“Getting Dragon Dance and Crunch down are going to be your goals for the next few days.” Tapping at her phone screen, Valerie explained, “It won’t be an issue if you can’t, because we already have Rock Polish working for you. If they really won’t stick, we’ll begin working on Stealth Rock, but…”

  A grin grew on her face, “Imagine the look on other trainers' faces when you use a Dragon-Type move.”

  Larry nodded along, waving his trainer off as he made a bit of distance, ‘I would be surprised if a Larvitar suddenly Dragon Danced, that’s for sure.’ He did a few stretches and twirled TE from his core around inside himself, “...Now, let’s see…”

  Channeling a completely new type of energy was not going to be easy, that's for sure, so Larry went back to the drawing board, ‘My least used type of TE is Ground, let’s take a look at it for inspiration on how to channel new Type-Energies…’

  Where Rock-Type signified toughness and rock-hard unbreakability, the Ground-Type, while similar, went for a different avenue. ‘Solidity and Stability, Seismic Energies bigger than comprehension, life itself, loamy dirt on which all Plants grow. Ground-TE is a source of incredible, stable power, essential for both life and destruction.’ Larry let the thoughts influence his core.

  Just like that, the energy from his core transformed, morphing and moving to Larry's image into a light brown of Ground-TE. It shot into his legs, and he raised his feet before smashing them back down angrily. He stamped around wildly until the ground beneath him cracked open and splintered outwards, shards of compressed dirt and stone flying outwards, coated in the Ground-TE from his legs.

  “Still have Stomping Tantrum down…Now, let's see about that Dragon-TE…” Larry went back to the image he’d had in his mind just a few minutes ago.

  ‘Dragon-Types, they’re mystical, rare Pokemon, most of the time with overwhelming strength.’ Larry once again influenced his core with the image in his mind, ‘Supreme power, overwhelming strength, beasts timeless and ancient…’

  ‘Intelligent, greedy, and prideful, literal personifications of Sin, yet at the same time, they are wise. Forces of Nature in both power and intellect, at least in most pieces of fiction.’ Larry could see the image being built, his mind already full of various dragons from his last life and various regions of the Pokemon world.

  Something sparked at his core, and Larry felt it, ‘There it is!’

  Still focusing on the energy inside himself, Larry tried to grab at it with his mind, only for the energy not to follow him, ‘Huh?’ The surprise threw Larry out of his concentration, and he felt the small bit of Dragon-TE inside himself dissipate out into the air, “Damn…”

  “Why didn’t it move the way I wanted?” Larry looked down at himself, unsure of how to even parse the issue, “Type-Energy never just refused to respond the way I wanted…”

  Repeating what he’d done before, Larry once again managed to create the Dragon-TE required for the move from his core, but just like last time, when he tried to coax it into moving the way he wanted it to, the Dragon-TE simply did not respond.

  “This is just…weird…” Larry muttered to himself, watching the energy dissipate into the air once more.

  …

  “Yes!” A cheer, followed by excited claps, threw Larry out of his concentration. When he turned over to his teammate, he saw Sybil focus her usual stare down to a stern glare. Her eyes began to glow ominously red, before suddenly a beam of purple laser shot out of both of her eyes, cracking the outside of a Rock on the other side of the court before disappearing into nothingness again.

  “Sybil, you got it!” After hopping over to Valerie, she picked her up into a hug, smothering the bird into her chest with a squeal of happiness, “You did a great job!”

  “Mmprm.” The bird sat smothered deep into the Valeries' clothes.

  Larry also walks over to congratulate his teammate, “Congrats on getting the move down.”

  Sybil finally sat down next to Valerie, “Thank you. I think I have learned some new things about the Ghost-Type due to this.”

  Larry himself felt a bit dejected, no matter what he tried, neither Crunch nor Dragon Dance came to him.

  Valerie noticed immediately, kneeling down and pulling Larry into a hug as well, “And one for you too, since you worked so hard!”

  …

  It was the next day, and Valerie and her Pokemon were once again inside the Trainer School. Both Larry and Sybil had finished their learning material early for the day. With Cal not wanting to cram any more material into the young Pokemon’s brains, he decided to allow them some free time and sent them out into the school's backyard to relax.

  “If I use a prismatic form instead, stability should increase…” Sybil had become far more vocal during their lessons, with the Psychic being entirely in their element when it came to places of education. She was currently spinning a prism of Psychic-TE in front of herself as she muttered to herself.

  Larry had started talking more to her in response, “What are you up to?”

  “I am currently applying prismatic formations to my Psychic manifestations.” She explained unhelpfully, “My teaching material wrote about how naturalistic formations are unoptimized, and learning better formations early would aid my growth in the future.”

  “I see…” Larry nodded along, ‘I don’t see…’

  “Your studies have been going favorably as well, I presume?” Sybil questioned.

  “Oh, well, I am getting the hang of the letters, slowly but surely.”

  “That is good to hear.” Her prism finally fell apart. “I think I’ve taken human society lightly before this, educational facilities are a wonderful experience. Amassing important knowledge in a single place to be digested all at once is a very wise idea.”

  “You can say that again.” Larry agreed with a knowing smile, “Humans are a weird bunch, aren’t they?”

  Sybil looked across the large backyard of the Trainer School, “I would be interested in exploring more of the human city. Would it be possible to petition Valerie for a walk around the town?”

  “Definitely. I think Valerie would be more than happy to work out any sort of request, considering it would be the first one you’ve ever made.” Larry looked around the yard himself, “Where were you planning on going, then?”

  “I am undecided,” She explained, “my knowledge of cities is too small.”

  “Hmm,” Larry put a hand on his chin, ‘It would be nice to explore the city a bit. But Valerie is so busy, we spend the entire day learning and training. What if…’

  An idea came to Larry, a reckless one, but an idea nonetheless, “What if we simply explore a bit now? Valerie should only be done with her lesson in another hour or so?”

  “That would be optimal, both for my curiosity and Valerie's plans.” Sybil bowed sagely.

  Approaching the fence, Larry turned to the side, “But how do we get out? I could dig a tunnel, but I know human places have a lot of stuff underground that I wouldn't wanna break.”

  Sybil hopped up next to him confidently, “Observe.”

  In a flash of Pink-TE, Larry suddenly found himself standing on the sidewalk on the other side of the fence, “Whoa?! You could do that?!”

  “I was unsure if I could,” Sybil still had that same blank stare on her face as she responded, but Larry could hear the excitement behind her voice, “It seems my education and training have paid off more than I expected.”

  …

  ‘Gonna have to keep an eye out for any Rockets,’ Larry thought to himself as they walked along the sidewalk, ‘but they usually wear those uniforms anyway. So I should spot them quite easily.’

  Almost every human they passed stared down at the two of them as they passed by. By now, Larry had become so desensitized to it that he didn’t even spare most of them a look.

  Right now, Larry was leading them around Viridian City. Unsure of where to go, since he was just as foreign to the city as Valerie and Sybil, ‘In the games, it was only two houses, a Pokecenter, and a Pokemart. Isn’t this kind of overkill?’

  Finally, Larry spotted a place of interest, a tall glass of ice cream was perched above a Logo which consisted of various letters Larry had been learning. He squinted at the logo, doing his best to decipher the language, “P-Par…Parfait. And that probably means Ice Cream, right? I don’t think you’ve ever had ice cream, right, Sybil?”

  “Larry, you’ve already managed to read text?” Sybil looked at Larry, “Quite impressive, considering it is only your third day learning.”

  Larry felt himself smile, but played it cool, “Nah, I only read out the Parfait. The rest is guessed, so I still have a long way to go. Anyway, have you had ice cream before?”

  She turned her body, “No, I have not.”

  “Oh, you’ve gotta try it! You’ll love it!” Larry walked up to the window of the store, which was open up to the sidewalk. Inside, an old vendor was reading a book as he waited for the next customer.

  When Larry tapped on the display case, the man jumped and looked around curiously, “Hm?! What?”

  He tapped the vendor's display case again, and the man finally saw him, “Ah, hello, little Pokemon! A new face, are you interested in any of the flavors?”

  Pointing at Sybil, he made a motion towards his mouth, “I see. You want to give your friend here a taste of ice cream?” After a nod from Larry, the old man continued, “Hmm, normally I would ask you to come back with your owner so they could pay for it, but…I wouldn’t be against giving the little bird a small sample. It usually makes for customers in the future.”

  He fished an appropriately small portion of ice cream out of one of the containers at random before holding his scoop out over his display and down towards Sybil, “Here, have a taste, little birdy.”

  Sybil took a peck of the ice cream, her beak receiving an adorable white spot of ice cream on its tip. When the sweet delicacy hit her taste buds, her usually dim and blank stare shot up into surprise, “This…”

  “Good, right?”

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  “It is amazing.” She uttered, before jumping up at the scooper again for seconds, “This tastes wonderful.”

  “I’m glad you seem to like it,” The old man said with a smile, “make sure to bring your owner along sometime in the future, ok?

  Larry already knew his taste buds wouldn’t agree, so he decided against the taste test himself. Instead, he bowed to the old man in thanks, which Sybil quickly mimicked. As they left the store behind, Sybil talked again, “Is all human food this delicious?”

  “Most human food is pretty good, though ice cream is a special delicacy.” Larry explained, “It is pretty unhealthy in return.”

  “I see…” Sybil nodded sagely, “The exquisite taste comes at a price.”

  Larry nodded along, “Everything in moderation.”

  …

  On their way through the city, they met more Pokemon, finding a Mankey who worked with its owner in the postal service, a Poliwag that was relaxing in the cool waters of a fountain, and various others all walking along with their trainers and owners, going about their days.

  The two continued exploring the city, looking into storefronts and taking it all in by themselves until Sybil suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

  “Sybil? What's-” When Larry looked back towards the bird, her eyes once again shone iridescently with Psychic-TE as her gaze wandered towards the sun, ‘Another vision? Are they involuntary?’

  When Sybil returned, she immediately hopped past him, “Please follow me.”

  “Ok?” Larry answered cautiously. Hopping forward, Sybil traversed the sidewalk normally until an alleyway opened up to their left, hopping quickly into it, “Here!”

  Larry followed after her into the dark alleyway, only to be rammed into his back, behind a dumpster, “Whoa! Sybil?! Wha- Mmph!”

  Sybil pushed a feathered wing over his mouth as she hid behind the dumpster with him, “Quiet.”

  Doing as instructed, Larry kept quiet, and Sybil slowly lifted her wing off his mouth. She walked to the edge of the dumpster and peered out towards the sidewalk from the alley.

  Following suit, Larry peeked out behind the dumpster as well. He whispered to Sybil below him, “What is it?”

  Standing stock still as she peered out, Sybil's eyes flashed with light again, and as the light dissipated, she took action again, “They are still following us.”

  “Who?” Larry whispered back, only to be ignored as Sybil took his arm into her beak and hopped deeper into the alley. She took Larry behind another corner, huddling with him behind a mound of trash cans.

  “It’s a human woman…” Sybil began explaining confusedly in a hushed tone, “She…She…”

  Before Sybil can explain properly, her eyes flash once again, far brighter than before, forcing a grunt of exertion out of the Psychic, “Hrrng!”

  “Sybil!” Trying to shake the bird out of her vision had utterly no effect on her.

  Finally, after roughly two or three times longer than before, Sybil's eyes dimmed back down, and she began speaking weakly, “...still following…get away.”

  Picking the bird up with both arms, Larry took her deeper into the alley, around another corner, only to find out he’d walked into a dead end, “Damn! Sybil, I know you can see the future. Where do we need to go?”

  “Too…many…visions…” She whispered back weakly with fluttering eyes in his arms.

  Straining his ears, Larry could hear steps in the distance, already making their way. He tapped the sleepy bird on its head with a strained whisper, “Hey! They’re coming! Are we still fleeing, or do we fight?” Unfortunately for Larry, the bird was completely unresponsive, “Damn!”

  ‘Guess I’ll have to duke it out with whatever woman came after us.’ Larry concluded as he placed Sybil behind himself.

  The steps only became louder, and before long, a purple-haired woman in casual clothes rounded the corner of their dead-end. She leisurely spun a Pokeball in her hand as she surveyed every corner. A grin spread on her face when she spotted the two after rounding the corner, “Well, would you look at that. You ran away right into a secluded corner, you couldn’t have given me a better opportunity.” She eyed Sybil, “And I get a freebie as well? The boss will be happy.”

  ‘The boss? If this is actually Team Rocket, then it's probably Giovanni she’s talking about, right?’ Larry's mind raced with options and ways this encounter could go, but he was stuck analyzing the situation for all its worth. The woman had the same purple hair as the woman at the reception of the gym, ‘Damn, I wasn’t sure, but the Gym is actually connected to Team Rocket…Where’s the ‘Get ready for trouble!’?’

  “Let’s make this quick and easy, why don’t we?” In a flash of red, her Pokeball opened, and a familiar Pokemon stood in front of Larry. A Houndour stood at the ready, already barking at him when it was released, “I’ll hurt you! Weakling!”

  “Houndour, quiet.” At the woman's command, the dog quieted down immediately, but the defiant look in its eyes told Larry that it was still ready for battle. “We’ll need that Larvitar alive. Go.”

  Houndour launched forward at the command, charging at him with a Dark-TE-infused Bite at the ready. With Sybil still incapacitated behind him, Larry couldn’t dodge, so instead he took the attack head-on, allowing Houndour to bite into his arm.

  “Argh!” Larry grunted in pain. Charging a Payback as soon as the attack hit, he infused the stolen Dark-TE into his other arm, clocking the Dark-Type straight into the side of its head with the attack, which forced it to release his arm.

  “Incinerate.” The woman commanded her Pokemon from behind. Houndour launched a gout of flames towards his face as it retreated, but his rocky skin was well defended against the flames.

  Not waiting for his turn, Larry launched through the fire and straight towards the Dark and Fire-Type with a Pursuit, delivering a kick to its side, to a pained whine from the Pokemon in response.

  ‘Should I use Rock and Ground-Type moves? They’re effective against fire, but those will destroy the area around here.’ Eying Sybil behind him, something else came to mind, ‘I can’t use Sandstorm either with Sybil back there, else she’ll get hurt!’ Arguing with himself about how he should approach the fight, Larry watched as Houndour launched a large round of Ember at him by itself, its trainer behind looking on uncaringly.

  He dodged under the flame, looking behind himself to see it just barely pass by Sybil's unconscious form and impact a metal trashcan, heating the impact point to a glowing red-hot, ‘Yikes, close!’

  Before he could prepare another move, Houndour was already charging back at him with another command from its trainer, “Bite!”

  Larry dodged to the side, only for the Pokemon to simply turn its head. It bit down on his torso with its huge, dark-TE-infused jaws, “Ow!”

  “Got you!” It grunted out, still fighting to keep him held down as the Rocket Grunt slowly approached.

  Larry, panicking, saw what the woman's end goal was, as she was pulling out a Pokeball of some sort, ‘No! I gotta get away!’

  “Let go! AAARGH!” He wrenched at Houndour's jaw, but the Pokemon wasn’t budging. In his panicked frustration and anger, Larry materialized a Bite of his own, but the jaws of his move grew even larger than normal. The teeth grew grotesquely long, looking more like something found on a deep-sea creature than the previously canine-looking ones.

  He opened his jaw wide and clamped it shut around the Houndour's front legs and neck. The unnervingly long teeth sank into the Pokemon’s shoulders and neck far too easily, scoring its hide and drawing blood for the first time. Houndour released its hold on impact, crying out with a loud whine.

  “Whoa!” The female grunt stepped back at the sight of the violent move, aborting her supposed catch attempt. Larry managed to pick up her Pokemon in its jaws, repeatedly chomping down on the trashing dog while suspended in the air until it stopped resisting. He opened his jaws wide and shook his head from side to side, watching as the Fire-Type slid out of them and landed unconsciously on its side next to its trainer.

  Once the jaw dematerialized, Larry felt himself waver on his feet, ‘Whoa, was that Crunch…? That took a lot of TE out of me…’ Turning to Sybil, he saw the bird was still incapacitated, ‘I need to get to safety and call for help, but…’ With the grunt still looking stunned by his attack, Larry finally got an idea.

  ‘If I can’t dig to safety around here, I’ll simply have to bring the safety to me.’ Infusing his throat with Normal-TE, Larry screeched skyward, launching an auditory assault that both the supposed Team Rocket goon and her Pokemon flinched back at, “EEEEEEEEEEEK!!!”

  Covering her ears, the woman cursed in pain, “Fuck!”

  She pulled out the Poke Ball for Houndour, “We’re doing this differently, before someone shows up.”

  Her injured Pokemon was recalled before it could protest, and another Pokeball was pulled from her belt. In another flash of red, a Drowzee with the same unsettlingly shifty expression as the Police Commander's Hypno appeared, its trunk-like nose twitched irritably, and it muttered under its breath as its eyes scanned the alleyway, “Fuckin’ morons, hiding in a trash heap.”

  In his mind, Larry was already strategizing, ‘Crap, a Drowzee’s bad news…I’m already exhausted, and I can’t fight a Pokemon that will just put me to sleep!’

  The Drowzee stared him down before it straightened out with a scoff, “You know Dig. Not gonna leave your little pal back there alone?”

  “Huh?” Larry stopped short at the accusation, ‘How does he know?’

  The woman behind Drowzee clicked her tongue in annoyance as she dug with a finger in her ears, “C’mon, Drowzee, get this over with.”

  Rolling his eyes, her Pokemon obliged, “Sorry, kid, no hard feelings?” It put its arms up, spinning them around in circles as rings of Psychic-TE began to shoot towards Larry.

  ‘Shit! Hypnosis!’ Larry turned, launching himself back towards Sybil. His eyelids felt heavy, and before he made it back, he lost his footing due to drowsiness, stumbling over Sybil as he skidded to a stop behind her. A loud CRASH! reverberated through the alley as Larry crashed into a metal trash can behind Sybil.

  ‘Stay awake! Stay…awake…’ Lying on the ground, Larry fought against the sleepiness until the attack suddenly stopped. Larry shook away the tiredness quickly as he looked towards Drowzee, who, instead of still launching its attack, was lying down on the floor, snoring loudly.

  ‘What?’ Larry got back to his feet confusedly, ‘What just happened?’

  Red-faced, the woman cursed at her sleeping Pokemon as she recalled it into its Pokeball, stomping her foot angrily, “You fucking useless piece of shit! Fuck you!”

  In the distance, Larry could hear a young voice calling out into the alley, “H-Hello? A-Anybody back here? I-Uhh, I just-”

  “Shit!” The woman cursed again, this time far quieter as she hissed to herself. Before Larry could do anything else, she’d already clipped the ball to her belt and was making her way out of the alley, loud, clacking shoes able to be heard into the distance as she fled.

  Larry looked around in confusion, suddenly back to being alone with Sybil, still passed out beside him, ‘What just happened? We…almost just got kidnapped, didn’t we? Was that Magic Bounce?’

  Just when he was about to try and wake Sybil again, a new set of footsteps could be heard. Larry readied himself for another fight of some sort, standing protectively over his teammate, but a familiar face peeked into his alley. Tan skin and a well-used, white hoodie clued him in on who he was as he complained to the Patrat on his shoulder, “Ack! Stop. What did you even hear down here?” After following his Pokemon’s pointer finger, the boy squinted into the dark alley, confusedly, “What…is that a Larvitar?”

  “Matthias?” Larry looked at the gangly teenager as he peeked into their alley, ‘Why is he here? Wasn’t he still in the League Reception Town?’

  …

  The boy's hair was covered by the hoodie's hood, but he had seemingly changed somewhat. He’d cleaned up his looks, combing his hair and washing his usually dirty white hoodie. He looked more confident, but still had to be coaxed along by his Patrat. It was already smacking at the back of his neck, urging him into the alleyway,

  “And a Natu…Wait a minute, are the two of you Valerie Riston’s Pokemon?” Matthias pointed at the two of them in confusion, the social anxiety he’d showcased before completely forgotten in front of Pokemon, “What are you guys doing in a dark alleyway?”

  “Yeah!” Patrat nodded along neurotically, “What are you doing here?! Tell us!”

  “We…” Larry didn’t even know how to explain what had happened, “...I guess we were almost just kidnapped…”

  “Kidnapped?!” The Patrat somehow shot up even straighter than before, its voice raising an entire octave. It smacked at Matt's head incessantly while wildly pointing in their general direction, “You heard ‘em?! Kidnapped! Those two were almost kidnapped!”

  “Agh!” Matt held a protective hand between Patrat on his shoulder and the side of his head, “Could you stop it, man?! Any more than that and you’re gonna bruise me!” Patrat slowed in its assault, allowing Matt to turn his head. “So something bad happened to the two of them?” To that, Patrat nodded.

  Matt turned back to Larry, “Did it have to do with that Lady I saw speed past me?” Larry nodded. He didn’t have the energy for any charades right now, so Matthias would have to make do with what a series of Yes and No questions could get him to glean. ‘Once I’m back with Valerie, I’ll try my luck and write this out, she needs to know.’

  “I'm gonna guess you got separated from Valerie as well, then? With how she ran into the Center back then, she’d already be here otherwise.” Another nod from Larry confirmed his theory. Matt put a hand on his chin as he looked at Larry, a bruise on his arm and torso already visible, “Alright, you do look kinda hurt. Want me to help bring you to the Center? They could probably also call up Valerie since, ugh…” The boy groaned, “I don’t have a way to contact her, and she still hasn’t contacted me for that interview…”

  Larry agreed easily enough, Matthias didn’t look suspicious, and while he seemed to be glued to his phone most of the time, he seemed to be a nice kid when you actually managed to talk to him. Quickly stepping back towards Sybil, Larry pointed at him and then at Matt, “Please carry her.”

  Patrat drilled a clawed finger into the side of the unaware boy's head, motioning with its arms like it was cradling a baby, “Carry the bird!”

  “Arck! I get it! Arceus…” He picked up Sybil and turned, already making his way out of the alley with Larry following next to him, “And here I thought you’d gotten nicer with time…”