“Follow me,” the Guildmaster said, flicking her ears forward as she walked off. She didn’t head back towards the guild, but instead away along the path. I vaguely remembered the area from last night, but seeing it in the daylight was very different. The sandy path was lined with scrubby grass on both sides growing in patches. As we continued on, smaller bushes popped up. We didn’t head towards the beach, though, instead making our way down another path that led into a wooded area. The trees were sparse, and unlike any trees from Earth. They grew tall and slender, but their leaves were in tiny little bunches and a deep purple. More bushes dotted the ground, the grass less tough here. I could hear various noises too, from among the foliage and the branches. Some I could identify as Pokemon, even if I wasn’t sure which ones, and others I couldn’t discern at all.

“This will do fine,” Eyla spoke, drawing my attention back to her. She sat to the side of a small dirt clearing, large enough for what I was dreading would happen.

I sighed, trying not to show my obvious disappointment. Did I have to do a Pokemon Battle?

It was one thing, in the games. But this was my body now. I wasn’t very sporty in my human form, and I assumed the same from this one. I wasn’t very good at strategy, and I was a wuss about pain. I didn’t even like getting papercuts. None of those things spelled success in this for me.

“To test your skills,” Guildmaster Eyla told me and Ripple, who sat to the side, excitedly watching on, “You will participate in a spar with me. This will determine which entry level you start out as, and which tasks you can take on within the guild. It will also let me know what I need to teach you.”

“Wait,” Ripple interrupted, sounding a bit hurt. “You’re going to personally teach her?”

“Well,” Eyla replied cooly, “I’m not exactly going to go around explaining to the others Violet’s unique situation. If one of the others trains her, don’t you think they might catch on?”

“Oh,” Ripple said, “right. Sorry.” I guess it was a privilege to be taught by the Guildmaster. That thought made my stomach twist with worry. What if I wasn’t good enough? What if I failed so hard they decided I wasn’t worth the effort?

“Violet?” I heard Eyla say and I shook my head, dismissing the mess that was beginning in my head.

“Sorry,” I replied. “What was the last part?”

“I just said that I’ll do my best to take it easy on you. Just try your best.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Go easy on me? Was Guildmaster Eyla really that strong? And why did that feel like a warning, with the way she said it?

“Ripple, will you begin the spar please?” Eyla asked of Mudkip, who cleared his throat and stood up straighter.

“Let the spar between Violet and Guildmaster Eyla begin in three, two, one, go!”

Oh god, here we go. I had absolutely no idea what to do. Any and every single move I’d ever heard or used in Pokemon flew out my head and I decided that I would just have to go off my instinct. Hopefully Skitty had better reaction time than human me.

I crouched my body and let out a low growl, the sound reverberating through the air. I could actually see visible waves it gave off, pale white and semi transparent. They travelled across the space, colliding with the Espeon.

Eyla merely flicked her ears. She’d been sitting, but rose to her feet gracefully. Even just that action made me nervous. Not giving myself time to think, I lunged forward, snapping my teeth. But she darted away to the side, nimbly dancing out of my reach. Turning and planting her feet firmly, she lifted her head high.

The gem on her forehead glittered, the scarlet light shimmering before it shot out a beam. At least, I thought it was a beam. It seemed to distort the space around it and the harder I looked, the more difficult to see it became. Before I’d realized it, the beam had struck me and the world began to tip dangerously. I teetered to the side, trying desperately not to fall over, before planting my feet firmly. I tried to shake my head to get rid of the odd sensation. It didn’t make it go away, but it made it a little less intense. My tail spun in slow circles, trying to balance against the strange feeling.

Ugh, this was embarrassing. It was less than a minute in, and I could barely stand. Gritting my teeth, I squinted my eyes to see Eyla watching me calmly. I didn’t want to look so useless. I didn’t want to be completely inept.

With unsteady feet, I carefully creep towards her. When I feel like I can try it without tripping over my feet, I launch myself forward, swinging my tail. Once again, Eyla dodges and I feel disappointed that I missed, but I see little flickering lights come off the end of my tail, settling onto the Guildmaster before disappearing. Well, I did something, I guess.

Retreating quickly once again to the edge of the circle while I got my footing, Eyla shook her fur a few times before lashing her tail back and forth and pouncing towards me. She didn’t move very close, but from the air above her emerged dozens of tiny white stars. They began to zoom towards me and I leapt to the left. Nice! I finally managed to dodge-

The tiny stars circled back and swung around, smashing into my side and throwing me across the clearing. I slid across the dirt, more surprised than hurt. Okay, not as good as dodging as I’d hoped….

There was one move I knew for sure. I didn’t know if Skitty had it, but a lot of Pokemon did. A good ole failsafe, even a human could do it. Tackle.

Like a bull chasing the red flag, I drag my feet in the dirt, trying to hype myself up. Then I launched myself forwards, sprinting towards Eyla as fast as I could. With all my force, I threw myself forwards, tucking my head down…

And I smacked into a tree five feet behind, ending up in an awkward sprawl. My head hurt, this time from colliding with a tree, and Eyla sat at the edge of clearing, not a single hair out of place.

“That’s enough,” she said. “Ripple, go take Violet to see Zole please. I will have Flint come get you when I am ready.” Without another word, she walked off. My heart sank as I watched her go, knowing I hadn’t done well. In fact, I’d made a complete fool of myself and I had proven just how useless I truly was.

“Violet? Are you okay?” Ripple asked me, his voice sounding concerned. I sighed, rising to my paws and shaking the dirt off my fur. I did my best to not look defeated as I replied.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just go, okay?”