballs’ are dispensed.

Brendan hefts a ball painted like a pokeball in his hands, then takes careful aim at the small, moving targets in the caged lane where the game is housed. He winds his hand back, then hurls the ball right at the smallest, furthest, trickiest target, a Milotic.

The ball flies true, only to clip the Milotic’s head and not count. The ball smacks against the rear of the cage as a buzzer sounds.

Brendan’s face goes from joyful to dour in an instant.

“Tough luck, shorty,” Zinnia giggles. “Maybe try a closer one?” She points to the biggest and slowest target, a Snorelax worth a single ticket.

The young boy’s face flushes in anger. “You try it, then if you're so good!” He takes a token from the bucket at his feet and drops it into the machine. A second later, the targets begin moving again and three more balls are dispensed with a clatter.

“Sure thing,” Zinnia smirks and steps forward. She takes the first ball and rolls it between her thin fingers, taking a pitcher’s stance as she does so. Then with a deep breath, she takes one hopping step forward and throws the ball so fast that it flys with almost no arc.

The ball whirls through the air like a dart, only to just barely miss when the Milotic jerks out of the way.

The Birch heir snickers as Zinnia just calmly takes another ball in her hand. “It’s called a warm-up, shorty,” She says with a sniff. “Watch this.” She takes in another great lungful of air and holds it, then fires off her second ball.

It brushes the Milotic’s tail, not counting as a hit.

Now Zinnia is scowling. With a growl, she takes the final ball and whips it from her hand as hard as she can.

The ball zips to the back of the cage like a lightning bolt, hitting the metal with a frightful clatter when it flies wide and misses entirely.

Brendan openly guffaws as Zinnia’s face burns red, and even Lee has to suppress a smile. “No idea why you’re laughing, kid. You’re the one wasting your tokens on a rigged game,” The dragon tamer crosses her arms and turns away with a grumble.

When the youngest of the trio gets his mirth under control, he smiles and looks over to Lee. “You wanna give it a shot?” He asks with a final giggle. “Bring home the gold for us?”

Lee shrugs. “I guess?” He leans down and takes a token before popping it into the game. Like last time, the targets come to life and another the faux pokeballs are dropped into the trough. “Don’t laugh when I miss, though.”

He takes a ball in his hand and tosses it up and down. ‘You might want to hop down, love.’ He sends to Vulpix. ‘I don’t want to launch you off your perch.’

The vixen mulls the suggestion over, then slides down to the floor to sit at his boots.

‘Is there any pattern to how they move?’ Lee watches the targets carefully, but when no pattern emerges, he shrugs and winds his arm back. “Here goes nothing.”

He looses the first ball, which flies at the distant Milotic, but like with Brendan the ball brushes the head without counting as a hit. With a frown, he takes the next ball and throws it at the Milotic once more, but the ball flies wide and misses on the right. Taking the final ball, Lee suddenly has an idea that puts a smile on his face. ‘Vulpix? Can you...’

The fox pokemon doesn’t need him to finish, as she gently grips his mind with her own, dragging her trainer deeper inside herself. Then like a plug being inserted into a live socket, a jolt runs down Lee’s spine, followed by a sudden nausea when he looks forward from two different perspectives, one much shorter than he.

Vulpix jumps back up to Lee’s shoulders with him watching from her eyes the entire time, then he can both feel and see her rest her head on top of his, giving him a perspective just slightly above his own.

Lee blinks then almost stumbles when Vulpix not blinking throws him off. ‘Okay, this is making me sick. Let's try and get it over with.’ Winding his arm back, Lee watches from both his and Vulpix’s eyes. The dual, slightly offset perspective gives him a supernatural amount of perception and twice the visual input to work with. Then his arm moves.

The entire time he throws, he adjusts his arm until it’s perfect, and the fauxball flies in a light arc straight for the Milotic, aimed to nail it square in the middle where it’s sure to count as a hit.

Zinnia’s eyes widen and Brendan gasps.

...Then the mechanical arm holding the plushie jerks out of the way at the last second, letting the ball whiff and smack the back of the cage. A second later, the buzzer sounds and the machine once again dispenses no tickets.

Both Lee and Vulpix blink in disbelief as Lee mentally extracts his sight from Vulpix’s eyes, instantly clearing his nausea. “Yeah, fuck this. It’s rigged.”

As one, Brendan and Zinnia break out into laughter that makes the latter of the two double over.

--------

“New High Score! Enter Initials?”

Lee watches Brendan grin widely at the flashing screen, and using the lightgun in his hand, the boy shoots the letters on the screen. “A...S...S... Hehehe!”

High Scores
#1: B&G 11125520
#2: LOK 11002250
#3: ASS 10800050
#4: DES 10600550
#5: TTT 10056450

‘Oh jeez, Brendan.’ Lee sighs. At his side, Zinnia giggles like a schoolgirl as she watches Brendan enter his ‘name.’ “Classy, kiddo! Really giving the kids after you something to ‘asspire’ for!”

Even Vulpix wrinkles her nose at that one.

“Bet I could do better...” Brendan reaches into his bucket of tokens, only for his hand to hit the plastic bottom. “Huh?” He peers down and sees none left. “Aww...”

“Finally out?” Lee asks, peering over Brendan’s shoulder to see the empty bucket. “You had a good run, I think.” He says, looking at the tickets still pouring from the lightgun game cabinet. “You should get something nice.”

“Not sure I’d call anything you can win in one afternoon ‘nice’, Dolittle,” Zinnia dryly interjects from his left. “It’s mostly one-credit store junk.”

Brendan gathers up the tickets at his feet when the game cabinet stops spitting them out and folds them into a neat stack. “Even if it’s junk, I’m going to go look anyway,” he says, counting his tickets under his breath.

“No prob,” Lee withdraws his Battle Tent ticket from his pocket and looks it over again. “I’m going to register for my battle before it gets too late. See you two down there?”

“You know it!” Zinnia smiles. “C’mon, shorty! Lets get your junk then get some choice seats!” She hooks her arm around Brendan’s and drags the boy along, making him stumble with a yelp. They quickly vanish in the throngs of people in the arcade.

Vulpix snorts from his shoulder, her irritation with Zinnia leaking over and tickling the back of her trainer’s mind. ‘I ***** **i*k **u s****d **** to*d *** ** le*** *** gr***.’ Her message is almost totally garbled in her annoyance, too much for Lee to piece together.

‘I know she hasn’t been a good friend until recently, love,’ Lee sends back as he begins weaving through the people to the west wall, where a neon sign saying Elevators hangs. ‘And she made a lot of assumptions... and tried to drive a wedge between us...and, er, okay so her track record is pretty abysmal,’ Lee admits with a sigh. ‘But I don’t want to tell Zinnia to just get lost. I was serious when I said her experience and powerful pokemon are tempting protection.’

Vulpix turns her frowning face to him, a wordless feeling of inadequacy on the forefront of her mind.

‘No! It’s not that either.’ Lee tries to keep his face from looking sour as he steps into the elevator with several other people, but still feels his lips pull downward. A few people look at him, a younger girl gaping in particular, but as usual the eyes are glued to his scars, not his full face. Thankfully no one seems to realize there is a silent conversation going on. ‘You, Corvi, and Grovyle are my champions, my family. I know I can trust everything to you. Baby Shinx...’ The man pauses for a moment. ‘I know she’ll grow up to be as powerful as you three, then she can share that mantle too. You are my life, and that's why I want to stack the odds in our favor.’

The fox pokemon bows her head slightly, a silent, apologetic whine escaping her lips. Lee then realizes that he’s battering her with a barrage of emotion and constricts his side of their link, reducing the flow to a trickle. ‘I get that you’re upset, and you have every right to be. Just put up with Zinnia for now, okay? Who knows, maybe she’ll keep the good behavior up.’

‘...Ok*y.’ Vulpix finally concedes. Although she hides it well, Lee can still feel why she gives in so easily.

She’s too tired to argue further.

‘Vulpix,’ The vixen perks up as she’s addressed by her name. ‘Are you feeling okay? You’ve been exhausted for what seems like a week now, and I know you’re not sleeping well. Please, if there is anything I can do to help, tell me.’ He keeps his peek into her sleeping mind to himself.

Again, she takes time to answer. Then Lee is smacked with a jumble of confused emotions that nearly make him stumble into a woman in front of him as he steps out of the elevator onto the third basement floor.

Vulpix shuts off the deluge of psychic noise after just a second with a sigh. ‘Too. Com... Plex.’ She haltingly sends to him, and already he can feel the second-hand migraine blooming in her skull as she slowly, painstakingly sounds out the telepathic English. Even with the effort, the words are coated with a curious psychic ‘static’ that makes Lee’s brain feel fuzzy just listening. ‘Exp. Plain. When. Talk. No...’ Vulpix struggles to formulate further words as her migraine worsens.

‘You’ll explain when you’re better at telepathy, I understand,’ Lee halts her and steps off to the side so the people behind him can pass. He rests his hand on her head and pulls her into a half-hug, gently rubbing her furry scalp behind her head-tuft. She melts into the touch as the throbbing in her head slowly begins to subside. ‘When you’re ready, I’m ready.’

The flow of love from the fox is as warm as the furry pelt pressed against Lee’s neck and cheek, making him smile. Heart-to-heart over, Lee keeps walking down the darkened hallway to the arena check-in.

-----------

Checking in was a simple affair. Lee needed only to present his ticket, sign a few forms, and return Vulpix to her ball before the attendant at the desk led him into a musty back room behind the arena to select his pokemon. Then came the difficult part.

Actually picking which pokemon he wants.

Lee scrolls through the selections on one of the provided terminals in the rear of the arena with a frown. The pokemon are all common fare, like a selection of Zigzagoons, Poochyenas, Geodudes, Nincadas, Shroomishes, Wurmples, and the like. The terminals are rather sterile in their descriptions of the pokemon and the moves all of them boast are... less than impressive.

‘Maybe my pokemon really are spoiling me with their talent,’ Lee blinks. ‘A regular pokemon like one of these could manhandle me easily, but I still feel undergunned.’

Finally, he scrolls to an Electrike and pauses.

Summary:
Sex: Male
Age: 3 yrs old
Personality: Volatile temperament. Quick to anger. Use caution.
Known Moves: Tackle, Leer, Thunder Wave, Spark, Howl

‘Electric types only have Ground as a hard counter...’ Lee rubs his chin. ‘Howl and Leer give some flexibility, and Thunder Wave is a utility move that’s hard to beat. On-demand paralysis is a game changer.’

Mind made up, Lee clicks ‘confirm’ steps off to the side, waiting for a Tent attendant to bring him his pokemon.

It doesn’t take longer than a minute for a teen in an apron bearing the Battle Tent logo to rush in via a side door, a pokeball in her grasp. “Lee Henson?” She asks the gathered trainers.

Lee raises his hand, and she quickly bounds over and hands the ball off to him before taking off in a hurry. “Your match is in twenty minutes sir! Feel free to get to know your pokemon in the meantime!” She’s gone again through the same side door a second later.

“Busy place?” Lee wonders under his breath, looking at the other handful of trainers still lining the walls trying to pick a pokemon from the terminals. With a shrug, he taps the button on his loaned pokeball, making it open with it’s distinctive snap-hiss and depositing a glowing white mass on the floor.

The light fades, and a young Electrike takes shape at Lee’s feet. The canine pokemon shakes his head and glares up at him, his foul attitude already rearing its head.

Lee crouches down slowly, but leisurely, not taking his eyes off of Electrike’s and silently daring the young pokemon to break eye contact first.

Electrike lifts a lip to growl.

“Shh!” Lee quickly presses a finger to the pokemon’s chin, halting the growl without looking away. “None of that. We’re working together for this match and I expect you to give it your all. Understood?”

Although the finger against Electrike’s chin buzzes uncomfortably as an electric charge runs through it, the canine doesn’t growl again and finally averts his eyes.

“I’m glad we have an understanding,” Lee smiles without baring his teeth and stands again. “Listen to me closely, and I’ll lead you to victory as best I can.”

Electrike snorts.

The man and ‘mon wait for roughly fifteen minutes, and in that time, several of the other trainers with loaner pokemon are called to the arena. The matches seem to only take a few minutes each, but the lack of a TV showing the fights in the musty backroom makes it impossible to tell exactly.

‘Thats probably on purpose...’ Lee muses. ‘It makes for more of a challenge if we’re going in blind and unsure of who we’re fighting.’

Finally, one of the Tent workers, a younger man, pokes his head in the room and glances down at the tablet computer in the crook of his arm. “Henson, Lee!”

Lee gently nudges Electrike with his boot, rousing the Electric-type into standing. “That's us, bud. Let's go put on a show.”

With his loaner pokemon on his heels, Lee is led through a winding hallway that splits down two paths. Coming down the path Lee, his pokemon, and his guide take is a dejected, older woman closely following another Battle Tent employee. They pass the pair, who are heading back to the waiting room.

“I take it the paths split into the two sides of the battleground?” Lee idly asks as he follows the apron-clad employee leading him and Electrike.

The man nods his head. “Yes sir. Did Amy go over the rules with you?”

“Erm...” Lee struggles to recall any of the nametags on the Battle Tent attendants he’s talked to. After a second, he sighs. “I don’t recall talking to an Amy, no.”

The attendant nods. “That's okay. The rules are simple. Matches are one-on-one, win three to get a prize, you can swap pokemon at the end of the match or keep Electrike, standard tourney rules are in play.”

“Simple enough.” The scarred man agrees.

They come to a stop at a thick steel door that the younger man opens. Gesturing inside, he smiles and says; “Good luck.”

Lee glances down to Electrike, who is bouncing nervously on his paws. “Ready?”

The pokemon answers with a short, eager bark.

Lee and Electrike step out into the arena, and Lee raises to his brow a hand to shield his eyes from the harsh lights. When his eyes adjust, he gets a good look at the Battle Tent’s main attraction.

The ground is coated in astroturf that sports gouges, burns, wet patches, and spots that are totally upturned. Sports pads line the walls, also displaying an impressive level of damage. About twenty feet above the walls is a seamless glass window surrounding the entirety of the ring, and behind the glass are seats lined with people. Many of them are cheering and seemingly hollering, but the window allows almost no noise into the ring. It takes only a second to spot Brendan, Zinnia, and their released pokemon, who found seats close to the window. Both humans wave down at Lee.

If not for the obvious legitimacy of the rest of the Battle Tent, Lee would have sworn this area held illegal underground battles.

“Next up, we have Lee Henson of Little Root!” An unseen announcer blares through an overhead speaker. “His partner for today is the spitfire Electrike! Can they take down Maybelle and Snorunt, who need just one more win for a prize? Let's find out!”

From the other across the arena, a young woman with long blonde hair strolls out and waves to the crowd with a wide smile. Trailing just behind her is a little Snorunt, who takes a few hopping steps into the battleground. The strange pokemon’s expression is difficult to read.

Elecktrike mirrors Snorunt and steps forward without any prompting, a snarl on his face.

A second later, a shimmering barrier flares to life on each side of the arena before fading into invisibility, locking the pokemon in.

“Trainers, ready?”

The young blonde woman smiles brightly and Lee just nods, focusing on the pokemon before him intently.

‘Elecktrike is likely faster than Snorunt, and we want to keep that advantage out of the gate. One unlucky Ice-move could stop Electrike in his tracks and then it’s game over.’ Lee takes a deep breath as his mind churns out ideas. ‘Keep it simple, stupid. Electrike is a straightforward fighter like Grovyle. Use his strengths and don’t let up. Maybelle has to know Snorunt can’t keep up with an Electric quadruped, so she’ll likely start out with...’

“Begin!”

“Snorunt, use Icy Wind!” The other trainer calls near instantly, pointing with a finger.

‘...A frontal attack out of the gate.’

“Dodge left!” Lee cries, keeping his voice loud and commands short just as Zinnia drilled into him.

It still stings a little, remembering how casual and verbose the dragon tamer was with Bagon in their first battle.

Electrike bounds to the side just as Snorunt exhales a cloud of crackling ice crystals and snowflakes, leaving a thick sheet of frost on the ground where the canine stood a second ago..

“Thunder Wave!” Lee orders again, voice filled with authority.

Elecktrike growls and sparkles with a corona of bright yellow bolts, then he shoots a thin lance of lighting that crosses the field near instantly, zapping Snorunt and making the Ice-type convulse violently on his feet.

“Snorunt, get out of-” The blonde woman stops herself short when her command is much too late. “E-er, Snorunt, use Double Team!”

“Howl, and then Spark!” Lee doesn’t relent. “Now!”

Electrike throws his head back and cries out in a deep howl that cuts down and touches something primal in everyone in earshot. Then he’s wreathed in another snapping coat of electricity before charging forward with a savage snarl. The astroturf smokes and curls under his paws as he runs.

Snorunt can barely stop shaking long enough to screw his eyes shut and concentrate, but by the time the illusionary clones of Double Team begin to take shape next to him, Elecktrike strikes him like a dog-sized taser. The arena is filled with a stomach-churning ‘pop-pop-pop’ of electricity flowing through flesh, and poor Snorunt is thrown off his feet from the force. The teepee pokemon rolls to a stop just a few feet away and struggles to rise, before giving out and falling to his belly.

“Snorunt, c’mon, baby! I believe in you!” Maybelle holds her hands together as if praying. “Get up!”

After a few seconds, just as it seems like the buzzer is going to sound, the Ice-type slowly gets to his feet with a pained grimace, and the crowd above roars in approval.

Lee bites his lip as Electrike looks back at him for an order. ‘Be sportsman-like and let them recover, or go for the throat?’

“Lee!”

The man looks up at Zinnia, who has her hands cupped against the glass to help her voice carry through. “Evo stones are a portental prize! Don’t let this go!”

Beside her, Brendan nods frantically and presses his phone against the window. Not that Lee can see what’s on the screen from this distance, but if he’s actually agreeing with Zinnia...

“Spark!”

“Snorunt, Protect!”

Just as Snorunt stands and gets his bearings, Electrike slams into him again, this time driving the other pokemon into the wall. Snorunt convulses as Spark runs through his body, then falls to the ground limp when Electrike backs off.

A buzzer sounds overhead as the barrier around the arena falls. “And thats that! Snorunt is down! Lee and Electrike are the winners without a scratch to show for it!” The announcer says, prompting the onlookers to stand and cheer.

Across the arena, the dejected Maybelle recalls Snorunt into his ball and is led back through the door behind her by a man in a Battle Tent apron, but not before she turns and sneers at Lee and Electrike. “Stupid pro tryhard...” She holds her nose up as she leaves.

Lee can’t help but frown, but he wipes it off his face when Electrike proudly trots back to his feet, stubby tail wagging.

“See? I told you we’d win.” The man grins and kneels down and offers a hand to his loaner pokemon. Electrike presses his muzzle into the offered hand, and Lee suppresses a wince when an electric jolt runs up his arm.

“Mister Henson?”

Lee takes the excuse to withdraw his hand from Electrike and stands, turning to face the same young attendant who escorted him to the arena.

The man clears his throat and looks down at a tablet in his hand. “Your next match starts immediately. Would you like to swap pokemon, or keep Electrike?”

“Hmm...” The zoologist glances down at the green Electric-type, who looks back up at him expectantly. ‘Why fix what isn’t broken?’ Lee shakes his head. “I’ll keep Electrike. I feel a winning streak with him, eh, pal?” He smiles down at the pokemon, who barks excitedly and wags his short tail faster.

The attendant nods and smiles a bit himself. “Good luck,” he wishes before bowing out and leaving the arena again.

----------------

With a final wobble, the shuddering and burned Pansage falls to the arena floor, unmoving. Even landing on the wince-inducing electrical burn on his chest does not rouse the simian pokemon.

“Pansage, I know you’ve got one more in you! C’mon!” The middle-aged woman trainer on the other side of the arena tries to make Pansage fight further with her pleading.

Lee shakes his head and turns his eyes back to his loaned Electrike.

Favoring his left side and panting harshly, the Electric-type’s exhaustion from three back-to-back battles is obvious. Snorunt did no damage, but the Baltoy in the last match proved to be a pain in the ass thanks to it’s immunity to Electric moves. What Lee expected to be a rough match actually wasn’t that bad, just time-consuming when hit-and-run became the name of the game to escape Baltoy’s Psybeam, which did hit Electrike once. Several times, the volume of Lee’s voice swallowed the other trainer’s commands or made him stop short, leaving Baltoy open. By the time the other trainer, a man of similar age to Lee, decided to start using Rapid Spin to ward off Electrike, Baltoy was on it’s last leg and only got one good hit in.

Pansage was the toughest of all, being both faster and more versatile than Electrike with Vine Whip and Leech Seed. Something interesting Lee discovered? Spark fries planted Leech Seeds, and Vine Whip becomes a liability when the foe can light themselves up like a stun-gun and zap the Vine Whip user via their own whips.

One such zap opened Pansage to a surprise Thunder Wave, then the immobilized monkey pokemon was promptly assailed by a barrage of Howl empowered Spark attacks.

Electricity is such a powerful element. Although he would never dream of forcing her to battle, Lee silently hopes that Shinx can learn to wield her electrical powers like a pro.

Overhead, the buzzer sounds for the 3rd time. “That's it! Lee Henson has cleared the Battle Tent challenge and is our second winner today!” The announcer's voice is punctuated by cheers. Brendan in particular gives a standing ovation with a bright grin.

“I feel like I overtrained for this...” Lee shakes his head and waves to the other trainer. “Hey! Good match!”

The woman, Lee didn’t catch her name, just huffs and recalls Pansage before handing the ball off to the Battle Tent attendant behind her.

On the field, Electrike finally gives in to his exhaustion and falls to his rump, still panting like he ran a lap around the entirety of Slateport.

‘Opponents like Snorunt, Baltoy, or Pansage would barely wind one of my team... But Electrike isn’t one of mine. This was probably a huge uphill fight for him.’ Lee raises the loaned pokeball in his hand and levels it at the exhausted pokemon. “You helped me to a big win, pal. Thank you for everything. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Electrike turns and stands, his head held high as he’s sucked back into the pokeball as a beam of red light.

Lee hands the ball to the attendant behind him and gives one final wave to the roaring spectators before stepping back into the darkened hallway. The Battle Tent worker closes the door behind the both of them, and the trek back to the waiting room is spent in silence until Lee breaks it halfway back.

“I’m only the second one to win today, eh?” He asks over his shoulder to the attendant. “What do I win?”

The young man at Lee’s side smiles a strained ‘customer service’ smile as they stop back in the musty waiting room filled with terminals. “The prizes are randomized, sir. It could be anything!”

“So I’m not getting a Fire Stone, then.” Lee grouses, making the apron-clad man falter. He sighs. “That's fine, I guess. I still need to talk about evolution to my Vulpix. No need to get ahead of myself.”

“While a Fire Stone is a tall order for our easiest Tent, I think you’ll find this to be a decent compromise.”

Both Lee and the Battle Tent employee turn to face the interloping voice, the latter stiffening.

With a grin on his face, a short, rotund man with curly brown hair wearing an alolan shirt and sunglasses stops to Lee’s left. In one of the man’s hands is a small box, and the other hand is raised in a wave. “Yo!” He greets, voice as cool and laid back as he looks.

“S-Sir! I didn’t realize you were visiting today!” The attendant escorting Lee hastily steps up and gives the man a deep, proper bow at the waist.

Lee blinks, a half-forgotten memory surfacing as he scans the very tourist-looking man. ‘Some kind of VIP? No. Where have I seen this guy? Not in the games... or was he? Damn. I need to dig my old phone out and do a replay of Pokemon Emerald to refresh my memory.’

“No need for that,” the still unnamed man adjusts his sunglasses and waves off the bow. “I just popped in when I saw a trainer of interest register for our challenge here. Lo and behold, he wins handily. Heh, we’re going to need to put that Electrike up for adoption soon. He’s probably too experienced to stay here after battling under an elite-in-the-making.” He thrusts a hand forward with a smile. “My name’s Scott. I’m the owner here. Nice to meet you properly, Lee.”

Lee’s eyes widen when the man’s name suddenly fills in the missing piece of the puzzle. ‘Oh shit. The Scott? The Battle Frontier owner? Fuck, how did I forget that?’ Outwardly, he clears his throat and clasps Scott’s hand for a handshake. “The performance was enjoyable I hope? And meet me properly?”

Scott laughs when Lee releases his hand. “Not as enjoyable as seeing your personal pokemon battle, but I had a good time watching. I caught yours and Miss Zinnia’s performance in Dewford’s yearly Brawl at the tail end of my vacation and I’ve been hooked ever since.” Scott clears his throat as his smile becomes more business-like. “There’s little I enjoy more than watching rising stars. You, Miss Zinnia, and Mister Birch are all such stars. I’ve found a handful of others this year, but you three are some of my favorites. It was Nigel Birch’s reign of terror over the Hoenn Gym circuit twenty years prior that started my fascination, you know?” He crosses his arms, and even with sunglasses on, the nostalgia in Scott’s eyes is undeniable. “Then I find his son, a dragon tamer, and a mysterious newcomer turned Lab Trainer traveling together trashing Gyms and tournaments like Nigel did?” The short man’s grin is face-splitting. “Ohohohoho! Hoenn is due for a shake up. It’s been too calm since Steven Stone took power, and I think you three are the ones to do it!”

Lee bites his lip. “You intend for us to challenge the Battle Frontier someday?”

“Someday soon.” He nods, grin still locked in place. “Here,” he holds the box in his hand out. “After I saw your Treecko-turned-Grovyle’s impossible win in Dewford, I’ve been wondering what a boost would do for him. I think this is better than one of our regular prizes.”

Gingerly, Lee takes the unmarked cardboard box and at Scott’s silent urging, pulls it open, letting out the scent of loamy earth and revealing the inside.

Sitting in a velvet-lined indent inside is a cloth band with a glittering, seed-like gem sown into the center. The gem faintly glows a sun-light gold even in the bright fluorescent light of the room.

“What is it?” Lee wonders aloud, picking up the band and holding it aloft.

Scott chuckles. “I thought a researcher like you would have known?”

The zoologist’s face colors red a bit, drawing another chuckle from the shorter man. “It’s a Miracle Seed,” Scott explains, reaching out to tap the gem with a finger. “A seed so overflowing with Grass energy that it empowers the Grass techniques of the wearer. Mister Grovyle will enjoy a nice boost to all of his Grass attacks, and it’s legal in most tournaments too!”

Lee’s mouth drops open a little. ‘I hadn't even thought of using held items. Then again, I’ve not come across anyone else using them either.’

“You’ll encounter trainers using doodads and bobbles like these the more serious you become,” Scott practically reads Lee’s mind with a knowing nod. “The smart ones will try to hide their use when they can. I know Roxanne has a Magnet somewhere on her Nosepass painted to camouflage it, and if Brawly is following his father’s example, then his pokemon probably have Coba berries ready to bite down on to dull Flying attacks.”

‘That... Actually explains a lot. It was weird that Nosepass’s Discharge was so strong, and Brawly’s pokemon took Corvi’s attacks with more ease than I would have expected.’

“Only the brazen wear their gear casually.” Scott finishes, not noticing Lee’s thoughts. “Make of that what you will.” Then he reaches up and clasps Lee’s shoulder. “It’s a shame I couldn't see your friends fight, but I understand given the ticket price. Next time, I’ll call ahead and let the next Tent know that you three are battling as VIPs.” He then withdraws a business card from his pocket and slips it into Lee’s hand. “We’ll keep in touch, okay? I’ll be watching your career closely.”

As Scott turns and walks away through a staff door with a wave, leaving Lee and the gaping attendant behind him, Lee looks down at the card in his hand and rolls it between his fingers.

‘I can’t escape this main character bullshit, can I?’

He wraps the Miracle Seed up and stuffs the business card into the box before making his way out of the backroom, passing another group of people being led in to pick pokemon to battle with.

Alone in the elevator, he takes Vulpix’s ball from his belt and pops it open, depositing the vixen on the carpeted floor. Barely even needing to blink the spots out of her sight, she jumps to Lee’s shoulder, gives him a short nuzzle in greeting, and reconnects her mind to his. Without bothering to ask, she scans through his memories of the last hour lethargically.

“You slept in your ball, didn’t you?” Lee asks, already knowing the answer.

Vulpix’s wince and surge of guilt is immediate.

“It’s nothing to be upset over,” Lee murmurs, reaching a hand up to stroke her soft cheek as the elevator begins to rise. “We’ll keep practicing your telepathy until you can tell me what’s on your mind, right? You helped me, and I’ll help you. Just try to get some sleep at night, okay?”

In her throat, Vulpix makes her curious not-purr and gives the man a lick across the side of his nose, her warm gratitude making his chest feel light.

The elevator stops on floor B2 and opens, letting in a handful of people going up, Brendan and Zinnia among them. Brendan immediately beelines for Lee with a hand held up for a high-five. “That was awesome! Way to clown on everyone who looked your way!”

Lee huffs out a laugh and meets Brendan’s hand with his own for a loud ‘smack!’ “Clown on them? Is that some kind of figure of speech?”

The boy trainer just sticks his tongue out at his older friend. “Get with it, old-timer.”

“In all seriousness, well done, Dolittle.” Zinnia steps in with a smile. “All the pokemon here are roughly on par with each other, and you took three wins pretty skillfully. The matches were... a little dull, but that's more because the low level trainers and low level ‘mons rather than you.” She easily ignores the ugly looks from a few people in the elevator, one of them Maybelle, the first trainer that Lee denied a win. “You’ve already got the bond thing down, and now you’re on track to be...” She pauses for some reason, red eyes looking away in thought for a moment. “Worthy of some really amazing stuff.”

Lee raises a brow, and Zinnia awkwardly clears her throat. “I’ll explain what I mean later.”

“How much are Battle Tent tickets?” Brendan asks Zinnia, steamrolling over the conversation. “Oh!” He turns back to Lee. “What did you win?”

Zinnia grins evilly. “They’re three-hundred and fifty some credits, shorty, and no consolation prizes.”

The elevator dings and reads “F1”. The door opens, letting everyone inside out.

“What?!” Brendan exclaimed and he, Lee, and Zinnia walk off to a corner to finish talking. “Over three-hundred credits!? That's criminal!”

Lee shakes his head and looks at the draconid tribeswoman as well. “Did you seriously blow three-hundred and fifty credits on an apology gift? One that wasn’t sure to have some kind of return on investment?”

“Yes and yes,” she crosses her arms under her bust and preens with a smile. “And no return? You won, didn’t you? I’m curious too, what did you get?”

Holding the box up, the camo-clad man opens it and shows the pair of curious faces the Miracle Seed inside.

“A Miracle Seed?” Brendan breathes. “Wow. Uh, that's not an evo stone, but that's not a waste of credits either.”

Zinnia whistles and grins. “Ha! String bean is already a lean, mean, sword-fighting machine. This is going to kick him up a huge notch. Look at the purity of this thing! It’s even glowing!” She turns and looks back at the elevator with calculating eyes. “If these are the kinds of things they give away, I might need to get a ticket for myself...”

“I don’t get the feeling that this is in the usual winnings pool,” Lee closes the box again and slouches so Vulpix can step over the straps of his backpack that he pulls off. He drops the Seed in his bag and replaces it over his shoulders. “The head honcho of the place gave it to me. He said he’s been following our progress since Dewford.”

The dragon tamer’s head whips back around so quickly that the collar of her cloak makes a ‘snap’ sound. “Someone’s been stalking us?!”

“Not like that,” Lee holds his hands up passively. “He’s some bigwig who owns the Battle Tents and the Battle Frontier. The guy’s name is Scott, and he said he wants all of us to eventually take the Battle Frontier challenge.”

“Really?” Brendan’s eyes light up like Christmas came early. He balls his hands and bounces in place. “No way! The Battle Frontier is only for the best of the best! It’s where Elites rub shoulders and Champs hang out! He wants us there!?” Brendan almost squeals in happiness. “Holy crap that's awesome!”

“Know a lot about it?” Zinnia asks with a raised brow. “You’re fanboying out reaaaal hard.”

The Birch heir scoffs. “Of course I do. Dad was invited to the Battle Frontier when I was little but turned it down to keep his career as a professor. Honestly? I think he should have gone for it.”

‘I need to look up Professor Birch’s battles sometime. Can you remind me next time we have some time, love?’

Vulpix flicks an ear in acknowledgment, then silently reminds him of something else he forgot.

“Oh!” Lee exclaims, drawing both Brendan and Zinnia’s attention. “Scott also mentioned that any other Battle Tents we visit are free of charge. He wants to see you two battle as well.”

Brendan’s mouth drops open in surprise, and Zinnia just smirks greedily.

-------

In the forest path leading to route 110, the road to Mauville just north of Slateport, two blurs of green and blue cease clashing at an unspoken signal and materialise into a pair of pokemon.

On the right, Brendan’s Marshtomp pants with his eyes wide and almost manic. His body is littered with cuts, small bruises, and one deep slash in this thigh that bleeds profusely. The mudfish’s whole body shakes with energy aching to be released, and his fists are clenched so hard that his knuckles are bone-white.

Across from Marshtomp, Lee’s Grovyle stands coolly with his arms crossed as the Leaf Blades on his wrists power down. Any who know him well can see how deep his breaths are and the tremor that runs through his legs, however. His form is black and blue with bruises and busted scales, and his usual chewing twig is bent, clearly broken. He shifts the twig to the other side of his jaw, which lacks a swelling bruise shaped like a three-fingered fist. Around the wood gecko’s neck, a black neckerchief bearing a radiant seed sits, ruffled.

“Nice job, Marshtomp!” Brendan praises from behind his pokemon. The young trainer already has a spray bottle of Potion and a water-soaked rag at the ready. He steps in and gently guides his pokemon into a sitting position before spraying down Marshtomp’s wounds, who barely notices the disinfecting sting. When the cuts close he wipes the spots of blood away with his rag. “Never let a type disadvantage keep you down!”

The Water pokemon takes a deep, gurgling breath and lets out a jolly laugh as his energy finally dissipates.

Lee, with Vulpix in her usual spot astride his shoulder, mirrors Brendan and steps up to Grovyle with the Super Potion he bought a number of days prior. Like usual, Grovyle needs no spoken encouragement and doesn’t so much as flinch when the Super Potion soaks into his scales, reversing the bruises and growing new scales in a way Lee knows has to be itchy as hell. When Grovyle sees his trainer’s pleased smile, though, the Grass-type’s stance relaxes ever so slightly.

With his pokemon treated, Lee wipes his forehead with his sleeve and pulls his phone from his pocket, gazing at the time. “I think that’s enough of a spar for now. Take a rest, Grovyle.”

The gecko nods easily, so Lee returns him to his ball in a flash of red.

“Same for you, Marshtomp.” Brendan holds out his ball. “Rest up! I’ll need your help coaching Mawile when we stop next time!”

Marshtomp gurgles again and raises a finger in a rough thumbs-up with a smile before vanishing into his ball as a mass of red light.

“Okay you two!” Zinnia calls from the shade of a tree to the side. At her feet, a wide-eyed Shinx and bored Shelgon stand. “Time to bail out of here before a ranger shows up!” She points a finger behind them.

Lee and Brendan both turn, then pale as one.

A few trees along the path are laying on the ground, felled in the furious fight between pokemon. A few are cut clean through as though done by a giant razor, and some look as if someone mistook a sledge hammer for an axe but was too stubborn to stop until the tree fell.

“Well, Mauville is several days away on foot, so let's not dally...” Lee clears his throat and turns away from the mess. He kneels down, and Shinx darts away from Shelgon’s side into his arms, drawing a smile from him wide enough to pull at the marred side of his face.

Zinnia returns Shelgon to his ball and falls in step with Lee and Brendan as they quickly walk northward, away from their impromptu battleground. “You know, if you keep spoiling her by carrying her around, she’s going to turn into a wussy daddy’s girl.” The dragon tamer eyes Shinx, who ignores her in favor of cuddling into Lee’s arms.

“That's fine,” Lee sniffs, shifting his arms so the cub in his grasp can get comfortable. “Nothing wrong with that. She can walk if she wants. If not, the fresh air will do her some good.”