‘Do you know any way I can get an Ice Stone?’ I messaged Valerie after I took a seat on the train back to Laverre. As much fun as it would be to hunt one down, I really didn’t know how to even look for one. How does one even find stones? Maybe I’m over complicating it… They could just be rocks scattered across mountains. But the fact I hadn’t seen any in the Pokemarts was a bit concerning.

  ‘Oh? You need an ice stone? What for?’ came the reply. Before I had a chance to explain, there was a following text, ‘Sorry, Diantha took my phone. Stones are pretty hard to get.’

  Diantha was there? That was a bit concerning. I wondered why… ‘I have five if I can maybe trade for one?’

  It was quite a long time before I got a reply, and it was simply, ‘five???!?!!?’

  I snorted at the excessive use of punctuation. ‘Yes. Five. But I don’t need any of them, I need an ice stone.’

  Amusingly, I didn’t get a response.

  Walking into the gym I was immediately aware that something was off. There was a sort of… odd sense that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. From across the room I caught Allie’s eye. She had an almost pained expression on her face. Or maybe it was apprehensive? Pitying? It was honestly hard to tell from across the room, but it was clear she was trying to convey some sort of emotion.

  I honestly found it humorous, as it was probably about Diantha being here. The Champion seemed to be a rather well known menace from some of the things I’d heard and experienced. Mostly experienced. She still hadn’t given me the name for what she wanted the reserve to be called…

  The first place I headed was to the room with the wolf pack. I had left the incubator in their care, and wanted to retrieve it as soon as possible. I knew it was a bit irrational, but I wanted to be sure it was safe.

  Opening the door, I immediately spotted Diantha and Valerie glaring at each other in the middle of the room. Or maybe they weren’t glaring? Maybe they were having some sort of serious mental conversation that I wasn’t able to listen in on.

  Either way, I ignored them for a moment, and instead made my way to the sitting area where I had left the incubator. As I did, I pulled Hate’s pokeball from my bag and released her. She shook vigorously, clearly relieved to be somewhere familiar and warm. Unfortunately I had bad news for her. “They don’t want us involved anymore,” I said as I knelt down in front of her.

  Her brow seemed to furrow a bit as she tried to understand what I meant, and then suddenly her expression shifted into one of anger. “But… But we did all the work!” she snarled.

  “I know,” I said softly. “And I tried to argue, but they weren’t having any of it.”

  “They don’t trust us,” she growled. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.

  And it really sucked that I agreed with her. “You would think that they would by now… Felt like I was arguing in circles…” I sighed, rubbing my face. “But they’re at least taking it seriously and going full force.”

  “But we won’t be able to get revenge,” she growled, starting to pace back and forth.

  I sighed again and stood up. “Unfortunately we have to leave revenge up to others.”

  That was clearly not what she wanted to hear, and she stalked off into the room, presumably in an attempt to calm herself down or go and rant at Malevolence. Our conversation didn’t go unnoticed, as suddenly Diantha and Valerie were rushing over.

  “Jace. Jace, my good, good friend,” Diantha hooked her arm with mine, a big smile on her face. “How was your trip to Snowbelle?”

  “Awful?” I said slowly, quickly trying to assess what was going on.

  “That’s unfortunate,” Diantha said as Valerie came up as well, standing quite close.

  “It’s usually beautiful this time of year. What happened?” Valerie asked.

  “A lot,” I said vaguely, attempting to free my arm from Diantha, but she refused to release me. “The city itself is beautiful, but some stuff happened. And the gym is closed.”

  “Oh… Yeah, gyms are usually closed this time of year,” Valerie said sheepishly, realizing that she could have mentioned that.

  “Wulfric would have been a prick about it anyways,” Diantha said, nodding to herself. “So. It’s getting close to Christmas… Have you thought about gifts?”

  Thankfully my brain chose that moment to supply me with what was going on. A bit of a smirk pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Are evolution stones so valuable that they’re making you act so weird?”

  Diantha immediately started to pout at me. “We’re not allowed to have them.”

  “We’re not allowed to buy them for personal use without jumping through a ton of hoops,” Valerie clarified, starting to glare at Diantha again.

  The woman waved a hand vaguely in the air. “Same thing.” She turned her attention back to me. “So. So. What kind of stones do you have?”

  “So they are rare?” I asked, turning my attention to Valerie and ignoring Diantha.

  She shrugged. “Sort of. Gym leaders, Elite Four Members, and even Champions have to justify to the League and Association why they need one. Something about an unfair advantage, because Pokemon that require stones or items to evolve tend to be a lot stronger than those that evolve naturally.”

  “That’s dumb,” I said, frowning.

  “Right?!” Diantha shouted, finally letting me go in order to throw her hands up in the air. “I want a Gallade to compliment my Gardevoir, and I have a perfectly good Ralts that I have been raising who would be perfect. But the Association keeps refusing.”

  Valerie shifted a bit. “I have a Floette that I have been waiting to evolve into a Florges but I can’t get a stone.”

  “Unfortunately I don’t have a shiny stone, or a dawn stone,” I explained slowly, looking at the two.

  “That’s fine,” Diantha said. “Trading stones is allowed.”

  “Why are there so many arbitrary rules?” I asked.

  Diantha shrugged. “Mostly it’s just the Association being jerks,” Diantha said. “They want more control over the League, so anything that requires joint permission, they usually deny it.”

  Valerie rolled her eyes. “While that’s not wrong, it’s a rule in case something happens to the Pokemon. That way they’re not left with a useless stone and can just trade it. It’s actually happened enough in the past that an exception needed to be made.”

  I nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense.”

  “So?” Diantha nudged me with her elbow.

  A bit of a laugh escaped me. “I’ve got three dusk stones, a moon stone, and a sun stone.” Both of them had a rather thoughtful expression. I guess they would actually make good gifts. I didn’t really have a use for any of them at the moment, but it sounds like the Association really made it hard for them to just get the stones. Which was weird and dumb. “I suppose if you really wanted one, it could be an early Christmas present,” I mused.

  “You don’t have to-” Valerie started.

  “Really?” Diantha shouted, cutting her off. “Which one do I get?” I almost expected her to be bouncing up and down from her tone, but she just had a big smile on her face.

  “Well…” I reached into my bag. “Valerie will get the moon stone,” I said as I pulled said stone out.

  Valerie blinked. “Why?”

  “In case you don’t want to trade it, or can’t find someone to trade to. Clefable and Wigglytuff are both fairy types that require a moon stone,” I explained, holding it out to her.

  She seemed hesitant to take it, but eventually her hand snaked out of her costume and took the stone. “Thank you.”

  “Oh, me next,” Diantha said as she stepped forward, invading my personal space.

  “Uh… Well, honestly I’m not sure. Which do you want?” I asked. Diantha was still such a wild card. I couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on in her head. Especially since she was so different from in the games and anime.

  Her brow furrowed a bit and she put a finger to her lips as she thought. “Well, since I’ll be trading it, it doesn’t really matter…”

  “Then a dusk stone,” I said with a snort, getting one of them out. “Probably easy to trade… and I have several of them.” I tossed it to her.

  She easily snatched it out of the air, a big smile on her face. “Wonderful. Merry Christmas.”

  I matched her smile. “Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas,” Valerie added.

  “Guess this means I don’t have to get you any other gifts,” I mused aloud, nodding to myself.

  Diantha immediately put on her pouting face. “So mean.”

  “Oh, right. I wanted to ask.” I shifted the conversation abruptly. “What were you two talking about before I texted? With how busy you are,” I gestured at Diantha, “I expect the reason to be interesting.”

  Suddenly she was smiling again. “Construction started.”

  I blinked at her. “Construction?”

  “For the main facility,” Valerie added, a rather pleased look on her face. “The Joy’s finalized the design the other day, and construction started this morning.”

  I just continued to blink at them. “Already? But Ezekiel isn’t even back. Or is he?”

  “He’s not,” Valerie said with a shake of her head.

  “That’s just a formality,” Diantha explained, waving her hand dismissively. “We don’t need a survey. The Rangers just want one.”

  Slowly I began nodding. “I see…”

  “So far the only snag has been your requirements for the greenhouse,” Valerie commented, as she took out her phone to look at something. “Shouldn’t be too hard, though. It’s just difficult right now because it’s winter. Once the snow clears up, should be fine.”

  “Good. I-”

  Diantha cut me off. “I actually had a question about that.” She put up a hand, like raising it in a classroom. “It makes sense to have a greenhouse, but you wanted it a good distance from the main facility and oddly large. And your specifications are a bit odd.”

  “Dual purpose,” I said simply.

  Both of them looked at me expectantly, clearly waiting for me to explain.

  A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. “Part of it is for what you think, grass Pokemon and the like, but also for these.” I pulled out a pokebean. The attention of every single Pokemon in the room snapped to me the moment it was out.

  “Those things you feed to the wolf pack sometimes?” Valerie asked, while Diantha just looked a bit puzzled.

  “They’re pokebeans. They are delicious, nutritious, and filling. They also have a soothing effect.” While I spoke, I started giving out beans to the wolf pack, who had started forming a line. “If we can get a lot of them growing- Gabby I just gave you one, shoo- growing here, we practically solve any food problems.”

  “Are they really that good?” Diantha asked, closely watching as I handed them out. From the glances the Pokemon gave her, it was clear she made some of them nervous, but the prospect of beans overrode any sort of hesitance they had at approaching.

  I pulled out a pokebean and offered it to her. “I think they’re tasty.”

  She didn’t even hesitate before taking it, studying it for a moment. I offered Valerie one as well, and she happily took it. Both of them looked at the Pokemon and then each other as if silently deliberating if they should. Diantha shrugged, and the two of them took a bite.

  “Whoa…” Valerie muttered, looking down at the bean. “That is…really good.”

  Diantha was suddenly all up in my personal space again. “Where did you get these?”

  I leaned a bit back, but that just caused her to lean forward more. “Alola. They’re sort of a staple food there, for people and Pokemon.”

  The woman stepped back and sagged. “Oh… That means getting more will be difficult…”

  “That’s why I want to grow them,” I offered.

  Suddenly she perked up, and had a sort of scheming look come over her for a moment. “Right! Well, this has been so much fun,” Diantha said with a beaming smile. “But unfortunately, I’ve business I must get back to before the holidays.” She turned with a rather over dramatic flourish before walking away.

  I turned my full attention to her as she walked towards the door. “Ah, before you go, Diantha. I have a favor to ask.”

  She paused, looking back at me with an almost predatory smile on her face. “Oh?”

  “When Jenny calls you, asking for help.” I looked at her, trying to impart the seriousness of the situation with my expression. “Please agree.”

  Her smile faltered a bit before she shook herself. “Goodness. What a buzz kill.”

  “It’s a sensitive matter, and I can’t give you details.” I really had no way of making her do anything. All I could do was ask, and that was all I promised Adria and Cassandra. “But… if you agree, and hear why she needs your help, I can promise you’ll be glad you did.”

  Her expression tightened a bit as she looked at me. Scrutinizing me for a moment like she was trying to see what I was thinking. “I’ll think about it,” she said eventually. She waved as she went through the door. “Farewell, Jace and Val.”

  It was silent for almost a full minute as everyone watched the door. “This is about…” Valerie started, but stopped.

  I nodded. “Yeah. It’s… Things are a lot worse than we thought, and I can’t go into details until it’s over.”

  “But it will be over, right?” she asked, her tone was almost pleading. I really wondered what Team Flare had done to her that she was so vehemently against them.

  Again I nodded, giving her a bit of a smile. “Yeah. It will.”

  Valerie went over the details a bit more about the construction. While it had started, they were of course going to take Christmas off, and then continue work until New Years. I was honestly shocked to hear that the facility would be finished in about a month or two. But that was the benefit of having dedicated construction Pokemon. The amount of work that could get done was absurd, but it also meant it was expensive.

  Diantha had refused to say how much it cost, but Valerie and I agreed it had to be a considerable amount. Still, it was amazing at how much she was putting into this. I was trying really hard to not think about her having an ulterior motive, but I couldn’t help it. What did Diantha get out of this? Why do all this? Was this one of those cases of tax deductible charity?

  …Did they have taxes? Was I supposed to be paying taxes?

  Let’s not think about that.

  Back in the training room that I had sort of taken over, I let everyone out. It had been… a long day. Again I was being checked over and scolded by Cara. Though I did note that her words were a lot less harsh than last time. She was definitely trying to be more comforting, which was nice.

  I didn’t let anyone train tonight, as instead we celebrated completing our reconnaissance of Kalos. Although I was still really annoyed that I wasn't allowed to participate further, I understood Jenny’s reasoning. Although I didn’t really believe her Association excuse, since I was pretty much not being monitored by them. Sure, that could change. But I had a feeling there was another reason I was unaware of.

  ~

  The next day I woke up and realized that I had nothing to do. With Wulfric’s gym closed, I assumed all the other ones were as well. Christmas was in two days, and whatever sort of raid the Jenny’s were doing would be happening in eight.

  So I decided that I would turn all those supplies I have into actual pokeblocks. It wouldn’t take the entire day, but I could just take it easy.

  At least, I would have if not for Rio’s insistence on starting to train more. That was at least something to focus on, and in fact I spent the rest of the day doing that after I’d made as many pokeblocks as I could.

  Liar, Bungle, Disaster, and Immodest were starting to adjust to the Gravity and were actually starting to be able to run a bit. Immodest was the one who was adapting the quickest, but Liar wasn’t far behind. Soon I’d have to talk about what sort of defense style they wanted, and start working them into the training.

  Training passed mostly peacefully, although it was clear Diancie was holding a bit of a grudge against everyone, but since it was spread to everyone she was clearly unsure where to focus it. In the end it just meant her rocks were thrown a bit harder than usual.

  Then it was Christmas Eve.

  The morning felt a bit… odd. And when I stepped out of the training room, I realized why. Everything was decorated. The normal lights of the halls were off, and there were fairy lights decorating the walls instead. Little Christmas things, like snowflakes and small pine trees were scattered about.

  It actually brought a smile to my face and I found myself wandering the building, instead of heading to the locker room to do my morning routine. It was a bit inconvenient - having to use a locker room for hygiene stuff - but it beat a cold river.

  Eventually I came to the entry room, finding Valerie and Allie putting up decorations. Well, mostly Valerie just stood there, ordering Ren, her Sylveon, and numerous other Pokemon. There was a Mawile, a Mr. Mime, a Floette, a Spritzee, a Gardevoir, a Dedenne, and even a Klefki. It was the first time I’d seen all of Valerie’s Pokemon. But I knew they were hers, as Allie had her own Pokemon helping her out: another Dedenne and a Slurpuff.

  From what I knew of the secretary, she wasn’t really a Trainer and only ever got a few badges before realizing that it wasn’t what she wanted to do with her life. I had yet to find out how she came to be the secretary at Laverre’s gym, but I hadn’t really talked with her that much. Her Slurpuff was apparently really strong, though, and the reason that no one really caused a fuss inside the gym. Valerie had mentioned that it was almost at the Elite level, and Ren and it trained a lot together.

  “How long have you been at this?” I asked as I approached the two women. Allie startled at my sudden voice, but relaxed when she saw who was speaking.

  Valerie didn’t even look back. “Just a few hours. Most gyms host a Christmas party for all the Trainers in town. Since a lot of them don’t have the means to get back home for Christmas.”

  “Don’t have a means?” I questioned, rubbing my chin. “What about the train?”

  “Those on their Journey are encouraged not to use the trains,” Allie explained. “At least until they have several badges. It’s sort of like, a right of passage?”

  I nodded a bit. “Makes sense.”

  “Bit harsh they don’t let kids go back home for the Holidays,” Allie added with a bit of a sigh. “I know I was miserable…” She shook her head. “Anyways. We’re just about done with the decorations.”

  “Is there going to be dinner? I could help cook up some stuff,” I offered, rubbing my hands together. If they had a pasta machine I could get in some practice.

  “Oh that would be great!” Valerie said, skipping over to me. “I’m sure Monsieur and Mimi would love to have help from such a great cook.” The Gardevoir and Mr. Mime looked over at their names being called. The Mr. Mime gave me a rather harsh look.

  “I don’t know about great. I’m just very good at a few dishes,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.

  Valerie tilted her head to the side. “I guess I haven’t ever seen you make anything aside from curry…”

  “Fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times,” I said, nodding in a sagely manner.

  Everyone just sort of looked at me for a moment before Valerie just rolled her eyes and went back to instructing. They all sort of just brushed me off after that, which I honestly found funny. Bruce Lee probably didn’t exist in this world, even though he had a Pokemon based on him. That honestly felt like a shame…

  Although I shouldn’t dwell on ghosts of those from a different reality, it did make me pause for a moment and think about it. I had been trying hard to put out the thoughts of what my life was, but it kept creeping back into my mind. Tragedy sure does make you think of more gentle times. Simple times. Boring times. Routine times.

  The rest of the day was honestly kinda surreal. I helped out a lot in the kitchen, and Mimi, the Mr. Mime, scrutinized every little thing I did, making comments constantly. Clearly I had unwittingly stepped into her domain. Again I felt like I was on some sort of cutthroat cooking show. And they didn’t even have a pasta machine.

  Monsieur was at least pleasant and a great help in the kitchen. I thought having multiple shadow hands do things for you helped, but damn that was nothing compared to psychic powers. He was fast, efficient, and handed me ingredients I needed before I even asked for them. Figuratively and literally reading my mind. Although, was that possible through my dark energy? It wasn’t harmful, so it shouldn’t be blocked? I really needed to figure out how this stuff worked. He also quietly apologized for how Mimi was acting. Apparently she hated when Valerie let other people use the kitchen.

  However, I took odd satisfaction in watching Mimi’s reaction when I was done and she actually tasted the curry. She had such a condescending look on her face as she looked it over, and then tasted it. For a brief moment a look of bliss came over her face, which then snapped into surprise, and then frustration. She didn’t comment on it and stormed out of the kitchen. Monsieur had to chase after her.

  I was promptly kicked out of the kitchen when Mimi returned and wasn’t allowed back.

  The party itself was rather lively, since the vast majority were children and teens. Some Joy’s and Jenny’s were there as well, keeping the peace. And it was something that needed keeping, apparently. As the night wore on, a couple of the Trainers got rowdy, and some battles were declared. Thankfully with this being a gym, they all could go and do that in some designated arenas. It really made me pause again at just how large this building was.

  At one point, much to my shock, I spotted someone across the room I recognized. Someone whom I had really not been expecting to see. AZ was there, head down, piling food onto a plate. I quickly tried to excuse myself, and rush across the room, but by the time I got through the crowd he was gone. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that near encounter. That was someone I really wanted to meet and talk to, but it was almost like he knew and had purposefully avoided me. I guess living for a few thousand years makes you really good at avoiding conversations.

  Thankfully someone who wasn’t there was Diantha. Valerie told me later that night that she was at the League Christmas party. It was apparently a big affair, and had a lot of very important people there. It sounded extremely boring to me and she agreed. Apparently Diantha had been texting her quite a lot, every text a new complaint. Honestly I was surprised she hadn’t texted me at all, but her and Valerie seemed to be getting a lot closer as of late.

  “Wow, you’re really setting your sights high, aren’t you Valerie?” I commented, chuckling as we were watching the last remnants of party goers head out. I was honestly glad it was winding down. Nothing eventful had happened, and honestly it felt a bit like a waste of time.

  “What?” Valerie looked at me, her brow furrowed.

  “First an Elite Four member, and now the Champion? Who will you start flirting with next?” I mused aloud, trying to keep the smirk off my face.

  It took a moment for her to register what I said, but the moment she did her face went bright red, and rather than retorting she started to slap me with her costume wings.

  All I did was laugh at her feeble attempt. She proceeded to loudly complain that I was bullying her as she continued to slap, though she was also trying not to laugh.

  Allie came over, a perplexed look on her face. “What’s going on over here?”

  “Oh, Allie.” I reigned in my laughter a bit, wearing a massive grin. “Well, you see, I was just asking Valerie how she had the nerve to-”

  “No!” Valerie screamed, trying to cover my mouth, but her costume made it completely impossible to reach up like that, and so she just continued to bat at me with her wings. “Shut up! I was not! I am not! I did not!”

  Allie just looked even more confused as I devolved into even more laughter, unable to even finish my sentence.

  Eventually Allie left, and Valerie stormed off in a huff, cursing me for teasing her. Overall, it was a good time. And all the Pokemon were extra happy at the end of the night because they got to eat all of the leftovers. Apparently they always make a ton of food, and after they feed their own Pokemon, give the excess to the nearby wild Pokemon.

  I wanted to go and see, but apparently it was entirely done by the Pokemon. Not even Valerie was allowed to go out and see all the wild Pokemon.

  Before I managed to make it back to the room I was using, Valerie suddenly caught up to me. “Hey.” She suddenly pulled a small box out, holding it out to me. “Merry Christmas.”

  “Oh, thank you.” I smiled as I took the box. It felt a bit heavy. “Can I open it now, or do you want me to wait?”

  She shrugged. “You can wait. But I kinda wanna see you open it,” she said with a rather large smile.

  I chuckled a bit as I opened it. Inside was an almost fist sized pale blue stone, with a large snowflake sealed within. “Oh! An ice stone! I thought you couldn’t get evolution stones?”

  “Not for ourselves,” she explained, nodding a bit. “But for others that aren’t restricted, that’s easy enough.”

  There was quite a big smile on my face. “Keo is going to be so happy. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, giving me a hug. “Merry Christmas.”

  I smiled as I returned the hug. “Merry Christmas, Valerie.”

  As I walked back towards the training room, I looked at the ice stone. It was cold to the touch, like I was holding an ice cube. But I was hesitant. With how rebellious and confrontational Keo was getting, I could only imagine how much worse it would get when she evolved. I decided that I needed to sit and have a long talk with Keo before giving her the stone.

  Unfortunately, Keo was just not having it. I spent quite a bit of time that night trying to get her to talk, even asking her what was wrong, but she refused to explain. She just snapped at me, telling me nothing was wrong before literally running away from me. She avoided me for the rest of the night. She didn’t even come join the sleep pile that night.

  Surprisingly, Christmas Day was uneventful. Just the way that I liked it. Everyone apparently decided it was television day, and there were quite a lot of Christmas specials. And now that I was paying attention again, I realized where Keo was getting her attitude from.

  One of the Mystery Dungeon teams had a Ninetales. He was arrogant, rude, and prideful. He was also a solo team. Thinking about it, a lot of the episodes he was in had to do with him getting in over his head, and needing the help of the protagonist team to get him out of trouble.

  The problem was he was strong. Clearly stronger than the other teams, and him allowing them to ‘rescue’ him was clearly just for show. It was like he was an adult just humoring the kids when they tried to help with grown up problems. And Keo had clearly picked up on that.

  Which wouldn’t have been a problem, except for his motto that he often repeated when people asked why he didn’t have a teammate, or why he didn’t ask for help; “I don’t need others to be strong. I got this far on my own.” Truly a purposefully bad role model.

  Keo got upset when Rio pointed out how dumb that was, and they got into an argument. To make matters worse, no one was on Keo’s side. Everyone ganged up on her, and I had to break it up before it broke out into an actual fight. I tried to talk to Keo again, but she wanted nothing to do with me and refused to even acknowledge my attempts to get her to talk with me.

  I was starting to get frustrated with her. But I knew I had to drop it. She was starting to get upset with me because I kept bringing it up. “I know there’s something wrong,” I said to her that night. “But since you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll drop it. Just know that you can talk to me about anything.”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  She didn’t give me a response, but seemed to cool down a bit.

  ~

  The next three days passed by in a sort of blur. It was a bit odd to just get back to training and not really have anything to worry about. Keo was still being difficult, and I was really hoping that getting slapped around by Wulfric would mellow her out. It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith in her, but it was a bad matchup.

  Keo was heavily invested in her ice energy, and had refused to train any other types of moves. I hadn’t been worried about it until she started demanding to fight Wulfric. But despite my attempts to get her to practice other moves, she was adamant about only using ice. It was like she needed to prove that her ice was the strongest. She was also avoiding every attempt I made to start a conversation with her.

  Eventually the day came and we were once again in Snowbelle, making our way to the Pokecenter gondola combo.

  It was just after one when we entered the Pokecenter. There were a few Trainers in there, several of whom looked downtrodden. I supposed Wulfric already had a few more notches in his win category. Nurse Joy smiled at me as I approached before seeming to recognize me. “Ah! Jason. That’s right, you have a battle today.”

  I nodded. “I want my Pokemon checked out and make sure they’re in good condition.” As I spoke, I placed all of the pokeballs into the two trays. I hadn’t brought everyone, but Keo, Cara, Rio, Dee, Diancie, and Primarina were all in the pokeballs. Of course, I brought Eevee as well, since she wanted to come.

  “Goodness you have a lot,” she murmured but then seemed to realize her mistake and straighten up. “Of course. I will return shortly.”

  The Wigglytuff seemed to eye me in a confused way as she took the trays, but didn’t say anything. I was discovering that carrying around a full team of six wasn’t common. Since all gyms were at most three versus three, a lot of Trainers simply swapped out, leaving their other Pokemon at designated care facilities, or with family. That way they didn’t have to care for so many while they traveled. And here I was with seven.

  I went and sat down, waiting for my Pokemon. As I did so I overheard the conversations going on between two Trainers nearby. “-such a jerk. Not only did he beat me, but he taunted me the whole time,” the taller of the two boys said.

  “Well what did you expect? No one’s beaten him this season so far,” the other boy said, and by his tone it sounded like he also lost.

  “But like… Aren’t Gym Leaders supposed to guide us?” he questioned, his brow furrowing. “That’s what they taught us back in school. And all the other times I lost, they gave advice and words of encouragement.”

  “Wulfric is just a jerk.”

  The conversation ended abruptly as a Wigglytuff approached, returning pokeballs to the two boys. They thanked her before swiftly leaving, talking about needing to train more.

  It wasn’t too much longer before I was given my pokeballs as well, and Wigglytuff told me everyone was in good shape and ready to go. Although she warned my Eevee was in no shape to battle. I assured her that I was aware, and merely keeping her close so that she got regular checkups and I could keep an eye on her recovery.

  The gondola ride was actually really nice. The entire thing was automated, a small little voice denoting when the doors were closing. I retrieved Eevee and placed her onto my shoulder. She was doing so much better now and was becoming livelier by the day. She had begged me to let her watch the battle, even though I had warned her it was going to be really cold.

  She shivered and crawled into my hood. “Damn it’s cold,” she grumbled.

  I just chuckled. “I told you it would be, you silly little girl.”

  All I got in response was a huff as she settled into the warmth of my hood.

  The ride took about twenty minutes. And when it was finally over I could see the massive facility that was the gym. “This definitely looks like some kind of villain's lair from an eighties movie,” I mumbled as I gazed at the structure. It was made of metal and smooth stone, a striking contrast to the area around.

  There was an odd massive half dome that looked like some kind of hanger entrance several floors below where the gondola had dropped me off. Ahead was a large door, and I could see a few people inside.

  When I walked in, everyone looked over at me. They all looked dressed for some sort of arctic exploration, but I was also dressed pretty similarly. The only one that seemed to be the exception was someone sitting behind a desk. Rather than being dressed warmly, they were wrapped up in a ridiculously large blanket, and gave off a vibe that they were not happy to be there.

  “I’m here for the two o’clock challenge,” I said to the bundled up individual. The room was large, and I glanced at the large screens on the wall that were depicting the current battle from several angles. Wulfric looked bored, and his challenger looked like he was on the brink of tears.

  The entire room went silent. “The elite challenge?” the pile of blankets responded. I could see nothing but their eyes.

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  There were a few moments of silence before they shifted, and slowly got up. “Alright. Follow me.” They started to slowly make their way off to a nearby passage. I couldn’t help but compare them to Cousin It from the Addams Family, but instead of hair, they were blankets.

  “Hope your will is up to date!” someone called out behind, and everyone started laughing.

  “Been a while since we’ve seen an elite beatdown,” someone else said.

  After that I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation. We didn’t travel far before the blanket figure opened a door and led the way inside. “When that light turns green,” they said, gesturing with a blanket-covered arm to a red light above a door. “Head through the door.”

  “Alright.” They left immediately after, closing the door. This appeared to be some sort of locker room. And it was surprisingly warm. I took off the poofy jacket and shoved it into my bag before sitting down on a bench. I reached into my coat and pulled out a pokeball, releasing Keo.

  “Well?” she said, sitting down in front of me.

  “We’re about to fight Wulfric,” I said slowly, looking her over.

  She straightened up, seemingly to become quite focused. “Finally.”

  “I want to talk strategy,” I started, and she frowned at me. “Don’t give me that look. This is going to be a hard fight. These are Pokemon on the same level as Rio and Cara, and they’re going to be resistant to all of your ice attacks.”

  She huffed, looking away.

  I looked at her for a moment. “Look, no matter what you do in this fight… Do not use Snowscape. You can do anything else, but do not use that. I know it benefits you, but it will also help them.”

  Keo didn’t respond, staring towards the door. I wondered if she could feel the energy coming from the battle, or hear it? Either way, she wasn’t focused on me.

  Before I could continue, the red light suddenly turned green. “Okay,” I said with a sigh as I stood up. “Let’s do our best.”

  She barely glanced at me before she started to head towards the door and I followed after.

  On the other side of the door was a massive room, the walls covered in large machinery. In a slightly sunken area in the center, taking up most of the room, was the battle arena. And across, sitting on a throne made of ice, was a large man. He was wearing a white tanktop, with a large blue coat draped over his shoulders like a cape. His hair was white, and he had a rather interesting mustache that came down in a manner similar to tusks or icicles.

  “So you’re Jason?” he called out as I stepped into the battle arena. The floor was slick with ice, and it was a bit of a struggle to keep my footing.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Wilfric,” I responded.

  He huffed, and then turned his focus to a very familiar referee, who straightened up at his gaze. “This is an official gym battle between the Gym Leader Wulfric, and the Pokemon Expert Jason, for the Elite Iceberg Badge” he announced, pointing out both sides to the recording cameras. “Three versus three. No swaps. I or the Trainer will determine if a Pokemon is unable to continue battling. A Pokemon that leaves the battlefield must return as quickly as possible, or be counted as knocked out. The Gym Leader will reveal their Pokemon first. Gym Leader, if you are ready, please release your first Pokemon.”

  The words seemed to have awakened Eevee, as she crawled partially out of my hood to be a silent observer to the battles. I wondered why they had to announce the rules every time, but I supposed it was to remind everyone. Maybe it was because it was being recorded, since it seemed he was talking to the cameras?

  Wulfric didn’t get up, not even entering the proper area for battle, and simply threw a pokeball. When it was released I was met with the sight of an absolutely massive chunk of ice, like some sort of iceberg that was completely flat on the top. He had sent out his Avalugg.

  A frown crept onto my face. Was this the same one from the game? If it was, it would have the Ice Body ability, allowing it to heal during hail or snow storms, and ignore any damage the storm caused. “Don’t use Snowscape,” I cautioned again. “Keep mobile, don’t get close. You’re faster than he is, but he hits harder.”

  Keo just huffed as she walked forward into the arena.

  Wulfric frowned. “That’s who you’re sending out first?” he asked, clearly unimpressed.

  “She wants to fight you,” I explained, gesturing to her.

  He tsked. “Aymond was right, you really are naive.”

  I frowned a bit more. That was a name I was hoping to not hear anytime soon. But before I could say anything more, the referee raised his hand. “Gym Leader Wulfric, are you ready?”

  “End this quickly,” he said as he leaned back in his chair.

  “Expert Jason, are you ready?” the referee asked towards me, and I nodded in response. “Begin!” he called as he dropped his hand.

  Immediately the Avalugg began channeling the tannish energy of rock, and large stones began forming in the air around him. That was interesting… Had Wulfric taught his Pokemon how to take advantage of type advantages, or was this coincidence?

  Keo didn’t stay idle, shooting forward and to the left. The arena had no points of cover, so keeping herself moving and attempting to move into blind spots was a good way to start off. She leapt as her path was suddenly pelted with the small boulders.

  Bits of ice formed around her, shaping into icicles and firing back, some intercepting the rocks, but the majority of them slamming into the Avalugg. Icicle Spear wasn’t her best move, but she was able to easily use it while running, so it was a good choice.

  Unfortunately her opponent wasn’t going to take a lot from that. It did seem a bit bothered, but it hardly left anything more than a few scuffs. This was where her stubbornness in only using ice moves was going to hurt her.

  Rocks continued to pelt the arena as the Avalugg did its best to track her, but she was too fast. It was going to come down to stamina. “Aim for his legs,” I called out after a few minutes. At first she ignored me, but eventually more of her shots started to land into his leg.

  “Going for a battle of attrition?” Wulfric called with a laugh. “Your little fox will tire long before my Avalugg. Stop toying with her and end it.”

  Suddenly the rocks started to change trajectory mid air, rather than flying straight, they curved as if homing in on Keo. And to add to it, he was stomping his feet, each one causing a stalagmite to shoot out from under her. But unlike most Pokemon, Keo was very used to rocks flying at her. Diancie was never gentle with her during training.

  Keo didn’t even look like she was getting tired. Constantly changing directions and making her path unpredictable while continually pelting the Avalugg with icicles. “Throw in some Icy Winds, slow him down even more.” It was going to be the only way she’d have a chance at winning. Wulfric had unknowingly given her the opponent she had the best chance of beating.

  The problem was going to be stamina. Keo didn’t have the best stamina, and had to compensate for a missing leg. If she pushed too hard, it wouldn’t be long before her front leg would start struggling to keep up with the movements. And it looked like she was already pushing herself as hard as possible to avoid and attack. The Avalugg would be in pretty rough shape if she used anything but ice moves.

  “What a dumb trick,” Wulfric said, shaking his head. My eyes snapped to him before moving back to Keo. “Relying on her crippled appearance to lull opponents into a false sense of security.”

  Keo’s eyes snapped to him, which was a mistake as a rock clipped her tails, throwing her off balance, causing a burst of Stone Edge to shoot from the floor and brush against her side, leaving a rather harsh looking mark against her fur.

  “And she doesn’t have enough focus,” he said with a smirk.

  “Talk about cheap tricks,” I responded. “Attempting to fluster your opponent with words.”

  “That’s just a tactic.” He shrugged. “It’s not my fault your little thing can’t handle a bit of banter.”

  “So if I use it, it’s a trick, but if you use it, it’s a tactic?” I questioned, glaring across the field at him, but I needed to focus. Keo was struggling. She’d backed off quite a lot since taking those hits, and was clearly getting frustrated. Suddenly her tails splayed, and began to glow with icy blue energy. “Keo, don’t use Snowscape,” I said, recognizing the move she was about to use. I was about to explain why

  “Shut up!” she snapped, glaring at the Avalugg in front of her. “Stop talking! I don’t need your help!”

  I opened my mouth to try and argue, but then closed it. I looked at her for a moment and sighed. I really couldn’t get through to her no matter what I tried, and I was tired of trying. “Fine.” I folded my arms.

  Snow began to fall across the battlefield. This was going to be even worse for her than she realized. Even through the snow, I could see the little scuffs and cracks scattered throughout the Avalugg’s body start to disappear. Keo was oblivious, and darted in to continue the tactic of dodging and slowly wearing down her opponent.

  But the only one she’d be wearing down was herself.

  Keo had the Snow Cloak ability. It made her harder to see, and thus harder to hit, when it was snowing or hailing. Normally it was a good idea, but I had warned her against the tactic twice, and she didn’t listen. Maybe I was just too used to everyone else? None of them gave me this much pushback. But Keo wouldn’t even hear my explanation. I told her back in the waiting room that it would benefit her opponent, but she either didn’t care or didn’t listen.

  I was honestly done with her attitude.

  It wasn’t too long before Avalugg looked completely fine, almost like he had never gotten hit. However, Keo had taken two more glancing blows. She was getting tired. Her movements were starting to get a little sloppy, but that was fair after half an hour of battle. There was really nothing she could do at this point.

  She suddenly took a rather hard hit to the side from a Stone Edge before a stone struck her directly in the face. A few more hit her as she was flung back, skidding across the floor only to get pitched into the air again by another Stone Edge.

  Everything stopped for a moment as she struggled. I raised her pokeball, intent on returning her. “No!” she screamed, managing to get to her feet. “I’m not done!”

  “Yes you are,” I said simply, returning her to the ball. I sighed as I tucked her pokeball away into my coat. She could have probably held out for a lot longer if she hadn’t been spending so much energy to keep the snow storm up. She might have even won. But she wasted energy on the damn snow.

  “Jason’s Pokemon has been recalled, and is no longer able to battle!” the referee announced, raising a hand towards Wulfric. “First round goes to Gym Leader Wulfric. Expert Jason, please release your next Pokemon.”

  “That’s it?” Wulfric said with a laugh. “Hardly a warm up. You’re going to have to take this a lot more seriously, boy. This is war, afterall.”

  I frowned at him as I pulled out a pokeball. “Cara, show him how serious we are,” I said as I tossed the ball forward. Cara immediately slipped into a combat form as soon as she was released. Snow immediately started to gather atop her head and shoulders.

  Wulfric frowned, clearly annoyed. Of course, I would be too if my opponent just sent out a Pokemon that countered every single one of my Pokemon. Most ice Pokemon were weak to fighting and steel, so a Lucario was a very good counter.

  “Begin!” the referee called.

  A few rocks began to gather, but Cara pitched an almost instant Aura Sphere that crashed into the Avalugg’s face. It hadn’t been a very strong attack, but it had been enough to distract him and break his concentration.

  By the time he looked around, Cara was out of sight, using the large pillars of rock and boulders that had been thrown as cover. Once she was sure he didn’t know her location she began to focus, channeling energy into another Aura Sphere.

  Wulfric, also having lost sight of Cara thanks to her speed, frowned. “Earthquake,” he ordered.

  The Avalugg reared back, brown energy coalescing around his large feet. However as he brought them down, Cara shot up. His feet crashed into the ground, sending out a ripple of energy that shattered stalagmites, and boulders exploded into pebbles and dust.

  Both Pokemon and Trainer looked up, watching as Cara’s feet planted firmly onto the ceiling, having leapt the entire way to the top of the room. She had really outdone herself with this Aura Sphere. It was at least two feet in diameter and roiling with energy.

  She fired it with enough force that her feet cracked the ceiling she was standing on. The poor Avalugg - who had been fighting for over half an hour - didn't stand a chance. He was driven to the ground by the sphere, and then it exploded. When the smoke had cleared, there was a noticeable crater on his back, the protective ice shell completely overpowered.

  Cara lunged, seeing that he was starting to get up. The ceiling buckled from her leap, but she slammed into the ice floor of the arena, as Wulfric had managed to recall his Pokemon before she hit. “Wulfric has recalled his Pokemon, the second round's winner is Jason,” the referee called. Clearly he had determined it was a waste to let his Pokemon get beat up for no reason. “Gym Leader, please send out your next Pokemon.”

  Suddenly Cara was back on my side of the field, having retreated using Extreme Speed. “Showoff,” I muttered, a bit of a smile on my face.

  “Now that’s more like it!” Wulfric said, laughing at his own defeat. “This is what I expected.” He tossed out another ball, releasing what looked to be a massive snowflake. Cryogonal was an odd choice.

  “Begin!” the referee called.

  Suddenly several shimmering translucent golden walls appeared in the air around the Cryogonal, as well as a number of massive icicle spears. A mixture of Reflect and Icicle Spear? Cara shot off to the side, launching a few probing, one handed Aura Spheres that were easily evaded. In response, the reflective walls shot off, spreading around the field. And then I witnessed the tactic.

  The spears launched, some at Cara, some at the walls. The ones that hit a wall changed trajectory, also launching towards her. Dodging just meant that the spears would be deflected somewhere else, coming back shortly after bouncing off a few of the shields.

  As Cara had to focus more on dodging the sporadic Icicle Spears, the Cryogonal was making more walls and adding more spears. “Don’t let the spears build up,” I said calmly, watching the honestly impressive technique. It wouldn’t matter if Cara was resistant to ice if she was overwhelmed.

  I was expecting her to start destroying the spears at my warning, but I guess that’s just what I would have done. Cara rushed, sliding under one of the reflective shields that was between her and the Cyrogonal. Her paw shot up, grabbing hold of one of the lower parts of the Pokemon, using the momentum to swing up behind them while pulling them forward so they were now looking at the ground.

  One of her legs flashed into a burst of orange energy as for a few seconds she hung in the air above them before her foot crashed down, slamming them into the ground. Immediately she dodged to the side as a dozen icicles exploded into the area she had just been. The Cryogonal was up almost immediately, the little shards of the spears launching themselves at Cara.

  She launched several Aura Spheres at the smaller shards, clearing swaths of them out of the air, while she still managed to dodge incoming Icicle Spears from behind and from her sides. The amount of control the Cyrogonal had over their ice attacks was impressive. Wulfric was without a doubt a good Trainer to get them to that level.

  However Cara wasn’t able to perfectly dodge them all, as a few brushed against her, leaving icy streaks in her fur, but unless it was a direct hit I doubted any of them would even slow her down. And now she was circling around, avoiding the ice shard cloud that was chasing her while maneuvering into a position to attack again.

  It was honestly hard for me to follow her movements, but Wulfric seemed to be struggling as well. “She’s circling around!” he called out.

  Her eyes flicked to him for a split second before she launched an Aura Sphere behind the Cryogonal, the resulting explosion obscuring Wulfric’s vision for a few seconds. However the warning had been effective, and the Cryogonal had shifted its position and was moving away. With another Aura Sphere to the floor between her and her opponent, she leaped up again.

  When the smoke disappeared, Wulfric’s eyes widened a bit when he couldn’t see Cara, his eyes quickly scanning the field. The Cryogonal had lost her as well, looking around as it summoned more Reflect shields. “Above!” Wulfric shouted, but it was too late as Cara slammed into the other Pokemon, both paws glowing a vibrant orange as they drove the snowflake into the ground.

  The golden walls shattered, and the spears lost the energy keeping them going and pelted the walls of the arena.

  There was a short silence before the referee called out, “Wulfric’s Pokemon is unable to battle. Round three goes to Jason. Gym Leader, please send out your last Pokemon.”

  Cara leapt back, not using Extreme Speed this time. Her chest was heaving, and I knew she was getting tired. I gave her a questioning look as I held up her pokeball, but she waved her paw vaguely to brush off my concern.

  Wulfric looked annoyed. “I see I have to take this seriously as well,” he said as he released his next Pokemon. A large bipedal Pokemon covered in shaggy white fur. And then before the referee could even begin, Wulfric raised his fist and I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.

  There was a burst of light as the Abomasnow’s form shifted, growing in size and gaining two additional limbs as it Mega Evolved. That was honestly not something I was expecting. Gym Leaders didn’t do that in the game, but there was no rule against it.

  Cara had tensed, falling into her fighting stance again. “Let’s see how you handle a real battle!” Wulfric called. “Real war!” He was leaning forward on his throne now, no longer relaxed.

  Before the referee had a chance to even begin the battle, the Abomasnow roared, shaking the entire building. It started to rush forward, and Cara dashed to the side, pelting it with Aura Sphere’s. With a swipe of his arm, he brushed the spheres out of the air. Little explosions flashed across his arm, leaving little sooty smudges.

  His retort was a series of massive Icicle Spears. Not only were they larger than Cryogonal’s, they moved significantly faster. Cara actually struggled to dodge the first one before she adjusted to the increased speed.

  She entered her charging stance, flashing with Extreme Speed to continue dodging as she worked energy into the new Aura Sphere. It was interesting to me how her stance had shifted during training, gaining a more solid yet somehow more mobile stance that reminded me of something I couldn’t quite place my finger on. And now all that training of charging while moving was being showcased, and even Wulfric seemed a bit surprised as he sat up straighter.

  She let out a rather forceful shout of “Ha!” as she launched it. It connected with one of the icicles, but it did almost nothing to slow it down, just taking a chunk from the sphere. The Abomasnow raised its arms and the whole arena was rocked with the explosion.

  When the smoke cleared, his arms looked scorched, but otherwise he was unharmed. “Is that it?” he taunted Cara. He flexed his arms a bit. “I actually felt that one.”

  Cara frowned as she started to charge another Aura Sphere. Despite his words, it was easy to tell that had hurt, judging by the way he was flexing his fingers. Several more Icicle Spears formed in the air around Abomasnow, but these ones began to slowly spin like drills.

  All the spinning ice drills launched at the same time, and my eyes narrowed, only one of them was aimed at Cara. I spotted it too late, things were happening too fast. “Cara watch out!”

  One of the drills clipped her side, piercing the Aura Sphere that she was charging as well as dragging across her side. It burst into a small explosion as she staggered away. He had calculated where she would dodge after just watching her for a few moments? My eyes glanced at Wulfric. Had he taught his Pokemon Foresight? No, he would have only launched two, instead of six. The other four had been aimed at other locations she was likely to dodge. What an insane amount of battle perception.

  Wulfric grinned. “This is how war is fought, boy. If you can’t read the battlefield, you die.”

  Cara had patterns. I knew that, but to pick them up that quickly… I don’t understand how he did that. Was that sort of thing needed to be on the level of an Elite Four? We had so much farther to go if that’s the case.

  “Cara, change it up,” I said, though I wasn’t sure what exactly to do. “He’s predicting where you’ll dodge.” As I was thinking, and talking to Cara, the Abomasnow was reading another volley of drill spears.

  She nodded as she focused on the large fur covered Pokemon across from her. She flickered the moment they were launched, using Extreme Speed and sliding on the ice to lengthen her dodge, even by a little. It almost didn’t work, as one of the spears pierced the ground beside her. But it had worked enough. Now she was clear across the field, far off to my right. Energy began gathering rapidly as she charged up another Aura Sphere.

  “You really are so naive…” Wulfric said with a shake of his head. “Abomasnow. Finish it.”

  In response to his Trainers command, the Pokemon’s stance widened, and a bright light flickered to life in front of his open mouth. Hyper Beam? At that range? Cara could easily dodge.

  “Do it,” Wulfric said, much to my confusion.

  And then the Abomasnow shifted.

  It was a slight movement that completely changed the angle of the shot.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  My body tensed.

  He was aiming at me.

  There was a flash, and I put up my arms, trying to scramble out of the way, but I couldn’t get traction on the ice. There was an explosion and I felt myself hit the wall before everything went black.

  Something was pressing against my face, and when I managed to open my eyes there was a brown blur in front of me. Slowly things came into focus and I could see Eevee. She was shoving at my face with her paw. Her eye was closed, and I could see a bit of blood soaking through her fur on that side of her head, like she’d been struck by something.

  Then the pain hit and I forced my eyes closed. My left arm hurt, and when I tried to move it there was a jolt of pain, but it responded. Slowly I shifted, looking up to try and figure out what was going on.

  Eevee was talking, saying something, but my ears were ringing and I couldn’t make out her words. My eyes focused on the figure behind her, standing in front of me.

  It was Cara.

  She was facing away, her arms outstretched.

  Even in the muddled state of mind I had, I knew immediately what she had done. She had taken the hit for me. I hadn’t been hit by the attack, but I’d still been too close. It seemed all my injuries were from debris from the explosion, the explosion itself, and hitting the wall.

  I tried to call out to her, but I couldn’t even hear my own voice.

  She wobbled.

  And then toppled forward.

  Pain gripped at my chest as she hit the ground.

  I fumbled a bit, trying to get her pokeball. It had slipped from my hand, but it was nearby. It was so close. I had to return her. Put her into stasis. Eevee pushed the pokeball into my hand and I raised it, Cara turning into a burst of red light before disappearing.

  Wulfric was… saying something. Laughing? Mocking? I couldn’t tell.

  The referee was looking at me, a bit of a concerned expression on his face as he spoke. Probably announcing that Cara was unable to battle, and I had to send out my next Pokemon.

  I caught a look at my injured arm. It was bleeding. The sleeve had been torn apart by shards of ice, and a few bits of ice and floor had pierced the skin. There was a small chunk of ice in my bicep. That explained why it hurt so much.

  I needed Dee.

  Reaching into my coat, I fumbled for her ball. My fingers felt numb.

  No.

  Not Dee.

  Then Dee would have to fight.

  I couldn’t send out Dee. She wouldn’t be able to focus on the battle because I was injured.

  My fingers brushed across a different pokeball.

  And then I felt something.

  Rage.

  Pure, intense, overflowing rage.

  I slowly pulled out the ball and released who it held. Black paws took shape in front of me, and then I was lifted up and placed on my feet. Rio was standing in front of me, her jaw clenched while tears pricked the corner of her eyes.

  She made sure that I was able to stay up, before stepping back and turning around. Her fists clenched so hard they were shaking.

  The ringing was still intense, but I could hear some things now. I heard Wulfric’s mocking tone. “Another Lucario? Oh he looks upset.” He laughed. “Was the other one his mate?” he mused. “No… This one looks young. Perhaps this is her child?”

  Rio stalked forward as the referee called out, “Begin!”

  Her entire focus was on the Abomasnow. “Oho? You’re approaching me?” the Pokemon taunted in an oddly familiar line.

  “I can’t beat the shit out of you without getting closer,” Rio said smoothly, every step slow and deliberate, her fists crackling with silver energy.

  The Pokemon seemed amused at her response, but before he could respond, Wulfric barked an order. “Stop taunting them and end it.”

  Several spinning Icicle Spears quickly formed around him before the order had even finished. He was making the assumption that Rio and Cara would fight the same way. While it was true they had similar fighting styles, their application was extremely different. So his assumption was proven wrong immediately after he launched the spikes.

  Rio never broke stride, the five that were attempting to read her dodge hit nothing but the ground. And the one that was aimed at her? With a motion that looked effortless, she backhanded it away. It spiraled in an almost comical way and exploded against a wall.

  There was a moment of silence as her opponents just stared in an attempt to register what just happened.

  A mixture of orange and silver energy crackled along her arms, the Abomasnow smirked, clearly ready for a good fight. Pale blue energy began to form ice around one of his hands and he lunged forward, swinging full force at Rio.

  The ground buckled under her feet, and her legs almost gave out from the force of the blow, but she remained standing. She stood there like the move had done nothing, gripping his fist as she held him in place. Again there was a beat of silence, as the Abomasnow stared down at this much smaller Pokemon, absolutely gobsmacked at what just happened.

  Rio pulled her arm back, an intense rush of orange energy flowing over it. All of her muscles bulged to an extreme, causing her arm to nearly double in size. Her fist was coated in crackling silver energy, with wisps of orange escaping like steam. “Iron Cannon!” she screamed, her voice cracking from emotion.

  The sound rocked the entire room, living up to the name of the move as it sounded like an artillery cannon was just fired. Her fist made contact with the other Pokemon’s chest, knocking all of the wind from his lungs. Spittle flecked with blood bursting from his mouth as a visible shockwave burst out from his back.

  Wulfric tilted his head to the side as the corner of his throne shattered, and the wall behind gained a sizable dent. His eyes were wide as he watched his Abomasnow return to its normal form and drop to its knees. Wulfric hadn’t dodged, he had flinched and been lucky that the blow wasn’t more aimed at him.

  Slowly, Rio pulled her arm back again. There was an audible crack, like the cocking of a gun. “Rio,” I said softly, and she froze. “That’s enough.”

  The energy dissipated immediately and her arm sagged, returning to its normal shape before falling limp. She let go of the Abomasnow and it collapsed now that she was no longer holding it up.

  I returned her as the referee called out. “Abomasnow is no longer able to battle. Gym Leader Wulfric has been defeated, and the winner is Pokemon Expert Jason.”

  Letting out a slow breath, I watched as it fogged up immediately. Looking down, Eevee was leaning against my leg, her eyes mostly closed as she was breathing rather hard. I pulled out her pokeball and returned her as well.

  “Well done, well done!” Wulfric said as he crossed the battlefield towards me.

  Without really thinking, I started to walk towards him. One thought on my mind.

  “I think you did well to deserve this,” he continued, pulling out a snowflake shaped badge with a large star on it. “Beating me is no simple-”

  My fist made contact with the side of his face, and he dropped like a bag of bricks from a well executed Sucker Punch. “What is wrong with you?! You tried to kill me!” I shouted, taking note of the odd little wisps of black smoke rising from my knuckles. I barely felt the contact of the hit. I shook my hand to disperse the smoke, taking a mental note to think on that later.

  He laughed, rubbing at his jaw. “Nice shot. But you should expect that. You could be attacked at any time when it comes to war, boy.”

  “This isn’t war you fucking psychopath,” I grabbed my injured arm, pulling the small shard of ice from it. “It’s a sport.” I tossed the bloodied shard away.

  Wulfric just shook his head. “That’s what you young people always think.” He rolled over a bit, and made an attempt to stand up. “But that’s what these battles are to-”

  I put my foot on his back, shoving him back down to the ground. I could feel my anger bubbling over. “You want me to treat this like war?” I growled, pressing him firmly into the battered floor of the arena. “You want me to treat you like an enemy?” My fingers flexed. Shadow Claw came unbidden to the forefront of my mind. I could do it. There was a vivid sense that I could simply stab him. Thrust claws into him and end this disgusting creature that believes itself superior. He was what was wrong with this world. People like him are why things were messed up.

  His eyes met mine and his breathing seemed to hitch, his face going a bit pale as if having a sudden realization.

  I glared down at him, my teeth clenched as I tried to calm down. To say I was pissed would be an understatement. After a moment I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s what I thought.” I stepped over him, driving my full weight into his back before taking a few steps to where the badge had fallen. I collected it without another word, limping off back towards the gondola.

  I probably should have brought out Dee, but I needed to calm down. No one in the main room said a single word, all of them staring wide eyed at me as I walked through the room. Even the pile of blankets seemed stunned.

  The cold outside immediately cooled all the anger that had built within me, and I was honestly thankful for that. I couldn’t even think of the last time I had been this upset. This full of anger. Probably bleed over from Rio’s aura. She was going to kill that Pokemon. There was no doubt in my mind about that. She had the full intention of ending him for what he did to her mother.

  And it would have been deserved.

  Entering the gondola, I was extremely grateful it was empty as I slumped into a seat. I reached into my coat, planning to retrieve Dee’s pokeball, but I had a different thought. “Might as well get this over with now…”

  Instead of the nurse Pokemon, I released Keo onto the seat across from me. She took one look at me and then averted her eyes. Clearly upset.

  In the silence, I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and folding my hands as I studied her. She was battered, her good eye slightly swollen and numerous wounds across her body.

  We sat in silence for several minutes before I finally broke it. “I’m going to send you to Professor Kukui and have him release you..”

  Her attention suddenly snapped to me. “What?”

  “You can go find your old Trainer, or a new one,” I said calmly. “I don’t care.”

  “Why?!” she shouted, “Because I lost?!”

  “No,” I said firmly. “This has nothing to do with the fact you lost.” I took a deep breath. “You won’t listen to me.” She flinched. “I keep trying to help you, but the more I try the harder you fight me.”

  She was silent, her gaze falling to the floor.

  “Yeah I’d have trouble looking at me, too,” I grumbled, watching her.

  “You… You promised…” she mumbled.

  “Promised?” I snapped. “And I have been doing what I promised. I said I’d help you. I said I’d make you stronger. I’ve been doing that.” It was hard to not raise my voice at her. But I needed to be calm.

  “You promised I could evolve!” she shouted, her voice wavering as she looked up and caught my expression.

  I reached into my bag and pulled out the ice stone, tossing it onto the floor. “There.”

  She stared at it. “You… You had the… You had the stone!” She looked back up at me, glaring, her teeth bared.

  “Yes, I have the stone. I got it for Christmas,” I explained calmly. “And I have been trying to talk to you ever since, but you won’t have a conversation with me.”

  All of the anger she had immediately melted away and her entire body seemed to sag. She was probably running through the last few days, on the many attempts I made to try and talk with her only for her to dismiss me.

  Several minutes passed in silence. “I…” she started, trying to think of the words. “I don’t get the stone now, do I?”

  “It’s your stone,” I said with a bit of a huff, leaning back. Immediately I regretted the movement, as my back stung. It was probably covered in bruises. “I got it for you. And I keep my promises.”

  Again there was silence, and then tears began to fall down her face. “But…but I don’t want to go… You…you said I was part of your family…”

  “And I want you to be. But you aren’t acting like we’re family. You’re treating us like strangers. Acting like we’re a burden. Like we’re in your way,” I responded.

  “I… but…but Fiertula-”

  “Isn’t real,” I interrupted. That was the name of the Ninetales from the Mystery Dungeon show. “Keo, that is not a real person. That is a Pokemon playing a role. An actor.”

  From the look in her eyes it was like I just crushed all of her little dreams. “Actor?” she said softly.

  I nodded. “None of them are actually doing any of those adventures. It’s all acting. It’s all pretend.”

  She slumped where she was sitting. Maybe I should have explained that to all of them a long time ago? I mean, to me it was obvious that it was fake. There were a lot of errors that cropped up quite often, so it was really impossible to believe it. But that might just be me…

  “But…but he… I was…” She looked up at me, as if she could find all the answers written on my face. “Why?” she mumbled. “It’s not fair.” Her head drooped, her body shaking as she was choking on sobs. “You can’t just ditch me… You’re the only ones who look at me like I’m normal.”

  “Then you need to start acting like you’re part of this family,” I said softly. She nodded. “And family helps each other. They’re there for each other. And I have been here for you, Keo, this entire time.”

  Again she just nodded, wiping at her face with her tails.

  “Come here,” I said softly.

  She hopped down from her seat, slowly walking over to me and sitting down at my feet. I sighed a bit as I reached down, scooping her up with some difficulty. She made a little “Eep!” noise as I placed her in my lap.

  “You’re part of this family, Keo. All I ask is that you don’t push us away, alright?” I said softly, cleaning her face a bit with a cloth from my bag. It seemed the little ice princess was an ugly crier.

  She nodded, huffing a bit at the rough way I cleaned her face of tears and snot. “Okay. I’m sorry…”

  “You can evolve when we get back to the gym, alright?” I smiled a bit, gently stroking her back.

  A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth and she nodded as she pressed her face into my stomach. “Okay.”

  Lucario - The group mom

  Lucario - Craves violence

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Liepard - Big hungry cat

  Houndour - Just a little pup

  Houndoom - Bit of a space case

  Mightyena - Super serious

  Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel