“Hey, all I did was tell the Association Director that you were out of contact when he asked for an update,” Gaston said, frowning on the phone screen. “And they have been pestering me to send you texts. The Director literally sat behind me yesterday and watched me text you.”

  I sighed, shaking my head. “Annoying bastard…” I grumbled. “Okay, well, you can tell him that I’m just fine and not missing.” He nodded, also sighing before hanging up. I turned my attention back to Officer Jenny. “Sorry if that wasted any resources or anything.”

  She waved a hand vaguely. “It’s fine. To tell you the truth, we hadn’t even started looking. Adria said you notified her you’d be out of contact when we asked, so it was considered a non-issue.”

  “Good.” I looked around for a moment. “Which city is this, by the way?”

  She laughed. “This is Lagoon Town.”

  “Ah, so I’m between Shalour and Coumarine,” I said with a nod. I had only briefly been through here when I was looking for Flare bases. It was interesting to know that this was the place Mayma decided was the closest town to Mega Island.

  Jenny nodded. “Do you need a ride anywhere? You still look a bit…wobbly.”

  Which was true. Everything still felt like it was moving and I was struggling to stay on my feet. “Honestly that would be nice. I knew Dragonite were fast, but that felt excessive.”

  Again she laughed and led me to her car. “Sounds like you found a particularly mischievous one. Do you mind if I ask where you were?”

  “There was a Pokemon that wanted my assistance, but what they needed help with was on an island. Took a few days to get everything situated,” I explained. There was a slight look in her eyes that told me she didn’t quite believe me, or knew I was being vague on purpose.

  Thankfully she didn’t press. “I see.”

  She drove me to the train station and dropped me off near the entrance. By then my footing was much better, and I thanked her before boarding a train back to Laverre.

  While I was waiting for the train, I sent a text to Professor Kukui. ‘Any chance that you could get me in contact with the Aether Foundation?’ I also sent texts to everyone to explain that I was back in service range.

  Diantha almost immediately called. With a sigh, I answered. “Hey, hey! So. The main building is going to be finished tomorrow,” she said excitedly.

  “Oh? So soon? I thought it was going to be a few weeks more.” That was good, but surprising, news.

  “For everything to be done, yeah,” she said with a nod. “But that’s because there’s a lot of buildings to do.”

  I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “Makes sense. Still pretty fast. Do I get to find out what you’ve called the Reserve tomorrow, then?”

  All I got in response was a smirk before she hung up.

  With a sigh, I just shook my head as I put my phone away.

  Being back in Laverre was nice. It was honestly starting to feel like it might be my home, or at least as close to a home as a place could get. The gym was completely empty when I came in. Only Allie was there, sitting behind her desk, watching something on the little television she had.

  She looked up when I entered and visibly startled. “Jace! You’re back!”

  I blinked at her as I made my way across the room. “Yeah? Why are you surprised?”

  “Well, you didn’t exactly tell Valerie why you went, and-” she was interrupted as one of the doors flew open, and Valerie was there.

  “You’re back!” she announced as she rushed over.

  “Why is everyone so worried about what I’m doing?” I asked, unable to keep myself from laughing.

  “That’s what happens when you just send a message out of nowhere that you’ll be out of service range!” Valerie said with a huff before slapping me with one of her wings.

  “It was important,” I insisted.

  “Yeah? And why’s that?” Valerie said, folding her arms inside her costume.

  I reached into my bag, fiddling inside it for a moment before pulling out a handful of Mega Stones. “Evolution marbles.”

  Both of their jaws dropped, and I was worried for a moment their eyes might pop out of their head with how wide they were.

  “How did you…” Valerie tried.

  “Where did you…” Allie managed.

  “Being able to talk with Pokemon is really advantageous,” I replied as I put the stones back into my bag. “Apparently some Pokemon like to collect Mega Stones, and aren’t against trading them.”

  “That’s… That’s tens of millions worth of Mega Stones,” Allie said, slumping back against her desk.

  I thought about that for a moment before I shrugged. “I hadn’t really been thinking about selling them.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t,” Valerie said as her hands came out from her costume and covered her face. “You just casually show up with a dozen Mega Stones like it’s nothing.”

  “Seventeen,” I corrected. “I would have gotten more, but I only got ones that I could actually use.”

  Suddenly Valerie looked around, almost panicked. “You can’t let the Association know about this,” she said as she grabbed hold of my arms. “You’re already on their shit list, but this might actually get them to sick Hunters on you.”

  I arched a brow at her. “I wish luck to any foolish enough to try,” I said flatly. “I have over a dozen battle ready Pokemon, almost all of which I now have Mega Stones for.”

  Her grip slowly loosened and she let go of me, taking a few deep breaths. “Right…” She rubbed her face, clearly frustrated.

  Allie seemed completely unable to form words.

  “Anyways. Diantha told me that the main facility will be ready tomorrow?” I prompted, forcing a change of subject.

  “Yeah,” she said, nodding slightly but still covering her face.

  “I’m looking forward to it,” I said as I walked past her, patting her on the shoulder. “And don’t worry. If the Association wants to keep pushing me and causing problems, I will do everything within my power to remove the Association from Kalos.”

  Which might be a bit drastic, but realistically I might be able to do it. If I could take out Team Flare, what was a branch of the Association? Although I guess I didn’t do too much there, and had a lot of help. Doesn’t matter.

  When I opened the door to the training room, everything looked the same as when I had left a few days ago. However, there was now a rather interesting sight. Laying upon a pile of pillows was Dee, with Cara’s head in her lap. Dee was talking softly, a smile on her face, and it looked like Cara was trying to sleep, or resting her eyes. The two of them had been getting quite close. I had noticed that any time Cara spent not training, she either spent it with me or Dee.

  I let everyone out, and Rio practically dragged Absol over to the television, wanting to show her the Mystery Dungeon show. “Well, you two look comfy,” I commented as I approached the pink pillow and the lounging canine.

  Cara tensed. It was weird being able to get this close without her noticing. “J-Jace,” Dee greeted, her face getting a bit red. Cara kept her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep.

  Reaching into my bag, I pulled out one of the Lucarionite. “Things went well,” I said, and watched Cara’s eyes open slightly, and then snap open when she saw the stone. “Once you’re done healing, we can start practicing.”

  There was a slight tug on my coat, and I looked down to see Essy staring up at me.

  I knelt down. “Well hey there. What’s up? Did you run out of pokebeans?”

  Rather than say anything, she just pressed into me, clinging to me.

  “Ah,” I put my arms around her. “Did you miss me?”

  She nodded against my chest. This was probably the longest she had gone without me nearby, and apparently she really had not liked it. I ran my hand up and down her head and back, gently stroking her fur. It was incredibly soft and reminded me of one of those fancy cats who were more fluff than body. I also found out that she really liked being scratched between the ears.

  There was a sudden pressure against my side and I looked down to see Bungle, pressing her head into my side. I reached down and scratched behind her skull plate, which she clearly liked. And when I looked up, I saw that I was surrounded by Pokemon. All of them looking at me expectantly. With a sigh, I resigned myself to the fate of giving out attention.

  When all that was done - my hands actually hurt a bit - I started to check on what everyone had gotten up to in my absence. Keo had almost mastered Iron Tail and could deliver several brutal strikes, though she struggled to get all of her tails to be infused with steel energy at the same time. Cara told me she had done a good job on following my instructions and had only spent a few hours using ice energy.

  Liar actually had a rather impressive showing as well. She had also learned Iron Tail, and had mastered it with much more precision, but that was because of the difference in how many tails were involved. I was starting to realize I had enough for two combat teams at this point. With nineteen Pokemon, I could form three if so many weren’t noncombatants.

  Briefly I wondered if Alma would want to battle… If they were anything like how they were as a Primarina, I was sure they would want to fight a lot.

  Mikyu was working on something, but as always, refused to show me or anyone but Banette. Banette had also apparently been doing some training, though Cara and Dee had to admit they didn’t really know what she was training, just that she was very serious about it. Disaster, Bungle, and Immodest had been taking turns guarding the incubator. Even though everyone was keeping an eye on it, those three were taking a more active role in its protection.

  Of course, all of them spent a lot of time watching television on top of whatever else they were doing. Cara mentioned that Essy had actually started to show interest in training. She had asked why I was gone, and Cara had explained that I went somewhere dangerous, and could only take a few strong Pokemon that could fight. Cara had instructed her on a few different ways she could get stronger and she’d seem to take it to heart. Although she really only practiced her psychic powers a bit and occasionally play battled with Bungle and Banette.

  As I started to make dinner, I thought about what my next steps should be. I had five more badges that I needed to collect, but the question was the order. Rather than think too hard on it, maybe I should start with the proper order? Yeah that seemed to be the best. That meant heading back to Santalune, where this all started.

  “The day after tomorrow we’ll start continuing our circuit,” I said with a nod. That got everyone excited. “Keo.” I turned my attention to the little fox, who stiffened at my attention.

  “Yes?”

  I gave her a smile. “You’re going to be first up, if you feel ready for it.”

  She sat up a bit straighter and nodded. “I-” she hesitated. “I will do better this time.”

  “I know you will,” I said softly, reaching over and rubbing her head floof. “You’ll do great.”

  ~

  Valerie was bouncing slightly as the two of us stood outside her gym. She had practically dragged me out, demanding that we have to be ready.

  Ready for what she refused to say.

  I swore that all these people just enjoyed keeping me in the dark. First Diantha, and now Valerie. “You’re learning bad habits from that woman,” I commented dryly.

  She stopped, giving me a puzzle look. “What? Who?”

  I just shook my head, deciding not to respond.

  “What?” she repeated, frowning at me. “What are you talking about? What bad habits?”

  She continued to pester me, but I refused to give her an answer. I could play this game, too. Her whining continued until a rather long vehicle pulled in front of us. A stretched limousine. This was the first time I had seen one in this world, although I had a vague notion that they existed.

  I expected the door to open, and Diantha to appear in a flourish. While I was correct about the person, I was incorrect about the rest of it.

  From the sunroof, Diantha practically leaped out, sitting on the roof of the car. “Goooooodmorning!” She declared, posing in a rather dramatic way.

  It seemed I was in for a day of theatrics.

  “Why a limo?” I asked as I looked the vehicle over.

  “What do you mean why?” Diantha pouted. “This is a special occasion. It’s like a premiere of one of my films. You gotta show up in style!”

  “Uhuh.” I turned to Valerie. “Did you know about this?”

  Rather than reply, she just grinned at me and moved towards a door that Diantha must have kicked open or something, and got in.

  With a soft sigh I followed her in. I had been in a limo twice in my life, although I had to admit that both times were absolutely nothing compared to the opulence of this one.

  Diantha slapped the roof a few times before slipping back into the vehicle as it began to move again. “Gosh I have been so excited about this,” she said with a beaming smile. “I haven’t actually been in the building since its completion.”

  “I’ve been looking forward to it as well,” I admitted as I got comfortable, lounging on a seat as I looked around. There was a prominent ‘No Pokemon’ sign near the front which caused me to frown. That was a shame because I would have loved to bring some out. Although that sign wasn’t going to stop Eevee from popping out of my hood to look around, after all she can’t read.

  “Whoa this is like a room that moves,” she commented.

  I snorted. “That’s one way, yes.”

  “Your Eevee is so cute,” Diantha said, still wearing that smile. “I’ve always debated about whether to add one to my team, but I have no idea what would suit me.”

  My brow furrowed a bit as I thought about it. “That’s a good question. You’ve got pretty good coverage with your League Team, from what I know.”

  “Yeah, but I only have five at that level, with a rotation spot depending on who I’m battling,” she replied with a stretch as she lounged.

  That caused my brow to furrow even more. Only five? Then I remembered something that Kukui had said. He had never seen a battle Goodra. Did that mean Diantha didn’t have her Goodra? That felt…oddly wrong. “That’s troublesome,” I said slowly.

  She arched a brow at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I shrugged. “Aren’t you supposed to have a full team of six?”

  “I have more than six,” she said, almost defensively. “I just have a rotating slot. My main team is Hawlucha, Tyrantrum, Aurorus, Gourgeist, and Gardevoir. And I have a Nidoking, Flygon, and Aggron on rotation. They’re just…not on the same level as the other five.”

  “Who did you use against Lysandre?” I asked, genuinely curious. I had heard she used six Pokemon in that fight.

  “Flygon. He might not be able to hit as hard as the others, but he has good speed,” she replied with a shrug.

  “So they’re not quite at the level of your Champion level, eh?” I asked, smirking a bit.

  She scoffed. “It’s not that easy to get a Pokemon to that level. I’m not Cynthia.”

  I was a bit caught off guard at that deflection. “How many Pokemon does Cynthia have at Champion level?” I asked. I heard quite a bit about the Sinnoh Champion, but hadn’t really heard any specifics.

  “Nine, I think?” she mused, staring up at the ceiling of the limo. “Last I heard, anyway. The League was talking about making a category above Champion just because of her.”

  I just sort of gaped for a moment, staring at Diantha. “That is absurd,” I managed. No wonder Cyrus didn’t seem to be up to anything. What would he even do if he caught Cynthia’s attention? How do you fight against something like that? He must be doing things incredibly carefully so as to go unnoticed.

  “Right?” Valerie said with a slight scoff. “I barely have a few Pokemon at the Elite level, and that was really difficult.”

  “Getting a single Pokemon up to the strength of a Champion requires not only immense resources, and incredible understanding of Pokemon, but also luck,” Diantha said with a nod, and both of them looked at me. “And then there’s you.”

  I blinked, my brow furrowing. “Me?”

  “You have several Pokemon near Champion strength, if they’re not already at it, and you haven’t even had them for a full year,” Valerie said, and I could hear the frustration in her voice.

  “Well, I mean, it’s not like I got them at zero.” The way that people in this world evaluated a Pokemon’s strength really perplexed me sometimes. It vaguely followed the classification of Trainers. The top was Champion, below that was Elite, followed by Above Average, Average, and then Beginner. But there was no way to actually measure anything, so it was just sort of assumed that a Trainer had Pokemon of a level equal to their own classification.

  “And then you have those torturous training methods,” Valerie added with a shudder.

  “Hey, they’re not that bad,” I immediately defended. They weren’t that bad, right?

  She gave me a deadpan look. “Jace. I have seen what you do to those Pokemon, and if that isn’t torture I don’t know what else to call it.”

  “It’s not torture!” I insisted.

  Diantha laughed. Hard.

  “I mean,” Eevee butted in, looking around. “It kinda is.”

  “Don’t agree with them!” I almost shouted, giving Eevee a betrayed look. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

  Now even Valerie was laughing, and it wasn’t long before I cracked too. Mostly I was just laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

  After a few minutes, Diantha managed to get her laughter under control, now just letting out sporadic giggles as she wiped at her eyes. “Okay. We’re almost there.” I turned my attention to the window, only to realize that they were all so blacked out that I couldn’t see out of them. I frowned a bit and looked over at Diantha, who was smiling at me. “Didn’t want to ruin the surprise,” she explained.

  I rolled my eyes as I got up a bit, and before she had a chance to stop me I popped my head out of the sunroof. Suddenly it was like all of my expectations fell very short. The building was massive. Two stories tall, but several blocks wide. It had a similar design to a Pokecenter, but rather than the large pokeball symbol there were words:

  New Hope.

  I just stared at it for a moment, until I was shoved a bit to the side and Diantha forced herself up beside me. “Well?”

  “You called it New Hope?” I asked, staring at the building.

  “Well, that’s what we’re giving them, aren’t we?” she asked in response, sitting on the roof.

  “True,” I replied with a nod, taking in the expansive building.

  There was a moment of silence as we approached. “Don’t like it?” she asked quietly.

  “That’s not it,” I said with a shake of my head and a chuckle. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect. But…” I paused. “New Hope Pokemon Reserve does sound pretty nice.”

  She gave me a big smile as the limo finally stopped. “Right? Now, c’mon.” She gave my shoulder a light slap. “Lemme give you a tour.”

  The building stretched from north to south, and actually wasn’t that wide. And it didn’t just look nice, but it also had several facilities.

  The entire back wall of the entryway was a huge glass window, overlooking a massive expanse of land, with a lake in the south eastern portion. This wasn’t a place that Ezekiel and I surveyed, so I had never seen this area before.

  The southern part of the building was all dedicated to meeting Pokemon, with sections specific for Trainers, and those that were just looking for companions. As I had wanted, there would be three different classifications for Pokemon. Those who wanted to battle looking for Trainers to join, those that wanted to be with people but didn’t want to battle, and those that would be considered permanent residents.

  The largest portion of the building, which was the entire north wing, was Intake. It had a Pokecenter in it, which was just off the main entryway. You actually had to go through the Pokecenter in order to get to Intake.

  At the end of the tour I ran into Evelyne and Delphine, who were both working to make sure that the Pokecenter and Intake were fully operational and ready to go into service. Diantha and Valerie left me with them as they wanted to go look at some other things and I wanted to talk with the Joys.

  “How does everything look?” I asked the two of them.

  They both had tired expressions, but both smiled. “Good,” Delphine responded.

  “Although… I am… More than a little concerned,” Evelyne said hesitantly.

  “Why’s that?” I asked.

  The two of them shared a look. “It’s… About the Intake,” Evelyne admitted.

  At my questioning look, Delphine continued. “We…uh… Well, to put it bluntly, we don’t have enough staff.”

  I nodded a bit. “I kind of expected that. I mean, there are nearly four thousand Pokemon that need to be processed.”

  Again the two of them shared a look. “It’s…worse than that.”

  Now I was starting to get worried. “How much worse?”

  “Well… Since it’s…not just Kalos… that is now using this program,” Delphine clearly looked a bit uncomfortable.

  I started to get a really bad feeling, before pinching the bridge and taking a deep breath. “How many?”

  There was a moment of silence as the two of them stared at each other, silently communicating with each other. Much to my amusement, the two of them quickly played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would deliver the news. Evelyne lost.

  She took a deep breath. “We are approaching ten thousand in holding.”

  I really did not have a response to that.

  However, she continued, “Because we’re taking all Pokemon who have been abandoned or confiscated. From all regions. There’s… a lot. Apparently a lot of people have been just sort of keeping Pokemon for the sake of keeping them. And when this program was announced, a lot of Joys took initiative to offer this service as a way people could relinquish Pokemon that they didn’t want to, or couldn’t, care for anymore.”

  “Okay…” I took a deep breath again, rubbing my face as I absorbed the daunting weight that I had just taken. But what was worse was the crushing realization that there were so many unwanted Pokemon. It was devastating to think of how many of those Pokemon were going to be inconsolable when they realized that their Trainer, someone they probably cared a lot for, didn’t want them anymore. “We are going to have to streamline this.”

  The two Joys nodded in sync.

  “We will need a process that is fast and efficient, without sacrificing the care that every Pokemon is going to need, regardless of why they fall into our care…” I started to pace back and forth, folding my hands behind my back as I tried to think. Ten thousand wasn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things. There were a lot of people after all, so only ten thousand out of probably a dozen or more regions wasn’t terrible.

  But that was still a lot.

  “Have you asked the Joy Clan for more assistance? Even temporary?” I asked, looking at the two.

  “We have asked the Elder, but we haven’t heard back,” Evelyne said with a sigh.

  “They’re probably deliberating with council members or whatever,” Delphine said with a huff, folding her arms.

  “I know we have a bunch of Pokemon that will also help this process, but… still.” I took several more steps before I stopped abruptly and looked at the two Joys. “I have no idea what to do… Aside from just… Do it.”

  “We have time to figure out things. It’ll take a few weeks before we’re even ready to start the intake process,” Delphine said, her face scrunched slightly in thought.

  Evelyne nodded. “We have time. Although…” She hesitated and the two of us looked at her. “I’m worried about the Association. We’ve received a few requests from them for a tour of our facility… But we’ve been able to block them so far because we’re still under construction.”

  I nodded a bit. “Right. You tell them that any and all requests that they have need to come through me, or Diantha. No one else is authorized to give them a response on anything.”

  Both of them nodded. “Good. They can be upset with you,” Delphine said with a bit of a giggle.

  “I mean, they’re already upset with us. Registering so many Pokemon to you,” Evelyne added.

  “What?”

  Both of them looked at me, blinked in unison before turning to each other. “Well, we have to register them to someone. We’re still working on getting rid of the previous system, and there isn’t a concrete new one in place yet,” Evelyne explained.

  “So we have to assign them to someone,” Delphine finished.

  I stared at them for a moment. “Are you saying I have nearly ten thousand Pokemon registered to me?”

  Both of them looked at each other and then nodded.

  For a few moments I just stared at the two of them and then, because I really was not sure what else to do, turned and walked away. That was something I refused to think about.

  ~

  The next afternoon stepping off the train in Santalune felt odd. There was still a bit of snow here and there but it seemed to have settled on just being cold for a time. I think it was the fact there was no one around.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  My first stop was the Pokecenter, where I got to see a very familiar Nurse Joy. I never did get her name.

  “Oh, Jace. Good to see you. It’s been a while,” she said with a smile.

  “It really has,” I said with a chuckle as I approached the counter. Getting a closer look at her, I noticed that she was definitely on the older side of Joys.

  “You’ve been suuuuper busy, I hear,” she commented as she looked me over. “Any new Pokemon that you need to register? It’s become a pretty common joke among Joys that you come back with a new one every time you come to a Pokecenter.” She giggled.

  I rubbed the back of my neck, chuckling softly. “Uh, well actually, yeah.” I placed Absol’s pokeball on the table.

  She just stared at it for a moment before breaking into a fit of giggles. “Goodness. You really do just collect them, don’t you?”

  “I can’t really help it,” I admitted as I placed more pokeballs down. I wanted to get most of them checked over, especially the ones I planned to use in gym battles. Maybe I would get lucky and Viola would have time today for a match. Most of the Pokemon were left behind, but I still had over six on me. “They just sort of come to me? There’s only one Pokemon that I have that I actively went looking to get.” I ran a thumb of Primarina’s luxury ball before placing it on the tray.

  She was still giggling as she looked over the pokeballs. She was about to say something else, but both of us heard my phone start ringing. “Okay, well, this will take a while.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I get that,” I said as I pulled out my phone. It was Professor Kukui. “Thank you, Nurse Joy.”

  “Of course,” she said with a slight bow.

  As I moved away from the counter, I answered. “Alola, Kukui.”

  “Alola,” the tanned man answered with a big smile, lounging in an office chair in what I was fairly certain was his office. “So, what’s this about you wanting to contact the Aether Foundation?”

  “Well,” I flopped onto a couch. “The Aether Foundation is all about helping Pokemon, and I am getting close to opening my Pokemon Reserve, so since our objectives are similarly aligned I figured we could cooperate.”

  “Pokemon Reserve?” he asked, his brow furrowing.

  Had I not explained this to him? I guess we hadn’t talked very much since I left Alola. “Yes. It’s a sort of rehousing program for abandoned and confiscated Pokemon. We’re calling it New Hope.”

  His eyebrows disappeared under his hat. “Oh? Is that what I’ve been hearing about?”

  “Maybe? I’ve been avoiding having the Association involved with anything I do because of all the personal conflict we’ve been having,” I explained with a sigh, leaning heavily into my seat.

  “I have heard a bit about that,” he said with a few nods. “Unfortunately, for me it’s hilarious that the Association is fighting and trying to suppress one of their Experts, and failing.”

  I laughed a bit. “It helps when I can threaten them.”

  He nodded slowly, frowning a bit. “Yeah, I read that report. About the artificial Pokemon.”

  “Mewtwo,” I supplied.

  And they were suddenly standing in front of me. “Yes?”

  I startled a bit, and then chuckled a bit. “Sorry, I thought I was out of your range. Discussing things with Professor Kukui. Would you like to meet them?”

  “I was observing the town known as Lumiouse,” they explained. “Is Professor Kukui…nice?”

  “Who are you talking to?” Kukui asked, and I turned the camera a bit to show Mewtwo, who was looking puzzled at the phone. They had been incredibly curious about my phone, but had not asked.

  “They’re nice,” I said with a nod. It had taken a while to get the Mewtwo to understand that some people were nice, and other people were mean. Of course, they knew that to be the case, but didn’t know how to categorize others. They struggled when it came to observing, and had to either experience it or be told.

  “Whoa,” Kukui leaned a bit more towards the screen to get a better look at Mewtwo. “I had seen a few of the pictures, but they really look impressive.” He cleared his throat and sat back, smiling. “Alola, Mewtwo. I’m Professor Kukui.”

  “Alola?” they verbalized aloud. One of the few times I had heard them actually speak. They tended to just communicate psychically because it was more comfortable.

  “It’s a greeting where he is from,” I explained.

  Mewtwo nodded. “Alola,” they said far too seriously.

  Kukui was clearly trying not to laugh. “It’s great to meet you, Mewtwo. May I ask you a few questions?”

  The feline Pokemon looked at me. “You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to,” I said softly.

  “Of course,” Kukui agreed. “I’m just curious, but you can decline answering any questions.”

  They seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding. “Okay.”

  Kukui spent a bit of time asking a series of rather simple questions. Their favorite color: Blue. Their favorite food: Curry and pokebeans. What they did most of the day: Observe others. What their favorite thing to do was: Observe others.

  They didn’t know how to read, but knew a lot of large words and had an impressive vocabulary because they had spent most of their time around government types. And if they didn’t know a word and couldn’t figure out what it was by context, they would just search through the person's understanding of what the word meant.

  Honestly that part was a bit concerning.

  Kukui seemed unbothered, and explained that if you spend a lot of time around psychic types you kinda just have to assume they poke around in your head a bit. Which actually did not help with my concerns. Even though my dark type energy seemed to block some of the psychic stuff, I wasn’t sure to what extent.

  While we were talking, Mewtwo had sat on the couch beside me. They were fiddling with the hem of my coat, their body hovering a few inches away from me. A certain closeness without physical contact. I wasn’t sure if Kukui noticed as he continued his questions.

  After a few more odd questions I realized he was trying to see where the Pokemon was developmentally. They were theoretical questions designed to test what sort of level of empathy they had, what sort of morals they had come up with. At first I was a bit surprised that Kukui of all people knew how to test for these, but considering that he was also an avid school teacher he probably had learned some of this.

  Or at least I would have thought that if not for the fact he seemed to be reading from his screen. But I would give him the benefit of the doubt here, and assume he was just trying to be thorough rather than working from memory.

  I know I wouldn’t want to do something like this from memory. But as it continued I was becoming more than a little concerned. They didn’t lack empathy, but it was very muted. They were cognitively aware, and could see things from others points of view with relative ease. Though from the way they spoke it was clear they simply logicked to the correct answer rather than actually see themselves in the others situation. Of course Sally would look in the basket for her toy, that is where she put it, and she would have no knowledge that Anne stole the toy. Getting the correct answer from not quite the correct solution.

  He was doing other hypotheticals. Asking about things to do with death to try and understand if Mewtwo valued life. Such as:

  “How does looking at a dead Pokemon make you feel?”

  “It doesn’t. Death is inevitable.”

  “How do you feel about killing others?”

  “If I must, then it must be necessary.”

  In most situations they didn’t show much of a reaction. Simply answering logically. Until Kukui made the mistake of putting me in one of those hypotheticals. It felt like a simple question.

  “How would you feel if you saw Jace’s dead body?” he asked.

  Immediately they had a rather complex expression, their hands tightening on my coat as they looked at me. Their eyes were moving over my face, studying me. They seemed to be struggling to find words. Eventually they looked away, their gaze falling to the floor. “I do not like this question.”

  I offered my hand to them, palm up. Their eyes looked at it for a moment before they pressed those large fingers against my palm. “I think that’s enough for now,” I said to Kukui.

  He nodded. “I’m sorry I upset you,” he said.

  They didn’t respond, their attention on my hand.

  “So, about the Aether Foundation,” I prompted, trying to get Kukui back onto the reason this whole call started.

  He stared at me for a moment and then blinked. “Oh, yes. Right. I’ll send you the contact information that I have.” He spent a moment doing so, and I felt my phone vibrate slightly in my hand. “I’ve not contacted them in some time, since usually if they have something to discuss they just come to see me in person. Which is very rare.”

  I nodded. “Thanks, Kukui. I’ll talk with you later. Alola.”

  “Alola,” he replied with a nod and then hung up.

  My attention turned to the Mewtwo, who was still staring at my hand. It was several minutes before they spoke, going back to communicating through telepathy, “Are you going to die?”

  “Eventually,” I said softly, looking at their hand.

  “But…not soon?” Their gaze drifted up to study my face.

  “I don’t plan to,” I replied honestly. Lying to them felt like the wrong thing to do in this situation. “But no one can say for certain when they will die.”

  They looked back down at my hand. “Will I die?” they asked softly.

  I hesitated, unsure how to answer that. “I don’t know. You were…made. Genetically engineered to be powerful.”

  “I do not understand,” they replied. “Why?”

  “What are your first memories?” I asked, watching their hand.

  “Cold,” they said softly. “Dark. There was… I was inside something. A tube of some kind? There were a lot of people. Red outfits… They all had… things over their eyes. Then there was that…ball. And it was like I no longer had control. I could not articulate what any of it was at the time.”

  My immediate thought was the Team Flare scientists. They had somehow made their own Mewtwo. Had Team Rocket given them the information, or had they stolen it? I can’t see Giovanni giving any of it to them willingly, so they must have stolen it.

  “Who is Giovanni?” they asked with a slight tilt of their head.

  I was startled a bit and looked up at them. I had briefly forgotten they could read minds. “I’m honestly not sure. I know things about him, but I don’t know him. His organization made the first Mewtwo.”

  Their eyes went a bit wide. “There are…others?”

  “A few,” I said with a nod. “At least, I think. If the information I know is correct, there should be at least two, maybe three, other than you.” And there might have been more, considering what I now knew of Mega Stones and how they are formed. Unless there aren’t any… or… this Mewtwo was supposed to become those stones.

  They were looking at me rather intensely, and I realized that they were going through my thoughts. Or trying to. From the confused expression they were making, I assumed they couldn’t get anything but my surface thoughts. “I do not understand,” they said after a moment.

  “What are you struggling with?” I asked, wondering if it was just because they couldn’t read my mind or if it was something else.

  It took a moment for them to respond, as if they were gathering their thoughts and searching for the right words. “When Professor Kukui asked that question… Why did it upset me?”

  So they were just going to ignore all that and change the subject. That’s fine. “Because you care.”

  “Why does caring make me upset?” they asked, their brow furrowing slightly. “It does not make sense.”

  “Emotions don’t usually make sense.” I paused. “Like how I’m afraid of large bodies of water. It’s irrational.”

  “It is not irrational. There are things in the water that could easily kill you,” they said simply.

  “True. But the same could be said of anywhere,” I countered. “Anything, in essence, could kill me. But they don’t cause my body to lock up. For me to panic to the point of inaction. That is the part that’s irrational.”

  They frowned, withdrawing their hand before folding their arms. “But why does the thought of you dying make me upset?”

  I smiled a bit at them. “Why do you think it does? The answer that you come up with on your own is going to be the most valid.”

  Now they were frowning even more, their face scrunching up a bit in both concentration and frustration. After several minutes their expression slowly softened and they looked down at my hand. Their eyes looked a bit watery and they looked so sad. “Because…” They were speaking out loud again. “Because I would miss you…”

  Before I had a chance to respond they were gone, teleporting away.

  That was probably way too much emotional turmoil for the poor feline to really take in. Though it was kind of sweet that they would miss me. I had been unsure what Mewtwo had thought about me, but it was a comfort to hear them say it.

  “Are you okay?” came Nurse Joy’s voice from the door.

  I looked over to see five Nurse Joys and several more Wigglytuff all somehow crowding a slightly opened door. “Yeah,” I said as I stood up, walking towards them as they slowly piled out of the door. “Sorry about that. Impromptu therapy session.”

  A few of them nodded. “I just don’t know how you can just…be so close to that Pokemon,” one Joy said with a shudder.

  “Yeah, I thought I was going to pass out just from its presence,” another said, patting her chest.

  “The pressure was insane.” They all seemed to agree with that.

  My brow furrowed a bit. “Pressure?”

  All the Joys blinked at me in unison, which was incredibly unsettling. “The psychic pressure it was putting out?”

  “Even our Wigglytuff were struggling,” the Joy that I knew said as she gestured to the Pokemon.

  All of the Wigglytuff nodded, some of them patting each other on the back. “It was suffocating,” one of the pink Pokemon said.

  “It even cracked some of the tiles,” a Wigglytuff said as she picked up some of the broken pieces.

  I hadn’t even noticed. I had been so focused on Mewtwo. Suddenly I realized that must have happened when they had gotten upset. And I must have not felt it because of the dark energy, or they were purposefully protecting me from it. “Sorry about that. Things are…”

  “It’s fine,” Joy said as she put up her hand. “We’ve been informed of the…nature of that particular Pokemon.”

  My mouth opened and I almost interjected that their name was Mewtwo, but that might summon them again. “Right. Still, sorry. I didn’t mean to have them appear here. But it was quite an enlightening discussion.”

  “Made progress with them?” she asked, as one of the Wigglytuff came over with a tray containing all of my pokeballs and I began tucking them back into my coat.

  “Yeah. Though it was… I definitely did not want to have the Thine Own Mortality talk with them so early in their development.” A few of the Joys and Wigglytuff giggled at my exaggeration, and I was glad that my attempt to lighten the mood worked to some extent.

  “Yes, well…it does seem like you are doing a good job. They seem very receptive and agreeable towards you,” Nurse Joy observed.

  “I worry it’s a bit more like a dependency,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t dislike them, and I like having them around…but I worry that they are going to be unable to become independent.”

  “They’re a Pokemon, though?” one of the other Joys stepped into the conversation. “Pokemon being dependent on their Trainers is a normal thing.”

  “That’s the problem. I’m not their Trainer. I am their friend, and consider them part of my family… But I wouldn’t even dare broach the subject of Trainer considering how much trauma they have with the concept,” I explained.

  They all seemed to nod, though none of them could really offer any sort of advice.

  As I stepped out, I decided that now was as good a time as any to try and make some contacts. So after checking the number that Kukui sent me, I called. It rang a few times, and for a moment I thought no one would answer until it blipped to show a woman with short black hair, wearing a rather futuristic looking white outfit. “Hi there, you’ve reached the front desk of the Aether Foundations President. How may I help you?” She had an almost sickening customer service voice and her smile was definitely forced.

  “Alola. I’m the Pokemon Expert Jason, and I was hoping to talk about cooperation between the Aether Foundation and the newly established New Hope Pokemon Reserve,” I explained. I had been practicing what I would say before she answered, and her tone and the fact she didn’t say Alola almost threw me off.

  Her entire expression seemed to freeze, and I wondered for a moment if the screen had frozen or the call dropped, until she finally responded in a clearly strained voice, “We’ll call you back.”

  And then she hung up.

  That had definitely not been the reaction I was expecting. Did they know who I was? Or did they just assume that it was some sort of scam call or something? Either way, I would try again later if they didn’t get back to me.

  I had barely started to put my phone back into my pocket when it started to ring. The number wasn’t one I knew, nor was it the one that I just called. With a shrug I answered. “Alola,” I said, because I was fairly certain I knew who it was.

  Sure enough, on the screen was a woman with vibrant green eyes, and impossible golden hair. “Alola,” she said with a small smile on her face. “This is Pokemon Expert Jason, correct?”

  I nodded. “Yes, and you are President Lusamine, right?”

  “Oh, please just call me Lusamine,” she replied, leaning back a bit in her chair. Behind her was a large window, and I could see what was probably Aether Paradise.

  “Alright. Please call me Jace,” I said with a bit of a smile.

  She gave a subtle nod. “I must say this is the first time I’ve ever had a Pokemon Expert reach out to me, so I am quite curious.”

  Time for the sales pitch. “Well, you may or may not know I was in Alola recently, and heard quite a number of things. Some of which was about you and your Aether Foundation,” I explained, taking a seat on a bench just to the side of the Pokecenter, after brushing off some snow. “And while looking at potential partnerships for the New Hope Pokemon Reserve I was reminded that our purpose is rather similarly aligned; helping Pokemon.”

  She nodded a few times, steepling her fingers. “I see. And what exactly is this Pokemon Reserve? I’ve not heard of it.”

  I was actually doubtful that was true, but it didn’t hurt to explain it. “New Hope’s purpose is to take in abandoned, or confiscated, Pokemon for the purpose of rehabilitation and rehoming.”

  “Confiscated?” she questioned, apparently having clung to that word specifically.

  “Correct. Such as in the case of the recent take down of the terrorist organization Team Flare, all of their Pokemon were given over New Hope for the purpose of helping them and possibly rehoming them,” I explained.

  Judging from her expression, maybe she hadn’t actually heard of what was going on with the Pokemon Reserve. “That is quite the endeavor. What happens if they cannot be rehomed?”

  “Then they become permanent residents. We have a massive amount of land that the Pokemon are free to roam, or leave if they so want.” She nodded a bit to that. “Our program is focused on helping Pokemon.”

  “I see, well-” I heard some noise on her end and she looked past the screen.

  “President, you can’t just leave mid-meeting like that,” came a feminine voice. It sounded vaguely familiar, like I had heard to before, but I couldn't place it.

  A bit of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. It seemed she had dropped everything to reply to me. So that either meant that she knew who I was, or was just excited to talk to a Pokemon Expert.

  “This is a far more important matter,” she insisted, gesturing at her screen.

  “Did I interrupt something?” I asked, unable to keep the amusement from my voice.

  “No. No. Of course not.” She waved her hand vaguely, before shifting it into a shooing gesture at someone behind the screen. “Just quarterly meetings. Hardly need me to actually be there.”

  I nodded. “Ah, I see. Of course.”

  She cleared her throat. “As I was saying, it sounds like our two programs are indeed aligned with similar goals. Your New Hope seems to be on a far larger scale and slightly different. Although I am interested in how your organization is planning to settle all those Pokemon. I assume it is quite a…staggering amount.”

  “That’s putting it lightly,” I said with a slight sigh. “We’re currently having a bit of a logistics problem, and while we have the Joy Clans assistance, there is only so much they can offer.”

  “Right,” she said with a bit of a nod, watching me carefully through the screen. “Which I assume is one of the reasons you’ve contacted Aether.”

  All I could really do was nod and agree, “Yes. However, it wouldn’t be without appropriate compensation, of course.”

  “Oh? And what exactly can you offer the Aether Foundation?” she asked, a bit of a smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

  Here it was. The moment that I was partly dreading. To see how cracked Lusamine was, and to get an idea of what sort of timeline I was looking at. “Well, you might be aware that I have a special ability to communicate with Pokemon.” She nodded, which confirmed she was very aware who I was. “While I was in Alola, I came across something that I found out later the Aether Foundation is very interested in. I believe your organization has called them Ultra Beasts.”

  Immediately her entire disposition seemed to change. She sat up straighter and there was a sort of gleam in her eye. “You met one? Talked with it?” I was glad she didn’t ask where I got that information from.

  “I did,” I lied. Honestly with how off radar I was in Alola, it was impossible for anyone to accurately figure out what I did. It wouldn’t be hard to just be a bit vague on the details, but I knew enough about Ultra Beasts that I needed some sort of story. “It was a rather small thing that was apparently made of paper.”

  Immediately Lusamine was typing on a computer that she was using to talk with me. “And you spoke with it?”

  “Yes, it explained that it came through what it described as a tunnel through the air. I assume that it was some sort of wormhole,” I said carefully, watching her reaction.

  “Made of paper,” she muttered. “That sounds like the Blade Ultra Beast we have information on.”

  “It was very confused, but I managed to talk to it after a minor scuffle. It said that those in its own world call it Kartana.” It was a bit weird talking like this. It almost made me uncomfortable because I really had to lie a lot.

  “It told you about its world?” she suddenly asked, her eyes widening.

  “A little-”

  She suddenly stood up. “One moment, please.” She immediately muted the call, and then I assume accidentally unmuted it before dashing away from the computer. “Wicke!” she screamed.

  There was a noise of response.

  “How fast can we get to Kalos?!” Lusamine practically demanded.

  Her demand was met with a confused response.

  “Kalos!” Lusamine repeated, “How fast can we get there?”

  Now I could actually hear Wicke reply. “Uh, well, probably thirty to thirty seven hours?”

  “Do it. And prepare a full research team.” There was some quieter talk that I couldn’t make out before it went quiet. There was a moment of silence before Lusamine came back onto the screen, smoothing out her dress before sitting down. She reached down to press something, and then her face went a bit red as she realized she wasn’t muted.

  “I assume you can handle your own accommodations upon arrival,” I said, mildly amused.

  She cleared her throat. “Yes. The Aether Foundation will handle all of that. My apologies for not asking.”

  “Quite alright,” I said with a slight chuckle. “New Hope is located in Laverre. When you arrive in Kalos, we can discuss things in person.”

  “Yes, I have uh… Neglected my duties and must return to them now. We shall speak later,” she said, surprisingly flustered by her blunder.

  “Alright. I’ll see you soon, Lusamine. Alola,” I said with a smile.

  She huffed a bit before ending the call after saying, “Alola.”

  That had actually gone quite well, all things considered. It was pretty obvious that Lusamine was a bit obsessed with Ultra Beasts, but not over the edge yet. At least, she didn’t seem to be. Our in person meeting would really determine that.

  After spending a few minutes organizing my thoughts I made my way towards Santalune’s Gym. Which is honestly somewhere I should have visited a while ago, considering how much time I had spent in Santalune.

  The entry room was deserted, not even a receptionist in sight. What it was full of was photographs. A gallery of different sights throughout Kalos. Some places I recognized, and some places I didn’t.

  I took my time making my way over to the empty desk, admiring the photographs. Viola certainly did have that eye for artistic shots. Eventually I reached the desk and looked down at it a moment before checking behind, finding no one.

  With a shrug, I pulled out my phone and sent Valerie a text, ‘Hey, can you figure out where Viola is? There’s no one in her Gym.’ Valerie and Viola were supposed to be close. Now that I was thinking about it, Valerie was friends with most of the Gym Leaders, wasn’t she?

  My phone buzzed after a minute. I guess Valerie wasn’t busy. ‘She’s on her way.’

  I frowned a bit. ‘There’s no rush. Just wanted to see about scheduling for a match.’

  Before I got a response, the front door was flung open. Looking back, I saw a rather thin girl with sandy blonde hair, a camera dangling from around her neck. She was a bit out of breath. Her eyes darted around for a moment before she spotted me. She cleared her throat, fixing her clothes as she walked towards me. “Hi there. You’re Expert Jason, yes?”

  “Yes,” I said with a nod. “Though just Jace will be fine.”

  “Fantastic!” she exclaimed with a wide smile. “Sorry about the lack of staff. Usually by now everyone’s passed this part of their circuit.”

  I waved my hand vaguely. “It’s fine,” I interrupted with a smile, seeing how she wanted to explain further. “I wanted to see about scheduling a match for the Elite Bug Badge.”

  She nodded several times, bangs bouncing up and down. “Of course. We can do it right now.”

  “There’s really no rush,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.

  “Nonsense!” She put her hands on her hips, standing up straighter. “Even though I know your skills are far beyond mine, and your Pokemon much stronger, this is a perfect opportunity to get some high level action shots!”

  I laughed, unable to help myself. “Well, you’re excited.”

  There was a rather large smile on her face. “Of course! I’ve never gotten the chance to battle against an Expert. Most people don’t take me seriously since I’ve only got two Pokemon that qualify as Elite, which is low for a Gym Leader. And Valerie talks about you all the time, and your Reserve,” she rambled excitedly.

  “Oh so you’ve heard about that?” I asked, smiling a bit.

  She nodded her head up and down rapidly. “Yeah! That is so cool. I can’t wait to see it, and maybe pick up some buggos that need a new home. I know bug types aren’t really popular, so there’s probably going to be quite a few there…”

  My smile faltered a bit but I nodded. “Unfortunately… I expect it’s mostly going to be bug, dark, and ghost Pokemon. With probably quite a few poison types.”

  There was a bit of a frown on her face as she nodded. “Yeah. It’s really a shame, yanno? The fact that something like your Reserve needs to even exist. But it’s not like we can just release them back into the wild. Most of them wouldn’t survive.”

  Mewtwo was a good example of that. Surviving out in the wild was difficult, and without some sort of guidance things would go bad very quickly if the Pokemon didn’t get lucky. “That is part of the reason for the Reserve.”

  The smile was back on her face and she nodded. “Right. So it’s all good. Anyways, you wanted a pokebattle, right?”

  A few minutes later the two of us were standing in an expansive courtyard, covered by a massive glass ceiling. The battle arena was on a slightly lower plane than the rest of the room, which was covered in plants and bushes. There wasn’t any seating, though there was some space around the sunken arena for spectators. And from the many little eyes, it seemed our only spectators would be Pokemon.

  There was a rather loud shuffling from a bush, and when I looked over I watched as that mustachioed referee untangled himself from one of the bushes and stood at the edge. He brushed a few leaves off of himself and adjusted his large red bow-tie before raising his hand. “This is an official gym battle between the Gym Leader Viola, and Pokemon Expert Jason. Two versus two. Both sides may swap Pokemon freely. 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.” He gestured at Viola. “Gym Leader, if you are ready, please release your first Pokemon.”

  Viola nodded. “Don’t go too hard on me, okay?” she called out, smiling across at me before throwing a pokeball. What appeared was a light blue insect, with two pairs of rhombus shaped wings on each side of its body. It had two large antennas that resembled angry eyes on either side of its tear drop head. It was a Masquerain, and it honestly looked excited judging by the way it was sort of bobbing side to side.

  “No promises,” I responded as I tossed out a ball before the Referee prompted me. Keo appeared on the field, her eyes immediately locked onto the bug. I saw the hackles on her neck raise slightly, and wondered if Viola’s Masquerain had Intimidate or Unnerve.

  The Referee checked both sides to make sure we were ready, before dropping his hand and calling out, “Begin!”

  Immediately there was a flash from the moth, and several rather large blades of air launched towards Keo. In response, she rolled to the side. Her mouth opened and there was a rather dazzling display of a rainbow in front of her before it shot towards her opponent. That was Dazzling Gleam. She had really been focusing on diversifying her attacks. I had told her before hand not to use any ice moves for this battle unless I told her otherwise.

  The Masquerain barely managed to avoid the shot, a few of the little sparkles dancing across one of its antennae before the attack struck a tree and exploded.

  There was a moment that all of us turned our attention to the tree as it slowly fell and crashed to the ground. Viola let out a nervous laugh. “Well, uh… Yeah this is going to be expensive to repair everything after this. Macky! All out!”

  With a flap, the little bug flew a bit higher before it began to unleash a flurry of air blades. Rather than focus on accuracy, this seemed to be a blanket attack trying to overwhelm their target. And it wasn’t lacking in power either, as each blade left deep gashes in the compacted dirt.

  It was pretty easy for Keo to keep away from them, and returned fire with more Dazzling Gleams. It was her best long range fairy type move, though it used quite a bit of energy. Each one that missed caused a rather sizeable chunk of wall to be blasted apart, and Viola winced at each one. I was curious as to how repairs were funded.

  It was several minutes of exchanging fire before finally one of the blasts connected, and Macky immediately began to drop, momentarily becoming disorientated. Keo didn’t hesitate as she dashed forward, two of her tails immediately shining silver and gaining a metallic sheen. The bug managed to shake off its momentary stupor and its antennae spasmed, little particles spreading from it.

  “Keo, distance!” I called. Thankfully she listened, twisting and leaping away. I was glad she trusted me. I couldn’t be sure what kind of spore or powder attack that was, but if I had to guess I would assume Stun Spore.

  The poor little moth looked like it was struggling to stay flying, whereas Keo looked mostly fine. Some of those wind blades had gotten close, but none had done more than pass close by. Her tails still had their metal coating, apparently she wasn’t planning on wasting or reabsorbing the energy.

  Viola looked hesitant, looking at her Pokemon. There was a clear gap in strength, and she knew Keo was an ice type since she watched the battle with Wulfric. The fact that her Pokemon was losing and her opponent wasn’t even going all out was obviously frustrating. “Hyper beam!” she suddenly shouted.

  There was an immediately swirling of energy in front of Macky and I couldn’t help but flinch, memories of what had happened so recently flashing through my mind. How much it had hurt. Cara hitting the ground.

  The sound of the explosion from the beam hitting the ground where Keo had been a moment ago brought me back to the present. She had dodged, but barely. She had actually used her metal tails to shield herself from debris. But before she had a chance to retaliate, a red beam struck the Masquerain and it disappeared back into its pokeball.

  She was swapping Pokemon to avoid the vulnerable moment it would need to recharge. That was annoying.

  The Pokemon that immediately replaced them was a large butterfly, with a body two shades of gray, and massive pink and red wings edged in black. “Viola has swapped her Masquerain for Vivillon,” the Referee announced. So her two Elite Pokemon were Masquerain and Vivillon, similar to the game. So far most Gym Leaders seemed to have their game equivalent as their top team.

  I looked over at Keo to check her condition, but other than a few little scuffs she seemed fine. “Bring out the sun, Viv!” Viola called out, bringing my attention back to the other Pokemon.

  The butterfly seemed to spread its wings even more and suddenly the entire room seemed to brighten and warm up as if the sun was directed on the field in the summer. Sunny Day? My mind started to go through possible reasons why, but I didn’t figure it out before the tactic was revealed.

  Keo had to dash out of the way of a Solar Beam. She had been hesitant, unsure what to do and my own hesitation had allowed the setup; Solar Beam spam.

  A series of explosions rocked the arena as that winged insect harnessed the power of their artificial sun with horrifying efficiency. I was actually a bit stunned that Viola used this sort of tactic. And judging from the rather smug look on her face she was quite proud of herself.

  I was going to have to get serious now if I wanted Keo to beat both Pokemon. She was trying to return fire, but she couldn’t gather fairy energy fast enough. She could only fire one or two for every three Solar Beams, and her target was extremely fast in the air. Clearly this Vivillion had trained extensively to fight like this.

  “Okay, that’s a pretty good tactic,” I said with a nod at Viola, who smiled even more. “Keo, Snowscape!”

  In an instant the sunlight was snuffed. It happened so suddenly that the butterfly actually seemed to get locked into the charging of its next Solar Beam. Unable to take advantage of the abundant light and now had to actually gather it, which clearly confused it.

  Snow began to fall throughout the room, and Viola’s smile fell slightly. “Ah, right… Ice type,” she said with a sigh. The move had so thoroughly overpowered Sunny Day that it was clear she wouldn’t be able to have her Pokemon activate it again.

  There was one final Solar Beam aimed at where Keo was a moment ago, but now it seemed she was nowhere to be seen. I realized that I didn’t even know where she was. But it was fine. I had given her permission to use her ice moves, which is where she truly shined.

  After a moment, the Vivillon trying to spot Keo, the snow suddenly picked up. There was a swirl of condensed flakes, and for a moment I saw the gleam of two bright blue eyes within that little storm before it lashed out. The butterfly tried to escape, but they hardly made it a few feet before they were swallowed by the Blizzard.

  It took a moment before they could escape, clearly struggling to keep airborne as ice had formed over their wings and across their body. That was far more than I thought it would be. I needed to have a conversation with her about specifically what she had been doing for training because that didn’t seem normal. Although it was mostly just showy, as aside from some ice, the butterfly looked mostly alright.

  Of course, in the next moment it was frantically dodging as several small Icicle Spears began to rapidly fire towards them. I actually caught a glimpse of Keo and realized that she had changed how she was channeling her energy. Rather than in front of her, each icicle was forming above a tail before launching. They weren’t as powerful, but it looked like she could unleash a lot more of them much faster. Making her learn how to channel steel energy to her tails apparently had some interesting results.

  All it took were a few nicks in Viv’s wings before they couldn’t keep airborne anymore and were struggling to keep from plummeting. So of course, Keo took advantage of the moment. She was suddenly visible in the snowy landscape, mouth open and a vibrant blue before she let loose a concentrated Ice Beam that the Vivillon tried to dodge, but they had already had their movement restricted and so it struck their wing, completely freezing it solid.

  They hit the ground hard.

  Thankfully their landing was softened by the layer of snow, but it was clear that they were out. And to punctuate that fact, the Referee called out, “Vivillon is unable to battle!” He looked over at Viola, who sighed and shook her head. “Gym Leader Viola has forfeit! The winner is Pokemon Expert Jason!” He pointed his open hand towards me.

  Keo slumped into the snow, panting softly. Using types of energy that didn’t match her natural ones was taxing, and she still wasn’t used to it. But I needed her to see what she could do.

  “Well, that went about as I expected,” Viola said as she came over, checking on Vivillon for a moment before returning them.

  I picked Keo up, and she made a few disgruntled noises at me as I checked her over. She had been grazed by numerous Solar Beams. None of them hit directly, but some had been close. “It was a good fight.”

  Viola snorted. “Yeah, I guess. I can’t believe you held back so much. And only used one Pokemon. So mean.”

  A soft laugh escaped me. “Sorry. But I’m still training this one now that she’s more or less over her little rebellious phase.”

  “Hey!” Keo batted at me lightly with one of her paws. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

  I just laughed more, ignoring the little fox. “I figured you would be the perfect test of her capabilities.”

  “Yeah and she trashed me,” she said with a sigh. “Weakest Gym Leader and all that…but I didn’t expect her to be able to do that.”

  “She only did so well thanks to type advantage, and Snowscape,” I said with a shrug. “Solar Beam spam was not something I was expecting to run across.”

  She giggled. “That’s the main reason not a lot of people have my Elite Badge. Speaking of which…” She reached into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a little brass beetle with a star placed on its head and held it out to me. “This definitely belongs to you.”

  I smiled as I reached out, taking it from her. “See?” I said down to Keo, letting her look at the badge. “I told you you’d do great.”

  Lucario - The group mom, battered and out of action

  Lucario - This dog wants 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.

  Rotom - Shy little zappy

  Absol - Future problems

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel