“-five Mr. Mimes get brought out to stop Ekans’ Spit Up, whilst Whitney was watching like she was back in the Finals, eyes all wide and excited and then as the referee announced our victory and the crowd started going wild, Ekans chose that moment to evolve!” Ran finishes his completely factual retelling of his earlier Gym battle against Grady’s sponsor to the boy in question.

Grady had been awed before, at this point, he looks to be on the edge of asking Ran for an autograph. Before he can, however, Ran’s stomach lets out an audible rumble, loudly announcing his hunger. It’s enough to startle Grady into motion, as the younger trainer glances at his watch before jumping upright.

“Oh no I’m late for dinner! Igottago! LaterRanyouresupercool!” He hurriedly shouts over his shoulder, even as he tears out of the room and races down the hallway.

Ran watches him go for a moment, before finally getting moving once more. As eventful as the day has been, he still needs his own dinner, after all. First, however, he’ll swing by the nurses’ station, to go and get an update on his team.

Heading in that direction, for a moment he considers contacting Josie, before dismissing the thought. She’ll get in touch when she wants to, there’s no point in rushing her.

Arriving at the desk, he’s pleasantly surprised to learn that Arbok and Golbat are fully cleared, with Aria receiving her final check-up just then. Stepping aside for a moment to let the nurse continue handling the continuous rotation of needy trainers, Ran only needs to wait around for a few minutes, before the nurse is calling him back towards the desk, finally handing him Aria’s pokéball as well.

Belt properly balanced again, the familiar weight of pokéballs by his side oddly comforting, Ran sets out for dinner. Goldenrod City, massive as it is, offers plenty of options, but without company sitting down for a proper celebratory meal feels off. There’s always the option to pay out of the nose to visit a restaurant that’ll also provide seating and meals for his team, but considering their sizes and appetites, that’s a bit out of reach for him for now.

So he ultimately just settles on a burger and some fries, happily munching away as he aimlessly wanders through Goldenrod City for a while. All throughout his meal, he hopes for some kind of message from Josie, so he can have some idea of what her mindset is, but she remains silent.

Meal finished, rather than spend more time hanging around waiting for word from Josie, he opts to return to the pokécenter. Large as Goldenrod City might be, it still isn’t exactly suited to just letting all of his team members out of their balls when and where he pleases, so a return to his room at the center is the obvious solution.

Fifteen minutes later, he’s back in his room, seated on the bed. One by one, he starts to release his pokémon.

First is Aria, who lands on the wooden floor lightly. She glances around for a moment, the two odd yellow structures on her back waving cheerily as she notices him, before starting to skitter about the room as she looks for a place to settle in. Which proves a greater challenge than she’d probably like.

It’s a pretty standard pokécenter room, holding a simple single bed, a desk, a small wardrobe and some extra storage space overhead through a row of open cubicles that run along the wall which the bed is resting against. In the far corner from the entrance, another door leads to the small ensuite bathroom. Finally, most of the open floor space between the entrance and the bed is dominated by a large pokémon bed, which in this case is just a huge circular mattress with a raised edge made of slightly softer material.

Which is perfect for lots of pokémon, like Arbok and Skorupi to name the ones Ran expects will bed down there, but it doesn’t suit Aria’s need to burrow at all. It’s very easy to spot just when his only female team member realizes as much, as her second tour of the room is significantly more jittery than her first. Fortunately, by the time she turns a plaintive gaze on Ran, he’s already figured out how to handle the problem.

“Hang on a second girl, I’ve got a plan.” He assures her, opening the wardrobe, only to receive a disappointed chitter from Aria when she spots the clothes Ran has stored there. When he then rapidly starts to gather them up before haphazardly dumping them on the bed, however, his Ariados perks up noticeably.

Unfortunately, the wardrobe isn’t quite deep enough for Aria to build a web in it even if she hangs vertically, but even that is ultimately solved easily enough. He leaves the doors open slightly, hanging a few clothes over the top to extend the wardrobe ‘forwards’ somewhat. Finally, the desk chair gets shoved in front of the lower half of the opening, finally leaving a perfect opening for Aria to eagerly disappear into.

Immediately, he can hear her frantically moving about to fashion a web to rest on. She can’t quite sing, of course, but the rhythmic sounds coming from her mandibles make it very clear that she’s doing her very best approximation nevertheless, as she enthusiastically works on her resting place for the night.

Slightly guilty over keeping her in her ball the past few nights, Ran sheepishly lets out Skorupi next, allowing him to appear in the middle of the large bed he’ll likely end up sharing with Arbok.

The small poison-bug-type looks around curiously, pincers on his tail clacking together a few times as he idly examines his surroundings. He visibly perks up when he spots Ran, immediately scampering over towards the bed and enthusiastically climbing up to hang all over him. It’s a bit inconvenient, as in his enthusiasm Skorupi tends to forget about the two poisonous stingers to either side of his head, but Ran can’t begrudge him his friendliness, as the team’s junior member eagerly wraps his tail around one of his trainer’s arms in his best approximation of a hug.

Letting Skorupi do his thing, Ran doesn’t address the two members he’s already let out of their balls just yet, instead opting to release Golbat. Like Skorupi, he appears on the large pokémon bed, though unlike Skorupi he seems far less curious about his surroundings. Whether through having picked up on the situation whilst still in his ball or something else, Golbat simply offers his trainer an acknowledging half-nod/bow, before flaring his wings and ascending to the light fixture with a few quick beats.

It’s still impressive to see him flip around in mid-air without losing height, the incredibly quick flexing of his body enough to allow him to grab on to the reinforced light fixture before he can lose any height. Then, Golbat finally lets out a soft cry, apparently directed at Aria, as her head peeks out of her burrow in greeting for a moment, before disappearing once more.

Seemingly content to leave it at that, Golbat lets out a final soft cry, turning to face the entrance before closing his eyes. Ran can tell he’s not asleep, nor is he even trying to fall asleep quite yet, but Golbat is the least sociable of his team, so when he can’t physically distance himself a bit further from everyone else, this behavior is pretty expected.

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Still, he notices the way Golbat’s ears twitch, whilst Ariados partially crawls out of her burrow and Skorupi twitches against him as he finally breaks his silence.

“Hey guys, I thought I’d catch all of you up real quick. First of all, we beat Whitney! Aria, Golbat, great work from both of you! To recap, Ekans started against Jigglypuff and did some work against it. Then, Aria here,” Ran starts to explain, gesturing with his free hand to Aria, who shrinks back into her nest slightly, before chittering proudly and coming out once more to bask in the attention of the rest of her team, “Knocked it out with an awesome Fell Stinger. Whitney used a Raticate next, which took her out, but not before she weakened it super badly.”

Ran turns his attention to Aria for a moment, “You actually missed the next part, but Raticate went down before Golbat’s part of the match could even start properly! So you basically took down two of Whitney’s pokémon today! You really did a great job, Aria!”

It’d be hard to miss the admiration in Skorupi’s eyes as he looks at the other bug-type, though Aria still manages it, as her shyness finally properly wins out over her desire to bask in Ran’s praise. She swiftly retreats, though her soft happy trills make it clear that she isn’t upset in the least.

“Then,” Ran continues, once more drawing the full attention of his team towards himself, “Golbat put in a heroic effort against a monster of a Miltank. Whitney confirmed afterwards that it was specifically meant to counter our strategies, so that you did as well as you did is extra impressive, Golbat!”

Golbat, the first of his pokémon to evolve and the one Ran had unofficially considered to be his ‘ace’ until today, doesn’t seem appeased by his trainer’s words. His wings rustle slightly as he mulishly changes the way they’re crossed around his body for a moment, not showing any other proper reaction.

“Look, I know it’s frustrating that you didn’t get a proper knock-out of your own, but you did a great job! We couldn’t have won without you weakening Miltank as badly as you did. Trust me, I watched Josie’s match and her entire team got steamrolled by the Miltank Whitney used against her! The one you fought was even tougher than that one!” Ran reassures his pokémon, who does seem to perk up slightly at the mention of Josie’s team’s defeat.

Of course claiming that the Miltank Josie faced was weaker is a bit bold, with Ran having no way to actually confirm that statement, but then Golbat doesn’t need to know that part. If it’s enough to cheer him up a bit, then Ran is more than happy to believe and let believe.

“So then, Miltank was super weakened, but it just wouldn’t go down. So I had to send out Ekans, who’d already taken some hits against Jigglypuff, again!” He announces dramatically, voice lowering as he paints a picture for his team members in attendance.

Skorupi’s tail tightens around his arm, the wardrobe creaks as Aria leans forwards in interest and even Golbat’s ears twitch as he picks up on the change in the atmosphere. Leaving them hanging on his every word, he pauses for a few long moments, before continuing.

“So I sent out Ekans and he immediately used Glare to paralyze Miltank, before he started rushing over. It looked like he’d be too slow and Miltank would use Rollout to turn him into a pancake, but he wasn’t! Then he Wrapped her up and he started squeezing and squeezing and squeezing! It was incredible, but Miltank wouldn’t quit!” He continues dramatically, free arm gesturing wildly in the air as he pictures the battle once more.

All three pokémon in the room are deathly quiet now, clearly fully enraptured by the scene.

“She managed to get Rollout going after all, but Ekans wouldn’t let go! Instead he got constantly flattened into the ground as Miltank picked up speed. All the while, he kept using Stockpile until eventually, when Miltank froze due to Glare’s paralysis, he used Spit Up! You should’ve seen it! It was like Hyper Beam but better! They had to bring out extra Mr. Mimes to put up extra barriers, or the spectators would’ve gotten hit!” Ran finishes his retelling, whilst his free hand drifts towards the final remaining filled pokéball on his belt.

“The match was called, we won and then… this happened.” He announces with a bit of flair, before finally sending out Arbok, allowing his newly-evolved starter to appear in the middle of the free pokémon-bed.

Arbok announces his presence with a loud hiss, lower half of his body instinctively curling around once to support his top as his head rises up from the ground. Like a king surveying his domain, Arbok takes in the room, tongue darting out for a moment to taste the air.

His presence isn’t quite oppressive, but there’s a tangible change to the room’s atmosphere nevertheless.

Aria, who’d largely crawled out of her impromptu nest throughout the retelling of Ekans’ battle, hurriedly ducks back inside again, until only her gleaming eyes can be spotted peeking out from the darkness. Skorupi’s tail tenses around Ran’s arm in surprise, before the younger pokémon hurriedly repositions to hang off of his back like a backpack, rather than clinging onto his front like a baby.

As for Golbat, his wings flare out, eyes open as he shows himself off towards Arbok. Ran’s starter for his part seems unbothered, not allowing Golbat’s reaction to distract him from his surveying. Only when he’s finished inspecting the room, does his attention finally turn towards the ceiling.

Both pokémon stare at each other, before Arbok offers a low hiss. It isn’t threatening, but something passes between them nevertheless. Whatever it is, it’s enough for Golbat to relax, as he withdraws his wings, once more wrapping them around his body. As for Arbok, he’s big enough to allow the lower half of his body to remain on his bed, even as his head moves towards Ran, nose butting up against his free hand.

Immediately, Ran gently lays his hand on top of his starter’s evolved form, finally truly taking in the opportunity to examine the changes to his best friend’s form on more than a merely visual level. The hood in particular is intriguing, the scales there having a different texture to the ones on the rest of his body which, overall, feels generally tougher than it did as an Ekans.

“Congrats buddy, you look amazing.” Ran tells his starter, who hisses in appreciation, even as he basks in his trainer’s attention.

“Are you ready to discuss your name, or do you want to hold off for a bit, until you’ve properly settled in?”

Arbok nods eagerly, to Ran’s complete and utter lack of surprise, clearly enthusiastic to finally be given a name. Fortunately, having prepared rather extensively for precisely this scenario, it’s easy work on Ran’s behalf to open the notes he’d laboriously written out on his pokégear over the years, adding to the list of possible names whenever an interesting option popped into his head.

“Alright, I’ll just start summing up names and then when you like the sound of one, you just give me a hiss and we’ll spend some more time on discussing it, alright?” Ran suggests, drawing another assenting nod from his starter.

It’s a very long list, but he doesn’t get very far at all. Because on only the sixth option, Arbok noticeably perks up, immediately hissing to bring his trainer to a halt.

“-Hood, Tox, Caesar, El-” He lists off, only for Arbok’s excited hiss to cut him off.

“Caesar?” Ran reads back, just to make sure that he’s correctly understood just which name Arbok responded to so enthusiastically.

Arbok nods once more, tip of his tail wiggling in obvious approval.

“Alright, well obviously there’s a bit of a hissing sound at the start, which I thought was fitting,” Ran explains easily, before checking his notes to read out the full reasoning he’d written down well over two years ago, “And there’s the link with rulership, dignity and power. Plus, though this is just what my notes say, it’s been two years since I looked this up, there’s even some links to an old word for cutting or piercing. Considering just how big your fangs are now, I think it suits you.”

Arbok’s answering hiss is low, long and clearly satisfied, his lower body coiling up in a few long, lazy loops, just so he can be comfortably at eye height with Ran as he meets his trainer’s eyes. A gentle headbutt almost pushes Ran back half a step, another clear reminder of just how much stronger Arbok’s form of almost purely coiled muscle is now, but he manages to stand his ground.

As his starter leans back slightly, he blinks slowly, a sign Ran easily reads as encouragement. Knowing what his starter expects of him, he smiles proudly, before finally speaking up, the rest of the team observing in complete silence.

“Hello, Caesar.”