CHAPTER 244 - The Thief

Togekiss cried out as a vicious Razor Wind tore apart her feathers. The cuts were superficial, but the attack still hurt. With a fierce cry, she flapped her wings and sped away from the harmful bubble of sharpened air, a gust of wings blowing at her back. Talonflame shrieked and dove down to her level, her body wreathed in flames as she sped toward Princess with a Flame Charge. As it stood, the fairy type was nowhere near as fast as her opponent. We had to go on the offensive.

"Air Slash!" I yelled.

With a barrel roll, Princess sent two arcs of blurry air flying at Talonflame, who dispelled the attacks with a powerful burst of air before she continued speeding toward the fairy type. A Charge Beam slowly built up in front of Princess' mouth, and she abruptly turned to face Talonflame. The electricity hit the fire type in the chest, but her momentum still carried her and she rammed into Princess with everything she had. The sheer force of the impact and Flame Charge knocked Princess down, but she caught herself and floated inches from the ground.

"Darn it," I sighed. "We lose again."

"Well, she's getting a lot better," Cece smiled. "Two days ago, that Charge Beam never would have hit."

"That's mostly because we caught you off-guard. I bet you thought we'd keep running."

"Well, admittedly you should have, since the strategy didn't work," she chuckled.

"Right, but we've got to get better with Charge Beam anyway. In a battle with stakes, you'd be right."

Princess floated toward me and waited so I could apply a potion to her burning fur and cut skin. I spritzed the liquid over her wounds, and despite not being able to see through her fluffy fur, I imagined them closing before my eyes. Cecilia did the same with Talonflame, and we returned to where Mira and Chase were staying. It had been three days since we had left Sunyshore, and we had finally reached the huge stretch of beach that would lead us to Pastoria. Talonflame had become Princess' tutor in everything relating to flying TE, and we were rapidly improving, but we needed to go faster if we wanted to beat Wake. We weren't going to stay in Pastoria for long, and we would have less time to train compared to the amount we'd gotten before Volkner.

We came upon an intense fight between Chase's Lucario and Mira's Gardevoir when we arrived at the shore. The fighting type grunted, holding out an arm, and Aura exploded out of his palm in a dozen different tendrils that stabbed into Gardevoir. She winced and flickered, but her attempt to Teleport away failed, and she decided to strike with a Fire Punch instead. Psychic was not allowed during sparing.

Still holding out his hand, Lucario bared his teeth and pulled Gardevoir toward him before punching her in the gut with a one-handed Bullet Punch. Silver danced within his fist and intensified with each strike, and he'd struck a dozen times by the time Gardevoir hit him in the head once. The battle came to a stop when Mira and Chase spotted us, and the Aura stabbing into Gardevoir receded. The fairy type let out a tired huff and sat on the sand.

Training never stopped for us, even if we'd adopted the short but intense battles that Louis and Maeve had coined and refined them, pushing them to its limits.

"You guys finished your fight too?" Mira asked. "Did Princess finally nab a win?"

I stared up at the Togekiss, who was flying high up in the sky, and shook my head. "Not yet, but we're getting there! She's got a good handle on Air Slash now, and Charge Beam will help for Wake."

"I wonder how good he'll be," Chase said with a hand over his mouth.

"Well it's going to be our first six-on-six against a Gym Leader, so it's bound to be intense," I shrugged.

"Speak for yourself," Mira said with a half-sigh.

"Stop self-deprecating," Chase scolded. "That's an excuse people use to not bother working as hard, because if they suck, what's the point? You've got to believe you're the best."

"Chasey, only you can do things like that. You're obviously not the best."

"It's about belief!"

"Today's pretty warm. Why don't we go to the beach?" Cecilia asked.

Mira scoffed. "And get myself killed by some Tentacool in the water? No, thank you."

"I figured it'd be safe in the shallow waters," she sighed. "What should we do, then? Keep traveling for a few hours?"

"As long as you don't fill my head about politics—" Chase started.

"Chase, you want to do politics. You asked Cynthia to improve the Iron Islands! That's what politics is!"

Our friend worked his jaw for a few seconds and his feet shifted in the sand. "You know what, fair point."

"She did get you there," Mira shrugged.

"But I still don't care about Unova and what's happening there!" He exclaimed, then turning to Mira. "I'm just going to keep training the shrimp. Mira, get your Porygon out. She needs exercise."

The pink-haired girl groaned. "Against who?"

"I'll give you an easier matchup. Zangoose. We're going to have them battle for thirty minutes."

"You're on!" She grinned.

"I'm gonna take a little flight," I muttered, slipping away. "I won't be gone too long. Maybe an hour or two."

My friends all nodded or acquiesced, and I called to Princess with my hands cupping my mouth. Cecilia couldn't fly on Lehmhart yet, because she had only passed the theoretical flying exam. Lehmhart was still too inexperienced to actually have her fly on him, so her license would have to wait until Pastoria. Talonflame was still growing, but I doubted she'd ever be large enough to have Cece fly on her. She was smaller than average for her species, but that meant she had traded bulk for speed.

I'd pay to see her try, though. That'd be a funny way to spend an hour or two. Too bad it was way too dangerous.

Princess landed on the beach, and I gasped in horror when sand got all over my pants and shoes. I guess wearing jeans and sneakers on the beach isn't smart, I thought. One day, she'd be good enough to land without any disturbances just like Cynthia's Togekiss. I petted Princess' forehead and she preened.

"Yes, yes, you did very good," I smirked. "Ready to go fly around?"

The fairy type squealed in excitement, and I got to work on putting the saddle on her. I unfolded the entire… contraption and slowly but surely buckled it around her wings. I was getting the hang of it, but if I ever needed to fly away in an emergency, I would definitely have to make do without a saddle. When I finished putting it on her and put on my goggles, I slung my bag over my shoulders, hopped on her, and strapped myself in. After one pat on the head, she slowly floated upward. Sand pulsed on the ground and then burst upward when Princess rushed to gain altitude. I did not flinch, nor did the uncomfortableness of the forces pressing down on my shoulders and back surprise me.

We'd grown a lot more confident than we used to be.

Wind whistled past my ears, and the world below us became smaller and smaller. A grin stretched across my face as I took in the sights. To our left and the general south was an endless ocean with a few uninhabited islands in sight. Technically, they were in Pastoria's jurisdiction, but they hadn't ever done anything with them. Wild Pokemon lived on them by the thousands— mostly groups of Wingull and Pelipper, but also Seel, Spheal, Sealeo, and Buizel. A singular cargo ship headed in Sunyshore's direction could be seen in the distance. I leaned in and yelled.

"Let's go and say hi!"

Princess chirped, but the wind drowned out the sound of her voice. She sped up, and I held onto the saddle despite being strapped in. It was hard not to be scared when my body felt like it was going to fall off any minute, despite knowing that was absolutely not the case. I leaned to the right and noticed a Mantine breaking through the ocean's surface and floating for what seemed like thirty seconds. I squinted at the water type, but hummed when I saw I couldn't tell their gender from that far. A flock of Mantyke followed them, each jumping and desperately trying to keep up with their apparent leader, who slowed every so often to let them catch up.

In a matter of five minutes, we hovered over the cargo ship and waved at the sailors there. Most of them ignored me, probably because I was far from the first trainer to have this idea and they were focused on work, but a few of them whistled or waved back. I noticed a bunch of water types surrounding the ship, and there was a Gyarados at its head to keep it protected from wild Pokemon. We followed the ship for a few minutes before Princess sped back toward the coast. It was hard to discern, but I could easily see different groups of trainers on the ground, some large and some small. Route 213 wasn't as safe as 222, but it was still nothing compared to the routes out west. Even the ocean was safe if you got close enough to Pastoria (which we were not, at the moment).

Speaking of Pastoria, I could see it far in the distance. The city appeared foggy due to how far it was, but it was there. Mount Coronet loomed even further, its peak hidden far above the clouds. I found it astonishing just how far I could see from up here. There were no routes. It was just Sinnoh. Massive, but not as large as it had seemed before I'd become capable of flying. It was finite, now. Every corner of the region was within my reach.

I let out a bellowing, excited scream as Princess zipped to our true location. Route 213 wasn't only known for its huge beach. There was also a relatively small mountain here that I'd flown to yesterday. On the way there, I only noticed two other trainers flying. I would have thought it to be a common occurrence before getting my license, but the sky was really big. Seeing another trainer up here was rarer than not, with the exception being outside of cities. One of them, I recognized. It was hard not to see Dragonite's resplendent scales, even when they were hidden behind the clouds. Ariel was thankfully still following us.

Princess landed on the mountain, which actually had a flat plateau at its summit and a lot of vegetation, which was the last thing I would have expected from a place like this. Every other mountain peak I'd seen was just barren rock.

"Good job, you aced that landing!" I cheered, hopping off her back. "Let me get this off of you."

Hiding Honey from my friends had been a challenge, but as it turned out, going on a flight was a very convenient excuse. Omitting was not lying, and I did enjoy flying every day. I wasn't going to keep him in his Pokeball the entire trip. That would have been awful for everyone involved, and that was time where he wouldn't be able to grow used to his new body. After taking the saddle off Princess, I released the entire team and followed up with releasing the electric type far away— twenty feet, to be exact. He was getting a lot better at not randomly blowing up, and he could actually walk. I had done the same thing for him yesterday.

"Hi! It's the afternoon right now," I greeted him. Sweetheart did the same, although she immediately crawled toward him. "Just a few more days of this, and you'll be set to get close. You keep an eye out for any Pokemon," I told Princess.

This place was technically off-route. We'd been attacked twice before, but they'd been deterred pretty quickly. Once by a Victreebel that Sunshine had scared away, and the other by a Budew Colony that were led by an aggressive Roselia. That brought back memories. I wondered how Denzel, Pauline and Emilia were doing right now. Thankfully, I hadn't suffered a Bullet Seed to the gut this time, and my team chased them away rather easily.

Honey answered with a thumbs up, and a few Thunderbolt-sized bolts sparked out of his hand. Thankfully by now, Princess' barrier was enough to stop them. Sweetheart called him a wet blanket when he apologized again. She was back to her usual, trash-talking self now that the novelty of the situation had passed. The thing about her was that she did it so innocently too. My dad had always said that kids just blurted out whatever was on their minds, and it was the same for Sweetie. Jellicent grumbled in my ear that I hadn't released him close to the ocean, and I promised I'd do it when we got down.

Sunshine complained about the grass being too tall and prickly on his scales, then asked if he could burn it, but I shook my head.

"Don't alter the place. People live here," I sighed. "Just relax and enjoy life. If the grass is prickly on your scales, then think about how it must feel on my skin. I'm just a little human, and I'm bearing with it."

The dragon rolled his eyes in his usual diva fashion, finally deciding to lie down on the ground. I could tell he was growing more nervous the closer we got to Pastoria. Mudsdale was there, and the closer we got, the more the weight of what he considered his failure stacked up. Not only that, but he would still have to tell the rest of the team about his story before that. I approached Sunshine, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

"You'll be alright. This will be good for you. For both of you," I softly said.

Sunshine answered with a half-hearted grunt, and Angel motioned that he'd be here for him if need be despite not even knowing what we were talking about. Turtonator snorted, and Angel clapped two clumps of vines together while he smiled with his eyes. Making Sunshine happier was the goal, and the fact that the fire type was laughing technically meant that it was working. I grabbed my chemistry textbook and my laptop, lamenting that I was almost done with the thing. Somewhere along the way, I'd actually started to enjoy the topic. This was just an introduction, however, so there was a lot more to be learned even after I finished both my physics and chemistry textbooks.

Princess' feathers swayed in the wind while she settled down next to me and Sunshine. Sweetheart and Honey were playing a game where the electric type essentially tried to bench-lift her as many times as he could, and he was having… some success. Electivire were strong, but he was still starting from his baseline. It would take a while for his muscles to build up.

Maybe I could give him that workout routine Chase had given me for my birthday.

"Do you think I could give him that workout Chase gave me?" I asked my family, eliciting a few chuckles from them and an indignant cry from Princess. "What? They have the same body type! Of course, he'd have to do, like, ten times the amount of everything for it to work, but who knows?"

The flying type scoffed in disbelief.

"You know what, we'll ask him and see what he says! Lucario does the same routine he does, and it's clearly worked!"

Princess rolled her eyes—

"Since when do you roll your eyes at me? Is this… is this some kind of new phase?"

Did she think she was grown up since she'd evolved? And yet she still wanted to be babied half the time! She couldn't have it both ways. The fairy type lifted a ball of mud from the earth and began to sculpt Honey in his new form. We stayed there for forty minutes, mostly in silence save for a few conversations. Buddy asked Sunshine about help with Will-o-Wisp since it was the first move that actually stumped him somewhat, but the dragon type was of no help, answering that he had no idea how to mess with anything ghost-related.

Angel just enjoyed the sun, although he had wandered a few dozen feet away to find some wildflowers and come back to stick a few in my hair, which Sweetheart loved, so she ended up getting some too. Honey worked on retaining his electricity, and Buddy loomed over my shoulder to read my textbook. Princess sensed a few Pokemon coming close by, but none dared approach.

That was, until now.

"They're not stopping?" I muttered, closing my book. I quickly put my laptop and the textbook back in my backpack. "How fast?"

My question was answered right away when something leaking an incredible amount of rage entered my senses. It was nothing I'd ever seen before. Pokemon usually were threatened or scared when they attacked you and just wanted you out of their territory or away from their kids or group.

But this?

I stood up from my crouching position and inhaled. They were going so fast. "No time to run. They're already—"

I flinched when a large Carnivine appeared in front of us, floating slightly above the ground. It was as if the tall grass bent away from her bundle of multicolored vine-like feet. A sweet smell filled the air as drool accumulated in her mouth and fell to the ground. Her eyes were blank, and her pupils barely visible, but it was easy to see she was furious—

My entire team took to their positions. In a second, Honey blurred in front of us, electricity humming through his skin. Princess let the barrier fall for a moment and immediately placed it around only me, allowing Sunshine to take a few steps forward with hot air gathering in his mouth and snout. Angel moved himself with massive clumps of vines and pointed them at Carnivine with the most menacing look he could muster while Sweetheart let loose a juvenile roar and a few puffs of air from her vents. Buddy's eyes flashed with fury, but I held out a hand.

"I can tell you're angry. We'll be leaving now if you'll allow us," I said, keeping my voice as steady as possible. I could tell from a single look that Carnivine was not to be messed with. "We mean you no harm. Everyone, stand down."

What had caused her so much anger? Was it born from injustice? Pain? I couldn't delve deep enough to know. I took a step toward Princess, hoping to mount her without a saddle, but Carnivine growled and I stopped. It was a croaky, grave sound that made my ears rumble.

"I was trying to leave," I said.

The grass type snarled, sending spittle all over.

"Someone translate," I quickly spoke.

Honey spoke up first, keeping an eye on Carnivine at all times. We were six, but as the seconds went on, the nagging suspicion that Carnivine was extremely powerful only grew. She didn't fear us whatsoever, which could have been because she was blinded by rage, but even then, the vegetation here listened to her. Grass twisted when she growled, lashed out when she screamed. It was hers.

Honey said that she'd lost a son to another human a week ago. A thief had caught him. I bit my lip and frowned.

"I'm sorry," I exhaled. "I understand why you don't want to see any humans now. If you'd just allow us to leave, we'd be on our way."

We reminded her of the pain she'd felt, and it was still fresh. One did not recover from loss that quickly. I assumed some trainer had come and caught her son without asking for consent, as trainers unfortunately usually did—

I covered my ears when Carnivine yelled again, and the grass under her feet lashed out. A whisper from Princess revealed that she'd called us all the same. Humans. I took a step back—

Through the barrier, grass straightened, sharpened and wrapped around one of my ankles. It crushed—

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

My mind went white for a second. My vision shook and blurred around its edges. For that moment of agony, it felt like up was down and right was left. What was happening to me? My breaths caught in my throat, struggling, until they came out as a ragged cough— argh, fuck—

Suddenly, something snaked around my waist.

It was Angel. He grabbed me right away and threw me onto Princess' back with a vine, but more grass grew in seconds and kept her away from flying by wrapping around her. Sunshine spat out a huge Flamethrower toward Carnivine, who flapped her two appendages and flew away like a damned flying type. Angel grabbed my waist again and decided to keep me on his head from now on to keep me away from the grass, and I tried to ignore the agonizing pain in my ankle. It was slowly fading away— pulsating over and over as the adrenaline filled my bloodstream. Princess moaned as the grass slowly started to twist around her like a vise.

I spoke to her with a shaky voice, "Free yourself with Air Slash—"

With a rageful scream, two shades appeared next to Buddy and began battering Carnivine with Acids and Shadow Balls. They were too slow to hit, however, but Honey's Thunderbolt was practically instant. The grass type grunted in pain when the attack hit, but she continued speeding up until she was continuously flying in circles around us. Every single step from my Pokemon was slowed by the grass. It wasn't a lethal thing— or at the very least not while Carnivine was focused on something else, but it was like a continuous Grass Knot that made moving twice as difficult here.

Princess yelled, finally slicing all of the grass from her body and she took flight alone, but not too far away from me, since she wanted to keep her barrier going. Now that we knew that Carnivine could fly this fast, going on her without a saddle would be suicide. The grass type would follow us to knock me off Princess, and I would just fall to my death.

A tornado full of leaves was starting to form around us. I clenched a fist and stared up at Carnivine, who was so quick that she'd just become a green circular blur above our heads at this point that none of our attacks could reach save for Swift. The leaves were so sharp that they cut across everyone's skin except Sunshine's scales. Princess was barely holding on to her barrier as it was, so there was no way she'd be able to extend it to everyone else. She was still somewhat tired from her bout with Talonflame.

Princess is too focused on keeping me protected to do anything substantial, I thought to myself. Sunshine heating up would just hurt the others. Sweetheart can't do much, Honey's already continuously throwing Thunderbolts… Buddy's Night Shade would blow up in seconds from the storm, but he could maybe…

"Buddy, you need to go up there and cut her off!" I yelled.

The water type listened at once, propelling himself through the tornado as he continuously regenerated himself. I bit my tongue when his head swelled, and Carnivine didn't manage to swerve out of the way in time. The grass type rammed into Buddy, and I snapped.

"Now!"

A Flamethrower, a Thunderbolt and an Air Slash managed to hit Carnivine— and Buddy, since he was so close. Tendrils of water clung to Carnivine and solidified around her, allowing another volley of attacks to hit. A single seed flew out of Carnivine's mouth and blew Buddy to smithereens, sending chunks of his body everywhere around us, and Carnivine glared at me.

We were all bleeding. Wounded. Hurt. My eyes flitted over to the skies for a moment.

Where the hell was Ariel?

Darkness intertwined in Carnivine's mouth, and my stomach dropped. The grass type rushed toward us, but Honey blurred with a bright Radiant Leap and jumped, grabbing the Carnivine in a chokehold. Another second, and I had to cover my eyes when he let loose a huge Thunder. Sweetheart carefully waited for her turn and then rammed right into Carnivine's flat head when she found the right angle, and Honey held the grass type in position for her. Carnivine snarled when Pupitar hit her at full speed with an Iron Head, but the damage on her head healed in seconds.

Carnivine's two arms grew as they shone neon green, and she slapped Electivire in the face and sent him flying so far I almost gasped. The electric type rolled on the grass like a rag doll, and a spark more powerful than the others lit some of it on fire, leaving a trail of flames behind him. Carnivine huffed and got back in the air, but a Shell Trap and a Scale Shot from Sunshine tore right through her and her body combusted until a burst of air freed her from the flames.

Right then and there, she identified Sunshine and Honey as her greatest threat. Carnivine screamed and pushed herself back into the air. She blurred toward the electric type, who was just getting back up.

"Angel," I whispered.

Vines shot out of Angel and converged toward Carnivine. In her rush to get to Electivire, she hadn't gotten enough altitude to stay out of range. The vines wrapped all around her and darkened in an attempt to cut off her TE.

"Pin her!" I yelled to Princess.

Lances emerged from below the ground and stabbed into Carnivine's body, staggering each one to buy as much time as possible. The grass type snarled, and her spit grew purple and began to melt Angel's vines away. Honey yelled out a warning, and Tangrowth finally let go of Carnivine, allowing him to let loose another Thunderbolt while Sunshine crashed into the grass type with a fiery Rapid Spin.

I was protected from the heat, but my other Pokemon were not. Princess winced as smoke emanated from her fur while Angel had to throw himself back in order not to catch on fire.

That meant Carnivine was free.

I could almost see her shifting eyes. Sunshine was too hot to approach and potentially the one Pokemon that could deal any real damage to her. Honey was too close to us and had too much support. The stone spears that had penetrated her head and torso melted off thanks to her Acid, and she turned to—

"Get back to us!" I screamed.

Pupitar narrowly dodged what looked to be some kind of Leaf Blade by propulsing herself up in the air, but Carnivine was close behind her. The ground type dove down to the ground, and Carnivine followed. The others tried to get their attacks to land, and some did, affecting Sweetheart in the process. Thankfully her shell protected her from the worst of the damage from Flamethrowers and Air Slashes, and she was immune to electric attacks.

My eyes met hers, and I flinched when she passed me, leaving only a large billow of dust and powerful currents behind her. Carnivine did not dare approach the entire team and opted to let her run for now. I felt frustration and rage swell—

Now!

"Smack Down!" I yelled.

A rock erupted from below Carnivine and reached her in an instant, burying itself inside of the grass type and dragging her toward the floor. I barked an order to Sunshine, and he spun toward Carnivine, who spontaneously combusted into bright blue flames. Contrary to what I had believed, though, the battle did not end.

A cluster of seeds leaked out of Carnivine's burning mouth, and the subsequent explosions rocked the entire mountain. Smoke swelled high into the air, and Sunshine wasn't visible any longer. Buddy had finally begun to reform to my right and was ready to go again.

"Keep yourself solid," I squinted in a desperate attempt to see through the smoke, ash and flames to no avail. "Try to send a chunk of you to check on Sunshine, and keep the Acids and Shadow Balls coming. Honey, you're muscle and our frontline. Sweetheart, hang back and find openings and get her back on the ground whenever you can. Angel and Princess, you're support."

To keep me from getting killed.

It was a shame, that battles like these were different. My team had progressed leaps and bounds, but they did not know how to fight such a dominant opponent without hurting each other, and worse, they had no way of going all out without the barrier shattering and me dying.

But Carnivine was also in a dilemma. Alone, she could easily deal with us. Together? She had no easy way to win.

Buddy reported that Sunshine was still fighting in the smoke and asked if he should aim to kill. I hesitated for a few seconds, then clicked my tongue.

"Aim to knock her out," I answered. "She's still—"

Carnivine emerged from the smoke, heavily wounded from her short fight with Sunshine. I felt a twinge of worry until Sunshine exploded from within, sending hot smoke flying everywhere with another Shell Trap. With the ash dispersed, I could finally see his state. Much of his body had been wounded by poison that still ate into his scales. His flesh was exposed to the elements, and the dragon type clenched his jaw from the pain.

Vines stretched up from the ground and stabbed into Carnivine. When I noticed the glow, I bit my lip. Was that healing?

"That's Ingrain! Cut it!" I snapped.

Princess hovered in the air next to me, but she didn't need to move. A dozen Air Cutters sliced across the Ingrain, and Carnivine roared in anger as her vines collapsed. She was narrowly seared by a Dragon Pulse from Sunshine, and Sweetheart immediately tried to hit her with another Smack Down, but Carnivine knew how to react to it now. The rock still stabbed through her arm. There wasn't enough material to for the Smack Down to bury itself in and drag Carnivine down, so it simply tore a hole through it, and it regenerated in seconds.

The same could be said of every part of Carnivine's body. It appeared burned, but she'd regenerated past Sunshine's attacks. How?

"This is a stalemate," I said in an attempt to negotiate. "Again, I'm not here to do any harm! Just let us leave!"

Unfortunately,

Carnivine was not done with us.

Multicolored leaves appeared all around the grass type and sharpened before Carnivine sent them flying at all of us. Honey blurred in front of Sweetheart with a Radiant leap and put up a protect, but everyone else was hit. Buddy summoned a Night Shade at the last second in front of him, which exploded and damaged him in the process. Princess tried to use the same Air Burst technique as Talonflame, but she failed and the Magical Leaves hit her head and wings. Sunshine spun, opting to let his shell get hit instead of his exposed flesh while Angel simply took the attack in stride, barely feeling anything.

Then, she planted herself on the ground with a thump, and the grass all around us grew until it was taller than all of us. I was still on Angel's head, and Princess sliced across the grass around us with Air Cutter as soon as it gave any signs of life so we wouldn't get attacked by it or caught by surprise.

"Burn it!" I yelled out.

The sound of a Flamethrower went off in the distance, and I gulped. My heart was going faster than it had in a long time— I hadn't fought like this in what felt like a lifetime ago. A battle with lives at stakes was so much more terrifying than I remembered, and I had to dig my nails into my palms in order to focus. The pain in my ankle grew worse every time I didn't, and I couldn't afford to worry about that right now.

The sound of battle rang out in the distance, and then I noticed a huge ball of electricity rise into the sky. Discharge— no! I couldn't afford to fucking dally and observe. My team was buying me some time. What were Carnivine's strengths and weaknesses?

She can regenerate through anything like Buddy can, but through different mechanics. Enough power to pierce Sunshine's scales, which means she can basically punch through anything. Luckily, she's too angry to actually focus and strike where it matters. I was the head of the Ekans, and Princess kept me alive.

Granted, we wouldn't just have let her attack Princess. Angel was here for backup, and Sweetheart was close by.

Restraining her wouldn't work, so what, then? Attacking until she gets too exhausted to regenerate? Was overwhelming her regeneration at my level a possibility? Cutting it off with dark TE hadn't seemed to work very well, but Angel wasn't the best at it.

Well, no time to fucking think. The entire forest of tall grass around me had started to burn to smithereens. I stared at one of the blades of grass for around ten seconds and blinked when I realized it was regenerating too, but not fast enough to do so through the flames. Hopefully it'd be the same for her if we kept her burning long enough.

But that grass… everything here was hers, then? Had she created this place, or had she appropriated it—

Electivire bellowed like an engine, his muscles bulged and he slammed a Fire Punch right in Carnivine's jaw. The grass type had hidden herself in the grass and anchored herself with an Ingrain, and he had found her. Jellicent slipped into the ground while Sunshine grabbed onto Carnivine's arms with a mighty roar before Carnivine pushed him off with a well-placed Seed Bomb, allowing her to escape.

"Princess, how tired are you?"

If she could sweat, she'd be doing so. She answered that she was fine with a tired huff as Carnivine slashed across Honey's chest, but he slipped back with a Radiant Leap, leaving only a shallow cut in the place of what would no doubt have been a debilitating injury. Thank the Legendaries for his speed. He didn't hesitate to go back into the thick of it, weaving in and out to dodge most of her attacks.

"Keep back. You need to put everything you have into the barrier," I muttered. "Angel, I'm going to need you to go in. As it stands, we're slowly losing, and your vines might be able to keep things in our favor. Buddy's going to strike soon, so wait for him. Sweetheart, you stick around. Keep us protected."

The grass type dropped me on Togekiss' back, and the barrier morphed, growing slightly larger around us. A larger barrier was a more unfocused one, and I felt a hint of heat on my face and skin from the fires raging around us. Carnivine saw this and immediately turned her attention to me. Every vine in her 'stalk' burst open and pushed Electivire off of her with whip-like vines. Each strike left bloody imprints on his fur and forced him to let go while Sunshine was off on the side and biding his time to not harm us too much.

A Crunch built itself up in her mouth. The second time, now. She might have been wild, but Carnivine knew how to deal with barriers.

At that moment, Jellicent emerged below her. Before she could swoop toward us. He screamed in agony from the Crunch, but he lost his form slipped inside her mouth and started to burn her with Hex from the inside. A Water Spout exploded from within her, and every part of her broke.

I gasped, thinking he hadn't listened to me and that she'd died.

But despite Jellicent wanting her to, Carnivine hadn't died. Instead, thin, green tendrils burst from every inch of her skin and linked all of her body parts back together. I'd known grass types were resistant, but this bordered on functional immortality! Jellicent was left without a target as he emerged from her broken insides, and a bundle of grass grew from the ground within the flames in a second and whipped him away. He crashed into the dirt with half of his head missing.

Angel wrapped dark-coated vines around Carnivine's neck, stalk and arms as soon as she had a shape again, and she desperately cut at them with poison and the grass itself when she realized that Leaf Blade wouldn't work with her leaves restrained. Buddy spat out a glob of Acid right at her head, causing her to scream and Honey arrived with the deafening roar of Electricity and slammed another Fire Punch into her stalk.

He'd been speeding up this entire battle thanks to Motor Drive, but he was at the point where exhaustion was catching up to him.

"Let Sunshine pin her!" I yelled.

The dragon grinned and propelled himself with a Rapid Spin. Angel's vines burned when he arrived, but that was fine. The grass type simply detached them before the flames could reach him. Turtonator finally got on top of Carnivine and began to burn. Vines and grass writhed from her body and the ground, but Sunshine never let go no matter how hard she whipped and cut across his exposed, burning flesh. The air around them warped until the grass type finally fell unconscious.

"Arceus," I sighed as the weight of a thousand bricks lifted itself off my chest. "Is everyone okay?"

Sweetheart and Angel were basically unharmed, and Buddy could just regenerate from most of the damage. Princess' blood soaked her fur, but it was nothing too bad. Cuts upon cuts that would heal with a potion.

Honey and Sunshine? They were in a horrible state— the fire type even more so. Electivire had fought Carnivine in close combat and had suffered for it. Poison had eaten at the flesh on his arms, torso and face, and of course he had the same cuts that Princess had, but deeper. Had that Leaf Blade hit him in the chest, I would have had to recall him and we would have never won the fight. The electric type also had surface-level burns from Sunshine. The fire type was barely recognizable. His beige scales had been destroyed or peeled off, and he could barely stand on his own any longer.

"Angel, could you go up to Honey and apply five potions," I asked, wincing when I hopped off of Princess' back. Pain had shot up my leg even though I had landed on my non-wounded foot. Walking was going to hurt. "I can't approach him, still. Do the same for Sunshine when he cools off— Sunshine, get off of her. We don't want to kill her. Buddy, you extinguish the remaining flames. It's getting hard to breathe because of the smoke."

The dragon responded with an annoyed grunt that would have been ten times as loud had he had the energy. Carnivine had tried to kill us, so why not kill her?

"I don't think she was trying to kill you," I shook my head. "Me, yes. All of you? I think she was holding back. Thank you for getting yourself hurt so much for us. I'll recall you as soon as you get some potions—"

I flinched, and would have fallen over had Princess not used her body to support me. Ariel and her Dragonite landed upon the mountain's peak with Ariel at his back. The same League Trainer that had shown us around Lake Valor.

"You're a little late," I said through clenched teeth.

"My apologies. That was intentional," she said, looking around the burned battlefield.

I scoffed. "Intentional?"

"I phrased that badly. Adversity breeds skill. Had you started losing in any serious capacity or your Togekiss been struck and been unable to use barriers, I would have intervened. Your ankle getting hurt wasn't a part of the plan, so I apologize for that. I originally wanted to let you fight Carnivine, and I did not expect her to strike at you with such lethality. She is not usually this… aggressive. I thought she simply wanted to drive you away."

Sweetheart growled within her shell. The temperature around Sunshine rose again, and only Honey's voice managed to stop him. Angel continued diligently applying potions to his wounds, and I did the same for Princess. Ariel was just so emotionally distant that she was hard to understand, but it wasn't the first time she'd done this. She had let us fumble around in an attempt to find Lake Valor for hours until she helped, but at least our lives hadn't been threatened.

"That's a lot of risk," I muttered. "And my family is hurt because of you. My ankle is…" I stopped, and my eyes drifted to my ankle. It looked swollen and red. "I don't know. Broken, maybe."

"We ACE Trainers are excellent at evaluating risk, and wild Pokemon are usually far more predictable than humans are. The League knows of Carnivine and I believed you to be able to take her down. Have you not learned valuable lessons from this fight that could be applied in… less official manners of battle?"

I had, I thought to myself. There were minor facts like Princess needed to be able to fly while shielding me— or best case scenario, I would nab myself that Claydol so she wouldn't have to worry about me all the time and would be able to make full use of her newfound mobility. Honey could be excellent at last resort barriers with Protect and Radiant Leap and a few ideas about what Angel could be able to do with his vines that I'd be stealing from Carnivine. But there were also broader concepts, like needing to manage to find a way to fully utilize Sunshine in a battle like this without hurting the others or actually working in tandem.

We weren't in Solaceon any longer. We had the power to deal real damage, and that meant that we could hurt ourselves, but our opponents would also not allow Sunshine not to go all out. I needed to get these issues in order before we set off for our cross-Sinnoh trip. I knew for a fact it wasn't the last time I was going to face an enemy stronger than my entire team. Ruth in the Lost Tower, that thing down in the ruined city… and possibly more that I didn't expect quite yet.

But more than that, my head had grown too big. Even with my Pokemon being as strong as they were, that didn't mean the wild was safe, and my affinity for Pokemon also didn't mean that I could talk my way out of fights all the time. The high from the battle was leaving now, and I could barely think straight with my busted ankle.

"That's still a really dumb policy, and my opinion of you just cratered," I said, glaring at her.

"That's a problem. Ideally, we would have a relationship that allows us to work together. I'm sorry about your ankle, but your getting hurt was unfortunately guaranteed. Again, I believed that Carnivine would not strike you with this much ferocity, and by the time she had, I had been caught off-guard. I decided to see how you would deal with the threat to allow you to grow."

At least we were all fine, I sighed in relief before mumbling to Ariel. "So you knew about this Carnivine?"

"The League and the Rangers track many of these powerful wild Pokemon. She is not that strong just yet, but given a few decades… she could grow to anchor herself and start accruing Presence."

Obviously, the League knew about Presence, I pondered. ACE Trainers were pretty high up in the food chain as things went, so there wasn't a lot Ariel wouldn't know.

I stayed quiet at first and observed a few wild Pokemon swarm around Carnivine and mourn her loss to us. Most were grass types like Seedot, Bellsprout, or Oddish, but not all of them were. Taillow, Starly, Bidoof… there were a lot of them here. Carnivine might not have been a domain holder, but she was most likely their protector and the most powerful Pokemon on this mountain.

"At first I might have thought her to be a domain holder, but she's too weak," I muttered. "I guess she's just really strong and can make use of the vegetation around here."

All but the most courageous wild Pokemon scampered off as I approached Carnivine's unconscious body, hopping on a foot until Angel carried me over. I hovered my hand over her head to make sure she was at a safe temperature for a human to touch, and made sure there was no more poison dripping from her mouth. I started applying one of my potions to her as well. It wouldn't do much, but maybe it would make the pain more manageable once she woke up.

"Indeed, she is far from a Pokemon with a domain," Ariel said with her arms crossed. "I feel the need to reiterate my surprise at how aggressive she's gotten. Usually, she doesn't strike at people like this."

"She said her kid was stolen."

The ACE trainer paused, crossed her arms and tapped a finger on her elbow. "Really?"

"I was hoping to learn who before she attacked me," I continued. "I mean, they'd have to be a really good trainer to actually get past her, so I figured I'd maybe be able to get a description to find them nearby. If it wasn't long ago, maybe they're still in Pastoria or on the route and I could have convinced them to bring the Pokemon back."

Angel nodded at the suggestion and caressed Carnivine's head. He was the only one who loved the idea. The others were a lot less… agreeable, except Honey who was neutral on the entire matter.

Ariel ignored me and her eyes drifted to my ankle. "Do you have something to patch yourself up? I recommend flying to the Pokemon Center in Pastoria as soon as you can."

"Oh, yeah," I said, touching Carnivine's rough skin. "I can make a splint and bandage it for now, but I'll have to— well, I don't know. I'll have to talk to my friends first."

She didn't answer, but she did stay until I was done healing the entire team. As soon as Angel applied potions on Sunshine, I recalled him. He was growing delirious from the pain. Seeing him like this made me fume every time I stared in Ariel's general direction. After having Princess create a splint out of stone with Ancient Power, I bandaged my swollen ankle as best I could. I hissed every time I pressed on it too hard, but it needed to be tight. After taking a breather for around a minute, I was ready to leave. A whole lot of the plateau had been burned, but we were nowhere as experienced as we needed to be to regrow the place and Ariel said she had no grass types.

Fucking hell, it hurt. Every movement was slow and laborious, desperate not to move my ankle too much. It felt like even my clothes touching my swollen skin was too much. My face was drenched in cold sweat, and biting my tongue to distract myself from the pain didn't work. Ariel offered to lend me a hand, but I refused right away. I wanted nothing to do with her. Trial by fire worked, but I enjoyed walking.

While I unfolded Princess' saddle, I heard a gurgle from Carnivine. My head whirled toward the grass type, who was still too tired to even move. How had she recovered so quickly? Was her regeneration at work again? Sweetheart berated Carnivine, telling her to stay down and that she had lost, but she wasn't looking for another fight. Her voice was so quiet I could barely hear it.

"So now that we beat you, you're willing to talk?" I spoke before stopping. That sounded a lot more aggressive than I'd wanted it to. "Sorry. You're— you're hurting. More than we are."

I kept my distance, but I did explain to her that I was willing to go look for her son if she told me what Pokemon he was and described the trainer that had taken him. The Pokemon himself was a Leafeon. Anything that had evolved from Eevee would be rare (and especially one that could either evolve deep inside of Eterna Forest in Sinnoh or from the highest quality Leaf Stone which was extremely expensive), but that was no excuse to rip some poor Pokemon from their mother.

Carnivine let out a miserable, depressed cackle, and Honey translated her next words.

The thief hadn't been a normal trainer. He had hypnotized her, and by the time she'd woken up, Leafeon was gone. She'd gotten a glimpse of him before falling into a trance. Brown hair and eyes, average height, clean-shaven, thin eyebrows and an angular face. He smelled of tobacco and smoke.

I nervously tapped my foot the more of his Pokemon she listed. Machamp, Mimikyu, Shedinja, Malamar—

"What the fuck…?" I exhaled.

What in the world was Abel doing catching random Pokemon?