We followed Richard and his team of fishing boats across the ocean until the village of Enrui was in sight. About fifteen minutes before we got there a rainstorm hit us, but it was a fairly calm one with cold rain and only mild winds, nothing the ship couldn’t handle. After the crew lowered the sails and dropped the anchor the ship rocked about a little more heavily than usual, but certainly not enough to justify Isaac’s moaning.

Zuri had spent the intervening time consulting with Henry and reviewing which goods the ship had on hand. I overheard enough of their conversation to gather that they didn’t have much in the hold at the moment, just a few leftovers from the previous trading run. After much deliberation she decided on two sacks of rice, a chest of fabrics, and a small box of spices in paper envelopes. These goods were loaded into one of the ship’s boats alongside Zuri and Kaiko, who were going to row the boat out to the shore.

The second boat would take the rest of us. I huddled in my cloak in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the rain off as I climbed down a rope ladder into the little boat and shuffled over to take my place. The small boat was rocking a lot more than the ship had, and the whole thing was soaking wet as well. At least my Pokemon were dry – Pausso was safely in his poke ball since we didn’t have enough room for all the Pokemon to travel with us in the boat, and Echo had hunkered down under the hood of my cloak.

I settled next to Florence on the wooden board and grimaced as my trousers immediately soaked up the water on the seat. Then I looked at her sidelong. She was clearly dreading the inevitable confrontation with her mother, but she had refused to talk about it on the way to the village, throwing herself into a second round of training with her team instead. Now that they were all tucked away in their balls she simply sat there and stared blindly at the floor of the boat.

“C’mon, Florence,” I said quietly. “It can’t be that bad. It’s not like your mom can force you to stay in the village, not when you’re already training three majū.”

“I know,” she said quietly. She leaned back and looked up into the sky, letting her hood fall. Rivulets of water slowly started tracing their way down her face. “She will not try to force me. She will simply cry, and tell me how worried she has been, and do everything she can to make me feel guilty. And that will be worse.”

I nodded sympathetically; mom guilt-trips were always difficult. And yet… “You did kind of leave without saying goodbye,” I said as diplomatically as I could. Out of nowhere, a flash of guilt tugged at my heart. I had left without saying goodbye too. Not that I’d had a choice.

She tilted her head slightly to look at me. “Do you wish to make me feel worse? Because you are succeeding.”

“I’m just saying maybe you should talk to her,” I replied evenly. “Tell her what you’ve been doing. Help her see that you don’t need to be protected anymore.”

Florence sighed. “If only it were that simple.”

I thought about pushing back, because maybe it was that simple. But Isaac had just climbed down the ladder to join us and he was looking paler than ever as the boat rocked back and forth, so I figured it wasn’t the best time.

Tanaji and Sizhen rowed the three of us out to shore (Charity had elected to stay behind to focus on her reading), and… well, it could have been worse, I supposed. No one fell out of the boat and we weren’t attacked by wild Pokemon. But that didn’t make the cold, relentless rain any easier to bear.

By the time our rowboats reached the beach a respectable contingent of villagers were waiting alongside Richard and the other fishermen, who had gone ahead before us. I looked around to see if Michael was there, but there was no sign of him or Hoothoot. Maybe they had other business they were dealing with.

As soon as we stepped out of the boat Florence was surrounded by a group of people who all asked how she was and was she truly a trainer now and did she plan to stay or leave again? She looked more than a little overwhelmed by all the questions and wriggled out of the cluster of people as soon as she could. Unfortunately, she emerged right in front of her mother.

“Florence!” the woman cried as she flung her arms around her shoulders. “I have been so worried about you!”

Florence stood there awkwardly for a few moments. Then she sighed and patted her mother’s back. “I am fine. Are you well?”

The woman made a noncommittal noise and stepped back to look Florence over from head to toe as she held her at arm’s length. “Look at you! You must have grown at least three inches over the summer, and you are as thin as a needle. Clearly they are not feeding you enough in Azalea.”

“I am fine, mother. Truly.” She glanced over at me and I made a quick ‘keep going’ motion at her, which made Echo squeak in confusion from her perch atop my head. “And… I am sorry for leaving so abruptly.”

Florence’s mother smiled weakly and reached a hand out to cup her cheek. “I forgive you, dear. Come. Let us get out of the rain so we can talk further.”

She started to lead Florence away, but the girl held back for a moment and cast a panicked look towards me. “Ah – Monroe should come too!” she said. When her mother turned to look back at her, confused, she hurried forward. “We both got soaked out in the rowboat. It would be good to rest inside for a bit.”

Her mother looked towards me for the first time, and I hesitantly nodded. I was awfully wet, but I didn’t think that was why Florence wanted me to tag along.

Florence’s mother paused for a moment, then smiled. “Of course. You are welcome as well, trainer. Follow me.”

As she led us away from the beach I cast a look over my shoulder at the others. Isaac was sitting on the beach with his head between his knees while an old woman from the village clucked over him. Not that far off from him, Zuri talked swiftly with a short woman while Richard stood nearby and interrupted with his own thoughts occasionally. Zuri caught my eye and waved me off; she’d be busy haggling for a while, then.

I followed Florence and her mother up a path, into the village and into one of the fabric buildings. Once I was inside I paused to look around. I had slept in one of these structures my first night after being sent back to the past, but I had been too stressed out by the whole situation to pay much attention then. Now I noticed that a sturdy frame of bent bamboo supported the walls of the building, while a structure almost like a wheel held up the roof. The whole thing felt surprisingly snug considering that only a layer of fabric separated us from the rain outside.

Echo pushed herself forward past the edge of my cloak’s hood and twitched her ears about to sound out the room as soon as we were out of the rain. Florence’s mother had gone to sit on a cushion near the middle of the structure, but as soon as she noticed my Pokemon she gasped and reared back.

“N-no majū inside,” she said quickly. “I will not allow it!”

Echo had picked up enough of the human language over the summer to recognize most common words. Now she hunched down and backed up to hide under my hood again. I opened my mouth, ready to jump to my Pokemon’s defense, but Florence beat me to it.

“Zubat is a trained majū, Mother,” she said firmly. “Just like mine. She will not hurt you.”

The woman twitched slightly, then shook her head. “That does not matter. It cannot stay in here.”

Echo squeaked down at me in a conciliatory tone and I sighed. “It’s okay,” I said before Florence could get fired up. “She’s willing to wait outside.” I stepped back out to the door to let her fly off, though I gently scratched her chin before she went as a silent apology.

Florence’s mother seemed to relax a bit more once Echo was gone, and she gestured for us both to sit. Florence crossed her arms and stayed standing, so I kept on my feet as well. After a few moments she shot a look over at me, but I shook my head subtly and gestured back towards her. This was Florence’s problem to solve; I was just there for moral support.

“So,” her mother finally said after the silence had stretched out uncomfortably long. “Trainer Michael told me you have become a trainer as well.”

Florence shrugged, not looking directly at the woman. “You could say that. I am working to train three majū – Skiploom, Natu, and Snubbull.”

Her mother’s eyes widened. “Three? Skies above, how did you bond three majū?”

“I did not bond them,” Florence said shortly. She hugged herself a little tighter as she kept looking down at the floor. “I caught them, and they agreed to stay with me so we could grow stronger together.”

The woman looked between me and Florence now, clearly confused.

“It’s part of the work that we’re doing,” I added. “It’s, uhh, a new way to interact with majū. And Florence has helped a lot with it!”

“I see,” she replied, clearly not seeing. Then she turned back to look at Florence, and her eyes lit up. “Perhaps that means you could give your majū to another trainer, like your friend here? They could keep training with him and you could come home, where you belong.”

Florence gritted her teeth and finally looked directly at her mother. “I will not do that. I like being a trainer. I am good at catching and training majū. And I may not have found my true partner yet, but I will not give up!”

Her mother wilted. “Oh, Florence,” she said quietly with tears in her eyes. “I worry for you. Why do you insist on taking this dangerous path?”

“It is not that dangerous –“

“But it is,” her mother interrupted. “Trainer Michael told me what happened in Violet. You fought on a battlefield and were imprisoned! A child should not need to experience these things! And being a trainer is dangerous even in times of peace; who knows when you might be ambushed unexpectedly or hit by an attack?” She lowered her voice, and it wobbled as she spoke. “I do not want you to suffer your father’s fate.”

I frowned, wondering what she meant by that. Florence had never mentioned her dad before.

“I will be fine, Mother,” Florence said in a tight voice. She glanced over at me, then looked her mother squarely in the eyes. “I am strong, and my majū are strong too. We can protect each other. You do not have to worry about me.”

“Not worry?” Her mother shook her head. “How can I keep from worrying? I look at you and still see my little girl who brought me flowers after playing in the forest. You are not old enough to take such risks!”

“I am old enough,” Florence hissed.

“You are barely twelve! You are a child.”

“Fine!” Florence snapped. She uncrossed her arms and jammed a hand into her pouch, then rustled around in it until she pulled out a poke ball. “I might be young! But I am still strong enough to do what is needed, and I will prove it to you.”

Then she turned on a heel and marched straight out of the house.

I exchanged a brief, startled look with Florence’s mother. Then we both scrambled to follow Florence out of the house. It was still raining outside, but the heavy rain from before had slackened off a bit; now there was just a light shower.

Florence was marching straight past the fabric houses and back in the direction of the beach. I whistled to catch Echo’s attention, and as soon as she had flown to hover next to me I ran forward to catch up with my friend.

“What are you doing?” I called ahead to her as I drew near. “You were making good progress in there!”

She didn’t look back; she just kept marching forward. “Talking will not work, Monroe,” she said fiercely. “I have to show her instead.”

“And how are you supposed to do that?”

She ignored me. By that point we had intercepted the main group of people who had been on the beach earlier. Florence made a beeline for Richard, who chatted amiably with a few of the people from the village as they ambled down the trodden grass that formed the path. I glanced behind me to see that Florence’s mother wasn’t too far off, and other villagers had come outside as well, probably curious to see what all the commotion was about.

“Trainer Richard!” Florence shouted, catching everyone’s attention. He paused his conversation and looked over to meet her eyes, and she thrust her hand that held a poke ball forward. “I challenge you to a battle between majū!”

What.

He gaped at her for a moment; then he boomed out a giant laugh. “You always have had fire in your soul, girl!” he replied loudly. “But you are not at my level yet. None of your majū stand a chance against my partner.”

“Then make it fair,” she said. Her words were bold, but I could see that her legs were shaking. “Your Tentacruel against my team. Three one-on-one battles, back to back. If any of my majū can win, the whole team wins.”

Richard paused and appeared to actually consider the idea. I took that moment to finally catch up to Florence and hiss at her. “Are you crazy? He’ll obliterate you!”

“Thank you, your confidence is greatly appreciated,” she replied, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

“Fine,” Richard said. We both snapped back to attention to see that he now had an easy smile on his face. “Back-to-back battles? That should be good training for both of us. I accept.”

~

Everyone took a few minutes to prepare before the battle actually began. I tried to talk Florence off the cliff, but she just shut me down. “I know what I am doing,” she told me confidently. Then she released all of her Pokemon and moved off to the side so she could huddle with them and talk strategy.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I sighed and turned around only to find myself face-to-face with Florence’s mother. It looked like she had been about to run up to her daughter, but she now stood frozen as she stared at Florence and her three Pokemon.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She breathed in deeply, then shook her head slightly. “I do not understand,” she said in a quiet voice. “How can she sit next to them so casually?” Echo chose that moment to wing over and clutch at my shoulder, and the woman took another step back. “How can you let that Zubat touch you so casually?”

“Because I trust her,” I said automatically. I paused, then decided to venture forward. “Umm. I know that majū are dangerous, but most of them really aren’t that bad. Why are you so scared of them?”

Florence’s mother looked down. She was quiet for a moment; then she spoke in a low voice. “My husband – Florence’s father – died eight years ago when a majū attacked him.”

I froze.

“It was before Trainer Michael found his Hoothoot, so we had no trainer in the village when the men went out fishing. They took turns staying back to guard us. Hugh – my husband – had been chosen that day. We were washing clothing in a nearby lake when a blue majū as tall as a man with a gem in its forehead came out and attacked us.” Her voice was almost mechanical as she spoke. “Hugh tried to hold the majū off so the rest of us could run. It – it swung its tail at him, all covered in water, and it knocked him away, and he hit his head on a rock when he landed. I handed Florence to one of the other woman and went after him, but he was gone before I reached him.”

“I’m sorry,” I said hollowly. What else was there to say?

She shook her head slightly and looked back towards Florence. “Every time she ran away to look for a majū, I worried she would not come back,” she said in a small voice. “When you and Trainer Michael went looking for her and you did not return, I thought it had finally happened, that I had lost her for good.” The woman sighed heavily. “She is alive. That is good. But it feels as if I lost her anyway.”

I had no idea how to respond, so I looked out towards the beach where a few of the village children were drawing lines in the sand to form the boundaries of the battle. Richard had swam out into the ocean and was floating in the water as he talked to his Pokemon, probably preparing him for the battle. How in the world would Florence manage to fight something in the ocean when she didn’t have a water Pokemon of her own?

The rain had finally died off as we talked, though it was still overcast. I pulled Pausso’s poke ball out of my pouch and let him out, though I shot a guilty look at Florence’s mother when she flinched and took a few steps away. Luckily, he didn’t appear to notice; he just peered around himself and sniffed experimentally. T̶h̶i̷s̷ ̷ p̵l̶a̷c̷e̶ ̴ f̷e̴e̶l̶s̴ ̷ f̷a̷m̷i̴l̴i̴a̸r̷, he thought to me.

“Well, get ready for a real sense of déjà vu,” I said wryly with a gesture towards the sea. He paused and took in the lines in the sand and the sight of Tentacruel preparing for battle.

A spike of alarm flared through our bond. W̵e̴ ̵ a̸r̶e̸ ̴ n̴o̴t̸ ̵ f̶i̴g̸h̴t̷i̶n̸g̵ ̸ t̴h̶a̴t̸ ̶ P̴o̵k̵e̸m̶o̵n̴ ̶ a̵g̴a̷i̴n̸, he thought quickly as his ears flattened.

“We aren’t,” I replied evenly as Echo squeaked a question at him. “But Florence and her team are.”

W̸h̵a̸t̴!̶

Before I could reply Florence recalled her three Pokemon and walked forward towards the surf. Richard noticed her and swam back up to shore, and they met on the packed wet sand with waves washing up just under their feet.

“Three one-on-one battles to forfeit, limited to the space between the drawn lines, fifty feet out towards the ocean and fifty feet back across the sand,” he announced. “Does that work?”

“Yes,” Florence said calmly. Then she narrowed her eyes. “But I do not want you to forfeit just to go easy on me. Treat it like a real battle.”

“Skies, girl!” Richard said with a chuckle. “Fine, fine. You will get your real battle.”

They both backed up until they were past the drawn lines, Florence to the left and Richard to the right. Florence took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she drew a particular poke ball from her bag and pressed its button to release the Pokemon onto the field, her eyes blazing. “Skiploom, set up!”

Skiploom materialized a few feet above the sand. He took a moment to orient himself and spot Tentacruel out in the ocean; then he shot forward through the sky. He still wasn’t that fast, not when compared to Venomoth or Echo, but he had improved a great deal over the summer.

Richard watched the little green Pokemon and grunted. “Poison Sting him out of the sky, but catch him before he hits the water.”

Tentacruel tilted his head back and opened his beak-mouth, and a volley of bright purple stings shot up into the sky. Florence hurriedly called “Left!”, and Skiploom was able to dive to the side to avoid them.

Moments later Skiploom passed over Tentacruel, too high in the sky for the squid to reach with his tentacles. He flipped when he was right over the other Pokemon and shot a few small projectiles out of his flower, then sped away as they fell on the water Pokemon’s head. Tentacruel managed to send off a second set of Poison Stings that hit Skiploom as he escaped, but Florence still looked pleased.

“Good, now back to the beach!” she called out quickly.

“Oh no you don’t,” Richard replied with evident amusement. “Supersonic, then Poison Sting ‘til he’s down!”

Tentacruel let out a loud shriek into the air that made many of the villagers who were spectating step backwards. Skiploom tried to dive down to avoid it, but the sound wave was too large; he flew right into it and immediately started flying in loopy circles as the disorientation hit him. Tentacruel followed the move with a continuous stream of Poison Stings, and while some of them missed due to the Pokemon’s unpredictable flight trajectory, plenty of them hit.

Florence bit her lip, then narrowed her eyes. “Follow my voice, Skiploom!” she called out as loudly as she could. “And stay up as much as you can!”

She kept calling out to Skiploom continuously, and the little grass Pokemon managed to fly mostly in the direction of the shore, though his flight was still uneven. He kept losing altitude, though, until he finally slammed into the packed sand near the edge of the surf.

It looked like Skiploom was in pretty rough shape, as he was panting heavily and covered in tiny cuts from the impacts of the Poison Stings. A few of the cuts were turning purple around the edges, which was a sure sign of poison. I looked over at Florence, expecting her to use her first switch.

Instead, she smiled. “Synthesis!” she called out.

Skiploom righted himself with a huff, though he still looked a bit unstable. Then his flower flared and the air around it sparkled, as if he was drawing energy from the sky itself.

It was still overcast, though, so Synthesis wouldn’t be that powerful. Richard seemed to think the same, because he grunted and crossed his arms. “Wait it out, partner,” he called to Tentacruel. “The poison will take him soon enough.”

Tentacruel made a strained hissing noise in reply. Richard looked back towards him in surprise, and I noticed there was something different about him. Had some kind of plant sprouted on top of his head?

Without warning the plant on Tentacruel’s head pulsed and a glowing green globe of light shot out of it. The green light was sucked through the air back to Skiploom, who relaxed visibly as it hit him. But he was too far away to use Absorb…

“Leech Seed, of course,” I said to myself quietly as I smacked one hand against the other. That was Florence’s plan – use Leech Seed to slowly drain Tentacruel’s energy while Skiploom stayed in the game using Synthesis.

“Keep using Synthesis, Skiploom,” Florence said calmly. “We can take as long as we need.”

Richard narrowed his eyes and gestured towards the beach. “Ach, enough of this waiting. Take the fight to them! Poison Jab!”

The red bulbs on Tentacruel’s head flashed in some kind of reply and he sped forward towards the beach. He raised one of his tentacles before him as he swam and it glistened as it was covered with a thick purple ooze.

Florence’s face was stoic as she watched the squid approach. Just before he got in range she shouted out an order. “Back up onto the sand and Fairy Wind!”

Skiploom cut off his Synthesis and skipped backwards, spraying a burst of pink glitter out before him as he moved. He seemed to have gotten over his confusion now, but he still looked a little rough. I was willing to bet that the energy he got from Synthesis was barely compensating for the energy he was losing from the poison in his system. As he moved another globe of green light emerged from Tentacruel’s head and flew forward to give him a boost. I could see now that the plants were thorny vines that had sprouted from a pair of seeds on Tentacruel’s head and dug into the gelatinous substance of the Pokemon’s body.

The extra boost from Leech Seed didn’t matter. Tentacruel hefted himself out onto the edge of the sand, tentacles sprawled out in all directions to anchor him to the shore, and shot his poisoned tentacle forward. It slammed against Skiploom and sent him sprawling against the ground, clearly knocked out.

“I forfeit Skiploom,” Florence said evenly as she recalled her Pokemon into his ball. She already had her second ball in hand, and she aimed it forward quickly. “Snubbull, Scary Face!”

She had pointed the ball so that Snubbull was released between Tentacruel and the ocean, not up on the dry (well, less wet) sand. I frowned at the choice, not sure what she was doing. Snubbull was easily in range of Tentacruel’s grasp. But the little Pokemon didn’t seem to care; she just leaned forward and snarled viciously, showing all her teeth. Mew help me, her eyes were practically bulging out of her face and it looked horrifying.

Tentacruel had turned around just in time to see Snubbull’s Scary Face, and his reaction was immediate. The red bulbs on his head flashed brightly and he scrambled backwards away from the sea, his tentacles all moving rapidly to drag him across the sand.

“C’mon, she’s just a wee little thing, you can handle her,” Richard said in a robust voice (never mind that he had looked just as put off by Snubbull’s face a moment before). “Screech and Wrap!”

Tentacruel drew in a deep breath and screamed at Snubbull in a high-pitched, alien voice. I immediately clasped my hands over my ears as Echo let out her own screech of protest and Pausso flinched. Snubbull cut off her Scary Face as she winced from the sound, and Tentacruel took advantage of the moment to snake a tentacle forward and wrap it around her.

Florence frowned. “Use Bite, get him to drop you!”

Snubbull growled and lunged forward to bite the tentacle that was holding her. Tentacruel narrowed his eyes as she gnawed on his tentacle, but he didn’t let her go; he just squeezed her a little more tightly. I noticed as they struggled that another green globe of energy had popped out of the vines on Tentacruel’s head, though this one floated up and into the sky. Snubbull saw the globe and strained to reach it, but Tentacruel held her out of range.

“End this, partner,” Richard yelled. “Water Pulse!”

The giant water Pokemon raised the struggling Snubbull up in the air before his face, then blasted water at her point-blank. By the time the water had subsided she was barely conscious.

Florence muttered something unintelligible and raised Snubbull’s poke ball. “I forfeit Snubbull,” she called loudly as she returned the Pokemon. She sounded slightly cross now, though still determined.

Then she released her final Pokemon. Natu appeared in the sand a fair distance away from Tentacruel, well out of range of its grasp. The little bird flapped her wings briefly and darted her eyes from side to side, taking in the state of the field.

“Last one!” Richard called over to Tentacruel. “Blast it with Bubble Beam!”

Tentacruel immediately swiveled to face Natu and blew a stream of bubbles in her direction, but just as quickly she disappeared. I looked around the beach and found her a moment later, on the opposite side of Tentacruel.

“Good!” Florence called. “Just like I said before: keep dodging and Calm Mind in between.”

Natu chirped and closed her eyes, and a faint pink aura surrounded her as she entered a meditative state. Richard sniffed. “Again, while they are distracted!”

Tentacruel twisted his head around and shot a new Bubble Beam at Natu. At first it looked like it would connect, but at the last moment the pink light surrounding Natu winked out and she disappeared, teleporting away again.

I raised my eyebrows. Natu had never even opened her eyes. That was a handy trick.

This continued for a few more iterations. Natu would teleport to a new location, and Tentacruel would either blast a Bubble Beam at her or try to slap her down with a tentacle. Twice a few bubbles hit her, and once a tentacle grasped her, but in each of those cases she simply teleported away once again to a new place on the field. And two more times a green bubble of energy rose out of the vines on Tentacruel, then floated away into the sky.

Eventually we reached a point where Tentacruel tried to use Bubble Beam and no water came out. I blinked and peered more closely at the giant jellyfish. He looked withered, almost.

Suddenly it clicked. Of course he was withered! He had beached himself out of the water and used up all of his water moves! And now –

“Now! Stored Power!” Florence shouted.

Natu opened her eyes and teleported forward to stand directly in front of Tentacruel. The jellyfish immediately lashed a tentacle forward to grab her, but it was too late. Pink energy blasted out of her whole body and enveloped the water Pokemon, and he screeched unhappily.

When the attack ended Natu looked quite ruffled and was shaking slightly, but Tentacruel was clearly worse off. His tentacles waved slowly in the air and he breathed heavily. He still had a tentacle wrapped around Natu, but he didn’t seem to have enough energy left to squeeze it. Another green globe of energy floated out of the vines wrapped around his head and he winced, loosening the tentacle even further.

Richard watched this scene with wide eyes. Then he shook his head as a slow smile spread across his face.

“We forfeit,” he called out in a clear voice. He looked across the field to Florence and bowed his head. “Well fought. Well fought indeed!”

Florence stared back at him for a moment.

Then she smiled wider than I’d ever seen her smile before.

~

“I cannot believe I slept through the whole thing,” Michael said peevishly as we stood on the beach together. Hoothoot hooted her own opinion from his shoulder.

“Yep,” I said easily as I stretched my arms out above my head and Pausso said something in reply to Hoothoot. “It was pretty awesome too.”

Things had moved quickly after the end of the battle. First a bunch of us had helped push Tentacruel back out into the water, where Richard nursed him back to health with a few berries and an entire fresh fish. Touching Tentacruel had felt weird, like I was trying to push a stress ball the size of a couch. I’d asked Richard afterwards whether he wanted a poke ball for Tentacruel, to make life easier, but he had declined. “The old-fashioned ways are good enough for us,” he said cheerfully. “We’ll leave new ideas to you young folks.”

The crowd had dispersed quickly once Tentacruel was safely back in the water, and I’d noticed once it did that Florence’s mother had approached her again. Two hours had passed since then and they were still talking, so I was willing to guess that they’d figured things out. It wasn’t how I would’ve approached the problem, but they seemed to have found a way to understand each other, and I was glad for that.

Zuri had finished her business transaction with the village, and both sides seemed pleased with the result. Zuri got a large barrel of salted Basculin; the village got both bags of rice and several goods they had trouble procuring on their own. Now Zuri and her crew were loading their goods back into one of the rowboats, and it was only a matter of time before we left for the ship.

And me? I had spent the time debriefing the battle with my team to see what lessons we could learn from it, and then I had caught up with Michael when he emerged from the village. Now he sighed and looked across the ocean to where the Relicanth waited. “Are you sure you know what you are doing?” he asked me in a quiet voice. “This situation with the murders in Cianwood… forgive me, but it sounds like it might be more than you can handle.”

“Maybe,” I replied. Then I looked over to where Florence was sitting on the sand, talking with her mother. She had healed her team earlier, and now they were sprawled on the beach all around her, enjoying the brisk wind that came with the evening air. Her mother looked uncomfortable to be sitting near the Pokemon, but she hadn’t run away, so that was progress. “Maybe not. I think we’ll manage.” Then I looked back over at Michael and grinned. “Unless you want to come help?”

“I think not. I have gotten enough excitement for one year already.” He shook his head. “It is too bad Jordan and Sudowoodo are out training in Ilex this week. They would probably be thrilled to join you.”

That was right; Jordan had said something about training on the west coast and gone off with Michael after we’d wrapped up the whole Violet debacle. “I doubt we could get them on the boat, considering how Sudowoodo is,” I replied drily.

“A fair point.” Michael smiled briefly, but then it faded. He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Be careful out there, Monroe. There is trouble enough in the world without inviting more in.”

“I’ll be careful.” I glanced over at Pausso and Echo, who were now holding a full conversation with Hoothoot, and smiled. “We’ll take care of each other.”

And we would. Seeing Florence battle like that had made me realize just how much progress we’d made. If I had to battle again in the future, I wouldn’t be limited to just a small set of moves that Pausso knew. I could figure out how he and Echo could work together to change the tide of a fight. For that matter, if we had to fight in really serious, important battles I could combine forces with Florence, and maybe even get Isaac’s Oddish and Charity’s Slowpoke to provide support. Not much could stand against seven experienced Pokemon all fighting in coordination with one another.

We were a team, and it was time to start fighting like one.