With everyone’s curiosity settled at least a little, we can finally get back to training. I end up teaching Min’s Diglett Veil, and Gligar a little more by showing them how I use Sand Attack in a spar. They approach me with the goal to touch me while I have to avoid them without leaving the ground. It’s a lot of fun keeping my eyes on both of them, especially once Gligar grows more confident and takes to the air to come in from unexpected angles. We end up in a pile, laughing.

Their next task is to work on Mud Slap which is a somewhat similar move to Sand Attack, just much heavier so it actually does some damage. We use a large rock as a target at first to get both of them used to the Move. Gligar has some issues, though. He can’t quite channel enough Ground Type Energy to create a significant mass and his Mud Slaps are more like loose clumps of dirt flying around. I decide to leave them to it since Veil is pretty skilled with the Move. He can answer any questions Gligar might have.

Min and I move on to see how Lili and Ember are doing. My Liligant might not know any Fire Type Moves besides Sunny Day but she’s experienced enough to still give some pointers. The Ponyta is still a little hesitant to get in close but they’re both speedsters so they get along quite well. We simply watch as Lili throws up rocks for Ember to hit. She uses her signature move, Ember, most of the time but only gets a point if she’s no more than a body length away when firing the Move and more than that once it lands. Occasionally, Lili calls out another Move like Tackle, Tail Whip, or Growl, and Ember has to use it instead. If she fails or misses, Lili chases her around for ten seconds.

Min finally manages to take her eyes off the training session and turns to me.

“That’s… really effective. Ember hasn’t been moving around this much, ever. And there’s enough of a break in between the rocks that it’s not too exhausting.”

“Lili is my best fighter,” I say “She’s trained a lot of other Pokémon over the years.”

“I can see that. Does make me feel kinda inadequate, though…”

I laugh.

“Don’t worry, I feel the same. I’m often less of a Pokémon Trainer and more of a trainee. Lili taught me most of what I know as well.”

Min leans into me.

“I’m glad you’re back, Zoe.”

“Me too, Min. Me too.”

We watch our Pokémon for a little longer before Sarah and Mel walk up to us.

“Up for a switch, guys?” Sara asks.

“Sure. Ten minutes break, first.”

She nods and we call our Pokémon to stop training for a bit. Everyone gets some water and a small snack, though mum and Rob stay working in their part of the forest. I shrug and leave them to it. Nadya seems very enthusiastic to fight Geodude despite the terrible matchup.

We settle on the rocks I prepared earlier, our Pokémon forming their own little circle and talking animatedly. Even Lulu finds a moment to stop her constant prowling around the perimeter to get some water.

“Zoe…” Sara looks at me with a hint of hesitation. I give her an encouraging smile.

“What’s up?”

“I’m wondering. Can you teach us anything about… Aura?”

I blink then shake my head.

“In theory? Yes. In practice it’ll be a lot of hard physical training and I don’t know much about the details because I get to cheat. I’d have to find a Lucario, maybe even a whole family of them, to give proper pointers.”

She narrows her eyes.

“Okay. Then tell me about the theory.”

I glance at the other two and they’re interested as well.

“Aura is… a complicated term. Mostly because it makes you think about things that are just flat out wrong but can still be achieved by training in Aura. What it is at it’s baseline is not some ethereal power all around us, or even just in living beings. Aura is simply a form of energy produced in souls. Don’t ask me what souls are,” I glare at my friends and they giggle “No, seriously. I don’t know. The Lake Trio has something to do with sapience which is tied to souls and Arceus probably has an idea but I never got a clear explanation out of them.”

“Fair,” Sara says “So Aura just comes from somewhere inside people?”

I nod.

“As long as you include Pokémon in ‘people’. The reason most Pokémon can’t use plain Aura is because of what makes them Pokémon. Something about the way their soul is tied to their body makes them automatically transmute any Aura they produce into Type Energy. You can think of that sort of like ‘Aura with a flavour’. Lucario are special in that they train from a young age to intercept that process but they still have a major part of their Aura transformed into TE.”

“What about humans?” Min asks “What happens to our Aura? Or do we just not have enough.”

“That is an interesting question. You know how most people are fine even when they get hit by a Flamethrower or fall off a cliff? There is a way everyone instinctively uses Aura. The training I talked about is mostly about forming your body so that Aura automatically flows through it at all times. That way, you can easily tap into the flow and do all kinds of things. Like understand the words Pokémon say. I can’t do that, by the way. I read their intentions and emotions to figure out what they’re saying.”

“Oh. I thought…” Sara taps the corner of her mouth “It makes sense, though. Then what’s special about you is that you somehow turn your Aura automatically into Type Energy. Right?”

“Sort of,” I grin “I got a gift from Arceus which does it for me. By default, it doesn’t change my Aura. It enhances it a little making me just a normal, if powerful, Trainer. I learned to adjust it to where it gives me Type Energy of one specific Type. Getting two at the same time was just a case of drawing on it less quickly.”

“What kind of gift was it?” Mel tilts her head. Her grin is a little off “And how did you get it to your soul?”

I blast her with a quick Water Gun which makes her sputter and everyone else laugh.

“Nothing of the kind you’re thinking. And I won’t give you any details because then I’ll get shouted at by the Boss.”

“The Boss is…?” Min asks.

“Arceus. Yes, they are sort of telling every Pokémon what to do, though for most of them it happens through instincts. Because of that gift, I count, though they just talk to me if I have to do something. Not that it happened a lot…”

My friends exchanged meaningful looks before turning back to me.

“So you’re getting paid for your work, is what you’re saying?” Sara asks “That’s why you’re all… ‘special’. Why you can use Moves?”

“I would say it’s more of an apology gift for practically fucking over my life. Even if it turned out well in the end, nobody knew it would end up like this. The original plan never intended for me to get back to the present.”

“Ah. Well, I’m glad you made it despite the odds,” Sara grins “Because now we have a chance for greatness!”

My friends’ grins turn vicious.

“You guys want to be ‘special’?” I ask “Or just famous?”

“Yeah, they kinda go hand in hand,” Mel nods “So, both.”

“Yes, both,” the other two agree.

I shake my head with a smile.

“Then we better get to it! Lili!”

My Pokémon jumps up and lands right in front of me. She does a small pirouette and bows.

“Yes, wonderful. Say, did you ever learn the proper Aura training techniques? You had those Lucario you lived with, right?”

She chirps and nods, then waves her leaves.

“That should be good enough. How about this?” I turn to the whole group, our other Pokémon also paying attention, now “I’m going to teach the Pokémon together with Lulu while Lili takes these three frail humans and leads them onto the path of Aura training. Everyone okay with that?”

“What if we have complicated questions?” Sara asks.

“Lili will make herself understood.”

The Pokémon in question chirps happily and slaps her leaves together.

“Dig, diglett?” Veil asks.

I nod.

“We’ll be doing pretty much that, yes. Short demonstrations, followed by practice, and then a few short spars to get it ingrained in your muscle memory. You can ask me about strategy but most of that will come from your Trainers later down the line.”

Veil nods and agrees, the others quickly following.

“I’m… not so sure…” Mel looks up at Lili. I pat my friend’s head as I walk past her.

“You’ll be fine. Exhausted, but fine.”

Lili chirps her encouragement as well and I suppress a giggle as I walk over to meet my students.

---

Gligar is excited. His new Master is amazing! Or is it Mistress? Anyway, she’s really strong! She even talked that incredibly scary Onix into going away. He got to watch her fight yesterday and it was amazing. And today, it’s his turn to learn how to fight for real!

It’s going a bit slow but he’s not the only one that has to learn. Veil, the Diglett, quickly turned out to be a good friend and Gligar can ask him about anything he wants to know. Now, they’re getting special training for the whole group!

The Madam… no, that doesn’t work either. Anyway, she’s sitting down with their group of Pokémon. They’re next to the river so the fish Pokémon can listen, too. Everyone is so nice to each other, it’s nothing like in the caves. The rumours about how you could live a happy life with a human were really true! There’s also the Ponyta, Ember, who is really fast and was training with Lady Lili earlier. Gligar feels his cheeks getting warm. The Lady Liligant is so beautiful and helpful… He shakes his head and focuses back on his Boss. Hmm… That’s a bit better, at least.

Boss Zoe is talking to the two Water Pokémon first. They’re figuring out which Moves to practice. That Bug Type is joining the discussion sometimes but he doesn’t have much to say. Obviously, because he’s a Bug Type. They’re all weak!

“So, want to practice Mud Slap again?” Veil asks.

Gligar shakes his claw.

“Of course! I almost got it that one time!”

Veil laughs.

“You’re a fast learner. Or it’s your Owner’s a good teacher. I learned a lot today.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Owner? That… was sort of right for now but Gligar didn’t like the implications. He still nodded.

“She’s great! She saved my life!”

Ember laid down next to them.

“I want to learn a Flamethrower like that one she did earlier.”

“Right?” Veil says “She’s so strong! Is she really a human?”

“The humans were talking about that yesterday,” Gligar says “We went to that Lab place and she got tested and everything. The other humans said she’s one of them.”

“You were at the Lab?” Veil asks, suddenly excited “Did you meet the Professor?”

“I did. Is he someone special?”

“Are you kidding me? The Pokémon Professor is one of the most important people of every Region! And Professor Rowan is really smart, I heard. He knows more about Pokémon than most Pokémon!”

Gligar looks away.

“I didn’t know.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Veil chuckles “Sorry. Sometimes I forget that Wild Pokémon don’t learn about any of that. Your life must’ve been hard.”

“It was,” Gligar nods sagely “The caves are terrifying. There were stories about the humans but most of them don’t make it that deep into the mountains where we lived. Too many strong Pokémon.”

Ember choffs.

“Most humans won’t even walk out on the plains to meet Pokémon. They’re all so scared.”

“Wouldn’t you be scared too, if you couldn’t use any Moves?” Veil asks.

“I mean… fair. But still! The plains! They built that huge road thing so they don’t have to walk on the grass! Though… mum said the humans were really annoying before they got the road done.”

“You’re from this valley, then?” Gligar asks.

“Yep,” Ember nods “My herd is still running around here somewhere.”

“Don’t you miss them?”

“A little? I always wanted to go on an adventure and it’s nice but… I’d like to meet them again sometime.”

She looks over and flinches at the look in Gligar’s eyes.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. You want to talk about it?”

He shakes his head.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. It’s nice you can still think about your family.”

Ember nuzzles his claw.

“You’re always welcome to talk if you need someone.”

“Thanks, guys,” Gligar responds.

He looks back to his Trainer and sees her smiling gently at him. Trainer… that’s almost right. She’s done with the Water Types and that Bug is also looking ready to get started.

“You guys ready?” she asks.

“Yep!” he calls out.

She pulls Gligar into a hug which he snuggles into before turning to the others.

“Since Ember has four bad matchups and one good one, she’s going to have a hard time today. Craig here,” is that the name of the Bug? Looks like it… “he’s volunteered to work with you on dodging and aiming. Start slow, both of you. Once Craig is exhausted, you’ll get to play with Buizel and Craig will work with Luna. I showed them both how you worked with Lili earlier. If you have any ideas about how to improve the training for either of you, feel free to try them out. Lulu will keep an eye on you guys so you can get started right away.”

Does Buizel not have a special name? Coach Zoe said she’d find one for him later but the Buizel was with his trainer for a while, right?

Ember nods and gets some distance before talking to her sparring partner. That huge Luxray is casually prowling around them but he can clearly tell she’s listening to everything. She might be Electric Type but she’s still a bit scary.

“That leaves you two. I’m going to suggest working on Mud Slap again. When you get bored, feel free to add a light spar or some Sand Attack training. Your basic Moves are also always a good option to work on. Things like Harden, Knock Off, or Quick Attack for you, Gligar. You can use them, right?”

Gligar nods which earns him some scritches behind the ears. He leans into Zoe’s hand happily.

“Don’t hit Veil with Poison Sting, if you can, that would just slow down the training. We’ll work on that slowly over the next month or so. For you, Veil, the basic Moves would be Scratch, Growl, and Astonish, right?”

The Diglett nods.

“Feel free to work on some of the more difficult stuff as well. The most important thing is having fun. That makes for the most effective learning experience, I found. I’m going to work with Luna and Buizel to begin with. Okay?”

Gligar grumbles but eventually disengages from the hug. Zoe feels so warm. Almost like his Mum. She’s obviously not his Mum but… an Aunt? That might be it. Aunt Zoe. Has a nice ring to it.

She rubs his head, somehow aware of what he’s thinking, he can tell.

“You be good, okay?”

Gligar nods and rumbles with contentment. Then Aunt Zoe stands up and walks over to the Water Types. They’re a little scary but Veil told him they’re nice. He’s known them both for a while, now.

“Let’s get back into it!” the Diglett calls. Gligar jumps and spreads his wings with a cry, immediately falling into a glide towards a slightly more open area.

Both of them spend a few minutes working on Mud Slap when Gligar has an idea.

“Hey, Veil. Let’s do the same thing Lady Lili and Ember did earlier.”

“Hmm?” the Diglett glances over.

“We call out some of the other Moves and the other one has to use that one for the next attack.”

“Sounds good. Sand Attack!”

“Ah! Unfair!”

Gligar throws his claws out and shoots a sparse cloud of sand. He blinks.

“That was better than I thought.”

Veil snickers.

“Still a lot to work on.”

“True. Astonish!”

Veil stumbles, though Gligar isn’t sure how that’s possible for a Diglett, before a wave of Ghost TE shoots out of his face. Wait, was the stumble planned?

“Hah! I still got it!”

Gligar joins in the laugh before going back to attempting Mud Slap. The Ground TE flows pretty well by now but he can’t keep enough of it concentrated in his claws. When he shoots the Move, half of what he wanted to use is already back to cycling through his body. He’s trying to forcefully slow it down without breaking the cycle but it’s proving difficult. Maybe he just needs to go faster?

“Growl!” he calls a minute later.

“Rriight!” Veil twists his tongue. The Move still goes out properly and Gligar flinches a bit. It’s not very strong, though.

“That was mean. I was just about to shoot a Mud Slap.”

Gligar laughed.

“Think fast. That’s what Lady Lili always says!”

The Diglett nods.

“I can see it. If I was a little more focused I could’ve shot the Mud Slap out right after the Growl. Would probably be a lot weaker, though…”

A shout of exasperation interrupts them. One of the other humans, the one with the straight black hair, is lying on the ground and breathing heavily.

“I can’t do this!” she screams into the air.

Lady Lili kneels down next to the human and pats her head. She chirps some quiet words. Gligar wonders what she’s saying but it’s too far away to hear. The other two humans also look exhausted but they’re laughing.

“Your teammate is so strong, she trains the humans,” Veil laughs “And she’s doing a good job at it. I always thought Owner could use some more muscles.”

“That’s your Trainer?” Gligar asks.

“Yep. She’s lazy and loves sweets. But we worked a lot for the first Circuit attempt and didn’t get far. I think that hit her more than she admitted to herself.”

“Huh. Wait, you know these humans for a long time, right?”

“Yes?”

“Well… what was Aunt Zoe like?”

“… hmm. That’s difficult. Let me think…”

Gligar gives him a shove which makes the Diglett laugh.

“Right, so. Zoe is a bit strange. She’s never been like this. She had that whole thing where she disappeared for a while and now that she’s back she’s so much smarter about everything. I should thank her for getting my Owner off her ass. I was almost thinking about trying to find a new Trainer that wanted to go for the Circuit again but…”

He shook his head. Or rather, most of his body.

“Nevermind. Zoe is really strong all of a sudden. Before that, she was not very… how do I say this? Driven? Yeah, she wasn’t driven. She had no goals to work towards. Still doesn’t, but it feels different. More like she’s taking a break than that she doesn’t know what to do with herself. I think this Circuit is more of a vacation for her. We’ll see how far you guys make it.”

“We have Lady Lili and that monster Lulu,” Gligar protests “Though Cynthia’s Pokémon were really strong, too…”

Veil nods.

“Cynthia is the Champion. She’s the strongest Pokémon Trainer. But the Elite Four and the Gym Leaders with their personal teams are probably the next strongest. A few of the competitive Trainers that do the Circuit every year can get most of them to use their personal teams, though… I think Sara said something about them trying to get positions in the Elite Four…”

Gligar turns away. That’s not really the question he asked. Veil’s Trainer is up again, carefully moving through something Lady Lili is showing her. It looks a bit like a dance but the human can’t move her arms and legs all that well and Lady Lili is pushing them into the right positions where necessary. He starts to charge another Mud Slap.

“… and it’s difficult to tell if… Hey! Harden!” Veil shouts suddenly.

Without even thinking about it, Gligar shoots Normal TE all over his body. His carapace turns shiny and tough within moments. He doesn’t even stop the movement and rams a claw into his rocky target. A blast of mud splatters on the stone and Gligar blinks.

“Hey, that worked!”

Veil is staring at him with wide eyes.

“Holy shit, that was a fast Harden.”

Gligar tilts his head. Another blast of Normal TE strengthens his body even more.

“Was that supposed to be another call?” he asks “This soon?”

Veil glares at him.

“No. How did you learn how to do that so fast?”

He turns to the side.

“It was that or die, down in the caves. I need to leave some time between uses, though. The Normal TE I’m always cycling is just enough for two Harden and two Quick Attack to get away safely.”

“Always cycling? Like, all the time?”

“Yes?”

“… you can do that?”

“It’s how you do it, no? Just cycle the TE quick enough and you can blast it out as a Move whenever you want.”

“That’s not how it works!” Veil shouts.

“What’s going on?” Zoe asks from the side. She’s standing there with C… Craig. That was his name. The Bug Type.

“Your weakest Pokémon is insane. Can you please tell him to stop always cycling TE? That’s stupid!”

“What do you mean? I do it all the time. It’s how I can have a Typing. Though when I use it up, it doesn’t refill automatically.”

“Okay, yes. With your Typing. He’s doing it with Normal TE!”

Aunt Zoe smiles at him.

“So? It’s easier for your Typing but it’s not a problem if it’s not.”

Gligar looks over at Craig.

“Is it really weird?”

The Bug Type chirps a weird note before replying.

“I never heard of it.”

Aunt Zoe sits down and pulls Gligar into her lap.

“Okay, I’ll hit you with an Arm Thrust. Tell me what it does to your cycling.”

He’s a little worried but still nods. She barely even moves her palm to tap his side.

“It stings a little and it shoves my Normal Energy around but doesn’t stop it.”

“Exactly. You know about Type effectiveness, right?”

Everyone nods.

“The interactions between TE are mostly disruptions of that flow. Your Typing’s Energy always flows through your body, no matter what. If it stops completely, you’re knocked out until the flow restarts. That’s what some Trainers call Stamina.

“If you can cycle other TE, it will be interrupted by super effective Moves but it actually forms a small buffer against them since it draws it away from your Stamina. The negative is that you have to focus on it while you’re learning. But once you get enough practice, it’ll be second nature. Lili always cycles some Fire TE, just enough for a Sunny Day. The Move is one of the biggest reasons why she’s so strong.

“But if you do it for a Type you use a lot, the cycling Energy will get used up very quickly and it’ll make rapidly charging Moves more difficult. Or overloading them. So Lulu could use her Fire Fang or Ice Fang from cycling TE but if she wants to use more than two or three strong ones in a row, she’d use it all up and run ‘out’ of Moves.”

Veil and Craig both stare at Aunt Zoe. She’s so smart! But…

“What about Thunder Fang?” the Diglett asks.

“That’s the thing with Pokémon. With their Typing, they always cycle the respective Energy, and a lot of it. You’ll have much more access to Ground TE than any other, which means you can overload your Moves much more easily, and learn Moves of that Type more quickly. It’s also more difficult to run out of it, practically impossible as long as you don’t get hit, in fact. You will get exhausted if you overdo it, though. But don’t worry, it’ll increase as you grow stronger. How exactly that looks is different for every Pokémon, even of the same species. It’s like humans and training their arms, or their legs, or their brain. You have to work on all of them a bit but usually, you focus on one part.”

The three Pokémon exchange blank looks making Zoe laugh.

“Okay, maybe that was a bit much for a start. Just know that cycling TE is extremely useful but comes with downsides as well. Figure out where your Moveset is going and which ones you need to always have ready versus what Types you need versatility on.”

Veil nods slowly.

“I can work with that, I think. Thank you for the explanation.”

“No worries,” she pats his head “You can always ask me if you have a question.”

“So, what now?” Gligar asks.

Aunt Zoe gives him a smile.

“I say you three keep going for a bit longer. Do some sparring in between, but keep it light. If you want a challenge, you can play tag but only use Moves for movement. It makes you think outside the box.”

The three Pokémon nod happily.

“That sounds fun!” Gligar grins “Let’s go!”

---

With cries of excitement, the three are off to play and train some more. I smile as I watch them go at it. Gligar obviously has the advantage with his wings but his kind have difficulty staying in the air for long and the others are smart about restricting his airspace with Sand Attacks and X-Scissors. Sara and Craig obviously worked hard on the Move, refining it to the point he can shoot the energy blades some distance.

Rob and Mum walk over, finally ready to take a break of their own. Nadya is looking smug, if exhausted, and Geodude has a slightly worried expression. We sit down on the rocks.

“How are you guys doing?” I ask “Anything of note?”

Rob snorts.

“’Anything of note’? Where did you get that expression from?”

I laugh.

“Professor Laventon often asked me that when I got back from my research trips. Seems like it stuck with me.”

Mum smiles gently as she pets Nadya.

“We’re doing pretty well, I think. It was exciting.”

Rob puts his chin in his hands and sighs.

“I’m just bad. Geodude is stronger than Nadya and has a Typing advantage and we still lost.”

The Pokémon in question hovers higher and pats Rob on the head. My brother smiles wryly at him.

“It’s true. I’m just bad.”

I give him a hug.

“You’re just starting out and Mum is a data specialist. Of course she realized how to win the matchup. Geodude doesn’t really know any ranged attacks after all.”

“Dude…” my former Pokémon looks dejected. I pick him up and give him a strong hug.

“I never really trained you for strength, or even fighting at all. It’s not your fault. Do you want to get stronger?”

“Geo.”

I meet his eyes for a second. That was a little difficult to understand.

“You’re fine just relaxing at home?”

He nods.

“But you’re also fine battling… because you want Rob to be happy?”

“Geodude,” he nods.

“Alright. Here’s the deal. I’ll teach you Rock Throw and you stay with Rob until he has his own Pokémon to a decent level. Help him catch someone that wants to fight, okay?”

He grins this time and flexes one hand.

“Dude!”

“Great. You okay with that, Rob?”

“Yes, sis. You don’t need to hold my hand, I’ll be following you no matter what.”

I rub his hair.

“Do your best. You can always call if you need something, lil’ bro.”

“Hey!” he bats at my arm and we laugh.

I look over my friends training with Lili, their Pokémon practising Moves without direct supervision and happily going about it, and Lulu back to running through the woods around us. It can stay like this. Just playing with my friends and family is all I really need. Though I could use some more exercise… I jump up with a grin and run into the forest to chase Lulu around. Mum laughs behind me while Lili giggles into her arm-leaf. Life is good.