Day One

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I sneezed before rubbing my nose and pulling the drawstrings of my coat closed. That better not be a sign of me getting a fucking cold. I knew I haven’t exactly been the best about dressing for the weather recently, but it wasn’t that cold.

At least it hadn’t been.

Glancing down at my belt, I took stock of the five filled balls on my waist before pulling a hat down over my head. How the hell had it gotten colder in the afternoon? The sun was supposed to bring heat, damn it. This felt almost as bad as the damn walk-in freezers back home.

Come on, stop freaking out, it’s just a cold wave. Everything’s fine.

I pulled the phone out and shot a quick text to May asking if she was alright.

The instant thumbs up I got in response quickly calmed my nerves, and I let loose a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding.

That breath was fucking visible.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket before bringing my hands up and blowing into them. God, we needed to get this show on the road before the sun went down. The thought of being out here after dusk was not a pleasant one.

Bright white light covered the beach as I subjected everyone else to this frozen torture. The shared look of disdain brought a smile to my face.

“Adversity breeds strength.” I ducked down as two different Water Guns from two different Pokémon sailed harmlessly overhead. “If we aren’t strong enough to kick Brawly’s ass, then we’re stuck here on this frozen rock. I hate being out in this shit as much as you do, but we need to be at our best, and that means we need to train.”

Emilie teleported to my shoulder before crawling down and climbing into my coat.

“Oi, watch what you’re grabbing!” I shouted.

“Sorry.” Emilie poked her head out from the v line. “You’re warm, though.”

I sighed before bending down and pulling my bag around. “I brought us a few blankets for breaks, and the center’s right there if you need someplace to warm up at.”

‘Meh, It’s not that cold.’ Sol shrugged. ‘I don’t know what you’re all making such a big deal about.’

‘Says the Pokémon with a natural fur coat,’ Apollo grumbled.

Sol smirked. ‘Skill issue.’

‘Lass, I’m an island bird. My body’s made for beaches and sunlight, not this Kyogre forsaken cold.’ Apollo’s whole body shivered. ‘Sailors don’t sail in this. That’s all there is to it.’

Joern sighed before turning and looking out towards the ocean. ‘I don’t think anyone sails in that, honestly.’

I followed his finger and felt my jaw go slack. “Is the ocean... freezing?”

“We might not be leaving for a bit regardless, then. I don’t know how well ships are going to be able to push through that,” Emilie muttered.

“Yeah, fuck that. The second I get my badge we are gone. You and Gawain can get us the hell out of dodge. I am sick of this stupid island,” I said.

‘Wiser words have never been spoken, cap. In fact, if the first mate is able, it might do us good to turn our sails toward an older, warmer destination. If only for the afternoon.’ Apollo peered at Emilie pleadingly.

“I wish.” Emilie scowled. “Teleporting Lea across the island is almost enough to make me pass out. I don’t want to try teleporting us long distances over open water.”

Apollo winced. ‘Fair enough, lass. Can’t blame a bird for trying.’

I sighed before freezing. There was a distinct lack of puns being thrown around right now, what- oh. I could faintly make out a single glowing red eye from my shadow, and it was squarely fixed on Sol.

Still scared of her. Got it.

“Frozen training ground it is, then. Square up, troops, because on top of getting the ever loving shit scared out of me by a ghost Pokémon, I also came up with a few new ideas with how we should approach training.” I grinned at the collective groan before pulling out my pokedex. “Let’s get to-”

“Excuse me.” The voice was so quiet I barely heard it.

I turned around and was met with one of the dumpiest looking trainers I had ever seen. Short, unkempt, dark hair framed a young face with pale skin and blue eyes. I could faintly see a few layers of clothing peeking out around her neck from underneath a light red, baggy tracksuit.

It took me a minute, but I slowly realized this was the same person I had bumped into the night before. “Not much of a morning person, huh?”

She shook her head before pulling out a single red and white ball. She glanced at the ball, then at me, then back at the ball, before shoving the ball back on her belt and looking away, her body hunched over as she slowly seemed to shrink smaller and smaller.

“Oi, wait a minute.” I rushed across the beach and grabbed her hand.

For a brief second, a small smile lit up her face. That smile quickly dissolved into slow, awkward chuckling as she went limp, her body taking on similar properties to an abstract art painting.

I quickly let go and winced back from the strange thing that was in front of me. Was she actually a Pokémon pretending to be human? No, her mind felt human. Mostly. “Sorry. That was really rude of me. I’m guessing you were wanting to use the field, right? I can share.”

She solidified and started nodding fervently, her hair bobbing in the breeze. “I won’t t-take up much space, I p-promise. I just wanted to get some t-training in with B.”

Emilie teleported up to my shoulder and stared down at the human with a sneer. ‘Who’s your new friend?’

‘Emilie, could you please not pick a fight for like... a day. I’m begging you here.’ I sighed before thwacking her on the forehead. ‘And calm down, you’re scaring her.’ I frowned as the words left my lips and turned to look at the other trainer more closely. She was acting scared, but… I didn’t feel that from her. Odd.

She shrunk down even smaller. “I can l-leave, though. I’m sorry...”

“Don’t, Emilie’s just being rude.” I smiled at her, doing my best to block out Emilie’s mental mumblings. “The space is more than big enough for everyone. My Pokémon can share. To be honest, it’s kind of nice to have someone else out here with us. I was starting to think we were the only trainers on this island.”

“M-maybe the c-cold chased them away.” She smiled slightly before grabbing out her poke ball again and releasing a-

“Oh my god you are so adorable,” I shouted before rushing over and scooping the small pink ball of joy up into my arms and pulling her into a hug. “Who’s a cute little Whismur? You are.”

“Whis...” Its cheeks turned pinker.

“I, uh. Please don’t. B doesn’t like being touched either. Well, at least by people who aren’t-”

The small trainer’s warning was cut off as a loud shriek filled the air and dropped me to my knees. Fucking hell, that hurt.

Whismur leapt from my arms into the sand and hopped back over to her trainer, hiding behind her legs as I clasped my hands over my ears in pain.

“I deserved that,” I mumbled as I slowly got to my feet. “Sorry, little guy. I get carried away sometimes when I see cute Pokémon.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” The girl started inching away from us towards the other side of the clearing. “We’ll train over here, and t-try not to get in your way too much. Bye!”

She all but teleported across the beach, and I groaned.

“Well, I fucked that up.” I turned to glance at Emilie, who was still glaring after the small girl. “Is there a reason you’re being overly antagonistic towards our socially awkward neighbor?”

Emilie winced before turning up to give me an awkward grin. ‘It’s instinctive, I...’ Emilie looks back over towards our guest before wincing. ‘She feels like dragons.’

I winced back before turning and giving the tiny, shivering slip of a girl an incredulous look. ‘That feels like dragons? Really? She looks-’

‘I know.’ Emilie nodded. ‘But every instinct in my body is screaming enemy right now. I’ll keep a lid on it, don’t worry. Just... be warned, alright?’

I froze for a bit before nodding and turning back to my team and Sol, doing my best to put the small dragon girl out of my mind.

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Emilie’s POV

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Just breathe. Focus your energy into a single point. And push.

A single multicolored beam launched across the frozen ocean before dissipating in the open air, the light blending in beautifully with the horizon.

Emilie clenched her teeth and groaned. Four and a half seconds. That was way too slow to be useful. What the hell was she thinking trying to add elements to this, she couldn’t even use the base technique in a way that was useful! Still though...

“I hate that she’s right, I want to tinker with this move so badly.” Emilie glanced over at the meditating teenager and sighed.

‘Half the problems you’re having right now are related to power and focus. We just got a really powerful new tool to add to your arsenal, so a lot of what we need to focus on is mastering it. Let’s see how low we can push that charge time. Once we get it down to it being second nature, the cool shit you want to do should come a lot easier.’ The advice echoed around in her head, and Emilie sighed at the memory before bringing her hands together and charging another beam.

She froze, her energy fading into the wind, as Sol plopped down on the sand behind her.

“Mind if I nap here?” she asked.

Emilie felt her left eye twitch. “You know, you wouldn’t be tired if you didn’t spend half the night wandering legends know where.”

Sol popped an eye open and grinned at her. “Meh, I’m nocturnal. Most of my species is. Excuse me if I haven’t quite broken that habit yet.” She yawned before sighing. “To be honest, my sleeping pattern’s been all kinds of screwed up lately, so... I’ll take whatever shut eye I can get.” She popped an eye open. “Though, before that, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“You just did, though I suppose I can allow you to ask me something else.” Emilie lifted her hands up and got to work on another beam. Same damn charge time.

“I noticed this with the human, too. You don’t clarify a name when invoking the gods. Do you not have a deity you follow?” Sol tilted her head and focused both eyes on the psychic type.

Emilie froze, before glancing down. “Not really. Mother prays to specific entities, I’m sure, but I guess I stopped fairly recently. Probably about the time I joined Lea’s team.”

“You mean when you were captured?” Sol glowered.

“No, I mean joined. I formed my partnership with Lea by choice.” Emilie’s tone was firm as she fired another shot across the ocean. “Back when I first joined up, Lea’s mind was an open book, and I was a fair sight less disciplined than I am now.” Emilie grinned. “As much as she puts herself down, Lea’s incredibly intelligent.”

Sol snorted. “Could have fooled me.”

Emilie glared, but held her tongue, remembering her trainer’s earlier complaints. One day, Emilie. You can one day without picking a fight. “One of the things she’s read about over the years is the various myths and legends of all the different regions. Every region has something different, you know?”

“Hmm?” Sol leaned in. “Groudon formed the continents, Kyogre filled the oceans, and Rayquaza sheltered the sky. That was the legend that was passed down through our family. What else have humans come up with?”

“Quite a few things, actually. The people of Sinnoh believe in deities that control time and space, as well as the Pokémon that gave birth to thought, willpower, and emotion. Johto has built monuments to a bird that is believed to have breathed life into the world, while the people of Kanto have scientifically traced back the genetic origin of life to a single, ancient organism that is rumored to still exist today.” Emilie chuckled. “Hell, Alola worships a bunch of mobile tiki torches that watch over their islands, and there’s a subset of people in Kanto that worship a fucking helix fossil.”

Sol snorted. “Idiots.”

Emilie smiled. “Who knows, really. At this point it feels impossible to separate fact from fiction. I can’t really tell which legends are more or less believable, really. At the end of the day, I guess I just decided to lump them all together and let them figure out who wants to take credit for whatever I’m whining about.” Emilie fired another shot across the ocean, before sighing. “The world’s a much bigger place than I thought when I first left home. Is it wrong that I want to have an open mind while exploring it?”

Sol looked at her for a long time before closing her eyes and resting her head down on the sand. “I... suppose not.”

Emilie nodded before firing another shot. She frowned before charging again and firing. A wide smile spread across her face.

That felt closer to four and a quarter seconds. She’d have this down in no time.

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Normal POV Day Two

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The world around me froze as I slowly breathed out through my mouth, a faint fog spewing forth from my lips. This cold made it hard to focus, but honestly, that was ideal. I focused on Emilie, and let my mind wander towards the frozen shore line where another beam was fired into the horizon.

‘Three... and a half... seconds...’ Legends above, I could hear the pants through the mental link.

‘Take a break,’ I ordered. ‘I’ve got some brownies in my bag you can have.’

‘But-’

‘No buts.’ I pushed my feelings of exasperation and worry through the bond. ‘You passing out from overexertion is the last thing we want right now. Take a break to catch your breath, what you’re doing isn’t exactly easy, especially at your level.’ A chill went up my spine as a malevolent force brushed up against my head.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ she asked.

‘That you’re a very, very terrifying little girl, but you’re still a kid,’ I said.

The dark presence dissipated as Emilie teleported to my shoulder. ‘Sorry.’ She reached behind me and started fishing through my pack. ‘I thought you were cutting me off.’

‘Yeah, you did well with Sol yesterday so I thought I’d take it easy on you. Besides, you know how bad I am at enforcing punishments.’ I smiled at her before glancing out toward the area our visitor used the other day.

‘She’s sus, by the way,’ Emilie said.

I turned and glared at her.

‘What, she is.’ Emilie nibbled on the offered baked goods and smiled. ‘I couldn’t see into her head at all. That’s like, decently advanced level shields considering how strong I am.’

‘It was less that, and more the word you used. She made me a bit nervous too. The emotions I felt from her and how she was acting didn’t really line up.’ I shivered. ‘She’s not here today, though, so we probably don’t have to worry about it.’

‘Yeah.’ Emilie stretched for a bit before turning back to the shoreline. ‘My five minutes are up.’

‘Em-’

She disappeared before I could finish, and the connection cut off.

I sighed. ‘Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay? I know we’re right next to the center, but I still don’t want you hurting yourself.’

Silence permeated through the connection for a bit before a warm feeling brushed up against my temple. ‘I’ll pace myself, don’t worry.’

I nodded. ‘Thanks.’

A strong gust of air blew through the beach, and I clenched my teeth as the cold dunes sifted past me as my quartermaster stumbled about in front of me.

‘Sorry, cap.’ Apollo shambled to the left with all the grace of a pirate on his third cask of rum. ‘That cannonball got away from me, it did.’ He fell back on his ass the second he stopped walking. ‘Won’t happen again.’

I sighed before walking over and crouching down. ‘Why don’t we take a bit of a break from speed training, alright?’

‘What!’ he squawked. ‘Listen, cap. I can feel it. I just need a little more work and I’ll be back to where I-’

‘Apollo!’

He winced back before looking down at the slightly dug out sand around us. ‘Aye, Captain. Sorry.’

I rubbed his wing and sighed. ‘Look, all things considered, you’re still incredibly fast. The dex said most Pelipper slow way the hell down when they evolve. You’re still flying circles around Lucas, and you outpaced Sol.’ I smiled. ‘You’re incredible, so stop worrying, alright. Pokémon change when they evolve, we just have to adapt to the changes.’

Apollo glared down towards the ground before beating his wings and taking off from his spot, kicking up even more sand as he flew up and landed on my head.

‘Oi, get down from there,’ I said, lifting my arms up to swipe at him.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

‘Sorry, cap, but I need a new perch. I’m too big for your shoulder and the ground’s colder than a Glalie’s ass.’ Apollo flew off of my head and landed on my outstretched arm. ‘Would this be alright?’

I sighed. Guess this wasn’t too annoying, and he wasn’t that heavy. ‘It’s fine. Besides, you won’t be around for long. Just because we’re giving up on speed training for a bit doesn’t mean I’m letting you take it easy.’

A single line of sweat dripped down the side of Apollo’s head. ‘O-oh?’

I nodded. ‘And it shouldn’t even be that hard, the dex said you learn this move naturally as a Pelipper.’

Apollo sagged down on my arm and a sigh pushed past his beak. ‘Oh, thank Kyogre.’

I glared. ‘What?’

Apollo blanched before glancing up at me apologetically. ‘Sorry, cap, but our personalized training sessions together usually run afoul of an iceberg or two. They work, don’t get me wrong, but they always leave me feeling sore as the day is long afterwards.’

I winced. ‘They’re not... that bad, are they?’

‘The confusion training with Emilie, me nearly passing out trying to force a move that you can apparently only inherit, the whirlwind incident a few days ago-’

“You promised you weren’t going to mention that!” I shouted, before shoving my hands over my mouth. ‘Damn it, Apollo.’

‘Oi, don’t yell at me, you’re the one working on your telepathy. Not my fault yer easily flustered.’ Apollo blanched at my worsening glare. ‘Before ye make me walk the plank, what was it that you were wanting to show me.’

I sighed, doing my best to try and think of a way to make this training as annoying as possible for my waterfowl in revenge. ‘The move’s called Stockpile, and the setup for it is easy, take a deep breath of air and try and condense it down in your beak into energy. This should be fairly straightforward, because you’re already full of hot air.’

Apollo chuckled. ‘Suppose I deserved that.’

My bird beat his wings against my arms and opened his beak wide as he took off. His pouch inflated to comical sizes as he closed it, before condensing down as it started to glow. A bead of sweat appeared on Apollo’s brow as he dipped down slightly, and he winced before beating his wings and regaining altitude, his beak looking only slightly puffier than it had before.

‘I, wow. I knew the dex said you’d pick this up fairly easily, but I didn’t think it would be-’

Apollo looked away from me and opened his mouth. A white orb of energy rocketed from his bill and sailed across the ocean, slowly expanding as it went further out before dissipating over the open waves.

My quartermaster sucked in a deep, normal breath before glaring back at me. ‘That felt... unpleasant. What in Kyogre’s deep ocean was that?’

I grinned vindictively. ‘That, my fine, feathered, friend, was Spit Up. The offensive result of Stockpile. The other half of that equation, Swallow, is the support option, and it’ll give you some much needed staying power.’ I sighed. ‘Though that… was a lot less bombastic then the video I saw on my dex. I guess that makes sense. That Pelipper was charging up for a lot longer.’

Apollo leaned back, his beak opened wide in shock. ‘L-longer? Cap, do you know how bad of a headrush I got from doing what I did? How hard it was to contain that energy?’

‘Now, now, don’t be that way. You just need practice’ My grin shifted to match my unhinged thoughts. ‘Think of the explosions, Apollo!’

My bird sighed before glancing back up at me and smiling. ‘I can’t ever have a normal training session, fine, I’ll work on it. I suppose the trick I need to learn is to figure out how to keep the energy down while I’m doing other things. I need to get used to it and slowly up the charge. Shouldn’t be too hard, honestly.’

‘Thanks,’ I said.

Legends above, I loved working with Apollo. Everyone else was always fussy when I tried to get them to do something odd like this. I...

Was starting to feel a bit bad about the vindictive smile I sent him earlier. ‘And Apollo?’

He turned back around and hovered in the air. ‘Yes, captain.’

‘I don’t say this enough but thank you for all that you do. You’ve been a massive help with... honestly, everything.’ I smiled. ‘Thanks.’

Apollo grinned, nodded once, and turned away. ‘Don’t mention it, cap. Always happy to help.’

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Lucas’s POV

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Lucas cast a wary glance around the field as he cleaved through the air with a low buzz. After trying to go as fast as possible for so long with this move, trying to slow it down was harder than pulling teeth.

That was really saying something considering he was fairly sure he didn’t really have any. He was fairly confident the food he’d been trying, and failing, to stomach wasn’t really chewed, if the way it looked after he gagged was anything to go off of.

He lacked a stomach and a gag reflex, so why were these reflexes still plaguing him?

Focus. He needed to focus. Ignore the fact that SHE was stalking about. Forget about what May said about still being able to die. Disregard the fact that Apollo’s working on something with Lea right now, and he can't bail you out if SHE comes knocking.

Arceus above, why the hell did they have to babysit this thing.

It didn’t matter. He just needed to get this, to understand exactly how this move worked. All the moves he had been shown so far helped him go faster in short bursts. He should be able to reverse engineer this to figure out how to go faster in long bursts. It was simple. It should be simple.

Why the hell wasn’t it simple? He just wanted to streamline his movement, was that so much to ask. He was a sword, for Arceus’s sake. He should be able to cleave through the air just as easily in death as he was able to cut through it in life.

Lucas went through the motions, braced himself, and-

“Sup?”

Froze.

There she was. Smiling at him. Why the hell was she smiling? He wasn’t going back there. He wasn’t going back. He wasn’t-

“For the love of, would you calm down? First time I’ve ever seen a ghost try and hyperventilate. What the hell is up with you? You weren’t this freaked out before.” Sol frowned as Lucas sunk further down into the ground. “Hell, you weren’t freaked out at all when you decided it was a good idea to get between Joern and I. What gives?”

Lucas dipped fully into the ground. “Yeah, well, the me of a few days ago lacked a functioning brain.”

Sol raised an eyebrow. “You’re a sword, you always lack a functioning brain.”

That was a good one. “Rude. And not the point. You wanna take me back to your dungeon and do unspeakable things to me, and I would very much like to not.”

Sol groaned before hopping towards where Lucas had been. “Come on, I’ve got a decent enough handle of your sense of humor by now, that should have at least gotten a chuckle.”

Silence.

“Look, I know you’re not the harbinger of disaster our ancestors claimed, alright? You don’t have to worry about me carting you back to the cave.” Sol glared down at the ground. “Doubt I could deal with being back there at the moment anyway.”

Lucas cautiously stuck his hilt above ground and stared at Sol with his true eye. “Promise?”

“Don’t know why you’d believe it, but sure.” Sol sighed before glaring at him. “And what ‘unspeakable things’ do you think I’ll commit. Hate to break it to you, but you’re not exactly my type.” Sol shivered. “Or anyone’s, for that matter. Kind of hard to get blood pumping when your heart’s no longer beating.”

“Ah ah ah. You’re technically correct, but also off base. My heart no longer exists. BIG difference.” Like hell he was going to be out punned by this hellion.

Sol rose up from the ground and smiled, barring her canines as she walked closer. “Heartless, huh? That doesn’t seem right.”

Lucas rose up and met her gaze, not backing away from the challenge. The rest of the group trusted her at least a little bit, he supposed he could do the same. “That’s right, and if you keep pushing my buttons like this, one of us is going to get hurt.”

Sol’s eyes dropped into a scowl as her lip pulled up. “Oh yeah, who’s that, tough guy.”

Silence. The beach stilled as the two Pokémon stared each other down, not backing away a single inch as the waves crashed against the frozen shore, their impact a soothing white noise.

Lucas smiled. “Me.”

Sol fell forward, her eyes going wide as a low growl escaped her muzzle.

Lucas could spy both Emilie and Joern giggling further down the beach. He supposed some of the new jokes he’d seen from this era were pretty alright. “Sorry, you set that up rather nicely and I couldn’t resist.”

Sol groaned, stretching out before rising back to her full height and turning her nose up. “I think I liked it better when you were scared of me. Is it too late to try and drag you back to my ‘dungeon’?”

“Yup!” Sol leered as he got closer. “You played the game, hon. I know you’re an alright sort now, even if you try acting all big and bad. You’re a softy underneath.”

Sol sighed before leaning back and sitting down. “If you say so...”

Lucas frowned. “What’s eating you? Besides the cold, bouts of random depression, grief, forced capture, you know what, I'm just going to stop talking.”

Sol chuckled. “Just lay it all out, why don’t you?” She sighed before looking out into the ocean.

Lucas frowned before joining her, resting the tip of his blade into the sand and staring out into the ocean with her. “You know, at least one of those is fairly easily remedied. I’m fairly confident May would cut you loose if you asked at this point.”

Sol froze for a moment before sighing. “Right. She’s technically my trainer. How exactly does that work? I’ve spent way more time with Lea.”

Lucas chuckled. “Do you think I know? Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly hip with current training practices. All I've got to go off is a bunch of jumbled up memories that were crammed into my hilt when the girl pulled me out of the stone, and a few fragments from when I was... something else.” Lucas sighed. “To be honest, it’s quite the challenge figuring out what’s me and what isn’t.”

Sol groaned. “Yeah, that checks out. I... honestly don’t know what it is I want to do, really. I’m kind of lost myself.”

Lucas frowned, before glancing over towards the others. Emilie had stopped what she was doing. The little voyeur was probably listening in, the little cretin. Everyone else was still going about their business, though.

“That’s alright, you know? You can be lost if you want. You find out all kinds of cool things when you don’t know what you’re looking for,” Lucas said.

“Yeah, right. That might work for others, but it’s a freaking nightmare for dark types. I...” Sol snarled as she glared out across the sea. “I can’t even launch a fucking Night Slash. That was one of the first things my dad taught me.”

“Do you really need to worry about kicking ass and taking names right now? Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re not exactly getting attacked any time soon.” Lucas froze, before giving Sol a worried look. “We’re not, are we?”

Sol chuckled. “Clear skies and sunshine, metaphorically speaking. It’s weird. For so long it was just dread. A constant feeling of impending doom. It was suffocating.”

Lucas winced. “I... can’t imagine how that feels.”

“It’s something I'm grateful for, honestly. One of the few good things that’s happened recently.” Sol smiled. “I suppose that’s not really fair. Don’t tell the others, but things haven’t been that terrible with you guys. You’re all various brands of insane, but it’s been... nice.”

“How hard did you have to force it with that last word?” Lucas asked with a raised decal.

Sol looked a bit green in the face. “No comment.”

Lucas chuckled. “Fair enough I suppose. Regardless, back to your question earlier. May handed you off to Lea because she could help you more. You can stick around if you want, I don’t think Lea would mind, but considering the fact that we all stick to each other like glue ninety percent of the time, I really don’t think it matters too much, and honestly... your skill set doesn’t really jive with Lea’s style.”

Sol leaned forward, her eyes narrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Be honest, going off what I’ve seen, how often is your approach just ‘Throw really big, scary attacks at things really fast until the other guy stops moving.’” Lucas leered.

“...shut up,” Sol snarled.

“Yeah, if you stick around, stay with May. May loves rush down strategies. Lea lives to play mini games when she fights, I swear to Arceus. You would HATE fighting with her.” Sol shivered. “I think the most replayed memory in that girl's head is watching the playback of her cruise ship fight. She turned a battlefield into an aquarium.”

Sol leaned back and frowned. “I... what, how?”

“Rain, water, rain, hit and run tactics, did I mention rain?” Lucas shivered. “I’m so happy I can’t feel that.”

Sol blanched. “Do you know how annoying wet fur is? How heavy it is?”

Lucas smirked. “I’d love to answer you, sadly, I am only a sword.”

Sol groaned. “Ugh, okay. Got it. Stay with the firebrand that likes to smash stuff. Got it.”

Lucas lifted himself up out of the ground and smiled. “Does that mean you’re staying? Kind of hard to be lost if you know where you want to be.”

Sol froze, before smiling. “I... suppose there are worse fates than being shackled to you lot.”

“Just admit you like us already. This tsundere crap is getting really old, really fast!” Emilie shouted from across the beach.

Red filled Sol’s cheeks as she turned around and glared bloody murder at the small psychic type.

Emilie leaned back, before teleporting away from her spot as Sol lurched into a dead sprint.

“Get back here, you little shit,” Sol snarled.

“I regret nothing.” Emilie gave herself away from her spot on top of the center, and Lucas grinned as the dark type leapt the distance in a single bound, only to bite into air as the gremlin reformed on the beach.

The game of keep away lasted until Lea begrudgingly got between the two, her face red as she bit her lower lip to stop from laughing.

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Normal POV Day Three

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Joern leapt forward, his entire left arm radiating an ominous, black aura as he slammed his fist into the palm tree in front of him. Bark cracked and fissured beneath the onslaught as he jumped back, smirking as the tree tipped over and slammed into the sand with a resounding thud.

My mouth was firmly stuck in an open position for the better part of five seconds before Emilie smacked me on the back of the head. “Right, excellent work. I, holy fuck, how?”

Joern chuckled lightly as he started waving his hand in the air. ‘Don’t give me too much credit, that hurt. I don’t know what they make palm trees out of, but those things are way harder than the trees back home.’

“That just made what I just saw even more impressive!” I shouted, before wincing as Emilie smacked the back of my head again.

Emilie met my glare with a calm smirk. ‘I’m just listening to your orders. You’re talking out loud.’

I winced. ‘Right, thanks. So, do you think you’re ready for your rematch?’

Joern nodded. ‘It took a bit, but yes. Putting what Sol showed me to use consistently was actually a fair bit more difficult than I thought it would be, but I think I’ve got this move down. Granted, there’s still room for improvement, but it’ll do its job nicely.’

Emilie teleported behind Joern and grabbed his neck on the way down. Joern buckled slightly before pulling himself forward as my little gremlin pulled up to his shoulder and hugged him.

‘You splintered a fucking palm tree with your bare hands. Take the w and revel in your newly acquired awesomeness already, would you?’ Emilie asked.

Joern shot me a pleading look and I knelt down and grabbed Emilie from her newfound perch.

‘You are the last person I want to hear that from. You're still mad that you’ve only managed to cut your charge time down to a third of what it was.’ I brought her close and matched her glare with a grin. ‘Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is? It took Gawain twice the time to fire that in a match. Hell, I’m pretty sure that’s a faster charge time than the Gallade that kicked our asses not but four days ago!’

‘Yeah, well I’m easily three times as awesome as Gawain, and Gallade specialize in close combat, so excuse me for wanting to push that number down even more.’ Emilie pouted. ‘It’s like I hit a brick wall. I’ve been stuck at a one and a half second charge time for the last three hours.’

Legends above she was being whiny today.

‘Have you thought about firing more than one at a time?’ Joern asked.

Emilie raised her hand up and opened her mouth, closed it, stared down at the ground, and lifted her arms up.

‘Huh, wait, Emilie don’t-’

My pleas fell on deaf ears as two orbs of light formed at the end of both of her hands, before exploding forward on either side of me. Emilie’s eyes briefly rolled back into her head before she reached up and clutched at her skull. ‘Oh, fuck that’s a head rush. Note to self, that’ll need some practice. Still, only a two and a half second charge time, I thought it would have taken-’

Her thoughts died as she took in the energy radiating off of me in waves.

‘Emilie, sweetie,’ I said.

She winced at the nickname.

‘Out of idle curiosity, why exactly did you think it was a good idea to field test something while I’m in front of you?’ My voice was steady and calm, a nice contrast to my shaking frame.

‘Uh...’ Emilie turned towards Joern, who had already steeled himself behind his felled palm tree. ‘I thought it would look cool and that I could handle it?’

In through the nose, out through the mouth. I’m a gentle swaying breeze washing over the ocean, calm and tranquil in an otherwise violent and dangerous world.

Wooshaw.

‘Next time, please restrain yourself,’ I begged.

Emilie winced before nodding. ‘Can do. Sorry.’

‘It’s-’

I stopped as a loud crack filled the beach. I whipped my head around with wide eyes, only to sigh as Apollo fired off another low power Spit Up. Damn, he held that one in for quite a while.

Emilie teleported up to my shoulder and frowned at me. ‘Any reason you’re like, hyper paranoid right now? You’ve been jumping at shadows all day today.’

I winced. ‘I, well it’s been three days since the incident, and it’s been quiet. I feel like a little paranoia is warranted, considering we’re dealing with the revenant of an absurdly strong dark type.’

Emilie winced. ‘Okay, fair.’

Joern tentatively stepped out from his hiding spot. ‘Is that why you’ve been talking exclusively in thought for the last three days for everyone but Sol?’

I shook my head. ‘No, that’s actually because of the weird girl with a Whismur that felt like a dragon.’ I stared down at the beach in thought. ‘Well, that, and I want to get good enough at talking to you guys without help that I can do it in the heat of battle.’

Joern froze. ‘Uh... was I not supposed to talk to the Whismur the Rock cosplay.’

I turned and glared at my starter.

Emilie shrugged. ‘What, it’s a good show. I wanted to watch it for real, and Joern looked bored.’

‘I’m not mad that you watched anime in your free time, I’m mad you didn’t invite me.’ I needed to watch that again.

Emilie winced. ‘You... were indisposed. Don’t make me expand on that.’

‘Fair enough. At any rate, you were saying, Joern?’ I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes.

‘I knew I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I figured it was fine, the gremlin translated for me after all.’ Joern froze as Emilie shook her head. ‘What the hell do you mean you didn’t translate? She understood me perfectly.’

‘Well, if she had a translator, it wasn’t me. I couldn’t read her, like at all.’ Emilie sighed. ‘What did she want?’

‘She was just curious about where all our friends went. She seemed particularly interested in Wally, actually.’ Joern scratched his chin. ‘I... may or may not have told her that they went spelunking in the Dewford Caves. I uh, might have also talked Wally up while I was at it. She looked cute by human standards, and why are you both looking at me like that?’

I was currently rubbing the bridge of my nose. ‘Joern, we don’t know this woman from a hole in the wall, neither Emilie nor I can read her, her emotions don’t match her actions, she smells like dragon Pokémon, and you thought it was a good idea to try and set her up with our breathing challenged best friend.’

Joern paused for a long time before staring up at me and nodding. ‘Yes.’

‘Why?’ I asked, my left eyebrow twitching.

‘...she looks and is nice, and that’s enough for like, ninety percent of guys.’ Joern shrugged.

In through the nose, out through the mouth. I’m a wave, crashing serenely against the sandy shore.

Wooshaw.

‘I will never understand the male brain. I’ve been in hundreds of them throughout the course of my life, and none of them make sense.’ Emilie stared down at Joern with a narrowed gaze. ‘Besides of which, Wally already has a crush.’

I froze, fuck, I forgot about that. ‘Wait, my plans. My revenge! Ruined!’

‘Look, I didn’t force the chick on him, and Wally’s a big boy who can make his own decisions. It’s fine, calm down,’ Joern said, his voice bored.

Emilie patted me kindly on the shoulder as we commiserated over the situation.

----------------------------------------

Sol’s POV

----------------------------------------

Just because I found a new family doesn’t mean I replaced the old one...

Apollo’s words batted around inside her skull, and she glared out across the ocean as Lea and her team started to pack up for the night. This would mark the end of her third day of dedicated training.

She didn’t know what they were dealing with, but she doubted it was strong enough to deal with this rag tag group. She supposed it worked well enough as a family unit, but honestly, Sol didn’t see the appeal.

At least she was on the more normal one’s team. May was a bastion of sanity and reason compared to these idiots. Seriously, what psycho thinks fighting in a perpetual rainstorm is in any way a good idea.

Sol shivered. Yeah, if she was sticking around, she was happy right where she was.

You know, if you’re going to leave us alone, I’m sure May would be happy to release you...

Why the hell did that single thought freak her out so bad? A few days ago, she would have given anything to go back to that cave. Back to when things made sense.

Now she couldn’t even look at the place without getting pissed off and sad.

I’ll go down with you, if you want...

Sol shoved herself up from the sand and growled lightly. She was spending too much time with these idiots. Lea was right, they were a damned fungus.

Ugh, she needed time to clear her head for a bit before she went back with them. She blinked a few times before realizing that at some point, she had already left the beach.

Arceus her head was screwed up.

She supposed it was a good thing that she knew this island well enough that it was basically impossible for her to get lost. Lord knows she didn’t know how she got here. Even if she knew exactly where here was.

Stupid cave.

The world’s a much bigger place than I thought...

Stupid gremlin.

Stupid weirdo trainers.

Stupid space rocks.

Stupid overpowered Medicham.

Damn it all.

This was stupid. She didn’t belong here. Not anymore. This place had no claim over her.

She sighed before turning around, ready to head back to the center with Lea’s team, only to stop short.

A single, glowing red fire passed between two empty eyes, its light illuminating a pale white mask in a floating ball of black miasma.