With the tournament less than a month away, I got hard into training. Obviously, Dunsparce and I had been training before, but this would be a huge step up in intensity for us, so I needed a plan.

Step 1? “Mother, can I train further out in the wilderness? Dunsparce needs a bit more variety in his training.” I asked, ever so innocently at the dinner table on a rare night when she was with us. The staff behind her, especially Leah, were a bit surprised and looked like they wanted to say something, but O’Nare just clapped her hands together.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, dear. Looking at a different plot of land can always help invigorate me when I’m having trouble with a different area. It’s the Glitterati way to seek out new answers by looking at problems from different angles,” She declared proudly.

Cyan and I just shared a look at that. I do appreciate Mom’s support, but I don’t think self-aggrandizing is necessary. A flicker of sadness appeared on O’Nare’s face before she quickly swept it away which made me wonder for a moment if she could read minds.

Later on, after we left the dinner table and her eyes lingered on the spot Billy would have been, I realized what it really was. She’s used to him chiming in whenever he says something like that, praising her. She misses him too. It was an easy thing to miss, but I could forget sometimes that the extra work and busyness were hard on them as well.

Step 2? “I’ll need a tent, a dozen Hyper Potions, some Super Potions, Oran and Sitrus Berries-” I began listing off the items I’d need for my ‘training expedition’ as I’d dubbed it.

“No!!” Leah interrupted, hands planted on her hips. “We can’t let you spend a fortnight out in the wilderness on your own, and we can’t spare the staff to have someone go out there with you.” I convinced my mother, but Leah is the one I actually have to convince, no matter what O’Nare said. She’s not just going to let me run off without a good argument.

“But c’mooooon,” I eloquently reasoned. She remained unmoved, her features as if cast out of solid iron.

“You have no experience out in the wilderness.” In a softer tone, she added “You have the makings of an excellent trainer, I will admit, and I know you might feel stifled here-”

“Whaaat? No, I don’-”

“You started off this training expedition idea by doing all of your tutoring assignments planned out for the next two weeks in the same amount of time as you usually do a regular session of schoolwork.” Her tone implied that it was a point we’d be getting back to. I’ll likely have to move up a few grades/curriculum levels again. That shouldn’t be too bad though, Cyan and I are on much better terms now.

She continued “You have some knowledge, but you need some practical courses before you even think about living in the wilderness for a while.” That’s… honestly a good idea. I’ll look into that after the tournament. “Even then, it wouldn’t hurt to just… slow down a bit, young miss. I wish… you didn’t feel the need to rush ahead all the time.” Her voice was wistful, with a tremor of pain in it, and I winced.

“... I’m sorry. I don’t want to worry you or anything. And I plan on taking it easy after this. But I really need to train hard for this tournament - it’s important.” I held my hand up to stop her before she could just deny me. “I see your points too, however. So maybe leave the tent and I’ll go out on my own, and come back before sundown every day? I’ll go no farther than Los Platos too.” Los Platos was a small city, really a town, an hour or two away from our house.

She frowned, looking not fully convinced, but not shooting me down either. “I’ll take Rotom with me too, and a portable charge pack. They can call you and/or a Flying Taxi if anything gets too bad. Plus, I’ll have all those other supplies to make sure Dunsparce is in good health.”

After a long minute of staring me down, Leah finally sighed. “Fine, you can do that. But I’ll be going with you for the first day, and I want you to give me an overview of where you’ll be training.”

Step 2.5? Accept that most plans can’t be rigidly followed and need some adjustment. “Deal!”

Step 3? The training itself. Which is how Dunsparce, Rotom, Leah, and I found ourselves in the hills outside Los Platos.

“Spin! Spin to win!” I called out as Dunsparce did his best to drill through a very solid rock we’d found beside the path. Despite how fast his tail was going, he couldn’t fully pierce through it to the base of his drill tail before losing steam and flopping down beside it. Hyper Drill training is going well. I don’t think he’ll be anywhere near ready to use it by the time of the tournament, but that’s fine. Hyper Drill is what he needs to evolve, so that’s a pretty long-term goal at the moment.

“Alright, now parry!” Dun raised his tail to counter an imaginary blow. That’s good, he’s getting fast enough with that idea that he could probably deflect a Move he saw coming but couldn’t have run away from in time.

“Burrow!” At that, he lowered his tail, drilling it into the ground and retreating beneath the surface. When I gave that command, without any other direction, he was just supposed to rise a few meters in a random direction from where he came from. A moment later, I saw him rise, but only about a meter away from where he went down. Hmm, might need to work on that. His sensing of the ground still needs some fine-tuning.

“Well, it certainly seems like he has the basics down,” Leah commented from the side. For some reason that seemed to upset Dun, the snake doing an odd hiss I interpreted as a scoff. Is it because Leah isn’t a battler? No, some part of his own performance is unsatisfying to him… Ah, it’s the burrowing. I realized as I saw him burrow again, even though I hadn’t given the command. I hadn’t told him to stop either, but it definitely showed frustration with that.

Dunsparces were an interesting Pokemon. Called the ‘land snake’ Pokemon, they were often found on the land but had tiny wings for limited flight and gliding which let them learn a few Flying Moves. They were also known for access to many Ground Moves despite not being Ground Types and would live in intricate burrows underground. And come to think of it, I found him on the beach, no burrow or tunnel nearby. There was a lot to unpack there, and I didn’t want to air his ‘dirty’ laundry in front of Leah, so I just moved on to the next element of our training: Battling.

“Ok, let’s go for another round. Against… a Fidough!” With that command, I sprinted off, Dunsparce following quickly after me, with Leah following less quickly. No break in between. While the purpose of this training was battle experience, having him run these drills helped keep his fundamentals up, as well as help simulate how exhausting a tournament could be.

The ‘Annual Junior League Tournament’ was, despite the low level of the event, still a huge tournament. The flashiest and best-attended tournaments were the ones for 8 badges and ‘Elite/Champion rank’ trainers. While there were lower-level events, they tended to be local affairs, and not very watched due to the low levels of the trainers. There were some exceptions, however, like how Tyme ran a big tournament every year up in Glaseado Mountain for every trainer with five badges or less. It was called ‘the up-and-comers tournament’ or something like that.

This would be another big one, mostly just due to its location. Mesagoza, the city past Los Platos was massive. I could see part of it, past kilometers of grassy hills and plains, but I couldn’t see the whole city from where I stood on the trail. The size alone meant a lot of people could attend, but the other factor was the school. Plenty of the students would be more researchers or scholars than trainers but still have had their partner Pokemon with them for years, even if they only had one, two, or no badges. Being so close, a lot of them were likely to attend, as well as all of the serious/dedicated new trainers.

Knowing how big this was played a part in why I wanted to push Dunsparce so hard. I felt confident he could take it, however, and he proved it by leaping ahead on a wing-assisted jump past me to land in between myself and a Fidough I spotted.

She was crouched low, growling at us as we made our entrance. The bread-dog Pokemon had taken a step backward at Dun’s landing but wasn’t making any further moves to back up past the tree she stood beside. I wonder why it won’t move from here? I can’t make out anything that would make the area special to her. Then again, I’m hardly a Professor of Fidoughology.

Leah moved to stop me, but I slipped away to introduce myself to the Pokemon. “Sorry for intruding, but we want to spar!” I said, stopping a good distance away from the growling dog. She lowered her growl, switching from ‘aggressive’ to merely ‘wary’, but made no other signs of acceptance.

Understandable. Plenty of Pokemon are eager to test themselves, but many are wary of other Pokemon aggressively attacking them. Some just want to be left alone too. I gave Dun a slight shake of my head, showing this battle was off. “Alright, sorry for disturbing you.” Holding my hand out, I grabbed an Oran Berry Leah placed in my palm from her own backpack.

The Fidough immediately straightened up, eyes fixed on the Berry. Tossing it to her she jumped towards it, grabbing it out of the air with her mouth and scarfing it down. Instantly, her energy did a complete 180, the Fidough trotting up happily towards me.

My maid and I shared a chuckle at her antics. “Well, not sure why that got you so happy, but glad to see there’s no hard feelings,” I said. The games had not been very accurate about how things worked in the world, as you couldn’t just run down wild Pokemon and beat them up to make your team tougher. Well, maybe you could, but it’d be an asshole thing to do. Also, I think you’d start running into problems as the wild Pokemon would soon start running away from you. Or the other way and you’d get a bunch of them or some of the stronger ones looking to drive you out.

Not wanting any of those situations but still needing to train Dunsparce up with actual battles, I’d come up with this strategy of asking politely. Giving treats also helps a lot.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Fidough hadn’t backed away yet and was sniffing curiously towards Leah. “Hmm, you want a bit more? Well, I could give you three more… if you agree to spar Dun here.” I offered, waving a hand down at Dunsparce who had puffed back up, looking interested again.

The wild Pokemon backed up a step, eyeing Dun up before barking three times. “Is that a yes?”

“Fi.”

“Awesome! Alright, let-”

“Fi!” she interrupted me, pawing the ground violently. Huh? She looked so ready to battle though- oh.

“You want four?” She barked in what I assumed was agreement from how pleased she looked. “That’s highway robbery…” I muttered under my breath before shaking my head. It’s fine, I have oodles of Berries, all preserved and safe in Leah’s bag - Sliph Co. really makes some miraculous stuff. “Fine, you’ve got a deal.” Leah laughed again and outright snorted before hiding it behind her professional demeanor, but this time I felt she was laughing at me, not the dog.

She took a battle stance and I backed up to make room for her and Dunsparce to fight, Leah stepping even further back. There wasn’t a signal or referee, so she took the initiative, pouncing towards Dun. Not fast enough to be a Quick Attack, Tackle then? Or maybe she’s just going for a Bite.

Fighting wild Pokemon added an extra layer of difficulty to battling, in that you couldn’t hear or respond to what Moves were going to be used. I considered it good training for dealing with the more skilled trainers, that would disguise or conceal which Moves they were calling out to their partners.

“Meet it with a Body Slam!” I called out, and Dunsparce did so eagerly, smashing into the Fidough as she collided with him. It was indeed a Tackle, and while Dun looked a little bruised from that exchange, the dog was battered, rolling far away on the ground. She got back up shakily, and when I saw she was still good to go, ordered Dun to Body Slam again.

He did so, but there was a split-second of hesitation as he followed my order. I’ll have to explain what I’m doing later. Ah, and here’s the weakness of a lack of Trainer commands. I saw Fidough rushing back in and tackling again. Despite being outmatched and off-balanced, she couldn’t think clearly of any options other than rushing in, or ways to change up her strategy.

She tanked the hit better this time, not getting sent as far away, but still hurt badly. “Now, Poison Jab!” I called out, seeing her dazed and Dunsparce in close. Eagerly, he gathered the purple energy around his tail and struck deep into her doughy body. She gave a painful cry and toppled over, defeated.

“Oh my,” Leah whispered out, as Dun puffed up with pride. He’d been nervous at the start of the day, but after a few battles was getting much more comfortable, even eager at the thought of a fight. It helped him to realize that not every challenge would be as tough or potentially deadly as the Wugtrio was. He’ll learn in time though that there’s still so much further to go, that there might not even be a peak, no limits to what a determined Pokemon can achieve.

“She’ll be fine, Pokemon are pretty tough,” I reassured Leah. Still, I took out some of the medical supplies I was carrying and moved over to help her. First, I made sure she wasn’t poisoned, seeing no lingering purple spots on her bread-y flesh, and then gave her a Revive to get her back on her feet. She promptly responded to waking up by biting me.

“Oww.” I hissed out while waving Dunsparce and Leah off with my non-bitten hand. They’re always keen to protect me, which I do appreciate, but I don’t need it here. She’s just confused.

Blinking her eyes a few times as she fully realized what was going on, she let go, backing away a little nervously from Dunsparce glaring at her and Leah towering over her. “Dough.” She said, a tad nervously.

“It’s fine,” I answered, shaking out my hand. She hadn’t even pierced the skin, not a real ‘Bite’ Move, and without that, Fidough’s teeth weren’t that sharp. “Alright, thank you for the battle, here are your berries.” Leah nodded stiffly and tossed them over to her (and a bit farther away from us, forcing the dog Pokemon to move away from me to get them, I noted), where she happily began devouring them.

Once we were away from the dog Leah immediately scolded me. “That was reckless. Young Miss,” she tacked on the end, for the bare semblance of keeping to our stations.

“I’m fine, look it didn’t even break the skin.” I said, showing her my hand. While there were a few pink imprints from where she bit, there was no bleeding.

“That doesn’t change the fact that it was reckless,” She crossed her arms. This is more emotional than logical. And honestly, she is right, I could have been more careful there.

“You’re right, I’ll be more careful in the future. I wanted to make sure she was alright, but I could have kept my distance after using the Revive, I’ll make sure to do that in the future.” Leah still wore a frown on her face, but I saw whatever rebuke or lecture on the tip of her tongue fail to break out loud as she eventually just nodded jerkily. Alright, I don’t think she’s going to ban us from the training just from that then, and the rest of the day has been pretty good so far.

“C’mon Dun, let’s go. Try and glide as we move,” I told him as we started walking down the grassy path. Most of the Pokemon nearby had vacated after seeing that battle or were flying high above freely.

“Arce?” He asked as I walked away. He still had trouble hovering just above the surface without losing any altitude, but he was getting better at maximizing the length and time between landing on the ground.

“So, that was me trying to simulate dealing around another Trainer’s commands,” I began to explain, understanding what he was getting at. I’d tried asking any of the few wanderers on the path if they had Pokemon/wanted to battle, but no one was interested. It felt odd, but this location was chosen by my parents because it was very calm, in addition to being picturesque. As such our only battles had been against wild Pokemon, which Dun handled quite well.

“We ‘fought’ that other Fidough before, and you took him out with a single Poison Jab. But, if a trainer hears me say that and knows that they’re weak to the Type of Move, they might command their Pokemon to abort and move away. By trading in with those blows, we can lower their guard, then strike with a Super-Effective Move when they get in close.”

He was silent for a moment, nodding his head to agree, while trying to remain stable in the air. Then, after landing said “Duuuuuuun?” While looking up hopefully at me.

“Huh?”

“I believe the glutton desires some berries, bzzt.” Rotom said, disapprovingly. They were out and about, recording the battle and Move practice footage so we could review it overnight. Rotom has been mostly silent so far, and I thought it was because of Leah, but now I’m thinking there’s something else going on. Dun lashed his tail out aggressively in response, hissing at Rotom.

“Ok, I’ll try and deal with that later, but please try and get along?” They both reluctantly nodded. “As for a Berry, you don’t want to fill up before dinner at home, right?”

Being a Pokemon Trainer was a journey of many discoveries, I was finding out. Seeing what was over that next hill, learning a new Move, uncovering something lost… and learning that your starter had a very expensive palette. In the almost year since I’d had him, Dunsparce had come to adore the meals we got from our chefs at home, and would now turn his nose up at the PokeKibble sold from basic stores. It was all caviar, filet mignon, and artisan salads for Dun.

Still, if he’s begging for Berries, he must be pretty tired. It wasn’t all that surprising, we had been training since sunrise and gave me a good idea of where to aim for by the end of the month. Let’s see if we can get him to go all the way through a day even harder than this by the end of this focus session without needing a Berry. I think that’ll mean he’ll be able to compete all day in the tournament without problems. The tournament might have more intense fights than a day of training, but it would also have more break times.

I asked for a Sitrus Berry from Leah knowing they gave back the most energy. “This should help give you some energy for the rest of the day, then we’ll have a big feast when we get back home, ok?” Dun cheered loudly, eagerly taking the Sitrus Berry I offered him.

We went through the last few exercises I had planned for the day, which were mostly just practicing Moves and one bout against a Tarountula that quickly conceded under the might of Dunsparce’s Body Slams.

“So, what do you think?” I asked my watcher after the day was done and we stood just outside the gardens of my home, trying to hide any nervousness I was feeling.

She pursed her lips together. “I think it’s still a bit risky, but if that’s the average routine you’re planning, I think things should be safe enough here for you to train on your own. Promise me you’ll stay in touch throughout the day and if anything dangerous occurs, you’ll run away.”

“I promise.” I even mean it, though we may have different opinions on ‘dangerous’. While it was an average day of training for us, I’d probably place it on the lighter end of things. Which is important when working out! Just… we’ll have harder ones too.

“Alright. Rotom, I’m counting on you to keep her honest.” She said before heading inside.

“Yes ma’am, bzzt.” They replied, only for Dun to roll their eyes and mock them.

“Narce un dun.” They said smugly, causing Rotom to gasp in shock and anger. I understood why, assuming I was understanding what Dun was saying.

“Bzzzzzzzzt! At least I’m not a disobedient runt!”

Dunsparce Glared at them, and it was strong enough that I’m fairly certain Rotom would have been Paralyzed if they weren’t an Electric type. “Enough of that you two!” I said, stepping in between them. “Dun, there’s no reason to call Rotom a coward, I was fine with them leaving to get help with Wugtrio. And Rotom, it was rude of Dun but there was no need to be cruel right back.” The two of them averted their gazes, from each other and me, looking a bit ashamed. “Why are you guys sniping at each other so much?”

My land snake gave off a complex answer of “Dun Spar, Un, Ce, Sparce,” which I could not understand. Rotom just turned away from me.

“I’m sorry Dun, I don’t understand what you mean. Rotom, can you help - fairly - translate?”

“Bzzt, it’s difficult…” A small hum of electricity followed as they trailed off. Difficult for you to translate, or difficult for you to talk about? There was more going on here between the two of them than just being tired after a long day. I didn’t think I’d get anywhere by pushing at the end of a long, worry-filled day either, though.

“Can we both agree to put any dislike of each other aside for the time being? I need us all on the same page for the tournament. Dun, you’re doing great and I’m really proud of your progress. Can’t wait to see where you are at the end of this training, you’re going to be so tough, no one would dare mess with you.” He gave a happy warble at that and muttered his name as a semi-sincere apology to Rotom. The kind of ‘I still think you’re wrong, but sorry for being a jerk’ tone.

To Rotom, I said “Thank you for coming out here like this every day. I know it might not be as exciting for you, but we really appreciate the help. And if you ever want to talk about what’s going on, we’re here for you too.” This was joined by an exasperated but encouraging sigh from Dun. Definitely a lot more going on here. He’s pissed at Rotom but also wants them to do… something?

To my surprise, Rotom froze up at that. “Bzzt, I- it’s no prob-” They paused for a good minute, and I’d be worried that they were out of power if they weren’t levitating easily. “Please give me a bit to formulate my answer, bzzt. I have… a lot to think about.”

Yesss! They’re opening up about what’s gotten them so weird. I tried not to let that show on my face, not wanting to pressure them now that I was making a breakthrough. “That’s fine, take your time. Just remember not to lash out at others because of what you’re feeling.” Despite speaking to Rotom, my words were clearly for the two of them, and they both nodded.

It’s not instantaneous, but we’re making progress, slowly and steadily. In a bunch of different areas. Slowly and steadily, we’ll overcome any challenge that comes our way.