CHAPTER 238 - Catharsis

Gotta get up.

My chest thumped as the cheers from the crowd died down and transformed into worried whispers. From up there, it had probably looked like I'd passed out. It wouldn't even be the first time, since I'd had the exact same thing happen after my fight with Candice. Arceus, that was a long time ago. I took a deep breath and pushed myself back up as best I could. My movements were sluggish and awkward. Now that the adrenaline was leaving my system, a tiredness was slowly taking over. I wanted nothing more but to crash into my bed and sleep for the rest of the day.

When I climbed down the steps of the podium, Volkner was already waiting for me at the side of the arena with his hands in his pockets. I shuffled there as fast as I could so I wouldn't make him wait too long. I had no idea if he had other fights after this or if he was just going to let his Gym Trainers take over, but I knew that Gym Leaders' breaks were precious and not to be wasted. As usual, our microphones were already off at this point, so no one could hear us.

"Congratulations," he said. "ID, Pokedex, you know the drill."

I nodded, ignoring the pride swelling in my chest and handed him my card and the device. After thirty seconds, he handed them back to me.

"You're now the owner of the Beacon Badge, and I've transferred 40,000 Pokedollars into your account. You also have access to the Charge Beam TM in its unlimited form."

Charge Beam was for sure going into Princess' arsenal. I didn't think we'd use it that much, but it was always good to have some extra options just like when I'd taught her Shadow Ball. I didn't see the need to teach it to Honey, though— not when Thunderbolt was a faster and better option for a consistent, low-energy move.

"Thank you," I smiled.

"Sorry about your Electabuzz," Volkner said, shoving his hands back into his pockets. "Electivire doesn't like to lose, even when it's not a real battle. He got a little carried away there."

"That's the price of battle," I said. "So… for the evolution—"

"Come back here when he's healed up. It works out anyway because there'll be a lot to prepare."

"Got it!" I grinned.

"Well, off you go then," he waved me away.

The idea that Honey was actually going to evolve soon had reinvigorated me and I jogged back toward the lobby. I quickly passed through the waiting room, passing a nervous-looking trainer that I told 'good luck' to.

When I emerged in the lobby, there was pandemonium.

I couldn't even see the Gym's exit. People— mostly trainers crowded over me asking a million questions and were so loud my head was spinning. It wasn't so much the first part of the battle that had impressed them. In fact, I suspected that all of my and my team's efforts would be overshadowed by Honey 'dueling' Electivire. Honey did deserve the attention, and I wasn't about to let anything ruin my mood.

I'd won.

"I've got to get my team to the Center!" I yelled.

I broke through the wall of trainers and noticed that Denzel was pulling away at some of them in another section of the crowd in an attempt to get to me. I called out to him and he sighed in relief. All of my friends followed closely behind him— although I did notice that Erin and Emilia looked a bit pale.

Congratulations rang out from every direction. Cece called me wonderful as she grabbed both of my hands and said I'd been beautiful the entire battle. Denzel patted me on the back, demanding to know what the hell my deal with lava was and how I'd gotten Electivire to fight me. Louis was more preoccupied with Honey's state at the moment, and I knew from one look at his face that he'd been terrified multiple times during the fight, and Justin (who had been dragged here by everyone else) simply gave me an acknowledging nod next to him. Chase was already theorizing on how to counter my lava strategy and called the battle with Electivire a show that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things—

"Guys. Let me get to the Center first, okay?" I said. "Ugh, I'm so sweaty."

"You're telling me what that was all about on the way there," Denzel demanded with folded arms.

—

The fact that I'd only told Cece about the fight with Electivire kind of pissed all of my friends off, but they were too happy to care at the moment. Already, Chase's mania had spread and by the time we were at the Center, he, Cecilia, Denzel and Lauren were talking about ways to counter them. I listened to their conversation while I handed my Pokemon to Nurse Joy. I'd told her to get back to me regarding Honey as soon as she could. Mira leaned against a wall with Louis and Justin, probably talking about some TE stuff. The blonde had clearly disapproved of my strategy, but he hadn't said anything about it yet.

Pauline and Emilia spoke to Erin next to the elevators, probably soothing her. On the way there, she'd asked me what the lethal version of the plan was.

It was to bury my opponents in more lava until they turned to ash. It'd be surprisingly effective on most Pokemon. Still, I'd told her that the non-lethal version was perfectly valid and that pain from burns or burning was among the worst for any living being to go through.

"I mean, we knew Turtonator was going to come into play at some point," Chase said. "You can't stop him from heating shit up with dark TE, but one thing I was thinking about was using the lava yourself. Throw it back right into her Pokemon."

"Hard to do it without Ancient Power," Denzel said.

"Good thing Sigilyph learns Ancient Power then, Williams," Chase jeered. "It'll be a good move to add anyway. It's a pretty versatile attack."

"The only Pokemon I've got capable of standing up to that lava-Ancient Power combination is Milotic. I've actually been working on the Safeguard tactic—"

"Safeguard?" Lauren scoffed. "I'd have Prime bury the lava in some cold mud and call it a day. Or maybe I'd have Paragon or Mags play around in it like a kid in a ball pit."

"Well some of us want sophisticated strategy," he rolled his eyes. "It would work perfectly to protect her from the heat."

"Zweilous' scales won't be tough enough until they're a Hydreigon… but Lehmhart could stand close and be alright, I think," Cecilia noted. "But the real key is taking down Princess. Without her, the lava's just stationary. Annoying, but possible to deal with."

"You only say that because you're going to have three Pokemon capable of flying by the time your team is fully evolved," Denzel sighed.

"Cecilia's got Scyther for dark Type Energy stuff and I've got Houndoom. One Darkfire and Togetic's entire shtick collapses."

"That Moonblast trick was pretty nasty too," Denzel muttered. "Didn't know the move could mess with gravity. I hope Sylvi can learn it when he's out of this rut."

I grinned.

The knives were out to get me.

After six minutes, one of the Nurse Joys approached me over the counter.

"Grace Pastel… your team will recover after three days aside from your Electabuzz. What in the world happened to him?"

I raised an eyebrow and felt a twinge of worry. "He got hit by Volkner's Electivire using Hammer Arm—"

"Ah, yes, that would do it," she sighed, shaking her head. The fact that she wasn't acting surprised or asking me any questions was refreshing, but Nurse Joys usually saw so much during their career that nothing surprised them any longer. "A shattered spine, multiple broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken arm, dislocated shoulders, cracks in his pelvis… he's got a laundry list of injuries. It'll take a week and a half to get him up to speed, and even after that, you'll have to wait another week for any kind of training while the Ditto cells solidify properly, or he'll break his bones again. They'll be fragile for a while."

I didn't know what to say to that but to thank her for the help. Honey had been a lot more injured than I had thought at first. Hopefully they had him on some powerful painkillers in there, and I'd have to ask Volkner if that meant I had to wait even longer for his evolution. Electivire wasn't just powerful for his speed, but for his strength too. There was a whole lot of musculature hidden under his thick fur.

That power combined with his speed when using Motor Drive… I shuddered at the thought of that, and an image of Electivire slamming into Honey at the speed of sound with a Hammer Arm conjured itself in my mind. He'd be able to kill any of my Pokemon in a single Hammer Arm except Sunshine and Buddy.

I was only left with Angel and Buddy. The ghost type was taking a well-earned rest in his Pokeball. I waved goodbye to my friends, telling them that I was going to take a nap in my room. Most of them decided to stay there and talk about how they'd counter Sunshine and Princess as a combo, and a lot of their ideas gave me things to think about. The tactic wasn't flawless— far from it. It had a lot of holes like being able to be used against me if my opponent had powerful fire types or an Ancient Power user, although moving lava around with that move required weeks of practice, so that was a little less likely.

Either way, I'd have to come up with something different for Wake considering his arena was a giant lake with a few islands peppered throughout.

I lazily took off my shoes as I entered my room and I took a short shower to wipe away the sweat from that battle. I also drew a cold bath that I released Buddy in so he could recover faster and feel better in general. I was going to get Angel out of his ball to tell him everything about the battle while I fell asleep, but I stopped when my hand touched my phone.

"Better check my phone before I crash," I whispered.

My fingers tingled in excitement when I saw that Melody had just called me a few minutes ago. There were also congratulations from Jasmine who said she felt crummy that she couldn't go out and get 'shitfaced' to celebrate. I answered her, thanking her for her tutoring and everything she'd taught Honey. Without her, the second half of the battle would have been downright impossible, even if Volkner had kept it at three hits instead of four. There was also a text from Bobby, saying that it had been a good showing and to keep up the good work.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He had been the only one that hadn't looked pissed about my sponsorship with the Poketch Company, so that made sense. I also thanked him for the kind words.

I called Mel, but I was the one who spoke first as soon as she answered.

"Melody! My money!" I yelled.

"Well first, congratulations are in order," she laughed. "The board is very pleased with your performance, and the fact that Electivire was on the field will draw more eyes to you and to the Company."

"Yeah, yeah. Can I get paid? I've been waiting for this for so long."

"The money is being transferred to you as we speak—" I interrupted her with a joyous celebration, and she laughed. "350,000 thousand Pokedollars added to your current total. I've checked the prices of Shiny Stones and that should be enough for the current rates."

"When am I getting the money?" I hungrily asked.

"Well like I said, it's being transferred right now—"

"Okay, I gotta go!" I screamed.

The nap could wait.

After telling Buddy that I was leaving with Angel's Pokeball, I made a mad dash to the stairs and jumped five steps at a time, nearly falling over twice. I rushed through the lobby and Cece asked where I was going.

"To the mall!" I yelled back.

The bus ride was agonizingly slow, especially when I'd gone there by car before. Could I have not hung up and had Melody send me a driver? I'd been so excited about the prospects of buying a Shiny Stone that I'd thrown all thoughts out the window. My foot repeatedly tapped against the floor of the bus and I couldn't help but stare out the window the entire ride. We crossed the long bridge leading us to one of Sunyshore's many islands and I burst out of the bus with energy I didn't know I still had left in me. I reached the map at the mall's entrance and traced my finger up and down the image.

Stone store, stone store, stone store— there it was! EvoStone Emporium!

It took another two minutes to get there. A wave of cold air hit me as I entered the establishment. The interior was quite rustic, which fit the theme of the mall. It was neatly organized into different sections, each dedicated to a specific type of evolutionary stone. They were all hidden behind glass to stop any trainers from trying their luck and stealing anything, and a Gardevoir walked through the store, her watchful eye looming over every occupant like a Pidgeot looking at a Caterpie.

Which wasn't many. Only me and five other people were in the store. Stones were expensive. I gazed over a set of Moon Stones. The rocks were rugged, dark and somewhat unremarkable, and yet they drew me in. Next, a set of Dusk stones that reflected so little light that they were void at their center and I could only see the purple at their edges. These stones weren't very common, though. Water, Fire, Ice and Leaf stones were everywhere. Thunder Stones were a little bit rarer, but not as scarce as the rarest ones. These elemental stones were ranked from D to S grade, and a Pokemon that evolved with a higher quality stone would reach its full potential far sooner than if they had not.

And the rarest one of them all was right beneath my gaze. There were only two of them displayed in the entire store.

It was pale yellow at its edges and darkened at its center. Unlike the Dusk Stone, Shiny Stones were… well, shiny. A small rainbow sat atop each of them from the refracted light, and I gawked at the price before remembering that I actually had the money to pay for one. It had been transferred to my card while I'd been on the bus.

I called an employee over, and a short man approached me.

"A Shiny Stone, I presume? You've been staring at it for the last minute," he said.

"Uh, yes," I stammered. "Sorry."

I paid him upfront and felt my throat tighten when I realized I was back to zero. I had the fifty-thousand Pauline had given me for my birthday and a few extra thousand bucks leftover, so my Pokemon wouldn't starve and I still had some vitamins stockpiled. The employee carefully unlocked the glass pane with a key and placed the Shiny Stone in a thick casing that he then placed in another case, and then finally into a bag.

"Don't lose it," he said. When he saw my reaction, he cleared his throat. "Just a little joke I like to say."

I restrained a scoff and I was on my way again.

I finally had a Shiny Stone. Now all I needed was three days.

—

I woke up from my nap in the middle of the night and cursed. My sleeping schedule would be screwed for the next few days, it seemed. Angel slept next to the window with a vine nestled under my covers and wrapped around my leg. Buddy hovered in the sky, clinging to my ceiling and watching over both of us. I asked him about his experience in the Gym battle and what he thought about it while I grabbed myself some water. My Shiny Stone was safely hidden under my bed and would be until Princess was out of the Center.

The water type dripped down from the ceiling until he reformed behind me and said that he felt like he'd failed against Galvantula.

"You did your best, and that's all I can ever ask of you," I smiled. "That Infestation trick was crazy. I had no idea it would affect your regeneration like that… we won't get caught out the next time we face a trainer with the move."

He silently nodded. I turned toward Angel, who was still sleeping soundly.

"We'll have to train you and Angel up a lot for the fight against Wake. You'll most likely be the anchor for that fight. And it'll be a six-on-six! I can't wait!" I exclaimed. "Arceus, now that we bought the Shiny Stone we'll be able to buy a bunch of TMs the next time we get paid! But I still have to keep buying dirt for Sweetheart too… I was thinking of what each one of us currently lacked while I fell asleep— I guess I also dreamed some of it too."

Buddy chuckled— clicks and whistles that were music to my ears. He said only I could dream of ways of patching out weaknesses.

"But it works!" I groaned. "I still have to watch footage of the Gym Battle in a few days. Gotta approach things with a fresh mind. But moving on, what you currently lack is status moves. Confuse Ray would be great, especially if we could get your shades to use it while you attack. Will-O-Wisp, you can only learn through TMs, but it would work wonderfully with Hex. I guess I could also get you a move like Ice Beam for coverage…"

I rambled for at least a minute before moving on to Angel. I rolled toward the sleeping grass type and smiled.

"What Angel lacks is effective ways to fight at a distance. With Solar Beam, we were planning on keeping opponents trapped in vines while he charged the attacks, but he needs more variety, so I think Sludge Bomb would be nice."

Buddy agreed, saying that he'd be able to help the grass type with poison type moves when the time came.

"Right, you can do that. Princess… well, Princess and Honey are going to evolve soon, so I don't want to say anything that'd be horribly wrong. One thing is for sure, though, we're going to focus Princess back on flying type moves. She'll need to manipulate the air around her like Kilowattrel if she wants to be truly fast, and Togekiss have the potential to be. I also think that something like Flamethrower or Focus Blast would be nice to counter steel types. Gotta already think about Byron. And hey, did you know Electabuzz— or Electivire I guess, but did you know they could learn Rain Dance? I figure that would go nicely with some Thunders. Gotta steal Volkner's strategies and all that."

I got back into my bed and below the covers.

"Of course, these are all expensive and I won't be able to get them all at once, but I did get a raise, so it gets easier from there. Sunshine's decked out with moves already, but more wouldn't hurt. I'd need to think about it more, though. Oh! Did you know he actually managed to do that explosion thingy we were working on!"

Buddy's eyes flashed in surprise.

"I know, right? He was so great out there! You better praise him when he's back."

The water type rippled as he laughed, telling me to imagine Sunshine's reaction to praise.

"Yeah, he'd definitely get all shy about it and act like he doesn't care. Actually, let me just tell you about the part of the battle you couldn't— hey, come on, don't sigh at me! Indulge my passion a little, I'm not tired enough to go back to sleep. I'll let you rant about history to the entire team tomorrow since we're almost done with your book."

Buddy was mostly worried about how our family actually was and how they'd been hurt rather than the battle, but he listened anyway, and he did contribute some ideas. Angel woke up along the way and excitedly hung to every word too.

I didn't sleep that night.

—

Three days.

Three, agonizing days.

And yet, here I was, finally grabbing Princess' Pokeball and my other Pokemon from a tray. The hype from my battle with Volkner was still the talk of the forums, but it had thankfully subsided in real life. My friends had all slowly started to sign up for their Gym Battle. They were spread out throughout the week.

I had Mira's Alakazam Teleport me to route 214 on my own. Today, we weren't training. Today was special. I released my entire team onto the cliffs, and their first reaction was to cheer and celebrate their victory once I told them that we'd won. Even Sunshine couldn't help but smile, and Buddy did end up praising him, which made Sweetheart do the same.

If dragons could blush…

Angel had already known about the victory, but he acted like it was his first time hearing about it anyway and he wrapped his vines around all of us.

"Listen up," I grinned. "Your brother's still at the Center. He fought well, but Electivire hit him a little too hard and he still needs to rest for a few days. You all did amazing. Truly. We're getting better at fighting as a team and not as individuals."

My family responded with grunts and nods, although Sunshine scoffed at the notion of Honey being his sibling. He wasn't there quite yet, but if I'd gotten Buddy to agree to it, I'd hopefully get him one day too. I took a deep breath and pulled out my Shiny Stone from its casket, and Princess' eyes immediately narrowed. She stared at it, breathless as she instinctively floated closer.

It was my first time actually touching the Shiny Stone. It felt warm in my hands, but not hot enough to be uncomfortable.

"Hold on," I said.

Princess froze in place. She was eager. She'd wanted this just as much as I had. I nodded and spoke again.

"Originally, I wanted Honey to be here, but I've got a little something for him!"

I placed my backpack on the rocky plateau and pulled out Denzel's tripod that he had lent me. Then, I placed my phone on it and opened my camera app.

"We'll record it for him so he can watch when he's back," I said. I felt a twinge of sadness, but I couldn't bring myself to wait any longer. I'd waited months for this, and holding back was impossible. "Hold on, I'm getting all of you in the shot… Sweetheart, stop hogging all the space! This is Princess' moment— there you go. Angel, stop poking Buddy, you've bullied him enough when it was just the two of you. Sunshine, are you scooching away? Get in the shot!"

After wrangling everyone for around two minutes, they formed a semi-circle around Princess, who was shivering in excitement.

I clicked on record and spoke. "To future me— and future us. Today was the day Princess evolved into a Togekiss."

By the time I finished my sentence, I was already next to my family.

I held out my hand to Princess, and the stone touched her forehead.

It instantly started to shine, as did she. The stone turned to dust that her body absorbed as she grew. Arms retracted into her, wings spread and grew, her body changed. We all held our breath during the process. My heart was going so fast I could feel it drum against my ribs. I was so overwhelmed I felt like crying of joy. All of our hard work, everything we'd done for months had led to this moment. My little girl was all grown up.

And it felt so fulfilling.

Princess was slightly taller than me when she finished evolving. Air and pink dust swirled around her until she opened her eyes and brought it to a stop. I wiped a tear from my cheek and touched her head. Just being near her felt soothing. I'd have to get her to reign that in, but I'd let it slide for now.

"You did it," I softly said. "You did it."

My daughter chirped and placed her forehead against mine.

She was smaller than Cynthia's own Togekiss, but she still had a bunch of growing up to do and she was already big enough to let me ride her. Angel was the first to try to touch her, and he wriggled as he ran his vines all over her.

"Right? She's so fluffy now!" I laughed. "You can be a pillow! You're just as soft as Ninetales."

Princess huffed, but she relented to her pillow duties. We all observed her body for a while, and she tried to stretch her wings. The movement was slow and awkward, which was to be expected. She could float, but flying with her wings was much harder than it looked.

"It's going to take you a while to get used to this new body, but you'll be stronger for it," I said. "You can become just as fast as Talonflame without losing any of your current skills."

Princess let out an excited cry, and she flapped her wings a few times. Somehow, no gusts of wind blew my hair away, and those that did come were barely noticeable. I'd seen how Cynthia's Togekiss hadn't disturbed the world around him when he flew, even when he was going as fast as he could.

Sunshine congratulated her and said that she'd finally stop being babied all the time now that I couldn't carry her in my arms every time she was out of her Pokeball.

Princess froze—

And she cried.

"Did you have to say that?" I groaned.

He groaned, saying that he sometimes forgot she was a kid with her murderous tendencies.

It took a bit to get her to calm down. I had to promise her that I'd try to carry her later. Togekiss were actually quite light as far as Pokemon went (she was actually lighter than I was), but getting her to fit in my arms was a completely different problem entirely.

Oh well, I'd try, still.

But now, it was time to start getting her adjusted to her new body, and the first thing on the list was getting her used to getting in the air.