The trip down was not very gentle, but not as rough as I thought it would be. It was like going down a rough slide. The twists and turns were the hard part, as I was constantly being slammed into walls and jostled back and forth. Eventually it spit me out a few feet above the ground, not landing on my feet but not beefing my face into the ground.

It took me a moment to get my bearings of which way was up as my head was spinning. I reached for my belt to grab Dee and have her check me over only to find the clip gone. Blinking and looking around, this part of the cave was darker but I could still see a bit from the small amount of light being fractalled in. I still had my bag, but it seems the pokeball belt clip wasn’t as sturdy.

Thankfully in my supplies I had a flashlight, which I fumbled a bit to retrieve. My hands were a bit shaky from the sudden tunnel slide. Flicking it on and looking around with it, I was in a small little room with two other tunnel offshoots. But I didn’t see the clip anywhere. It must have gone down one of the other little tunnels. “I really hope it’s not stuck somewhere…”

I did know that all of my Pokemon could release themselves, so I was sure wherever they were they were already probably trying to find me. The possible worst case scenarios were running through my head. I had food and water, but they didn’t. If they stayed in the pokeballs they wouldn’t get hungry for a long time, but what if the ball broke? What if they’re stuck somewhere?

Several minutes were spent crawling around on the floor looking around the small room and just trying to calm myself down, taking deep breaths and convincing myself things would be okay. My body was sore from my trip down, so I pulled out an oran berry and began to eat it while I thought. Thankfully oran berries worked on humans and tasted good.

I quickly checked my phone, but of course I had no service. Which would honestly be really embarrassing because I don’t know the emergency number, and would have had to call Ranch Joy and tell her what happened. I was already feeling dumb for coming here without preparing more, and having to explain my stupid decision would’ve just made me feel worse.

The question now was, what do I do? There were two directions I could go, as I could not go back up the way I came. Neither looked that different from the other. My best plan would be to try and find a rock Pokemon to help me find my pokeball clip, but if I ran into a Pokemon that was hostile I would be screwed.

Although the only really aggressive thing I could think of in the cave would be a Sableye. But that would only be if it followed game logic. For all I knew I could find a Mr. Mime that would try and kill me. The encounter with that Chingling was a good reminder that not all Pokemon are nice or friendly.

Sighing, I stood up and dusted myself off. My coat had held up quite well, and I was really glad I had bought it otherwise my arms would have probably been cut up during my tumble. Looking down both passageways I decided to go to the right, as it was more lit up and I could save the power of my flashlight.

After putting it away I started to walk slowly and quietly. I was trying to listen in case I heard any Pokemon. This tunnel was much larger than the one I had been in above, and actually showed some signs of excavation. Although I couldn’t tell if it was from Pokemon or people. Especially because either way it would be Pokemon doing the digging.

A little noise caused me to pause and I looked over to be met with bright blue eyes. There was an immediate moment of panic as I thought I had come across a Sableye, however as I saw the large rock that made up this Pokemon, the blue crystals, and the white fluff I realized that this was a Carbink.

I blinked at it as it stared at me, shaking slightly. “Ah-” I took a step back, putting my hands up. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

It simply stared at me, but seemed to calm down.

After a moment I slowly sat down, putting my hands on my lap so that it could see that they were empty. “My name’s Jason. You can call me Jace. I fell down a hole. I’m… lost, and I’ve lost my Pokemon.”

It took a moment before there was a response. “Hello…” it said softly. It’s voice was quite clear despite being so quiet, with a sort of ringing tone to it.

“Do you want a berry?” I said softly as I pulled out another oran berry from my bag. It was extremely curious how all Pokemon are capable of eating berries, even when they don’t have mouths.

Its eyes looked at the berry for a moment before it floated over. I held the berry out at arms length so it didn’t have to get any closer to me than necessary. It moved close and pulled my hand and berry into its fluff. It was amazingly soft. When it pulled away, the berry was gone, and it suddenly gave off an air of pleasure.

That had probably been the first berry it had ever had. I watched how they ate it curiously. It had just been…absorbed by the fluff and slowly disappeared. They did a little twirl, moving closer to me. “Good!” they exclaimed, bobbing around me as they celebrated.

“I’m glad you liked it,” I said with a chuckle. Maybe unfriendly Pokemon were the outlier?

“Come!” it suddenly called, and began to bob further down the tunnel.

Curious, I stood up and followed. The tunnels began to branch out to a rather surprising level. There were lefts and rights and straights, ups and downs. I would have gotten extremely lost, but thankfully I had a guide. Hopefully they knew where they were going.

After a few minutes, I was led into a larger room. The floor was almost completely made of the mirrored crystal, and slowly dipped into a rather large basin full of water. There were several more Carbink in here, of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Hopefully they didn’t want me to feed all of them… I didn’t have that many berries.

The one I had followed made noises at the others like crystalline windchimes. They were excitedly explaining how they found me, and that I was nice and gave them something delicious. Many of them were floating near me, looking at me curiously. Without thinking I reached out and rubbed the crystal on the top of one’s head. It made a pleased noise, doing a little twirl.

Rock Pokemon were fascinating. They were made from living stone, capable of feeling, and growing. But they felt just like I would have expected a gem to feel. Many more came up to me, now even more curious. I gave out little head pets to those that got close enough, which they seemed to like.

“Human.” I was startled a bit at the sudden word from behind me and turned to see a larger crystal and stone Pokemon, this one made from pink diamonds and wearing what looked like a white dress.

I stared for a moment, trying to process what I was seeing. “Diancie?” I questioned, not quite believing that I was seeing a mythic class Pokemon.

“What are you doing here?” Its red eyes stared at me, as if trying to see through me.

“I got lost. My name is Jason, but I prefer being called Jace. I fell down a hole and lost my Pokemon. I was trying to find someone to help when I came across that little one,” I pointed to the Carbink that I had followed, “And they led me here.”

It had a look of disappointment on its face but eventually sighed. “Why did you come to the caves?”

My brow scrunched up a bit as I looked at them. “Cus they’re pretty?” I said, confused at its question.

This time it was their turn to look confused. “That’s it?”

“Yeah?” I gestured around, trying not to bump any floating Carbinks. “Just look at this place. It’s beautiful.”

“Most do not come here for that. They come to capture, or harvest.” It floated towards me as it spoke.

“Well, I didn’t. I don’t even have-” I stopped, my brow furrowing. “Okay, well, I think I have one pokeball?” I had to check my bag, finding the last ball that Professor Sycamore had given me. “Yeah, one pokeball.”

There was this look on her face like it thought I was an idiot. “You are lost?”

“Yes.” I explained to them the events that led me here. While I did so the Carbink were constantly bumping into me, wanting more pets, which I happily obliged. Petting their crystal was like rubbing warm glass.

“Berries?” Seemed to be its only question.

Glancing around for a moment, I pulled out a persim and held it out to it. It had come quite close as I talked. I watched as it hesitantly took a bite, immediately its eyes lit up as they stared at the berry. “Do you like it?”

They didn’t answer, but took it from my hand and began chomping down on the berry with gusto.

I chuckled a bit, and saw the look of those around. I hesitated. I didn’t have infinite berries… and there were at least twelve Carbink here. After a moment I pulled my last persim out, and then began to cut it up. I gave each Carbink a piece, aside from the one I had given a whole berry earlier. Berries were large, so it was easy to cut one up into enough pieces.

They all seemed to love it. They made lots of different noises of celebration. Treats were truly the way to win over Pokemon. Maybe I could get a whole bunch of poke beans to use as treats for wild Pokemon? While berries were a hit, if a Pokemon didn’t like the flavor it would be a waste. Another reason to go to Alola.

“We shall help,” Diancie said suddenly, having finished the berry.

“Oh! Thank you. I would really appreciate it… They’re all my friends, my family, and I’m really worried that something bad might happen.” It nodded and we all started to make our way back to where I had fallen, with Carbink leading the way back to where they found me. Once we were back, I pointed up at the hole. “I fell through there. I think they might have fallen down a different path…”

Almost all of the Carbink suddenly went up and into the hole. I watched them, concerned but hopeful that they should be able to find them. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Diancie watching me. I sat down, knowing that it was probably going to take a while. “You knew what I am,” Diancie suddenly said.

I blinked and looked over at them. “Yes. You’re a Diancie, a mythic class rock fairy type Pokemon. Some people argue that you’re one of the most beautiful Pokemon in the world.”

It turned away, making a sound like it was clearing its throat. “Not many know of me. Whenever most humans see me, they are shocked and wonder what I am.”

“Well, you’re a rare Pokemon that’s usually only ever found underground, it’s no surprise that many don’t know you.” Even though there was a movie about a Diancie, they were still a rather forgotten Pokemon.

Several minutes passed before Diancie once again broke the silence, “You Trainers confuse me.”

“Trainers are a strange bunch,” I agreed.

“You travel and battle Pokemon, capture them and bring them with you and make them battle. For what purpose?” It was staring at me, again like it was trying to see through me.

“Well, it’s different for everyone.” I turned a bit so that I was facing them more. “Some just want to be powerful. Some just want to see the world. Some have something they feel they need to prove, or because it’s what is expected of them. Some see Pokemon as friends, others just see them as tools. It’s hard to really pin down why a Trainer is a Trainer without asking them.”

“And why are you a Trainer?”

I shrugged. “I’m technically not a Trainer. Sure, I have Pokemon, but those are my family. If the laws didn’t say that I had to have them in pokeballs, I wouldn’t put them in one. But if you want to know why I’m doing what I’m doing…” I had to pause to collect my thoughts. I knew the answer, but not quite how to describe it. “I want… to see the world and make friends, and help Pokemon along the way.”

“Help Pokemon?” It questioned, their eyes unblinking.

“Yeah. I’m helping Dee to deal with her trauma. Helping Cara to get revenge and move on. Rio and Veny want to get strong. And Popplio needs someone to take care of her.” Everyone in my group had a reason for being there, even if in the end it was because everyone wanted to be stronger in different ways and for different reasons.

Again we fell into silence. This silence lasted for a few hours before suddenly one of the Carbink came rushing in from the other tunnel. And behind them I saw Cara and Dee. I barely had a chance to stand up before Cara nearly took me straight off my feet as she hit me with extreme speed, her arms wrapping around me tightly. Thankfully she was careful of the spike.

Dee came jogging over quickly after her, carrying the broken belt clip that still had the five pokeballs on it. “Are you okay?” She asked rapidly and began to check me over.

“A bit bruised, but otherwise I’m fine I think.”

“I was going to come out to help when you fell, but then the clip came loose and we went down a different tunnel,” Dee explained, holding out the clip to me.

I took the clip and examined it; the part that kept it connected to my belt had snapped. “I’m just glad you’re all alright…” I said as I started to pet Cara. She wasn’t saying anything, simply holding me and pressing her face against my chest.

“Rio, Veny, and Popplio were freaking out so we got them to go back in their pokeballs.”

I nodded a bit as I released the other three, wanting to make sure they were okay. All three of them came over, hugging onto my legs. I chuckled a bit. “That was scary, huh?”

All three were crying, or complaining, or a mixture of both. Popplio was crying and complaining, saying it was dark, and they didn’t like it here, and it was scary, and they wanted to go back to the Pokecenter. Rio was annoyed that they made her go back in the pokeball and she wanted to help look for me. Veny was just crying a bit and saying how much they were glad I was okay and that they didn’t like that we got separated.

Cara let go and I knelt down to pet and comfort them. It felt pretty good that we had all gotten so close in a relatively short amount of time. “I’m glad you’re all alright.” I wasn’t sure how to explain how much it had scared me when I realized they weren’t with me. Standing back up, I looked over at Diancie and smiled. “Thank you for your help.”

There was a bit of a pause as it looked at me and nodded. “You’re welcome.”

I had to pick up Popplio to try and get her to stop crying. This was probably really traumatic for her considering her abandonment issues. So I just held her, rubbing her back. The Carbink were coming back slowly, talking to each other and my friends. There were quite a lot of animated conversations.

While I couldn’t follow the several conversations, there seemed to be a lot of discussion of what was outside. Most of the Carbink made the outside sound like a horrible place, but a few of them made it sound fantastical. They asked questions about trees, clouds, grass, and that sort of thing.

It was all rather humorous.

I noticed that Diancie was talking with Cara and Dee. It looked like they were getting along, which was cool. After thinking about it for a moment, I took out my camera, taking a few pictures of Diancie. They were a really pretty Pokemon and I wanted to have some proof that I actually got to see a mythical level Pokemon.

After a few minutes of calming Popplio down, Diancie came over to me. “May I… Request your help?”

I blinked, turning my attention to her. “Of course. I can do my best.”

They looked a bit frustrated, or perhaps worried. “One of my followers… wishes to go with you.”

Again I blinked and looked around a moment before noticing that the first Carbink that I had come across was floating over. “Ah, this one?” Apparently they really liked that berry.

“Yes. But I am… I am concerned that they will be put into danger, and so I wish to ask for your help.” She looked at me, then at the Carbink, and then back at me.

“Well of course. I’d be happy to look after them,” I said with a smile. Carbink was a pretty cute little rock Pokemon. Its ears and fluff always reminded me of a bunny. With its really high defense, it would make a good tank. Plus they shoot lasers.

There was that look again as they seemed to look through me. I wondered if it could see my aura and that’s what it was looking at. After a moment, they nodded. “Alright.” They gestured for the Carbink to approach. “I will intrust this one to you.”

I smiled as I reached out and rubbed the head of the Carbink. “Welcome to the family,” I said softly. They made some happy sounding noises in response, but didn’t actually use words. I fished out the pokeball that I had, and held it out to Carbink.

They eyed it curiously. I noticed how the room had become a lot quieter as everyone's attention turned to watch. After a moment they touched the ball and were immediately enveloped in red light. It wobbled once before letting out the bong noise.

Immediately I released them, smiling. The trio cheered, rushing over to greet the newest member. They excitedly introduced themselves, and gave their self given titles. Even Popplio jumped from my arms to excitedly declare herself as the performer.

“You take good care of your Pokemon,” Diancie said. “As thanks for taking that little one, I would like to give you something. Come.” They turned and began to float down the well lit tunnel.

I hesitated before following. Everyone else followed as well, chattering and welcoming our new member. I was really glad that they were so welcoming. I began to think of what sort of training methods to use for Carbink, but my thoughts were soon interrupted by Diancie.

“This is not something that is normally done,” it said as we entered the large pool room. There were gasps from the other Pokemon and I took some photos of Diancie in the room. Maybe I could become a Pokemon photographer? “But I want to make sure that they are safe,” it continued.

I followed them as they led us down another passageway. The light dimed before opening up into a massive room. Crystal structures hang from the ceiling, but the most stunning thing was the massive pink diamond in the center, emitting a bright glow. “The Heart Diamond…” I muttered, staring at the diamond that was bigger than a building.

“You know what this is?” Diancie said, I could hear the slight worry in its voice.

“Only in stories,” I responded, looking around at the massive crystalline structure that made up the room. I had fallen into the Diamond Domain? That sort of explained how the only Pokemon that I had seen were Carbink and Diancie. This Heart Diamond didn’t look like it was dying of old age like in the movie, so I wondered why they brought me here.

That explanation seemed good enough for them as they floated towards the diamond, but rather than going up to it they went down below. It picked something up before coming back towards me. “There is something that is not usually done at this time… But since they are leaving, it is fine.” It really sounded like they were more trying to convince themselves than me. They put out their small hand, offering for me to take something.

Slowly I put my hand out, and it gently placed a small object in my palm. It was round, and pink, with a swirl in it similar to a cat's eye marble. My brain sort of fizzled, as I knew exactly what this was. “Diancite.”

Diancie nodded. “Only one Diancie may live in the Diamond Domain, but as they are leaving, I will make an exception.” They closed my hand around the small marble. “When you leave these caves…give this to Carbink, and they will evolve.”

I swallowed, holding the little marble tightly. This was far beyond what I had thought was going to happen. This was a series of events harder to imagine as they came. “Alright. Thank you.”

“Make sure that you keep them safe,” it said earnestly, their eyes locked to mine.

A smile crept onto my face. “I will do my best.”

It looked at me for another moment before nodding. “They may come back to visit, but they cannot stay here while I live,” they explained, looking over at the Carbink. “Only one Diancie may live within the Diamond Domain,” they repeated their earlier words. I noticed that they had the habit of repeating themself.

I thanked them again, taking a few pictures of the Diamond Heart as we left. This was truly an amazing sight, and I had no idea if or when I would ever be able to see it again so I wanted to have proof of these memories.

They began to lead us out of the caves, which took hours. Wild Pokemon avoided our group, and for good reason considering we were being led by Diancie. Eventually we entered a larger corridor, and Diancie gestured at one path that would take us out. “That is the exit,” they said softly.

I nodded, looking back and smiling. “Thank you, for everything. Who knows how long I would have been lost without you.”

It just nodded and turned away. All of the Carbink said goodbye to the one that was coming with me. They rubbed their fluff against each other, an action to serve as both a sign of affection and to polish their gems. It was quite a sight and I decided to take pictures. I needed to remember that I had this camera app and could just take pictures of stuff.

As we parted ways, we made our way towards the exit. It was later in the day, but the sun was still shining. And we were actually on a road. This was the official path through Reflection Cave. But I had no idea what side of the mountain we were on. Since the sun was setting and to my left, I had to assume we were on the north side, which meant that the city off in the distance was Shalour.

I looked over at Carbink, who looked back at me with a bit of excitement. “Ready?” I asked as I held out the Diancite to them.

They quickly moved to me, nodding. They pulled the Diancite into their fluff. After a few seconds they suddenly shone brightly. It hurt to look at the dazzling pink light, but I did my best to watch as their form shifted and they changed shape. I could see the Diancite shine the brightest within them, like a little pink sun. I imagined that this must be similar to how it looks when using an evolution stone.

After a moment in front of us stood a Diancie. They looked at their hands for a moment, doing a few twirls before exclaiming excitedly, “I’m so pretty!”

I chuckled a bit and nodded. “Yes, you are.”

They moved over to me, and placed the Diancite into my hand. I blinked, surprised that it had survived the transformation. “Oh. This will be useful. But,” I held it out to Diancie. “You hold onto it. It’s your source of power.”

“Source of power…” they muttered softly as they took back the little marble. They took a moment to tuck the object into their collar, wedging it in what would have probably been a very painful way if they had not been made of stone. When they were done, I couldn’t see where the marble even was. I reached out, rubbing the top of their head which caused them to giggle.

With the events of the day leaving all my Pokemon tired, I had them return to their pokeballs; it was better to avoid any attention for the time being. I would need to hide Diancie for now. It was actually only an hour of walking to get to the city. I thought about stopping at the pokecenter, but I realized that that might raise a lot of questions as to how I left Geosenge and then appeared in Shalour a few days later when I was supposed to be in League City.

So I made my way to the train instead, and got onto a train heading to League City. Again it was empty, as no one was going to the city this late, they were leaving if they were getting on a train. Unfortunately, due to how the train snaked its way around, it was almost midnight by the time I arrived.

Sitting on a train for that long left my legs a bit wobbly, but the walk would help that. The city was still bustling, excitement from the tournament still having everyone in good spirits. I passed by a rather young boy crying, being comforted by their family. It looked like they had been knocked out today. But it was impressive they made it so far.

Entering the hotel and going back to my room, I immediately ordered a ton of late night food for everyone before even releasing them from their pokeballs. The room was more than large enough for everyone, and Diancie was absolutely mesmerized by everything in the room.

Veny immediately went for the remote, turning on the television to show it to Diancie. Their mind was blown. Veny seemed to be the one who liked watching television the most. I was going to have to make sure she didn’t turn into a big lazy bug.

The food arrived rather quickly, and I did my best to not let them see the group of Pokemon. There was a ton of food, but then again it was to feed seven individuals, most of which had large appetites. I was going to have to re-math my food budget. All of the Pokemon chattered away happily to each other, but there were too many conversations going on for me to follow.

After dinner I washed up, taking a nice long shower. Popplio joined me, enjoying the water. Diancie was just curious as to what I was doing, which made it a bit awkward because she just silently stared. As soon as I was done I dried off Popplio, letting her go and join the rest as I dried my hair. At least there was a hair dryer here, so I didn’t have to air dry.

When I went to lay down I was a bit surprised to find everyone had already piled up on the bed, leaving an obvious gap for where I was supposed to go. Even Diancie had sort of laid down on the bed on Cara’s side. Dee had laid herself at the top of the bed, placing herself where all the pillows were.

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I looked at the position of everyone a moment, everyone sort of waiting for me to take my place. Chuckling, I laid down, resting my head a bit against Dee since she apparently wanted to be a pillow. Popplio and Rio took their place, and Veny put herself against my side, right in the perfect position to be pet. Cara took her face down position on my shoulder. As I was starting to drift off to sleep I felt Diancie place her hand on top of mine and I shifted it in order to hold her hand. Pokemon really liked to be close when they slept.

In the morning, while everyone was eating breakfast, I planned to call Professor Sycamore. So I got everyone sorted, and settled down. The trio had really come to form a pretty good bond with the newest members, which was comforting. Dee and Diancie were being treated as if they’d always been here. I mentally noted how it had been the same with Popplio.

Once I was done eating, I pulled out my phone and called the Professor. “Good morning Jason, what can I do for you.”

“Good morning Professor. I… hm… Would it be possible to have you come to watch the League today? I want to discuss some things with you. In person.” I needed to discuss Diancie with him as soon as possible.

He gave me a questioning look. “Alright… Is this about something that happened at the Joy Ranch?”

I made a wobbling gesture with my hand. “Sort of? Not really? I don’t even really know how best to explain it without just showing it to you. But I want to show you in person.” I wanted to judge his reaction in person.

That just seemed to confuse him even more. “Alright? Well, I can start heading there now. Shouldn’t take too long.”

“Thanks Professor. I’ll meet you in the private booth.” We both said our goodbyes and hung up. I gathered everyone up in their pokeballs before heading out.

Much to my surprise, the Professor was already there by the time I got there. “Ah, there you are. I was already in the building, so it was a short walk,” he said with a chuckle. “Nice coat.”

I rolled my eyes a bit and looked around. No one was here this early aside from the bartender, as that was how it normally was the last few days I was here. Most of the rich people who used this booth didn’t show up until two or three in the afternoon for the free alcohol. “Well, that makes this quicker.”

Then I called out five of my Pokemon, leaving the one that I had concerns about in the ball for a moment. “Ah, an Audino. Glad you managed to convince the Joy Clan.”

“Yes, this is Dee-”

He interrupted me, “Well done. The Joy Clan is extremely particular about where they send their nurse Pokemon, and who they give them to.” He was taking a closer look at Dee, who was a bit puzzled at his attention, but recognized that he was a Professor and so was allowing him to examine her.

“Right, I’m really happy about that too, but she’s not-”

Again he interrupted me. “Although, that’s not really that big of a deal? You could have just shown her to me on the phone.”

I sighed. “Professor,” I said a bit more firm in my tone which caused him to look over at me. “She is not what I am concerned about.” I held the pokeball of the sixth member of my team in my hand.

“Ah. Right, sorry.” He cleared his throat and straightened up. “So, what are you so worried about?”

After taking a deep breath, I shook my head. What a reliable but unreliable professor. Are they all like this? How bothersome. “Come on out,” I said and a second later Diancie burst forth, blinking and looking around at the new environment that she was now in. However upon seeing the familiar group of Pokemon she happily made her way over to them.

Professor Sycamore looked like he was about to pass out. His mouth fell open like he was about to say something before he realized what he was seeing. I was fairly sure he wasn’t breathing anymore. He had the look of a man that had just met God, and they told him that they were disappointed in his life choices.

“Yeah, so…” I cleared my throat, trying to get his attention. “So this is Diancie.” Upon hearing their name, they turned and floated over to me curiously. I couldn’t help but smile. “It is the newest member of my family.”

“How?” Was all he managed to say, struggling to even breath as he gazed upon the mythical Pokemon in front of him.

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story. But, I stumbled upon it on my-”

“Her,” Diancie said.

I blinked, and looked over. “Hm?”

“Rio explained what gender is, and she said I could be any gender. So I want to be a girl,” she said in a happy tone.

“Oh, well alright. So,” I turned back Professor Sycamore. “I stumbled upon her on my way back from the ranch. Quite a lot happened, but I promised not to talk about it too much.” Even if that promise was to myself, it was still a promise. I didn’t want people trying to dig out Reflection Cave looking for the Diamond Domain.

“How… What…” He rubbed his face, taking a deep breath. “Alright. Alright. Okay. This… This is… This is going to complicate a lot of things…” he muttered. “Arceus, what have you been getting up to…”

That was honestly a question I wanted to know, too. “Well, stuff happened?” I reached out a hand towards Diancie, and she happily grasped it. She didn’t quite have fingers, but she did have a thumb, and her hand was surprisingly soft for being made out of rock.

“This- This isn’t the one from Reflection Cave, right?” He asked, glancing between me and Diancie. “That’s where it’s been spotted in the past.”

“Uh… Yes and no?” I said, looking more over at him and making a wobbling motion with my hand, which Diancie watched with interest, mimicking the motion. “She is from there, but not that Diancie. I did meet them, and they entrusted this one to me.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking hard. “You’re aware what you did was extremely reckless, right?”

“I was confident,” I said and he gave me a look. “I am well aware this isn’t a game, and I can be hurt. The concussion I got proves that.”

“It’s more than that.” He shook his head. “I don’t think you really understand just how dangerous things are out there.”

I remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.

“Over seventy percent of Trainers who set out on their journey don’t continue after the first year, and fifty percent of those are forced to quit due to injury, or death.” That immediately explained why the population was so low. “Pokemon outnumber humans a thousand to one, at least. And most of them are mean and vicious, and see humans as nothing more than food. The farther your travel from civilization, the more brutal the Pokemon get. I’m just… shocked you made it back alright.”

“Well, I did have a bit of a problem with a Chingling, but that was dealt with pretty easily.”

I think I gave him a headache judging by the way he pressed his hand to the side of his head. “Okay. Well, it’s not like you’re the first person to do something stupid and obtain a mythic Pokemon, or a legendary Pokemon.”

“There are people with legendaries?” That was surprising, and a bit concerning.

“Well, legendary bloodline anyways. No one, to my knowledge, has a pure blood legendary at the moment. But there are people with their offspring. Like Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltress are the most common legendaries. But there are all sorts. The pure blood legendaries are supposedly immortal and don’t often interfere with anything,” he explained. “The pure bloods are also immensely more powerful than normal ones.”

So this wasn’t as out of the ordinary as I had originally thought. “I’m glad this isn’t as big of a problem as I thought.”

“It’s still… kind of a problem, but not one that can’t be dealt with.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Professor Oak was right…” he muttered.

“Right? About what?” I asked, my eyes narrowing a bit at him.

“Nothing, nothing. You’ll find out,” he said with a bit of a smirk.

I frowned at him. “Alright, well, I just wanted you to be aware of Diancie before I start showing her off.”

He nodded a bit to that. “Yes. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be able to better field questions from the Association if I know about it ahead of time.”

Diancie’s attention was captured by the beginnings of today’s battles, and she went over to join the others who were watching. Dee seemed really excited to be here, too. “Speaking of the Association.” I gestured out towards the window.

“Ah, yes. About that.” He frowned, obviously annoyed. “They said it’s perfectly fine. They purposefully put strong Trainers against weak ones early on so that those weak Trainers don’t get farther than they should due to sheer luck.”

“So it’s like a free pass,” I said with a bit of a sigh.

“Oh it’s worse than that. Apparently they’re allowing elite Trainers to simply not participate in the prelims.” He was pacing back and forth.

“Elite Trainers?”

He paused, looking over at me. “Ah, you might not be aware. So, there are levels to Trainers. Beginner Trainer, Trainer, Advanced Trainer, and Elite Trainer. It’s a vague way to estimate the skills of a Trainer and is based on what badges they have and what type.”

I thought about it for a moment. “So there are different types of badges?”

He nodded. “There’s the basic badge, and then there’s elite badges, also known as star badges. A beginner Trainer doesn’t have any badges from a main gym, but can have them from smaller gyms. To become an official Trainer you need at least two official badges from one of the gyms approved by the Association. An advanced Trainer has eight official badges, and maybe some of those are elite badges. To reach the level of an elite Trainer you need all eight star badges from a region.”

“That’s a lot more complicated than it was in the games,” I mumbled. But that was good to know. I wondered how difficult getting a normal badge was compared to a star badge.

“Star badges also don’t have a time limit,” he continued. I gave him a questioning look. “A normal badge is only valid for two years. You’d have to go and challenge the gym again if it expires if you wanted to keep participating in the league.” I wondered how that worked, but they probably kept records.

“So the Association is fine with rigging the league,” I said after a while.

He sighed and nodded. “Apparently. They had a lot of excuses.”

I sighed as well. “Typical of governmental entities.”

Again he nodded. “Yeah, the Association has been flexing their power more, even as they lose influence due to more and more powerful Trainers coming up. There have been some…worrying signs that they have been suppressing Trainers who don’t get in line. So…watch your back.”

I nodded. We didn’t talk about much else, just a bit of what happened on the Joy Ranch, before the Professor had to leave.

The battles had apparently ramped up quite a bit in this second week, and were actually interesting. There were enough Trainers that now the Association couldn’t so easily show favor. The matches were interesting, at a much higher level than anything that I had seen.

~

The next few days passed quickly, and then the prelims were over, and the actual League began. The entire arena was transformed overnight. Now instead of having several smaller battle arenas, there was just one large one that took up most of the field. There was no special type of terrain on this one, and it was just a huge area that looked to be made of compacted clay or something similar. Six raised platforms, two at either end for the Trainers, and the other four placed at different spots for the referees. I got a rather hard pang of nostalgia as I saw the familiar painted lines.

As the battles began and the tournament properly got underway I noticed one thing that really separated the good Trainers from the truly skilled; communication. Those who seemed to have high levels of skills barely ordered their Pokemon, and when they did it wasn’t usually specific moves. It was techniques, battleplans, or vague tactics. Some of the best Trainers that I had seen were just calling out what their opponent was doing, warning their Pokemon of things that they couldn’t see, or what to watch out for with a specific move.

The reason this was the case was pretty clear. The battles were happening too fast. Pokemon were moving so quickly and throwing out such powerful moves that it would be impossible for a Trainer to give a complex order before their opponent had done something. I honestly couldn't keep up with it. Thankfully the screens often displayed slowed down replays so that the audience could understand what happened.

But the best of the best hardly said anything. They were practically silent the entire battle, simply giving basic commands that caused their Pokemon to spring into long complicated strings of moves and techniques. That was really impressive.

Professor Sycamore had come to watch, as he said he was going to. This was when it was supposed to get interesting, and the Elite Trainers would show off. All of the Pokemon enjoyed watching it. All of them except Cara. She just sat beside me, watching the screen. Waiting. I knew what she was waiting for, and tournament went on, all I could do was hope it would happen soon.

And we didn’t have to wait long. It was the third match when a Trainer got up; Andrew. Immediately Cara was on her feet, staring at the screen, her fists clenched. It got worse when he sent out his first Pokemon; a Lucario. Her aura flared, and she was struggling to keep herself in check. Then something truly unexpected happened.

The Lucario Mega Evolved.

Immediately Cara sagged, her aura snuffed out as all the air in her sails was gone. I reached out and grasped her paw. “Mega Evolution,” I explained. I could see Professor Sycamore out of the corner of my eye, his mouth open as if he was about to explain something but I beat him to it.

Cara’s mood worsened as the battle commenced, and the Lucario began to one-sidedly nearly solo the opponents team, taking out four of his six Pokemon before being put down by a Blaziken. The Blaziken managed to bring it back and nearly win, but it ended with Andrew still having two Pokemon he didn’t even use.

“The road is long,” I said softly, squeezing Cara’s paw. “That height is not going to be easy to get to.” She gripped my hand slightly. “After a show like that… it’s going to be even more satisfying watching you knock that bastard off his pedestal.”

Her grip tightened a bit more and she took in a deep breath before nodding.

Andrew’s Lucario was powerful, heavily specializing in the use of aura, which was red. I was going to need to be able to Mega Evolve Cara for that fight. I looked over at Professor Sycamore. “I know what you want,” he said with a sigh. “I can get you a key stone, but getting the Lucarionite would be difficult. I’ve no idea where he even got it. He didn’t have it last year.”

“Who is that guy?”

“Andrew Yellow. An elite Trainer. He got his star badges this year after taking some time in another region. He’s one of the favorites to get to the Elite Four this tournament.” He took a seat next to me. “Do you know him?”

“No, but Cara knows that Lucario,” I said with a glance at Cara, who was still standing, stewing in her frustration at not being strong enough.

“He’s…” his voice trailed off.

“Rio’s father.”

He sighed, shaking his head. After a moment he said, “I’ll see what I can do about sourcing you some Lucarionite, but it might take me seven or eight months.”

“As long as it’s before the next league.” I rubbed the back of Cara’s paw with my thumb. Looking over at Rio, they just looked excited, having watched an amazing battle. They seemed pleased that there was a Lucario that strong.

Reluctantly Cara pulled her hand free and went over to Rio and the others, explaining who that was. I could only imagine how difficult of a conversation that would be. I don’t even know how I would go about that. Yeah, that guy is your dad and he’s a jerk who left us to join that Trainer and beat me up. Whatever she had said, Rio was definitely upset, but the two of them sat together talking for the rest of the day.

I lost interest in the tournament. Instead, I did a few other things. I made a spot inside my coat to store my pokeballs, so that they would be close to my chest and easy to get to, and harder to lose. I started making notes on different training regiments and ideas that I had. I also started to transcribe the pokeblock recipes to a text document so that they would be easier to read and search through. The road was long, and it was going to be hard. The first goal was to become an elite Trainer and get every star badge. That would mean beating the strongest team of all eight gyms. Rio, Veny, and Popplio needed the most work. Especially my little blue seal…

Andrew was knocked out fairly late and took fifth place, which qualified him to challenge the Elite Four. Those were intense fights. He managed to beat Wikstrom and Siebold, but Malva knocked him out. His team had a weakness to fire. A few other competitors managed to beat two but lost to a third. The woman who took first in the League, Laura, beat three members and nearly beat Drasna, but in the end couldn’t do it.

There would be no champion battle this year. I didn’t even know if Diantha was here as she didn’t make an appearance. But watching those fights really showed me the type of gap that was between me and them. This was going to be quite a challenge. It made me excited.

The day after it was all over, I found myself in Professor Sycamore’s car heading towards his lab in Lumiose. “So, what did you think?”

“All the challengers were lacking,” I said bluntly.

He laughed. “What do you mean?”

“They were all too focused. They didn’t have enough for their Pokemons hard counters. Like how Andrew’s team is made up mostly of steel types. Or the challengers seemed to rely almost completely on type advantage and buckle when that fails.” I looked out the window. “That woman, Laura, seemed to be the only one who knew what she was doing.”

Again he laughed. “Well, then I look forward to your performance.”

We pulled into the large compound outside of Lumiose, which contained the Professor’s laboratory. The place was absolutely huge and I wondered if all Professors worked in such places. It made sense, since obviously Sycamore wouldn’t be the only one doing research.

He led me through the building, exchanging snippets of conversation with other people in lab coats as we walked. There were a lot more people here than I thought, but many of them looked younger than me and were wearing badges that said ‘intern’. I got quite a few curious looks but no one said anything to me.

Eventually we got to his office and he sighed as he took a seat behind the desk. “Take a seat,” he said as he gestured to the seat across from him.

I sat down, getting comfortable. “So, I can be a Trainer now?”

“Yes and no.” He opened a box that had been on his desk and pulled out a rather large looking card that almost looked like a pokedex. “Here.” He held it out to me.

Taking it, it was about the same size as the phone he’d given me, but it was indeed a license. But it wasn’t a Trainer's ID. “Pokemon Expert?” I asked.

He nodded. “Professor Oak recommended that we skip making you a Trainer and move you beyond it.”

I blinked at him. “What’s a Pokemon Expert?” I had heard people call me that a few times now, so it seemed that this was planned well in advance.

He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “You can think of it as a Trainer that’s on the same level as a Pokemon Professor.”

I continued to blink at him. “Okay, but why?”

“Professor Oak suggested it. And after watching you just… show up with a Diancie, I had to agree. With your…otherworldly origins and since you know more about Pokemon than some Professors, we agreed it would be insulting to start you off at the bottom.”

“So I just- I just get to be an expert for that?” It was an interesting prospect, but I felt like there was something he wasn’t telling me.

“Well, kind of. To be a Pokemon Expert you have to be acknowledged by several Professor’s. When this application was put to the Association, Juniper put her seal of approval on it as well, which pretty much guaranteed it. But of course the Association wanted to reject it.”

“Wait- Why? I don’t think I’ve done anything to get on their bad side. Yet.”

His brow arched a bit, but he answered, “There are only two Pokemon Experts in Kalos, and they belong to the Association. But, and I don’t know how you managed this, but the Joy Clan stepped in to support you.”

I blinked, tilting my head a bit. “Ah- Wha- Wait, why would they do that? And why would that change it?”

He sighed a bit. “Well, they claimed that because you had a nurse Pokemon, you were practically a member of the Joy Clan, since only they can have nurse Pokemon officially. They hold immense power throughout the world, since they have control of most of the world's medical knowledge. As for why? No idea.”

Chuckling softly, I shook my head. “I guess I left a positive impression.”

“Apparently.” He pulled a few pieces of papers and handed them to me. “These are the official documents. The Association will pay you thirty thousand a month, and will give you a bonus for every completed assignment.”

There it was. There was the catch. “Assignments?”

“As a Pokemon Expert, the Association can call upon you to help them. Though I doubt they will, since the minimum bonus is ten thousand. Trainers can also request assistance, but they have to pay you at your own discretion.”

I thought about it for a moment, looking at the papers for a moment. “What if I don’t want to be a Pokemon Expert?”

He sighed. “I’m afraid without proper education, history, and place of residence, you wouldn’t be allowed to have Pokemon.” It sounded like he had been prepared for that question. It did sound like I didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Thinking for a bit I asked, “What if I want to leave the region?”

Now it was his turn to blink at me. “Well, traveling is no problem. You just have to inform the Association that you’re leaving and where you’re going. An Association liaison will be assigned to you whatever region you’re in. Unless you go to a region without Association presence. But… Don’t do that. That’s a good way to get killed.”

“Killed by who?” This whole conversation had mostly been just me asking short questions and his long explanations.

He didn’t answer, clearing his throat. “Anyways. Your Association liaison is waiting for you downstairs, and they’ll want to take you to their headquarters to make things official and…probably test you on things.”

“Well, as long as they pay me, I don’t mind.” As I read more of the paperwork, I found it was similar to a contract. However, I didn’t have to sign it. It was more just informing me that this is how things would be done now, and how I would be treated. The only thing I didn’t like was that I was on-call. I could decline, but I had to give a valid reason. Seeing as how tournaments were a valid reason to decline, it looked like they expected me to participate.

“Honestly, the best part of this deal is you are exempt from the carry limit.”

I looked up at him. “I can have more than six Pokemon?”

He nodded, chuckling softly at the excitement in my tone. “Thought you’d like that part. Since you’re expected to move around a lot and have Pokemon for any situation, and possibly go places where you can’t change out your Pokemon, it’s necessary. However, you will have to declare what Pokemon you're using for battling in tournaments and gym battles.”

I furrowed my brow. “But not for Trainer battles?”

He shook his head. “No, Trainer battles aren’t restricted. But battles through the battle app must still be recorded and logged.”

That explained why the phone had such a good camera. “That makes sense.”

“Most Trainer battles are three versus three, as most don’t have a full six team because that’s expensive.” That explained why a lot of newer Trainers didn’t seem to have full teams during the first week of the league. He reached into the box again, and I wondered just how many things he had shoved in there for this meeting. “Last thing.” Well, that answered that question. He reached over and placed a rather large marble onto the table.

I looked at the colorful marble. “A Key Stone.”

A rather heavy sigh escaped him. “Of course you know what this is…”

“Of course I do.” I reached over, picking up the marble. It was a lot lighter than I thought it would be, as if it was empty. “It’s half of the puzzle for Mega Evolution.” As I turned it in my hand, it reflected light in an interesting way, but the colors were always in the same direction and the symbol always looked the same.

“Do you…know how it works?” the Professor asked. This was his area of study.

“Only theories,” I said, studying the stone. It was pretty. “Some say they came from space, some say they’re something from ancient times. There’s even a theory that they slipped in from another dimension. Some sort of technology designed by people who know a lot more about Pokemon than anyone else.”

“How would that even be possible?”

“Genetic manipulation through energy,” I said simply. “I read in the books that Pokemon use the energies of their types to use moves. And once their capacity for these elements reach a certain point they can evolve. The stone just forcibly increases these energies temporarily by using the strength of the Trainer and as a result the Pokemon evolves.”

“But they revert.”

“It’s possible to revert a Pokemons evolution. The stone's burst of energy is so intense that the backlash causes the Pokemon to devolve.” I paused. “At least, that’s my theory on it.”

“Hm… It does sound similar to theories I and others have come up with…” He fell into silence as he started to think things over. I had no idea how accurate what I said was, but from what I knew from the games and what I had read it seemed like the most logical explanation. Though I had no idea about the stones origins.

After a moment I asked, “So when do I get paid?”

~

As I entered the lobby I immediately knew who my liaison was. There was a very pretty woman wearing a rather tight suit, with a rather short tight skirt. She had long blonde hair that looked professionally done, and her makeup was flawless. She had this extreme corpo vibe that made it uncomfortable to look at her. Like she spent her free time writing reports for fun. Upon seeing me she immediately smiled a smile that did not reach her eyes, and I did my best not to grimace. While some would get excited seeing her, I could only think of one thing; honey trap.

“You must be Jason,” she said with the same rigid smile, extending a hand towards me.

I returned her smile politely, shaking her hand. “Yes. And you’re the Association liaison?”

“Please, call me Emma,” she spoke in a rather sultry tone.

She had an uncomfortable air about her. Immediately I disliked her. “Let’s be off to the Association,” I suggested. It was a good thing the Association didn’t know my tastes, otherwise I might actually be in trouble. Sending a skinny, busty blonde at me? Not going to work.

But I really shouldn’t be so quick to judge. I think I was just on edge and suspicious because of what the Professor said. “Yes, of course,” she said, still smiling. That smile definitely did not reach her eyes. “There’s a car right outside.”

I nodded as I followed her out. It was a small limousine, and we both got into the back. There was a man in a black suit in the driver's seat, wearing dark sunglasses. There was another nearly identical man in the passenger's seat. When I sat down, she sat down across from me. Immediately I looked outside, noting how dark the windows were tinted.

“Shouldn’t be too long of a drive,” she said just as we started to drive.

I nodded, watching out the window. “So what sort of things will the Association be asking me?”

“Oh not much,” she said in a cheerful tone. “There’s just a few tests the Association wants to do to test your level of knowledge. While we acknowledge that you are a Pokemon Expert, we need to know to what degree.”

“Makes sense,” I said, nodding. I was fairly confident that I could answer whatever question that they threw at me.

However, I was annoyed.

The rest of the drive was spent with Emma talking about the Association and what it did. Which was a whole lot of nothing, as they acted as a sort of higher management that managed all of the organizations that were already handling everything. They were the adults telling other adults how to act. My government comment wasn’t far off, as they acted like an overlord government to all the others.

I was so thankful when we finally arrived. I was led into a large government looking office building before being brought to a conference room. There were seven different people in there, now nine including me and my liaison.

“First test,” one of the men said. “Please identify this Pokemon.” He slid a small photograph towards me that showed nothing but a footprint.

“Am I allowed to ask questions?” I asked as I picked up the photo. It had three large claws with a gap between the paw, which was rather long and rounded at the bottom. The mud around it looked wet and spongy, with what looked like moss in it. It wasn’t a very good picture, and the print looked old.

“Of course,” said the man.

“How wide is the stride between footprints?” I asked.

“Unknown.”

“How large is the footprint?”

“Unknown.”

I looked up at them. “What region was the track found?”

“Unknown.”

“Who took the picture?” I said with a frown.

“A Ranger.”

“Can I have the full picture?” I said as I waved the photo in the air.

“What do you mean?” one of the men asked.

“This is clearly zoomed in and cropped. Can I have the un-doctored photograph?”

“No,” said the old man.

“Well, with the provided photo and lack of information, this could belong to dozens of Pokemon,” I said, trying to not get frustrated.

“Is that your conclusion?”

“My conclusion is that whoever provided this photo is clearly incompetent.” That seemed to cause all of them to go quiet, staring at me. “There is no information aside from this doctored photo, which clearly shows a complete lack of any sort of competence in their job.”

“So you don’t know?” the old man said, and I could just barely see the smirk.

“Of course I know.” I tossed the photo at him, and it struck him in the chest. “It’s a Weavile footprint.”

The slight smile was immediately gone. His mouth opened and closed several times before he managed to speak, “How can you be sure?”

“The shape of the print is longer than it is wide, and there are deep divots with the claws. The claws are also too long to be something like a Gabite. Mostly it’s the claws.” I gestured vaguely at the photo. “That’s also not a wild Pokemon.”

“And what makes you think that?” one of the other men said incredulously.

“The mud around those prints comes from a more jungle or marsh type climate, not a cold mountain forest. If it is a wild Weavile, it would be far out of its normal territory.” That seemed to get them to shut up. I had been mostly guessing about that second part, though I was confident that I was right, their reaction confirmed that I had nailed it.

None of them had any words, looking at each other. The liaison looked uncomfortable, as if unsure what she should be doing.

Leaning forward and placing my hands on the table, I looked the old man in the eyes. “Next test.”

One of the other men cleared their throat and I turned my attention to them. “Please identify this Pokemon.” He put a picture on the table.

The picture was of a blur. It looked like it had two green pigtails from its head, a white head, purple pink body, and a white almost bulb shape with two short purple legs sticking out the bottom of it. “Steenee. Next test.”

Another photo was put on the table. “What Pokemon is this?”

There was a large yellow flower, though it was at a far distance. I could see some red as well. “Glossifleur. Next test.”

~

The next few hours consisted of them showing me absolutely horrible quality photos and expecting me to know what Pokemon it was. There were more footprint identifications, all of them in varying horrible quality and cropped badly. I actually surprised myself with how easy it was. I knew I had a lot of Pokemon knowledge, but I was sure that I didn’t know the answer to a lot of these questions. But somehow I just… knew. It’s like I had all the answers in my head.

Eventually they had exhausted all of their photos, and were just standing there. “Well?” I prompted after a few minutes passed without any more photos being presented. I waited a few moments more, looking over each person in the room before nodding. “That’s what I thought.”

I took a step back and headed towards the door. “Where do you think you’re going?” said the old man.

Looking back. “Obviously I’m leaving. Your whole attempt at bullying- or harassing- or hazing- or whatever you want to call it, has failed. Honestly I’m disgusted with how I’ve been treated.”

“Jason, I believe there’s been some sort of misunderstanding,” Emma said, immediately trying to smooth things over.

I rolled my eyes. “I expect to be paid for this absolute waste of time.” With that I walked out, making sure to close the door behind me so that the liaison couldn’t follow. That was the most annoying thing I had to put up with since I got here. So far.

By the time I exited the building and had made my way to the Pokecenter, I got a notification that I had a large deposit. I nearly tripped when I saw the number. They had given me seventy thousand. I also got a followup text, apologizing for how I was treated. Though I didn’t know who sent the text, I guessed it was the liaison. I didn’t respond.

“Good afternoon Nurse Joy,” I said as I approached the counter.

“Hello,” she said with a smile. “How can I help you?”

“I’d like a full checkup on my Pokemon, and a room,” I replied, putting my ID card on the counter as I started putting my pokeballs on the tray. I realized that Popplio was the only one with a special ball, and thought about buying better pokeballs for them.

Nurse Joy hadn’t moved, and I turned my attention back to her, giving her a quizzical look. She was just looking at my ID. “Pokemon Expert?” she questioned.

Ah, right, yeah. Since there were only two of those aside from myself, that was probably a big surprise. “Yes,” I said with a smile.

She seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Would you be willing to help me with something?”

“Of course,” I said without even hesitating. It was thanks to the Joy Clan that I got into such a good position, so it would be really disrespectful to ignore when they asked for help.

Picking up the tray with the pokeballs, she started to head into the back. “Please follow me.” As we walked down the hall, Dee came out of her pokeball, determined to help. “Oh! You have one of our Audino.”

“How can you tell?”

“Oh it’s really easy. She has that studious look,” Joy said with a bit of a giggle.

Dee looked proud. “Of course. I studied a lot.” I just hoped she would be able to handle being in this environment. She took the tray from Joy, happily doing her job as we walked into a back hallway.

We stopped at an observation window. Inside was a sort of hospital room clearly made for medium to smaller Pokemon. On the bed was a little brown canine Pokemon that looked to be suffering from a severe illness. “This Eevee was found by a Ranger near a broken pokeball.”

Was abandoning Pokemon just such a common thing in this world? “Who in their right mind would abandon an Eevee?” I asked softly.

Joy sighed, shaking her head. “We don’t know,” her volume matched my own. “But we assume with how sick she was, they just didn’t want to take care of her.”

“Why not give her to a Pokecenter? Why leave her out there to die?”

“Unfortunately we don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head again. “We tried asking her about her Trainer, if he left her or if she just got lost. But…”

“She didn’t say…” I said with a sigh.

Joy nodded. “She cries a lot and often looks to be searching for something. Seems like she forgets where she is or what’s going on. She hardly makes a sound otherwise. Since waking she has gotten worse and barely eats. It’s a pretty severe disease called Manepox. We’ve no idea where she got it, but she’s well past the contagious stage and it can be cured with care and time. I’ve never seen a case this bad... All we can do is hold and treat her till she’s better…”

“The problem is she’s not making an effort to get better…” I said with a sigh, shaking my head. “I’ll… I’ll see what I can do.”

She nodded to me as she walked off, and I went into the room.

Eevee’s head perked up as the door opened, but immediately fell again when she saw who had entered. “Yeah, I’m probably not who you wanted to see,” I said as I approached the bed, kneeling down beside it.

“Go away,” she said, her voice weak.

“Not happening.” I reached out and gently rubbed her back. She was missing patches of fur, and what fur she did have was oily and thin. The bits of skin showing were dried and cracked, and there were bits of dried blood from where it was really bad. Her body was cold and I could feel every rib and bump of her spine.

“Leave me alone…” She was sniffling, trying not to cry.

“What’s your favorite berry?” I said softly, pulling out an oran berry and holding it out to her.

She didn’t respond this time, looking at the berry with unfocused eyes.

“I like all sorts,” I continued to speak softly. “They make great additions to meals.”

She was just staring at the berry.

“Would you like this berry?”

That seemed to do it, as her eyes welled up with tears and she began crying. “Yes,” she sobbed.

I didn’t say anything for a moment, just gently rubbing at her back as I held the berry for her. She felt so tiny and frail. She was so weak she could hardly bite into the berry, barely even able to get some in her mouth. Much of it fell out as she tried to chew.

“Let me make this easier…” I said softly, pulling out a bottle and straw from my bag. With a bit of effort I squeezed the juice from the berry into the bottle and she drank from the straw. Even drinking from the straw was difficult for her, and a lot of it dribbled from her mouth.

She still had that want to live, but she was just so upset and depressed that doing anything was so difficult that she didn’t bother. I couldn’t help but wonder why people were so cruel? This little thing had obviously loved her Trainer so much, but because she was too much effort they had thrown her away.

She didn’t even finish drinking all of the juice before passing out. I put a little cap on the bottle and put it back into my bag. I knew what I was going to do. There was no chance I was going to leave her here.