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Chapter 5 - The Early Days

Just like the day before, the Pokémon Center lobby wasn't as crowded in the morning, but it was definitely noisier. Discussions mostly bounced around the announcement from the night before, with each passing Trainer seeming to restart the conversation in the lobby again and again. Despite her own lingering worry, Lena did her best to ignore it. Instead, she stared at the screen of her Fine Styler as she read the latest email, her shoulders lowering in slight relief.

‘Finally, all the League Net Bouffalantshit is done… for now.’

Lena let herself sink into the couch, exhaustion etched on her face from the constant back-and-forth emails and an awful night of sleep before. Lena, still waiting for the nurse on duty to call her for Rina and Arthur, felt the oddly anxious energy bounce inside her as she tried to distract herself waiting for William to come down from his room.

Taking a deep breath, she started to run through the updates she had gotten from the nurse on duty about her two partners. Rina recovered well, and would just have small patches of fur trimmed due to electrical damage. Arthur, sadly, would still be sore because of the burns and intensity of the boosted Overheat.

‘The power of modern medicine is powerful, but sometimes it sadly can’t beat rest and time…’ Lena mused to herself, tapping through her Styler’s menu to reach the website to log into the League Net forms. While site admins added the permissions she would need, she'd rather make sure herself after the disaster of an email chain….

With William being a fully registered Trainer and set to take on Gyms, a bare profile was automatically generated once it pulled the most up-to-date data from the League database. Thankfully, Professor Juniper yesterday had already taken some precautions when she registered William as a Trainer for them.

Lena logged in and typed in William’s Trainer ID in the search bar, waiting a moment for the page to display before she sighed in relief. A feeling of gratitude directed towards the Professor formed when she saw the profile noticeably bare of most identifying information as it fully loaded.

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League Net - The Official Worldwide Forum for Trainers!

Profiles → William (*)

Official Profile -

Full Name: William (*)

Preferred Name:

Age: 7

Registered Town of Origin: Private

Currently Registered Pokémon: 2

Confirmed Team Members:

SYSTEM NOTE - Submissions on hold by League Net admins at the request of Professor Juniper.

Verified W/L/T Ratio: 1/0/0

Badges: 0

Click here for more detailed stats.

Profile Bio:

SYSTEM NOTE - This Trainer has not filled out their bio as a part of their first-time login process.

Records of Note -

SYSTEM NOTE - No records at this time for the user.

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Unfortunately, even with Professor Juniper sanitizing as much of William’s profile as she could, especially his current team, the same couldn’t be said about his picture. The picture that was tied to William’s Trainer ID was at the top of the page, which they had taken when Charon was getting looked at by Juniper. A seed of worry started to fester in Lena’s mind about him being recognized more and more as time went on… more eyes, and more attention on one kid.

‘As much as I loathe to admit it, that shouldn’t be a problem if William doesn’t release Charon out in public more than he already did… and to make sure we keep the cover story straight.’

“Are… you okay?”

‘Speak of the Delvil...'

As if her stray thoughts summoned him, William’s sudden voice made Lena snap her head up. His eyebrows, pinched in concern, complemented the faded bags under his eyes, indicating he too had similarly little rest last night. Ronin was sitting in the hoodie of William’s sweatshirt, half-asleep and still trying to blink away the morning grogginess. Behind him, Charon stood at full height, staring at the passing Trainers with their Pokémon, most of them staring in wonder at the monstrously tall Typhlosion in the lobby.

It was almost as if the twin dragons were mocking her.

Ignoring that for now, Lena closed her Styler and turned to him. “Yeah, I’m doing alright, why do you ask?”

William stared at her for a moment with the same expression, before he let it fall, shaking his head with a frown. “Nevermind, sorry… Rina and Arthur are still being looked at?” He questioned, glancing at the desk with a guilty expression.

“Yes, but this is normal. I requested them to go through a full look overnight to be safe. They'll finish up soon and bring them out.” Lena said in an attempt to placate William.

“Mm…” William sat down on the couch in front of Lena, then shifted his backpack around and started to rummage through it. “While we’re here… anything else we should get? Any other food, traveling supplies…?”

“Hmm… I think we should have everything, and if not, worst case we can forage for berries. Route 2 isn’t more than a day or two of travel to Straiton City and our supplies should cover that...” Lena trailed off for a second or two in thought. “That reminds me… what’s your long-term plan? After Straiton City, I mean.” Lena asked.

William’s arm froze halfway into his bag for a moment. “Well, the whole reason I’m getting Gym Badges is for the League, right? I figured they would appreciate it if I did them in the standard order….”

“‘Standard order’? What do you mean by that?” Lena questioned in confusion.

“The order in the badge container. First is Aspertia, then Virbank, Castelia, Nimbasa, Driftveil, Mistrailton, Icirri— wait, no Icirrus closed, uhhh…”

“Opelucid, then Humilau.” Lena supplied, connecting what he was going for in her head.

“Right, thank you. I’m still not sure if I’m going to go get them all, but… doing them in that order also means that we wouldn’t have to go backwards across the whole region later if we started with Castelia. So I was thinking of taking the subway in Striaton to Aspertia then going from there.”

“I... suppose that’s a fair point about backtracking, but I still think you should at least start at Castelia, since it’s on the way there and you can take the subway back to Nimbasa directly.”

“Yeah, maybe…”

Lena started to run through the Types of the Gym Leaders in the ‘Standard Order’... a faint amused feeling rising up in her as she pieced together William’s plan. “Feel like the standard Gym Order gives you the best chance with Charon?”

William’s face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Normal, Poison… Bug… all of those are either completely ineffective, or weak to Fire and Ghost Types. Thinking of being cheeky?”

At Lena’s teasing tone, William frowned and shook his head. “I… wasn’t even thinking of using Charon unless I had to. I think we both know the League would… be less than thrilled if I did that.”

Lena looked a bit stunned for a minute. “No…? You yourself said that the Gym Badges are for the League, and I think they would actually prefer if you use Charon in battle. Shoot, I would expect the Leaders to deviate from standard procedure and bring a Pokémon from a higher badge group just for Charon. If you really wanted to make things easy on yourself, doing the ‘easy’ gyms first would give you time to prepare Ronin or whatever other Pokémon you bring along.”

Before William had time to respond, a voice behind them piped up. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but are you Trainer Lena?” The nurse had a tray with a Dive and Great Ball resting on top.

Lena felt her shoulders relax and release some tension she didn’t know she consciously had. “Yes, that’s me, thank you… how was Arthur?”

The nurse glanced at Charon and William briefly, before looking back at Lena. “Well, honestly, we're impressed with the field triage done. That helped most concerns we would have had. However, we recommend applying a constant paste of Rawst Cream for a day, or adding Rawst Berries into his diet instead, if he prefers.”

With another side eye to the only Fire Type in the lobby, she continued. “On top of that, limiting his battles to avoid Pokémon with Fire Type Moves for the day will help. Here is a full list of documentation about this visit as well.”

“Got it. Thank you so much for everything.” Lena said with a polite nod of her head as she took the paper from the nurse and slid it into her bag before reaching for her partner’s Poké Balls. As soon as she grabbed them, they shook in her grasp, Arthur’s excitement slipping through via his aura. The familiar feeling made Lena smile, she missed them too.

She didn’t hesitate and pressed the front buttons. In two flashes, both capsules popped and the Lucario and Floatzel took shape next to the Ranger. As she looked over them, Rina looked better than expected, with only some barely noticeable patches of fur that were cut or textured carefully to remove any traces of Electric Type damage. Arthur’s fur, however, was noticeably thinner than before, with scattered discolored splotches.

“Good morning Lena, I hope you slept well. Both of us are fully recovered from yesterday.” Arthur said with a nod.

“Floatzzeeeel… Floatzel-atZel.” (You only say that because you want a chance to fight Charon again.) She retorted, the smirk on her face growing with every word.

“It’s not wrong to want to grow stronger with a defeat.” Arthur said plainly, both Rina and Lena chuckling in response.

William stood up from where he was sitting and approached the three. Charon walked behind him while carrying Ronin in his arms, who looked a tad warily at the two new Pokémon, or more specifically Rina.

The sight of the other Water Type made Rina perk up even more somehow, turning to Lena. “Float-zel? Floatzel-zel?” (Did Professor Juniper give William a Starter? Is he coming with?)

Lena laughed at her reaction and nodded, making a motion to William to introduce the new team member. William looked a bit surprised at being put on the spot, but quickly caught on and looked to the Oshawott. “T-This is Ronin, he decided to join us after the match.” He said quietly as Ronin looked at Rina. “Sha-wott.” (Hello… I’m Ronin.)

Rina practically had stars in her eyes as she looked at Ronin, clasping her hands as her tail started waving giddily. “Float-Zelzel- Floatzelll!” (Hello, Ronin! I’m Rina the Floatzel! Are you able to use any Water Moves yet?)

Ronin’s expression shifted, becoming less cautious as he shook his head. “Oshawaaatt. Osha-Shawott.” (Not… not yet, that is what we planned to practice today.)

Before Rina could offer to show the Water Type some Moves in the lobby, Lena interjected, still smiling. “If you want to show him some advice later, I’d recommend it once we’ve made some time today… I’ll release you both at the first rest point on the Route.”

Rina deflated like a balloon in disappointment, but understood, giving a nod. “Floatzeeel… Floatzel-float.” (Alright, but I’m holding you to that!)

“Calm yourself Rina, you’ll have more than enough chances to help train young William’s team… or fight them.” Arthur said with a twitch of his paw, Lena rolling her eyes with a smile at both of her partners' antics.

“Battle junkies looking for an adrenaline high, the both of you… I’ll see you both in a bit. Return for now.” Lena said as she rose both the Dive and Great Ball at them, the beam reaching them just as Rina shot Arthur a look that said ‘look who’s talking!’ before they both vanished in a flash of light. She shrank the balls before placing them onto her belt, stretching for a moment as she grabbed her Silph Co. bag and put her arms through the straps.

“Well, we should probably head out… you may want to return Charon, at least until we’re on the route… lest we get more eyes on us.” Lena said carefully, glancing at William’s and Charon’s expressions as she said it.

William noticeably frowned, but didn’t verbally protest as Lena watched him grab one of the minimized Poké Balls from his belt. He clicked the button in… except it didn’t expand to its full size. A soft curse slipped from his lips as he pressed it longer this time, finally making it expand suddenly. He was surprised by the sudden motion and nearly dropped the capsule and had to catch it with both hands.

“Damn—physics-defying—” Lena felt her eyebrows raise again, a twinge of amusement at hearing the swear from William, which shifted to concern then watching him struggle with the Poké Ball. Charon above them let out an inaudible grumble, gently placing Ronin back into William’s hoodie as he did so.

William glared at the Poké Ball for a moment before aiming it at Charon, pressing the middle button again this time. However, instead of the return beam beaming out, it opened suddenly, swinging back and hitting William on his wrist.

Another quiet curse left him as he yelped and dropped the Poké Ball… only for it to spin backwards and fly back towards William’s hand. Thankfully catching it, William backed up and attempted to aim it again… except his finger traced across the middle button, shrinking it once again from the contact. He swore again, this time a bit louder.

‘Wow, he really does swear like Drake…’ Lena's mix of amusement, and concern grew more by the second as she watched him… realizing that no one must have shown him how Poké Balls work, or never held one in his hand.

“Touch-activated bull—” He hissed to himself before he expanded the Poké Ball again. He only sighed this time instead of trying to use the return beam, defeated, as he lifted it up to Charon.

The Typhlosion rolled his eyes, letting out a small series of grumbles that Lena felt like was a complaint from just the tone alone. Though he pressed the button in the middle afterwards, his body suddenly turned red, vanishing in a flash into the capsule.

William stared at the Poké Ball for a moment, Lena watching him silently stare daggers at the ball as he pressed the front button one more time. Thankfully, it shrunk without issue, and William placed the Poké Ball back onto his belt, albeit with a noticeable hesitation.

“Are… you okay?” Lena asked, returning the question back he asked her.

He grumbled for a moment under his breath, Lena could only decipher “...damn balls don’t make any sense...” before he shook his head and looked back up at her.

“Yeah, just tired. We better get going before we burn more daylight though…”

It was an obvious, clear deflection, but Lena just nodded, humming to herself and giving William the best smile and nod she could. She then tilted her head to the door, starting to walk out with William following close behind.

She could press at it later while on Route 2. They had a couple hours of walking anyway to get through.

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If Route 2’s terrain could be described in a few words, it would be pastoral, yet heavily traveled. There was a clear path that over the years Trainers going through had followed clearly. The sun beamed down from above, with the trees and foliage along the path providing a nice shade for both Trainers and Pokémon. With it being early in the season as well, they had seen no other Trainers on the pathway themselves.

…That said, Lena had seen a scant few wild Pokémon in the last few hours.

While most wild Pokémon on Routes such as this understood that most Trainers had no ill intentions, it was still a tad surprising that not one Pokémon, not even a bold Liepard or Purrloin, had even stood in their path.

Lena had her… suspicions, however. Lena reasoned Charon had been in the area for so long that the local Pokémon could still sense his presence and knew to stay away. A part of her wondered if such dynamics were healthy for the route’s micro-ecosystem, but she supposed it would correct itself in time given that William and Charon would be leaving.

Charon was currently engaged in controlling two floating, purplish-red will-o-wisps as Ronin was trying to dodge them. His collar gently waved in the faint breeze as they all walked, but didn’t glow with any real intensity.

Ronin carefully avoided the first wisp with a quick shift in either direction. At the same time, he would cautiously look at the second one that drifted close at the same time. It was a careful dance he was performing between the two, stamina-draining movements, mixed with spatial awareness.

William watched with a furrowed brow silent and lost in thought, and occasionally flicked his eyes towards Charon. Lena couldn’t help but stare in fascination. While William may have been ahead of the curve for most things, this type of training seemed… specialized.

“So, where did you get this idea?”

William blinked his eyes rapidly, as if losing concentration as he glanced at Lena. “Charon’s old Trainer.”

She had suspected that Charon had a Trainer beforehand — it was obvious from his ‘Agile’ moves and attacking style in the battle yesterday — but William saying it so bluntly threw Lena for a loop. “...What?”

William’s voice came out quieter as he elaborated. “Charon’s old Trainer. He… had one before me, but… he… isn’t gonna want to open up about it though. Not yet, at least….”

Lena took the hint and nodded briefly in response, but glanced at the old Typhlosion with a new understanding….

It was natural for certain Types to outlive their Trainers, especially with Dragon, Steel, Rock, or Ground Types. Ghost Types, though, always seemed to… ‘move on’ around the same time as their Trainers. Some experts thought they went to guide their former Trainer through to the afterlife, or to reunite with them again.

Lena’s chest tightened for Charon, and a faint pity echoed within. ‘What made you want to stay behind…?’

She ignored that thought, it wasn’t her place to interject. Instead, she tried to divert the conversation to the training itself. “So… explain to me what the training here is for?”

William frowned, looking uncertain. “It’s… endurance training, mostly. And a bit of instinctual training to be aware of your surroundings without needing calls from a Trainer to dodge.”

The method was sound, and from what Lena could observe, it was playing into Ronin’s already naturally more defensively inclined style. Why was he being so hesitant about it?

“Do you feel different?” Lena asked, watching as Ronin barely caught himself from heading face-first into a flame, spinning his body around it to avoid touching it.

William held his frown, shaking his head. “No, I don’t think it’s wrong… I just…” He sighed into a groan in clear frustration. “I don't know what I’m doing, or… really anything about training, and it’s not like other Trainers want to give their ‘trade secrets’ away online.”

Lena instinctively scowled at that mindset. The idea that “Elite” Trainers had exclusive top-secret rights to all their information and knowledge spat in the face of everything that Oak and Laventon worked for all those years.

‘Instead, let new Trainers reinvent the wheel every damn time, with all the blood, sweat, tears, and pain that comes with it. Sure, that sounds much better.’ Lena sarcastically thought to herself, before glancing down at William who had gone back to watching Ronin with a careful gaze. His eyes followed each of his moments, but also kept a close eye on the flames Ronin sidestepped one, but too far as the other one circled in—

Like a light switch, the pale ember went out with a puff of smoke half an inch before it could touch Ronin, the Oshawott faltering in his steps for a moment. He caught himself before he fell to the ground, panting from the drawn-out workout.

Charon rumbled lowly to the Water Type as William stopped to look Ronin over. Even with his fur being nearly waterproof, sweat glided across and looked to stick to it, and his breathing showed he was winded. No burns or injuries though, a testament to Charon’s fine control… when not confused.

After looking Ronin over and seeing nothing of note besides the exertion from training, William glanced up at the sun in the sky which hovered somewhere a bit after high noon. “Might be best to stop for a break for food now… how far are we into the Route?” He asked Lena, who flipped open her Fine Styler and pulled up the map feature…

They had made… surprisingly good time, all things considered. If they hustled, they might make it to Striaton City before nightfall. But she had promised to let Rina and Arthur out to stretch and eat… and maybe it would be a good opportunity to let William relax a bit more around her… hopefully.

“We’re pretty far along, so I’d say that now’s a good time for a rest stop. Let’s find a clearing away from the main path.” Lena stated.

William nodded at her assessment, before focusing on Ronin again. “We’re gonna take a break, but if you want to continue after we eat, let me or Charon know.” He said softly, the Water Type staring up at the young boy before nodding. William moved his hands forward and gently picked Ronin up from under his arms, before carefully shifting to put him in his sweatshirt. Ronin carefully gripped onto William’s shoulders to stabilize himself, but otherwise looked comfortable. The sight was rather cute.

William turned to the Typhlosion and muttered something quietly. Charon rumbled shortly after and nodded, heading forward off the main path with William following behind closely. The Top Ranger was a bit confused until William turned back with a faint look of realization, quickly explaining. “Ah — sorry, Charon’s been on Route 2 for so long that he knows all the spots away from the public eye. So it would be unlikely that other Trainers will wander in, hopefully at least...”

‘Ah, well I won’t say no to that I suppose…’ Lena thought to herself before nodding to William, and started following close behind William as they pushed off route for a break…

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

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Charon eventually brought them to a cozy little area with trees and bushes stretching high into the sky making plenty of shade. Lena had brought out Rina and Arthur for lunch, which was a standard mix of Oran and Leppa Berries, though Arthur had a few extra Rawst Berries thrown in.

William followed along, and cut slices of the berries up for Ronin, but put helpings of berries into a bowl for Charon. Lena noted that Typhlosion ate his berries one at a time after toasting them gently.

Their Pokémon were all eating together, and Rina was sitting next to Ronin talking to him with an excited tone.

“FLoatZeeel. Floatzel” (So, you’ve been working on your movement while walking? What about any moves yet?)

“Shawoott… wott-osha…” (Not yet. Charon wanted to build up how I move first…)

“Typhlosion-Phlosion.” (Movement and positioning are a keystone to battling… plus, I figured you’d enjoy most showing a young Water Type what a real Aqua Jet looks like.)

The old Typhlosion interjected for a moment, before pausing and stretching out for a moment as he forced his muscles to tense before decompressing while he ate.

“FLoatzel. Floatzel-oatzel…” (Aw, well, your friend Rina is more than happy to show you the ropes! This Fire Type wouldn’t know the first things about a Water Move anyways.)

“Typhlosion. Phlo.” (He knows enough about shocking them.)

Rina laughed at that, conceding the point, and shifted to nudge Arthur gently with her elbow. “FLoooatzel. Float-Zel-Float?” (Well, we’ll just have to make sure that Ronin can keep you in check then old man, won’t we Arthur?)

Arthur bit down on an Oran Berry as he nodded slightly. “It is our responsibility to help guide those younger than us down the right path… even if that path we push them down includes the ability to beat an old man.”

Charon simply chuckled at that, and the ghost of a mischievous smirk formed for just a moment before he resumed eating. Ronin, for his part, was completely unperturbed by the idea of being able to take on Charon one day.

Pulling her attention away from the conversation, Lena decided to make herself two basic Pecha Berry and Oran sandwiches. Meanwhile, William only made himself a single cheese sandwich and was drinking his bottle of water.

“Not… gonna have anything else?” Lena pressed gently with a raised eyebrow. William just shook his head slightly while taking a sip of his water bottle.

“Not that hungry. I had breakfast, so that’ll keep me going until dinner.” He deflected as he stared into the forest with a gaze that looked outwards for miles…. The bags under his eyes seemed to grow heavier with every passing moment.

“You’re… worried about Zinzolin, I’m guessing? Didn’t sleep because of it?” She asked softly.

William flinched as he ate, but recovered quickly. “I mean, who wouldn’t be worried about a terrorist escaping.” He sighed. His eyes darted between Charon and Ronin, the latter listening intently to Rina’s teachings.

Lena tilted her head to concede the point. He wasn’t wrong about his worries, given everything that had happened… especially since they did have a much younger Pokémon in their group.

‘I know he’s smarter than he looks, but he’s just a kid, right? Do I lie to him and tell him that bad guys always lose and the good guys always win, or will he think I’m patronizing him?’

For now, she glanced back at him and tried to give a reassuring smile. “It’ll be alright.

With almost all of Unova on high alert, he’ll be found eventually, and they’d be even dumber to go anywhere near a Top Ranger. The chances of us encountering him are close to nil.” Lena said with a confident tone, though it didn’t look to convince William as turned to her, leaned in a bit, and raised his left eyebrow to a comical degree.

“I thought you were in disguise…?”

“Uhh… no comment…?”

The incredulously raised eyebrow was all the response William gave for a moment, before he shook his head and focused his attention back forward. “Never know what’ll happen sometimes…” Was all he cryptically muttered before he finished his sandwich and washed it down with more water. Lena stared at him with a faltering smile before sighing and leaning back.

Her mind briefly traveled back to the day of the Pokémon League siege before she felt Arthur’s aura gently nudge her, thankfully snapping her train of thought in half.

“Don’t let young William’s anxieties rouse yours as well. It'll be okay. We’re stronger than before and we continue to get stronger each day. Rina and I will do everything to protect you.” Arthur reassured Lena as he bit into a Rawst Berry. Lena smiled and shot a glance towards him and Rina… who had actually stood up and was now standing a few feet away from everyone with Ronin as well.

Rina spoke to the young Water Type with an instructor-like tone…. Sadly, the full intricacies were lost on her because of the distance they were away.

Ronin stood back as Rina charged forward in repeated motions. It was a lot slower than normal, but Lena could still identify it as an Aqua Jet by the distinctive buildup of Water Type Energy. It started around her mouth, swirling around her before condensing the energy into a fine stream and releasing it like a high-pressure water cutter behind her, sending her shooting to the other side of the clearing. Dust and dirt rose as she planted her feet down to catch her before sliding off into the surrounding forest.

Ronin looked up with wide, almost shining eyes. Lena watched the entire display with an amused look.

“Man, she was really excited to show him, huh?” She said with a light chuckle, turning to William who was watching with a curious expression adorned on his face…

“Yeah… I guess… I thought… hmm…” He looked lost in thought for a minute before turning his Xtransceiver on… only to immediately throw his head back and groan loudly. “Software updates… should have expected this…”

Lena laughed heartily. “Oh, that’s something no one can escape, not even Rangers. Every time there was a new update in Almia, we had to sit there and wait for it to download from an Operator before continuing on our patrol. Technology and its updates are always at the most inconvenient time.”

William glanced over at Lena amusedly, laughing under his breath at some untold joke or something he wasn’t saying. Lena noticed his shoulders relax a little as he watched Rina and Ronin. The Floatzel was sitting down now, holding her palm out as Ronin gently placed his flipper on as Rina’s entire body glistened with water, the Oshawott focusing on the water bubble slowly forming from nothing…

“Is… Rina showing him how Water Type Energy feels?”

Lena nodded, impressed by his observation skills. “Right on the money there. A good way for younger Pokémon to get the feel for more Type Energy is to… ‘feel’ it themselves. Since Ronin is so young, he can probably spit water but not use something akin to a Water Gun yet….” Lena paused for a minute in thought. “…Actually, what moves does Ronin know?”

William responded so quickly that Lena figured it had to be his memory. “Tackle and Tail Whip… Water Gun is usually learned early on by Oshawott from what I know, but….” With a frown, William sighed and shook his head. “Nevermind, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess… one sec, sorry.”

Getting up from where he was sitting, William started stretching for a moment before walking over to Charon who was watching Rina and Ronin. The Typhlosion turned to his ward for a moment before turning back to the two Water Types. The Trainer and the Ghost Flame Pokémon having a silent conversation among themselves with slight glances at each other now and then.

This allowed Arthur to move next to Lena, having finished his meal and having his own silent conversation with her as well through aura. ‘It is good to see that Rina is enjoying tutoring another Water Type… perhaps I shall teach Ronin about proper fighting stances once he evolves into a Dewott.’

‘Don’t want Rina to have all the fun, huh?’ Lena shot back with a raised eyebrow and smile, but nodded in agreement at the idea. ‘I think that would be a good choice… we don’t know if William is gonna catch any Pokémon from how he phrased his answer to Iris… or if he even has a natural affinity for any type.’

At this, Lena frowned again and fixated her gaze on William as her thoughts turned back to what she had seen back in the forest. How William’s aura was so… small and dim, and could almost be described as dying out.

She had seen the aura of those who were close to the end throughout her time as a Ranger, but even they had identifying traits and aspects of themselves that made up the aura, that defined who, and what they are.

William had none of that.

As if sensing what Lena wanted to do, Arthur gently placed a softly glowing blue and white paw on her shoulder as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her vision turned blue and black and as before, she could see and feel the aura of the Pokémon and those around her, Arthur’s burning spirit acting as a familiar anchor.

Lena looked to the Floatzel, Rina’s flowing waterway from before felt… almost gentler as she showed Ronin how to use Water Type Energy. Meanwhile, the young Oshawott’s aura was akin to a spatter of rain from above, with no clear direction or form… still being defined.

She turned her focus away from that for now, focusing instead on the Typhlosion and young Trainer side by side. Looking at Charon’s aura, it was honestly mesmerizing; a burning hot core within, ready to explode at a moment's notice. Yet, clearly tempered by age and experience, surrounded by ghostly purple flames that filled the rest of his being. It was both warm, almost inviting, and yet foreboding… a warning of what lay underneath if he erupts.

‘Well, we got a preview of that with Overheat yesterday.’ Lena thought for a moment, feeling Arthur wince physically and emotionally through their aura link at the memory of the move.

‘Charon’s Overheat… I… wouldn’t want to be hit by such an attack again so soon.’ Arthur murmured through the link, Lena mentally wincing in sympathy before glancing at William…

His aura was still as dim as it was the day before, a dark, compressed mass of aura that still had no defining traits. However, there was something surrounding his being now, almost like a film of ghostly wavering energy.

‘So Charon is connected to him somehow, which is how he can understand everyone like with me and Arthur… but it’s not aura alone, or else it would be tethered directly to the core of his aura… it’s something else… a workaround because of his aura? Or…’

The sight puzzled Lena, but she sighed and opened her eyes. She didn’t have enough personal experience with Ghost Types to put that together right now. Arthur also removed his paw with a concerned expression on his face… but Lena said nothing as she ruminated on her thoughts.

She didn’t miss how Charon shot her and Arthur a slight narrowing of his eyes for a moment before turning back to Rina and Ronin.

‘Ah… I hope that doesn’t come back to bite us.’ Lena winced, but sighed and stood up for a moment, stretching herself and glancing at the sky… they had spent long enough resting, might as well head out until nightfall…

William noticed her standing up and turned to face her slightly. “Time to head out?”

“Yeah, let’s clean up real quick. We can get further along Route 2 today, but will probably need to camp out.”

William nodded and hummed, already moving to clean up their rest spot with the Ranger. Lena couldn’t help but glance at William as she did so, her thoughts still attempting to piece together the puzzle that was this kid.

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The rest of the hike was rather uneventful, allowing Lena to breathe a little and take in the nature of the area. The few passersby on Route 2 seemed more concerned with their own business than William or Lena’s; the most they got was a wave or a quick hello.

Rina and Arthur had taken up walking alongside Lena, with Rina talking about water type energy manipulation with Ronin who was still adorably cuddled in William’s hoodie. William had reluctantly returned Charon as they started to pass more and more people.

Nightfall approached before long. After a bit of searching next to the main route, the Ranger found a location of what she assumed was a previous campsite because of the presence of a smoldered, makeshift fire pit. The evergreen trees provided a good deal of privacy, the foliage was thick enough that no one could check in without purposefully navigating to where they were.

The firepit looked well maintained, the rocks around it carefully set up to keep fire and kindling inside, suggesting a regular level of maintenance by passing or previous Trainers. On top of that, two hollowed-out logs surrounded the fire which would be perfect for her and William.

Before they could relax though, they did still have a small bit of setup to go through…

William released Charon once they finally decided to use the spot, and went to set up their tent on their side. Meanwhile, Lena and her team worked like a well-oiled machine as they got the outside of the tent set up in less than half of the time it took William to get the tent out of its packaging.

After setting up the inside of her own tent, she started to prep the site, spraying a careful amount of Max Repel around the site for when they sleep… careful not to apply too much as to make their own Pokémon uncomfortable…

As she did this, she glanced over to see if William needed help. However, she was amused to see Ronin gently wet a spot on the ground with a gentle trickle of water, before William hammered in the stake.

Charon was looking at the instructions to set up the tent in one hand, while keeping the structure of the tent straight enough for William to pound the stakes in with his other hand due to his height. He was grumbling under his breath, which prompted William’s face to scrunch up as if eating a raw Rowap Berry.

“There’s nothing wrong with using a tent, Charon. Good shelter for camping is a safety thing.”

“Typhlloosion… Plosion-Typh.” (We didn’t even have tents in Hisui, kid. You slept on the ground and if the wild Pokémon didn’t kill ya, your back certainly did. Made the kids stronger. We was better fo’ it then.) The Fire Ghost Type muttered as he stared at one stake as he held the tent straight.

“Right, and now you can have a nice, plush, padded bed for your creaky, crunchy, old man back when we're camping. Meanwhile I get to be the one attacked by Pokémon in my sleep by your obnoxiously loud snoring and constant blanket thievery. Tell me who’s stronger now, eh?” William clapped back. Rina and Lena howled in laughter on the other side of camp, and Arthur was struggling to maintain his composure.

“...Phlsion. Typhlosion.” (...Fine, I’ll try to not yank the blanket too much, but you’re gonna experience back pain soon enough kid if Ronin keeps hanging from your hoodie.) Charon bit back, the realization enough to make William pause mid-swing as if realizing it for himself.

The Typhlosion snorted slightly at his face before leaning down and shoving the stake into the ground without it being dampened by Ronin, William glanced at the display and rolled his eyes, but stood up as he hammered the last stake in on his side.

Lena gave the tent a quick appraisal as she finished using the can of Max Repel, nodding in approval. It wasn’t perfect, slightly crooked by one or two inches, but it was still a damn fine job.

Especially for someone who apparently last camped out with their family years ago, even younger than he was now if his comments were anything to be believed.

She chose to push that aside, she wasn’t gonna look a gift Blitzle in the mouth. “Nice job, I’ll finish spraying this and then we can sit down to eat… anything in particular you’d like?”

William was surprised by the offer, but stopped as he thought for a moment… “I mean… I’m not sure what would be food-safe for an Oshawott… I’ll need to check that.” William muttered as he started to pull out his Pokédex, navigating to the entry on Oshawott as Lena thought for a quick moment.

“Well, Rina’s diet is gonna be close to identical because of their habitats; so any food I have would be good for them, just look for any restrictions in that section.” Lena said, her mind going back to her habitat and wildlife classes back at school, and then in even finer detail at the Ranger School.

“Oh — uh… t-thank you.” William’s voice dropped an octave from his surprise, and gratefulness… but Lena turned around and shot him a sudden smirk.

“Doesn’t mean I’m cooking it. You’re gonna be learning how to cook through this as well.” She tried to tease, but the look of sudden concern on William’s face created a faint feeling of… nervousness in her.

“...We… better use my cooking ware then.” William said cryptically as he opened up his bag and started to pull out utensils…

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“You burnt your pasta somehow.”

“Well, at least I used my own cookware, right?”

“You burnt pasta. In water.”

“At least it was my helping of food and not anyone else's!”

“Clare said you made your own food!”

“Yes, I made sandwiches, and frozen food that you just pull out from the oven or microwave.”

‘Twin Dragons, strike me down.’ Was Lena’s thought as she placed her face in her palms, her shoulder shaking in incredulous, disbelieving laughter at the sheer ridiculousness. She pulled away after a moment, shaking her head and looking at William who was eating a helping of pasta with Pomeg sauce to help mask the slightly burnt taste.

“I’ve eaten worse before, don’t worry.” He tried to assuage.

Lena could only stare at him before sighing, glancing to the side where Rina was using Scald on the pots and cookware like a pressure washer, with Ronin watching intently next to her. Arthur scrubbed them clean as well with a sponge, but she couldn’t help but overhear something from him directed to Charon. The Typhlosion was drying off everything handed to him before placing them onto a towel to be stored back into their bags later.

“You shouldn’t light your Trainer’s food on fire when he isn’t looking.”

“Typhlosion. Typh.” (Kid needs to learn how to cook; a sandwich is not dinner. He doesn’t have to be Beni, but pasta is too basic. He needs to learn more complex foods.)

‘I mean, there’s a lot of different ways to make a sandwich. Those Paldeans can get pretty creative with them right?’ Lucario countered.

“Typh…. Lolosion-Typhlosion-Phlo-Tyyyyph.” (Whippersnapper’s idea of a “sandwich” is putting two pieces of cold cheese in between some white bread. Doesn't even bother to grill it with butter most times. Sinnoh Almighty as my witness, I’ll go back to eating hardtack rations infested with Nymbles if I eat another fucking sandwich any time soon.)

William looked a bit hurt by that one.

‘Well… I… guess that’s one way to push him to expand his horizons.’ Lena mused with a sigh…. Best to leave that be for now.

Besides, the sandwich he ate for lunch must have not filled him up, as he was practically inhaling the almost-inedible Flamethrower-roasted pasta. He finished eating within a few minutes, finishing up and going to help with the dishes…. Most of them were already cleaned by the time he got there, but he still helped with what he could.

After that was taken care of… there was a very noticeable lull in any conversation. The night seemed to creep on slowly to Lena, as William sat across on the other log, seeming to play a game with Ronin on his Pokédex where he had the little Sea Otter guess a Pokémon’s Type from their picture. Little guy was surprisingly good at it, but he tripped up with the Goomy family and thought they were Poison Types.

Ronin eventually got sleepy and retreated into William’s tent. Arthur and Rina returned to their balls for the night as well, either sensing or figuring out that their partner would be up for a bit.

This left only Lena, Charon, and William around the fire, with the Ranger gently poking it with a stick to shift firewood around to make sure it was healthy.

Lena could only sigh… he was relaxing a little around her… she thinks, but not enough to let her through whatever walls he had put up.

William was still busy fiddling with his Pokédex, his fingers tapping away at the slide-out keyboard… the yellow of its casing made Lena look him over again. His hoodie and backpack were almost all mono-yellow, except for the periwinkle Poké Ball design on the hoodie section.

It was clear he had some affinity for the color, but she knew so little about him that even that detail felt… superficial.

‘Alright, that’s it, I have to ask. Getting too quiet anyways…’

“So… yellow is your favorite color, I’m guessing?” She less asked, and more stated with a glance up at William, hoping it would attempt to prompt any noticeable response from him.

William paused from scrolling through the Pokédex and looked at her, just nodding while looking a bit surprised by the question. “Uhhh… y-yeah. I like yellow, it’s my favorite color…”

Lena was about to comment on her own favorite color, before she remembered the Silph Co. Bag he had selected, with the iconography of a Pikachu’s tail on the back of it. If she squinted as well, she noticed it was on his shoes as well, though not as noticeable in the dark at the time mixed with the dark shading of the shoes. “Is that because Pikachu is your favorite Pokémon?”

At this, William fell silent for a moment to think… looking off into the woods for a moment with a faraway look in his eyes. It was enough to prompt Charon to rumble softly suddenly at him, snapping him from his thoughts. “A-Ah, well… that’s one part but…”

William leaned back slightly after putting his Pokédex back into his pocket, his hands moving to the log he was sitting on as he spoke. “My… I went to my grandmother’s house a lot when I was young… er, younger. Mom and Dad had jobs, and it wasn’t safe to leave a child alone, you know how it is.”

A couple of years ago, this statement would have concerned Lena and many others about the living conditions a kid was in. Now though, after the siege by Team Plasma… she couldn’t help but horrifyingly find herself to agree with that statement slightly.

William didn't look to notice her thoughts on the matter from her expression as he continued. “Anyway Grandma, ah… she had this yellow jacket, not a sweatshirt but… a soft, comfortable jacket. I always associated going out with her to the library or… wherever with her and that jacket. Felt… safe, I guess, nostalgic.”

A very long and very uncomfortable silence followed with William’s face looking almost crestfallen, his eyes drifting to the fire and stared at the flickering flames before Charon rumbled something softly. After a good minute or so, William finally gathered his resolve to speak again.

“Grandma…” William paused, as if uncertain about his words for a moment, clearly changing what he was going to say. “I kinda just leaned more into the color yellow as a result… I had other sweatshirts, but… yellow just felt right, so I think I just leaned more into that, even unconsciously. Pikachu is one of the most yellow Pokémon so…”

Charon moved over to wrap an arm around William in sudden comfort, a soft expression on the Fire Ghost Type as William leaned closer into him and took a deep breath. There was a weight in William’s eyes as he was clearly thinking back, reminiscing about life before.

“…Does Charon remind you of your grandparents?” Lena asked, her mind making a sudden connection at the sight of how Charon cared for William, and how William may have mentally… associated him after being separated from his family.

William appeared startled at the question as the old Typhlosion briefly looked towards William before bellowing out a hearty belly laugh, nearly falling over the log they were sitting on. He patted William on the back pretty roughly, making the boy double over a little before finally calming down.

“…Fuck. Is it really that obvious?”

William’s expression looked almost abashed as he said it. It made little sense to Lena as it was nothing to be embarrassed about in her opinion, especially considering everything that had happened. “What do you mean?”

William took a moment to gather his thoughts again, crossing his arms and thinking. “Well… I’m sure you’ve noticed how protective Charon can be of me.” He put on a bit of a pouty face, finally looking more like the child he really was. Charon suddenly started laughing again and pointing at him as if to say, “look at your face!”

William only raised his eyebrows in response to Charon, their expressions so visually contrasting that Lena couldn’t help but laugh herself. The entire atmosphere around the camp noticeably had changed, feeling lighter… less tense…

The young Trainer continued after a moment, turning back to Lena. “Well, when he first found me alone in the woods he started asking about who I was and… well… let’s just say who my grandfather on one side of the family would have been was not the best role model.”

William shrugged as if not completely agreeing with his own phrasing, but glanced back up at Charon for a moment before continuing. “Old man Typhlosion over here wanted to show him how to be a real Grandpa or something, I dunno. Eventually, I just gave in and started referring to him as my Grandpa.”

“Was that before or after you named him Charon?”

William thought for a moment with a hum before he answered definitively. “Before. I tried asking what Charon’s name was one day. Realized pretty quickly I could never pronounce it, but he explained it was the name of an old Onryō in Hisui. Something about a vengeful ghost?”

William shrugged, as if not off put by the idea of his grandpa figure being vengeful. “There’s a story back home about a guide for spirits who have to cross a river, and his name was Charon, so I went with that instead…. Makes sense for what Hisuian Typhlosions are said to do… and what Charon has, and is doing for me.”

While Charon’s old name could have prompted concern, William looked to reminisce instead with the expression that formed on his face. After a moment, it turned into something curious as he turned back to Lena. “So how did you come up with Arthur and Rina’s names?

“Well, Rina named herself after wanting something similar to my name, but…” Lena cracked up a bit as the memory came flooding back.

“…Arthur, back when he was a Riolu, was watching some really cheesy movie from Galar about this knight named Arthur and fell in love with it. If you really want to tease him, ask him about the flight speed of an unladen Trumbeak carrying an Exeggcute. Just be ready to get punched in the face!”

William’s face suddenly got very pale at the idea of that, but a smile still formed on his face to show he was amused equally by it. “Uh, I’ll… pass on asking him, but… an unladen Trumbeak is the equivalent here, huh…”

At this Lena remembered the comments by Clare about William’s home. “Oh, I guess if Pokémon weren’t common back home, they must have had a variation on it… on that note, what movies and shows have you seen?”

William frowned, tilting his back and forth as he thought about it. “I haven’t really watched a lot of movies, or shows in Unova… I guess you could call me uneducated in those matters. I just never… found the right time, I suppose.” A flash of something washed over his face, looking heavy, but it smoothed out just as quickly.

Lena snorted at the idea of William calling himself ‘uneducated’, her mind trailing back to the grades she had seen before… though, one sticking point prompted her to speak up.

“Hey, what is discrete math?”

William blinked at the topic change, befuddlement forming on his face. “Where did that come from?”

“Clare passed around your school grades during the meeting at the League to prove that you were a smart kid who could take care of yourself, and Iris leaned over to ask Shauntal what discrete math is. Except she did it way too loudly and everyone heard it. Apparently, they didn’t teach it in Shauntal’s Galarian courses.”

The two laughed a bit before William explained that it had something to do with sets of numbers and graphs and computers, or something. Lena didn’t understand any of it, but William clearly did.

The atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed than before… Lena smiled as she continued to tend to the fire with the stick she had. Each question asked, and the responses given slowly and slowly filling the empty picture frame that each of them had for each other still.

The warm glow of the fire was tapering off slightly as they talked, causing William to shoot a glance at Charon. “I’m sorry to ask, but can you keep the fire going longer…?”

Charon let out a snort, but his collar ignited as he walked over to the side and took a deep breath before letting a stream of flame breathe life into the slowly smoldering flame. It gave the campsite a comforting warmth as the flames of Charon grew a gentle purplish-red, embers flicking into the pale moonlit sky above.

Lena mused for a moment, smiling warmly at William as he watched Charon keep the fire alive. More and more pieces of the missing puzzle that was William were coming into focus… but it still wasn’t clear yet.

And that was okay for her.

‘You may not be fully opening up… but take your time. I can wait for you to open up at your own pace… I just hope I can be someone you can trust when you do.’

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Beta Readers:

David “TheBlizWiz” R

Garmfild