In the end after dinner I rode Arcanine back home. Gible on my belt while leaving Dragonite and Milotic at the Stable so they could be cute with Dratini some more.

We skidded to a halt as we finally made it home and I sighed in delight at the familiar sights. I could see the light in the kitchen through the window and so I hurried to the door and then through.

“I’m home!”

“Vicky! I didn’t think you were going to come home tonight.” Mama called out as she stuck her head out of the kitchen and smiled as she saw me. I instantly went in for a hug and squeezed tight.

“I want to sleep in my own bed.” I explained bluntly, and Mama smiled down at me.

“Alright, well you missed dinner. Are you hungry?”

“I already ate.” I said as I took the chance to run past her to the living room. Papa was there, already off the couch and walking over so I slammed into him and giggled as I was spun around.

“There's my Trouble. Staying out late even! What a troublemaker!”

“You love it.” I told him back and he just laughed and hugged me tighter for a second.

“Welcome home.”

I just smiled brilliantly, before rushing around and saying hello to everyone. Arcany even sat up from where he was lazing beside the couch, his puppy bed acting as a pillow for him, but he greeted me with a slobbery lick as I approached for a hug fending me off.

“Gross!”

But I pushed through for a big hug regardless.

Which was interrupted by Arcanine as she came in and practically flopped on top of me and Arcany.

My muffled voice probably couldn’t be made out as I yelled at her for dropping on top of me, as she greeted Arcany as well.

Finally she moved a bit letting me escape floof hell, and I glared as she continued to make herself comfortable.

“You are such a pain.” I poked her a bit but she ignored me looking pleased at her game.

Then I looked up and blinked because what I was seeing couldn’t possibly be real.

Lucario, who was holding a load of laundry in her arms, was standing in the doorway.

Lucario nodded at me, and walked past, making a questioning noise.

“Oh! Lucario you are a dear! That can go over here, I’ll fold it up.” Mama called out sounding pleased.

“Wha? Why is Lucario here!?” I demanded pointing, looking at Papa who looked confused.

“She wanted to give Riolu some space to grow around the others without her there, so she asked if she could come with us. I mean… I thought it was a good idea.” Papa offered and I felt my jaw drop because that was so mean!

“You shouldn’t steal pokemon Papa. Bad! Straight to Poke jail.” I told him walking over and poking at him.

He huffed one of his laughs and dropped a heavy hand onto my head. “We didn’t steal your pokemon Vicky. That’s silly.” He said as he settled back onto the couch and a few moments later Lucario came out looking around and then noticing Papa she perked up and walked over settling onto the couch beside him.

“Lu Luca?”

“No you didn’t miss anything. I paused the tape.” Papa said before hitting the remote controller for the VHS player and starting up the movie they had been watching.

“Lu!” She called out happily as the movie started. Some cop drama movie that Papa really liked…

“Not stealing my… Butt.” I muttered glaring at the obvious bond already growing between Papa and Lucario. She was attentive and listening to him as he explained something in the movie and she even let out a bark of a laugh at the movie's joke.

“I'm going to bed!” I decided aloud and headed for my room only pouting a little.

“What? C’mon Trouble come watch the movie with us.” Papa called back but I waved him off.

“Seen it! Besides, I've been running around all day! I want a shower and bed.” I called back and made to do just that.

It was perfect, except for one of the Growlithe deciding he just HAD to save me from the shower water.

—---

I woke up warm and comfy.

Pillow lived up to his namesake. He might have stolen my pillow and refused to let me use it, but he was getting big enough I could use him as a pillow and we both liked that well enough.

Especially as it was getting cold.

Growlithe are very warm and snuggly.

I was more than happy to sleep in for the day, the first day in my own bed after everything, but as usual there was a brown noser in the house that took his duties far too seriously.

“No.” I told him firmly, as Arcany was looming over me suddenly, his stinky breath warming my face. “Sleeping.”

“Whoof.” He huffed at me, and I knew from his tone he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“I get to sleep in, no school.” I mumbled, but Arcany only heard me refusing and so reacted. Whuffing at me louder, but I would not be controlled! I reached around until I found my pillow, ignoring that Pillow was sleeping on it and yanked it to smack Arcany in the face with it.

The looming silence of course meant I win.

Pillow grumbled at me, just as blearily and started pushing at me with his paw to make me let him go, but he was warm! It was cold out today!

Then something clamped down on my ankle. And I was suddenly no longer laying down.

“Wha! Arcany! Let go!” I whined at him one foot up in the air as Arcany was holding me by my ankle. The heavy pajama’s thankfully kept his teeth from puncturing but it wasn’t comfortable.

He looked at me, eyes narrowed. I know what he wanted. He wanted me to get up.

But I would not be intimidated!

“Never.” I told him firmly and that was my decision.

He turned yanking me off the bed and started prancing out of my room.

“Ow. Ow. Ow.” I mumbled as he dragged me right into the hallway and then into the living room. I was skidding around on the wood floors as he dragged me straight into the kitchen where Mama looked down at me in surprise.

“This is all Papa’s fault.” I declared firmly, and with every intent to murder Papa for this.

But then not just Mama, but Lucario who had been sitting at the table started laughing, Lucario’s bark like amusement, surprised me, and threw me out of my promises of pain.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“It’s not funny.” I mumbled despite knowing it was. I just wanted to sleep though.

Finally Arcany let me go and I groaned as I stretched out my leg.

Which is right when Papa came in.

“Trouble you shouldn’t lay on the floor in the kitchen.” Papa said his tone chiding as he walked over to take a seat as well.

“You’re all the worst.” I decided, realizing that Arcany had let me go because he had heard Papa.

I scrambled up and pointed at Papa.

“Arcany dragged me around with his mouth! What happened to that being bad training!” I demanded and Papa blinked at me, then looked around to everyone trying to figure out what was going on.

Then he noticed Arcany’s look and nodded.

“Ah I see. Arcany… Good job not hurting Vicky.” He said and reached over and patted him on the head.

I narrowed my eyes glaring at Papa who was doing his best not to laugh at my obvious irritation.

“I think Arcany needs some exercise.” I decided the best vengeance I could. Arcany perked up at the words and Papa instantly realized the problem.

“No. Don’t you say-”

“Arcany? Walkies!” I chirped and instantly there was chaos.

Arcany was a big dog. Like… Mega super big. It’s really hard to compare Arcany to anything but like a grizzly bear when it comes down to his size.

He was not an inside pet. Of course that didn’t stop Papa and Arcany from forcing it, but there had been some restructuring of the house when Arcany had evolved. Nothing could be left in a hallway, or that could be knocked over by Arcany’s tail wiping it out.

So when I say a four hundred pound dog decided that right that moment, the only thing that existed was it, and the outdoors it only partially describes the chaos of Arcany jumping to his feet and practically leaping at Papa demanding Walkies.

I of course did the smart thing and slipped under the kitchen table. Safely ensconced away in the one thing in the kitchen that was Arcany proof well… Arcany resistant.

—---

I finished sweeping up the last of the broken plate and dumped it all into the trash.

Mama oversaw my punishment with Meowth on her shoulder and both of them glared at me without a hint of mercy. Poor Meowth had been laying on the back of the couch that Arcany had knocked over in his excitement.

Right now no one in the house was happy with me. Lucario was irritated as she had been knocked out of the chair she had been happily enjoying her breakfast in.

I on the other hand felt zero shame about the entire situation.

“Wow. Papa sure needs to work on training Arcany more if this is the kind of trouble he makes!” I chirped out happily even if no one was accepting of my shittery.

“If the conference wasn’t coming up you’d be grounded for that.” Mama said sternly and I pouted at that.

“Sorry.” I admitted. Maybe I had… Escalated a bit more than I should have. “I don’t really hate when Arcany drags me around either. It’s funny I guess.” I admitted and Mama snorted.

“Don’t apologize just to me.” She demanded, and I sighed.

“Sorry Lucario. I ruined your breakfast.” I offered the pokemon that had been standing next to Mama, her arms crossed glaring.

“Lu!” She nodded seemingly accepting my apology even if she wasn’t happy about it.

“Ah I see you got everything cleaned up.” Papa called out as he entered the kitchen, sweat rolling down his forehead a bit.

I could hear Arcany prancing around in the yard.

“Trouble cleaned up her mess. Now Vicky what do you have to say?”

“Sorry Papa. I knew Arcany would get excited, and that was bad enough, but I shouldn’t have used him like that because I was mad. That’s not fair to Arcany.”

Papa looked at me for a moment and nodded.

“I’m sorry to Trouble. I shouldn’t tease you so much. Arcany knows he isn’t supposed to pick you up like that. I’ll talk to him about it.”

“I think he does it cause he knows I don’t mind. He’s always careful.” I said back, running a hand through my still messy hair. “I don’t mind that he does it. It’s a game we’ve been doing forever. I just got annoyed today. I guess.”

“Hmm.” Papa said as he pulled me into a hug. “Maybe you’re finally becoming a teenager! I hear they are moody all the time.”

“I mean… I’ll be eleven in a month-ish.”

“Arceus save me from my daughter as a teenager.” Mama said faux fainting as she raised a hand to her forehead.

“I’ll be a great teenager!” I argued back but Mama just looked at Papa and they did the silent communication thing.

“Well let me get Lucario some breakfast.” I said, pulling away. “I still need to head out for morning training with the team, and then evening training with the babies.”

“Alright. Get to it Vicky, but you better be on your best behavior for a while.” Mama said, bending down and kissing me on the forehead. “Now get.”

“Yep! Lucario, do you want to come with me to morning training? I can take you to the Clan house to see Riolu after.”

“Lu.” She agreed immediately, and then to my surprise looked to Papa. “Cario?”

“Oh that’s fine. Whenever you want you can go. Bug me or Vicky anytime. Arcany can definitely get you there in a flash if Trouble isn’t around.” Papa offered, as he realized what Lucario wanted without issue.

She looked pleased and nodded.

Dangit. Papa! Stop stealing my pokemon!

—--

“It’s okay just breathe.” I told Lucario. I was crouched on the ground next to her, as she struggled under Gravity. The Pokemon hadn’t taken my warning about preparing into account, and had nearly fallen on her face as Chansey had dropped the world onto our shoulders.

“L-L-Lu!” She stuttered out grindingly.

“Just breathe. If you need help just tell us. Chansey can get you out in a hurry. Don’t push it. Just let yourself get used to it.” I told her, Chansey was hovering closeby as well.

Of course Arcanine was already running around enjoying the workout. My Blue Heart was also swimming haltingly in the shallow end, working his body.

He wasn’t quite as bad as Lucario, but he was also the least used to the Gravity out of my main team.

Dragonite was already jogging around, as I had her working on her Dragon Pulse. Trying to get the skill locked down.

“Lu!” Lucario growled and managed to fully extend her arms, although it left her quivering.

“Don’t push, really. It’ll take a bit for your body to adapt to it.” I warned and she did seem to finally heed my warning as her quivering arms grew worse.

Eventually she settled back on the grass and just breathed in and out, sucking in breaths full of air.

Yikes. I hadn’t expected it to knock Lucario out this much. I looked at Chansey who smiled back at me.

Chansey had gotten a whole lot of practice with this move. Hell, it was undoubtedly her best move. She used it until she couldn’t over and over again for months. Chanseys Mastery over this one move was pretty insane.

It also meant it felt a lot heavier than it was when she had first figured it out.

“Chansey?”

“Chanse?”

“Can you change anything about Gravity? Like, make it lighter?” I asked and she hummed, fin going up to her mouth and tapping a few times before sort of tilting around a bit.

She wasn’t sure.

“We really didn’t do a lot of training with this move did we? Next break, let’s play around with it a bit okay?”

“Chanse!” She agreed, looking pleased.

Then I tilted my head to Lucario and Chansey nodded, waving me off.

I rose with a bit of strain and walked over to Arcanine.

“Hey! I’m not seeing you do anything but run around! Fire!” I demanded and she shifted from running in circles around the little lake to burning up and then blasting fire into the lake.

“Milo!” Milotic called out, for once not needing me to prod him into action, as he shuddered, holding in the energy for his attack gathering it up and then blasting it out. A wave of water rushed out and slammed into the steam cloud Arcanine had made washing over it and upsetting the lake even more than it had been a moment before.

Everyone was doing well. But since my difficult partner was being active. I turned to Dragonite.

Her Dragon Pulse was still the orb variety. I noticed she tended towards gathering power and then releasing it all.

But I also knew that Dragon Pulse could act more like a beam attack.

So what made some pokemon use one version over the other?

“Dragonite?”

“Pree?”

“Instead of gathering up all the energy. Just shoot the Dragon pulse right away, and keep forcing energy out.” I offered and she blinked then blinked again. Cutely raising a hand to her chin and tilting her head.

She didn’t get it.

“Right now, you’re more like. Oooooh Pew! Right?” I offered showing myself with my hands in front of me, and then shooting the attack after. “Instead try going Pew-raaaa!” I said instantly raising my hands and shooting out while holding it.

She blinked and then because I wasn’t Ash she just started laughing at me and pointing.

“Okay that didn’t make any sense. Right.” I said, nodding. “Instead of gathering up energy, just shoot it out and keep pushing energy into it, just like how you do Dragon Pulse now.”

She sort of looked like she wasn’t sure it would work. But she nodded. And then she shot her hands out, and instead of a beam, or a ball, something completely different happened.

A pulse of purple energy burst from her in every way, it was light. Barely even ruffling my hat, but with just that Dragonite looked at her hands in shock.

“Well… That was what I was going to suggest we try next.” I offered and she looked at me and nodded firmly.

“Can you do it again… But this time charge it up?”

“Drag.” She agreed and I stepped back as she got to work. She didn’t quite get it up to the level of an attack, but the fact she was able to use Dragon Pulse in a completely different way?

That opened up possibilities!

I looked at the rest of my team. How many of their moves could be adjusted or changed? I briefly considered if it was worth spending time on something like this before the Conference but I shook that off.

Increasing a pokemon's mastery of their moves could only be a good thing.

“Arcanine!” I called out and she rushed over tail wagging and obviously wondering why I had pulled her away from her game of burn the lake away while Milotic fought her to keep it topped up.

“Arc?”

“Got an idea. I want you to use Fire Fang for me.” I told her, and she tilted her head before nodding, and instantly her mouth opened, and a set of fiery fangs appeared around her head ready to chomp down with her jaws.

“So I want you to think about how you form that move okay? Now instead of forming the big fangs, try to fill your mouth with fire instead. I explained, pointing at my mouth.

Faster on the uptake when it came to battle Arcanine didn’t even hesitate and as the Fire Fang dissipated it appeared again only this time it was a burst of fire inside her mouth, practically breathing fire she opened her mouth to show me.

“Might be a neat trick to use in case you need a smaller bite.” I muttered thinking about if it was a small pokemon the full size fangs might not reach which would be a lot of wasted power.

Then again this version would likely be harder to hit. Arcanine had a big bite, but the Fire Fangs were larger…

“Can you do both?” I asked, and Arcanine blinked head tilted, and a moment later her mouth was aflame while much weaker fiery fangs appeared around her jaws. She blinked, showing it off and I nodded.

“Okay that? That is cool.” I told her and her tail started wagging happily as I looked it over. “Work on that for now. And we’ll have to check some of your other moves later too.” I told her only making her tail wag harder as the idea of more training was never a bad thing for her.

With that, I checked on Gyarados. He was doing a great job swimming back and forth through the current, which was actually pretty tough. Heavy Gravity in water wasn’t pleasant to try and get through.

“How’re you doing?” I called up to him, and he blinked for a moment as if he was just sort of sleeping before looking down and instantly his face turned happy.

A rumble deep from his throat escaped him as he leaned in, and I reached up at the same time already knowing what was coming.

The sun disappeared.