The Gyarados rushed forward again, only to be hit in the face by high-speed flying mud. For some reason, the atrocious pokemon thought this time it would go differently than the other times he tried to close in on the Hippopotas.

The water type collapsed into the ground; the weight of the sticky mud brought him down. A guttural roar left his maw. The pokemon pushed forward with enormous effort, dragging the mud with him.

A very inefficient use of stamina.

An experience and well-trained water type pokemon should have been able to wash the mud off. He wouldn’t even need to go that far really, he could’ve just shaken the mud off. Or dodge. But the pokemon seemed to not understand that concept.

Gyarados are beasts, plain and simple. They got in, damaged some place or another in search of food, and left, or not, depending on how fast pokemon trainers responded. But the ones who attack human settlements are fully grown ones, six meters at least, Magikarp that lived years and years, patiently waiting for their evolution. The Hageshi clan found a way to get around that waiting period. Thus, at the length of three meters from head to tail, Aiden’s was the smallest Gyarados I’ve ever seen.

Consequently, was also the least scary one, even ignoring the beating he was taking from the small Hippopotas.

Sand exploded from the soil in front of Quake like a bomb—Jungle, in my arms, gurgled in surprise—It rose from the earth like a pedestal and then broke into a wave. A two-meter-high sand wave that flows down and up, wrapping around the Gyarados like a wave. The sand pushed and pulled the big pokemon that raged against the sand tide.

It was useless.

Another Mud Shot and the Gyarados fell on his back, exhausted.

Aiden took his pokeball out and returned him. The dragon trainer’s face was red, but it seemed that he wasn’t actually angry. The outcome, for Aiden, was obvious before the battle even started.

I rubbed Jungle’s head while thinking about the battle. It looked like Aiden lacked control over his Gyarados. Not in the sense of it being a danger, though. He wouldn’t have been allowed to leave Blackthorn with his Gyarados if it that was the case. However, it was clear that Gyarados had never trained before. It moved with no moves or strategy in mind.

Jess grabbed two pokeballs, and changed the Hippopotas for Starly, Aiden released his Swablu, and another battle began. This time, the battlefield would be the sky.

“So, what do you think, teach?” Anderson asked. “What does your honoured visitor need to improve his illustrious abilities?”

“Stop that,” Rebecca said. “Not all clans are like that.”

“Yeah. Not everyone is like that, but you know the Blackthorn’s are.”

“Whatever, it’s rude.” She said as she tried to swat Anderson, but he leaned away from her hand. The Flaaffy between his legs grunted at the move. “Though, I am curious about what you think about that Gyarados.”

“I need to think about what I just saw. I don’t think I have a lock on the problem yet.”

“What you mean?”

“There are many reasons a pokemon might not listen to a trainer,” I said. “The most common one is lack of trust, maybe the trainer made too many mistakes in too many battles. That would be easy, improve the trainer, talk to the pokemon, problem solved in a week. But there are other possibilities.”

The conversation stopped as the two aerial pokemon smashed against each other. Swablu used Take Down, and Starly struck back with Aerial Ace, Starly came out on top. Velocity looks… Very inspired by Cape’s Aerial Ace.

I felt Valley nod on top of my head. It looks like she agrees.

“That’s so strange for us. We never had problems with our pokemon.” Anderson said as he looked down at his Flaaffy. The pokemon glanced up from the fight and nuzzled his face.

“Most never do. I read a little before coming here—”

“Of course you read about that—”

“It’s pretty rare for a raised or early caught pokemon to completely not listen. The most common cases of pokemon not listening is if it was caught as a grown up wild pokemon.” Rebecca glared at her twin.

The flying pokemon hit each other again, Swablu tried to get distance after another unfavourable exchange. This fight seemed a much more normal fight. The Gyarados hadn’t listened to Aiden’s instructions, but Swablu did, which made it a more usual fight. Jess’ pokemon was superior still but that might be just battle experience.

I hummed; Aiden still had the habit of calling too much though. Did he really think that his pokemon wouldn’t dodge if they weren’t instructed to?

“By the way.” Anderson said. “Yesterday, my team took another look at your match with Whitney. I must say that we were blow away by it! Again! Jess said you were stronger, but not that stronger. The way Cape just put away that Jigglypuff was amazing”

The Flaaffy nodded rapidly while not taking his eyes off the battle.

“Yeah. How come you just now began your journey.” Rebecca said.

“I’m an orphan and just now was able to get a sponsor.”

“Ah.” She nodded.

It was kind of an open secret that orphans don’t get to go on journeys.

Journeys are expensive. To begin with, you need a license just to enjoy the benefits of being an official League trainer—free healthcare for pokemon, discounts on training products and free entry on some tournaments. Then, to further your chances of being a successful trainer, someone who could make a living with this, you needed specialised tools; Silph Co bags, pokeballs, potions, TMs, and, of course, the Pokedex.

And that was just the basics.

Things were changing though. Team Rocket’s devastation was bad, but it also brought to light many issues with our current way of doing things. Change is still slow unfortunately, and orphans at least had better career options, just not pokemon training.

A cheer from Valley pulled me back into the battle. Swablu was falling from the sky, but at the last second pulled itself back into the air and tried to get some distance, Velocity stalked him like a Fearow, though.

Yep, the difference clearly was battling experience, as a losing fight could still be won if the losing part didn’t panic. Swablu was panicking as her usual moves and actions weren’t working against the Starly. That problem would be easy to remedy with a group this big.

Speaking of group, I should lighten the mood. The conversation did end on a depressing note.

“Do you guys want to be professional trainers?”

The twins looked at each other.

Rebecca’s face hardened. “This idiot thinks he can.”

“Are you still going on about that? She’s mad because she wanted to journey at sixteen with her best fri—”

“But our parents think, not wrongly, that this moron would be lost without someone around, so they made me start the journey with him. And on top of that—”

“She wants to be an engineer anyway, blah, blah, blah. No one here cares.”

The two twins were glaring at each other. The Flaaffy between Anderson’s legs was becoming increasingly worried, and the Jolteon running around even stopped to look at the discussion with a tilted head.

“But don’t you have four pokemon on your team? And a Magnemite and a Jolteon on top of that.” Hearing his name, the Jolteon turned his gaze to me.

It was… Unusual for someone not on pokemon battling to have over three pokemon, and those two lines specifically were very valuable in battling.

Jolteon has always been one of the most thriving electric types on an electric trainer’s team. Hard to hit, fast, and with loads of offensive capacity, even generalists wanted them. And ever since the Magneton’s evolution, Magnezone, was discovered, people were flocking towards that line.

Professor Rowan’s evolutions were still pricey for normal people, but the hope was that more budget friendly alternatives were being developed.

“I got Eevee before I even knew I wanted to have electric type pokemon.” The Jolteon rushed over and rubbed its body on Rebecca’s face. She scooped the pokemon in her arms with a smile. “I always liked Magnemite. And what’s the problem with having more pokemon? You’re sounding like my grandma.”

“Nothing wrong with it. It’s just uncommon.”

The battle between Swablu and Velocity finally ended in a victory for Jess. The battle could continue with Aiden using Horsea, but purely water type pokemon needed to train extensively their control to fight on land, and the pokemon wasn’t ready yet. They were coming back towards us.

“Well, circling back. I would like to say that your battle with Whitney was fire! I was on the edge of my bed the whole time. We need to fight sometime soon.”

I nodded. Cape would have liked the praise, but the bug type was resting inside his pokeball.

“I don’t like to bet, but I would put money on you going to the conference if you keep this up.”

“I hope so.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

---

The mountains on the east of Goldenrod were hidden by many hills.

Hills that we just finishing climbing. After an hour of walking upward, I finally reached the top. Valley waved an arm as soon as she saw me. She had decided to go first to ‘scout’, so she was already there waiting for us, of course. She even cleaned herself and the land too.

I laid my bag on the clean ground where we would make camp and looked at the three mountains. They were big, not in the top ten biggest mountains in Indigo, but big. Okay, so maybe not that impressive, but again, they were big, very big. The biggest one even went so high in the sky that it had a little snow covering the top.

The only bummer was the setting sun behind the mountains. We would unfortunately have to set camp here and continue tomorrow.

Today we would rest. Tomorrow we would catch.

The sound of breaking branches. I turned around to see my fellow travellers sitting around and panting. I was also tired but was masking it well.

“You guys finally catch up.”

“Shut up,” Jess said. “Not everyone has freakish long legs.”

“I’m not that tall, Jess.”

Jess was twelve and, at one meter and forty, was the shortest of us.

The twins were fourteen years old, both with one and sixty. They said the other night that they used to be on the running team on their school’s team, so they had no problem keeping up. Aiden was also fourteen and even taller than the twins but was the… least fit for a life on the road.

The teenager was the last one to reach the top, and was now sitting down on a rock.

“… Can we stop now?” Aiden said, his hands on his knees.

I nodded. “We will rest here today.”

We began to set up camp.

I released Mesa, Jungle and Cryogonal for help. Valley immediately took charge of the three pokemon. My bag, with my things, sailed towards Valley and Mesa, who would pitch the tent. Cryogonal and Jungle were sent nearby to collect sticks from the forest around. I, meanwhile, walked around and collect rocks to put around the fire.

“Hey.”

I turned around and saw that Aiden was walking behind me.

“I see you recovered from the walk.” I smiled as I grabbed another rock and put on the bucket.

“Yes,” He said. “I wanted to ask what you thought about my fight with Jess. Where do I need to improve. What I could be doing better… What to do about Gyarados.”

I hummed. “What’s really apparent is that you lack battle experience. I feel that you will improve leaps and bounds just by sparing like you did with Jess. Of course, we will be giving some tips and advice too. Now, about the Gyarados, do you know why he acts like that? Something that might help explain his situation?”

Aiden rested his hand on his chin. “No, I can’t think why he would be like that. He was a very calm Magikarp.”

“Is he this aggressive outside fights? With you or with other pokemon?”

“No, he is well behaved when its just me and my team.”

“And other people?”

“He is a little protective, but he never attacked other people.” He said hastily.

“No worries, when did this issue began?”

“… Sometime after he evolved.” Aiden’s eyes sharpened, and his voice grew deeper.

Trainers and their secrets.

I put the bucket in the middle of the camp. Mesa came along and the rocks flew, forming a circle around where the fireplace would be. Valley pointed to some kitchen stuff on the ground. We began to set up a retractable table and chairs, courtesy of the monetary reward that Jess gained for her battle against Whitney.

“I have to see more fights, and then I will have a talk with him to begin eliminating the possibilities.”

“No problem, just be sure that you have some pokemon around. I will also be there to keep him calm.”

I nodded. “That would be great.”

We finish setting the table up, and a tug on my leg made me look down. Valley was looking up. She turned and pointed towards the edge of the camp. Cryogonal floated near the edge of the camp and the beginning of the decline there, seemingly lost in his own mind.

“Thanks, Valley,” I turned to Aiden. “I will come back soon.”

I walked until I stood beside the ice type. He was still as a rock.

“Hey there bud.” The Cryogonal didn’t move. “What are you doing?”

The pokemon didn’t respond. I looked forward to what he was looking, but there was nothing.

“Mesa!” The Baltoy rushed over to us, raising a little cloud of dust as he did, to Valley’s dismay. “Can you see what Cryo is thinking?”

The Baltoy nodded and glared at the Cryogonal. Baltoy were not true psychic type pokemon, they were ground type pokemon with some psychic energy on top. That disallowed most of the powers that psychic types had—like true mind reading—at least until he evolved. Claydol had a lot more psychic energy to play around. Even then, Mesa could still catch some basic things, like what someone is focusing on.

The Baltoy looked from Cryogonal to me and then raised his arm and pointed forward. The arm was higher than the ground, but the only thing above the high ground we were was… The mountains?

“Are you looking at the mountains?”

Cryogonal quickly rotated towards me, which—I will not lie—was a bit intimidating. The pokemon then approached while his body’s plates shifted rapidly. The temperature dropped, and his eyes were brighter than I’ve ever seen.

“Mountains?”

The ice type floated up and down. Mesa had taught him his version of a nod, which was basically floating up and down.

“You like mountains.”

The pokemon stared at me, unmoving and silent. Mesa was looking between the two of us, he waved and then did a small dance. Somehow, I understood what he meant.

“You want your name to be Mountain?”

The pokemon floated up and down. The plates shifted one last time and the ice type turned around and floated back to the camp to tell the others the good news.

I glanced down at Mesa, and we stared at each other for some time.

“Lets hope we don’t get a rock type then.” The Baltoy nodded. “Or a big ground type.”

We then walked back towards the camp. Halfway through, I took a quick glance back at the mountain. The massive rock that jutted out of the ground towards the sky seemed to stare back… I understood and chuckled. Mesa glanced at me.

“That’s right.” I said to the confused pokemon. “Look at the top, Mesa. There’s snow on the top.”

The higher a mountain went, the more snow it had on top, and just like that mountain, Cryogonal was still growing into his ice type abilities.

Mountain was into something.

---

The group woke up early, collected the camp, and were now travelling close by the mountains.

Jess and Valley were at the front—the normal type sat on her head. After them came the twins, Rebecca’s Magnemite was floating along her, while Anderson’s Tynamo was hiding on the inner hood of Anderson’s jacket. Aiden and I were last, Mesa floating at my side.

Scouting from the sky—not too high of course—were Swablu and Starly.

My companions were puffing and huffing at the dirt and uneven road, but it wasn’t really that bad. We should actually be glad that this road even existed so that we can catch these fire types safely. Decades of people travelling between Goldenrod and Violet created a dirt road that passed between the forest, full of bug, grass, and normal types, and the mountains.

Not near enough to actually invite the strong pokemon on the mountain to come down and take a look, but near enough so that travellers could see, and catch, some weak or young fire types.

We’ve been walking for almost one hour, and so far we’ve just seen a pack of Growlithe. Sadly, the pokemon didn’t interest neither me nor Jess, for the simple reason that the Growlithe line’s main attribute wasn’t fire itself, but rather its strong and fast bodies with fire power as its second option. Jess and I were searching for pokemon like Slugma, Torkoal, Numel and, of course, the rare Magby.

Since I had Brian’s notes on dark types, I was also open to getting a Houndour. I could still remember the heat of the flames of Brian’s Houndoom. The pokemon made a great impression on me; I guess.

“So, our esteemed leaders, any chances we find an electric type?”

“Or a dragon?” Huffed a sweating Aiden.

Jess shrugged.

“Yes, actually, let me think… There might be some Voltorb and Magnemite around. As for dragons, there might be some Trapinch at ground level, which would be the easiest to get but also the rarest. The mountain proper might have Bagon and Gible.”

“Watched… By some… Very… Angry parents,” Aiden huffed.

“Right.”

There also might be some dark, ghost, ground, rock and steel types too, but I doubt electric and dragon trainers would care about those. The mentioned electric trainer’s shoulder slumped while Aiden looked at the mountain with a tired smile.

“Voltorb is not a bad pokemon—” Rebecca said.

“They are fast.” Anderson interrupted with a nod.

“—But I don’t think it is for us, maybe once we have a full team.” Rebecca said with a tight smile. Jess had probably warned them about my philosophy regarding ‘good’ and ‘bad’ pokemon. I didn’t know why though, it’s not like I would force my opinions onto them.

I continued to look around as we walked but I couldn’t see any fire type on either side. Jess was already a little down, but there was no need to. We weren’t even halfway through the mountain.

My stomach rumbled.

“Maybe we will need to stop for a quick bite.” I said to the group.

“The smell might attract some pokemon, though.”

“That’s not what we want?” Rebecca asked Jess.

“By the way, why isn’t there honey that attract specific pokemon?” Anderson asked his twin.

“How would that work?”

“I don’t know, I’m not a scientist.”

“Then why bring it up, you Magikarp.”

“I’m just making small talk, miss sympathy. What if someone here has an idea about how to that and we get rich?”

Rebecca opened her mouth, but the sound of a roar quietened everyone and everything. It came from the left, deep into the forest.

Now that I noticed, we didn’t hear any pokemon from the forest after we passed that pack of Growlithe.

“Charizard.” Aiden whispered just loud enough for us to hear. He immediately returned his Swablu. “Jess, return your Starly… You have to follow me.”

He began to walk towards the mountain, away from where the sound of the roar came. Jess immediately took out her pokeball and returned Velocity.

“That’s not funny, Blackthorn.” Anderson said.

The dragon trainer looked back and whispered. “That is the sound of an extremely angry Charizard. We have to get away from this sound. Now.”

Everyone knows that Charizard were already angry by nature, what would one ‘extremely angry’ Charizard look like.

“You would choose a cave’s ground level?” I asked.

He looked into my eyes and said with zero hesitation. “Yes.”

“I won’t argue with a dragon trainer, let’s go.”

“Really?” Anderson asked but followed us as we walked away from the road and to the right, towards the mountains.

We were almost reaching the base when another roar—this one really close­—made us look back.

Three trees were felled down by a swing of an orange tail. An orange tail with a pure auburn flame on its end. A Charizard walked out of the foliage. It didn’t look like the Charizard that I saw when I opened the Pokedex, it looked more like the Charizard that I saw when I watched Conference battles.

Big, Muscular, Angry, and with a deeper shade of orange than what would be normal. The fire type’s long neck moved up from where the pokemon where sniffing the ground and his eyes—with raging slit pupils—locked on us.

The Charizard unfurled his massive wings and prepared to take flight.