As our group walked back to Isaac’s house, we made grand plans for all the experimental design phases we would try. Some steps were obvious – like adding a center band to the prototype and trying a simple internal energy redirection carving – but Isaac had lots of other thoughts. He told me that if we went about it right, we could do more than just replicate the design; we could figure out why poke balls worked the way they did at a more fundamental level.

“Of course, if we are to make any progress at all, we will need to procure more of the required stones,” he mentioned in an offhand way as we arrived at the front door of his house. “Our first step should therefore be to organize a retrieval party.”

I scratched the back of my neck, thinking. “Didn’t you say that you first found these stones in a cave?”

“Yes, Union Cave.” Isaac paused to enthusiastically greet Charity, who had gotten back from school and was waiting for us in the kitchen. Once they had finished gushing over each other he turned back to me. “It has been a long time, but I believe I could find the right location again with a bit of luck.”

Charity backed up from her father and looked at our group as a whole, clearly puzzled. “The right location? Where are you going?”

“We found the missing material,” I told her eagerly, “and it worked! Well, sort of, but the point is now we have to get more of it.”

Charity blinked at me, then smiled widely. “That is good news! I will come with you to help.”

Isaac grew visibly paler. “My dear, that is not a good idea. The tumbled stone we need is found in the cave system to the east of town, and it is filled with majū. Any trip into the caves is dangerous.”

Charity frowned. “But Papa, you are going to the caves, yes? And you have no partner majū.” I hid a smile; she had him there.

“Yes,” Isaac admitted, “but I have experience avoiding majū in the wild. It would be much more risky for you.”

“I have Maisy! And if this tumblestone is so important, we must take risks to get it.”

“Tumbled stone,” Isaac corrected absently. Then he shook his head. “Reasonable risks only. Maisy is a pet, not a trained majū, and you are too young to go out in the wild.”

They kept arguing, which made me feel like an intruder, so I snuck back out of the house. Drowzee and Florence followed close behind me, and Florence made a face when we had safely closed the front door.

“That girl is a handful,” she muttered as we made our way around the side of the house to the small yard in the back. “I cannot believe she wants to go marching out into the wild with no forethought whatsoever.”

I snorted. “Look who’s talking! You do that all the time, Florence.”

She blushed – point for me – but also glared at me. “I make plans in advance! And I know what to expect out in the wild at this point. Charity does not.”

I didn’t respond. I was far too aware of the fact that I knew even less than Charity did about surviving in the wild in this time period. I really had no business going into a potentially deadly cave system with no protection other than Drowzee. It would be worth it, though, if we could get a larger sample of the special stone. Maybe learning more about how the stone worked would help me figure out why the gold and silver ball seemed so different from regular poke balls.

We reached the small plot of weeds behind the house, and Florence settled down to sit cross-legged on the ground. She waited for a moment, then looked up at me and scowled. “Well, Trainer Monroe, sit down. Now is a perfect time to practice meditation.”

I groaned. “Seriously? Now?”

“Yes, now. We promised Trainer Smith. Sit down already!”

I grumbled my way through meditation until Drowzee smacked me on the knee. Then I grumbled on the inside, if not out loud. Meditating was even harder without Smith’s soothing voice; I had a hard time breathing on an even count, and my mind kept wandering off to explore new ideas instead of clearing itself properly. At least Florence and Drowzee seemed to get some benefit out of the whole process.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur of planning. Isaac wanted us to go to the cave as soon as possible, but he needed to gather more supplies first, so we debated which kinds of tools we would need and made a shopping list for Isaac to manage the next day. Charity sulked with her Slowpoke in a different room; Isaac had eventually told her that she was simply not allowed to come on the trip, and she wasn’t taking it well.

The next morning, I noticed that Charity wasn’t in the kitchen for breakfast. That was a bit odd, since she usually puttered around the room feeding Maisy bits of this and that for as long as possible before rushing off to school. I didn’t think much of it, though. I just focused on eating my egg-and-rice and trying to wake up properly while Drowzee did his stretches next to me.

I didn’t realize what was going to happen until Florence, Drowzee, and I arrived at the usual training field and found that Charity was already there. She stood out on the grass, Maisy next to her, with her arms crossed over her chest and a determined expression on her face.

When Charity spotted me, she immediately perked up and pointed in my direction. “Trainer Monroe,” she announced, “I challenge you to a battle between majū!”

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“… What?” Alright, I might have sounded a bit stupid, but I wasn’t alone in my confusion; Drowzee and Florence also looked taken aback.

Charity scowled and marched up to me, Maisy trailing behind her. Then she poked me hard in the chest. “Papa says that you are allowed to go to the caves because you are a trainer with a majū who can protect you. I told him that I am also a trainer, but he does not believe me.” She gestured widely towards Drowzee, who was standing next to me and looked more than a little lost. “So I will defeat you and your partner in a battle. Then my father will have to acknowledge our strength, and he will bring me on this trip instead of you!”

“Now hold on a minute!” Sure, I was a bit nervous about the idea of going into a cave full of wild Pokemon, but this whole poke ball thing was basically my pet project at this point. I didn’t want anyone else to take my place. “What makes you think you can beat Drowzee and me anyway?”

She smiled triumphantly. “Maisy already knows an elemental attack; your Drowzee does not.”

That stung, particularly because Florence was nodding as if Charity had made a good point. I gripped Drowzee’s shoulder in what I hoped was a reassuring way. It wasn’t his fault that he still hadn’t learned Confusion, we were working hard on it! “That doesn’t matter,” I told Charity, trying to keep my cool. “Battling is about more than just moves.”

“Wise words,” a quiet voice said behind me. I turned around to see that Smith and Venomoth had arrived. Smith appeared to be calmly assessing the situation as Venomoth fluttered over to hover above Maisy. “I am glad to hear that your mindset has evolved already, Trainer Monroe.”

I opened my mouth to tell him that I had no idea what he was talking about, then closed it again. If he thought I had said something smart, I wasn’t going to correct him.

Venomoth glided back over to Smith and made a low buzzing noise. Smith nodded as if this made sense, then looked back at me. “This is a fair challenge and would be a good test of your development. I believe that you should accept it.”

“What!” I yelled; then I forced myself to calm down. “But Charity’s not really a trainer, right?” Charity made a noise of protest behind me. “How could a battle with her be helpful?”

“I believe I heard the young lady say that you are planning a trip to the nearby caves?” Smith looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded reluctantly. “If you plan to return to the wild without a senior trainer to assist, you need to be confident in your battling capabilities. Charity and her Slowpoke may be young and new to battling, but you yourself are also a novice. It would be a fair match.”

“Unless you are scared that Maisy and I will beat you,” Charity said, gazing up at me with an innocent smile.

I ignored the goad and looked over at Florence. She just shrugged at me. “We are supposed to be training,” she pointed out. “Practice battles are a part of that, I suppose.”

Finally, I looked down at Drowzee. He balled his hands into fists and nodded his whole head at me in what seemed to be an encouraging manner, his ears quivering.

Well, if my Pokemon was into it, I supposed I might as well follow along. I sighed and turned back to Charity. “Fine. We can have a battle.”

“Excellent!” Charity chirped. “And the winner shall accompany Papa to Union Cave!”

I wanted to protest, but Charity turned around and dashed off before I could. When a reasonable distance separated us she turned and straightened her shoulders, standing up tall. Smith stood a bit to the side with Venomoth hovering above him, while Florence crouched in the grass behind me. Drowzee and Maisy both made their way over to the center of the field and faced off.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was actually feeling a little nervous. The last time Drowzee and I had officially battled (apart from the disastrous two-on-one battle that I refused to think about) was against Richard, back in Florence’s village. That had gone okay, but only because Richard and his Tentacruel decided to go easy on us and end the battle early. I didn’t think Charity was going to do that. Then again, Maisy seemed much weaker than Tentacruel had been. Maybe we actually stood a chance this time.

“Okay!” Charity called out, grinning widely. “Let’s start with Water Gun, Maisy!”

Maisy was faster to react to orders than I had expected; she let loose a stream of water before I could react. It collided with Drowzee and pushed him back a few feet. He shook himself off briskly and rubbed the spot on his chest where the water had hit him; it looked like he was already a bit hurt.

We weren’t going to make much progress without a long-range attack if Maisy could keep squirting water at us. Luckily, I had an idea. “Use Disable, Drowzee,” I yelled.

Drowzee lowered his head and shot rings of blue light towards Maisy, who slowly shook her tail back and forth after the attack hit her.

“That didn’t do anything,” Charity said in a taunting tone. “Use Water Gun again, Maisy!”

Wait, what? I tilted my head to the side, unsure if Charity had some kind of special strategy I was unaware of. But no – Maisy looked confused too.

Well, might as well take advantage while I still could. “Get in close to Maisy, then use Pound,” I called out to Drowzee.

He responded with a short “Zee!” and jogged up to where Maisy sat in the grass. Maybe I was imagining things, but he actually seemed a little faster than he had been in our previous battles.

“Maisy, what are you doing?” Charity was starting to look a little worried. “Water Gun. Use your water attack!”

Maisy just shook her head back and forth, then flinched backwards as Drowzee reached her and pounded at her with his fists.

Charity stamped her foot, then finally decided to switch tactics. “Fine, use your Tackle attack instead!”

Drowzee had been preparing another Pound attack, but Maisy caught him by surprise by leaping forward and knocking him to the ground. Luckily, Drowzee was able to roll out of the way and put some distance between himself and the other Pokemon before she could attack again.

In the background Charity cheered and told Maisy to keep Tackling. I chewed my lower lip as I watched the Slowpoke amble in Drowzee’s direction. Tackle seemed just as powerful as Pound, which could leave us at a standstill until Disable wore off and Maisy could use her water attack again. Unless…

“Drowzee, you need to get behind Maisy,” I yelled to my starter. “Use Pound, then dodge out of reach again.”

Drowzee looked over his shoulder at me, a bit startled, but then nodded. He ran in a wide arc around Maisy and managed to attack her from behind, then jogged away again.

And, just as I had suspected, Maisy wasn’t able to turn around quickly enough to intercept him.

“Keep it up!” I shouted. Drowzee seemed to have gotten the hang of it now; he kept darting in and out, hitting Maisy when she was turned the other way, then lunging out of range of her Tackle attack before she could retaliate.

Charity was getting frantic on her side of the field. “Come on, Maisy, you can get him with a Tackle! No – try Growling, see if that works!” Maisy let out a low, grumbly growl, but it didn’t seem to affect Drowzee at all since he was well out of range. “Try your Water Gun again!”

Nothing Charity and Maisy tried worked. Drowzee snuck in a third Pound attack, then a fourth. And then, just as he was about to run in for a fifth attack, Maisy let out a short “Slooo” and closed her eyes.

Drowzee skidded to a stop, blinking down at Maisy in confusion. Smith walked forward and leaned over Maisy to investigate; then he nodded. “Maisy the Slowpoke no longer wishes to battle. Congratulations, Drowzee and Trainer Monroe; you are the winners.”